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Introduction

It’s been over a year since I publicly released Bringing Back the Force, and have, since then, received quite a flood of e-mail. While there were, of course, flames from Lucas-zealots for defying their master’s vision, on the whole, feedback has been most excellent. I intended on writing a follow-up article a mere handful of months after Bringing Back the Force hit the web, but I decided against it. Now, a year and four months later, after another sudden surge of readership, I decided to put online some of the more popular responses to questions asked and comments received. For clarity’s sake, I will refer to Bringing Back the Force as “the theory” or “my theory”, and will refer “Ben” to the older Anakin according to my theory, not Obi-Wan. Additionally, “old Kenobi” will refer to Kenobi as seen in Episodes Four through Six, and “young Kenobi” will refer to Kenobi in Episode One.

The primary purpose of this follow-up article is not to prove that my theory has no holes. Nor is it to stubbornly prove that my theory is correct, and that the masses were tricked into falling for Lucas’ trap. Rather, this article intends on clarifying some points, and raising possible explanations for how the theory could further be supported. To me, it’s not a matter of “who is right”, but rather, “what could be done to the Star Wars storyline to make it better”. Because the theory is so well supported by the evidence already given, I see no reason that the theory could not be implemented, and however thin your stretch “evidence” here and there, that it would be convincing in totality.

OOC

While the theory tries dealing with events from the four released movies, people like to bring up quotes from Lucas himself, especially those where Lucas implies, or implicitly refers, to Anakin becoming Vader. In order for my theory to make the least bit of sense, you have to assume that Lucas doesn’t want people to know about it until Episode Two or Three (whichever reveals the secret). So naturally, Lucas would not refer to Obi-Wan becoming Vader, even in an interview with the press.

In a similar vein, the teaser posters where a shadowy silhouette of Vader comes out of young Anakin’s body serve only to reinforce the belief that the audience already has - that Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Again, this is what Lucas wants the audience to believe, until he himself decides otherwise.

Noting details about the script in my theory, I now suggest another. While it makes sense to refer to old Kenobi as “Ben” in Episode Four, it doesn’t make that much sense in Episode’s Five and Six, since by then, we’re supposed to know that he’s Obi-Wan. In fact, Episode 1 is the only Star Wars film in which the character is listed as “Obi-Wan” throughout the script. Is it because the character depicted in Episode One is not the same as in Episodes Four through Six?

Character Appearance

The question of casting is an important one, and I must admit, the care taken to find an actor with a British accent to play Obi-Wan was definitely intentional. As many of you have pointed out, old Kenobi had a British accent, young Kenobi had a British accent, and young Anakin did not. While the human voice of Vader was hard to make out in Return of the Jedi, people are quick to assume that the crippled Vader, and the mechanized Vader, spoke without an accent. To these people, I would raise the argument that Vader’s voice, being a robotically implemented attachment to his helmet, could perhaps not adequately filter the accent, and so it was not evident in Vader’s normal dialogue. Any words spoken by the dying Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi could be similarly misconstrued.

Over-enthusiastic critics will try to claim that they see a clear resemblance between young Anakin, and the dying/ghostly Vader. How anyone can see such a resemblance, given the huge gap in age, is beyond me. While I would be more likely to buy claims of a physical resemblance between young and old Kenobi, I can’t honestly say that I do. A recent picture offered to me, showing young Kenobi in Episode Two with a beard, and dressed in the garb of old Ben (which is traditional Jedi garb, mind you), does not convince me. As I responded then, I shall respond now: A beard does not an old Kenobi make. Even with the similarities in place, I don’t see the resemblance between young Kenobi and old Kenobi - the former’s head is much rounder, and looks to me to be a much closer match with the dying/ghostly Vader. In addition, the actor playing teenage Anakin in Episode Two looks to have a more slender face, much like that of old Kenobi.

Why then, would young Kenobi grow a beard in Episode Two, similar to the beard old Ben wears in A New Hope? If Anakin Skywalker needed to hide from the Empire, and took on the name Ben Kenobi to hide from the real Kenobi, perhaps he also took on his identification in other ways. Presumably, some sort of identification records exist in the Star Wars galaxy, and donning a beard much like the real Kenobi’s, Anakin was able to assume a new identity, and thus new records. Fake pictorial id is not difficult to use, especially when one’s face is hidden behind a beard.

Even if the fleeing Anakin didn’t need to look like the real Kenobi, the matter of both of them wearing a beard is easily explained by coincidence. Or, perhaps, Anakin growing a beard was done simply to hide a more known face - how often do we see movies in which the gangsters grow a beard to hide their face, images of which have been plastered across the city? It’s not much of a stretch, when considering the theory to be true, that Lucas gave young Kenobi a beard as just another way to throw the audience off.

Vader’s Penance

My introduction to Bringing Back the Force included a rough summary of David Brin’s article, which was a piece that caused me to seriously reflect on the Star Wars saga. Initially, I received just as much of an opposition to the ideas Brin brought up as I did “evidence” for the switch, which I found quite surprising. To summarize, Brin criticized Lucas for making the audience cheer for young Anakin, when we knew very well that the young lad would grow up, only to murder multitudes as Darth Vader.

Numerous arguments have been thrown around to justify this, usually taking the form of “but Vader died a righteous death” or “a rightful death is better than a sinful death”. I dismiss these claims in support of Brin’s article, for I believe that the audience should live up to one standard, not two.

It is here that I bring up historical references, and wonder why the arguments for excusing Vader’s crimes can be applied to a fictional galaxy, but not to the real world. After World War II, German military leaders were categorically executed for their relation to Germany’s military might, despite the fact that they were not personally involved in the execution of the Jewish peoples. Vader, who for all intents and purposes served as the Emperor’s right hand, both in charge of military forces and head of an inquisition against the Jedi, is just as evil (if not more so) than any Nazi war criminal. Yet the audience is fully capable of excusing Vader’s actions, arguing that he was just a tool of the Empire, not the true evil therein.

Whoever Vader was before he turned to the Dark Side, the fact remains that he did not have the force of will to resist the temptations of the Empire. Just as a member of the German military hierarchy did not have the force of will to resist the dominion of the Third Reich.

In my opinion, the parallels are shocking.

The Droids

I reference the droids in Bringing Back the Force, saying that if Anakin really were Vader, then some sort of reflection on his past would have taken place, given that he was once their owner. Critics argue that no such reflection took place because Vader was never in the proximity of the droids, and as such, was never in contact with then. In other words, they argue that he didn’t know they were there.

In Return of the Jedi, R2D2 is on Endor with Han and company, and Vader senses the presence of Luke with them. Before that, Vader is on Bespin with C3PO. In both of these cases, Vader’s prowess at reading people’s surface thoughts would very well be an explanation for discovering the droids. Arguing that there are hundreds of protocol and R2 droids doesn’t hold up in this case, not to mention that C3PO looked physically different (and sounded different) than other protocol droids. Catching some concern for, or other mention of, the droids, is not an impossibility.

Colloquialisms

Readers of my theory point out that my mention of Kenobi calling Luke “son”, and referring to R2D2 as his “friend” are colloquial terms. This, of course, I am aware of. It’s the fact that these specific two colloquial terms were used that I’m forced to question if they’re just a coincidence, or if they actually hint at some future plot-twist. To argue that they’re coincidental is just as valid as arguing they’re not.

Contradiction?

Two things I wrote in Bringing Back the Force confuses people more than any other. Namely, they are:

Might I add, now, that young Kenobi wasn’t an especially stable Jedi. That is, he wasn’t too well versed in keeping his cool, thinking as any Jedi should. In fact, he breaks the Jedi code at the end of Episode One, when he sees his Master die and, in a fervorous rage, engages Darth Maul in combat. Unlike his Master, Obi-Wan’s anger comes out, bringing him one step closer to the dark side. That’s right, folks, it’s Obi-Wan that becomes Darth Vader, not Anakin.

And:

When Yoda is first considering teaching Luke, he notes to Ben that the boy is reckless. Ben agrees, but reminds Yoda that when he was younger, he too was reckless. Yet from Episode one, we know that Obi-Wan was not reckless at all, always doing everything as in the book, always telling Qui-Gon that he ought not be reckless. Anakin, however, is another story.

The confusion here comes from the fact that the first quote refers to young Kenobi and his by-the-book attitude (he even lectures his master, Qui-Gon, on this). The second quote, however, refers to old Kenobi (Anakin, not Obi-Wan) who acknowledges that he (young Anakin) was also reckless once, which we saw when he was a boy in Episode One. Note also, that the first quote is primarily concerned with emotional stability, rather than conscious action, and involves an emotional leave from the Jedi code, not a conscious acknowledgment of breaching his codex. So, in fact, I am not contradicting myself with these two quotes.

Anger

My accusations against young Kenobi exploding in a fit of rage when his master is killed is dismissed by critics, and they often don’t agree that anger will lead one towards the Dark Side. Yet, Yoda and old Kenobi say this very thing - anger leads to the Dark Side.

To support their claims, however, critics will ponder why an angered Luke was successful in defeating Vader after being taunted by both Palpatine and Vader.

If we are to accept later Star Wars literature, with which the theory purposely does not deal with (seeing as Lucas may disregard it yet again), then Luke’s giving into anger might very well be foreshadowing his eventual fall to the Dark Side, which does in fact happen a number of years after Return of the Jedi closes.

The easiest way, however, for me to dismiss claims that anger won victory over the Empire is by explaining that it did not. The taunting of Luke by the Emperor, in order to bring about anger in the boy, was intentional. As you’ll recall from Return of the Jedi, the Emperor wanted Luke to slay Vader. Luke giving in to anger and defeating Vader was all part of the Imperial plan; it wasn’t some righteous win or final blow by the forces of good. In fact, it could very well be argued that even had Luke not faced Vader to begin with, and if the Emperor thusly disposed of Luke, that Vader would have destroyed his master anyway.

Vader’s Son

In my theory, I note that Vader only refers to Luke as his son once, when not confronting the boy. When he does do this, however, in Return of the Jedi, I explain the reference as sarcastic, and when reviewing an audio clip of the moment, I noticed an atypical voice inflection in the quote. I consider this an adequate explanation for the inconsistency, which I noted in the original text of my theory.

The most difficult hole to patch up in my theory is the end of Return of the Jedi, where Vader wants to see Luke with his own eyes. I could try proposing that Vader wanted to keep up the masquerade, either to kid himself as he lay dying, or to ease the boy’s pain when left alone with the realization that he is the “last” Jedi. Psychologically, the impact might be enough to keep Luke on the right track. This, of course, is stretching things quite thin, and I don’t claim to be able to defend any such argument flawlessly, but it is a possible explanation.

Owen

In my theory, I note that Ben explains to Luke that Owen is not really the lad’s uncle, but that Owen is Ben’s brother. While I incorrectly attributed the quote to Episode Five (it’s actually in Ep6), the quote is still present.

When your father left, he didn’t know your mother was pregnant. Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible. So I took you to live with my brother Owen on Tatooine… and your mother took Leia to live as the daughter of Senator Organa, on Alderaan.

So, according to old Kenobi, Vader didn’t know that Luke was born, or would be born. Old Kenobi also told Luke in Episode Four that Luke’s father wanted him to have the lightsaber that old Kenobi handed him. So, if according to popular opinion Anakin became Vader, then these two quotes don’t hold up - how could Vader not know that Luke was conceived and yet want for Luke to have the lightsaber, if Vader really was Luke’s father?

The quotes do hold up, however, if old Kenobi is actually Luke’s father. The quote written above is old Kenobi relaying the story of Vader to Luke, noting that the young Vader didn’t know that Luke’s mother was pregnant, so old Kenobi (then Anakin Skywalker) hid his wife and child with his own brother (as he says) on Tatooine.

The quote above can be found by flipping through the script of Episode Six. Curiously, there appear to be two copies of the Second Draft for this film, both with the same date on them but one missing the additional dialogue from old Kenobi. I take this to mean that this was filmed, but cut out of the final production run. Nevertheless, the quote appears to be quite valid.

But I digress; while I cannot validate the authenticity of the article, one of the leaked “spoilers” from a supposed inside source makes mention of the name Owen. As Episode II progresses, it seems that teenage Anakin has a vision of his mother in peril, and heads to Tatooine to save her. Finding her missing, he gets information from his once-master Watoo, the junk dealer, who tells him that his mother is no longer a slave, and married a man named Cliegg Lars. The two had a child named Owen, whose girlfriend is named Beru Whitesun. This would be the very couple that raises young Luke, whom we see in Episode Four.

Yet as the above quote mentions, Owen is old Kenobi’s brother. If this spoiler is at all true, and Episode Two follows it, then we have a contradiction - whose brother is Owen? The contradiction can be averted if my theory is true - young Anakin becomes Ben Kenobi, so both the reference to Owen being Anakin’s brother, and Owen being old Kenobi’s brother, makes sense, since they are the same person.

Fan Rumours and Speculation

Lots of people have written me about their own proof to aid my theory, and I figured I may as well drop some in with no further explanation. Enjoy.

In an interview with Anthony Daniels (C3PO) after the release of Ep1, he said, “George [Lucas] explained the story to me. He said, “You were built by Anakin,” and I thought, “Oh, that’s really nice because Alec Guiness was so supportive to me on the earlier movies.” I thought it was fitting that Threepio was built by Sir Alec.” Daniel later goes on to say that he forgot Anakin was supposed to end up as Vader. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip. (Can anyone validate this article?)

Another tidbit that I’d love to have someone validate is the supposed announcement of a national radio DJ in the UK who claims that Brian Blessed (Boss Nas) told him some privy information about the sequels. The DJ said that the outcome of the plot twist would be as strange as the revelation in Fight Club.

The original Bringing Back the Force article has been relocated.

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