STAR WARS

Vader vs Kenobi: Round Two

Did Kenobi go looking for Vader? How orchestrated is this meeting? Looks like Vader went walking around the corridors next to the hanger bay, seeking Kenobi. Maybe he could psychically 'feel' Kenobi's presence. Or maybe he knows Kenobi's tactics well enough that he could surmise he'd try to sneak back to the ship. Or, far more likely, perhaps he just scanned recent security tapes. Jedi mind tricks might work on people, but they don't effect recorded media.

This encounter finds both of these old duffers nervous, evidenced by their respective goofy taunts:

These two have been waiting for two decades or better to try and kill each other again. Now that's hatred. Two of the fiercest warriors of a bygone war, their bodies are now weak and shattered. Vader does not seem to be using his cyborg tech to assist him much. As a point of honor he may be using just his own strength. Compare his performance here with the later duels with his son, where he pulls out all the stops.

Apparently Kenobi lights his lightsaber after Vader, who seemingly appears on the scene with his already lit and ready. However, Kenobi is the first to strike. In Empire, Luke tells us that Yoda emphasises a self-defence-only approach to Lightsider Force practition. Luke will later always light his saber first and strike first (at one point he will even attempt to strike at an unarmed old man with a lightsaber. The kid fights dirty).

Painfully slow, they circle each other swiping away like a pair of... well, like a pair of old men with swords.

Vader realizes that Kenobi is going to lose:

The line, "You should not have come back" sounds a bit wistful or regretful. This conflict has led to him killing his old friend and mentor. We never get to know how this affects Anakin as the movies make every effort to only show us Anakin's business end.

Kenobi is only the latest to die near Luke Skywalker. Life expectancy in this kid's presence is quite low.

When Kenobi spots Luke he gets an incredibly smug look on his face. He has implanted Luke with hypnotic suggestions and obviously he feels this will cement the deal. It's a choice forced on him with this battle. He's going to die an the hands of his old enemy, but the goal is to make the most of it. He wants Luke to see Vader strike him down. This should imprint in Luke the idea of Vader being his enemy, and make Luke seek revenge for Kenobi's death. In the process, Luke is now set to believe he will be a Jedi knight.

Luke never gets the training necessary to become a Jedi, but the power of suggestion is strong in this one. Kenobi wants Vader dead. He has told Luke that Vader killed his father, he has delivered Luke to the Rebels, and now through hypnotism and trauma he has constructed a delusional madman. Luke very quickly comes to believe that he has special powers of a magickal nature. Because he believes this, he is able to perform feats of superhuman intensity and ferocity

Kenobi has tried his best to create the ultimate hitman and unleash him on the Empire. He did a good job. Luke IS the ultimate hitman and he does everything that Kenobi and the Rebels could never do. Kenobi, that groveling dog of the royals, has doomed the galaxy to slavery under the tyrannical rule of a halluciniatory psychopath.