Obi-Wan Kenobi Trailer: What Happens to a Jedi When There’s No Jedi Order?

Prequel fans rejoice! With the release of the Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer, we finally have our first proper glimpse of the highly anticipated Disney+ series. While fans everywhere are mostly just happy to see Ewan McGregor reprising his iconic role as the veteran Jedi Master, one of the big questions hanging over this series concerns what it can add to our understanding of Obi-Wan and the Star Wars universe when we’ve presumably already seen the most important parts of his life in the films.

It turns out the Obi-Wan trailer may imply some rather interesting answers, not just about how we understand Obi-Wan himself but also his approach to Jedi philosophy in a post-Order 66 world. Let’s get into it.

What Were the Jedi, Really?

During the trailer, we hear narration from the Grand Inquisitor as he elaborates on Jedi psychology and how it relates to hunting them down: “The key to hunting Jedi is patience. Jedi cannot help what they are. Their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi Code is like an itch; he cannot help it.” What’s fascinating about this is that it’s certainly an interpretation of the Jedi Code, but not one that fully lines up with the Jedi as presented in the films, particularly in the prequel era.

Contrary to their valorization as “guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic” (said by Obi-Wan himself, ironically enough) from the original trilogy, the Jedi of the prequels were portrayed as heavily flawed, their Order calcified by years of tradition and bureaucracy. Mace Windu may have claimed the Jedi were “keepers of the peace, not soldiers,” but soldiers are still what they became, and their participation in the Clone Wars is a major part of what led to the Republic’s downfall and the rise of the Empire.

Regardless of what the Jedi themselves may say, the Jedi of the prequels were not the height of compassion, often overlooking the injustices they were supposed to fight against. Consider: In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon flatly states that “I didn’t actually come here to free slaves” when Anakin’s mother Shmi asks him if he’ll help her son. There’s also the fact that they take children for training at such young ages that it’s doubtful the children genuinely understand what they’re being inducted into, especially when the Jedi essentially conscripted their entire Order (including the padawans!) into a galactic war. These actions certainly left a trail, but it wasn’t one of compassion.

Speaking of Obi-Wan specifically, while he was perplexed when he looked into the creation of the Clone Army and learned that it was allegedly ordered by a Jedi under, let’s call them questionable circumstances, neither he nor any of the other Jedi (in the films, anyway) seemed to pay much mind to the ethics of creating an entire force of sentient beings bred specifically to fight and die at the Republic’s command, particularly when it became a convenient way to wage war on the Separatists. As an institution, the Jedi Order of the prequels were heroic largely in name. They may have had good intentions, and they may have saved many individual lives, but as a political force their correlation to the Inquisitor’s description is dubious at best. Can the Jedi be different? The trailer hints that it’s a distinct possibility.

A Jedi Without an Order

At the start of the trailer, Obi-Wan seems resigned to how the end of the Jedi Order and the Republic all turned out: “The fight is done. We lost.” While we know he’s keeping an eye on young Luke Skywalker from afar, he certainly sounds defeated. But is he? That the Grand Inquisitor brings up “compassion” and the Jedi Code being “an itch” implies that Obi-Wan will do something heroic that will draw the Inquisitors’ attention, and that he leaves Tatooine to go to other planets like Daiyu means he’s leading them away from Luke. The Order may be gone, but Obi-Wan is still a Jedi, and therein lies the show’s biggest storytelling opportunity.

The show has a chance to examine what it means for a Jedi who was part of that system to now live by his own personal interpretation of the Jedi Code outside of it.

With the destruction of the Jedi Order, but former members like Obi-Wan still around and in fighting shape, the show has a chance to examine what it means for a Jedi who was part of that system to now live by his own personal interpretation of the Jedi Code outside of it. Without any masters, without the Jedi Council or the Senate to report to, we can now learn what Obi-Wan’s personal version of Jedi philosophy is. Bridging the gap between the Obi-Wan we left in Revenge of the Sith and the elderly one Luke meets in A New Hope is a chance to see Obi-Wan truly reflect on his role in the fall of both the Republic and of Anakin Skywalker, and potentially take actions to make up for his mistakes by becoming the wandering hero who serves the Jedi Code by doing good deeds for their own sake instead of being ordered to by a Council.

As Anakin’s friend and mentor, Obi-Wan was part of the equation that led Anakin to the dark side. He was one voice among many who repeatedly told him that forming attachments was forbidden. Obi-Wan and his fellow Jedi were unable to see the value of something like love, which led Anakin to confide not in the man who should have been his best friend, but in Palpatine regarding his visions of Padme’s death. Obi-Wan’s affiliation with the Jedi Order above what should have been his devotion to the Jedi Code and the ideal of compassion is part of what turned Anakin and Obi-Wan into enemies when they most needed to be allies. With the Order in ruins, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series can show what a Jedi who is still in his prime can be when they’re freed of the Order’s expectations and shortcomings.

Remember, Luke and Rey may have been Jedi protagonists in the original trilogy and sequel trilogy respectively, but they were never part of the Jedi’s “glory days.” Yoda had long since hung up his lightsaber by his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Ahsoka, who was part of the prequel era Jedi Order, has popped up in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, but her appearances so far haven’t been substantial enough to show what her personal take on Jedi philosophy is (although we may get to see that in her upcoming show). The Obi-Wan TV series is in a unique position for a live-action Star Wars installment to explore how a Jedi seeing the Order’s downfall changes their relationship to the Jedi Code, as well as how they live by it in a world where they’re at the bottom of the totem pole instead of the top. Perhaps when Obi-Wan is his own master is when he’ll best live up to what the Jedi are supposed to be.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.

Author: Scott Collura.

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