Star Words: Episode IV, Part 13
Jun. 13th, 2019 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Poor, hapless Luke. One minute he's confidently assuring Ben I'm ready for anything; the next minute he's clearly in way over his head. He doesn't even know that bringing droids into a seedy establishment like this will immediately mark him as an ignorant outsider. Then he has this very memorable exchange with a ruffian looking for someone to pick on:
"He doesn't like you."
"Sorry."
"I don't like you either. You just watch yourself. We're wanted men -- I have the death sentence on 12 systems."
"I'll be careful."
"You'll be dead!"

Highly quotable, entertaining and ever so much fun to reenact. Not only do we see that our intrepid farmboy is way out of his element, with no idea how to deal with such random antagonism, but we are able to witness how Ben rescues him. He doesn't immediately resort to violence, first offering something to placate the attacker, but when that fails, he goes into aggressive negotiations. A literal disarming, as it were. This might be Obi-Wan's signature move. The music and carousing picks up again immediately thereafter, but the patrons give him and his party plenty of space after that.
Of course showing off his lightsaber like that is the surest way to reveal his Jedi status. I have to wonder about Ben's reasoning in exposing his secret when he's been in hiding all this time. Does he figure the cantina's patrons are too wrapped up in their own shady business to think of reporting him? Does he view protecting Luke as a greater concern than staying in hiding? We can only speculate, but one way or another, the cat is out of the bag.
Next time, Ben is casually unimpressed with a certain pilot's boasts...
"He doesn't like you."
"Sorry."
"I don't like you either. You just watch yourself. We're wanted men -- I have the death sentence on 12 systems."
"I'll be careful."
"You'll be dead!"

Highly quotable, entertaining and ever so much fun to reenact. Not only do we see that our intrepid farmboy is way out of his element, with no idea how to deal with such random antagonism, but we are able to witness how Ben rescues him. He doesn't immediately resort to violence, first offering something to placate the attacker, but when that fails, he goes into aggressive negotiations. A literal disarming, as it were. This might be Obi-Wan's signature move. The music and carousing picks up again immediately thereafter, but the patrons give him and his party plenty of space after that.
Of course showing off his lightsaber like that is the surest way to reveal his Jedi status. I have to wonder about Ben's reasoning in exposing his secret when he's been in hiding all this time. Does he figure the cantina's patrons are too wrapped up in their own shady business to think of reporting him? Does he view protecting Luke as a greater concern than staying in hiding? We can only speculate, but one way or another, the cat is out of the bag.
Next time, Ben is casually unimpressed with a certain pilot's boasts...
no subject
Date: 2019-06-14 10:47 am (UTC)So far as "revealing himself as a Jedi," I did get to thinking that Obi-Wan has already met Chewbacca and supposes he'll soon be on a fast ship to Alderaan, where he might well have revealed himself to the galaxy itself as a crucial figure in a Rebellion led by Bail Organa... Still, I also wondered if there might still be lightsabres to be found here and throughout the galaxy, taken up by quixotic types and occasionally useful as gruesome in-fighting surprises (Grievous and Han possibly suggesting you don't "have" to feel the Force to hold an ignited lightsabre without immediately slicing yourself apart, as secondary material may have worked itself towards in the end).
no subject
Date: 2019-06-14 03:55 pm (UTC)It does make sense that Obi-Wan figures there's not much point in hiding anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to see lightsabers wielded by non-Jedi, though not with the kind of blinding speed as Ben showcases here.