Star Words: Episode IV, Part 31

[matril]

As the fateful duel ensues, Vader sneers at Obi-Wan. Your powers are weak, old man. Are they? Ben seemed pretty capable in the cantina, confronting a bunch of desert hoodlums. But Vader is a far greater foe. And certainly if we compare this with the duel on Mustafar, it's pretty tame. Yet that goes for Vader too. Is it simply that they've both gotten old, or are they holding back? Is there something deep beneath the surface of the embittered Sith Lord that resists the idea of killing his old master? Does Ben have similar reservations? Am I reading far too much into this? Probably.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan's calm response is one of the best lines of the entire saga.

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

The first part echoes something Ben said earlier, while counseling Han that there are alternatives to fighting. That cryptic idea is expanded here, with a glimpse at the mystic depths of the Force. How could someone become more powerful after being killed? Isn't death the end?

Later we will witness Obi-Wan's ghostly presence emerging post-death, first as a voice and then as a full corporeal vision, continuing to guide and direct Luke. More powerful, indeed. And yet is there even more to it than that? When you consider how the prequels explore the conflict of learning to accept loss versus fighting death at any cost, this iconic line becomes all the more fascinating. Anakin spent so much of his youth struggling with the inevitability of death, eventually selling his soul in this futile pursuit. Yet it appears that the only way to truly overcome death -- a secret attained by none other than Qui-Gon -- is to embrace it, without fear or defiance. It wouldn't have saved Anakin's mother or wife from dying, but it might have saved his soul.

Next, a scathing criticism from Leia...

Comments

[krpalmer]

When it comes to this duel I'm usually all right with considering the realities of pitting Sir Alec Guinness versus David Prowse in his Darth Vader suit back in 1976 (I suppose I could claim a "fan point" or two by bringing up "the Doylist perspective" in a knowing way), although reading "reluctance" into it is interesting to contemplate too. A part of me wonders if Obi-Wan was stretching the encounter out until Luke could see Vader striking him down, although that still doesn't address what Vader was or wasn't trying. That, though, might have ramifications and possible interpretations reaching forward to Return of the Jedi, and perhaps back too to some objections I kept bringing up with the previous three movies about "too-omnipotent plotters."

(I do know some fans made up a "duel fan-video" not that long ago perhaps using the same sort of special effects used for Christopher Lee's lightsabre duels, although just perhaps I'm not as taken with it as others seem.)

When it comes to being "more powerful," every so often I do wonder even so if Obi-Wan had intended to tell Luke to go to Dagobah and continue his training with Yoda much sooner than he actually did, only to "fade out" before he could... although I can "handwave" a few theories explaining that away.