MovieChat Forums > Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) Discussion > Obi-Wan is the Most Bad-Ass of All Jedi

Obi-Wan is the Most Bad-Ass of All Jedi

posted 2 years ago by FilmBuff (6698)
40 replies | jump to latest

I know the films are all about the Skywalkers, but if we're being honest, Obi-Wan Kenobi is the true bad-ass of all the Jedi. Maybe Yoda is his equal, but who knows? We never saw enough of him to really be certain.

When he was still being trained by Qui-Gon Jinn, he rather handily defeated Darth Maul, who had just killed Qui-Gon. Later, he definitively beat a nearly fully trained Anakin Skywalker, leaving him for dead. Now, ten years later, when Anakin is at the height of his Darth Vader powers, and demonstrating a frightening level of power, Kenobi again stomps him.

I really wish they had made Rey a Kenobi. I feel like that would have been a far more satisfying conclusion to the story arc.

[–] mcp7 (143) 2 years ago

He was humiliated by Dooku twice, and was lucky when he "killed" Maul and Grievous.

[–] PersistentViewer (1814) 2 years ago

And yet he still survived. It's not always about winning, it's about surviving as well.

[–] mcp7 (143) 2 years ago

True, but I don't think just surviving can be considered "bad-ass".

[–] FilmBuff (6698) 2 years ago

Remind me how he was lucky against either? He defeated both rather handily. Against Grievous he almost immediately chopped off two of hands, and after Grievous fled he caught up to him and killed him despite no longer having his light saber. I don't recall any good luck in either of those fights.

[–] Kendricks (2084) 2 years ago

Lucky against Maul? How?

- He was significantly less experienced in actual combat
- He just lost his master
- He was alone against a, technically, clearly superior foe who basically toyed with both Jedi until the end
- He managed to overcome the obstacle of certain death and utilized the force to surprise his gloating enemy who let his guard down, blinded by his arrogance.

That is not luck, that was pure skill and dedication.

[–] mcp7 (143) 2 years ago

He ends hanging on a ledge and without his lightsaber in both situations.

He was lucky that Maul was stupid enough to just stand there doing nothing while Obi-Wan jumped over him and grabbed his lightsaber. Grievous was about to kill him and he was lucky there was a blaster near.

[–] Kendricks (2084) 2 years ago

> He ends hanging on a ledge and without his lightsaber in both situations.

And yet he bested his foe by channeling the force and being better. I explained this already. Pay attention.

[–] mcp7 (143) 2 years ago

I paid perfect attention and read what you posted just fine, thank you. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

[–] AP (5259) 2 years ago

He had more fights with Maul in Clone Wars and one in Rebels. He ended up being Maul’s better. He also had a couple of fights with Grievous in that series and did well for himself.

[–] mcp7 (143) 2 years ago

True. I'm not saying he's weak, he's a quite powerful jedi in his own right, but he's below Yoda, Mace Windu or Anakin for me.

[–] AP (5259) 2 years ago

Sure. Obviously, Anakin, Mace and Yoda are the goats. Obi-Wan always struck me as the guy who's just below the top-tier. He's not on the A-list, but he's right at the top of the B-list.

[–] DeckardB26354 (969) 2 years ago

FilmBuff.. you on medication kid?

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 years ago

Don't know about the most bad-ass but he's definitely a strong contender. He defeated Maul at a huge disadvantage in The Phantom Menace seeing as Maul had the high ground. He also owns Maul in Star Wars Rebels as an old Jedi in only a few seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k

He's definitely the most selfish Jedi though. Okay fair enough he thought Anakin had burned to death on Mustafar but he doesn't kill him in this series and then in A New Hope he just gives up against Vader for some reason when he probably could have defeated him again.

I'd probably still give it to Yoda though just because he holds his own against Palpatine in his prime in Revenge of the Sith. Yeah Rey defeats Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker but there's no lightsaber duel there, it's not as badass.

[–] FilmBuff (6698) 2 years ago

Is selfish the right word? I did wonder why he didn't kill Vader at the end of the recent series, but came to the conclusion that it's better to have someone he knows, and can predict (and defeat) in Vader's role than an unknown. Also, Vader was defeated, and Jedi don't kill someone unless they have to do so.

At the end of Star Wars, I think it was clear that he knew he could do more for Luke as a Force Ghost than he could ever do as a flesh and blood person. He'd accomplished what was needed in life, and was ready to move on to the next plane, or whatever you'd call it. You also have to take into account that Star Wars exists in a sort of vacuum, and it's tough to judge everything said and done in that film against subsequent revisions of the story in sequels and prequels.

And yes, Yoda proved himself to be a shockingly skilled dueler. If anyone could take down Kenobi it would be him.

[–] TandyMan (10393) 2 years ago

I think he let Vader live cause he still believed in Anakin's redemption. The Empire was gonna enslave the galaxy no matter what at this point. Didn't matter if it was Vader turning the screws or not. I believe this is also why Obi changed his thinking about training Luke and letting him just be a boy. He saw the disaster of trying to turn a kid into something it maybe shouldn't be, knew it could just bring about a Vader 2.0, and decided to just let the universe sort itself out.

[–] FilmBuff (6698) 2 years ago

That makes sense.

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 years ago

Yeah, also there still was that prophecy of Anakin being ‘The Chosen One’ which maybe Qui-Gon’s dying words still stayed with Kenobi enough for him to still believe it 25 years after Qui-Gon’s death.

And yeah Anakin was the chosen one in that he did (eventually) defeat Palpatine until ‘somehow Palpatine returned.’

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 years ago

Yeah true, I don’t really have a problem with it, I’d rather be left a bit confused by the revisions in the story than not have what we got because I enjoyed the show and the rematch between Vader and Obi-Wan in the finale was awesome.

What I noticed as well in the finale is just how powerful a force user Obi-Wan is at that point as well. Haven’t seen that many rocks lifted since Rey at the end of The Last Jedi. Like you said, would have been much better if Rey had been a Kenobi.

[–] TandyMan (10393) 2 years ago

Obi is definitely the greatest of all the Jedi. But not the most bad ass. I would say his combat skills are adequate at best. He's basically a monk. All about the D. The only reason he gets the best of Vader is he trained the kid, knows all his moves, and knows all his weaknesses. There was probably a lot of Jedi who could have kicked Vader's ass, but all they all got shot in the back by clone troopers.

[–] FilmBuff (6698) 2 years ago

I think you are underestimating his abilities in combat.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

The 3 jedi who accompanied Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine would be my choice. Just the fact that Mace would chose those 3, was enough evidence for me to believe they were the most skilled jedi in the galaxy. They each just got a little unlucky during that arrest attempt

[–] howgamer (3651) 2 years ago

Maybe Mace only chose those three because those members of the council were available. Obi-Wan and Yoda were off planet at the time.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

Oh. I thought Mace picked them because they were the 3 greatest jedi fighters ever

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 years ago

Lol the arrest attempt is so daft, like how dumb was it to not wait until Palpatine is out in public and arrest him then.

Then if he tries to flee or make a scene it’s in the public eye and he’s exposed as an evil Sith Lord.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

I know. But at first Mace wants to arrest him, then changes his mind and all of a sudden, he becomes too dangerous to be left alive. Besides, Mace may have well taken 3 jedi padawans with him. They would have put up more resistance. Those 3 were the 3 most useless jedi in the galaxy

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 years ago

Haha yep, although we’ve seen in Attack of the Clones in the battle of Geonosis that the battle droids were even able to kill nearly 200 Jedi in that arena battle.

Still those 3 Jedi were so useless. Mace Windu is such a skilled duelist as well that you’re telling me that he couldn’t have killed Palpatine when he went in for a killing strike on any of those 3 Jedi.

Lucas brought out the plot armour big time on Palpatine with this bit.

[–] Alex (1478) 2 years ago

Considering how most of the master rank jedi got taken out like little bitches its freaking hilarious that Anakin wanted to become one as well.

[–] strntz (10883) 2 years ago

No he's not. His brother Obi-Julio is the most bad ass Jedi.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

Impossible. Obi Wan is not Mexican

[–] strntz (10883) 2 years ago

They're half Mexican?

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

But Mexico is not even in the Star Wars galaxy. I havent heard of anything ever about Obi Wan having a brother. Why wasn't he ever mentioned in any movie?

[–] strntz (10883) 2 years ago

He wasn't very nice and he dabbled on the dark side. Best left unspoken.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

Was he Darth Maul?

[–] rateater (9266) 2 years ago

nien nunb may have been mexican

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

No, he is a Sullustan. Mexico and the hispanic language is not known in the galaxy

[–] LanceDance (1088) 2 years ago

As much as I like Obi-Wan, he's more of a mid character when compared to other Jedi, movies and EU. Movie-wise, yes, he's the OG master; yes he held his own against Darth Maul, Grievous, and Anakin, but two of those three fights he won out of luck, while the third his opponent got cocky and made a stupid mistake. Kenobi still lost to Dooku in both fights we saw him in.

In my opinion, Mace Windu is the most bad-ass of all the Jedi when going by the movies. He beat Sidious when other masters died within seconds of fighting him, even Yoda struggled with him. He would've won had Anakin not intervened, and Windu was always hesitant of Anakin when other masters began to let their guard down around him. Windu had that drill sergeant attitude, and was played by Sam frickin' Jackson. Yoda himself wasn't confident in Kenobi's abilities against Sidious, but Windu was clearly powerful enough. He also killed Jango Fett, who Kenobi also struggled with.

I'm just going by the movies, but while they both also have more feats in EU stuff, even then, Windu outshines Kenobi by a lot for me. I always thought it was interesting how highly Anakin looks up to Obi-Wan, comparing him to Yoda and Windu in terms of wisdom and power respectively, even though he didn't really like him in Attack of the Clones. While Obi-Wan is wise, and not at all a bad fighter or weak in the force, he's not as nearly powerful or skilled as Windu, not even close.

[–] millsey72 (9599) 2 years ago

Yoda failed to defeat Palpatine and Dooku. Its a good thing Yoda didn't go in the cave in TESB because I think the phony Vader might have beaten him

[–] TylerAArse (2660) 2 years ago

I don't know. I kinda think Mace Windu is the true bad-ass. He took down a Sith all by himself.

[–] FilmBuff (6698) 2 years ago

True, but one wonders if Palpatine was truly defeated, or if he had started his playing possum routine a bit early as he sensed Anakin's pending arrival. He seemed to go down rather easily just moments before Anakin showed up, and it makes more sense that feigning defeat was his plan all along. He knew that was his chance to turn Anakin to his side, and also knew that if he didn't turn him, his was likely a lost cause.

All that said, Mace Windu was quite the bad-ass, and it's a terrible shame how badly misused he was in those prequels, though the same can be said for a lot, most really, of the prequel characters.

[–] TylerAArse (2660) 2 years ago

Yeah, that may have been the case. I really don't know when Pal started playing possum in that scene.