Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was once the most-anticipated prequel ever, and was therefore tasked with answering a few burning questions. Chief among the fandom’s curiosities was the origins of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who serves as an enigmatic mentor to Luke Skywalker in A New Hope and is clearly keeping some secrets from the aspiring Jedi. What would a younger version of the character be like, and what would the adventures of his youth reveal about the galaxy?
Fans got their answers with The Phantom Menace and its sequels, which revealed how close Obi-Wan was to the man who would become Darth Vader. Obi-Wan’s failure to keep his padawan, Anakin Skywalker, on the straight and narrow explained his aloofness in A New Hope. He was ashamed, trapped in a self-imposed exile, and determined to put his past behind him. It’s no wonder he feigns ignorance about his own name, choosing to go by Ben instead of Obi-Wan to Luke and others on Tatooine.
The prequels expanded on Obi-Wan’s character with aplomb, but it took a lot of work to reconcile the young version of the Jedi Knight with the man he’d become. Earlier versions of The Phantom Menace took a more radical approach, and according to concept and storyboard artist Iain McCaig, the Lucasfilm team even tried to more closely connect his origin story to his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.
McCaig is a Lucasfilm legend, well-known for his character designs across the Star Wars prequels. He’s perhaps most famous for creating the final design for the villainous Darth Maul, but McCaig was also heavily involved in creating human characters like Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan. As the artist recently told StarWars.com, the latter almost went through a major change that would have given Obi-Wan a very different backstory:
“For a time, the older Jedi was named Obi-Wan and the younger Jedi was named Qui-Gon. It was very poignant that at the end, as Obi-Wan dies and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his Master as he passes away, he not only takes on his Master’s quest, but he takes on his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan. That’s why when you see Alec Guinness in A New Hope, he puts his hood down and goes, ‘Obi-Wan? Now that’s a name I’ve not heard…’ Because he’s not Obi-Wan, he’s Qui-Gon.”
In the end, George Lucas opted for a simpler conclusion to The Phantom Menace. Qui-Gon became the master, and Obi-Wan the apprentice, which was probably the smartest choice in the grand scheme of things. It would have been quite the twist, and seeing “Qui-Gon” take on his master’s name along with his mission might have been moving, but it’s also a bit confusing. This particular chapter of Star Wars lore is already busy and messy, so it just makes more sense to keep Obi-Wan as Obi-Wan. Now we just have to figure out why he didn’t come up with a more creative name for his exile than Ben.
