Why Did Obi Wan Let Darth Vader Kill Him? 🤔

Why did Obi Wan Kenobi let Darth Vader strike him down in A New Hope?

And sure he sacrificed himself to let Luke escape with Han and Leia but the real reason is much deeper than that!

See, right before Vader takes the striking blow, we see Obi Wan’s eyes light up with a curious look of inspiration!

This is Kenobi realizing that Luke was ready to carry on without him being there.

But he also realized that he needed Vader to kill him in order to upgrade to the next Jedi level which was becoming a Force Ghost!

And he was prepared for this cuz he was guided and trained by Qui Gon Jinn’s Force spirit so that one day he would be more powerful than he could imagine!

And he also told Vader this right before he died saying, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine!”

Obi Wan is playing Chess while Vader is playing checkers right here cuz Kenobi knew he could only truly help Luke by ascending to the power of a Force Ghost!

[ColinAverill]

"It's over, Anakin! I have the higher plane of existence!" - Obi Wan, probably

[akchanneltv]

Real answer: he knew he had no shot of getting out of that fight alive and wanted to troll Vader in the afterlife

[InsaneAwesomeTony]

Darth Vader, confused as fuck, stepping on Obi-Wan's robe. Wondering wtf just happened.
*Vader drifting in space after losing the death star*
"At least it can't get any worse ..."
"Hello there."

[callumreid]

And that smirk is a classic "I win again"

[ДмитрийРубежов-эб]

Obi - Wan Be Like:

"IMA DO A LITTLE TROLLING TO DARTH."

[RafaelNogueras-ej]

It also freaked him out when he heard obi wan call out to luke " run luke run". This totally freaked him out and made him nervous. He never experienced a force ghost before leaving him scratching his head. I ❤ it

[arkez]

Obi-wan smirking: And now Anakin I shall have the ultimate high ground.

[Winter]

*insert Harrison Ford saying “I hope this works.* “

[themysteriousoa]

I love how if you look closely at Obi-Wan’s Lightsaber at one point, you can see the stick that is used to help figure out where the blade would be! And before the fight starts, when Obi-Wan says: “Only a master of evil, Darth.” you can hear an odd sound coming from the hilt!

[JohnS-ildr]

Mcgregor did so good with his Obi Wan character that when i hear or read Obi Wans name i think of Mr Mcgregor as the young Obi Wan and not Alec Guinness

[ejay]

I'm so sorry Alec Guinness hated this movie, because he brought so much into it. There are things that the actor can't possibly have know in SW-IV, that you can, nonetheless, read in his facial expression.

[codemaster]

So basically, he was a pawn who reached the end of the chessboard.

[JechtAruon]

Obi wan let Vader strike him down because he knew if Vader found out Luke was his son. He would locate him and Luke would prob join him. Beings Ben was the only father figure he had in his life in a short time. Him killing obi wan would cement in Luke he could never join him even if he was Luke’s father.

[Lanwarder]

I LOVE that character. I love the way Alec Guinness played him, and I admire so very much the amazing work of Ewan McGregor to 1) Create his own version of the character that was still a credible younger version of Guinness' interpretation of the character, and 2) even more admirably the way he bridged the 2 versions of the character with the Kenobi series. Like, I know that there are a lot of imperfections with that series, and I know that people don't necessarily watch Star Wars in order to appreciate good acting skills (Let's be honest, even great actors can't always make amazing results with that kind of don't get me wrong, I love SW.) but McGregor is just that awesome of an actor. I loved him in most projects he was part of.

[nebulaneka]

I never understood, and it still makes no sense. He didn't need to die at all. It's just because the actor didn't want to be in any sequels.

[TheGroundedAviator]

That bad boy smile should've made Vadar know he was up to something. Obi was always known for his wit.

[KingofPotatoPeople]

It’s brilliant that Kenobi’s voice is hearse guiding Luke immediately after he’s ascended - and he’s there guiding Luke to blow up the Death Star, and I always thought he helped guide the torpedo.

[wschmitt]

Honestly, I’ve always felt he smiled because Luke was there too see the sacrifice knowing that Vader would never turn him after what he would see.

[tablemacd]

It was many factors including him and his sister being reunited since birth. Just sum it up to perfect timing

[kaldemvor]

If your idea of power is being able to do absolutely nothing except occasionally visit the living just to talk, Obi-Wan succeeded.