Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi, also known as Ben Kenobi, is one of the major characters from the Star Wars franchise.

Obi-Wan was a Jedi and High Jedi General for the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Kenobi's importance to the war was unprecedented, as he was a key factor to a great number of the Republic's victories. Aside from his skills in battle, Obi-Wan Kenobi also possessed extraordinary skills as a diplomat, with solutions that ended battles without fighting.

Personality
In his youth, the loyal and dedicated Obi-Wan Kenobi possessed a dry sense of humor and sarcastic wit, yet he dealt with a lot of emotional anxiety. Yoda said that he sensed Qui-Gon Jinn's defiance in him, but spoke very highly of him nonetheless. Jinn himself reflected upon Obi-Wan's considerable knowledge and potential; he also considered his Padawan a lot wiser than him. Despite having been apprenticed to the radical Qui-Gon Jinn, Kenobi was relatively orthodox in his views. Kenobi had a strong friendship with Commander Cody, who saved his life aboard an Arquitens-class light cruiser when the corridor was blown off by General Grievous. Cody reached out and grabbed Kenobi's hand before the General was sucked into the vacuum of space.

As a young Jedi Knight, Kenobi was cynical, though wise beyond his years. His humble and soft-spoken demeanor belied his warrior prowess. Despite his numerous complaints during flight, he was also a skilled pilot. In many ways, he represented the strength of the old Jedi Order: steadfast, selfless, and modest. His later skill at resolving disputes without a single battle would earn him the sobriquet The Negotiator.

Over time, Kenobi lost some of his youthful audacity and assumed the role of a more cautious and conservative mentor to Anakin Skywalker, who was in many ways his opposite in personality. Kenobi carefully measured his actions in any situation, garnering him the aforementioned nom de guerre. Kenobi was also known to be an accomplished storyteller. While hiding in the Jundland Wastes in his later years, he appeared as a kindly and eccentric old hermit (or, in Owen Lars' words, "That wizard is just a crazy old man") to those not familiar with the ways of the Jedi. In his final days, Kenobi retained his traits of patience and foresight as well as gaining some of the boldness reminiscent of his youth.

Obi-Wan often thought out plans and strategies rather than leaping into action. He would usually place his hand on his chin or stroke his beard as he thought. This was a common trait of the Jedi Master, one that his apprentice Anakin Skywalker did not practice very often.

Abilities
Despite his preference for diplomacy, Master Kenobi was one of the greatest swordsmen and Force-users in Jedi history.

As a young Jedi Padawan, Kenobi showed much potential, through feats such as resisting a memory wipe (being renewed) at the hands of the Syndicate, and defeating a corrupted Bruck Chun in a lightsaber duel. He accomplished the prior by placing Force barriers all around his mind, something only a Jedi Master should be able to do. This displayed not only his strength in the Force but also his strength of character.

Lightsaber Training
Obi-Wan Kenobi was one of the greatest lightsaber duelists of his time. A natural swordsman, Kenobi's ability was evident even at a young age. During his training under Qui-Gon Jinn, Kenobi chose to specialize in Ataru, his relatively advanced skills reinforced by his youth and stamina, which helped compensate for his relative inexperience. While he relied on the acrobatics to flank his opponents, and to facilitate his strong penchant for physical attacks, Kenobi largely eschewed the more impractical elements of Ataru, such as the open flourishes, favoring more simplistic and direct moves. In addition to Ataru, Kenobi also studied Shien, as evidenced by his accurate blast-deflections and his occasional use for the reversed grip, and Niman, to develop his ability to incorporate Force abilities into his fighting form. He also studied the martial art Tae-Jitsu, and was very fond of chaining hand-to-hand combat strikes into his lightsaber sequences. His degree of skill with this martial art was such that he was able to break the knee of the hulking Savage Opress with a well placed kick, though it should be noted that Opress's knee had been weakened from repeated trauma earlier in the duel. Kenobi also displayed an early interest in studying Form VII, specifically Mace Windu's Vaapad variant, but Qui-Gon refused to let him study it. Ultimately, Qui-Gon Jinn's death due to Ataru's lack of defensive capabilities prompted Kenobi to abandon Form IV as his primary style, but he mastered it nonetheless. Kenobi began studying the defensive Soresu, intending to create a hybrid between it and Ataru to compensate for Form IV's aforementioned lack of defense. Though Soresu eventually became his primary fighting form, he implemented elements of Ataru into his swordplay from time to time.

Ten years of study into Form III resulted in Kenobi developing an extraordinary amount of proficiency in the form. His tight defense and energy-efficient moves stood him in good stead against masterful gunslingers such as Jango Fett, or during the chaotic firefights of the First Battle of Geonosis. However, Kenobi's Soresu proved unable to effectively counter Dooku's skills during their first confrontation. On that occasion, Dooku's elegant Makashi strokes and jabs worked away at Kenobi's defense; many of Kenobi's cutting parries missed Dooku's blade entirely, while Dooku's feints confused the Jedi and forced him to retreat, ultimately bringing him down. Over the course of the Clone Wars, Kenobi continued to develop his technique. His blast-deflection skills were further honed to the point where Kenobi could literally walk unscathed through what were described as hornet-swarms of blasterfire, single-handedly deflecting blasts from all directions simultaneously. Thousands of hours of sparring and practice sessions considerably advanced his skills as a duelist as well. Even unarmed, Kenobi was a formidable opponent, evading enemy attacks and working his way inside their defense to physically assault them, as he did against Asajj Ventress and Pre Vizsla. In addition to Soresu, Kenobi would also master and incorporate elements of Shii-Cho and Niman into his fighting style. He also was highly well versed in the art of Jar'Kai, which was perhaps most prominently displayed during his duel with Darth Maul and Savage Opress, as he proved proficient enough to hold his own against both brothers and he even managed to break Opress's left knee and sever his left arm. The dual ultimately ended as a stalemate when Maul used his Force powers to briefly incapacitate Kenobi, giving the Sith brothers time to escape. Earlier on, he momentarily used Jar'Kai against Asajj Ventress, General Grievous, and Cad Bane.

By the end of the war, Kenobi's study into Soresu had resulted in absolute mastery of the style. His skill was such that he was considered by Mace Windu not to simply be a master of Soresu, but to be the master of Soresu. In his final duel with Dooku, Kenobi caught the Count off-guard with his advanced application, with Kenobi's simplicity and efficiency as well as also his bewildering speed and precision being praised by Dooku, and was able to fight him to a standstill, to the point that Dooku recognized that he couldn't defeat Kenobi in blade-work. Therefore, he relied on his Force abilities to defeat Kenobi, twice using telekinetic attacks to floor the Jedi Master. In his duel with Grievous, Kenobi provided one of his purest applications of Soresu. His blade's intricate pattern of blocks and parries moved just fast enough to subtly interfere with Grievous' multiple strikes, while his slight dodges and shifts of stance allowed him to simply evade the rest. His mastery allowed him to comfortably counter up to eighteen of Grievous's strikes per second. When Grievous intensified his attack, Kenobi stopped stonewalling the general and simply began altering the angle of his parries, cutting off two of Grievous' mechanical hands. Kenobi proved to be one of the only Jedi able to engage Darth Vader and survive, as his Soresu mastery perfectly countered Vader's angry Form V. Kenobi simply gave ground before Vader's onslaught, waiting until Vader grew frustrated and overconfident, and then dismembering the hapless Sith Lord when his defense lapsed.

By the time of his rematch with Vader on the Death Star, however, Kenobi's seventeen years of not duelling, apart from the one point where he fought and came out on top over A'Sharad Hett, had made him out of practice, causing his skills to atrophy to an extent. However, Kenobi retained enough skill in Form III to be able to fight against Vader's newly improved skills well-enough that even the Dark Lord had to praise Kenobi's skills and acknowledged them enough that he opted for a cautious, controlled assault instead of an all-out attack despite Kenobi's older age due to having previously learned from his mistake in Mustafar. Although he was not able to find any openings to exploit, it was still impressive that Kenobi was able to still predict all of Vader's attacks and counter them, considering how Vader's new style contained elements of all forms of lightsaber combat and he was even able to briefly force Vader into the defensive with a flurry of attacks when the Dark Lord was off-guard. Ultimately, however, due to his age, lack of practice, and the sheer physical force of Vader's attacks, Kenobi recognized that his defeat was inevitable despite having put up a good fight and rather than continue the fight, he opted to sacrifice his physical self and become one with the Force. In this way, he taught both of his Skywalker students one final lesson.

Force Powers
Though Kenobi focused largely on lightsaber combat he was also very skilled and powerful in use of the Force. At one point, Anakin compared Kenobi to Mace Windu in terms of Force power. He was trained in use of the Mind trick, Force persuasion and the more advanced Dominate Mind skill. As instructed by Qui-Gon Jinn's Force ghost, Kenobi eventually learned the ability to become a spirit after death, like his former Master. He would later put this skill to good use, guiding and counseling Luke Skywalker during the Rebellion.

Kenobi was also capable of a very powerful Force Push, which he used consistently throughout the Clone Wars and against Grievous during their final duel in 19 BBY. He later displayed his mastery of Force Push during his duel with Darth Vader on Mustafar, as neither of them were able to overpower the other while simultaneously using the ability. The two struggled against each other for a short time, and though Kenobi was clearly giving ground, they both ended up being hurled in opposite directions across the room they were in. The fact that Vader's connection to the Force was, at the time, stronger than any known Force user in history further exemplifies Kenobi's mastery of the technique. Obi-Wan was capable of other telekinetic feats and could use the Force to increase his body's endurance and agility, amplifying his speed to such an extent that he could literally disappear from sight in a blur, either to avoid attacks or to strike first with his own. Kenobi was also capable of using the Force to perform extensive acrobatics, allowing him to leap huge distances and cover much more ground in a much shorter amount of time. Obi-wan was adept at the saber throw, as demonstrated during the Clone Wars to destroy a droideka.

Apart from these impressive applications of the Force, Kenobi was known to be incredibly adept in the use of Animal friendship, allowing him to exert considerable influence over otherwise untamable beasts. During the Battle of Ryloth, the Jedi Master was able to calm and control a large group of starved, vicious and attacking gutkurrs.

In addition, Kenobi was able to use Force deflection and Force repulse, both of which he utilized masterfully during his fight with the bounty hunter Durge on Muunilinst. During their initial bout, Kenobi was deprived of his lightsaber and forced to deflect blasts from both a rapid-firing dart launcher and a flamethrower using only the Force. This was all the more impressive considering that flamethrowers were so difficult to counter with the Force that they were considered a favorite among Jedi hunters. He later demonstrated the ability to deflect blaster bolts from a destroyer droid with the Force. During Kenobi's second bout with Durge, which occurred only a few minutes after their first encounter, Durge absorbed the Jedi Master into his body and attempted to smother him. However, Kenobi managed to use a Force Repulse (or some variation of the technique), to destroy the bounty hunter's body from within. Although largely unused on anything other than droids, the Jedi Council member was proficient in the use of the Force crush ability, which he used on one occasion to dispatch pairs of assassin droids. Kenobi was known to have some knowledge of Tutaminis in his repertoire. He was also capable of using his lightsaber to ground Force lightning, as he demonstrated against Dooku on Geonosis.

Kenobi was also able to imitate sounds using the Force, like when he imitated a Krayt Dragon's roar scaring off the Tusken Raiders who were attacking Luke.

Other Abilities
Obi-Wan Kenobi proved himself to be a great military strategist and a highly studious man, which resulted in his attaining the rank of High General along with Mace Windu during the Clone Wars. He personally led his troops to many famous victories on worlds such as: Raxus Prime, Muunilinst and Utapau, as well as countless others. His persuasive demeanor earned him the moniker of "The Negotiator," and his tactical skills allowed the Republic to minimize Clone casualties during many of their battles. His use of Advanced Recon Commandos and Lance Troopers on Muunilinst were key elements to the victory of the Republic.

His strategic ability was also shown in his lightsaber combat. Applying the principles of Soresu and Sokan, he often took advantage of his superior defensive capabilities and position on the battlefield to win his battles with as little effort exhausted as possible. He used this particular strategy to tire his former Padawan out and sever his legs and left arm on Mustafar.

Despite his dislike of flying, Kenobi was an excellent pilot. As a Padawan, he was known as one of the greatest pilots in the Jedi Order, expressing great interest in the early Jedi starfighter program. During the Clone Wars, he led many attacks from the cockpit of his Jedi starfighter or his Jedi interceptor, often designated as Red Leader. He could repair all kinds of craft and machines as well as use computers to enhance his various skills. Constantly monitoring the hyperdrive generator of the Naboo Royal Starship, Obi-Wan readied the core for repairs. Obi-Wan then used his technical expertise to repair the hyperdrive on Queen Amidala's vessel.

Kenobi was also a skilled hand to hand combatant. Trained at the Jedi Temple and having undergone extensive sparring matches with Masters Jinn and Windu, he developed a considerable level of skill in unarmed combat, enough so to outclass Pre Vizsla, leader of the Death Watch, in both their bouts of the lightsaber as well as their fists. During his duel with Jango Fett on Kamino, Kenobi was briefly deprived of his lightsaber, and fought the bounty hunter in unarmed combat.

Though he preferred lightsabers, Obi-Wan was an excellent marksman, as demonstrated during his time as "Rako Hardeen" in the "Box," something he boasted of to Anakin.

In his later years, Kenobi apparently learned to understand Shyriiwook and other alien languages.

Trivia

 * In both human and ghost form, Obi-Wan Kenobi is the only character seen in every episode.


 * In the Prequel Trilogy, Obi-Wan had light brown hair when he was young while in the Original Trilogy, he has gray hair, due to aging.
 * Both actors who portrayed Obi-Wan disliked the role.