Obi-Wan Kenobi (Part 7)

Welcome back, everyone.  Thank you for bearing with me the past few weeks.  I’m happy to say that we are back and on-track to complete Obi-Wan Kenobi before Thanksgiving.

For those of you who are just now joining us, Parts 0 through 2 of this series laid the groundwork for this rewrite, while Parts 3 through 6 covered Episodes 1 through 4.  There will be a brief recap below, but I encourage you to go back and check the earlier installments if you haven’t already.

Everyone ready?  Good.  Let’s get right back into it.

Series Recap

Obi-Wan was living alone on Tatooine, shutting out the troubles of the galaxy in his myopic focus to protect Luke.  His ability to contact Qui-Gon’s spirit failed as a result.  When the Jedi Master Jorus C’Baoth came to him, asking for help with building a rebel sect known as the Hidden Path, Obi-Wan agreed, hoping to redirect C’Baoth’s attention away from Luke.

Shortly after arriving on Jabiim, where C’baoth has set up the Path’s newest facility, Obi-Wan is asked to rescue a Path operative and a collection of young conscripts from the Imperial-occupied world of Daiyu.  Obi-Wan reluctantly agreed.  Upon arrived on Daiyu, he utilized his years of experience from the Clone Wars to stage a diversionary assault upon an Imperial garrison while the Path members escaped.  The escape was not bloodless.  One of the Path operatives, a Jedi named Haja, used a mind trick to take control of the clones Obi-Wan had hired for the assault, sending them to their deaths against the Inquisitor pursuing them.

Now, as Obi-Wan speeds back towards Jabiim, C’baoth continues to groom the next generation of Jedi, using mind tricks to twist their perceptions.  One recruit – the kidnapped Princess Leia – has proven resistant to his influence.  This delights C’baoth, who is ready to advance her to the next stage of training …

EPISODE 5 – MASTERS AND APPRENTICES

Opening Scene

Leia wanders around the Hidden Path facility on Jabiim while the other children are in their morning lesson.  She tries to get to the landing pad, but the mercenaries on guard at the exit refuse to let her through.  She then picks her way through the mining facility to an elevated walkway from the offices to a mine shaft higher in the cliff face, trying to see if she can climb down to the landing pad from there.

It is here that C’baoth announces himself.  He seems to materialize behind Leia.  She’s startled, but he shows no sign of anger, merely asking if she really thought she could escape by jumping from the walkway.  When she points out that she’s not stupid enough to try that, he cryptically responds, “No … I suppose you aren’t ready for that yet.”

C’baoth then tells probes Leia about her feelings towards her peers.

C’BAOTH: You seem rather eager to pick fights with the others.

LEIA: I’m just telling the truth.  They just don’t like that.

C’BAOTH: The first lesson you need to learn about the galaxy, Princess, is that most people don’t care about the truth.  Not because they are liars, or because they don’t like the truth, but because they don’t have a capacity to understand what truth is.  The galaxy is filled with the weak-minded.  It falls upon their betters, those with strong wills, to tell them what to think.

LEIA: That’s not what my father says.

C’BAOTH: Your father is Prince Consort to the Crown Princess of Alderaan.  Do you think people chose to put him in charge? Or to make your mother, or her father, the royal family?

LEIA: They’re charge because … [She frowns.]

C’BAOTH [softly]: Exactly.  Because your family is above the masses, and told the people that they are in charge, and the people listened.  Because you have the power and the will to rule, and thus have made your world better for all people.  Is it not the same with your precious Empire?  The galaxy was corrupt and weak.  That led to the Clone Wars.  The Emperor rose above the masses to tell them what to think, and thus peace was restored.  You should learn from their example.

LEIA: What do you mean?

C’BAOTH: You are strong, Leia.  You have the power to convince them.  If their minds are too weak to accept the truth, then you must assert it.  Influence them with your words and your will.

LEIA: What if they don’t listen?

C’BAOTH: Speak slowly and clearly, so that they understand.  Speak calmly, so they will not feel threatened.  A slight distraction – [Here he waves his fingers in the signature manner of a Jedi mind trick.] – will drop their guard.  Above all else, have conviction.  That is what the weak ultimately lack.  It may take practice, but do this, and they shall bend before you.

LEIA: You hate the Empire.  Why are you telling me this?

C’BAOTH: Because you are better than the others, Princess.  You’ve simply lacked the understanding to express it.  Now that you know, I’m curious to see what you’ll do.  [He leans close.]  I advise you start small, though.

The scene then cuts to Leia entering a mining facility’s mess hall with the other students.  The girl she fought with in the previous episode knocks Leia’s tray out of her hands.  As the other kids laugh, we see Leia get angry and demand the other girl compensate her by giving Leia her own uneaten lunch.  The other girl scoffs, telling Leia she’ll have to fight her for it.

Leia’s hands ball into fists. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.  Then she repeats her request, this time slowly and calmly. Three times she does this, each time speaking a more loudly.  The other girl laughs a little less each time, and after the third, she wordlessly hands her lunch to Leia and starts to clean up the mess she’d made.

C’baoth watches the altercation from the door to the mess hall.  Grinning, he fades back into the shadows of the passage outside.  Cut to title cards.

Requiem

Sotola’s yacht barrels through hyperspace, bearing Obi-Wan and the Path cell from Daiyu to Jabiim.  Alone in his cabin, Obi-Wan tries to meditate.  He struggles to reach out to Qui-Gon, seeking guidance, but yet again, it is the vision of Anakin who appears before him.

Obi-Wan apologies to Anakin for not stopping Haja from sacrificing the clones.  To his surprise, Anakin does not seem overly distressed by this.

ANAKIN: The clones were always tools, Master.  They lived and died for the Republic, at the orders of the Jedi.

OBI-WAN [aghast]: That’s not the way we treated them.  We treated them no differently than if they’d been ordinary soldiers – if they’d been members of our Order.

ANAKIN: You know that it’s not that simple, Master.  Rex was like a brother to me, but he was not a servant of the Republic.  He was a slave.  I may have treated him as an equal, but he never had any say in that.  Nor did Cody have any say in serving you.

OBI-WAN: But we didn’t throw their lives away for nothing!  We were doing what was necessary to protect trillions of lives!

ANAKIN: The Republic is gone.  The Order is gone.  Is our necessary evil worth it if we failed in the end?  Haja may have squandered their lives, but at least he achieved his goal.

OBI-WAN [shaking his head]: No.  We could have escaped.  At least a few of them could have been saved.  This … this was not the Jedi Way.

ANAKIN: If you truly believe that, then what are you going to do about it?

Cut to the yacht dropping out of hyperspace over Jabiim.

Consequences

Obi-Wan, Haja, and Tala report to C’baoth’s office.  C’baoth praises them for extracting the recruits without casualties.  Obi-Wan counters that assertion.  When C’baoth seems curious, Obi-Wan relays the sacrifice of the clones.

C’baoth dismisses Tala; once she has departed, Obi-Wan pulls down his mask.  Both Haja and Obi-Wan are allowed to present their perspectives of the events.  Having heard them out, C’baoth declares that there was nothing to be done.  The clones were dead either way; it wasn’t as if the Path could have taken them in and forced them to stay.  He then dismisses Haja.

C’BAOTH: I do see the merits of your arguments, Obi-Wan.  I just think your timing in misplaced.  There were no guarantees that you’d get those clones to the ship in time.

OBI-WAN: We should have tried, C’baoth.  We are Jedi.

C’BAOTH: There is a time for romanticism and lofty ideals.  This is not one of them.  We are at war, Obi-Wan.

OBI-WAN: What if it had been the children out there?  Would you have given the order for them to die?

C’BAOTH: Dwelling on hypotheticals won’t change things.  We need to keep our focus on the here and now, where it belongs.  If you have a problem with our doctrine, Obi-Wan, then you are welcome to work with me to change it, but you will need to accept the reality of our situation.  I told you that we can’t cling to trappings of the past.

OBI-WAN: Not all of those ‘trappings’ were pomp and ritual, C’baoth.  They served a purpose.  They helped us to maintain Balance.

C’BAOTH: And I’m willing to meet you halfway on that.  I’ve considered your proposal to train our soldiers in swordsmanship, and I must admit, there is merit in it.  I’ve put together a list of recruits for you to start with.  Tala can assist you – she has some experience with vibroswords.

[He plugs a drive into his holoprojector.  Images of different Path conscripts begin to flash across it.  Obi-Wan takes a seat across the desk from C’baoth.]

OBI-WAN: You can’t bribe me, C’baoth.  If you want my help, you need to give me more than that.  These children can’t be disposable tools.  This may not be a temple, but they are still part of your Order.  They should have the choice to walk way.

C’BAOTH: They have nowhere else to go, Obi-Wan.  Like it or not, we have revealed that they are Force sensitives.  Their only hope is with us.

OBI-WAN: Then be honest with them about that.  The Order was always honest with us about who we were, where we came from, and why we were there.

C’BAOTH: I have, Obi-Wan.  I have explained the threat of the Empire to them.  I have explained that they cannot return home.  All I have omitted is their connection to the Force … along with other truths we cannot yet afford to reveal.

[He taps a key on the projector.  Leia’s image pops up.  Obi-Wan reins in his surprise, but C’baoth is not convinced.]

C’BAOTH: You recognize her, don’t you?  Skywalker and Amidala’s daughter?

OBI-WAN [grimacing]: Yes.  I recognize her.

C’BAOTH: Did you know they’d conceived a child?

OBI-WAN: Yes.

C’BAOTH: Who else on the Council knew?

OBI-WAN: Yoda did.  Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi suspected.  Everyone else was aware of their relationship, but I’m not sure how many knew that Senator Amidala was pregnant.  There were more pressing matters.

C’BAOTH: Why didn’t any of you step in?

OBI-WAN: The war.  We needed Anakin.  The galaxy needed him.  How many people might die if we forced him to choose between his duty and her?

C’BAOTH [smiling slightly]: In other words … It was necessary to set aside the old ways.

OBI-WAN [gazing a Leia, his eyes growing distant]: I was supposed to talk to him, once the war was over.  When the galaxy was safe, I was to remind him of the choice he needed to make.

C’BAOTH: He’d have left the Order.

OBI-WAN: If so, that would have been for the best. For him, for us, and for the galaxy.  Perhaps, had he left the Order before the end of the war, the Republic would still be standing.

C’BAOTH: His daughter is as strong as he was.  I’ve tested her.  She will be the first candidate to be fully trained as a Jedi.  Will you help me with this?

OBI-WAN [after a lengthy pause]: I can help her start her journey.

Swords of Mind and Body

Obi-Wan (again masked) and Tala stand before a class of ten of C’baoth’s recruits; Leia is included among them.  At the same time, we see C’baoth again beginning an indoctrination session with the other students (with the two classes implied to be happening at the same time).  As the scene progresses, we cut back and forth between Obi-Wan instructing his class with wooden staves and C’baoth dictating his ideology.

Once Obi-Wan’s class is taught how to grip and swing their staves, they then begin a basic drill attacking Obi-Wan one at a time.  Leia is the third in line.  Rather than attack Obi-Wan, though, she lets the staff hang limply at her side.

LEIA: Why do we need to learn this?  No one uses swords anymore.  Isn’t that why you’ve been teaching us to use blasters?

Obi-Wan stares at her for a moment.  We get a flashback to Obi-Wan training Anakin (here portrayed as a boy of twelve or thirteen by someone who could pass as a teenaged Jake Lloyd) with a lightsaber, with Anakin asking a similar question.  (This conversation is already Canon, courtesy of the comic books.)

OBI-WAN: Yes.  Blasters are more effective.  They are easier to use, easier to learn, and have much longer ranges.  [We get flash backs to Obi-Wan using a blaster to kill Grievous, as well as live-action snippets of scenes from The Clone Wars where Obi-Wan and Anakin used blasters.]  Some of the greatest warriors I’ve known never touched a sword in all their lives.

LEIA: So what are we doing here?

[As Obi-Wan answers, we cut back and forth between the flashback and the present, with him reiterating a variation of the speech that he gave Anakin.]

OBI-WAN: Our tools reflect our goal.  Anyone can fire a blaster. Very few can safely and skillfully wield a blade.  Everyone in the galaxy knows this to be true.  The Empire cannot be defeated with brute force alone.  We want our enemy to know that we use a weapon that requires intension, training, precision, and choice.  We want the people we help to understand that.

We cut to C’baoth’s indoctrination session.  The holoprojector displays the image of Jedi swinging lightsabers.

C’BAOTH: The Jedi of old were foolish.  They chose to arm themselves with the lightsaber – a symbol of pride and vanity, of weakness presented as a show of strength.

The scene flips back and forth between the pair, as if in debate.  As it does, C’baoth presents a very different argument from that same comic.

OBI-WAN: When you carry a sword into battle, you show your opponent that violence is not your first option.  That you are willing to speak, to delay the drawing of the blade, rather than pulling a trigger.  Strange as it may sound, the sword is a symbol of peace in our day and age.

C’BAOTH: The Jedi forgot is what the symbol is meant to be.  A lightsaber could metal durasteel and cleave limbs off with the flick of a wrist.  It was a flame, signifying the great blaze of their power – an inferno that would consume those who stood against them.

OBI-WAN: Our goal is not to burn the galaxy to ash.  It is merely meant to restore Balance … to return control to the people.

C’BAOTH: We are that inferno, my children.  We are the light that will shine for all the galaxy to see.  We must burn away the old, fight down to the foundations, and establish ourselves as a beacon for the galaxy.

OBI-WAN: The sword makes you weak, young one.  I cannot deny that.  But through that weakness, our truth strength shines through.  We are not above anyone.  At times, we may stand separate, but we are still a part of this galaxy, the same as anyone else.

C’BAOTH: It is the duty of the strong to rise above the weak.  We must stand above them, and guide them with our light.  I shall lead you to this glorious future.  You need only follow.

OBI-WAN: Does that answer your question?

C’BAOTH: Do you understand?

C’BAOTH’S CLASS [in unison]: Yes, Master C’baoth!

LEIA [still sounding doubtful]: Yes, Mr. Ben.

Here Leia raises her staff, and the drill proceeds.

A Trail to Follow

Third Sister is on Daiyu, overseeing the airlift of the prefabricated base back to her Star Destroyer.  She receives a call from the Grand Inquisitor.  He requests an update on her progress.  Rather than admit to Obi-Wan’s escape, she informs him that she’s currently tracking the craft the Path used to escape Daiyu, and that she will provide an update as soon as C’baoth’s location is confirmed.

The ISB officer enters the room.  The Third Sister tersely tells him that he had better have good news.  He assures her that he has: the mechanics have deciphered the recent hyperspace jumps made by the ship Obi-Wan used to reach Daiyu, and ISB analysts have already generated a list of potential origin points.  He simply needs the Third Sister’s approval to launch probe droids.

Third Sister acknowledges his success with a grin and a simple, “Well done, Agent.  You’ll be keeping that uniform after all.”  Taking his datapad, she authorizes the deployment of droids.  Cut to the Star Destroyer in orbit. It unleashes dozens of probe droids in hyperspace pods, which scatter into the stars.

Mind Tricks

Leia is in the barracks with the other children.  She’s glancing at some of the girls who were in C’baoth’s indoctrination session; they are currently watching some anti-Imperial propaganda.  Standing up, she goes over to challenge them, attempting to influence them with a mind trick.  The attempt is partially successful – while the girls don’t agree with her, they do stop watching the propaganda.  One of the minders of the children observes the incident.

Cut to Haja in C’baoth’s office.  As Haja relays the minder’s report, C’baoth seems thoughtful.

C’BAOTH: She’s picking up the mind trick even faster than I’d hoped … too quickly.  We’ll need to check that enthusiasm.

HAJA: Shall I have her isolated?

C’BAOTH: No … I have a better option.

We then see the girls from Obi-Wan’s class being brought into the office one at a time.  C’baoth delivers to each a speech about the importance of unity in the ranks, and how each of them has a responsibility to keep rebellion in check.  “Sometimes, the only way to enforce peace is with violence.”  Throughout these speeches, he is seen waving his hands.  The girls’ responses are delivered in eerie monotones.

Display of Weakness

It is the next day.  Obi-Wan completes his sword class.  As the students file out, Tala gets Obi-Wan’s attention by questioning the technique he’d chosen to share with the students.  Two of the girls whom C’baoth spoke to steal back the staves they’d just handed in.  Tala notices this, but she doesn’t tell Obi-Wan.

That evening, Leia again attempts to influence the others.  The girls from her class immediately spring into action.  They attack her with the staves.  The mind does not intervene until Leia had already been beaten to the ground.

The Victim

Obi-Wan visits Leia in the mining facility’s med bay.  She is badly bruised, and one arm is in a cast, but she is otherwise well.  Obi-Wan demands to know what happened.  She explains how she was just trying to assert herself.  In the process, she makes a comment about how the girls who attacked her really were “weak-minded”.  Obi-Wan’s concerned scowl reaches past his mask; he asks why she’d say that.  At this, she admits that C’baoth was the one who first said it to her.

The Probe

Four probe droid hyperspace pods rocket towards Jabiim.  They scatter across the planet.  We get the familiar visual of a probe droid rising from its pod’s impact crater and beginning its sweep.

The Apprentices

Obi-Wan pulls the two girls who attacked Leia out of the mess hall a breakfast.  He demands to know why they attacked her.  They begin to relay C’baoth’s talking points about violence to enforce peace.  Obi-Wan probes them for where they heard those words.  The girls, however, seem confused.  They don’t remember where they heard it.

Here Obi-Wan places a hand upon one of the girls’ brows.  He concentrates.  As he does, we hear the girl’s voice, echoing the line that she just fed to Obi-Wan.  As it repeats, however, the voice deepens.  Obi-Wan hears C’baoth’s voice.

Cut to Obi-Wan striding through the facility.  He marches up to C’baoth’s office.  The guards outside tell him that C’baoth is busy.  Obi-Wan casually opens the door with a wave of his hand, glowering through the doorway at C’baoth.

C’BAOTH [not looking up from his datapad]: Ah.  Ben.  You’re early.  [He gestures for the guards to let Obi-Wan pass.]

OBI-WAN [crossing the threshold]: We need to talk.

C’BAOTH [finally looking up]: Yes … I see that we do.  Have a seat.  [With a wave of his hand, he closes the door.  The scene cuts to black.]

CONCLUSION

Thank you all for tuning in.  I hope it was worth the extra wait.  Join me next week for Episode 6, “Guardian of the Republic”.  I hope to see you all there.