Breaking Down the ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Plot Holes

Spoiler alert: The following article contains spoilers for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney Plus.

Let’s face it – Disney Plus could’ve done a whole series of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) flashbacks and we would’ve been wholly onboard for such a concept.

Not that the Obi-Wan Kenobi series as a whole was bad by any means, but the show did have some plot holes bigger than Palpatine’s Galactic Empire.

Let’s break them all down!

Reva’s (Moses Ingram) arc from Sith Inquisitor to morally grey hero was definitely one of the best, most unexpected aspects of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. A survivor of Order 66, Reva had been hellbent for years to finally get revenge against Darth Vader for slaughtering all of her friends in the Jedi Temple.

Although Reva’s motivations for revenge were quite clear, her decision to kill Luke Skywalker (Grant Feely) wasn’t.

After all, even Darth Vader himself didn’t know at this point that Luke was his son. Was the show insinuating that Reva’s Force abilities were stronger than the dark lord of the Sith’s? It was never quite clear, beyond the assumption that Reva assumed Luke had some importance to Obi-Wan somehow.

Don’t get us wrong, Moses did a fantastic job going toe to toe with Ewan in Obi-Wan Kenobi, there’s just certain aspects of her character that still leave major plot holes following the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale.

The biggest Obi-Wan Kenobi plot hole regarding her character? Reva’s knowledge of Darth Vader’s true identity as Anakin Skywalker. It was clear that she saw Anakin slaughtering innocents at the Jedi Temple, but how did she make the connection between Anakin and her Sith boss, Vader?

You could argue that Reva sensed that her boss was the same man in the Jedi Temple, given the fact that she had to work with him in close proximity.

One popular fan theory is that she found the recording that Obi-Wan and Yoda watched in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin was christened as Darth Vader. However, this plot hole is never given a clear, canonical explanation.

How in a galaxy far, far away was one of the greatest Jedi masters of all time not able to sense that his fallen apprentice survived their duel on Mustafar?

You could argue that this question was an Obi-Wan Kenobi plot hole or a result of inadequate mental health care for traumatized Jedi.

After all, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series makes it quite clear that Obi-Wan has shut himself off from the Force for years. Traumatized by the fall of the Jedi Order, Obi-Wan is content to just be plain old Ben on Tatooine, keeping a watchful eye on Anakin’s son, you know, just in case.

Depression will do a number even on the strongest Jedi general, so it does seem plausible that he didn’t sense Anakin’s presence in the Force, especially since his spirit was likely clouded by the dark side.

Somewhere in Jedi heaven, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) is weeping. After all, he died quite definitively after being stabbed in the stomach by Darth Maul. However, in Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and Reva both survived similar stab wounds from a lightsaber!

How?

Could you argue that medical tech had advanced to the point in the Star Wars universe where lightsaber stab wounds were no longer fatal? It’s definitely easier to see how the Grand Inquisitor survived, given that his species has two stomachs. However, the answer to both Sith Inquisitors miraculously surviving what killed Qui-Gon Jinn, one of the greatest Jedi masters in the galaxy, was never addressed in Obi-Wan Kenobi, making it another glaring plot hole.

In another strong case for Jedi therapy, Obi-Wan gave up a second prime chance to kill Darth Vader during the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale. He had the high ground once again over his fallen Padawan, with Darth Vader barely able to breathe due to his cracked mask.

After Vader informs Obi-Wan that he was responsible for Anakin’s death, not Obi-Wan himself, our hero realizes that Anakin really is gone and walks away.

Could you argue that this nonsensical decision was purely based on the fact that Obi-Wan and Vader had to face off again in A New Hope? Sure, but the Obi-Wan Kenobi series could’ve explained Obi-Wan’s decision to walk away a bit better. Was it a hesitancy to strike an old friend when he was down and weak? A desire to figure out a way to bring Vader back to the light?

Obi-Wan’s motivation there wasn’t quite clear, apart from the fact that he had finally accepted that Anakin himself was gone for good.