After 47 years, Star Wars has finally explained why Obi-Wan Kenobi exiled himself to Tatooine. The Empire ruled the galaxy for almost two decades, and – surprisingly – some of the most powerful members of the Jedi Council chose to sit those decades out. Obi-Wan Kenobi, for example, sent out a warning to all Order 66 survivors to run and hide; he then did the same, settling on the desert planet of Tatooine for most of the Dark Times.

Obi-Wan’s exile to Tatooine was mostly driven by a desire to protect the young Luke Skywalker, who (according to Star Wars Rebels) he came to believe was the true Chosen One. But the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ TV show confirmed Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly in a good place throughout the Dark Times, blaming himself for Anakin Skywalker’s fate. It turns out this desire for penance was at the heart of Obi-Wan’s exile.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Took A Barash Vow After Revenge Of The Sith

The Jedi Master Felt Responsible For Anakin

Modern Star Wars has introduced the Barash Vow, an oath that penitent Jedi would take when they felt they had failed in their duties to the Jedi Order. This first appeared in the 2017 Darth Vader comics by Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli, but it was featured much more prominently in The Acolyte episodes 1 and 2. Over 14,000 Jedi are known to have taken the Barash Vow over the centuries, and it seems Obi-Wan was one of them.

According to the in-universe biography Skywalker: A Family At War by Kristin Braver, Obi-Wan blamed himself for Anakin’s fall , and felt that he had failed his role as a Jedi Master. He took the Barash Vow, which is for Jedi who feel like they need to be isolated to re-center themselves in the Force after past mistakes. This type of retcon is what makes Star Wars so interesting, especially when it works so seamlessly. The Barash Vow not only explains Kenobi’s starting point in A New Hope, but builds off of the newer Obi-Wan Kenobi series, too.

Obi-Wan’s Vow Was Completed When He Received Leia’s Message

The Jedi’s Guilt Was Over, The Time For Heroes Had Returned

According to A Family At War, Obi-Wan’s Barash Vow lasted for the entire time he was on Tatooine, up until he recieved Princess Leia’s holographic message from R2-D2 in A New Hope. Obi-Wan is once more ready to fight, leaving his Barash Vow behind, and taking a new apprentice in Luke Skywalker. In ending it like this, A New Hope gives the Vow’s final stage its first proper depiction, as described in Baver’s novel:

“Given his actions, it is clear that Kenobi intended to end his years of exile and heed Leia’s call. Training Luke Skywalker provided him with a new apprentice at a pivotal moment in galactic history. The threat of the Sith and the Empire the Sith had created was too great to ignore. In keeping with other practitioners of the Barash vow, it was time for Obi-Wan to face that threat head-on, with or without Luke.”

This means that Obi-Wan demonstrated the end of the Barash Vow, something unseen in any other Star Wars story featuring it. The Barash Vow seeming ends with a Jedi deciding to fully face the source of their guilt, in alignment with the Force. In this way, Obi-Wan’s actions in A New Hope are not only classically and beautifully crafted by George Lucas, but have an even deeper meaning in the expanded Star Wars universe.