Warning! This post contains minor spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4.
Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 takes a major Disney Star Wars lightsaber trend and flips it on its head for the new Disney+ series. In the show, the titular character is in hiding on Tatooine and has to dig up his old lightsaber to rescue young Leia Organa from the clutches of the Empire. However, Kenobi isn’t the Jedi he once was and has shown he needs time to adjust to his old Jedi ways after a decade in hiding.
Obi-Wan Kenobi sees the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to the titular role and Darth Vader, respectively, with each brandishing their iconic lightsabers. One thing that Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 does, though, is take a familiar Star Wars trend employed in Disney’s previous projects and reverse it. This trend involves the art of lightsaber fights, more specifically how Force-users utilize their signature weapons against non-Force-sensitives.
The trend in question is Disney Star Wars’ notable lightsaber hallway fights. The first of these scenes under Disney’s supervision came in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in which the climax of the film featured a scene of Darth Vader at his most ruthless. In the scene, Vader relentlessly cuts down a battalion of Rebels to retrieve the stolen Death Star plans in a narrow hallway upon a Rebel ship. This scene shows Vader at his most powerful in Star Wars yet, outside of Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3’s ending duel. The other scene is from The Mandalorian in which Luke Skywalker takes down a hallway full of dark troopers in another showing of immense Jedi power. In Obi-Wan Kenobi though, Disney takes a lightsaber hallway scene and flips it, showing Kenobi in a much weaker state with him having trouble dispatching what should be simple for him in a group of regular stormtroopers.
Rather than cutting through the Imperial stormtroopers with ease, the fight is used as a way for Kenobi to begin regaining his skills of years past. Kenobi is shown to be slightly more competent than when he faced Vader in the previous episode, yet still has some trouble dealing with a large group unlike the characters in the scenes of Rogue One and The Mandalorian. This isn’t by any means a criticism of the show, however, as it makes perfect sense within the context of the story and character of Kenobi for him to have to regain his former connection to the Force after a decade in hiding.
It remains the case, though, that Obi-Wan’s own hallway lightsaber scene pales in comparison to the likes of the Skywalkers in terms of the characters’ powers on display. It does prove though that Disney has a firm grasp on their legacy characters, as both Vader and Luke were shown in these impressive scenes when they are at their most powerful within the Star Wars timeline, as is true in reverse with Kenobi and the weaker portrayal of his skills. With Kenobi having his and Anakin’s lightsabers on Tatooine, both of which remained there for 10 years, it makes sense for the former Jedi Master to be out of practice. However, with the promise of a rematch between Vader and Kenobi on the horizon, hopefully, he can regain a semblance of his past self for the final two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi release every Wednesday on Disney+.
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Key Release Dates
Rogue Squadron
Release Date:2023-12-22
