Star Wars Legends, Obi-Wan’s Many Love Interests, & the Fractals of Obitine
Happy Valentine’s Day, fellow Obi-Wan stans! Here’s a little something I put together in honor of Valentine’s.
If you’re at all familiar with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s storyline in the Legends/Expanded Universe (EU) content, then odds are that you’ve probably noticed some similarities between his Legends/EU storyline and his canon storyline. If you’re like me and you’re especially familiar with Legends/EU Obi-Wan Kenobi content because you obsessively consumed it as a lonely teenager, you’ve probably noticed that Obi-Wan’s love life in Legends/EU is suspiciously similar the story of Obi-Wan and Satine in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In fact, I believe that the creators of The Clone Wars intentionally wove the tales of Obi-Wan’s Legends/EU love interests into the love story of Obi-Wan and Satine, similar to the way that some myths are a conglomerate of older myths.
All that to say, buckle up, everyone; here’s my breakdown of all of the ways Obitine echoes Obi-Wan’s love interests in Legends/EU.
But first, some honorable mentions…
Before we get to the main discussion, though, I need to point out a few Obi-Wan love interests that I won’t be comparing with Obitine. Here they are, in no particular order…
While I enjoyed the chemistry and (sort of) romantic arc between Obi-Wan and Ventress in Legends/EU (especially in When They Were Brothers), I don’t feel like their relationship shared enough similarities with Obitine to be mentioned in this post, other than to mention that Ventress’s death scene is oddly similar to Satine’s:
While it’s mentioned in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter that Obi-Wan finds fellow adult padawan Darsha Assant “easy on the eyes,” it never goes any further than that. This is a little similar to the story of Lena Cobral (which I will be discussing more in-depth in this post), but Lena and Obi-Wan’s story differs in that their arc actually shares some commonalities with the Mandalore arc while Obi-Wan’s attraction to Darsha does not.
Now, I really like the Sugi x Obi-Wan ship–especially since Anna Graves (AKA Satine Kryze herself) voices her. In my opinion, their chemistry and mildly sexual banter is worthy of all the chef’s kisses. But that being said, I’m not counting Sugi in this list for the pure and simple fact that she’s a canon character and was never part of Legends/EU.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but Obi-Wan x Sabe ship was never a thing–neither in Legends/EU nor in the current canon. Why not? Sabe is only 14 at the time of Phantom Menace, while Obi-Wan was 25. In case you hadn’t heard, that’s statutory rape–and no shame if you ship them, but I don’t romanticize rape or sexual assault on my blog.
But all that being said, let’s get on to our main discussion: Obi-Wan’s Legends/EU love interests and the fractals of Obitine.
Cerasi, Melida/Daan, and The Mandalorian Civil Wars
In the Jedi Apprentice books Defenders of the Dead and The Uncertain Path, a 15-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi fell in love with a girl named Cerasi during his time on Melida/Daan. In a plot point that will be repeated throughout Obi-Wan’s Legends/EU romances, this relationship doesn’t last long–a few weeks or months compared to Obi-Wan and Satine’s year on Mandalore. However, despite these surface differences, you’ll notice a few key similarities between the story of Cerasi and Obi-Wan and the romance of Obi-Wan and Satine:
Cerasi and Obi-Wan fall in love while fighting with the Young to end the civil war between the Melida and the Daan; Satine and Obi-Wan fall in love while Obi-Wan is protecting her during the Mandalorian civil war.
Cerasi is part of the Young, a faction that wants to bring peace to Melida/Daan; Satine is a member of the New Mandalorian movement which wants to peace to Mandalore.
Obi-Wan leaves the Jedi Order to stay with Cerasi; Obi-Wan states in Voyage of Temptation that he would have left the Jedi Order to start a life with Satine.
Cerasi is killed during the Melida/Daan war and dies in Obi-Wan’s arms; Satine is killed during the civil war between Maul’s loyalists and Bo-Katan’s true Mandalorians, dying in Obi-Wan’s arms.
Lena Cobral, The Cobral Assassination Plot, and the Voyage on the Coronet
In The Only Witness, yet another Jedi Apprentice story, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn are assigned to protect Lena Cobral, who is set to testify against her own family for the murder of her late husband. The problem? Her family is a notorious crime-family. Understandably, Qui-Gon is mistrustful of Lena’s allegiances as they escort her to Coruscant–is this a trap set for the Jedi? Is she going to betray them? But luckily for her, Obi-Wan continually advocates for Lena–largely in part due to his infatuation with the young widow. This story, you might have noticed, is quite similar to the plot of Voyage of Temptation:
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon escort Lena Cobral to Coruscant aboard a ship; Obi-Wan and Anakin act as escorts for Satine’s voyage to Coruscant aboard the Coronet.
Obi-Wan has strong feelings for Lena that may or may not be reciprocated by her; Obi-Wan still maintains feelings for Satine after over 15 years apart, and doesn’t discover until later that she reciprocates his feelings.
Obi-Wan’s attraction toward Lena appears to influence his judgment throughout The Only Witness, prompting him to defend Lena against Qui-Gon’s suspicions like a simp; Obi-Wan’s love for Satine seems to cloud his judgment during the voyage on the Coronet, whether it’s his unprofessionalism during his argument with Satine or the fact that he seems to be acting primarily out of fear once Satine is capture by Merrick.
Obi-Wan comes to the rescue when Lena’s traitorous mother-in-law tries to assassinate her; Obi-Wan saves Satine from the assassin probes released by the traitorous Tal Merrick, and although he isn’t the one who ultimately stops Merrick from kidnapping Satine (Anakin is one who saves the day in that instance), he plays a role in her rescue by occupying Merrick and not allowing him to simply wisk Satine off the ship as soon as she’s in his grasp.
At the end of The Only Witness, Obi-Wan ultimately recognizes the power of his emotions and passion to cloud his judgment, deciding that he won’t allow his decision-making skills to compromised in such a way in the future; at the end of Voyage of Temptation, it’s clear that both Obi-Wan and Satine have come to terms with the strength of their feelings for each other, and are wholly committed to their responsibilities regardless of how they feel about each other.
Taria Damsin, The Death of the Heroines, & Anakin Doesn’t Know to Feel
At some point in Obi-Wan’s younger days (are we sensing a pattern here?), he fell in love with Jedi Shadow Taria Damsin–who, unlike Lena Cobral, actually reciprocated his feelings. As far as I can remember, there was never a definite timeline for when Obi-Wan and Taria were in a relationship; I can’t recall it ever being mentioned if they were both padawans or if their brief romance took place sometime when they were both Knights and Anakin was too young to go on missions with his master. It’s also difficult to tell how serious their relationship was. When Obi-Wan talks to Anakin about their relationship in Clone Wars Gambit: Siege, he only says that they needed each other for a brief time, and parted when that mutual need subsided. What we do know is that the Taria and Obi-Wan’s relationship bears some similarities with Obi-Wan and Satine’s story–which could be in part due to the date that Taria was introduced as a character. Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth, the novel which first introduced us to Taria and her past with Obi-Wan, was released February 2010, the same month that both Voyage of Temptation and The Duchess of Mandalore were released. Who knows–maybe Karen Miller, the author of the Clone Wars Gambit duology, was privy to the plotline of the Mandalore but wasn’t allowed to use Satine in her story.
Whatever the real reason for the similarities, however, I present you with the parallels between Taria/Obi-Wan and Obitine–as well as a few differences:
Taria and Obi-Wan remained close friends after ending their romantic relationship, to the extent that Obi-Wan allowed himself to be extremely unguarded and vulnerable with Taria. Satine and Obi-Wan remained friends when they reunited after their 15-year-long separation, and although they often flirted with each other or seemed to indicate sexual tension when they were together, Obi-Wan and Satine were both clearly comfortable in each other’s company, allowing themselves to be much more vulnerable than they were with anyone else.
Taria is dying of Borotavi syndrome, and although her death is never confirmed in the Legends/EU material, Obi-Wan recognizes that Taria has pushed herself too far after rescuing him from Lanteeb and that she doesn’t have much time left. This results in him fighting against his urge to grieve for Taria in order to savor the time he has left with her. Satine dies in front of Obi-Wan, and although no canon material explores his grief extensively, it’s clear in Old Friends Not Forgotten that he’s still torn between his love and grief for Satine.
[And on another note…the fact that many of Obi-Wan’s love interests had to die in order to develop Obi-Wan’s character is a blatant example of fridging. All of these women deserved better.]
Now here’s where the differences come in. Remember the scene when Anakin learns of Taria and Obi-Wan relationship In Clone Wars Gambit: Siege? Contrast this with Anakin’s discovery of Obi-Wan and Satine’s past.
When Anakin sees Taria physically comforting Obi-Wan, he realizes that their level of intimacy is too deep for them to have only been friends. He surmises that they must’ve been lovers at some point and angrily confronts Obi-Wan about it, feeling as if Obi-Wan has been a hypocrite for forbidding Anakin to be with Padme (remember that scene in Clone Wars: Wild Space when Obi-Wan visited Padme in the middle of the night and basically told her Anakin was off-limits to her?). When Obi-Wan is truthful about their past and tells Anakin that he and Taria are now content being friends, Anakin’s genuinely surprised. Obi-Wan senses that Anakin’s trying to figure out if he could get away with a “no-strings-attached” relationship with Padme, prompting Obi-Wan to ask if Anakin would ever be satisfied with being just friends (with benefits?) with Padme. In contrast, Anakin’s intrigued by the obvious sexual tension between Satine and Obi-Wan during their infamous throneroom/bedroom(?) argument, asking Obi-Wan about the history of their relationship. The nature of Anakin’s questioning of Obi-Wan in this scene is also probing, as if he’s trying to gauge whether he can trust Obi-Wan with the secret of his marriage to Padme; however, Obi-Wan doesn’t seem to pick up on the fact that Anakin’s considering disclosing his secret marriage to him.
Although both stories are interesting, I actually like the “Anakin feels like Obi-Wan is a hypocrite” reaction a little more. With as much crap as Obi-Wan gives Anakin for his feelings for Padme in Attack of the Clones, you would think Anakin would’ve felt betrayed by the fact that Obi-Wan had hidden his past from him–especially since he had several opportunities to talk about Satine during Attack of the Clones, most notably during the “Be mindful of thoughts, they betray you” exchange. This doesn’t mean that the story we got was bad; as you all know, I’m utterly transfixed by the Mandalore arc, and I think it would be showing too much to have Anakin blatantly point out Obi-Wan’s hypocrisy. But I think it might have been in better keeping with Anakin’s character for him to at least seem a little upset at discovering Obi-Wan’s history with Satine.
Siri Tachi, The Death of the Heroines (Again), & Obi-Wan’s Willful Ignorance
Full disclosure for this segment: I used to be a Siriwan shipper. Repeat: I USED TO BE A SIRIWAN SHIPPER. Why? Prior to 2010, when the Mandalore arc was first released on Cartoon Network, this was the only Kenobi-centric romance that I found personally compelling. And, if you couldn’t tell from the content of this post thus far, I was a huge fan of Jude Watson’s Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest series; consequently, I really couldn’t get away from Siri or Obi-Wan interacting during my early teen years.
Now, I need to make a quick distinction between canon Siri and the Legends/EU Siri. In the current canon, Siri was just another fellow youngling that Obi-Wan was crushing on. The relationship didn’t really go anywhere; they were probably both tweens at the time, and the most they ever did was hold hands under the dinner table. And really, the canon version of her isn’t so much of a character as an anecdote for Obi-Wan to reflect upon during the events of The Empire Strikes Back. But in Legends/EU, she was a fully-fleshed out character–and, unlike Cerasi or Lena Cobral, her storyline went beyond her importance to Obi-Wan Kenobi. In fact, the entire romance between Obi-Wan and Siri only lasts a few days, ending at the halfway point of Jude Watson’s Secrets of the Jedi. Or, in other words, her character was allowed to develop and grow apart from Obi-Wan, which I find pretty empowering. She gets to have love, romance, heartbreak–but these things don’t ultimately define her. In this essay, I will try to justify my 13-year-old self’s obsession with Siri Tachi…
But apart from the fact that Siri Tachi was a kick-butt character in her own right, I also find her similarities to Satine Kryze to be fascinating:
Siri and Obi-Wan’s relationship begins as antagonistic, with Siri intensely disliking Obi-Wan for leaving the Jedi Order on Melida/Daan. Satine and Obi-Wan, as hinted at in Clone Wars and discussed in the junior novel Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, were antagonist much of the time, arguing about nearly everything they discussed.
Siri is often written as the opposite of Obi-Wan, her brashness, impatience, and blatant disregard for protocol contrasting with Obi-Wan’s level-headedness, patience, and insistence on following rules. Satine is portrayed as somewhat similar to Obi-Wan in some regards (e.g., they’re both opinionated, confident, and British AF), but her commitment to peace, her ability to go against the grain, her softness and compassion and distinct femininity–these are all in stark contrast to Obi-Wan’s support of the Clone Wars, unyielding orthodoxy, and stereotypically masculine support of the status quo.
Siri and Obi-Wan realize their feelings for each while on the run from bounty hunters on the planet Cirrus, where they get to spend quite a bit of alone time in caves which definitely isn’t a symbol for a vagina or anything; Satine and Obi-Wan’s feelings develop while they’re on the run from bounty hunters in the Mandalore system, where it’s implied that they might’ve spent quite some time alone together because how else would Korkie be conceived.
Recognizing that leaving the Jedi Order for each other might lead them to become resentful of one another, Siri and Obi-Wan decide to part ways. Although it’s never explicitly stated why Satine never asked Obi-Wan to leave the Order for her or why Obi-Wan felt that the decision to be together was up to Satine, it can be inferred that being a Jedi was central to Obi-Wan’s identity, and that Satine’s decision not to ask was based on her recognition of this fact.
Siri is killed by a bounty hunter from Obi-Wan’s past, dying in Obi-Wan’s arms; Satine’s killed by Maul, an enemy from Obi-Wan’s past, and dies in Obi-Wan’s arms.
Now, if these similarities weren’t enough for you, there’s something I recently noticed when re-reading parts of Secrets of the Jedi. What caught my attention was this brief scene that shows Obi-Wan’s reflections following Siri’s death:
Now, what sticks out to me in this scene isn’t that Obi-Wan was aware of Anakin and Padme’s relationship; in both the current canon and Legends/EU, it was pretty clear that he suspected there was something going on between them. In fact, the magnum opus that is the Revenge of the Sith novelization has a very poignant scene between Obi-Wan and Padme in which Obi-Wan straight-up tells Padme that he’s known about she and Anakin for some time, and that he just hasn’t said anything about it. What does strike me is that we’re pretty much given an explicit acknowledgement of not only why Obi-Wan refuses to disclose Padme and Anakin’s relationship, but that this reason has something to do with his own personal experiences with love. In the ROTS novelization scene, Obi-Wan tells Padme that he’s been willfully ignorant of their relationship because he recognized that she was one of the few things that could make Anakin happy–but in this scene from Secrets of the Jedi, it’s implied that Obi-Wan chooses to ignore their relationship because he in some ways wanted what Anakin and Padme had. In other words, if he was in their shoes, he wouldn’t want someone ratting him out because he knows how wonderful it is to be in love.
If you’re wondering what this has to do with Obitine, think back on all the moments in the Clone Wars where it’s hinted that Obi-Wan knows about Anakin and Padme. For example, while it’s clear in The Rise of Clovis that Obi-Wan doesn’t approve of how Anakin’s attachment to Padme can interfere with his duties, he never indicates that he’s inclined to report Anakin to the council. In fact, in the same scene, Obi-Wan admits that he understands Anakin’s feelings for Padme, affirming that it’s not wrong to be attracted to another person. Why? Because he once had feelings for Satine, and, as this scene implies, it wasn’t wrong for him to be in a relationship with Satine during their time on Mandalore; their relationship would have only become problematic if he’d been possessive of Satine or if he’d been like Anakin and tried to balance his duties as a Jedi with a clandestine relationship. In short, Obi-Wan doesn’t want to report Anakin because he knows what it’s like to be in love, and wants Anakin to be given the choice to be with Padme rather than being forced apart by circumstance. It’s not totally in line with his reasoning during Secrets of the Jedi, but I can’t help but wonder if the Clone Wars creators saw the Siriwan story and wanted to give Obi-Wan similar motivations for being willfully ignorant of Anakin and Padme’s relationship.
Annileen Calwell, Attachment, & Letting Go
As you’ll notice, I have no actual images of Annileen Calwell for this section. And why is this, you may ask? Well, for some reason, there’s no art of Annileen Calwell to be found on the internet–official, fanart, or otherwise. So if there are any artists out there who want to try their hand at bringing Annileen to life…*cough cough*
But in all seriousness, I feel like the fact that this character is overlooked in official art and fanart is just a symptom of the overall lack of acknowledgment that this character receives in the Star Wars fandom. Most “every woman Obi-Wan ever loved” articles, fan videos, or posts will talk about Cerasi, Siri, and Satine, but hardly anyone talks about Obi-Wan’s relationship to women like Taria and Annileen. This isn’t to say that I think it’s wrong for fans to overlook these characters–everyone has their own preferences–but I think the lack of dialogue about Annilheen and Obi-Wan story is a huge disservice to the larger conversation about Obi-Wan’s character, as I feel this story has a lot of things to say about his personal journey with attachment, loss, and grief. And let’s be real–Annileen is a pretty great female character even without her connection to Obi-Wan. And also, she doesn’t die, which is a nice touch given the track record Star Wars has for fridging Obi-Wan’s love interests.
All awesomeness aside, though, it was a little difficult for me to think of how Annileen’s story echoes the story of Obi-Wan and Satine. But nevertheless, here are all the ways Annileen x Obi-Wan echoes Obitine:
Annileen is blond, smart, independent, and implied to be physically attractive; both Siri and Satine are blond and portrayed to be conventionally attractive, and both are extremely intelligent, capable, assertive, and independent women. In fact, during this private meditations, Obi-Wan actually reflects on his relationships with Siri and Satine (they were both canon at this point), insinuating that Annileen reminds him of them in some capacity.
Annileen calls Obi-Wan “Ben,” as she isn’t privy to his actual name; Satine originally gave Obi-Wan the name “Ben” as a nickname, a fact which was going to be revealed in the Mandalore arc but was instead revealed later on in the Kenobi novel.
Annileen is the one who makes the first romantic move, only to be rejected when Obi-Wan makes it clear he’s not looking for a relationship, even though Obi-Wan private meditations reveal that he is in fact attracted to her and is considering the possibility of a life with her. Satine, according to a 2010 interview with Anna Graves, made the first move with Obi-Wan–and although we don’t know he reacted to her initial advances, we know that Obi-Wan eventually reciprocated and was at one point considering a future with her.
During his private meditation, Obi-Wan’s feelings for Annileen make him reflect upon the Jedi’s teaching on attachment. During his talk with Anakin aboard the Coronet in Voyage of Temptation, Obi-Wan’s reawakened feelings make him reflect upon the Jedi’s position on attachment, musing in a somewhat bitter tone that the Jedi often overlook the “undercurrent of remorse” when teaching the principle of non-attachment.
This last one, as you noticed, is a theme–the theme of attachment, and what it means to hold onto someone. But I also think that in the end, both Annileen x Obi-Wan and Obitine are stories about letting go. As Obi-Wan recognizes in both the Kenobi novel and the Mandalore arc, attachment isn’t necessarily bad; in fact, he comes to realize during his time on Tatooine with Annileen that attachment becomes problematic when you begin to feel like you own or possess the other person. You need to be able to allow the other person to…well, as the kids these day say, “be their own person.” More importantly, you need to be willing to let them go when something–or someone–else needs you more. And that’s exactly what Obi-Wan does in Kenobi. He doesn’t obsess over Annileen and insist that she stay with him. Quite the opposite, actually. When Obi-Wan realizes that a relationship with Annileen could potentially endanger baby Luke Skywalker and the future of the galaxy, he decides to let Annileen know he was lying to her–a fact that pushes her away, and ultimately keeps Luke safe and lets Annileen pursue her dream of studying at university. We can argue whether Obi-Wan was right in doing this–you could say that Annileen didn’t have much choice in the scenario, even if it ended up being what she’d always wanted–but you can see that his view of attachment in this situation has evolved from what it was in the past. Rather than being the passionate, immature love and infatuation he felt for Cerasi or Lena, or the resignation to the Jedi Code he demonstrated with Satine and Siri, he shows that he’s able to take a more nuanced view of what it truly means to love another person.
