this scene always breaks my heart for so many reasons
not only is this the final nail in the coffin, the surety that anakin is not turning back from the dark path he is on, but this also seals the fate for obi wan that his best friend is truly gone.
obi wan didn’t lecture anakin during the fight or even before it and even once it’s over he doesn’t have anything to say except how could you let me down?
“you were the chosen one. it was said that you were to destroy the sith, not join them.”
all throughout the books and the movies and the shows, anakin feels the pressure of the prophecy but never fully gives into the idea. even obi wan is often skepical, especially early on. but now that this fight is over and all hope is gone he turns back to tell anakin that i had hope in you.
obi wan believed him, believed in him, but now he’s almost pleading.
we never see obi wan show this much emotion. he is portrayed as an excellent representation of what a jedi should be—compassionate, collected, discerning.
but here he lets his walls completely down. he isn’t fighting anakin anymore, he’s crying out in agony at the death of their friendship and the death of the republic and what he believes is the death of his closest friend.
“it was said that you would bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness.”
this line always reminds me of when leia asks obi wan about the force and he asks her how it feels to turn on the light when she’s afraid, how he says it feels like that. with the jedi gone, the Force must be so bleak, so dark, so painful. this is not just the loss of his family, lifestyle, and beliefs but the loss of his guiding light, his hope, his foundation.
but all of that aside, there’s still something that breaks me more.
obi wan turns to leave, climbs the hill, and picks up anakin’s lightsaber.
but then he stops, turns, and he can’t help but cry out
“you were my brother anakin. i loved you.”
this is a confession on so many levels.
this is i broke the creed we both agreed to live by. i broke every last rule in the book for you. no matter what i told myself and no matter what they told me, i couldn’t help it. i loved you anyway. you were always my exception.
and this is HUGE coming from obi wan, the man who walked away from satine to follow the jedi way, the first apprentice in hundreds of years to lose his master to a sith, the man who watched the love of his life murdered in front of him by that same sith, the man who had just lost nearly every single one of his friends and family after his comrades betrayed him in battle. he is so completely and utterly alone and yet the thing that breaks him is this:
and this confession? it immediately follows anakin yelling i hate you in bitter rage.
the person he loves most in the universe—even while entirely helpless and defenseless—screams his hatred and obi wan’s only natural response is to say i could never hate you. even now, even here, i can’t bring myself to do anything but love you.
