I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.
Something about this moment always felt a little jarring to me and it took me awhile to put my finger on it, why Anakin’s line of “you’re the closest thing I have to a father” rung so false to me.
And what it wound up being was two things–one, they do not act like father and son in any real way (right here, Obi-Wan’s reaction is to point out how Anakin doesn’t treat him like a father at all), they’re far more like an older brother/younger brother in terms of traditional family dynamics, but also–if that were true, Anakin wouldn’t have sought out Palpatine’s presence as a (grand)father figure so hungrily.
If Obi-Wan was a father figure in Anakin’s life, why was he seeking out Palpatine fill that role instead? Why does he say that here, when nothing else fits with the dynamics of a father/son relationship? Why would Anakin frame it that way, when it doesn’t feel that way at all?
BUT THEN I GOT HIT WITH A REALLY TERRIBLE HEADCANON.
WHAT IF PALPATINE PUT THAT IDEA IN HIS HEAD?
Palpatine would know that the Jedi Master/Padawan pairings aren’t inherently father/son dynamics (they often can be, but that this one wasn’t, they were too close in age for that or simply that Obi-Wan wasn’t acting like a father to him), knowing that Anakin would think he wanted that.
So he suggests that Obi-Wan is the closest thing Anakin has to a father, under the guise of that kindly grandfather act, that, oh, you must forgive him, he’s the closest thing you have a a father, isn’t he?, and encourages Anakin to frame it that way, knowing that Obi-Wan would shut it down and it would come across to Anakin that Obi-Wan was rejecting him.
Palpatine deliberately suggested framing it that way, knowing it would drive a wedge between them, because he knows that Kenobi is an obstacle in his path to dragging Anakin down into the dark.
AND THEN I REALLY HATED PALPATINE EVEN MORE FOR THAT HEADCANON. /sobs
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