This is almost 100% pure coincidence on the behalf of Star Wars, but the fact that Obi-Wan was working out of Anchorhead while essentially in exile on Tatooine? Wonderful.
The term "anchorite" (coming from ἀναχωρέω, anakhōréō, "I withdraw"*) was common in and around Egypt in the world of antiquity when society was undergoing increasing tumult and chaos (or alternatively, when someone disagrees with the values that a society embraces). The concept of being an anchorite became rooted in willingly withdrawing from society and becoming a displaced person (The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750, p. 98, Peter Brown) to avoid said tumultuous society. Of course, the term (alongside the concept of hermitic life in general) also holds a lot of association with religious devotion due to its long history starting in Early Christianity (alongside similar ascetic devotion being found in many, many other IRL religions).
And, of course, Obi-Wan really exemplifies all of these concepts/traits:
Withdrawing from society - We see in Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) that Obi-Wan essentially only interacts with those he absolutely has to in order to survive (work supervisors, Teeka... sometimes Owen). We know that part of this is because of necessity (Obi-Wan very much does not live in a world where he can be free to interact with many people) and that part of it is due to trauma (he has frequent nightmares about the Jedi Purge and his fight with Anakin). Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) thus mainly focuses on the second point, as it is the only of the two that Obi-Wan can actually change (his reaction to what happens around him). Within the story, withdrawing from society is not only the only thing that Obi-Wan can do, but also gives him purpose. We see when Obi-Wan interacts with others that he often puts them in danger through sheer association (as seen in Reva and then Vader attacking Jabiim and the refugees there because they are tracking him down). Theoretically, if Obi-Wan were to be a different man, he could have become an Inquisitor or otherwise continue to put people at risk (if he were to keep being seen with other people knowing he had a large bounty on his head). It's not that becoming a hermit is the only life left for him by the end of Revenge of the Sith, but rather that it is the only moral path left in his eyes (as he has a responsibility to protect Luke as well) and Obi-Wan refuses to take the paths where he places people below himself. Therefore, he withdraws almost entirely from society and becomes an anchorite.
Becoming a displaced person - One thing that we can't forget when discussing this is that Obi-Wan is not just a Jedi, but also now a refugee. He has no legal support and no legal home, as his very existence is in direct contradiction with the Emperor's goals. His people have been killed en masse and he has not only seen the corpses of his family, but has remembered their slaughter in his nightmares for a decade before we see him again in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan, after making his decision, has become distanced from any place he could possibly call home. Having been raised on Coruscant since he was six months old or younger, the Jedi Temple was the only true home he knew, and he could never return. His family came in the shape of every Jedi in the galaxy, and yet he was (to his best knowledge for quite some time) one of two still living. In fact, in the novel Padawan by Kiersten White, 16-year-old Obi-Wan thinks to himself that "[t]he idea of never being among Jedi, never having other Padawans to talk with... was terribly lonely" (pp. 403-404). I would argue that Obi-Wan between the end of ROTS and the end of his life was the very definition of a displaced person—someone with no home to go back to, even if they could try. At the same time, Obi-Wan also discards the societal conventions and control of Imperial rule by leaving the Empire entirely.
Religious devotion - The story of Obi-Wan Kenobi (OWK) is ultimately about acceptance and personal growth. (In my opinion, this is why some people are put off by OWK, but that's a conversation for another day. XD) By the end of OWK, Obi-Wan is able to begin his final stage of training under Qui-Gon and learn more about his relationship with the Force. OWK shows us how Obi-Wan opened up to growth, but the time between this and Episode IV is where Obi-Wan truly became the wizened man he is when he trains Luke. In 9BBY (at the beginning of OWK), Obi-Wan had completely shut himself off from the Force, but by A New Hope, he is the one telling Luke to trust in the Force. (He also tells Leia about the Force in OWK after he had opened himself up to the Force again). Returning to his hermitic lifestyle, acknowledging Owen's place with Luke, and trusting that whatever would happen would be the will of the Force helped Obi-Wan become the man he is in A New Hope, sufficiently demonstrating that Obi-Wan's time as an anchorite significantly bettered his religious understanding.
Overall, while I of course don't think that Obi-Wan is defined by an IRL historical-religious term, I found it very interesting to note the ways in which they were similar. Though the name Anchorhead likely etymologically comes from the Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura) or the Latin ancora (though whether or not Latin borrowed this from Ancient Greek or developed it from the same source as Ancient Greek did is debated), both meaning (you guessed it!) "anchor," I noticed this coincidence while reading through some excerpts from St. Benedict's Rule of St. Benedict. I was specifically caught on where he wrote "...there are the anchorites or hermits, who have come through the test of living in a monastery for a long time and have passed beyond the first fervor of monastic life. Thanks to the help and guidance of many, they are now trained to fight against the devil. They have built up their strength and go from the battle line in the ranks of their brothers to the single combat of the desert. Self-reliant now, without the support of another, they are ready with God’s help to grapple single-handed with the vices of body and mind" (R.B.1).
And I don't know, but that sure does sound like Obi-Wan to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i'm literally over the moon over this like love u luke but FUCK you i want baby leia stories
stanning owen and bail forever as always (also joel edgerton!! i'm a stan for life)
owen: jedi are vermin. i kill vermin
me: you're doing amazing sweetie
pour one out for the jedi in ep1 😔✊
evil lady hot, reva parkouring around the planet while no one watches is so fabulously extra
whatever ewan is doing with his voice is amazing, it sounds so fucking good
the vibes, fabulous vibes
alderaan is so gorgeous and i am sad
kumail nanjiani was an unexpected delight and i'm glad his character didn't die
TEM CLONE VETERAN???????? HELLO????
the bad
knock off inquisitors, rebels stans stay losing
speaking of, quizzy better be alive and just grievously wounded for OBVIOUS REASONS because he can't die until he's on the star destroyer above mustafar 🤬
and also, i miss the accents. the accents are so important. quizzy and five just so sound... lame without them? see post on the ... diversification of the fascist empire, i guess lol
leia running around is a little unintentionally hilarious lmfao, like damn that is one fast ten year old
still stuck on obi wan saying "is he okay" like what the hell is that
i have some thoughts about obes' arc but i'll save them for when the show actually finishes
anyway to sum up, bait and switch obi wan/leia plot is genius and kenobi is (mostly) good maybe
Qui Gon being a prude is the funniest fucking thing and i hope the highlight of his afterlife was witnessing Kenobi's Slut Era
Nothing tested Force ghost!Qui-Gon's patience as much as him watching Obi-Wan flirt with half the people he interacted with XDD and he knew that Obi-Wan wouldn't ever follow through with it, but still he was completely scandalized (in his defense tho, I wouldn't want to even see my little sister flirting with people, so I understand</33)
Most of the time Obi-Wan flirts when he's fighting, too, so Qui-Gon can't just float away 😭😭😭😭
You guys know those “X Show/Movie/Books Characters Watch the Canon Material” trope? Well, it’s my favorite thing ever and something that’s been scratching my brain is that but for Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).
Like. Showbiwan is an amazing length, it has sufficient angst AND character development, it touches on a lot of aspects of the universe, and it HAS A RECAP BEFORE THE FIRST EPISODE.
But yeah. I was thinking pre-prequels era (post-M&A pre-TLF in book canon with some Legends elements).
Hey guys, feel free to scroll past and ignore this if you're not reading my new reaction fic. This is just made to clear up any potential confusion over characters and characterization in my new Showbiwan (Obi-Wan Kenobi 2022) Reaction Fic.
This will be split up into three sections: canon/Legends media inspiration, possibly unknown characters included, and characterization for a few characters/groups that tend to be represented differently in fanon.
Canon & Legends Inspiration
This fic combines the characterization of the movies (almost entirely the prequels due to the timeline), select episodes of Tales of the Jedi, Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott, Padawan by Kiersten White, Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, and The Living Force by John Jackson Miller. There may eventually be elements of Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss by Steven Barnes (which I haven't finished yet as of posting date, 9/8/25) and/or Brotherhood by Mike Chen (though I haven't heard great things about Mace's characterization there, so don't expect any of that even if I do finish the novel).
This fic also incorporates characters from the Legends Jedi Apprentice series. I have read the first three JA books as of posting date and have physical copies of up to JA 6 that I'm planning on reading too, so that will likely increase during posting. The JA references will mainly boil down to just stealing a few characters. Any characterization will be mainly focused on the above canon media that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. (For more information on how I'm going to incorporate the JA characters and storyline, please see the characters and characterization portions.)
I stole Quinlan Vos mainly from fanon hearsay and some vague comics panels (and Wookieepedia), but you can't really have a Jedi react to Showbiwan without Quinlan Vos, so I'm doing my best.
I will not include much from The Clone Wars animated show. Sorry. I just haven't watched it because it doesn't interest me much, but I do know the basics of what happened through fandom osmosis and a lot of TikTok edits.
Who the Heck is This Character?
(and, additionally, What the Heck are You Mentioning?)
In this section I'll be going over some characters that may be previously unknown to fans of Star Wars that don't venture into the written media very often (which is totally fine! the fic is 100% readable without having read the novels).
Bolla Ropal - Apparently he has a mention in TCW, but I haven't seen it, so I'll be focusing on his characterization in the novel Padawan. Here, he's a Padawan near Obi-Wan's age (I have him in the same creche clan as him in my fic) who he was very close to as an Initiate. He spends a lot of time in the Archives (specifically working with Holocrons) and loves to get in prank wars with Obi-Wan. He's closer to OWK now than in the novel Padawan due to OWK's character development, but he doesn't totally love Qui-Gon as a Master for Obi-Wan, since they had some trouble adjusting to one another when they first became a pair.
Yarael Poof - I looooove Yarael Poof. He's one of my favorite characters from JJM's The Living Force. Obviously he shows up in other media (THR book series, which I haven't read yet, and in the background of TPM), but TLF made me completely love his character. He's a bit of a jokester after hundreds of years working by the books (and has been on the Jedi Council for a large portion of that time). He and Ki-Adi-Mundi really get on each other's nerves—it's extremely funny. He's a regular favorite of the Initiates he teaches and has a predilection to Force suggestions.
Ki-Adi-Mundi - Okay, so Ki-Adi-Mundi actually does show up in TCW quite a bit, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of you already know of him, but again, I haven't watched it, so I can't say anything about the characterization in it. My Ki-Adi-Mundi is pulling from JJM's The Living Force (like Yarael Poof). He's strict but not too strict, and mainly just wants to get things done the right way. His heart is in the right place and honestly please just don't bash him to me because I will disagree. He and Yarael like to quibble a lot, but that's normal and joking between them. They actually work together very well in life-or-death situations. Ki-Adi-Mundi also has a super soft spot for Obi-Wan!!! Adorable. (Scroll for a sec in my tag #novel: the living force to find the quote I'm referring to.)
Saesee Tiin - Saesee Tiin is another member of the Jedi Council (like Yarael and Ki-Adi-Mundi). He's actually one of the less chill ones and can come off as pretty frosty sometimes. He spends a lot of time working on aircraft, speeders, mechanics, etc. I believe it mentions in TLF (where I get his characterization from) that he can fly just about anything. He is also one of my favorite characters from TLF so NO BASHING! (/playful) Despite being very focused on things, he is a very devoted Jedi and cares a lot about their way of life.
Lene Kostana - Coming from Cavan Scott's audionovel Dooku: Jedi Lost, Lene Kostana was Sifo-Dyas's Jedi Master. She devoted her life to recovering and studying Sith relics and believed the Sith would one day return. She is not a great influence at all and is one of the worst examples of a Jedi there is LOL. She also doesn't get along at all with the Council and has been helping to hide the severity of Sifo-Dyas's visions from them for years out of fear that they'll lock him up (which I don't think we were meant to believe would actually happen as listeners). She also was close with Dooku and influenced him to be more anti-Council (thinking they're weak/closed-minded/powerless/etc.) AND kept quiet when Dooku was going crazy Darksider for like. Years. C'mon lady. Despite my gripes with her, however, I do think she's an interesting and fun character.
Rael Averross - Rael was the previous "oldest Initiate to be taken in" at 5 years old. This did not go well for him. He struggled with letting go of his past and embracing his present. Dooku, his Master, often encouraged him in not getting along with his agemates, thinking it was individualistic. He was a very well-liked and accomplished Knight when he was younger, but killed his own Padawan (Nim Pianna) after she was mind-controlled with nanobots while on a mission-gone-awry. He was severely traumatized by this. He was cleared of wrongdoing by the Council but some (like Qui-Gon, his "lineage brother," if we use fanon terms like I do) think that he was at fault due to deviating from protocol at a crucial moment. Qui-Gon always looked up to him when he was a Padawan but felt disillusioned after the incident. Rael once brushed Qui-Gon's concerns about Dooku literally torturing someone in front of him off and basically said "he just cares about you" and I will not be ignoring that LOL. Rael believes in a loose interpretation of the code and often smokes, drinks, and has casual sex. Qui-Gon is a little scandalized by some of this LOL. Rael turns down an offer to join Dooku two years before the fic is set, at the end of Master and Apprentice. (He also appears in D:JL, which I will be referencing.)
Bant Eerin - Bant is a canon character, though she mainly comes from the Jedi Apprentice-Jedi Quest continuity. Basically all I'll be including here is that she's a healer and that she was very close to Obi-Wan as Initiates all the way up to their days in TCW. She's a popular fanon character and I won't be deviating from that too much. In my fic, she's a close friend of Quinlan Vos as well. In-fic, she's two years younger than Obi-Wan (and therefore four years younger than Quinlan). She is part of the same clan as Obi-Wan (Kybuck Clan).
Garen Muln - Garen is a Legends character who is also a contemporary and friend of Obi-Wan's. He goes on to become an ace in the Jedi Starfighter Corps and then a general in TCW. Vader actually kills him after he survived the Jedi Purge later on but we won't get into that here XD. He is Legendarily (canonically in Legends) part of the same clan as Obi-Wan and Bant Eerin.
Reeft Kyba - Another Legends/JA character. In my fic, he adopts the last name "Kyba" from "Kybuck," the name of his creche clan, as his planet is culturally mononymous (HC). He is Legendarily part of the same clan as Obi-Wan, Bant, and Garen. He's mainly known for finishing his friends' food </3 here I have him as a very happy Jedi who mainly studies cultural stuff and works well as a diplomat once he's Knighted.
Jape Astara - From the canon novel Padawan, Jape is another character I made up a last name for. He studies astrophysics under his Master, hence the made-up last name. He's very close with his Master and spends a lot of time at the Grand Orbital Observatory of Coruscant when he's on-planet. In this fic, he's also part of Kybuck Clan (Obi-Wan et. al.).
Prie Nimali - Prie is also from Padawan, but is also mentioned in Master and Apprentice I do believe. She's also part of Kybuck Clan and has a made-up last name courtesy of myself. I'm 99% sure I just threw things at the wall until I got something that stuck this time. Anyway, she likes to participate in prank wars but dislikes and cheats in games. She spends time taming animals (the Force skill, yes, it's a bit of a misnomer but not the time LOL) and learns weaponless combat from her Master. They spend a lot of time doing minor diplomatic work on small planets without much super advanced technology. She's close with Obi-Wan and still doesn't totally love Qui-Gon because of his rough start with her friend. She really likes animals.
Siri Tachi - Both a canon and Legends character, she's sometimes teased to have a romantic almost-relationship with Obi-Wan in some continuities (in canon, from Padawan, and in the fic, they never did anything with one another but knew they could fit well together if they did). Mainly, they're close friends. I haven't gotten to her appearance in JA or her mention in Brotherhood yet, so she's mainly a background character here—sorry, Siri lovers!
Depa Billaba, Eeth Koth, Oppo Rancisis, Even Piell, Yaddle, and Adi Gallia are all Councilors who I will be characterizing from The Living Force. Plenty of these characters are also featured in animated projects like TCW and TotJ, as well as being in the background of various movies. Plo Koon will also mainly be based on the events of TLF—another sorry to any Plo Koon clone-dad truthers.
That should be everyone you might not recognize!
Characterization
Here's my rule of thumb for this story:
the Jedi are good guys end of story (their faults are all negligible, aside from freaking Lene Kostana and Sifo-Dyas)
Dooku has been dancing with Falling since he was 12 and thus has no fanon "he was just going against corruption!!" phase (yes, he still hates corruption, but he mainly just hates seeing "unworthy" people exercising power that he thinks is exclusive to him/"his" people—I'm willing to elaborate but I'll spare you all here)
there is absolutely no Qui-Gon hate in this story—he and Obi-Wan have a strong relationship and put the work in to keep it that way, since they haven't always been close
-> the Anakin situation will be addressed
Obi-Wan, as much as I love him, was unhealthily attached to Anakin and that was a problem
there will be no un-Jedi-ing of the Jedi; i.e. attachment is still bad and nobody will be rewriting the Code
Mace Windu is awesome and he will get no hate
-> Yoda as well
nobody here knows Anakin so they won't be crying sobbing over him (sorry guys) the main angst comes from Obi-Wan
Qui-Gon is not a crazy heretic, that's just not canonical; Qui-Gon is unorthodox but has dedicated his life to the Jedi and I love him
no woobifying of Obi-Wan even though he does feel emotions obvi; and
Jedi have emotions and this is canon I promise.
Qui-Gon - Qui-Gon's characterization comes mainly from the Master and Apprentice novel. He has major trauma from his Master (Dooku) being crazy and semi-regularly torturing people in front of him. He feels like he's at fault often BUT HE'S NOT. The stuff that happens in the JA books will be tangentially mentioned at best and will not impact his characterization (i.e. Feemor does not exist here and Xanatos probably won’t be mentioned, I'm sorry, I love them too but they just don't fit into the 'verse; you can imagine them as existing but not reacting characters if you want but I won’t be talking about them much). (If you are a fan of Xan and Fee then please go check out my other fic, Star Wars: Lineage.)
Dooku - Most of what I have to say about Dooku has already been mentioned in the rule of thumb and Qui-Gon's section. I'll be going into how Lene's actions impacted him a bit in the story but ultimately he made the choices up to this point and he can't blame them on anyone else.
Anakin - Anakin doesn't appear as an actual character but I'm putting this again just so I don't catch anyone off guard. I understand loving Anakin but he will not be getting much (if any) grace here since he shows Literally No Remorse for the entirety of the show. The thought process around him is NOT "how did we fail him?" but rather "how did we miss this?" i.e. "how did we miss someone willing to do THIS to us literally living with us." Anakin did wrong when he slaughtered the village, he did wrong when he got married and then took his Knight vows anyway, he did wrong when he did tons of crazy stuff in TCW (based on metas I've read), and he did wrong when he did CRAZY amounts of awful things during and after Order 66. He is not the victim in this story.
There is no Jedi victim-blaming here.
Okay, I think that I've exhausted every point I could. Anyway, if any of these themes are not to your liking, that's perfectly okay. I get it, everyone has their own interpretations and preferences when it comes to fanfiction. I am not stopping you from reading the story, but I do want to warn you (mainly for the anti-Anakin sentiment) before the story begins.
Okay, love you guys!!! <33 I know probably no one read this but I really wanted to type it all out since I'm trying not to word vomit in the notes too much.
Link to the story (in the rare case that you read all the way through without seeing it first):
The Future in Store - Chapter 1 - tkzxexo - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]
