Obi-Wan Kenobi Character Analysis

While not my favorite character in Star Wars, Kenobi is a character in Star Wars I respect immensely and consider to be honorable. He's wise, nuanced, and witty. It also does not hurt that he defeated three of the four dark-side lightsaber-wielders (Maul, Grievous, Anakin) that emerged after thousands of years. Unlike Anakin, Obi-Wan did not have a significant change in his MBTI personality after Mustafar, remaining an ISFJ until his death.

Like many Jedi, Obi-Wan needs time alone to reflect. He also does not enjoy the limelight. This can be seen when he hangs back from reception on Coruscant when he and Anakin save Palpatine, and his many solo missions. That being said, Obi-Wan enjoys having connections and people in various places. In social situations where he is not in a clear role of authority (Anakin), Obi-Wan is deferential and passive.

A good proxy for Intuition in Star Wars is focus on the Force vs current directives and combat. A clear example of Kenobi's skew towards the latter is when he is coupled with Qui-Gon Jinn who is extremely in tune with the Force and less concerned with following orders. Kenobi is very tactical and lives in the moment. While Obi-Wan does not view the world in quite as black and white terms as Anakin does, he dutifully follows the dogma of the Order and does not often think for himself.

Whereas Anakin struggles to comprehend and properly deal with his emotions, Obi-Wan is in tune with what he feels and is able to remain calm and balanced. He is a wellspring of support and diplomacy, able to ease tensions around him using his emotional intelligence.

A lot of the humor in the films with Obi-Wan are the repeated, precarious situations that Obi-Wan finds himself in where he voices his difficulty or frustration in having to adapt. This is a key differentiator between Kenobi and pre-Mustafar Anakin: Kenobi wants to plan and think through their courses of action while Anakin wants to rush in and improvise. I do not think I have to prove this one too much.

Obi-Wan is a fan favorite in Star Wars and one of the purest characters of "good" in the franchise. He embodies the ideal Jedi that the Council and Order would want: adhering to doctrine, keeping emotions and relationships in check and under control, and leading with compassion and a desire to champion peace. While this dearth of independent thought and interpersonal realism ultimately led to the Order's collapse, Obi-Wan did what he thought was right, similarly to his Master who did so by despite embodying quite a different personality...