Ben Kenobi

[Tipp Gray]

If Obi Wan was so adament about hiding from Vader, why did he change his first name and not his last? I have never heard of any other Kenobis in the SW universe. How did Vader not find him if he went from Obi Wan Kenobi to Ben Kenobi? Especially on Tatooine, his home planet.

[Hartus Kenobi]

Obi-Wan is skilled enough in the Force to not be found if he doesn't want to be found.

As for why Ben stayed on Tatooine, it was to look over Luke.

And why did he keep his last name? It's possible that although he was in hiding, he was expecting - one day - to be contacted by his allies from the Old Republic and still wanted to be able to be found by the right people. After all, the only reason why Luke knew to find Ben after R2D2's recording was because he recognized the last name.
Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if only a very few people on Tatooine knew Old Ben's last name. Luke did because Ben made the effort to look in on him from time to time.

[Tipp Gray]

I guess you have a point. I didn't think about the fact of Luke's uncle and aunt knowing who Obi Wan really was. His last name probably wasn't public knowledge.

[Senator Prent]

How do you know there were no Kenobi's? We're going from a very small sample pool of names. Do you know people that have the same last names in SW that aren't related?

Kenobi might be like Brown, Jones, or Smith in SW Holocomm books, who is to say?

[Tipp Gray]

You never hear of any other Kenobis in EU either, but I guess you rarely hear other names either.

[Figrin D'an]

Especially on Tatooine, his home planet.


I think it's also important to note that Anakin had no desire to ever return to Tatooine after his mother's burial. Once he leaves, he never sets foot on the planet again in any canon storyline. This is likely part of the reason why Yoda felt that Luke would safe with Owen and Beru, and why Obi-Wan felt that Vader wouldn't be likely to find out about some strange old hermit named "Kenobi" living out in the Jundland Wastes.

[Morgan Evanar]

Yeah, who cares about some old guy living in a desert?

[Dasquian Belargic]

That's an interesting point, Fig. I didn't know that Vader had never returned to Tatooine... Anyhoo, Obi Wan had a brother (Owen) and was only the 'first son' of a moderately wealthy family, according to Wookieepedia, so it's feasible that there would be other Kenobi's out there :)

[Hartus Kenobi]

I wouldn't trust wookie-pedia. I had thought Owen was Obi's brother before the prequels, but I find it extremely unlikely that is still the case now. It's likely that Obi was Luke's "uncle," rather than uncle.

[Dasquian Belargic]

There could be more than one Owen in the galaxy? :p I don't think Owen Kenobi and Owen Lars are the same person.

[Doc Milo]

I find no problem with Obi-Wan Kenobi keeping his name even if he is the only Kenobi in the galaxy. Ben was just a "crazy old hermit." It's more than possible, even probable, that no one besides the Lars Homestead even knew that the old man existed, let alone what the "crazy old hermit's" name was.

The better question, IMHO, would be why wouldn't they have insisted on changing Luke's last name to Lars?

I suspect that the fact that they made Padme appear to still be pregnant at her burial on Naboo went a long way to convincing Palpatine/Vader that Anakin's children had died when Padme died, and thus no one was actively seeking them . . . but still, should Vader or one of Palpatine's spies hear of a hot-shot farmer boy on the outskirts of Tatooine named Skywalker, and he's living with the Lars family . . . that might awaken suspicions . . .

[Morgan Evanar]

You guys seem to forget that Tattooine is the backwater of all backwaters. No one gives a damn about it, and the only reason the place is important at all is because of Jabba.

[Tipp Gray]

Other people knew Obi Wan lived there. If my mind serves me correctly, didn't Leia say something about looking for him and that is why they happened to be above Tatooine at the beginning of A New Hope?

[Hartus Kenobi]

Well, all that means for sure is that Bail Organa knew or suspected where Obi-Wan was, which is to be expected. Leia only knew because her father told her. Vader and teh Imperials were just following Leia, not knowing what information Leia's ship was carrying.

As for why it didn't matter what Luke's last name is, a true Sith would not have cared about familial bonds. The only reason why Vader took pride in Luke was because he still have some love in his heart - which is also the reason why he betrayed the Emperor at the end.
As for why Vader then just didn't kill Luke, he simply wouldn't have done it (because of his love for Luke) unless perhaps ordered by the Emperor. BUT, the Emperor "foresaw" that he would one day want to have Luke replace Vader as his apprentice, so it was in the Emperor's interest NOT to harm Luke.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Only reason why Leia knew to look for Ben on that desert planet was because her adoptive father, Bail, knew that Obi-Wan was there. He knew that Yoda was on Degobah. So he, and the Lars, were probably the only ones who knew the hiding places of "the last 2 Jedi."