Jedi Ranks

[darth_mcbain]

Did Obi-Wan jump a rank in between Ep. I and II? At the end of Ep I, Yoda, on behalf of the Jedi council, "confers upon him, the level of Jedi Knight"

However, in the trailer for Ep. II, Padme greets Obi-Wan as Master Kenobi. Does that mean that he went to another level? It could be that Padme doesn't really know the levels, so she just addressed him as master as a sign of respect - in Ep. I she did ask for the council of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, but even though only Qui-Gon was a master, she said "What do you think, Master Jedi?"


I was just wondering about that - I don't know how long a period elapsed between Ep. I and II, but it must be about 10 years based on Anakin's development. A lot can happen in 10 years, and perhaps Obi-Wan achieved another rank in that time?

[Doc Milo]

I was wondering about that myself. Star Wars.com, in the data bank, only refers to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ben Kenobi) as a Jedi Knight. Before they updated the data bank, I remember there being two entries for Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ep1) and Ben Kenobi -- the Ep1 entry, as I remember, referred to him as a Padawan, and the OT entry referred to him as a Jedi Knight. I was always under the impression that he never actually achieved the title of Master. Since Padme calls him this, however, could it be that it is common practice for non-jedi (or maybe just government officials) to call all Jedi (minus Padawans?) "master"? Someone told me that a Knight does not become a Master until he successfully trains one Padawan to Knighthood... I don't know how true that is, though -- or if it's canon or non-canon. Also, Obi-Wan is Anakin's master -- there is probably a difference between the title "Jedi Master" and the title "master" (lowercase "m".) One referring to their overall rank among Jedi (for example, Yoda called Qui-Gon "Master" even though we know that Qui-Gon is not Yoda's maser) an the other referring to the master/padawan relationship... So, Padme calling Obi-Wan "master" may be a sign of respect that she understands that he is the master in the master/padawan relationship? I don't know... Will be interesting to find out...

[Jedieb]

"When I left you I was but a learner. Now I am the Master!"

That famous line from ANH certainly implies that Obi-Wan will reach the level of Jedi Master at some point. I know there's going to be an EU novel seting up AOTC next year. Perhaps that will provide some answers. It may just be that Lucas has decided Obi-Wan is a Master and he's going to let an EU author have some fun and explain how this comes to be.

My my, don't we all look slick with our AOTC sigs! :)

[darth_mcbain]

Yeah - the sigs are getting a lot more colorful now... I'm still working on mine, in fact I might need a little help with it - JMK - if you're reading this (which you probably will at some point) I might need to hit you up for some assistance...

As for the rank thing, I personally don't think that Obi-Wan attains the rank of Master. In ANH, Obi-Wan says "I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father". If he was a Master, he would have said so. I think Padme was just being respectful as a non-jedi, addressing him as Master. I could be wrong, though.

Another thing to consider is that we are nearing the time at which the Jedi are exterminated, a conflict of enormous proportions for the Jedi. It is possible that details such as what rank of Jedi you are become blurred, as they don't have the time to deal with titles - they are struggling for their survival. Perhaps not just yet, but the time is coming...

[Jedi Master Carr]

Of course in that same line by kenobi he says Anakin was a Jedi Knight too, so either Anakin became a knight make Obi-Wan a master or Anakin never achieves that status and old Obi-Wan is lying again or at least the truth from a certain point of view. Unfortuntely we will have to wait to find out the answer here mostly because Obi-Wan's track record isn't so good.

[JMK]

I agree, Padme referring to Obi Wan as master is more of a sign of respect. Plus George has always been one to make things sound good. Master Jedi sounds rolls off the tongue alot better than Knight Jedi or Jedi Knight or Mr. Jedi Knight Sir. :D

Darth McBain, email me about the sig. I did actually have an idea for the clone theme that you're using currently
kyleroussel@videotron.ca


Jedieb & Doc, how did you guys get your sig to be centered?

[Jedieb]

I added center and /center in front of and after the url for the image. (Don't forget to add <> around "center."

[Doc Milo]

That's what I did too (with the center HTML tags in the sigline)

As to Obi-Wan in the ANH scene calling Anakin a Jedi Knight -- the scroll for TPM calls Obi-Wan Kenobi a Jedi Knight as well -- "two Jedi Knights to settle the conflict...."

I think padawans are knows as knights (lowercase k) and the title is also "Knight" (uppercase K)

BTW, is there a way to have the "Show Signature" box clicked all the time without having to click it each time I post?

[Jedieb]

The signature box has been modified to remain unchecked. We've done this to speed up loading times. Some people have trouble loading up all these images. I believe if you start a thread it will automatically include your sig. Every time after that it's up to you to include it. We're kind of hoping people wouldn't mind that much. I don't know if there's a way for any individual poster to have it checked all the time but I could check it out if you want Doc.

[Doc Milo]

Ah, it's really not a problem. If I forget, I'll just go back and edit the post. :)

[JMK]

I've asked that question a while back and the answer was no. You have to check the box each time you post...

thanks for the help guys...

[darth_mcbain]

Thanks for offering to help with my sig JMK - we can discuss the details over email - I sent you my general idea in email...

[JMK]

I guess you didn't have any trouble uploading it! :lol

[darth_mcbain]

No worries here... Thanks again.