posted
Something I've never been clear on. At the beginning of Episode 4, Obi-Wan is called Ben Kenobi. Of course, Princess Leia calls him Obi-Wan, and so does Vader, but...
Was "Ben" just a pseudonym he used on Tatooine, so as not to be taken for the famous General Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or was his name originally Ben, and Obi-Wan was some sort of Jedification of it?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
In my fan script replacement for Episode II, "Ben" is revealed as the nickname he uses when working "underground" with his seedier contacts. It's also what Anakin and Padme take to calling him.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I believe that it was part of the clever disguise. In the first movie, there was this terrific line, something like, "Obi-Wan Kenobi? I don't know anyone by that name, but there is 'Old Ben Kenobi', maybe he knows who that is."
I loved the whole plot device of hiding Luke on the planet of his father's origin, with his father's family, and watched over by Obi-Wan Kenobi who is using a secret alias, "Old Ben Kenobi". The Witness Protection Program it's not.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
If I had to guess, I'd say that his name is actually Ben, but he went by Obi-Wan while with the Jedi.
If you want to bring the EU into it, Luke almost always referred to him as Ben, and in ESB, he referred to him as Ben several times when Kenobi appeared to him at Hoth, and again in ROTJ. Also, in Ep. IV Kenobi referred to Obi-Wan as "a name I've not gone by in a long time."
Luke in the way later EU named his son Ben Skywalker after Kenobi.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I like the theory that in George Lucas's original version (the one in his head thirty years ago), "Old Ben Kenobi" was the guy's actual name, but during the Clone Wars (which were undefined at the time), people and their clones received initials and numbers to distinguish them from one another. So "Old Ben Kenobi" transformed his moniker into "OB-1 Kenobi", which was later rendered as "Obi-Wan" the way C3PO goes by "Threepio", and R2D2 goes by "Artoo".
Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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And I would have preferred a more interesting backstory that, perhaps, might have included something like this ... Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Oh, I thought that this was going to be a "who would win in a fight" thread. I was gonna say Ben. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Well, you know, Ben is prepared to fight dirty, while Obi-Wan has that "honor and right" thing.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I don't think so Puppy. Star Wars writers, including Lucas have used Artoo and Threepio as literary spellings of the numerical name.
Firstly, I don't see why Obi-Wan would have a droid inspired nickname. Secondly, Lucas knew even back then that Obi-Wan would be a Jedi leading an army of clones, and not a clone or a source of clones himself, making such a designation unnecessary. Thirdly, I've never seen his name written out in numerical form like I have 3PO or R2. I've frequently seen their names done that way, and then transposed to Artoo and Threepio when people were speaking them out loud.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Hey, Ben has all those well trained but creepy rats to come to his rescue. There are just to many of them, so Obi-Wan would be toast.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Yeah, Ben can also make Ketchup Princess kick people in the head on command. And Obi-Wan wouldn't hurt a baby!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I always thought of the Obi-Wan/Ben thing as more like Michael/Mike or Richard/Dick. Just a more casual name. It makes sense that when he's going among people who don't know he's a Jedi he'd go by a less formal version of his name. No big deal.
FYI, Willard and Ben are two different movies, both about rats. Not actually the same thing. Though in the recent Willard remake they named one of the rats Ben as a reference. Edit: Looking at imdb, Ben may be a sequel to Willard. I didn't think they were connected at all. Huh.
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