Obi-Wan Week. A heavy responsibility for an Obi-Wan lover like me, after all, I named my cat Obi-Wan Katnobi.
Obi-Wan had his virtues and his faults, like any other Jedi, and his fans and his detractors, like any other character in the Saga.
In Episode 1, Obi-Wan is still a Padawan Learner, young and uptight, but not without a sense of humor. He is brave in fighting Darth Maul, and makes a pledge to his dying master to train Anakin, even though it doesn't appear to be a wise decision.
In Episode 2, Obi-Wan is the stressed out Master to a teenaged Padawan. If you've ever had a teenager, you can probably relate. If you ARE a teenager, then well.... You know how your parents are.
I prefer the Episode 3 Obi-Wan, the Jedi Master who knows who he is and what he's doing. He shows no fear, only confidence. He faces Dooku with confidence, and General Greivous with the knowledge he will probably die in the encounter. When his troops turn on him he finds a way to survive.
When he learns the Jedi Homing Beacon is sending out a false signal he insists on going to the Temple to change it for no other reason than to save other Jedi lives. He shows no fear in fighting his way into the Temple to accomplish that mission. He faces the carnage inside without losing his cool.
He doesn't want to kill Anakin, but he goes on the mission, as is his duty. When he realizes there no turning Anakin back he goes about his business as a Jedi "I will do what I must." (I will kill you rather than have you be a Sith.)
Even after seeing Anakin's atrocities in the Temple, even after Anakin is trying to hill him, still he blames himself. "I have failed you Anakin, I have failed you." (I couldn't take an already snarky 9-year old with emotional issues and turn him into a Jedi).
Obi-Wan takes the high ground in the duel, and shows no mercy when Anakin attacks him from below, even though he could have extended the fight.
"You were the chosen one!" (And you threw it all away over power, you stupid little twerp) "It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them. (You weak minded, idealistic, fool.) "Bring balance to the Force, not leave it darkness. (You're the worst kind of traitor, killing your comrades to protect yourself and your own self-interests.)
"You were my brother, Anakin, I loved you." (I dedicated my life to you and you betrayed me, and all of your brothers and sisters to further your own ideals.)
Obi-Wan's only mistake was not making sure Anakin was dead, but after seeing him burning he walks away without looking back, his heart broken and his life in shambles.
Yet, he doesn't stop being a Jedi. He makes a desperate attempt to save Padme and her unborn babies.
The Episode 4 Obi-Wan has spent his life on an inhospitable planet to watch over young Luke, so that the Jedi will not become extinct. He teaches Luke the ways of the Force, in spite of the fears he must have of repeating his mistakes with Anakin.
And ultimately, he sacrifices his life so that a mission may succeed, although I believe that at that point he probably welcomed death, but he deserved better than that. A hero deserves to die at a very old age, in his own bed, surrounded by beautiful women, not a death at the hand of the man he should have killed twenty years earlier.
Obi-Wan Kenobi was born a Jedi and he died a Jedi, and every day in between he was the epitome of a Jedi Knight.
From a galaxy far, far away, and millions of years later, I love you, Obi-Wan.
I know.
