The Phantom Menace
In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 25-year-old Obi-Wan accompanies his master, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) on a mission to Naboo, a planet ruled by Queen Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman). After making an unscheduled landing on Tatooine, Qui-Gon meets Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), a young slave who shows tremendous potential with the Force. Believing the boy to be the prophesied "Chosen One" who would bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, Qui-Gon asks the Jedi Council that the boy be trained as a Jedi. Obi-Wan is also amazed by Anakin's unprecedented Force potential, but initially believes the boy is too old and has too many emotional attachments to become a Jedi. The Jedi Council agrees, and forbids training for Anakin, in whom they see a great deal of fear.
During the film's climactic battle scene, Queen Amidala and her entourage of guards split up from her Jedi bodyguards when the Sith Lord Darth Maul (Ray Park) arrives to eliminate the Queen. Wielding a double-bladed lightsaber, Maul simultaneously battles both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. After being separated from the duel via laser walls, Obi-Wan watches in horror as Maul impales his master. Obi-Wan engages Maul in a fierce duel, cutting Maul's lightsaber in half, but the Sith Lord knocks Obi-Wan into a reactor chasm and kicks his lightsaber into the depths below. Obi-Wan grabs onto an extending pole, breaking his fall. He then calms himself and reconnects with the Force, utilizing it to hurl himself into the air and simultaneously bring his master's lightsaber into his hand, startling Maul and giving him just enough time to slash the Sith Lord in half. The dying Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan to train Anakin to be a Jedi, and Obi-Wan promises that he will.
For his heroics in defeating a Sith (making him the first Jedi in 1,000 years to do so), Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz) personally bestows the rank of Jedi Knight upon Obi-Wan, who then says that he would take it upon himself to train Anakin whether the Council allowed him to or not. Yoda reluctantly agrees, but warns Obi-Wan to be careful with the troubled boy.
Attack of the Clones
In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set 10 years later, Obi-Wan has become an experienced Jedi Knight. By this time, his relationship with Anakin (Hayden Christensen) is strained; the young padawan has grown powerful but arrogant, and believes that Obi-Wan is trying to hold him back.
He and Anakin are tasked with protecting Padmé, now a Senator, after an attempt is made on her life. Obi-Wan tracks the mysterious assassin to the planet Kamino, and learns about a massive clone army that the planet's inhabitants are building for the Galactic Republic. He then meets with the bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), the template for the clones, and figures out that he is the one responsible for the assassination attempts on Padmé. Obi-Wan attempts to apprehend Fett, who escapes to Geonosis with his unaltered clone Boba (Daniel Logan). Obi-Wan follows them by placing a homing beacon on Fett's ship, Slave I.
On Geonosis, Obi-Wan learns of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatists, a conspiracy of star systems that wants to secede from the Republic. The renegades are led by former Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), who was once Qui-Gon's master. Obi-Wan is captured shortly after sending a message to Anakin. While in captivity, Dooku reveals that the Galactic Senate is under the control of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.
Later, Anakin and Padmé arrive on Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan. They are themselves captured, however, and all three are sentenced to death by the Geonosians. The executions are prevented by the timely arrival of Jedi and clone reinforcements, led by Jedi Masters Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and Yoda. Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Dooku and engage him in a lightsaber duel. Dooku strikes Anakin with Force lightning, then turns the deadly barrage onto Obi-Wan, who easily blocks the attack with his lightsaber. The two duel and Dooku outmaneuvers Obi-Wan, wounding him on both his left arm and leg. Dooku is about to deliver a killing blow when Anakin recovers from the lightning and blocks Dooku's attack. Obi-Wan gives Anakin his lightsaber to help him in the duel. Dooku and Anakin fight a short duel, and Dooku cuts off Anakin's right lower arm (which is later replaced by a robotic prosthetic). Yoda arrives and fights Dooku as well, but the Sith escapes; he creates a distraction by nearly killing Obi-Wan and Anakin.
Revenge of the Sith
In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, set three years later, Obi-Wan, now a Jedi Master, and Anakin are sent on a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), who (it seems) has been kidnapped by Dooku and Separatist leader General Grievous (Matthew Wood). They board Grievous' flagship, The Invisible Hand, and fight their way to the captive Chancellor. There, they find Dooku, who engages them both in a duel. During the duel, Obi-Wan is rendered unconscious, leaving Anakin to face Dooku alone. Anakin defeats Dooku and, at Palpatine's urging, executes the defenseless Count, in violation of the Jedi Code.
When Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his representative, the Council disapproves, reasoning that his membership gives the Chancellor a vote in Jedi affairs. Anakin protests when the Jedi Council denies him the rank of Master and orders him to spy on Palpatine, but Obi-Wan talks him into accepting it, warning Anakin of his "dangerous" friendship with the Chancellor.
Obi-Wan is called away to Utapau to confront General Grievous. This leaves Palpatine, who is secretly Darth Sidious, free to continue corrupting Anakin. The Sith Lord eventually manipulates the young Jedi into embracing the dark side as the Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Obi-Wan engages Grievous in combat and kills him with a blaster. Moments later, however, Obi-Wan's own clone forces turn on him. Unknown to Obi-Wan, Palpatine had issued Order 66, directing clone troopers to turn on their Jedi generals. Obi-Wan survives the attempt on his life and escapes by stealing Grievous' star fighter and rendezvousing with Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) and Yoda aboard Bail's ship, the Tantive IV.
Along with Yoda and Bail, Obi-Wan returns to Coruscant, where he and Yoda discover that every Jedi in the Jedi Temple has been murdered, even the younglings. They discover that the clones were led there by Anakin. Obi-Wan reprogrammes a beacon, which had been instructing all remaining Jedi to return to the Jedi Temple (where they surely would be killed), by instructing them to scatter across the galaxy and remain in hiding. Subsequently, Obi-Wan and Yoda split up to confront the two Sith Lords, Darth Vader and Darth Sidious. Obi-Wan wishes to fight Sidious, hating the thought of having to kill his friend and pupil. Yoda, however, insists that Obi-Wan is not strong enough to fight Sidious, and would have to accept that Anakin had been "consumed by Darth Vader."
Unaware of his former Padawan's location, Obi-Wan goes to visit Padmé, who secretly married Anakin in the previous film and is now pregnant with his child. He tells her what Anakin has done, and reveals that he knows about their marriage. A horrified Padmé refuses to accept what Obi-Wan tells her, but is brave enough to go out and confront Anakin herself. Obi-Wan stows away in her ship.
Obi-Wan finds Vader at the volcanic planet Mustafar, and attempts to pull his former student away from the dark side. When he emerges from Padmé's ship, however, Vader immediately suspects that Padmé has betrayed him, and uses the dark side to choke her into unconsciousness. Obi-Wan has no choice but to engage him in a long and epic duel, which ranges through the Mustafar mining complex, the lava rivers, and finally the black sand. Obi-Wan tries to persuade Vader to relent, but Vader ignores his warnings and leaps forward to deliver the killing blow. Obi-Wan severs Vader's legs and remaining arm in mid-air, and leaves him to die on the volcanic slopes, taking Anakin's lightsaber with him. Vader survives long enough to be rescued by Palpatine, and is later placed in the iconic black body armor first seen in the original trilogy.
Obi-Wan assists in hiding Anakin's children after Padmé dies in childbirth. Luke is put on Tatooine with Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) so that Obi-Wan can look after him in secret, while his twin sister Leia is put on Alderaan in Bail's care. Yoda then tells Obi-Wan that he has more training for him: the spirit of Qui-Gon would teach him how to retain his identity through the Force and commune with the living after death.
Original trilogy
A New Hope
In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, set 19 years later, Obi-Wan is known to the inhabitants of Tatooine as Ben Kenobi, an eccentric hermit who lives in the Jundland Wastes (he had assumed this identity to hide from the Empire). He's first seen rescuing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) from Tusken Raiders while the boy looks for the droid R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). Obi-Wan presents Luke with Anakin's lightsaber, but when Luke asks Obi-Wan about his father, Obi-Wan disguises the truth from him, saying, "a young Jedi named Darth Vader... betrayed and murdered your father." (Obi-Wan reasons with Luke in Return of the Jedi that Anakin Skywalker died the moment he betrayed the Jedi, completely becoming Darth Vader). R2-D2 then plays the message from Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) asking for Obi-Wan's help in delivering the schematics of the Death Star to her foster father on Alderaan. Obi-Wan invites Luke to accompany him to Alderaan and aid the Rebellion against the Empire, but Luke initially refuses. However, when Luke discovers that Imperial troopers hunting down the stolen Death Star plans have killed his uncle and aunt and destroyed their home, he changes his mind. Obi-Wan takes young Luke under his wing in order to teach him the ways of the Force with the intention of fully training the boy later on Alderaan.
Obi-Wan and Luke buy passage to Alderaan on the Millennium Falcon, a freight ship owned by smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and co-piloted by Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), a Wookiee. Before they can reach their destination, however, Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star on the orders of Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing). The Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star's tractor beam. By a quirk of fate, Princess Leia is on board, and her rescue is gallantly executed by Han and Luke. Obi-Wan, meanwhile, sets off to disable the tractor beam so that the Falcon can escape. Obi-Wan is aware of Vader's presence, and knows he isn't coming back. He deactivates the tractor beam and confronts Vader in a lightsaber duel. At the climactic moment in the duel, just as Luke and the others are making a run for the Falcon, Obi-Wan allows Vader to strike him down, and his body vanishes as he becomes one with the Force. In the ensuing confusion, Luke hears Obi-Wan's voice telling him to run, and the group makes their escape aboard the Falcon.
During the film's climactic battle scene, Obi-Wan continues to communicate with Luke through the Force, giving him guidance and counsel as Luke destroys the Death Star.
The Empire Strikes Back
In Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, set three years later, Luke is lying barely conscious on the frozen plains of Hoth, when Obi-Wan's Force ghost appears telling Luke to go to the Dagobah system for further training with Yoda. After Luke has been trained as a Jedi, Obi-Wan appears in Dagobah to try and dissuade him from going to Cloud City, where Vader holds Han and Leia hostage. He feels his young apprentice is not yet ready to face Vader one-on-one. After Luke insists on facing Vader, Obi-Wan warns Luke that he would not be able to interfere.
Luke is nearly killed in a lightsaber duel with Vader, who reveals to him that he is Luke's father and tries to entice Luke into learning the dark side of the Force. Luke escapes, but is haunted by the truth Obi-Wan withheld from him.
Return of the Jedi
Obi-Wan (right) as a Force Ghost with Yoda (center), and his redeemed apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (left).
In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, set one year later, a dying Yoda confirms to Luke that Vader is indeed his father. After Yoda's death, Obi-Wan appears on Dagobah as a Force Ghost to explain to a heartbroken Luke why he did not tell him the truth about his father, and to confess that Leia is his sister. Obi-Wan admits that his own pride had been partly to blame for Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace: "I thought I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong." He then tries to explain to Luke that killing Vader is the only way to destroy the Empire and save the galaxy, even if it means committing patricide.
At the end of the film, Obi-Wan's ghost appears alongside the ghosts of fellow Jedi Yoda and a redeemed Anakin on the forest moon of Endor, watching over Luke and his comrades as they celebrate the destruction of the second Death Star and, with it, the Empire.