Darth Vader is a bad guy. The revived era of the franchise has dug into Vader as a character beyond his iconography to reestablish why we are fascinated with him, why we are so scared of him, and why we invest in him. Even though Obi-Wan knows this, he also knows something that is important: Anakin Skywalker is the most important drama queen in the universe.
Fans of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series have been waiting for a decade for the third chapter to arrive, and it did in a big way. This may not have been the epic battle that fans were hoping for. The abandoned quarry on Mapuzo is not as dramatic as the slag and molten hot rivers of Mustafar are. If there is a pre-ANH fight between the two former Jedi, Obi-Wan is still hitting all the beats you want.
Vader stalks the dark, less the unstoppable object we saw in the hallway scene and more a slinking shadow, playing up on the absolute terror Obi-Wan feels in coming face-to-mask. Vader teases, he switches his lightsaber on and off, and then strikes in a moment of surprise between dirt piles before their battle really begins. Obi-Wan can barely stand up, let alone match Vader's assault on him, because he is so compromised by his emotions. Vader strikes, and strikes, and strikes again, but it's not really a fight. For generations of Star Wars fans, Darth Vader was the ultimate evil, the terror and the power of the Big Badass.
The original Star Wars is not what Obi-Wan is nostalgic for. It is a reflection of the renewed embrace of the prequels, and with it, the recognition that behind Vader's mask is the Anakin Skywalker of those movies, as well as Clone Wars. We hold the original trilogy of Vader and Obi-Wan in our heads, but the Darth Vader of Obi-Wan can't be just that. Remember that the Chosen One was just plain stupid.
Yes, it remembers. From the moment Vader enters the picture on Mapuzo, the terror of that masked image is presented in tandem with a throughline of dramatic excess. The cruel performance of snapping necks and dragging villagers around with the Force to get Obi-Wan out, the theatricality in the quarry hunting Obi-Wan, even the simple act that Vader, in a rare sight from what we see of him in the movies, is casually, single handedly It is a performance that Anakin Skywalker is in. He is showing his former master how far he has come and how much he still has to offer. There is more than enough in the text of the movies and Clone Wars to make it obvious, even if you haven't read the comic books.
He did this in a number of ways, from his small tte--ttes with Dooku and Grievous to figures like Padmé's former lover. He loves a chance to prove himself, and has the confidence and power to do so, and we see him indulge that side of him over and over. The finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Battle of the Heroes is over-the-top and dramatic as well. Vader holds a Force-grappled Obi-Wan over a scattered container of fuel crystals and calmly lowers himself so that his lightsaber can set them all alight. Vader growls, with a rare sense of satisfaction, "Now you will suffer, Obi-Wan" Your pain is just beginning.
Flinging Obi-Wan down to drag him through the flames, Vader watches as Obi-Wan did. There is a lot of George Lucas-inspired rhyming poetry here that will make you want to watch their previous clash. This man of such power that still couldn't help but indulge his bravado with a quip here and a comeuppance there was always eager to cash that dramatic check. It is, just as much material exploring Vader in the Disney era of the franchise has been, a wonderful enmeshing of Vader we have in our mind's eye from the original movies.
As horrifying as it is, it is the Vader moment that Obi-Wan Kenobi needed to give us more than any other line, a choice that has been brought to the forefront in books and comic books. As the episode ends, we almost have an answer as to why Vader would let his prey go temporarily, since he has had his moment of delicious, dramatic revenge. Who are we to deny that to a person who thrives on drama?
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