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The Two Most Important Shots in Star Wars
And Why I Framed Them Together on My Wall
On my study wall hangs a portrait of our protagonists from the end of the Mustafar duel in Revenge of the Sith. In the picture, Obi-Wan holds Anakin, who has been dismembered but not yet burned, in his arms. He seeks now to comfort his corrupted and dying friend. The scene didn’t happen this way in the film. My portrait is a lie, an artistic revision. Obi-Wan never embraced Anakin like this after defeating him. Instead of showing him love and understanding after rendering him no longer a threat, he lectured and threw the pain of his disappointed expectations at him. Then he left his friend-turned-enemy for dead and sealed his fate on the dark side under the identity of Darth Vader.
This revisionist image represents what we can imagine as Obi-Wan’s final regret. Should he have taken this opportunity to try to save Anakin’s life? Should he have shown pity on him and comforted him as he slid into death from his injuries? Might it have prevented all that followed? Perhaps in solitude on Tatooine, Obi-Wan dreamed of holding Anakin on Mustafar, weak and dying, and letting him know one last time that he was still there for him, that he would never leave or give up on him, no matter how far he had fallen.
There are lines from Obi-Wan’s speech that were omitted from the final cut of…
