- Hello there.
How do you keep your integrity when it is tried?
We're going to talk about Obi-Wan Kenobi
in "The Clone Wars."
Mended Light.
(upbeat music)
Oh my gosh, "Clone Wars" is so good.
This is going to be the last in our "Clone Wars" series.
We're gonna be talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Yes, Anakin, they do a great job with Anakin in the series,
but we only have room for so much here
'cause we got a lot of different things we want to cover
on this channel.
Watch "The Clone Wars."
But Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In "The Clone Wars" we learn
that Obi-Wan Kenobi is quite aware
that Anakin has a relationship with Padme,
which is against the Jedi code.
- I hope you at least told Padme I said hello.
- So why does Obi-Wan look the other way?
One, because he loves Anakin,
and he can see that Padme makes him happy.
But two, because Obi-Wan almost left the Jedi order once
because he was in love with a woman named Satine.
Obi-Wan chose the Jedi order over her,
but still carries this torch,
and he's kind of living vicariously through Anakin.
Like, Anakin can be in love,
and Obi-Wan can kind of get a little bit of what
that would be like.
So he lets Anakin have it.
Obi-Wan is reunited with Duchess Satine, Queen of Mandalore.
All you "Mandalorian" fans.
The Mandalorians are known as warriors,
and that's their whole culture.
And she's trying to rebrand, right?
Trying to rebrand the planet,
trying to lead people to an era of peace.
And she's a pacifist and she's against war
and against violence in all of its forms.
And she and Obi-Wan, they bicker over that subject.
They also bicker
because of their past romantic history, right?
And but here Satine has been taken captive
by a Mandalorian traitor.
And we're gonna see a bit of the interplay.
Now what we're gonna be talking about
is staying true to your values,
which can be very, very hard to do
when they are put to the test.
(dramatic music)
(lightsaber ignites)
- Come in, Kenobi.
You're expected
- Tal Merrik, you are under arrest.
Release the duchess.
- I took the precaution of wiring the ship's engines
to explode.
I press this remote and we all die.
- Duchess, not queen, sorry.
- You have any respect for me, you will not take such risks
with so many people's lives at stake.
- Satine...
Don't.
(dramatic music)
(comlink beeps)
- This is Merrik.
Standby to disengage.
Say farewell, Duchess.
- Obi-Wan, it looks like I may never see you again.
I don't know quite how to say this,
but I've loved you from the moment you came to my aid
all those years ago.
- I don't believe this.
- Satine, this is hardly the time or place for...
All right.
Had you said the word, I would've left the Jedi order.
- That is touching.
- Okay, so I was wrong.
I forgot.
He didn't choose the order over her.
She didn't choose him, and so he stayed with the order.
"But at your word, I would've left.
"I would've left the Jedi order."
So once again,
that's a reason why he cuts Anakin some slack. (laughs)
- But it's making me sick.
And we really must be going.
(Satine scoffs)
- You have the romantic soul of a slug, Merrik!
- [Tal] Ow!
- And slugs are so often trod upon.
- Interesting turnabout.
But even if I do not deliver the duchess alive
to the separatists, I still win.
The second I'm away I'll hit the remote
and blow the Coronet to bits.
- I will not allow that.
- What will you do?
If you shoot me, you prove yourself a hypocrite
to every pacifist ideal you hold dear.
And you, Kenobi, you are no stranger to violence.
You'd be hailed as a hero by everyone on this ship.
Almost everyone.
(dramatic music intensifies)
Come on then.
Who will strike first
and brand themselves a cold-blooded killer?
(lightsaber ignites) (Tal groans)
(dark heroic music)
- Anakin...
- What?
He was gonna blow up the ship.
- Obi-Wan, I-
- [Cody] General Skywalker,
the last of the droids have been defeated, sir.
- Very good, Cody.
- I must get back to the business of diplomacy.
- As you say, Duchess.
Some other time.
- "Oh, Duchess, I burn for you." (laughs)
So saved by Anakin.
Anakin's always willing to be the killer.
That's super on brand.
But I love that Obi-Wan, he doesn't wanna lose her respect,
but he's also, you know,
his value is force for defense, right?
And not the force, but actually like violence
in a case of defense, not for attack.
And this would be attack.
This would not be defense.
So he's stuck in this conundrum.
Obi-Wan maintains his integrity by a plot device.
Anakin saves the day.
But what about here?
Darth Maul's back.
You'll have to watch the show to see why Darth Maul's back.
He hates Obi-Wan for cutting him in half.
And here we go.
(dramatic music)
- Your noble flaw is a weakness shared by you
and your duchess.
You should have chosen the dark side, Master Jedi.
Your emotions betray you.
Your fear, and yes, your anger.
Let your anger deepen your hatred.
- Don't listen to him, Obi.
- Quiet.
- You can kill me, but you will never destroy me.
It takes strength to resist the dark side.
Only the weak embrace it.
- It is more powerful than you know.
- And those who oppose it are more powerful
than you'll ever be.
(Darth Maul growls)
I know where you're from.
I've been to your village.
I know the decision to join the dark side wasn't yours.
The Night Sisters made it for you.
- Silence!
You think you know me?
It was I who languished
for years thinking of nothing but you,
nothing but this moment.
And now the perfect tool for my vengeance is in front of us.
I never planned on killing you,
but I will make you share my pain, Kenobi.
(dramatic music intensifies)
(Satine groans)
(gentle somber music)
- [Obi-Wan] Satine.
- Remember, my dear Obi-Wan.
I've loved you always.
I always will.
(somber music intensifies)
- If there was ever a time to turn to hatred, right?
And revenge.
- Do we kill him now, brother?
- No.
Imprison him below.
Let him drown in his misery.
Take him to his cell to rot.
- I've seen a meme going around, right?
And it lists like lost his master,
padawan turned to the dark side, lost the love of his life.
And it lists all these things that Obi-Wan has been through.
And then it says never turned to the dark side.
Now the dark side's a fictional construct.
The force is a fictional construct.
But what's the real meat of it is our integrity,
who we choose to be.
And a lot of us hold onto it and then we lose it.
(sighs)
We lose it when things get really, really hard.
He says the dark side, only the weak embrace it.
It takes strength to resist it.
And we don't always succeed.
Sometimes we fail, sometimes we stumble.
But the message of Obi-Wan to me,
especially in "The Clone Wars,"
and we're gonna cheat a little bit
'cause we're gonna do a clip from "Rebels" here in a second,
which is a later series.
But the lesson of Obi-Wan is not superhuman fortitude,
instead the lesson of Obi-Wan is no matter what happens
and no matter what is done to me,
I choose to maintain my integrity or not.
I choose to stay true to my values or not.
And sometimes it's like, what's the point, right?
My values were supposed to serve me
and give me a good life.
Well, what if I held to my values
and now I'm miserable and I'm punished?
Well, you have to explore are your values serving you?
Are they valid, right?
If your value, for example, is racism, maybe explore that.
Sexism, homophobia, right?
Any form of bigotry, like explore that.
But if your values if you know they're good
and life is just hard,
they are the rock that you can build the foundation
of your character on.
And like what's character?
Who cares, right?
It's just an abstract construct.
Here's why we should care.
Character is everything.
It's how we have mental stability.
It's how we have psychological fortitude.
It's how we have emotional resilience.
And it's how we maintain connections and closeness
and self-respect even in the hardest of times.
And if we stumble and betray our integrity,
then we work our way back.
This last clip is gonna be from "Star Wars Rebels."
So it's in the timeline, I don't know, 25 years later-ish.
I'm sure I'm gonna have diehard Star Wars fans
who are gonna be like, "Actually it's 22, 23," whatever.
But it's about 25 years later.
Obi-Wan's in the desert.
He's on Tatooine, and Darth Maul has found him.
And I want you to watch how Obi-Wan's values are challenged
and then how he, ultimately what he does.
(Darth Maul sighs)
- Look what has become of you.
A rat in the desert.
- Look what I have risen above.
- I have come to kill you,
but perhaps it's worse to leave you here
festering in your squalor.
- If you define yourself by your power to take life,
the desire to dominate, to possess, then you have nothing.
(Darth Maul growls)
(lightsaber ignites)
- And what do you have?
Why come to this place?
Not simply to hide.
Oh, you have a purpose here.
Perhaps you are protecting something?
No.
Protecting someone.
(dramatic music)
(lightsaber ignites)
- So what's Obi-Wan's value?
What's his...
What are his values?
No revenge.
I won't attack.
But I will defend.
Darth Maul shows up, killed the woman Obi-Wan loves,
Obi-Wan doesn't attack him,
he doesn't strike out in rage or hatred.
But here he will defend Luke.
Right?
(dramatic music)
(Darth Maul shouts)
(lightsabers clash)
It's so cool
that instead of a big drawn out lightsaber battle,
like we're normally used to,
Obi-Wan's such a master at this point.
- Tell me is he the chosen one?
- He is.
- He will avenge us.
- And Obi-Wan's like, "No, man, you still don't get it."
But I love that Obi-Wan kills Darth Maul in defense
and then cradles him, his enemy, in his arms as he dies.
Why?
'Cause Darth Maul deserves it?
No.
Darth Maul killed the woman Obi-Wan loves, no.
This is more than that.
This is Obi-Wan being true to himself.
"I'm a compassionate person.
"I'm an empathetic person.
"I'm an honorable person.
"Darth Maul's defeated.
"I'm not gonna stand over him and gloat.
"I'm gonna show him the light side.
"I'm gonna show him goodness and kindness
"in his dying moments because that's who I, Obi-Wan, am."
How have you been wronged?
How have you been tested and trialed?
I want to know in the comments below.
And let me know what it is that you do
as you try to hold onto your integrity,
as you try to hold onto your goodness,
as you try to be the best version of you.
If you enjoy this video,
I encourage you to check out
how to build a sense of safety and manage fear.
It's gonna be the video that pops up at the end of this one.
And dive deeper into these principles.
What do you think of Obi-Wan
and "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" if you've watched them?
And again, what have you done to maintain your integrity
when it's put to the test
or to regain it when you've stumbled?
Let us know in the comments below.
If you need help and support in your life,
meet with a member of our clinical team
with a complimentary 15 minute consultation
or check out our membership, go to mendedlight.com.
Until next time, folks, keep shining.
We need your light.
(upbeat music)