Spoiler Warning: Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+
Star Wars is famous for following the Hero’s Journey. George Lucas made a note of telling audiences that he studied Joseph Campbell’s tome and applied the narrative structure to his movie. As such, with the Jedi being the main subject of the Star Wars movies, they traditionally follow that structure as a form of character development. They move around that precarious circle to find the things that make them true Jedi. But in Obi-Wan Kenobi, there is no journey to become a Jedi. The Jedi have been driven into hiding, and our story follows someone that continually resists that growth.
Obi-Wan Kenobi gives regular Star Wars fans an interesting view of the Jedi. One where the mystical order is not in power or on its way to rising to it. Our familiar character Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), is forced into hiding and actively tries to avoid helping people, even his fellow Jedi. And as such, his story may be just that, his tortured self necessarily witnessing these terrible things in order to keep himself and Luke Skywalker safe. But the one thing Obi-Wan might have forgotten about his nature as a Jedi is that his “refusal of the call to adventure” is the first step on the Journey.
The Inquisitors
In the series, the Inquisitors say on several occasions that “the Jedi will hunt themselves.” At one point they explain this to mean that “their compassion leaves a trail.” In the first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, we see the method by which the Inquisitors hunt Jedi. The Grand Inquisitor steps up to a barkeep and begins a monologue detailing how a Jedi cannot resist helping those in need. He tells the story in such a way that describes a wanderer seeking shelter and gains what he was looking for through their selfless act.
This can be seen as a tiny microcosm of the Hero’s Journey. The Jedi are safe in the Jedi Temple, beginning in a world that requires no challenge or change. But he is forced on a journey when Order 66 is issued, and despite his refusal to leave, he must begin an adventure anyway. When he comes to Tatooine, he crosses the threshold into the strange world and enters what Campbell calls “The Belly of the Whale.”
The status quo of this place is that the bartender is being extorted, harassed, etc., and the Jedi upsets this balance by helping the bartender. As a result, he is rewarded with a boon to help him get through his journey, which, in this case, comes in the form of shelter in the bar. But the next phase of the Journey is where the Inquisitors cut him off. The phase after the first boon is a difficult trial. Traditionally initiated by the father in ancient tales, this one is created by the Inquisitors because the dark side, especially Darth Vader, has been used as that father figure.
Essentially the Inquisitors have predicted this path and taken up their role as the challenge that the Jedi is meant to overcome. But they are aware of this progression, so they plan to defeat the Jedi in question. Of course, the Jedi is doomed from the start because he is on a journey to defeat the Sith and restore power to the Jedi Order. And that is the journey, although not exactly along those lines, that Luke Skywalker will one day take up. But this Jedi was defeated by the Inquisitors not just because he was taking up someone else’s journey, but because the Inquisitors predicted this line of action.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi avoids this character change, even though he later sees the consequences. While any Jedi would typically answer that call to do something good, Kenobi has higher priorities. Of course, this refusal of the call is the first step any hero takes on their journey. And in this case, he reluctantly takes action in the form of protecting Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair). But this series is able to take an interesting perspective on the Jedi.
While usually, the Jedi are unfailingly kind, this series is able to put a whole cast of characters onto a morally questionable ground. Obi-Wan has the priority of protecting Luke and staying alive. But how far will his priorities let his moral high ground go? Apparently, not very far, as Obi-Wan went off Tatooine to rescue Leia quite quickly. But this was bound to happen. Kenobi has officially begun his trek on his own personal Hero’s Journey. The question now is where will the Inquisitors cut him off.
Where the episode left him, he is currently in that “Belly of the Whale” stage where he has to navigate a strange planet to achieve the ultimate goal of returning Leia home to her father. And in a story like Star Wars, Leia couldn’t just be an agent of chaos, or if she is, that chaos will result in something beneficial due to the mystical ways of the force. So there is a lot to parse out in the remaining hunt.