Episode 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, “A Distant Echo,” includes a scene that suggests Obi-Wan knew more about Anakin and Padme’s relationship than we thought. The seventh and final season of The Clone Wars is currently airing on Disney+, giving fans the conclusion they were denied when the show was originally canceled.
Set between the events of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, The Clone Wars not only fills in the gap between those two movies, it better explains how their events set up the original Star Wars trilogy. This is most obvious in how The Clone Wars lays the groundwork for then-Chancellor Palpatine to become the Emperor, but it’s also better at developing Anakin and Padme’s relationship into the forbidden love affair that Anakin will fall to the dark side trying to protect. And in the most recent episode of The Clone Wars season 7, it’s suggested Obi-Wan may have known more about said love affair than he ever let on.
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In The Clone Wars season 7 episode 2, “A Distant Echo”, Anakin and Padme share a secret rendezvous via a holovid in Captain Rex’s quarters (a scene teased in trailers that shows Padme already visibly pregnant). While Anakin and Padme chat, Rex is just outside and desperately trying to stop Obi-Wan from barging in. Once Anakin does reappear, he’s quick to begin discussing the upcoming mission, but before Rex and he can leave, Obi-Wan tells Anakin, “I hope you at least told Padme I said hello.” So it’s obvious Obi-Wan knows Anakin is regularly talking to Padme in private, but does he know why?
During Attack of the Clones, Anakin isn’t exactly being discreet about his infatuation with Padme, and once they begin growing closer, they’re both terrible at hiding their true feelings – especially in front of Obi-Wan. In one particularly heated exchange, when Padme falls from the Republic Drop Ship, Obi-Wan tells Anakin not to “let [his] personal feelings get in the way” and that he will be expelled from the Jedi Order to which Anakin yells “I can’t leave her!”, so it’s hard to believe Obi-Wan hasn’t put two and two together.
Explicitly calling Anakin out on having regular chats with Padme suggests that Obi-Wan is at least suspicious if not already convinced there’s more going on between them. By the time of Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan correctly deduces that Anakin is the father of Padme’s child(ren), but it’s played by actor Ewan McGregor like he’s having a revelation. And that may be true, because while Obi-Wan probably does know Anakin and Padme are in love with each other, he may not suspect they’ve taken their relationship as far as they already have. After all, Obi-Wan himself is no stranger to falling in love, but he still chose duty over love in the end.
Obi-Wan’s romantic love for the Duchess Satine of Mandalore is just another way The Clone Wars helps to flesh out its characters, and in this case, it gives Obi-Wan insight into what Anakin’s going through. Through his experiences with Satine, Obi-Wan is likely to be sympathetic to Anakin and Padme, and would understand that it’s hard to ignore the feelings they’ve developed. Obi-Wan ultimately stayed with the Jedi instead of breaking his vows with Satine, but he does tell her he would have left the Jedi Order if she’d asked. Either way, The Clone Wars seems to be implying Obi-Wan does know about Anakin and Padme‘s relationship.
However, Obi-Wan neither offers to help Anakin and Padme, potentially easing Anakin’s anxiety over keeping the relationship a secret, nor does he talk with Anakin about sticking to his oath and ending it. So if Obi-Wan really did know the truth and did nothing as The Clone Wars is possibly suggesting, then his inaction may have almost doomed the whole galaxy. The fact that he likely spent 18 years in exile on Tatooine watching over the product of Anakin and Padme’s love is one example of the kind of internal reflection fans hope to see when Ewan McGregor reprises the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7 continues next Friday with “On the Wings of Keeradaks” on Disney+.
