Battle of the Heroes - Analyzing The Greatest Fight in Star Wars History

And why it echoes still to this day

If there is one fight that echoes still to this day cinematically and that has NEVER been topped by any other fight scene in a movie, or any other movie it is that of the Battle of the Heroes. Much of this greatness stems from Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor’s superb acting, Lucas’ great directing and writing, and the choreographers’ amazing work.

But the truth is there are also great themes in this scene. Themes of conflict of anger and pain the likes of which few movies since have even sought to tackle. And before we move to an analysis of the fight one must ask why? Well the answer is simple. Because this fight involves passion.

Passion, is an emotion that has been almost entirely stripped clean from the school-systems, stripped from entertainment and stripped from most aspects of our lives. It is the most human emotion that we have, and it is something that moves us to greatness, but in this age of levelling everything, of stripping away everything that pushes an individual above others, cinema cannot afford to portray Passion in a positive light.

It is for this reason that the Marvel movies all feel like MacDonald’s commercials and lack emotion, and lack some integral part of humanity. Because the idea is to get you hooked without feeding your passion.

Fear not though, because in any battle between governments and human passion, human passion always wins out. This is how it was in Ancient Rome, how it was in Constantinople, how it was in the end days of the Heian period, and so on. Just as a civilization reaches its zenith and begins to attempt to tear away passion from her people, it is undone and returns to its traditions.

In Episode 3 we see Vader and Obi-Wan cast back to the core of who they are. Obi-Wan is a stalwart man, just trying to do the right thing and warning others not to cross certain lines, but as the ‘Cassandra’ of the Prequels nobody listens to him (save maybe Mace Windu), while Vader crosses ever more lines.

Early in the fight Obi-Wan we can see relies upon Soresu or Form III as it is also called, a defensive style meant to wear out his enemy. But the trouble is that Vader is so much stronger, and Obi-Wan’s resolve is shaky, so that between these two factors Vader soon dominates the battle.

Pushing Obi-Wan steadily back, from the hangar all the way to the control room, the two proceed to rely on every flashing saber strike they can and even utilize the Force against each other. Obi-Wan naturally is hard-pressed to keep up, while Vader easily recovers after they’re blasted apart.

This shows two things; first that despite being badly mismatched Obi-Wan has some sort of edge deep down, while Vader lacks a decisive edge. Obi-Wan has something and Vader lacks it. Resolve? Well Vader does indeed have that, but the trouble is he’s relying on the ‘shadow’, archetypally he’s fighting at something like quarter-power or something.

Thing is the Dark Side is good for quick bursts of power but not long-drawn out fights as it is the ‘Down’ Side as Spaceballs pointed out. It is the Shadow, and therefore could never truly outshine the Light.

This is why Obi-Wan temporarily even when weakened and operating indecisively can match Vader in that hour. Because Vader is a shadow of Anakin, and doesn’t have the power of the Light, he’s weaker and lesser than the youth we saw earlier in the movie, while Obi-Wan even consumed by doubt and hesitation is still operating mostly at full-power.

Arguably enhanced as he later is in the suit, and armed with greater knowledge of the Force the Vader in the suit is stronger than this Vader according to the EU (or so it is implied). However, even at his peak he cannot fight long extended duels without struggling, same with Palpatine.

Long drawn out fights look cool but the Sith always seem to lose those, while short and savage fights usually end in their favour. In the case of Sidious vs Yoda, Yoda’s resolve was shaken, he doubted and he had little of the psychological advantage so he never could have won his duel. We also have to bear in mind throughout this era Palpatine had dominated Yoda in the same manner he had Anakin psychologically. So Yoda could never have truly fought and defeated him, as Mace had.

Yoda simply put was the wrong choice to fight Palps, but then again he could not have beaten Vader.

Obi-Wan is naturally pushed back outside, out of the control room where Vader begins kicking and punching him in a childish manner. These blows are savage and amaze Obi-Wan. These are not the sort of attacks of a Jedi, sure Obi knows martial arts but Anakin has rarely demonstrated all that much knowledge of those arts or much interest in them. What is more is that this sort of fighting style is antithetical to the graceful, dignified fighting-styles of the Jedi.

That said, the two when they lock fists and wrestle for dominance are clearly showing the warring spirits between the two.

And it is at this moment that the fight begins to slowly but steadily shift out of Vader’s favour. How is this the case? The trouble is as brutal as he is, and as petty as he is, pettiness and brutality are the habits of tyrants and bullies, not of warriors. Vader is behaving childishly because the fight is already decided and he knows it, so its kind of him lashing out in a way on a thematic level against his would be father for not giving him the ‘toy’ he wants (in this case toy means Galaxy).

Obi-Wan is amazed because never has he seen his former apprentice in this light or comport himself so badly. This is traumatic for him as he’s realizing the boy he took in and raised as his own, is a monster.

In the game version the two throw around barbs, with Obi-Wan trying to reach out to Anakin explaining that he went from ‘Apprentice to Master’ in one day, and that he wasn’t prepared to teach him. Vader’s response; ‘that’s your failing’.

There’s other great lines such as ‘disappointment to the Order’ that Vader throws at Obi, and Obi-Wan retaliates with a furious, ‘We should have left you on Tatooine’ that likely scars Vader’s soul worst than the lava.

And now we reach the climax of the fight when the two are ‘surfboarding’ of sorts on robots and the like over the lava.

It is now that Obi-Wan says as he lies dying on a spiritual level, 'I have failed you Anakin, I have failed you.’ How is this the beginning of the end for him? Because in a way Ben Kenobi is the Dark Side of Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan is a man who loves and endures not unlike St-Peter against all odds. He’s a man who can take everything the universe throws at him and still come out on top, enduring things Qui-Gon, Anakin, Yoda and others could not imagine. He’s a steady friend, a good man and a wise Jedi.

Ben is a man who hides in a desert, schemes to use a child-soldier to kill the boy’s father, who despite this boy loving him underneath it all hardly sees the boy as even being human. He’s prepared to lie, cheat and otherwise use and even emotionally blackmail Luke Skywalker to do whatever he wants.

What’s so fascinating is how Luke sees through all this and cuts through Ben straight to Obi-Wan in a few scenes (I’ll analyze those when the time comes).

So Obi-Wan is ceding ground.

Vader retaliates with a blatant lie about the Jedi scheming to take over, Obi-Wan points out that Palpatine is a politician- I mean evil. Vader rebuffs this by saying; ‘from my point of view the Jedi are evil!’

And that’s the crux of this fight. Vader has been totally subverted. This is what Lucas had been trying to explain to people since Ep 3 came out; the story of the fall of Anakin Skywalker is the tale of how a bright young man with every gift in the world can be subverted into throwing away his every freedom to select chains for himself.

Anakin selects chains, humiliation and castration over freedom, humility and masculinity. In a way, Anakin’s descent into Vader is the story of modern men encapsulated in 3 movies. This is why he cuts to the core of a whole generation; why he is the single most important sci-fi character in a way of our era. He speaks to the Truth that young men have been subverted, and what might happen to all of us if we’re not careful; if we don’t watch ourselves we could become twisted like him.

Good could become evil, evil becomes good. Freedom is slavery. Slavery is Freedom. Liberty over Freedom. Cruelty over forgiveness. Forgiveness is cruelty. And moral law is ‘wrong’ while ‘wrongness’ becomes the new ‘moral law’.

Obi-Wan thus doesn’t just claim the high-ground physically but metaphorically. His point about Anakin to Qui-Gon, his point about how they should tread lightly with Anakin, his reasoning of what the weaknesses of the Jedi are, his views on how to strengthen the Jedi and allow them attachment, but also about how dangerous those like Amidala and Palpatine have all proven themselves true.

He was right.

And so he cuts down Vader. Dismembering the man and turning him into a cripple. It is at this moment that he shouts out his true feelings though, as he cries out that Anakin was meant to bring balance, not discard it. Meant to restore light to the universe not destroy it.

He was most of all, meant to be better than what he became. Obi-Wan had loved him. He had known it would be a mistake to do so, but had to open his heart despite knowing this was a bad idea.

What is more is that Obi-Wan cries out, ‘You were my brother Anakin, I loved you!’

Why is this line important? Because at some point, something happens when you raise kids. They grow taller. They reach eye-level, and suddenly you aren’t the ‘superior’ but the ‘equal’ of your child in a way. They reach the same level and even if they will always be your baby, in some ways they become something more than that; they become your friend.

This is what Obi-Wan is crying out to Anakin. They had graduated to that step in their relationship, or so he had thought. They had stopped being just Father & Son, but also Brothers i.e. equals. They had become bound to one another. And Vader had broken that bond.

Vader of course yells out his infamous ‘I hate you!’ at Obi-Wan. This isn’t just Vader being petty and hateful, but him actually driving the sword through Obi-Wan’s heart. He could easily conquer a weakling like Padme, he could catch Mace unawares, and could even threaten a petty tyrant like Palpatine. But he could not on a physical level at any point in any way defeat Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan had proven that the Light was indeed the Light and the Dark Side little more than its pathetic shadow.

But the sad truth is Obi-Wan dies amidst those flames as surely as Anakin does for a time. Spiritually from this point on, Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn’t appear for the rest of the films until he appears at the end of Episode 6.

Ben Kenobi, the shadow of Obi-Wan triumphs over him, and usurps him just as Vader usurped Anakin. So that for a time the ‘Shadow’ reigns over the Light.

And yet, as we all know Ep 3 ends with a possible new Hope; Luke & Leia. There is also Anakin’s great rival Ferus Olin who will return to the Jedi, and become the Last of the Jedi for a time. There is also Kyle Katarn, the Chosen One meant to become ‘the Knight of Ruusan’ who will purge the ghosts of the New Sith Wars and restore Light to Ruusan and all the other forgotten places in the Galaxy.

So while Obi-Wan is bathed in flames, and left with only a thread of who he once was (just as with Vader/Anakin), Hope is born anew and the real Chosen Ones are born. Kyle is already likely 5-6 years old at this time, and exhibiting far greater power than Anakin ever could, Luke is destined to restore balance and Leia shall play her role also, and will mother that great hero Anakin Solo.

So just as there is despair, remember… despair is but a footnote in the history of Hope.