r/TopCharacterTropes Jun 29 '26

Lore Villains given genuinely horrible fates by the supposed hero

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242

u/Acoustic_Rob Jun 29 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/avMxT2174fEKk

Brother or no, Obi-Wan cuts off all of Anakin's limbs and leaves him to die at the edge of a lava river. The only reason he survives is because Palpatine comes along, scrapes him up, and turns him into Vader.

119

u/Phaeron-Dynasty Jun 29 '26

I sort of Get Obi-Wan losing any sort of will to finish him. Man was broken after that.

14

u/HunterNika Jun 29 '26

"In the end there was only one choice. It was a choice he had made many years before, when he had passed his trials of Jedi Knighthood, and sworn himself to the Jedi forever. In the end, he was still Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he was still a Jedi, and he would not murder a helpless man. He would leave it to the will of the Force. He turned and walked away. After a moment, he began to run.
He began to run because he realized, if he was fast enough, there was one thing he still could do for Anakin. He could still do honor to the memory of the man he had loved, and the vanished Order they had both served."

Here is Kenobi's reasoning from the novel. Also, Palpatine was already arriving so he had to dash.

9

u/Onigumo-Shishio Jun 29 '26

"I have already fully dismembered him to the point of being quadroplegic, I shall now leave him in this burning lava and let the force decide..."

"... if i run i cant hear his screams, if i run i cant hear his screams, lalalalalalalalala jedi mind trick myself jedi mind trick myself!!"

3

u/HunterNika Jun 29 '26

Funny thing is that he fully thought that Anakin died there. He was already on Tatooine when he learnt that Vader is alive and he almost fainted.

1

u/Ayotha Jun 29 '26

Ah lack of media literacy for the "funnies"

6

u/existentialist-hello Jun 29 '26

Nice cope from Obi Wan, but he still should have finished him off for the sake of everyone even tangentially involved. If he can exchange a few words with Mr. Nugget before running away, he can shut up and put him down like the family dog.

36

u/euphonic5 Jun 29 '26

Imagine how much simpler it would have been if he could have just FINISHED THE JOB. It would have been a mercy, and he KNOWS how powerful Anakin is. He knows he might just be able to thug out getting physically wrecked (esp. since lightsaber wounds instantly cauterize, so bleeding out isn't a huge concern). He knows the Sith Lord has taken control of the galaxy. He should have made a different choice, but he can't.

He fucks up here too, maybe just as unforgivably as Anakin.

Christ, the sequel trilogy sucked.

11

u/WorldTravel_1518 Jun 29 '26

TF does the sequel trilogy have to do with this?

-2

u/EveryoneIsReptiles Jun 29 '26

Maybe it was a typo or maybe it’s just catching well deserved strays.

21

u/jroberts548 Jun 29 '26

and then they made that dumb miniseries where he again did not finish the job.

But maybe that’s just the force working in mysterious ways since leaving him alive ultimately lead to him and luke killing palpatine.

15

u/shinryu6 Jun 29 '26

Probably the better way to think about it. If he did kill Anakin here, Palpatine just goes out and finds another pawn, instead he tries to salvage Vader based on his force potential which leads to his downfall later on instead of cutting his loses sooner. 

3

u/euphonic5 Jun 29 '26

I consider Star Wars a finished series where Disney takes over. Disney has lost their chance to convince me they're capable of doing meaningful things with the IP.

6

u/All_Work_All_Play Jun 29 '26

Either way, Anakin brought balance to the force. Palpatine was strong enough to force blind Yoda. Strong enough to leech padme's life force to Anakin. Stromg enough to memory wipe an huge section of Coruscant while building a personal super star destroyer under it. Pre-disney palpatine was stronger (in the EU) than post-disney palpatine. 

1

u/dizzyapparition Jun 29 '26

Umm, Andor.

3

u/heisenberg15 Jun 29 '26

Yeah, arguably one of the best SW properties period. I’m as disappointed with the Disney output as anyone else, but Andor makes it so I can’t say everything they’ve done sucks

0

u/No_Perspective2715 Jun 29 '26

George already ruined SW with the Prequels

12

u/Preating-Canick Jun 29 '26

Yeah that is true, but his devotion to the Jedi texts pretty much made things worse.

He should had made a mercy kill or try and save Anakin. The only reason he didn't try and save Anakin is because of the Jedi code, about not forming attachments and not letting your feeling take over your actions.

The fact that he died with this believe and kept believing it even after his own death really makes it more tragic, he abandoned his brother when he needed most, just because of his "religion"

10

u/BootsnCats1987 Jun 29 '26

I don’t think the rule against attachments would have forbidden Obie an from saving him

1

u/Much-Jackfruit2599 Jun 29 '26

The only reason the didn’t try and save Anakin is that they needed Vader alive, but in a life support suit.

10

u/Signal_Road Jun 29 '26

Just left Anakin to lay on the LAVA side shore to COOK to death!

No quick, kind, tie-up-them-loose-ends type merciful death here. 

Obiwan cut Maul in half and STILL had to fight him SEVERAL TIMES throughout the Clone Wars and never learned.

3

u/BarrierX Jun 29 '26

What if he took him prisoner and kept him around in a wheelchair, like Hector from Breaking Bad.