Darth Vader has been imprisoned in his suit for a couple decades. The Empire has inspired a rebel force to oppose their brutal dictatorship and Luke Skywalker is a passionate young man wanting to leave the mundane life he is living on Tatooine with his aunt and uncle.

Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi, You’re My Only Hope

Luke’s uncle Owen purchases an R2 unit from Jawas for labor needs. When cleaning him, Luke sees a hologram of a princess asking for help. The message is lost and R2-D2 leaves the safety of the shelter to embark on a mission to find his old master and deliver the message Luke accidentally found. After Luke is attacked by sand people along with C-3PO, Old Ben comes to their aid. Back at Luke’s residence Kenobi and Luke begin conversing and Luke learns more about the father he never knew. The father who is one of the most formidable enemies of the rebellion: Darth Vader, previously Anakin Skywalker.

Obi Wan listens to the urgent message and asks Luke to help him. At first, Luke is complacent, saying he doesn’t want to get involved and leave all the work he must do behind. This is a deflection tactic. Just scenes ago Luke was complaining about staying on another season to help with the harvest. He thirsted for adventure and when one is offered, he comes up with an excuse to remain complacent and stagnant in a life that no longer suits him.

Leaving Everything Behind

The empire is seeking R2-D2 since he his carrying the plans of the Death Star in his unit. Storm Troopers murder Luke’s family in their attempt to find him and Luke decides to go with Obi-Wan to help the princess. This point in the story is very similar to Anakin’s journey. While Anakin doesn’t leave Tatooine because his mother is killed, he chooses to leave everything behind for a new adventure just as Luke does.

Sometimes more than adventure is necessary to nudge someone out of complacency. A smart person will out manipulate another. A wise person will use another’s energy to do it to themselves.

“Greed can be a powerful ally”

Qui-Gon Jinn

Obi-Wan Kenobi uses the same trick that Jinn did in Episode I on Watto. Given that Luke had to sell his speeder to afford the two thousand, and Obi-Wan had been living as a hermit on Tatooine, it is unlikely that he had the funds to pay the negotiated price for passage to Alderaan. But, he knew that Han Solo’s weakness was money. Princess Leia and Luke prey on the same weakness later in the story.

Alderaan’s destruction runs parallel to Order 66 in Episode III. Obi-Wan Kenobi feels a physical sensation similar to that of Master Yoda when Jedi and other innocents were mercilessly slaughtered. After this, Obi-Wan begins teaching Luke the basics of the Force. Han Solo is quick to dismiss this wisdom, claiming the Force is just “simple tricks and nonsense.”

Better Her Than Me

Shortly after being pulled into an imperial space station, Luke and Han Solo make their way to a security room in Storm Trooper disguises. Obi-Wan Kenobi leaves to disarm the tractor beam and Luke and Solo begin arguing over whether to help the princess. Solo wishes to remain complacent, stating that the princess is not worth the trouble. Little does he know that his complacency put his future love interest in even more danger. Luke uses Han Solo’s love of money to convince him to take action, just like Obi-Wan did before.

Mistaking Surrender for Complacency

While Luke and Han Solo are ultimately successful in rescuing Princess Leia, Obi-Wan is still working on getting to the tractor beam to shut it down. While walking the space station corridors, Kenobi runs into his former apprentice Darth Vader. Since Vader has been seeking his old master Obi-Wan for years, he is full of desire to vanquish him. Sensing that he would be of more help to Luke and the rebellion as a force ghost, Obi-Wan surrenders his life and delivers a very memorable line.

Seeing as Vader is deeply attached to form, he does not hesitate when Obi-Wan holds his lightsaber in front of him and closes his eyes in surrender. This is not to be mistaken for complacency. Obi-Wan understands that his destiny is to ascend to a higher level to best assist the rebellion in their resistance against the Empire. He had fulfilled his role of watching over Luke during his time on Tatooine and now it was time for him to discover the path to immortality that his master Qui-Gon Jinn had.

Luke has trouble accepting this gesture and passionately fires his blaster at the Storm Troopers and Darth Vader until Obi-Wan tells him to run. Throughout the rest of the trilogy, Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to Luke and speaks to him as an ever-present guide.

Han Solo Comes Around

Han Solo is portrayed as a greedy scoundrel in this episode and his reputation follows him somewhat through the rest of the trilogy. However, he makes a substantial turn around at the end. When Luke is under heavy assault by Darth Vader and two escorts, Han Solo returns in the Millennium Falcon and assists the rebellion in delivering a death blow to the Death Star. He was already paid handsomely for his rescuing of Princess Leia so he had no reason to return. He did it out of a sense of morality. A sense that he could make a difference. Which is the core lesson of Episode IV. Everyone can make a difference. Complacency is what allows the status quo to remain in place. Listen to that voice inside that encourages action from a place of courage, love, and wisdom.

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