Obi-Wan Kenobi Secretly Had An Affair With Padme?
While the Star Wars prequels have been better regarded by new generations of fans, it’s still hard to deny they were a hot mess compared to what came before. So much so, in fact, that fans have spent literally decades coming up with various fan theories to help us see some of the muddled plotting of those movies in a new light. And perhaps the best and most exciting of these fan theories involves noble Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi having an affair with Padme Amidala right under Anakin Skywalker’s nose.
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker’s mentor and friend, had an affair with Padme Amidala, and there’s evidence from the films.
Some people might reflexively think that Obi-Wan Kenobi would never betray his friend and former pupil by having an affair with the man’s wife, but there is powerful circumstantial evidence in Revenge of the Sith. For example, when Padme tells Anakin he is traveling down a path she can’t follow, he reflexively asks, “because of Obi-Wan?” And when Anakin attacks Padme on Mustafar, he rejects the idea that she still loves her husband, screaming, “you’re with him!” before he later tells Obi-Wan, “You will not take her from me.”
At this, many fans would say that Anakin’s comments to and about Obi-Wan Kenobi were about Padme being in on the imaginary conspiracy with the Jedi (the one Palpatine kept warning Anakin about) rather than an affair. But it’s hard not to ignore that this dialogue would be exactly the same if Anakin was talking about a torrid affair between his mentor and his wife. And it might help to contextualize Anakin Force-choking Padme…this sudden, possessive violence could just as much be jealousy-induced domestic violence as run-of-the-mill Dark Side corruption.
And once your brain starts seriously considering the possibility of Obi-Wan Kenobi having an affair with Padme, it recontextualizes so many moments. For example, a clearly angry Anakin commenting, “Obi-Wan’s been here, hasn’t he” might be the reaction to a possessive lover rather than a paranoid, would-be Sith. In fact, Anakin’s attitude regarding Obi-Wan in this short scene is in line with how he jealously viewed many men in Padme’s life in The Clone Wars cartoon.
Evidence of Obi-Wan’s affair can be interpreted through Anakin’s comments and behavior during Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars.
Interestingly, some fans think that not only was Obi-Wan Kenobi having an affair with Padme, but that it was going on longer than you might think. For example, in Attack of the Clones, take a closer look at the scene where Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin are riding on a Reek (the weird space rhino): Padme is directly behind the man she would marry at the end of the film, but she reflexively reaches behind herself and touches Obi-Wan’s thigh, which possibly serves as a visual confirmation of an awkward love triangle.
It’s entirely possible (and quite rewarding) to rewatch Revenge of the Sith with this in mind, especially since Anakin’s descent to the Dark Side seems to mirror his suspicions about Obi-Wan. Maybe this was never an epic space opera romance, and we’re just seeing what happens when a jilted husband has very little conscience and access to space magic that he can use to hurt his wife and her side piece?
Obi-Wan Kenobi had a forbidden romance with the Mandalorian Duchess Satine Kryze, and while it wasn’t an affair, it showed he’s willing to forsake oaths.
There’s plenty of other circumstantial evidence, including the fact that in The Clone Wars, we see that Obi-Wan Kenobi once had a forbidden romance with Duchess Satine Kryze…at the bare minimum, the guy is good at keeping secrets and enjoys risky romance. But the most interesting evidence of an affair comes from the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ show: a young Princess Leia asks if Obi-Wan is her father, and he responds, “I wish I could say I was, but no, I’m not.”
Sure, this could be regret over Anakin’s fall, but we think Obi-Wan secretly regrets that he didn’t marry Padme, which inadvertently caused a course of action that led to her death and Anakin’s transformation into a monster. And after Obi-Wan’s casual admission that he wanted to be Leia’s daddy, a canon confirmation of this explosive theory may be just around the corner.
