There seem to be a lot of intricacies involved with the light and dark sides of the Force in the Star Wars universe, where one misstep could mean the difference between living out your days in piety as a warrior of peace and justice or joining a long line of villains who have haunted the galaxy far, far away since time immemorial.
And according to the rules established by the Skywalker Saga, fans are now realizing that Obi-Wan came awfully close to succumbing to that fate in The Phantom Menace. As you might recall, when Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan was overtaken by a fit of rage, channeling that anger into fighting the Sith apprentice with all the aggression and hate he could muster.
That was perhaps the only time we witnessed Obi-Wan losing his cool, something that didn’t even happen during his duel with Anakin on Mustafar. Per Star Wars canon, that single instance would’ve been enough to tip the protagonist towards the dark side, so how did he resist it? That’s the very question that diehard enthusiasts have been pondering over at the franchise’s official subreddit, which you can see below.
Of course, there’s actually a compelling argument to be made about the sequence of events in that scene. While Obi-Wan indeed fought with anger and aggression, this almost cost him the fight. It was only after Maul almost threw him down a melting pit that Obi-Wan focused his attention again and used strategy to best his opponent.
So, there you have it, folks. Even the unbowed Obi-Wan came close to tapping into the dark side, perhaps saved only through a moment’s reflection, something that his padawan never got the chance to do.