Warning: This article contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi episode three.
After a cameo at the end of episode two, Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader well and truly made his presence felt in this week’s third installment of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The latest chapter followed Ewan McGregor’s Ben and young Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) as they journeyed to the Empire-controlled mining planet Mapuso. This wasn’t the ideal place to law low, and before long the dreaded Sith Lord was on their tail.
Spoilers incoming!
In contrast to what we were expecting, then, the big Obi-Wan/Vader reunion duel that we assumed would be saved until the finale occurred at the conclusion of part three — and it did not disappoint. Vader himself has rarely been more brutal, dragging Kenobi through fire and generally dropping badass threats all over the place. Except one mind-blowing reinterpretation of Vader’s jibes may reveal that there were actually a lot more tragic than they initially appeared.
Twitter user @anihuggingpadme pointed out that Vader’s line “You should have killed me when you had the chance” wasn’t intended the way it sounded. Sure, with Vader’s sinister demeanor and James Earl Jones’ modulated voice, it comes across as a promise he’s going to kill Obi-Wan. But when you mentally replay the line with Anakin’s natural voice, it becomes less of a threat and more of a regret.
“[N]ow imagine young Anakin saying that. no voice changer, no terrifying suit. just a boy telling his brother he wishes he had killed him [sic],” the fan tweeted, blowing our minds and breaking our hearts in the process.
The tragedy of Vader is arguably just as compelling, if not more so, than his formidable Force powers so it’s fan readings and re-interpretations like this that help us remember that Palpatine’s apprentice isn’t as evil as he seems. Hopefully, we’ll get some more of Christensen sans helmet as the show continues so we can have more glimpses of the man beneath the mask.
Obi-Wan Kenobi continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus.