One detail about the Star Wars films that often gets brought up as a plot hole is why Obi-Wan kept his last name of Kenobi when he settled on Tatooine to watch over Luke Skywalker.
After all, if you’re being hunted as a Jedi Master wouldn’t you at least change your name to hide from captors?
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Well, let’s be honest, it only became a plot hole because of the prequels and the popularity of Star Wars generally. As it began to expand in pop culture people asked more questions and more stories were written.
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When George Lucas first wrote in this plot point, he wasn’t to know Star Wars would become a juggernaut in entertainment.
One of the Legends novels writes that Obi-Wan simply didn’t need to change it. He was already living in the Outer Rim and who is going to care about some farmer named Kenobi?
This would also help him blend in with the locals - for all we know Kenobi might have been similar to ‘Smith’ or ‘Jones’ on Tatooine.
There’s also a point made in the comic books, written by Kieron Gillen, that Darth Vader wouldn’t have wanted to return to Tatooine - his home planet - because it caused him so much pain.
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His avoiding the planet meant there wasn’t as much of a need for secrecy. This is also why Obi-Wan didn’t insist on Luke Skywalker changing his last name either.
There will be arguments over this for years to come, but in the end, it happened purely because Lucas wrote a story that ended up so huge that it got added to over and over.
Plus he wasn’t aware at the time that there would be a hunt for Kenobi at any point.
If he had gone into the original trilogy with the plan for the prequels, these plot holes probably wouldn’t be so glaring.
Topics: Star Wars, TV And Film