Obi-Wan Kenobi As Jesus? Vintage Star Wars Fan Theories Were Amazingly Accurate, Yet Also Crazy


Ever since the first of George Lucas’ Star Wars films was released in 1977, fans have speculated about the universe in which the sci-fi classic is set, and while some of their theories seem completely crazy in retrospect, others oddly predicted details that would only be revealed decades later.

The Star Wars universe that longtime fans treasure today is incredibly complex, fleshed out by decades of expanded universe adventures which are only now being defined as non-canonical to make way for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII. In the waning days of the Carter administration though, when the franchise was still nascent, fans had only experienced the briefest of glimpses into the Star Wars universe, and some of the connections they saw between characters were incredibly prescient.

As Moviepilot notes, theories about Luke and Anakin Skywalker abounded. Some Star Wars fans speculated that Luke wasn’t nearly as powerful as he seemed, and that R2-D2 was actually a droid-shaped host for the brain of Anakin Skywalker, who helped his son access the powers of the force. Boba Fett, one of the most popular figures in the Star Wars universe, was also rumored to be Anakin Skywalker in the post-prequel years, war torn yet watching over his progeny as they learned the ways of the force.

Boba Fett was thought to be Anakin Skywalker, and Vader, his clone.
Fans long speculated that Boba Fett was actually Anakin Skywalker in disguise.

Still other Star Wars fans believed that Boba Fett was actually a woman, the former lover of Anakin Skywalker who had killed him. This opened the door for speculation that Darth Vader was in reality a clone of Anakin, engineered by the Empire to harness his force abilities for evil.

Clones were widely popular in fan theories, some of which attested to the idea that the Clone Wars, mentioned in Star Wars lore but not significantly detailed, were actually an attempt by the Old Republic to clone Jedi instead of an army of stormtroopers. The extremely popular OB-1 theory actually envisioned Obi-Wan Kenobi as the last surviving Jedi clone, remaining alive in an effort to continue the Jedi order through new pupils.

Probably the most prescient Star Wars fan theory appeared in December 1980, according to Kinja, published in Fantastic Films #20. Credited to Bill Hays, the piece dealt not only with the original Star Wars trilogy (which was two years from being finished at the time of its writing), but also the prequel films. Amazingly, Hays accurately predicted several of the major plot points of Episode I, which he believed would be released in 1986, titled The Clone Wars.

“The story opens with young Obi-wan [sic] pushing his way through a crowded, far-off city, when he senses a tremor in the Force. He follows it to a slave boy surrounded by an angry crowd…”

Hays correctly predicted that the first Star Wars prequel would focus on the first meeting between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. After rescuing a slave boy, Obi-Wan introduced him to a pilot friend named Skywalker, a Jedi Knight who traveled as a spice smuggler, and from whom Darth Vader was cloned. Amazingly, Hays also correctly predicted another scene that would become part of Star Wars canon decades later, in which Vader is driven to revenge against the people who murder his foster parents, spurring his eventual fall to the Dark Side.

The theory stumbled a bit, however, in predicting that Obi-Wan was a clone of the first Jedi, a figure in the Star Wars universe who he asserted founded the Jedi order. Further detailing links between the world of Star Wars and our own, Hays speculated that the the history of the Jedi was intricately linked to modern religious figures.

“Better yet, tell me what Jedi stands for. In Latin, the plural of Jesus would be Jesi, but that’s too obvious. If the early Christians cloned Jesus to preserve his unique DNA, they might have built the Jesus Eugenics Development Institute. It provided a home for the galaxy’s greatest minds, robot as well as human. No mere human brain can comprehend the complexity of a DNA molecule. That task remains for computers, and artificial minds such as Artoo’s, that unobtrusive observer from the JED Institute.

“Lucas says that Star Wars is really the robots’ story… Is it possible the Jedi Knights were cloned from an artificial gene created by robots, to give mankind the religious leaders it wanted?”

While Obi-Wan Kenobi never proved to be a clone of Jesus, Hays’ assertions are based in a strange kind of logic. Religious elements are deeply interwoven in the tapestry of Star Wars, from belief in the Force to the monastic order of Jedi, warrior monks of the galaxy. Anakin’s virgin birth and the prophecy of the Chosen One seem to be appropriated into the world of Star Wars en masse from Christianity, while the droids do seemingly appear at every major event in the lives of the Skywalker family.

Even now, with the prequel stories told and the future of Star Wars on the horizon, fan theories are still emerging. As the Inquisitr previously noted, Boba Fett was recently singled out by one fan as the person responsible for the murder of Luke Skywalker’s adopted family, setting the events of Star Wars in motion.

Hays also envisioned a sequel trilogy taking place 20 years after what was then called Revenge of the Jedi, with storylines that still sound plausible, even after the prequel trilogy. As fans eagerly await the release of Episode VII, a fresh look at Hays’ fan theory may reveal a strangely prescient insight into the future of Star Wars.

[Images: Fantastic Films Collectors Edition #20, via Kinja and Boba Fett Fan Club]

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