One of the most confusing lines in the Star Wars movies is when Obi-Wan admonishes Ben that if he gets struck down he will only become more powerful. More powerful than what???

Seriously, what were his great powers after he was struck down? Talking telepathically to Luke? Jedi couldn't perform that task in the physical form? And if not, why is that power all that great??? I call that a rather lame power, really. Or were his great powers floating around as a ghost like image on Hoth and sitting on some moldy log on Dagobah.

What an extreme let down, I must say. He warns Vader things will only get worse for him if he's struck down...uh, Ben, exactly how did you accomplish that? Oh, you revealed the location Yoda to Luke through some ghostly presence. Big whoop. A recording shoved up R2's ass could have done the same job.

Vader must have laughed his ass off that nothing ever happened as a result of that empty threat. How fitting would it have been to have Obi-Wan come back with all his great powers at the end of Empire and whoop some Vader ass with powers that would have made the Emperor piss his robe? But then Empire wouldn't have ended on a down note and be as awesome as it was.

So, realistically, was there any time in Lucas' mind when he was going to fulfill Obi-Wan's warning? I really don't think so. It was just an empty threat. What did he do to Vader? Haunt his meditation chamber for a little while or something? Geez, what a loser Kenobi turned out to be. Jedi Master my ass.

His power was that he could write Than instead of That.

I suppose it's really that he couldn't be touched and could carry on his cause as he was able to talk to luke still.

Yeah, but it didn't. It was Obi who pointed Luke to Yoda. so.. um.. there?

Well, it was originally some 9 part epic that was cut down to three movies so saying that there was no potential of ever having it be something different is silly to say.

Oh wait. I forgot, the typical response in these sorts of threads are "HURR, LUCAS IS A FAT FROG FACED MORAN WHO RAPED MY CHILDHOOD! HURRR!"

I suppose carry on.

My Jedi training is clearly not complete!

Had there been no introduction of midichlorians, I would have guessed that Obi Wan would become a larger part of the 'Force'.

Also, he tells Vader that "if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you (meaning Vader) can possibly imagine". I thought this implied that since Vader hadn't learned everything, he wasn't going give two shits after he kills Ben, because, well... he's dead (at least to Vader). But Ben knew that he would come back as one with the Force to guide Luke.

Or it could mean more along the lines of Obi Wan becoming a martyr that further pushes Luke in his quest against the Empire bringing about the eventual downfall of Vader.

Jesus, I can hardly read your posts anymore through the arrogance that oozes from my screen.

Don't you mean when Obi-Wan admonishes VADER? Ben is Obi-Wan's first name.

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I always wondered if Obi Wan 'talked' to any other people. It'd be funny to have him bug the shit out of Vader. Imagine hearing "Anakin, use the force" while he's taking a dump.

Yeah, that'd be good...Vader's taking a dump....

"Use the Force, Anakin!"

"Anakin is dead, dead to me I say!"

Exactly.

Your sarcasm detector must be broken these days as those sorts of things are really jokes. I would expect you to see the irony of me ever talking smack about anyone else's grammar. Pot calling the kettle.. um. a pot.

Either way, the question was really not much of a question. It's open for interpretations and no reason to even connect it to Lucas being a hack of a director leaving such inconsistence plot strings hanging.

Jedis get 40 virgins in the afterlife.

So when he said "powerful", he meant "erect." Lucas did that to maintain the PG rating.

I'm sure I'll get corrected but he's the first to go all Jedi Spirit, right? So there you go. He did become more powerful than Vader could have imagined. Hey, not being able to hurt the dude and him pushing Luke through the training and keeping the Jedi order was pretty powerful.

Either that or the 40 virgins deal.

I was thinking eternal life...guess its kinda a big deal.

think in one of the first 3 they might have mentioned something about it. Well for those of you who consider those movies Star Wars.

I felt the same way as the OP. I suppose guiding Luke to victory was making himself more powerful. But I think they should done more with it like swallow planets or something.

Blowing up heads. Clearly that's the only power greater than choking someone without touching them. Yeah. I would so totally think head explody is more powerful than even what Vader could imagine.

Can Jedis perform some sort of a suicidal ritual like the Japanese Seppuku to become the form that Obi Wan was?

Don't try overanalyze any SW plot points anymore, especially specific lines from the 1977 movie. Just to keep in context, when ObiWan was talking to Vader at that point of the storyline, Vader actually did kill Lukes father, so it is just not worth it anymore to see what Lucas had on screen in 1977 and wonder why it doesnt make sense today.

That pretty much sums it up. Lucas not only made up the saga as he went along, didn't he actually decide to kill off Ben during the filming of Star Wars?

D'oh! That's exactly what I was thinking. We still haven't seen what Galactus looks like or who is cast for the role. I predict Alec Guiness will pull a 2-Pac and come out of hiding just in time for Fantastic Four 3. Lucas put that line in the first film in an ingenious foreshadowing ploy, anticipating the course of Hollywood more than 30 years into the future.

The man's a genius.

Oh man, no one has corrected you? I guess that makes me the nerd who has to do it.

At the end of Revenge of the Sith, Yoda reveals to Obi-Wan that Qui Gon has returned in spirit form.

Welcome to 2007 my friend!

Woo hoo...a Star Wars thread! We get so few of these! So, let me tell you about this George Lucas fella and my childhood...

Seriously though, the idea that Lucas had more than one movie plotted out is a long-standing urban legend. At best, he only had an outline of the characters' future and past. Why did Obi-Wan say it? Becuase it's something cool to say in a movie...the fact that you singled it out proves that.

He was just busy with the 40 virgins, eh?