10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Darth Vader
1. Vader DEFINITELY Kills Obi-Wan
As iconic as the climactic lightsaber duel between Vader and Obi-Wan is in A New Hope, fans aren't all on the same page about the precise nature of Obi-Wan's exit from the scene.
After all, Obi-Wan basically appears to give up fighting, and when Vader swings his saber at him, he vanishes into thin air. Then the next time we see him, he's a Force ghost.
Some fans maintain that Obi-Wan left the physical plane before Vader struck him, but that's really true.
The ambiguous manner in which the scene is filmed doesn't really help provide fans with clarity, but given that Obi-Wan literally tells Vader moments earlier, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," it appears that he was genuinely killed by Vader and then near-instantaneously became one with the Force.
It's a hairs-splitting debate at the end of the day, but given that a necessity for becoming a Force ghost is, you know, dying, it's safe to say that Obi-Wan didn't find another way to just evaporate into the ether. He was, as he foretold, struck down.