9 Infamous Movie Plot-Holes (Solved By Fans)

2. Why Does Obi-Wan Age So Rapidly? - Star Wars: A New Hope

Home Alone Macaulay Culkin
Lucasfilm

The Plot Hole

Ever since the release of the Star Wars prequels, fans have been baffled by the possibility that the comparatively youthful Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) of Revenge of the Sith could possibly become the much older-looking Kenobi of A New Hope a mere 19 years later.

The issue reared its head once again in the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, where despite McGregor being roughly 20 years older than he was in the prequels, it still wasn't believable that, a mere nine years after the show's events, he would be the aged Kenobi of A New Hope.

After all, McGregor was still more than a decade younger than original Kenobi actor Alec Guinness was when he filmed A New Hope, so beyond that obvious practical limitation, what gives?

The Solution

Just before the Kenobi series began to air, Twitter user @TomStheVoice came up with a simple but effective theory that many fans have immediately incorporated into their own head-canon.

At some point in the future, Obi-Wan will be subjected to a Force power which drains his life force, in turn making him look order than he otherwise naturally would, bringing him in line with the Guinness version of the character.

While it's absolutely possible this solution will be proven wrong by a second season of the show, given that we saw Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) age rapidly in Revenge of the Sith after being hit with his own Force lightning, there's precedent for it.

Plus, considering that The Rise of Skywalker introduced Force healing totally out of nowhere, it's really no stretch at all, is it?

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.