Before the Disney takeover of Star Wars, the franchise had a massive, sprawling project with hundreds of different authors working on it. This massive amount of stories ensured that everything had an extensive backstory, and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s exile to Tatooine was no exception. Now that the Obi-Wan Kenobi series has started with an excellent first two episodes, this is the perfect time to see revisit some of the legends surrounding Obi-Wan’s exile and look at where these fateful stories may have the chance to rise again.
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What Is the Expanded Universe/Star Wars Legends?
Before we get into these stories you may want to understand how exactly these stories are referred to, the terminology for them, and if they have begun reappearing in the Disney version of the Star Wars universe.
These stories were primarily referred to as the Expanded Universe before the Disney takeover, and they were massive in scale. In fact, this one article is only able to give you a synopsis of a handful of books, comics, and short stories that all refer to the relatively short time between the fall of the Jedi Order and Obi-Wan’s death at the hands of Darth Vader on the first Death Star. Since the takeover, Disney has deemed all the previous stories to be non-canonical, and they are now marketed as “Legends” material.
While this may lead you to assume that Disney was done with this material, that has turned out to not be the case. For example, the Republic Commandos from the video game and book series have been integrated into parts of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, as well as the Bad Batch series. More recently during The Book of Boba Fett, the Scorpenek Annihilator droids (the big droideka-looking droids) were taken from the now non-canonical Star Wars: Clone Wars series (and yes, that wasn't a typo, the only naming difference between the two Clone Wars series is the word "the").
What is and isn’t canon can be hard to understand, but luckily Star Wars creative director Dave Filoni has been dedicated to trying and bringing as much legend content back to Star Wars as possible. We've seen examples of this in most of the Star Wars Disney+ shows and could continue into Obi-Wan Kenobi. So here are all the important storylines that take place during Kenobi's exile in Legends.
How Did Obi-Wan Kenobi Come to Be Called Ben?
Funnily enough, in the Legends material, Obi-Wan doesn’t just choose this name at random. After communing with his late master Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan was in the small town of Bestine on Tatooine when he saw the name. He was in a property office looking down at some maps when he saw a landmark by the name of “Ben.” So he took the name from a random mesa somewhere on the sands of Tatooine and was known as Ben to the locals ever since. Is this totally random, and more than a bit odd? Certainly, but that's how the Legends can be at times.
Saving a Padawan: Ferus Olin
Whimsical names aren't the only thing you'll find inside the expanded universe, however. In fact, for those who love Boba Fett and his links to Tatooine, this story is quite interesting.
In the 2005 book The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission by Jude Watson, we see a very different Obi-Wan. This Obi-Wan is again faced with the decision to leave Tatooine (and his responsibility to protect the young Luke Skywalker) to save a young Padawan. This padawan is Ferus Olin, who was a contemporary and adversary of Anakin Skywalker during his years as a Padawan. After the death of one of his good friends on a mission to Korriban, Ferus Olin resigned from the Jedi Order (not dissimilar to Ahsoka Tano’s departure from the Order). This allowed him to survive Order 66 and after the death of his master Siri Tachi, he attempted to fight back.
Unfortunately, the newly-formed Empire didn’t take too kindly to this and proceeded to hunt him down. In a turn of luck (or the Force’s intervention), Obi-Wan hears that Ferus is being hunted, and sets out to protect him from the wrath of the empire and their bounty hunters. Obi-Wan heads to Courscant, the capital of the Empire, to save the padawan and has to fight Boba Fett as well as D’harhan to save Ferus from the Empire.
Earning the Respect of the Tusken Raiders
Many bits of legends materials start from small bits of action from the movies, such as Ben's ability to deal with the Tusken Raiders so effectively during A New Hope. Another Jude Watson creation, the short story The Last One Standing details how Obi-Wan learned how to deal with the Tusken Raiders. After a group of Tuskens raided Owen and Beru Lars' farm, Obi-Wan tracks them down and takes the moisture vaporators back. During his escape, one of the Tuskens spots him and calls the entire tribe to stop the perceived thief. Instead of turning to the darker side of the force and killing them en masse, Obi-Wan cuts their clothing to reveal their skin, buying himself enough time to escape. This story illustrates the differences between Anakin and Obi-Wan by putting them in a similar situation and has some interesting ramifications for the relationship between Owen Lars and Obi-Wan.
The Birth of Darth Krayt
This last story includes both a Jedi that survived Order 66 and a Tusken Raider. In fact, the story revolves around the Fallen Jedi A’Sharad Hett, who would later become one of the Expanded Universe's greatest villains in the form of Darth Krayt. In yet another raid on the Lars farm by a Tusken Raider coalition, Hett was found attempting to win back the land that the Tusken thought was rightfully theirs.
Upon coming to the homestead, Hett was understandably surprised to find none other than his former comrade Obi-Wan Kenobi defending it. Obi-Wan had heard of Hett’s exploits and thought that he was quickly approaching a fall to the Dark Side of the Force. With Obi-Wan on the side of the settlers and Hett standing with the Tuskens, they fought a duel to decide the conflict, which Hett ultimately lost, costing him his right arm and the dishonor of being unmasked.
After this exchange, Obi-Wan banished the now-fallen Jedi from Tatooine, hoping that he would have learned his lesson and turn back to the light side of the force. A legends hop, skip, and the Yuuzhan Zong invasion later, Hett would return to conquer the galaxy as Darth Krayt, taking on the name of the Krayt Dragons from his homeworld. He was quite successful too, with even a few resurrection scenes to his name until he was finally defeated by none other than Cade Skywalker, Luke's descendant.
Could These Stories Become Canon in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series?
As you can tell by the short amount of stories outlined in this article, the series of events that transpired inside the Legends universe can be widely different at times than the canon of Star Wars as we know it now. That is not to say that these stories cannot inspire the way that the current version of the story is being told. In fact, the story of Ferus Olin is markedly similar to that of Ahsoka Tano and her journey to become the Fulcrum. Perhaps some stories of the legends have impacted the current Obi-Wan Kenobi series. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like Ben will be spending all of his time on Tatooine as we previously thought.