Dr. Evazan | The Imperial Talker

This is not the post you are expecting it to be. Read on and see what I mean…

It’s a Star Wars question so common that I rarely think about it: since Obi-Wan uses his lightsaber to cut off Ponda Baba’s arm in the Mos Eisley Cantina, why does the arm bleed? A fair question to be sure – technically, there shouldn’t be any blood because the wound should be cauterized when the blade goes through the arm. When others are dismembered by lightsabers, like Luke in The Empire Strikes Back or Zam Wesell in Attack of the Clones, their wounds are cauterized, there is no blood. But Ponda Baba is the exception, his wound is a bloody mess and I haven’t the slightest clue how to explain it. Perhaps Ponda Baba’s race, the Aqualish, are incapable of being burned and only bleed when wounded? Or maybe Obi-Wan cut the arm at just the right angle to open an artery but not cauterize it? Frankly, your guess is as good as mine.

But I’m not really interested in solving the dilemma about the bleeding arm (though I think my “Aqualish always bleed” approach makes sense). Instead, I’d rather take this moment, since I have your attention, to pose a much different question about this particular incident in the Mos Eisley Cantina…

Why does Kenobi dismember Ponda Baba and kill Baba’s partner, Dr. Evazan?

This is a question I have wrestled with for some time, with the starting point to answering it always being the most obvious explanation: Kenobi is simply acting in self-defense.

Ponda Baba argues with Luke while Dr. Evazan (background) looks on.

Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Initially, Luke is the one who is threatened by Evazan and Baba, and when Kenobi intervenes to calm the situation, the two nefarious individuals become rather violent. Kenobi ignites his lightsaber and, rather quickly, puts an end to the scuffle. The deed finished, the bloody arm lying on the ground and the groans of pain being heard, Kenobi stands resolute with his blade upright. And, just as quickly as the incident began, the scene moves along and we are introduced to Chewbacca and Han Solo.

Now, first and foremost, I certainly think Obi-Wan is allowed to defend himself and Luke. But the issue I’m raising in the question is not whether Kenobi can act or should in self-defense, but how he acts in self-defense.

To me, the issue of the bleeding arm is a distraction from the real issue inherent in the incident – the fact that one of the last remaining Jedi, a Jedi Master no less, chooses to kill one individual and maim another. When Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba become enraged and attack Old Ben, why is Kenobi’s immediate reaction also a violent one? Surely a Jedi Master could disarm these two in a less confrontational manner, doing so without the need to call upon the Force in an obvious, attention grabbing way. Kenobi needn’t, for example, use the Force to throw the two across the room. Rather, using his finely tuned Force skills, Obi-Wan could have easily incapacitated the two, making them trip over their own two feet if he wanted.

Kenobi holds his lightsaber after the brief fight with Evazan and Baba.

Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

But, that isn’t what happens. Instead, we are left with the absurd reality that Kenobi uses deadly force, inflicting pain and death without the slightest bit of remorse. And this is where things get tricky. Suggesting, for example, that Kenobi’s actions are of the Light Side of the Force would entirely undercut the fact that the Light Side does not lend itself to the destruction of life. At. All. So no, I absolutely do not think Kenobi is guided by the Light when he strikes down Evazan and wounds Baba.

Does this mean, then, that Kenobi was being guided by the Dark Side? Well, if he does the deed out of anger and malice, then sure, we could say he is using the Dark Side. However, we have no idea what Kenobi is thinking in the moment, so it’s hard and a bit unfair to suggest he is dropping into the Dark Side without knowing his thoughts. Then again, dishing out pain and death are specialties of Dark Siders…

So where in the name of Malachor do we go from here? Honestly, I haven’t the slightest idea. The fact that Kenobi kills Evazan and maims Baba opens the door to a cacophony of thoughts and questions, the Light Side/Dark Side being just the tip of the iceberg. Thinking about the incident for some time, and now putting the thoughts into a post, I am pulled in numerous directions with no clear-cut end in site. Part of me wants to absolve Kenobi because he is one of my favorite characters, another wants to chastise him for not acting the way a Jedi Master should act, and yet another wants to throw papers into the air in frustration (maybe I will).

In lieu of all of my hair going gray thinking about this, I want YOU to chime in. Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments and, as a team, think about Kenobi killing Evazan and maiming Baba. I’m curious to hear what others have to say about Kenobi’s actions during this short but violent incident in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

The scene in A New Hope when Luke enters the Mos Eisley Cantina is, in many respects, one of the most important scenes in the film. In fact, I would even put it close to the top of the list (perhaps AT the top). You see, Luke’s entrance into the Mos Eisley Cantina quite literally represents the crossing of a threshold, the moment he, as the hero of the movie, enters an entirely new, foreign realm and truly leaves his past life behind him. One of the stages in what mythologist Joseph Campbell dubbed the Hero’s Journey, “Crossing the Threshold” is the moment where the burgeoning hero puts his/her past life behind them. Life will truly never be the same again for the individual in question, and they must now begin the process of adapting to this new, unexplored territory.

And that new, unexplored territory is precisely the galaxy that Luke will encounter once he leaves Tatooine. The Cantina, then, serves as a small microcosm of the galaxy-at-large, a cross-section of intriguing and frightening beings he may (and will) come across as he ventures forth. Very quickly, though, Luke discovers, and we along with him, that this realm, with all of its fascinating strangeness, is also incredibly dangerous. Only moments after his entrance into the Cantina, Luke is accosted by two individuals, Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, who wish him harm because they “don’t like him.” In fact, Dr. Evazan will even level a death threat at the young Skywalker.

: Dr. Evazan threatens Luke while Ponda Baba looks on.; Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Nothing says “Welcome to the Real World” like your life being threatened.

Of course, we can feel bad for the poor kid receiving the threat, but this danger is also necessary for Luke, even if it seems sudden and extreme. More dangers await Luke in the future and, frankly, he has to start growing up at some point, leaving his boyish immaturity behind. Metamorphosis is necessary for the hero, and transformation will only happen as one encounters the realities of this new realm.

Yet, while it may be that Luke physically enters the Cantina and begins to encounter this new, unchartered territory, he is not the only one who crosses the threshold. We also cross it with him. Luke’s crossing is our crossing, the moment when we are also introduced to a number of the strange creatures and mysterious sounds of the Star Wars galaxy. Even though we have, up to that moment in the film, encountered some of the exciting wonders of the Star Wars, these moments were limited in scope. Now, as Luke enters the Cantina, that universe rapidly expands for him and us.

But what makes this all the more interesting is that writer/director George Lucas intentionally allows you and I to experience the sights and sounds BEFORE Luke. It is, in a sense, as if we descend into the Cantina ahead of the young Skywalker and then turn around to see his expression.

And what we experience, what Luke experiences a moment after us, is anything but subtle, overwhelming the ears and eyes.

: The Cantina Band (they are Bith).; Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

The iconic music of the Cantina band begins playing immediately as the scene begins, music that is nothing like the orchestral sounds we have heard up to this point in A New Hope. Plus, this music is diegetic, coming from the strange looking band in one corner of the establishment. What we are hearing is exactly what Luke will hear, and what the other patrons of the Cantina hear.

And speaking of those patrons, we are introduced to them as the band plays. In shot-after-shot, we get to meet these new, and quite literal, alien creatures. Having crossed the threshold into the Cantina with Luke, our old ways of describing reality, and Luke’s, are left behind, and we must now begin to formulate new terminology and definitions going forward. These beings push our limits of conceptual understanding, we simply have no words to adequately describe them.

: A pair of Duros sit in the Cantina.; Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Of course, today, we DO have names for the numerous alien species that inhabit are in the Cantina. Plus, many of those species have appeared in a number of other parts of the Star Wars canon (and Expanded Universe). But knowing that there is a Duros, Bith, Devaronian, Ithorian, and Aqualish in the Cantina should not distract us from the original purpose of the Cantina scene: as a physical representation of his crossing the threshold into the unknown, introducing both him and us to a handful of the strange, fascinating, and terrifying mysteries that the galaxy (and Star Wars universe) offers.

This is also precisely why I suggest newcomers to Star Wars begin with A New Hope. In doing so, they will not only cross the threshold of the Cantina with Luke, but will cross over into the Star Wars galaxy in the same way so many of us have also done.

: An Arcona in the Mos Eisley Cantina.; Photo Credit – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope