Why didn't Obi Wan try and convince Anakin to come back to the light side on Mustafar?

[Messianic_Monk]

The dialogue was just... confusing.

Obi-Wan:
I have failed you, Anakin. I have failed you.

Anakin Skywalker:
I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over.

Obi-Wan:
Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!

Anakin Skywalker:
From my point of view, the Jedi are evil.

Obi-Wan:
Well, then you are lost!

Is this really the best Obi Wan had? Is that his argument? "turn back because Palpatine is obviously evil!" Is that all he had? Or did he just give up because he could see in Anakin's heart that he could not reason with him? Or does this scene just suffer from crappy writing?

[msmissydc]

I think at the point of mustafar there was no return for Anakin and Obi-Wan sensed that. No return at this point at least and not with Obi-Wans help allone. Also I think Obi-wan was full of emotions himself even as a jedi, that he may have not been able to forgive Anakin for what he has done. He new Anakin slaughtered the whole Jedi temple with the help of the clones including the younglings and he even attacked padme.

[AndrewHeavey]

Cos anakin was too horny for padme. According to Canon, obi wan was jealous of them and wanted padme for himself

[TheSpaceGnome]

Canon had obi wan wanting the ruler of mandalore, he even told her that he would leave the jedi order for her if she asked him to, which is why despite knowing about anakin and padme the whole time, he let it slide and never told yoda or the other jedi. Ironic that that choice lead to the jedi being almost entirely wiped out 🤔

[TheSpaceGnome]

I'm pretty sure thats why he said "I failed you" to anakin, he didn't keep his padawan's priorities in check like he was supposed to while training him, and it costed him and the rest of the jedi order nearly everything. Granted, obi wan is self depreciating, anakin was just an asshole.

[TheSpaceGnome]

He killed a bunch of innocent children and force choked his wife.
Not exactly the redeemable type..

[Messianic_Monk]

I guess my whole point is that Obi Wan's argument... isn't really an argument. His argument is just as much of an argument as Anakin's. Just... was Obi Wan unable to think of anything else?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure where you are getting the idea from that Obi Wan is or should be trying to turn Vader.

It is explictly stated that he is there to kill him.

There is absolutely nothing confusing or unclear about any of this.

The situation is that democracy is lost, all of the star systems in the galaxy are now being ruled by a Sith Lord who has absolute political power and absolute military power, the Jedi are all dead, the only ones who are alive for sure are Yoda and Obi Wan, they have one shot at trying to tackle this problem and that is for each of them to win in single combat against their counterpart.

That is what is happening, Obi Wan is there to execute Vader because as Windu has said previously 'they are too dangerous to be kept alive'.

I really don't know why you are struggling with this as literally everything about it is explictly stated to the audience.

Obi Wan is not trying to turn Vader, he is trying to prepare himself to kill someone who is 'as a brother to him'.

Obi Wan feels bad, he feels responsible and so he says 'I have failed you'.

Vader then demonstrates that he has infact left the building, he is off the map, not even wrong and Obi Wan is forced to accept what he doesn't want to be true, that he is lost.

Nothing is being questioned or decided in this scene, the decision is made already.

Unfortunately despite winning the fight Obi Wan fails his mission, he leaves him for dead instead of finishing him when he had the chance.

[MrCommodore]

The prequel trilogy suffered from crappy writing in parts, although I generally like them.

At that point Anakin had already helped storm the Jedi temple, killed younglings and Jedi as Obi-Wan had seen on security recordings, so I don't think Obi-Wan believed he could turn Anakin back.

[QuietRunner]

because he was his teacher

Obi wan felt he had a duty to Qui-Gon Jinn to train Anakin

when he sensed the failure it was time to let go