Watching Revenge of the Sith the other night, I realized that Obi-Wan Kenobi makes a tactical blunder of the worst kind on Mustafar-- one that nearly results in Padme's death.

Obi-Wan shows up on Mustafar to confront Anakin. He knows his pupil has not only turned to the Dark Side, but has committed atrocities of the vilest kind. And yet, rather than waiting for Padme to move safely aside, or even better, preventing her from seeing Anakin in the first place, Obi-Wan steps out of the shadows at the height of the lovers' argument.

Talk about throwing gasoline on the fire.

Clearly, Obi-Wan had forgotten his training on "hostage negotiations."

Then he shows a rather callow disregard for Padme's well-being by choosing to aruge and fight with Anakin rather than attend to Padme's injuries first. I think even Anakin would have allowed her medical attention before commencing to whack his former master.

What are your thoughts? Was Obi-Wan just being "reckless" (as he was sometimes prone to being?) Did he have a greater, more subtle purpose? Or, is it just a movie and who cares?