Continuing my extremely slow Star Wars exegesis series, today I examine the questions that arise from Obi-Wan's famous line in The Empire Strikes Back as Luke flies away from Dagobah, "That boy is our last hope."

Of course, Yoda replies, "No, there is another."

This exchange has caused consternation among some fans, who wonder if Ben somehow didn't know about Leia, or why exactly she wasn't a hope?

Unfortunately, this can't even be discredited as a simple slip of the tongue or lapse in memory, since Obi-Wan repeats in ROTJ to Luke, "You were our only hope." Obi-Wan clearly believes in Luke alone as "hope", despite Yoda's reminder and support of Leia.

Didn't Know?
Since Ben is the one who tells Luke about Leia, ROTJ alone should be enough to dissuade any "Ben doesn't know about Leia" silliness. Episode III lets me not even address it. If you're hung up on this point, there's nothing I can do for you.

Dismissed at Birth?
Is Obi-Wan simply a chauvinist? Luke is hope because he's a boy, Leia is inconsequential because she's a girl? Let's look at Obi-Wan's statement later in the same ROTJ exchange...

"The Emperor knew, AS I DID, if Anakin were to have ANY OFFSPRING, THEY would be a threat to him (Anakin). That is the reason why your sister remains safely anonymous."

This is plural and inclusive language. At the time of their birth, Obi-Wan foresaw that both twins were an equal threat to Anakin. This would seem to preclude a sexist attitude. So, something has happened between the twins birth and Ben's death to shift his hopes from both siblings over to Luke.

What is Hope?
Perhaps we should look at what Obi-Wan and Yoda were hoping Luke (or Leia) would do? Is their disagreement a matter of mere semantics over the word "hope"?

As Luke is leaving Dagobah in ESB, Obi-Wan leaves no clues, but his conversation with Luke in ROTJ is very single-minded in what he wants Luke to do.

LUKE: I can't do it, Ben.
BEN: You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again.
LUKE: I can't kill my own father.
BEN: Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.

The death of Vader is Obi-Wan's objective. To finish what he started on Mustafar. A failure that has haunted him for 18 years... and aged him 30 years.

In the Dagobah conversation, Yoda appears to agree with Obi-Wan. Yoda warns, "Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor." Hmm... is conquer the same as kill?

Interestingly, on Yoda's death bed, he makes no reference to killing Vader. He tells Luke, "One thing remains: Vader. You must confront Vader. Only then, a Jedi will you be." Yoda does not make killing Vader a goal, just confrontation. You'd think if Vader's death was the most important goal for the galaxy, Yoda would mention it.

Yoda does leave a dying command... "Luke, the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned." Interesting... the most important thing is to pass on what he learned, not kill Vader.

Is it possible that Obi-Wan has a short-sighted view of "hope" (the death of Vader), while Yoda's "hope" is the long-term continuation of the Jedi legacy? Leia's knowledge and ability in the Force at the time of ROTJ certainly wasn't enough to kill Vader, like Luke's. So Obi-Wan may have been right, "from a certain point of view". Meanwhile, the continuation of the Jedi legacy could certainly have happened through Leia.

Conclusions
What do we know for sure? Obi-Wan and Yoda's opinion of Leia's status as a "hope" differed. This difference was one of opinion, not sexism or a lack of knowledge.

There are plenty of possible reasons Obi-Wan may have favored Luke... his familiarity with Luke and unfamiliarity with Leia creating a bias, Luke's level of training vs. Leia's, evidence of differing gifts as the twins developed, secret midichlorian tests, or maybe just a difference in what was being hoped for as discussed above. There simply isn't enough evidence to know for sure.

Since there's no stretch of logic (if I do say so myself) for this line to make sense, this is no plot hole.

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Before I go... one last observation: Notice how Obi-Wan completely ignored Padme's dying words, "Obi-Wan, there is good in him," even when her son repeated those very same words in ROTJ, "There is still good in him."

Obi-Wan (and possibly Yoda) never understood that redeeming an evil man would be more powerful than destroying him.

Just as the Jedi had such a clear idea of what they thought the Chosen One would be, Ben and Yoda seem to have a clear expectation of what the "Hope" would do. All of the prophesies came true, but because the Jedi's preconceived notions limited their minds how the prophesy would look, the galaxy suffered a lot of avoidable pain. That's interesting to me.

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CONTINUED IN: SW Exegesis: Why didn't Owen recognize C-3PO?