Star Wars: How the Obi-Wan Kenobi Teaser Answers the Series’ Biggest Mystery [IGN]

Why is Obi-Wan emerging from hiding now, and how does this series tie into his ongoing mission to protect a young Luke Skywalker? The answer seems to lay with one crucial scene featured in the teaser.

Obi-Wan vs. the Sith Inquisitorius

The trailer focuses a great deal on the Inquisitorius, positioning these elite hunters as the main villains of the series. Originally introduced in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, the Inquisitors are Dark Side adepts who answer directly to Darth Vader. They’ve been trained to help their master hunt down and eliminate any Jedi who survived the Clone Wars. The series features both new and old Inquisitor characters, including the Grand Inquisitor (played by Rupert Friend), Fifth Brother (played by Sung Kang) and most importantly, Moses Ingram’s character, Third Sister/Reva (more on her in a bit).

Based on this footage, we can infer the Inquisitors have caught wind of a Jedi hiding out on Tatooine. We even see Reva interrogating a group of Mos Eisley residents that includes Joel Edgerton’s Owen Lars. It doesn’t appear that she’s zeroed in on Owen as a person harboring a future Jedi Knight, but she’s clearly way too close to uncovering the existence of Anakin Skywalker’s son. That’s where Obi-Wan comes in.

Up till now, the biggest question surrounding this series has been what exactly compels Obi-Wan to leave Tatooine. Why take such a huge risk? Is there someone or something that calls him into action How do you even remove him from his hiding place and pit him against Darth Vader again without upending the continuity of the movies?

However, now we know what spurs him into action. Obi-Wan will apparently do something early in the series that draws unwanted attention from the Empire. With the Inquisitors on his scent, Obi-Wan will have no choice but to leave Tatooine and create a trail for the enemy to follow. Better he sacrifice himself than risk Luke falling into the Empire’s hands before he’s even old enough to wield his father’s lightsaber.

Somehow, Obi-Wan will have to pull off the ultimate trick: He needs to lure the Inquisitors away from Tatooine, give them a proper hunt and ensure they don’t return to the desert planet later. That may well mean faking his death at some point along the way. Clearly, Master Kenobi has his work cut out for him.

Who Is the Inquisitor Reva?

While the series will feature several members of the Sith Inquisitorius, it appears Ingram’s character Reva will be the central antagonist of the series (at least until Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader arrives on the scene).

According to StarWars.com, Reva has been given the rank of Third Sister. However, based on the way the Grand Inquisitor seems to be lecturing her about the nature of Jedi Knights, we get the impression Reva is a more recent recruit. Based on the series’ place in the Star Wars timeline, it’s even possible Reva was recruited to fill the void left by Second Sister, following the climax of Jedi: Fallen Order. Obi-Wan Kenobi takes place roughly ten years after the events of Episode III and five years after Fallen Order.

Then there’s the fact that this character is even being given a civilian name in the first place. The Inquisitors may have had other lives before becoming Darth Vader’s pawns, but those lives are meant to be as dead and buried as Vader’s Anakin Skywalker identity. So why is Third Sister being given a name? Is this a clue she hasn’t yet been fully corrupted by the Inquisitorius?

Hunting Obi-Wan may be Reva’s first real test as an Inquisitor, which would certainly explain why she seems so fanatical in the trailer. Is she like Kylo Ren, a fallen Jedi overcompensating for the fact that they aren’t 100% committed to the Dark Side? Perhaps Obi-Wan will see a chance to pull her out of darkness, a small act of atonement for all the Jedi he failed during the Clone Wars. If so, Reva had best hope she doesn’t meet the same fate as Second Sister.

For more on Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, learn how the series can answer a decades-old Star Wars mystery and brush up on all the Star Wars movies and shows in development.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.