Sometimes Obi-Wan Kenobi used to wonder what happened to the bright zany child that he took as an apprentice.
Years too late he reflects that maybe Anakin never was that child.
Perhaps it was all a mask, that only allowed people to see what he wanted them to see.
If the brightness of that young boy was never real… is the face he later wore nothing more than a facade as well?
He learned over the years that the bright smiles and unending curiosity hid a bitterness and weariness beyond his young years.
Later:
Cockiness, confidence bordering on arrogance, snarky comments and self assured grins
Hiding an unfathomable pain and self doubt.
Now:
a monster,
and the mask has become physical.
Black and soulless,
sunken eyes,
hatred formed in every arch,
Suffering frozen in every sharp line,
He depends too, on this mask to survive.
He asks himself, as he gazes at his own reflection through the red tinted sockets.
What does this mask hide?
He hopes it hides the one thing Anakin Skywalker had never been able to.
Now:
Ben Kenobi,
No longer a Jedi Master, teacher or brother,
Simply an old hermit past his prime,
Makes the gamble of a lifetime
And counts on it to succeed.