The second episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7 featured a brief moment that took fans by surprise. After Anakin had sneaked off to have a conversation with his wife, getting Rex to cover for him, Obi-Wan drops the loaded comment: “I hope you at least told Padme I said hello.” This seemingly confirmed that Kenobi knew about Anakin’s secret forbidden romance all along.
In a new featurette on the episode, showrunner Dave Filoni confirms that this is indeed the case. The EP explained that as a Jedi Master with half a brain, of course Obi-Wan would know the truth about his Padawan’s love life.
“Obi-wan’s not dumb. He knows Anakin’s in love with this woman… I don’t think he ever understands that they got married. thinks that Anakin took it that far (getting married). Even Obi-Wan was in love with someone, that’s not abnormal, it’s very normal.”
Filoni’s comments make clear that Obi-Wan may have known that Anakin and Padme were in a relationship, but he was’t aware that they actually got hitched. This is where he underestimated the intensity of Anakin’s feelings and his willingness to go against the creed of the Jedi Council.
“How you choose to have a relationship, what you sacrifice, then that’s when it’s a bigger deal. When [Anakin]’s made a deal with the Jedi Order to be selfless, to put everyone else ahead of himself. He never thinks that the two of them would do something so drastic. But it dawns on him over time that they have.”
The time when Obi-Wan was in love that Filoni talks about above is a reference to his romance with Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, with their fondness for each other growing from their meeting in season 2 until she was tragically killed by Darth Maul in season 5, confessing her feelings to Obi-Wan in her final moments.
Fans have always praised Star Wars: The Clone Wars for fleshing out the characters of the prequels and Obi-Wan’s knowledge of Anakin and Padme’s relationship is just another great example of that.