Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was once the most anticipated prequel of all timeand thus was tasked with answering some burning questions. The main curiosity of the fandom was the origin of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who acts as Luke Skywalker’s enigmatic mentor in A new hope and he’s clearly keeping some secrets from aspiring Jedi. What would a younger version of the character be like, and what would the adventures of his youth reveal about the galaxy?

Fans got their answers with The Phantom Menace and its aftermath, which revealed how close Obi-Wan was to the man who would become Darth Vader. Obi-Wan’s failure to keep his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, on the right path explains his estrangement in A new hope. He was ashamed, trapped in self-imposed exile, and determined to leave his past behind. It is not surprising that he feigns ignorance about his own namechoosing to go through Ben instead of Obi-Wan to Luke and others on Tatooine.

The prequels expanded Obi-Wan’s character with aplomb, but it took a lot of work to reconcile the younger version of the Jedi Knight with the man he had become. Previous versions of The Phantom Menace took a more radical approach and, according to concept and storyboard artist Iain McCaig, the Lucasfilm team even attempted to more closely connect his origin story to his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.

McCaig is a Lucasfilm legend, known for his character designs on the Star Wars prequels. He may be most famous for creating the final design of the villain Darth Maul, but McCaig was also heavily involved in the creation of human characters such as Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan. As the artist recently said StarWars.comthe latter almost went through a major change that would have given Obi-Wan a very different backstory:

“For a time, the older The Jedi was called Obi-Wan and the younger The Jedi was called Qui-Gon. It was very moving that at the end, when Obi-Wan dies and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his Master as he dies, he not only takes on the quest for his Master, but also takes on his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan. That’s why when you see Alec Guinness in A new hopehe takes off his hood and says, ‘Obi-Wan? That’s a name I haven’t heard…’ Because he’s not Obi-Wan, he’s Qui-Gon.”

In the end, George Lucas opted for a simpler conclusion. The Phantom Menace. Qui-Gon became the master and Obi-Wan the apprentice, which was probably the smartest choice in the grand scheme of things. It would have been quite a twist, and seeing “Qui-Gon” take his master’s name along with his mission could have been touching, but it’s also a little confusing. This particular chapter of Star Wars history is already busy and messy, so it makes more sense to keep Obi-Wan as Obi-Wan. Now we just have to figure out why he couldn’t come up with a more creative name for his exile than Ben.