gffa:

“Love had never blinded Qui-Gon.  But it has blinded me.”
          – “Legacy of the Jedi” by Jude Watson

Every time, this summary of the book kills me.  Obi-Wan made the choice in his heart to open up to Anakin, to not close himself off in his grief, but instead to undertake the monumental task of shepherding the Chosen One.  But love doesn’t blind you if you’re just there out of duty, love blinds you when you come to love someone so much that you can no longer be objective about them.

That has always been one of the greatest challenges of the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship, that Obi-Wan misses the depth of so many of the cracks in Anakin’s foundation because he loves Anakin so tremendously much that he doesn’t see all the way to the bottom, he thinks the sun rises and sets on Anakin so truly that he doesn’t see everything, he has such deep faith that Anakin can overcome anything, he has such belief that he would do anything to help Anakin through whatever strife he must face, that Obi-Wan doesn’t see Anakin’s fall coming.

He knows Anakin better than almost anyone, he knows that Anakin has troubles and struggles at times.  But he believes in Anakin, he believes that Anakin is such a great person that he will come through this, so that even when Obi-Wan loves Anakin so much that it keeps him up at night, even when his thoughts are haunted by Anakin, he still has faith that Anakin will rise above.

“He will not let me down.  He never has.”  No matter the missteps that Anakin has made over the years, no matter that Obi-Wan knew that Anakin and Padme had a relationship, no matter what distance grew between them, no matter how Obi-Wan worried about Anakin sometimes, he thoroughly and completely loved Anakin and believed that Anakin would never truly let him down.

OBI-WAN LOVED HIM SO MUCH, LOVED HIM ENOUGH THAT IT BLINDED HIM AND HAUNTED HIM, LOVED HIM IN A WAY THAT DEFINED HIS LIFE.  Every smile that Obi-Wan gave him, every offer to talk Obi-Wan gave him, every time he understood why Anakin did what he did during the war, every time Obi-Wan woke in the middle of the night, still concerned for this person he loved, just screamed how much Obi-Wan loved Anakin.