It’s no secret that the Star Wars prequels weren’t well received. It’s not something we need to rehash, but though their critical reception—Or maybe because of it — some of the best and most enduring memes to have come out of this galactic franchise are rooted in those early 2000s movies. There’s Prime Minister Palpatine/Darth Sidious'”Do it; “tragedy of Darth Plageius the Wise; and of course, Anakin’s hatred of sand.
But there’s a piece of prequel that emerges among the seemingly never-ending content these films produce. And those are two simple words, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi: “Hello.”
If there’s one thing about Volumes I, II, and III that everyone only has good things to talk about, which is Obi-Wan’s character. Ewan McGregor’s role as a steadfast Jedi knight is still one of the Continuous parts are welcomed of the franchise, even now. In the midst of the prequel-related content renaissance we found — from Clone Wars arrive Bad lot arrive Jedi: Fallen Orders—It was the perfect time for McGregor, and “Hello,” to return in his own miniseries, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It’s a celebration of all that Obi-Wan is, which means it has to include his most iconic line.
To fully understand the history of this phrase, we must go back to the first film, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Despite the fact that the version of meme’d we’re most familiar with comes from Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan, these words actually predate the outright prequel trilogy. The first sentence that Alec Guinness ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi said was “Hi. ”
Thanks to Kenobi, fans now know more about Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine and his connection to Leia and Luke. But even without that plot, those words signal a character is a friend, not an enemy.
The line that fans love the most these days comes from Sith’s Revenge. At the end of the film, McGregor’s Kenobi beams “Hello there” to General Grievous, at the final twilight of the Clone Wars.
It’s an iconic scene: Obi-Wan steps down from Grievous’s podium, speaks in line, and smiles eagerly as Grievous pulls out many of his lights. It was also important: The Republic knew that the Separatist general was still working out of the base, even though the war was coming to an end. All Obi-Wan needs to do now is end Grievous’ operations right there and the Clone Wars will be over (mostly). But no one knew that it was all part of Emperor Palpatine’s plan to come and that only worse things were ahead (such as the collapse of the entire Republic). But now, Kenobi was ready to fight for the last time this half-human, half-robot.
Obi-Wan’s greeting to his nemesis is bearable, even more so than the scene itself. As with most one-word sayings that become cultural, there’s not much to explain why “Hello there” is such a popular meme. Maybe that’s because the moment is so easy to parody: From the music that accompans Obi-Wan’s stage entrance in this scene, to Grievous’ menacing response to “General Kenobi,” it’s a moment. Exciting dramatic engraving that matches the memedom.
Are from Sith’s RevengeFirst released in 2005, “Hello there” has taken on a life of its own. Fans have created YouTube video remixes of the line, with names like “OBI-WAN SAY HELL WHEN I PLAY INVALID MUSIC” and “Hello there (Democracy song on the ground). “There’s even a an hour long video a total of three times we hear Obi-Wan say “Hello” on the screen — the first time in A new hopeIn Sith’s Revengeand most recently from the finale of Kenobi. And as with any good meme, there are goods inspired it, including the shirts that carry the phrase on them.
But if you really Want to know how big the meme is, check out TikTok. “Hello there” also appeared effectively on that app. Several popular versions of this line exist for people to recreate scene and set funny wheel up there. Cumulative views for these “Hello there” audio videos range from 32.2 million views arrive 374.8 million views total, depending on the audio version used — a huge number that represents both the number of videos out there and the number of views those videos get. The hashtag is just for this trend—#obiwanhellothere—Has 3.4 million views.
The meme has become so big that even McGregor himself knows about it. During the press tour for Obi-Wan Kenobiinterviewers have asked about or greeted him with the phrase several times, including appearing on E! News and Good Morning America. He makes sure to show that he’s very aware of its pop-culture implications.
This phrase is also still a surefire way to get attention Reddit, with some of the top posts calling or meme-ing “Hello there” receiving tens of thousands of likes and thousands of comments. Reddit’s spin on “Hello there” includes edits and remixes to clearly insert the phrase in different situations. The Star Wars fandom can be pretty malicious at times, but “Hello!”
But perhaps what best demonstrates how far this little phrase has come is the actress Emma Roberts’ Instagram post from December 13, 2018. Accompanying a photo of Roberts in a jewel-encrusted gown, the actress wrote the seemingly innocuous phrase, “Hello,” as the caption. It seems very unlikely that the actress is alluding to Obi-Wan Kenobi, but that doesn’t matter to her followers: Comments quickly flooded with Star Wars fans reacting to Roberts as similar. like General Grievous did in Sith’s Revenge, “General Kenobi.” No, Roberts does not take down posts or limit comments. And yes, there are still people commenting on Grief’s emotional line on her post to this day.
With such a strong stronghold, this little phrase has popped up in the Star Wars fandom and the internet that even Emma Roberts isn’t safe from, fans want to hear it once. more in Kenobi. This is the first time McGregor has reprized the role since he first uttered the phrase, and even if the animated versions of some other characters have said it since such as in Clone Wars—Including the time that General Grievous himself had to say—It would be a missed opportunity if McGregor didn’t say “Hello there” to us again.
However, it took a while for us to get there. There are a few teasing moments when Obi-Wan chooses to simply say “hello”. When he and Leia meet Freck, an Empire sympathizer with a vehicle, in Episode 3, Leia causes Obi-Wan to stand up by saying, “Father, aren’t you going to say hi?” Having a pause afterwards feels epic, almost like waiting for your favorite team to sink that winning free-throw point. However, Obi-Wan only offered a lone “Hello”.
Until the last moments of KenobiThe finale where Obi-Wan finally said those two dear words. As Obi-Wan – now back in Tatooine and taking the name Ben full time – was leaving the Lars family wet farm, Owen asked him if he wanted to say “hello” to Luke. He obliges, and Obi-Wan takes a long look at the young Skywalker. He said what we wanted him to say: “Hi.”
It’s a small line to obsess over and certainly it was never meant to win on the internet as it was. But what it means to fans makes it like the perfect salute for Luke — and the end for us — in Obi-Wan Kenobi like it was A new hope.
