Icon Post (and more Revenge of the Sith thoughts)
So, the whole Obi-Wan/Anakin connection just... makes the entire series better for me. I adore it so much. I went and watched A New Hope the other day, after I saw Revenge of the Sith and I could see Obi-Wan's affection for Anakin in the way that he talked to Luke about his father. He still loves Anakin, after all these years.
And I love that the Padawan who knew that the boy was dangerous in Phantom Menace grows to believe in Anakin so strongly by Sith that he actually has to see Anakin do something horrible. And it shook him so badly that he had to sit down. I love how incredibly devastated Obi-Wan is by Anakin's fall.
And he lets Anakin burn. He doesn't try to help him and he doesn't try to kill him. He just leaves him to burn. He's definitely holding onto attachment there -- betrayal and revenge and pain and, yes, love. He clearly still cares and he watches as Anakin burns. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Obi-Wan can edge close to the Dark Side at times (he did the same when Qui-Gon died, but there, the hate and the love were for two different people -- here, both are firmly centered on Anakin). Obi-Wan gets personal.
The novelization only made things better. That he can't imagine a better way to live out the remainder of his years than looking out for Anakin's son.
And it makes the way he lets Vader kill him so much better. Because of his death, because of what Luke goes through and learns, Anakin is saved, in the end. Obi-Wan does help save his best friend, in the end. Which makes his happy reaction at the end of Return of the Jedi very understandable -- he has his best friend back.