Among the numerous influences behind George Lucas’ Star Wars saga, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was a principal driving force in the early drafts of the 1977 film.
In fact, Lucas nearly copied Tolkien’s dialogue, word-for-word, borrowing Gandalf’s greeting to Bilbo in The Hobbit.
In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor, the third draft of the original Star Wars film had an interesting exchange between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker.
Kenobi approaches with a “good morning!” “What do you mean, ‘good morning’?” Luke responds. “Do you mean that it is a good morning for you, or do you wish me a good morning, although it is obvious I’m not having one, or do you find that mornings in general are good?” “All of them at once,” replies Kenobi. It’s a great laugh line. It is also lifted, word for word, from The Hobbit.
It turns out that Gandalf was a primary inspiration for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and later, Yoda. While this particular dialogue never made it past this draft, the completed films still feature “Kenobi [who] carries a magic sword and eventually sacrifices himself only to return in slightly altered and more magical form.”
Furthermore, it appears this influence may have been one of the primary reasons why Alec Guinness signed-on to become Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first place!
In The Making of Star Wars (which, coincidentally has a Foreword by Peter Jackson) the influence comes up when Guinness discusses his own interest in the role.
“[B]ecause of Lucas, I started reading it—and I found myself involved. There was an excitement in the script. I wanted to turn each page to know what happened next. I wanted to know how each little incident was concluded. It had a touch of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It was a rather simple outline of a good man who had some magical powers. It was an adventure story about the passing of knowledge and the sword from one generation to the next.”
Guinness would bring up Tolkien’s influence in an interview (seen below) and this isn’t too surprising.
At the time Alec Guinness was a convert to Roman Catholicism and was an avid reader, picking-up anything written by Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene or G.K. Chesterton. Tolkien was a natural fit and Guinness likely was drawn to Tolkien’s fictional work because of the author’s Catholicism.
What may have also added to Guinness’ portrayal of a monk-ish type character was his familiarity with Catholic monks, often going on retreat at various monasteries. Around the time of his conversion he went on a retreat to a Trappist monastery and was greatly influenced by their solemn and prayerful life.
Since then the Star Wars universe has expanded and the Jedi have received a full back-story. However, Tolkien and the symbols of Catholicism remain an ever present influence, even in the most recent films, such as The Last Jedi, and the Jedi greeting of “May the Force be with you!“
It is an influence that runs deep in Star Wars, one which may always be there, as it corresponds to what is true, good and beautiful.
Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.