Star Wars: The Phantom Menace once upon a time the most anticipated prequel of all timeand was therefore tasked with answering some burning questions. The fandom’s main curiosity was the origins of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who serves as an enigmatic mentor to Luke Skywalker in A new hope and is clearly hiding some secrets from aspiring Jedi. What would a younger version of the character look like and what would his youthful adventures about the galaxy reveal?

Fans got their answers with The Phantom Menace and its sequels, 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, in line explained his distant attitude. A new hope. He was ashamed, trapped in self-imposed exile, and determined to put his past behind him. It’s no wonder he pretends to ignore his own namechoosing to go by Ben instead of Obi-Wan to Luke and others on Tatooine.

The prequels developed 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 designer and screenwriter Iain McCaig, the Lucasfilm team even attempted to tie his origin story more closely to his Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn.

McCaig is a Lucasfilm legend, well known for his characters in 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 like Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan. As the artist recently said StarWars.comthe latter almost underwent a major change that would have given Obi-Wan a very different backstory:

“For a time, the older The Jedi’s name was Obi-Wan and the younger The Jedi’s name was Qui-Gon. It was very poignant that at the end, as Obi-Wan dies and Qui-Gon defeats Darth Maul and stays with his master as he passes away, he not only takes on his master’s quest, but he takes also his name. Qui-Gon becomes Obi-Wan. That’s why when you see Alec Guinness in A new hopehe pulls down his hood and says, ‘Obi-Wan? Now, 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 smarter choice in the grand scheme of things. That would have been quite a twist, and seeing “Qui-Gon” take his master’s name along with his mission might have been moving, but it’s also a bit 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. We’re left to figure out why he didn’t come up with a more creative name for his exile than Ben.