LordOfTheLight
So, it is pretty commonly believed that Obi Wan was amped due to his rage in TPM in the duel against Maul. However, on re reading the sources during Obi Wan's apprentice stages some pretty interesting facts about Obi Wan's character come to light. Namely, his anger and other negative emotions are only described to be hindering him, not empowering or amping him.
Before TPM
It is important to note that the Jedi Apprentice series was released right after TPM( this novel in fact was released before the movie) and Dave Wolverton has pretty clearly emphasized that his anger and negative emotions only hinder him. It seems logical to conclude that Obi Wan being hindered due to his anger is a theme in SW that they were going for especially when you consider the words of Wolverton himself here:
As we can see, while Dave did have flexibility, Lucasfilm edited and scanned the novel pretty thoroughly, to the point where they were able to make subjective judgments on the coldness of a character to other character. Obviously since the novel released before the movie, the editing would have to be pretty strict( not in the usual sense, but strict in the sense that they would stay true to the character) here. Dave also states that he read the novel and had access to the screenplay, and so Obi Wan's anger hindering him is indeed a theme that they would have been going for particularly when you consider the main novel where his emotions have outright been stated to hinder him, seen later here.
The later books in the Jedi Apprentice series too emphasize that Obi Wan's anger only hinders him and diminishes his connection to the force.
In the Duel with Maul
This clearly states that he "tried" to use his grief to fuel his attack. The remaining statements make it clear that not only was he unsuccessful, his negative emotions only hindered him.
Yoda too states that his own anger nearly defeated him, a statement Obi Wan does not disagree with.
Probably one of the biggest pieces of evidence here, his hindrance is made explicit in the novel itself when it states that his emotions were "bearing him down". More interesting however, is the statement that his emotions were "warring" within. This indicates that there was inner conflict and turmoil within him, a pretty sure indicator of an impeded performance.
This is not surprising because we see four emotions that he struggles with in the duel:
Fear
Anger
Grief
Frustration
He is experiencing all of these emotions at once. I am pretty sure that most people, especially Jedi, will be hindered due to experiencing just one of these emotions( with the possible exception of anger, but we know that even just anger hinders Obi Wan here), let alone a huge turmoil of all four inside at once.
After TPM
Let us see what happens in his next encounter with Maul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufGInoX0mzw
At 3:38. After Obi Wan gives in to his rage, he is pretty soundly beaten by Maul to the point where you can almost call it a stomp. But why? After all, before that he was doing pretty well against Maul, to the point where you could say that he was winning.
The answer is given by Maul himself here:
What is more interesting however, is what Maul says to make him unbalanced:
In other words Obi Wan is feeling the same emotions here that he felt on Naboo.
We can clearly contrast his performance here, since he is obviously hindered to a great deal after Maul unbalances him, almost getting stomped by Maul.
Likewise, the very same emotions should hinder him on Naboo as well.
We have the Jedi Apprentice series pretty clearly establishing that Obi Wan is hindered when he gives in to his anger. We have the main novel, and the comic stating that his anger hindered him and we have a source from 2013 also stating that he was hindered in TPM. We then have Obi Wan's encounter with Maul when he is a Jedi Master and him being hindered again when he gives in to his rage.
So, we have a series of consistent sources, spanning decades in Obi Wan's career stating that he is hindered before, during and after TPM whenever he gives in to his rage. I think that that provides sufficient grounds to declare him hindered during TPM.
Lastly, the argument that since Vader and Luke gave in to their anger and were empowered( and the usual stuff about anger being a quick way to power) so it must mean that Obi Wan too was empowered does not fly at all. Obi Wan was experiencing a turmoil of emotions within, not just anger so there are really no parallels between him and other Jedi who were indeed empowered by their anger alone. This is letting aside the fact that different people have different temperaments and are empowered and hindered by different things.
Also, it is not uncommon for Jedi to be hindered by their distress or grief as seen with Mace here:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/emperordmb/blog/mace-windus-lightsaber-duels-analysis-thread/127977/
The mental condition of Obi Wan was in a much bigger turmoil than that of Mace here, again, because he was experiencing a wide variety of emotions which were all "warring" within him.
Thoughts on this one?
Before TPM
It is important to note that the Jedi Apprentice series was released right after TPM( this novel in fact was released before the movie) and Dave Wolverton has pretty clearly emphasized that his anger and negative emotions only hinder him. It seems logical to conclude that Obi Wan being hindered due to his anger is a theme in SW that they were going for especially when you consider the words of Wolverton himself here:
As we can see, while Dave did have flexibility, Lucasfilm edited and scanned the novel pretty thoroughly, to the point where they were able to make subjective judgments on the coldness of a character to other character. Obviously since the novel released before the movie, the editing would have to be pretty strict( not in the usual sense, but strict in the sense that they would stay true to the character) here. Dave also states that he read the novel and had access to the screenplay, and so Obi Wan's anger hindering him is indeed a theme that they would have been going for particularly when you consider the main novel where his emotions have outright been stated to hinder him, seen later here.
The later books in the Jedi Apprentice series too emphasize that Obi Wan's anger only hinders him and diminishes his connection to the force.
In the Duel with Maul
This clearly states that he "tried" to use his grief to fuel his attack. The remaining statements make it clear that not only was he unsuccessful, his negative emotions only hindered him.
Yoda too states that his own anger nearly defeated him, a statement Obi Wan does not disagree with.
Probably one of the biggest pieces of evidence here, his hindrance is made explicit in the novel itself when it states that his emotions were "bearing him down". More interesting however, is the statement that his emotions were "warring" within. This indicates that there was inner conflict and turmoil within him, a pretty sure indicator of an impeded performance.
This is not surprising because we see four emotions that he struggles with in the duel:
Fear
Anger
Grief
Frustration
He is experiencing all of these emotions at once. I am pretty sure that most people, especially Jedi, will be hindered due to experiencing just one of these emotions( with the possible exception of anger, but we know that even just anger hinders Obi Wan here), let alone a huge turmoil of all four inside at once.
After TPM
Let us see what happens in his next encounter with Maul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufGInoX0mzw
At 3:38. After Obi Wan gives in to his rage, he is pretty soundly beaten by Maul to the point where you can almost call it a stomp. But why? After all, before that he was doing pretty well against Maul, to the point where you could say that he was winning.
The answer is given by Maul himself here:
What is more interesting however, is what Maul says to make him unbalanced:
In other words Obi Wan is feeling the same emotions here that he felt on Naboo.
We can clearly contrast his performance here, since he is obviously hindered to a great deal after Maul unbalances him, almost getting stomped by Maul.
Likewise, the very same emotions should hinder him on Naboo as well.
We have the Jedi Apprentice series pretty clearly establishing that Obi Wan is hindered when he gives in to his anger. We have the main novel, and the comic stating that his anger hindered him and we have a source from 2013 also stating that he was hindered in TPM. We then have Obi Wan's encounter with Maul when he is a Jedi Master and him being hindered again when he gives in to his rage.
So, we have a series of consistent sources, spanning decades in Obi Wan's career stating that he is hindered before, during and after TPM whenever he gives in to his rage. I think that that provides sufficient grounds to declare him hindered during TPM.
Lastly, the argument that since Vader and Luke gave in to their anger and were empowered( and the usual stuff about anger being a quick way to power) so it must mean that Obi Wan too was empowered does not fly at all. Obi Wan was experiencing a turmoil of emotions within, not just anger so there are really no parallels between him and other Jedi who were indeed empowered by their anger alone. This is letting aside the fact that different people have different temperaments and are empowered and hindered by different things.
Also, it is not uncommon for Jedi to be hindered by their distress or grief as seen with Mace here:
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/profile/emperordmb/blog/mace-windus-lightsaber-duels-analysis-thread/127977/
The mental condition of Obi Wan was in a much bigger turmoil than that of Mace here, again, because he was experiencing a wide variety of emotions which were all "warring" within him.
Thoughts on this one?