Obi-Wan Kenobi: Hello there.

General Grievous: General Kenobi. You are a bold one.

This quote come from a movie ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)’ and it is a full transcript of a dialogue between Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous. This movie is part of the Star Wars Universe. Revenge of the Sith is produced by Lucasfilm

Hello there: Origin, meaning and references

“Hello there.” – Obi-Wan greets an army of droids and their leader General Grievous. It is the level of sass we expect from Obi-Wan. He lets them know of his presence in a funny manner.

As for the origin of the quote, it dates back to the first Star Wars movie: A New Hope, where the first line we get from Obi-Wan is “Hello there. Come here, my little friend. Don’t be afraid.” as he meets R2D2 on Tatooine. George Lucas made sure to reference that.

From then the quote also made “an appearance” in the series Star Wars: The Clone Wars where General Grievous uses it to greet Obi-Wan (Season 1, Episode 4). As before it is a nod to the original line and a little fun twist as General Grievous is now canonically the first one to use the line.

The line was also said in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, in Episode 6 Obi-Wan officially meets little Luke and first thing he says to him is “Hello there.”

Lucasfilm & Disney+

Hello there: Was it scripted?

As stated in the previous question, it does seems so. George Lucas used it to make a connection between Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan and the older version of Obi-Wan played by Alec Guinness.

Hello there: The Meme

The rise of the meme “Hello There” seems to be credited to a remix of Obi-Wan saying “Hello there” repeatedly by a YouTuber in 2008. Then in 2014, it went viral when a Tumblr user posted a gif set from the Revenge of the Sith movie and in later years it rose to fame together with other prequel memes. You can read more about the meme history on Know Your Meme.

As with all the memes, Hello there is a series of funny images using the scene screencaps to make a joke. Gifs are used as a greeting or reaction. And as with everything, it is now also a TikTok trend that started with reenacting the scenes from the movie.

Hello there: The greeting used in texting

“Hello there” is a common way for Star Wars fans to greet each other. If you get this greeting in a text conversation, the other party might wanna know if you are a Star Wars fan. If you are, the correct response is “General Kenobi”.

You can also show your superior knowledge of Star Wars by answering with “Come here, my little friend.”

But be careful if you’re looking for a friend this way, it is now well known even by non-Star Wars fans and you might get tricked, make sure to test their Star Wars knowledge further.

Examples:

Person A: Hello there.
Person B: General Kenobi!

Person A: Hello there.
Person B: Come here, my little friend.
Person A: It’s an old code, but it checks out.

This image is how the quote goes in the movie with the appropriate screencaps from the scene. You’re welcome to use it as a template for a meme.