Star Wars: A Skywalker’s Unsung Protectors – Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru Breakdown
Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are some of the most overlooked characters in Star Wars, but this may change after Kenobi premiers this month.
Though they only made a short appearances in the movies, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were characters with lives outside of what was happening with the various Skywalkers. They’ll be coming back in seemingly featured roles later this month when Kenobi premiers on Disney+, and I think it’s high time we talk a little more about Luke’s moisture farming aunt and uncle.
Early Life
Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun Lars were both born on Tatooine. We don’t know much about Beru, but she learned to be an accomplished chef with dreams of opening her own restaurant in Ancorhead despite being a third-generation moisture farmer. During a trip to Mos Espa, she met a still enslaved Shmi Skywalker, and would later introduce Cliegg Lars to her.
Owen was born to Cliegg and Aika Lars, and after his mother passed away his father freed and married Shmi. This made Lars and Anakin Skywalker step brothers. Lars grew close to Shmi and noticed her sadness when she spoke of Anakin, unable to understand how her son could leave her behind. Similarly, Lars felt strongly about staying on Tatooine putting down strong roots and doing everything in his power to improve his home.
Meeting Anakin
While Lars and Beru had fallen in love and were dating and shortly after the beginning of the Clone Wars Tusken Raiders abducted Shmi. Cliegg and twenty nine other moisture farmers went to search for her, but only four returned, including Cliegg who had been grievously injured. An entire month later is when Anakin returned to Tatooine with Padme Amidala to find out about his mother.
After Anakin returned with his mother’s body, the Lars family held a small family funeral and then Anakin left once more, never seeing his step family again. Shortly after, Cliegg’s health declined and he too passed, leaving the moisture farm to Lars and Beru.
Their lives continued, again separate from the Skywalkers, for some time. They married, maintained the farm, and eventually tried to start a family. Infertility problems stopped them from conceiving themselves. So when Obi-Wan Kenobi asked them to protect Anakin’s infant son, they were happy to adopt the baby boy.
Raising Luke
The entire fandom knows by this point. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru raised a young Luke Skywalker into adulthood. He was a rambunctious, driven child who wasn’t content to farm moisture on Tatooine. And Obi-Wan Kenobi living nearby to keep an eye on young Luke didn’t help.
Owen and Beru were protective of Luke after the fates of his father and grandmother. They would scold him for wandering off alone, worried that he too would be taken by the Tusken Raiders. But Luke’s will couldn’t be tamped and he even stole water back from the Hutts once during a drought. This resulted in Kenobi having to rescue the child, Black Krrsantan looking for who had defied Jabba’s water tax, and Kenobi helping the family once more.
As Luke grew older he wanted more and more to leave and make his own way in the universe. He hoped to enroll in the Imperial Academy with his friends. But Owen and Beru didn’t want to see him follow in his father’s footsteps and needed his help on the farm. In the end, they had the cosmically bad luck of purchasing Anakin’s old droids from the Jawas. They were shortly after killed by Storm Troopers looking for the droids and the Death Star plans they were smuggling.
Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were some of those rare people who are kind and hardworking for its own sake. And they had the bad luck of being related to one of the most important families in the galaxy. These are often overlooked characters, but we’ll get a chance to see more of them soon. Kenobi premieres on Disney+ on May 27th.
Do you think Uncle Own and Aunt Beru deserve more recognition? Do you agree with them wanting Obi-Wan to keep his distance? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventurers!
