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So, in The Phantom Menace, Qui Gon's cunning plan to make Anakin into a jedi and free from Watto, bets Anakin's pod for Anakin's freedom in the race. However, Qui Gon originally was making the bet so as to win both Anakin and Shmi. Watto refused, so Qui Gon haggled for just Anakin. Watto, being a gambler, decided to have the outcome of their bet decided by a chance cube.

Watto wrote:"I just happen to have a chance-cube here. Blue—it's the boy. Red—his mother."

Qui Gon used the force, and made it land on blue. But, what if it landed on red, via Qui Gon getting distracted, a small rumble from one of the engines, will of the force, Qui Gon rolled a natural 1 on his force manipulation roll, whatever?

Anakin still wins the race, Qui Gon gets the part for Padme's ship, and Shmi is free, but Anakin is still a slave. What happens?

Qui Gon steals him? Even with an explosive device hidden I'd imagine Qui Gon can use the force or his equipment to find/deactivate that? I guess him doing so but openly not being prepared to do so for Anis mother would create more tension and resentment in Ani, making his fall to the dark side easier/quicker.

Presuming Qui Gon just thinks he will come back later for the boy...
The Trade Federation droid control ship doesnt get destroyed, the Naboo fighters get annhilated, the droid army defeats the Gungans before liberating the capital and wiping out the Queens troops there. Maul still dies but Obiwan now has to face off against a planet of battle droids and the Queen is captured... Palpatine still gets elected Chancellor and is much closer to his original plan of having the Trade Federation occupying a member planet to further spread the need for further executive powers immediately. With Qui Gon dead no one goes to get Ani unless Obi escapes to fulfil his promise to Qui Gon so he never becomes a Jedi and impact later events. Events proceed faster than before with the break out of the clone wars brought forward by Trade Federation military occupation of a member world, once the Jedi/Republic army defeat the droids which is likely to be a more drawn out affair as the Clone army has left time to be created there is noone to stop Mace killing Palpatine in his office, the Jedi take temporary control of the senate and things go back to normal with the Sith now eradicated.

If Obiwan survives to retrieve Ani later then things can get back to the original timeline, except the clone wars are liable to break out earlier and if Padme is dead or in a Trade Federation prison isnt there to tempt Ani into a relationhip that is his ultimate reason for turning to the darkside. Ani joins in with Mace killing/defeating/arresting Palpatine as there is no wife to save.

Would Shmi be taken with the two Jedi, would she be abandoned and left on Tatooine? What exactly would happen to her? I can see her trying to scrounge the cash to try and free her son by working for Watto until she raised the funds.

FaxModem1 wrote:Would Shmi be taken with the two Jedi, would she be abandoned and left on Tatooine? What exactly would happen to her? I can see her trying to scrounge the cash to try and free her son by working for Watto until she raised the funds.

I imagine the two Jedi would have leave her on Tatooine, as she'd probably want to stay to try and free her son. Funny thing is, we don't know the exact circumstances that lead to them being enslaved in the first place (well at least via the films). Was she taken by force, or was it a debt thing? Did she allow herself to become enslaved in order to survive, since she couldn't find work elsewhere? What would prevent her from being enslaved again once the Jedi leave? The Jedi aren't likely to come back unless they plan on picking up Anakin, and I highly doubt Yoda would permit such a thing. Also, Watto doesn't strike me as the type of person who would suddenly pay her wages - he was her slave owner after all. And whatever records she have would probably indicate her slavery status as well, so unless she happened to run into Lars she's probably going to have trouble finding legitimate work. Plus this is Tatooine - if Watto doesn't re-enslave her once the Jedi leave, I'm sure there are plenty of other people around who happily will. To play it safe, Watto could enslave her then sell her, so that in the unlikely event the Jedi came back he could legitimately claim that he doesn't know where she is. Maybe he'd eventually do that to Anakin too, since the Jedi were clearly interested in him.

I think (not crazy clear where I got this though) that Shmi was enslaved due to a debt... but anyway, the reason they're enslaved isn't particularly important.

I always figured that Qui-gon was pretty set on getting Anakin one way or another. He'd have either gone for another bet ("Hey, Watto, bet Anakin can't take out Selbuba") or simply quietly abducted him. It's not like there's much of a police force on Tattooine, and the Hutts' thugs aren't going to be much match for Jedi. They might have had more reason to bring Shmi along, though.

Tribble wrote:Also, Watto doesn't strike me as the type of person who would suddenly pay her wages - he was her slave owner after all. And whatever records she have would probably indicate her slavery status as well, so unless she happened to run into Lars she's probably going to have trouble finding legitimate work.

Watto mentions records of sale in AotC, and Qui Gon threatens going to the Hutts over cheating, and Watto immediately backs down. He seems to operate according to whatever the 'law' of the hutts is.

Of course off the books shenanigans were a thing in historical slave owning societies, and I don't doubt they are in hutt space too, so she'd be at risk of that, but Watto himself seems to play mostly by the rules, or at least is afraid of the 'law' and keeps records.

Plus this is Tatooine - if Watto doesn't re-enslave her once the Jedi leave, I'm sure there are plenty of other people around who happily will. To play it safe, Watto could enslave her then sell her, so that in the unlikely event the Jedi came back he could legitimately claim that he doesn't know where she is. Maybe he'd eventually do that to Anakin too, since the Jedi were clearly interested in him.

Probably not if they were openly traveling as Jedi, if he did, he'd have been much more respectful. A Jedi can kill you, and literally everyone you know without breaking a sweat, and is a high status individual (a Knight) in the dominant civilization to boot. We see in AotC how he treats people openly traveling as Jedi. "Whatever it is I didn't do it!" Even high officials of the trade federation pessimistically exclaim 'I'm not going in there with two jedi,' and when their anger is aroused, 'We will not survive this' and they're far more powerful than Watto.

So, not knowing they're jedi, there's no particular reason to sell, unless he gets market value; probably that would increase over time as Anakin's race victories increased.

Of course, what I suspect is that Qui-Gon would just get the stuff he wanted and the ship repaired. Then go up to Watto as they're about to leave and say 'I am a Jedi Master. The boy is coming with me.' He was after all, prepared to cheat at gambling, stealing a slave is not exactly morally beyond the pale for a Jedi (nor should it be).

LUKE
Nevertheless, I'm taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit by this... or be destroyed! It's your choice. But I warn you not to underestimate my powers.

While Qui-Gon is not looking to fight, or cause an incident, it's far from impossible for a Jedi to resort to violence to liberate their friends.

Of course, Maul might find them before that.