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I always thought that Luke was poor on Tatooine but I thought about it today and they had:

2 speeders
2 droids (at least)
1 T-16
A large farm

So were they poor? Or just poor by the standards of the Core worlds?

They had way more than two droids.

But anyway, I don't think they were poor per se, but they weren't really wealthy. Think of Owen as a small business owner. One of those landspeeders is owned by the business. The farm is the business's support structure. The droids are designed to help the business. What the Lars family itself actually owned as "fun stuff" that didn't come as an incidental result of the business was relatively quaint. Luke's landspeeder is clearly old and beat-up, so it's not exactly "omgwtf, they have lik 2 cars, d00d." Sure, they have "two cars," but one's a company Taurus and the other is a beat-up, barely functioning, held-together hand-me-down, kinda like the Millennium Falcon.

I think they were functional to well off. But no, not poor at all.

I don't think the Lars family was poor, but they weren't rich. My grandfather had a tractors and equipment for his farm, as did most of the farms around. Before he retired he made enough money to raise four children and provide for his retirement. The like my grandfather, Owen took over the farm from his father, so much of the farm was already established. The Lars family seemed comfortable, able to by new equipment, possibly being able to send Luke to school (assuming he couldn't get into the Academy which I imagine pays for everything), and hire seasonal workers. Being a farm would mean they would have food to eat and would know how to keep things running long after the warranty has run out.

Cleeg Lars was rich enough to buy himself a slave. (Shmee)

Stravo wrote:Cleeg Lars was rich enough to buy himself a slave. (Shmee)

Maybe he found her in the bargain bin, I dunno.

But did he buy her for business, or because he met her and fell in love? Maybe the Lars family was better off till Cleag mortgaged the back forty to buy his slave-order bride?

Don't know if this is true but I heard in some EU source that Qui-Gon slipped Shmee somekind of expensive jewel in hopes that'll she'll pass off somebody trustfull to "buy" her. I may be wrong though.

The T-16 is what really gets me. That must've been pricey.

Old Plympto wrote:

Stravo wrote:Cleeg Lars was rich enough to buy himself a slave. (Shmee)

Maybe he found her in the bargain bin, I dunno.

Pernilla August is not 'bargain bin' material.


Anywho, the gist I got from Watto was her freedom was a bit of both being bought and married by Lars, the former being a necesscity for the latter.

Illuminatus Primus wrote:The T-16 is what really gets me. That must've been pricey.

Not necessarily. I remember seeing ads in old National Geographics and stuff-- apparently a rather popular thing back in the '70s and '80s was to purchase a kit, consisting of all your airplane parts-- engine, frame, wings, and so forth-- and then put it together in your garage, trailer it to the local airport, and after flying lessons-- hey presto, your own plane...

Not saying that's what happened, but I think it's an idea. Cost would be down significantly since it wouldn't be complete when sold; the customer builds it himself from the provided parts. Kind of the 'cheap' solution, I guess....

The T-16 flying over Mos Eisley in the ROTJ celebration did look quite majestic, kit set or not.

The Larses in AOTC had another type of airspeeder, standing in the same spot as Luke´s T-16. Can´t have been too bad off back then, either.

I always figured that they were pretty well off, not wealthy, but they did own a business. Of course it was a small business and the kind which which required getting your hands dirty, so I can see how they might seem poor to some.

I never got the impression that the Lars were poor. They seemed to be the best well off mousture farmers in the area. Like has been mentioned, the family had two landspeeders, a T-16 Skyhopper and dozens of droids. Luke's speeder was pretty much an old version of a sport speeder. Then there is the fact that Luke had wrecked the T-16 and Owen had sectretly fixed it up as a surprise for Luke. That couldn't have been cheap.

I just thought about this for a moment. Maybe the Lars are 'ghetto rich' and by that I mean they save money by cutting some legal corners. For instance its pretty obvious the Lars acquire their droids off the truck. The Jawas are like the local crackheads swinging by with a TV on their shoulders and Owen buys the TV for five dollars and suddenly the family has a new TV. Just a thought.

For the most part the Lars were off well enough. the Darklighter's were the only notable rich people and that's because they owned a near water monopoly for the moisture farmer. One thing of note, the Lars never had to rely on the Darklighter's for water, which was in general a sign of both Owen's stubborness and level of wealth.

As for purist viewpoint, the Lars were well to do enough, but nothing compared to what Biggs had, which even in the novel was noted to be from a rich family.

Stravo wrote:I just thought about this for a moment. Maybe the Lars are 'ghetto rich' and by that I mean they save money by cutting some legal corners. For instance its pretty obvious the Lars acquire their droids off the truck. The Jawas are like the local crackheads swinging by with a TV on their shoulders and Owen buys the TV for five dollars and suddenly the family has a new TV. Just a thought.

The Jawas don't typically steal, though; they really are more like gypsies. Migrant barterers and bazaar owners. Think of a flea/thrift store on wheels where the employees scavange and barter for goods.

Elheru Aran wrote: Not necessarily. I remember seeing ads in old National Geographics and stuff-- apparently a rather popular thing back in the '70s and '80s was to purchase a kit, consisting of all your airplane parts-- engine, frame, wings, and so forth-- and then put it together in your garage, trailer it to the local airport, and after flying lessons-- hey presto, your own plane...

Not saying that's what happened, but I think it's an idea. Cost would be down significantly since it wouldn't be complete when sold; the customer builds it himself from the provided parts. Kind of the 'cheap' solution, I guess....

My brother-in-law is building his own plane from scratch using plans he bought from a company. The Lars may have done the same with the T-16. They could have bought the parts they needed from someone like Watto and put it together in the garage.