Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken Raiders

[Imperial Overlord]

One-one more log on the fire. It doesn't help, but relations are already bad.

Two-It's a camp in Tusken territory on a backwarder planet that is not a part of the Republic. Even if it is found by someone other than Tuskens, why would they report it to the Republic?

Three- She is in love with him and the Tuskens did kill his mother. Is it hypocritical? Yep, but she is making excuses for someone she loves and that isn't uncommon.

Four-People do pick up that something is wrong with Anakin, but they are at war. Every Jedi who fights has to deal with dark emotions, killing, and is at risk to falling to the darkside. This gives Anakin some cover. It is also clear (especially from the ROTS trailer) that Yoda and Mace have serious reservations about Anakin.

[Lord Revan]

Was he dressed in burlap when he killed them, though? I thought it was more of a leather type garb.

http://gwiezdne-wojny.pl/grafika/lut200 ... llpic.jpeg

Is that really the dark robe thing?

Elfdart theory non-with standing Anakin does wear a dark brown robe under which is black leather vest and a dark brown tunic.

[2000AD]

I thought Obi Wan scared away the sandpeople by making some sort of animal call.

Yeah, IIRC Behind the Magic said it was a Krayt Dragon call

[Petrosjko]

I thought Obi Wan scared away the sandpeople by making some sort of animal call.

Correct. He imitated the call of a krayt dragon.

[CJvR]

One - Do you think Anakin's slaughter of the Tuskens made them hate the mositure farmers more and increased the animosity between the two? For instance, it seems fairly obvious that the Tuskens have been getting the better of the farmers for some time, stealing their folk and slaughtering any rescue party that comes after them (ie. Shmee and Cleeg's disastrous rescue possie) attacking podracers at will without represcussions (TPM) so along comes Anakin and wipes out an entire village, women, children, men. The Tuskens might have viewed this as an escalation of their strained cooexistence and began being more aggressive. By Luke's time the farmers don't venture out alone at night, have security fields in place and don't travel without weaposn (Luke's long blaster rifle when he goes to get R2) so is this partly a result of Anakin's actions?

No, things could hardly be worse. Besides nomadic tribes rarely care about the misfortune of other tribes other than how to take advantage of it.

Two - Wouldn't someone who stumbled across a camp full of dead Tuskens displaying obvious lightsaber wounds not make the conclusion that a Jedi had committed that attrocity and report it? Anakin was the only Jedi on Tatooine around that time frame that we know of and so would have fallen under suspicion.

Tuskens would probably loot the camp & corpses. I doubt anyone else would travel in Tusken infested regions to begin with. If a party of civilized people found the site quick enough they would hardly care, to Tatooiners killing Tuskens will probably be viewed as a good deed. Perhaps they will send the Jedis a thank you note...

Three - How exactly does Padme reconcile not turning Anakin in for what he did. If she is such an idealist and peace lover how could she possibly allow an act of mass murder go without being answered for?

She wasn't there to see the massacre, a big point IMPO. She have a pack of bloodthirsty savages kidnapping Anakin's mom and murdering farmers, seriously who cares what happens to them? I wouldn't.

Four - How does Anakin walk around the Jedi temple without someone like Yoda or Mace or fuck it Obi Wan not picking up that there was something really wrong with Anakin. Yoda constantly picks up people's feelings, he tells young Anakin that his thoughts dwell on his mother, Obi Wan cautions him that his thoughts betray him in regard to his feelings for Padme. So Anakin tends to boradcast his thoughts, and no one picked up on this. You can pick up the darkside in Dooku while standing across a hangar bay from him but you can hang with a mass murderer and never have a clue?

Despite Anakin's little preformance for Padme's benefit I suspect he got over it very fast. If he don't go around thinking about it there is nothing for Yoda to read. If the war hadn't erupted I suspect Yoda would have launched a more thourough investigation into the incident.

[Crown]

This has made me think.

In ANH, the Sandpeople scurry when they see Obi-Wan Kenobi in his brown robe. Luke says they don't attack Jawas, who wear the same type of clothes. In AOTC, Anakin massacres an entire village of Sandpeople while wearing a brown robe. Could it be that after Anakin killed that village, that Tuskens were scared of anything in dark brown burlap? Maybe they thought Ben was Anakin back for Round Two. Maybe they thought the Jawas were little Anakin Skywalkers who would kill them all if they provoked them.

Ummmm, that might work if - you know - Anakin had left any witnesses alive to describe what he was wearing ...

The novel for ANH states the Tuskens wet themselves due to Obi-Wan's war cry (in the script) which sounds like a Krypt Dragon (in the novel).

[LadyTevar]

This has made me think.

In ANH, the Sandpeople scurry when they see Obi-Wan Kenobi in his brown robe. Luke says they don't attack Jawas, who wear the same type of clothes. In AOTC, Anakin massacres an entire village of Sandpeople while wearing a brown robe. Could it be that after Anakin killed that village, that Tuskens were scared of anything in dark brown burlap? Maybe they thought Ben was Anakin back for Round Two. Maybe they thought the Jawas were little Anakin Skywalkers who would kill them all if they provoked them.

Ummmm, that might work if - you know - Anakin had left any witnesses alive to describe what he was wearing ...

The novel for ANH states the Tuskens wet themselves due to Obi-Wan's war cry (in the script) which sounds like a Krypt Dragon (in the novel).

Considering that the Krayt Dragon is the biggest, baddest thing on Tatoonine and is always hungry, I'd have ran too. The Tuskens were taking the better side of valour, not wanting to become dragon-food.

[Crown]

Ummmm, that might work if - you know - Anakin had left any witnesses alive to describe what he was wearing ...

The novel for ANH states the Tuskens wet themselves due to Obi-Wan's war cry (in the script) which sounds like a Krypt Dragon (in the novel).

Considering that the Krayt Dragon is the biggest, baddest thing on Tatoonine and is always hungry, I'd have ran too. The Tuskens were taking the better side of valour, not wanting to become dragon-food.

Oh I agree, but on some level I would have loved it, if it was just a Jedi battle cry ... would have been nice (if tacky) to see it in action.

[Stofsk]

Oh I agree, but on some level I would have loved it, if it was just a Jedi battle cry ... would have been nice (if tacky) to see it in action.

I wouldn't consider it tacky. Ever sparred with someone who knew how to vocalise a REAL kia? It's scary as all fuck. You're standing there in a fighting posture and blocking and trading blows, then there's this inhuman deep growling sound which ends as a 'snap' that makes you "WTF was that?" And if you're not careful, that's when you involuntarily open up for the same strike that accompanies the kia.

And on film, it'd be just another force power. Holy shit, these guys can move x-wings without much trouble (unless you're Luke - yukyukyuk), so I don't find the concept of a 'war cry' to be that far-fetched.

[McC]

One and four have been adequately dealt with. Here are my thoughts on two and three.

Two - Wouldn't someone who stumbled across a camp full of dead Tuskens displaying obvious lightsaber wounds not make the conclusion that a Jedi had committed that attrocity and report it? Anakin was the only Jedi on Tatooine around that time frame that we know of and so would have fallen under suspicion.

Anakin traveled a very long time and a very long distance to get to that camp. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Now tell me: in an environment as hostile as Tatooine with as many threats (both natural and Tusken) as there are to be had, would you go out venturing into the wastelands as far as Anakin did? Anakin was a Jedi and was on a mission -- nobody else on Tatooine short of the Stormtroopers who come years later is well-equipped enough to go out and find that camp, let alone report it to anyone. Any evidence by that time will have long-since been swept away by desert storms.

Three - How exactly does Padme reconcile not turning Anakin in for what he did. If she is such an idealist and peace lover how could she possibly allow an act of mass murder go without being answered for?

This goes back to what you're willing to tolerate, and I'm fairly sure we had this discussion before. Given what we know of Tusken society -- that everyone's a combatant -- Anakin's actions were justifiable. Personally, I don't take issue with his actions at all -- they're exactly what I would've done in his stead. If a band of, say, Arab terrorists kidnaps my mother, tortures her in all manner of ways, ultimately leading to her death, do you think I'm going to have any reservations about wiping out not only the people that did it, but the people they care about and their next of kin? Hell no. They kill my family, I kill theirs. I find it unfathomable that anyone would take issue with this "just retaliation," though I know several people do (many were shocked when I made this assertion last time too).

Padme, in particular, will be even more apt to accept this as she knew Shmi to be a kind, gentle woman (from TPM) and would feel Anakin's pain over what happened. She probably got a bit of background from Owen, Beru, and Clieg while Anakin was away, so she'd know that all Tuskens are combatants, even the children, and thus while she might be uneasy about it, I doubt it would worry her overmuch.

[Chmee]

Another thing about Padme ....

Given the strength of Anakin's feelings and his Jedi mind-powers, did she ever have much choice about falling in love with him? I'm not saying he's doing anything deliberate to alter her thoughts, but he's not exactly Mr. Self Control, and every time he sees her he must be broadcasting a 'we belong together' vibe that even a strong mind would have a tough time fighting.

This occurred to me in considering why she isn't horrified by his genocidal rampage ... because before she can even start to get outraged, Anakin is just mentally bombarding her with his need to be comforted over the loss of his mother .... and so she does, not focusing at all on the monster he's becoming.

[nesaminos]

Ummmm, that might work if - you know - Anakin had left any witnesses alive to describe what he was wearing ...

The novel for ANH states the Tuskens wet themselves due to Obi-Wan's war cry (in the script) which sounds like a Krypt Dragon (in the novel).

Considering that the Krayt Dragon is the biggest, baddest thing on Tatoonine and is always hungry, I'd have ran too. The Tuskens were taking the better side of valour, not wanting to become dragon-food.

Oh I agree, but on some level I would have loved it, if it was just a Jedi battle cry ... would have been nice (if tacky) to see it in action.

Didn't Yoda have a war cry when he fought Dooku?