What exactly did the stormtroopers do to Owen and Beru Lars?

[Dakarne]

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

They might drop one, sort of as a "We were here" Sign... basically a calling card informing the general populace to fear the Raiders.

[Isolder74]

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

They might drop one, sort of as a "We were here" Sign... basically a calling card informing the general populace to fear the Raiders.

Or because of their fast hit and run style its not a streatch that one was dropped and not retrieved. Tuskens appear to only really attack when one enters one of their sacred areas. The main matter is that the Troopers could not at this point get away with wiping out Jawas, which are a fairly active part of the tatooine society.

[Elfdart]

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

They might drop one, sort of as a "We were here" Sign... basically a calling card informing the general populace to fear the Raiders.

To really understand the scene, you should watch The Searchers, and old John Ford movie from which Lucas drew his inspiration for much of the Tattooine story and imagery. In that movie, Ethan Edwards and Martin Pauley and Co. go out in the desert to search for cattle that have been rustled. They find the cattle killed with a Comanche war lance still stuck in one of the cows. They realize that it's a fake, the Comanches wanted to make it look like a case of rustled cattle, when in fact it's a diversion for a murder raid. Edwards and Pauley return to find Edwards' home burning and the family slaughtered. The shot is almost identical to the scene when Luke comes home to Owen and Beru and the burning home.

Another thing to consider is that like the Comanche war lance, the gaffi stick might be hurled like a spear. So maybe Tuskens sometimes harpoon their victims.

[Joe]

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

They might drop one, sort of as a "We were here" Sign... basically a calling card informing the general populace to fear the Raiders.

To really understand the scene, you should watch The Searchers, and old John Ford movie from which Lucas drew his inspiration for much of the Tattooine story and imagery. In that movie, Ethan Edwards and Martin Pauley and Co. go out in the desert to search for cattle that have been rustled. They find the cattle killed with a Comanche war lance still stuck in one of the cows. They realize that it's a fake, the Comanches wanted to make it look like a case of rustled cattle, when in fact it's a diversion for a murder raid. Edwards and Pauley return to find Edwards' home burning and the family slaughtered. The shot is almost identical to the scene when Luke comes home to Owen and Beru and the burning home.

Another thing to consider is that like the Comanche war lance, the gaffi stick might be hurled like a spear. So maybe Tuskens sometimes harpoon their victims.

AoTC also borrowed heavily from The Searchers. Several of the shots during the rescue scene at the Tusken camp are taken directly from the scene at the end of The Searchers where Pauley rescues Debbie.

[Joe]

In any case, if the Stormtroopers did indeed roast Owen and Beru alive they would have to have extraordinarily strong stomachs, be desensitized to all that shit. Even if they could block out the smell (which would be absolutely agonizing and would stick in their mouths for days), they would still have to deal with watching the eyeballs sizzle and burst, the fat boiling, the skin falling off the body like like slime, and some truly unsettling sounds, all while the person is still ALIVE and screaming. Even the most hardened war criminals would have trouble with that shit.

[18-Till-I-Die]

As i understand it, most or all Stormies are clones. They're upbringing, if you can call it that, is artificial and their sensibilities are determined by their manufacturer. They might be programed to just do as they're told. We know they'll march into a firefight, ordered to shoot to MISS, and under fire, without question or pause. It might be more like flesh and blood battle droids than normal people.

Also a Stormies armor is fully NBC sealed so the smell probably didnt even bother them one bit. Surely they simply filter such things out, i'd be stunned if they didnt, considering burning/heat weapons like blasters and flamethrowers are fairly common (Fett had both) most likely the smell of burning flesh is just filtered out.

[Winston Blake]

IIRC this topic came up ages ago and it concluded that they used that burning blaster setting.

There is thick black smoke billowing from the workshop area, and we know that C3-PO had an "oil bath", so there are plenty of fuels there. If one rejects the notion that they did it with blasters, I suppose it's possible that they grabbed oil from the workshop, doused everything in it, and then torched it. Even then, I'm not sure it would actually burn Owen and Beru down to the bones like that; real burn victims aren't reduced to skeletons.

If left to smolder, they can burn away to even less. It depends on many variables. Ibn Fadlan described a Rus funeral pyre turning the body into fine ash in matter of minutes because the fire was unusually hot and the strong wind acted as a bellows.

OK, so what if the stormtroopers finish interrogating Owen and Beru, then they shove them down into the homestead and throw in an incendiary grenade to kill them and get rid of the evidence (two birds with one stone- hence not merely shooting them). The trick is, Owen and Beru are covered in ubernapalm while back down in the homestead, so that's why we never see any other effects of the grenade. They then manage to stagger out to the entrance before succumbing, where their body fat burns (i.e. energy not solely from the incendiary) and is assisted by the wind until most of their flesh has smouldered away. How's that scenario?

[Gil Hamilton]

I always just assumed that the Stormtroopers burned the farm itself and that Beru and Owen were doused with something particularly violent. I don't think it was the Empire trying to make it look like Sandpeople. They did that with the Sandcrawler, but there is no evidence they did that with the Skywalker farm.

[Rogue 9]

What, haven't you ever seen Troops?

In all seriousness, it was probably a blaster setting. We'll probably never know for sure, though.

[Darth Wong]

In any case, if the Stormtroopers did indeed roast Owen and Beru alive they would have to have extraordinarily strong stomachs, be desensitized to all that shit. Even if they could block out the smell (which would be absolutely agonizing and would stick in their mouths for days), they would still have to deal with watching the eyeballs sizzle and burst, the fat boiling, the skin falling off the body like like slime, and some truly unsettling sounds, all while the person is still ALIVE and screaming. Even the most hardened war criminals would have trouble with that shit.

The gold standard of stormtrooper discipline is the original clonetroopers, and Vader's personal troops would probably be up to that standard. They might even be actual clones; while the Empire may have started using non-clone troopers, there is no good reason to believe that they stopped using clones.

And clones were so tightly disciplined that they could unhesitatingly murder lifelong comrades in arms with nothing but a 4-word order.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Hey i said that first!

But really, it's true. The Clones are 'born' in what are esscentially baby factories and 'raised' by computer simulations. They're discipline goes beyond simple good discipline and into near-robotic obedience. With a word, they murdered the Jedi, who were their commanding officers, and paused for not a second to even consider why.

I doubt very much killing two people they dont even know would brother them one bit. They're like fleshy robots, their literally 'born' to obey orders. Their upbringing is such that they could very well be predisposed to obedience, 'make them more doscile' and all.

[Elfdart]

IIRC this topic came up ages ago and it concluded that they used that burning blaster setting.

There is thick black smoke billowing from the workshop area, and we know that C3-PO had an "oil bath", so there are plenty of fuels there. If one rejects the notion that they did it with blasters, I suppose it's possible that they grabbed oil from the workshop, doused everything in it, and then torched it. Even then, I'm not sure it would actually burn Owen and Beru down to the bones like that; real burn victims aren't reduced to skeletons.

If left to smolder, they can burn away to even less. It depends on many variables. Ibn Fadlan described a Rus funeral pyre turning the body into fine ash in matter of minutes because the fire was unusually hot and the strong wind acted as a bellows.

OK, so what if the stormtroopers finish interrogating Owen and Beru, then they shove them down into the homestead and throw in an incendiary grenade to kill them and get rid of the evidence (two birds with one stone- hence not merely shooting them). The trick is, Owen and Beru are covered in ubernapalm while back down in the homestead, so that's why we never see any other effects of the grenade. They then manage to stagger out to the entrance before succumbing, where their body fat burns (i.e. energy not solely from the incendiary) and is assisted by the wind until most of their flesh has smouldered away. How's that scenario?

Seems about right to me. The only hiccup would be the placement of the bodies, the one one its back on top of the wreckeage in particular. I guess Owen or Beru (whichever one it was) could have simply fallen backwards on the blocks. It just strikes me as the kind of pose you'd get when someone is shot from the front and forced backwards.

As for how cold-blooded a stormtrooper is, I'm not arguing one way or the other about whether they could be sadistic enough to just keep burning someone until all that's left if a skeleton. I'm arguing that there's no practical reason to do so and good reason why they wouldn't waste their time doing it. If they got information, they'd want to go find Luke immediately. If they didn't get anything out of threatened/ tortured live farmers, they sure as hell won't get anything from a pair of barbecued skeletons.

[Cykeisme]

And clones were so tightly disciplined that they could unhesitatingly murder lifelong comrades in arms with nothing but a 4-word order.

"Execute Order 66"?

[Mark S]

I would think the Stormtroopers arrived at the farm and called down to the Lars' that they needed to ask them some questions. Owen and Beru come up the stairs to a semi-circle of soldiers who start asking about stolen droids and demanding to search the farm. Owen, being the hardass independent that he is, tells them that he has no stolen droids, he bought all of his fair and square, and that they have no right to search his home. He is told that the Troopers know jawas sold him the driods they are looking for and that they are going to be taken. The Lars' are held at gun point as the Stormtroopers search the place and find nothing. They ask about it and Owen either tells them that he sent his boy to get their memories wiped in Anchorhead, or more likely, he tells them to go to hell. The troopers then shoot them to remove any link to the droids and burn the farm and their bodies (to the bone) so that no one investigating will know what happened. What we don't see is them tearing Anchorhead apart.

Alternatively, in the process of burning the farm, one of the dewbacks gulps down both bodies, takes all the tasty flesh and whatnot off the bone by some alien, dewback digestive method, and horks the skeletons back out whole in the positions we see.

[Jack Bauer]

Alternatively, in the process of burning the farm, one of the dewbacks gulps down both bodies, takes all the tasty flesh and whatnot off the bone by some alien, dewback digestive method, and horks the skeletons back out whole in the positions we see.

Wow that definitely takes the cake for the stupidest thing I've read today.

[Ghost Rider]

Alternatively, in the process of burning the farm, one of the dewbacks gulps down both bodies, takes all the tasty flesh and whatnot off the bone by some alien, dewback digestive method, and horks the skeletons back out whole in the positions we see.

Wow that definitely takes the cake for the stupidest thing I've read today.

And this people is what happens when one's intellect doesn't grasp S-A-R-C-A-S-M.

[wilfulton]

Looking at Darth Wong's picture, I'm almost certain the scene was staged. I would surmise that Owen and Beru were killed by blaster fire, probably a grand total of two shots fired to accomplish that task. The rest of the property was disturbed in a manner to make it look like a Tusken raid, and the bodies were simply placed and burned using a flamethrower until they were extra crispy.

Judging by the lack of burn marks on the debris where the far skeleton is laying (not sure whose is supposed to be whose), it's possible they may have been burned elsewhere, the black ops team leader decides it would look more grisly to any casual passer-by to have the corpses laying at the front door to greet any more would-be visitors and has them dragged into positions there. I think that because of the
And to those not in the know, it looks a horrible, horrible atrocity committed by the sand people, and oh, we have to do something, oh we have to cough up more tax money to employ more stormtroopers to eliminate these bad, bad people. Two for the price of one.

And it would take quite a bit of flamethrower fuel to burn a body down to the skeleton, because the human body is comprised mostly of water, which is in many cases used as a fire retardant. Burning them down to the bones was deliberate, and the positioning of the remains was deliberate. Check out Luke's response when he sees it.

As a further note, stand both skeletons up. The near would have been standing perilously close to the edge of the stairwell. Standing in front of the stairwell I could see, but not beside, people typically come straight up the stairs and wouldn't take a shortcut like that. The far skeleton would be standing in front with its back to the near.

I maintain the Stormtroopers set up this entire scene. After all, what would be your reaction to seeing that picture on the front page of local newspaper with "Tusken Raiders Strike Again."

[Mark S]

Alternatively, in the process of burning the farm, one of the dewbacks gulps down both bodies, takes all the tasty flesh and whatnot off the bone by some alien, dewback digestive method, and horks the skeletons back out whole in the positions we see.

Wow that definitely takes the cake for the stupidest thing I've read today.

You can't be that much of a fucking moron to take that seriously, can you?

[Johnathon_Chance]

I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. Is it possible that some form of incindiary was used? Of course I think that just too much is being read into this. The obvious reason that the bodies were like that in the movie was to push Luke over the edge to become a Jedi. It really doesn't matter how they were turned into smoking bones, just the fact that they were is enough for me. Frankly though, I think the Emperor made a quick stop by and did his little finger lightning thing on them since I dont see pools of scorched earth around them.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

You know, it could have been entirely possible that upon frying Owen and Beru with their blasters, that their flesh caught on fire.

[Srynerson]

They wanted to make it look as if sandpeople did it. I don't know if it makes sense for sandpeople to do that, but then again, it makes no sense to kidnap an old woman and torture her to death for no reason either.

If they wanted it to look like the Tuskens did it, why are there no gaffi sticks?

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

Luke certainly thinks so. Recall that there were gaffi sticks left lying around the burning sandcrawler, which Luke points to as evidence that Tusken Raiders were the attackers.

[Oskuro]

Couple ideas:

First, as to why burn the bodies, a reason could be to leave no clues as to what had been done to them. It is probable that the Troopers tortured them, maybe by sophisticated means such as the nifty torture-sphere-droid.
The scorch-mark-less method of incineration could have been a barrage of blaster fire (Much like the effect on Grievious).
As for the position of the corpses, maybe they tried to escape, and one was caught in the stairs, while the other was caught outside, after wich they where burnt.
Anyway, completely destroying the flesh makes sense when trying to hide any clue at the attack being an search rather than a raid.

Now, that was a lot of speculation, but, another important point is the need for secrecy.
I belive secrecy was necessary more as a security concern than anything else. Quite simply, if someone realised the Empire was looking for something, quite a lot of individuals might attempt to interfere, and, most importantly, their quarry might realise it is being hunted and change tactics. In fact, had it not been for ObiWan's insight, Luke would have assumed it had been the Tusken raiders that offed the jawas, would have never made the conection to the droids and the Lars homestead, and as such, would have taken ObiWan to Anchorhead (before going back home and seeing the corpses), and probably get caught there since he would not have expected Imperials to be after him.

[drachefly]

Do Tusken raiders usually drop their weapons apon achieving victory?

Luke certainly thinks so.

Luke Skywalker, experienced in the ways of the world, was of course the one to figure out the nature of the whole situation.

[Kurgan]

Maybe this was just another function of buzz droids (hmm, that little camera droid that followed them through Mos Eisley looks like a descendant, hmmm).

I like the Dewback Eating Theory though.


In a startling twist of fate, the Tusken Raiders, furious over being blamed for the Jawa massacre, attacked the Lars homestead and tried to make it look like the Empire did it!

[Oskuro]

Nah, probably the Larses got into a VS. Discussion Board...