Shmi Skywalker Lars Shmi Skywalker Lars , formerly known as Shmi Skywalker , was a human female who lived in slavery on the planet Tatooine during the last years of the Galactic Republic . During her time as a slave , she gave birth to a child called Anakin Skywalker . In 32 BBY her son was discovered by Jedi Master Qui - Gon Jinn , who found the boy to be unusually strong with the Force . He learned through Shmi that there was no father involved in Anakin ' s conception , leading Jinn to believe that Anakin was conceived by the midi - chlorian s . With Shmi ' s support , Anakin was taken by Jinn to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and presented to the leaders of the Jedi Order as the Chosen One — the one who was destined to restore balance to the Force , according to Jedi prophecy . After Anakin left Tatooine to begin his Jedi training , Shmi married Cliegg Lars — a moisture farmer who freed her from slavery — and became a stepmother to his son , Owen Lars . In the waning days of the Separatist Crisis , Shmi was abducted and subjected to torture by a group of Tusken Raider s in 22 BBY . By then , her son had returned to Tatooine as a Jedi Padawan but was unable to prevent his mother ' s demise . As a result , Anakin massacred the Tusken Raiders , including their women and children , and buried his mother at the Lars moisture farm . Shortly after Shmi ' s death , her son went on to become a Jedi Knight , as well as a general in the Grand Army of the Republic during the galaxy - wide conflict known as the Clone Wars . Biography . Background . Shmi Skywalker was a slave who lived on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine during the last decades of the Galactic Republic . About nine years before the Battle of Naboo , she miraculously gave birth to a Force - sensitive son named Anakin Skywalker . At one point , Shmi and Anakin were owned by the female Hutt crime lord Gardulla until she lost them in a bet with the Toydarian junk dealer Watto , who employed Anakin ' s services at his junkyard . While Watto could be a harsh and demanding master , he still furnished them with a home in Mos Espa ' s slave quarters . In addition , Shmi and her son also owned a few personal possessions including an antiquated protocol droid named C - 3PO and a podracer . Before the Hutts bought Shmi , she was sold in a market just like the Zygerrian slave market Anakin would later visit . Losing her son . One day , Anakin returned home with several strangers including the Jedi Master Qui - Gon Jinn , the Naboo Queen Padmé Amidala , disguised as a handmaiden , the Gungan Jar Jar Binks , and the astromech droid R2 - D2 , who were seeking shelter from a sandstorm . While Shmi and her son had initially believed that these offworlders had come to free slaves , they quickly learned that the strangers had become stranded on Tatooine after their starship ' s hyperdrive was damaged during a diplomat ic mission to the galactic capital , Coruscant . When Anakin offered to help Jinn and his companions to obtain money for the hyperdrive by winning the upcoming Boonta Eve Classic podrace , Shmi initially disagreed with the idea . However , she relented when Anakin recalled her words on helping others . While Anakin repaired his podracer , Shmi told Jinn about her son ' s miraculous birth . Later , Jinn tested Anakin and discovered that he was Force - sensitive . Due to his high concentration of Midi - chlorian s , Jinn believed that Anakin was the prophesied Chosen One . The following day , Qui - Gon offered to sponsor Anakin for the upcoming Boonta Eve race in return for securing Shmi and her son ' s emancipation if Anakin won that race . However , Watto was unwilling to relinquish both slaves at the same time . Instead , they reached a compromise where Watto would agree to free Anakin if he won the race . The following day , Shmi along with the offworld visitors attended the Boonta Eve Classic . Despite great odds , her son Anakin won the race , and Watto was forced to honor his promise to emancipate Anakin . Following the race , Shmi and her son embraced each other with Shmi expressing pride in her son ' s achievements . After securing Anakin ' s earnings from Watto , Jinn informed Shmi that he had secured Anakin ' s emancipation and offered to train him as a Jedi . With much difficulty , Shmi decided to part with her son . Realizing that Anakin would have a better future offworld , Shmi advised her son to grasp this new opportunity and told him to let her go on the rationale that her place and future was on Tatooine . Prior to leaving for his new life on Coruscant , Anakin made a solemn vow that he would return and free her . Emancipation , captivity , and death . A few years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars , Shmi met a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars , who bought her from Watto and emancipated her . The two subsequently fell in love , married , and lived together at the Lars moisture farm in Tatooine ' s Jundland Wastes . One month before the Battle of Geonosis , Shmi was out gathering mushrooms in the morning when a group of Tusken Raider s kidnapped her . Cliegg assembled a rescue party but lost most of his companions and his right leg during the rescue attempt . Believing Shmi to be dead and unwilling to risk any more lives , Lars abandoned the rescue . However , Shmi was still alive but had been severely torture d and brutalized . Meanwhile , her son Anakin , who had become a Jedi Padawan under Obi - Wan Kenobi , sensed her distress through the Force . Anakin immediately set off to Tatooine to find and save her ; he convinced his love interest , Senator Amidala , to accompany him . After meeting with Watto , Anakin and Amidala arrived at the Lars family farm and learned about his mother ' s fate after Anakin left for Coruscant : freedom , marrying Cliegg and becoming stepmother to Owen Lars , and her kidnapping . Despite Cliegg ' warnings and advice , Anakin traveled into the wilderness to find her . He eventually stumbled on a Tusken Raider camp . After infiltrating the camp , he found the tent where Shmi was being held . There , Anakin encountered a bound and emaciated Shmi , who was near death . Prior to her death , she managed to tell her son that she was proud of him and that she loved him . Shmi ' s death threw Anakin into a fit of rage , and he took his first step to the dark side of the Force . In his rage , Anakin avenged his mother by coldly killing every Tusken Raider in the encampment , including the women and children . The following morning , Anakin returned to the Lars moisture farm with his mother ' s body . Shmi was mourned by both her son Anakin and Cliegg , as well as Amidala , Owen , and his girlfriend , Beru , who all attended her funeral . Beru served blue milk ( and cheese ) to everyone after Legacy . Shmi ' s death had a profound effect on influencing her son Anakin ' s journey to the dark side . Prior to his mother ' s burial , Anakin told Amidala that he regretted not being strong enough to save his mother . He also vowed that he would one day become so powerful that he could learn to stop people from dying . Finally , Skywalker confessed to his role in murdering the Tusken Raiders to avenge his mother ' s death . Skywalker ' s guilt about not being able to prevent Shmi ' s death made him susceptible to Darth Sidious ' efforts to win him over to the dark side . During the Clone Wars , Anakin experienced a Force vision of Shmi on the planet Mortis , where he had been put through a series of tests by three powerful beings known as the Force wielder s who wanted to determine whether he truly was the Chosen One . In reality , the Son , one of the Force wielders who embodied the dark side of the Force , had assumed the form of his late mother . The false Shmi told Anakin to give up his love for Amidala , whom he had secretly married shortly after the Battle of Geonosis , saying that he did not truly love her and that she was poison to him before transforming into the Son . Years later Kenobi left toys for Luke next to Shmi ’ s sandblasted tombstone for Beru to find . Another time Obi - Wan had gone to Shmi Skywalker ’ s grave to apologize for losing her son . Personality and traits . Shmi Skywalker Lars was a peaceful , selfless and kind person . She loved her son Anakin and was willing to sacrifice herself in order to let Anakin to have the possibility of a better life . Following Anakin ' s departure to join the Jedi Order and her marriage to Cliegg Lars , Shmi started to care for his husband . Cliegg recalled some years later that Shmi was the best partner a man could ask for , as he was deeply affected by Shmi ' s death at the hands of the Tusken Raiders . Behind the scenes . Shmi Skywalker was portrayed by Swedish actress Pernilla August in and . She reprised her role as Shmi Skywalker one more time in the " " episode " Overlords . " In 1998 , it was announced that Anakin Skywalker ' s mother would be named Shmi and that August would portray her . When the original trilogy was rereleased in theaters and VHS to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the year before , " Star Wars Trivial Pursuit " was released to coincide with this . The limited edition game contained a sequestered pack of questions that served as a preview of the first new trilogy installment , two of which divulged those bits of information . In one of the first drafts of " The Phantom Menace " , her name was Shmi Warka .