Cliegg Lars Cliegg Lars was a human male moisture farmer from Tatooine . He had one son , Owen Lars , from his first marriage . In the years prior to the Clone Wars , he met Shmi Skywalker and freed her from slavery before marrying her . As such , he was the step - father of Anakin Skywalker , and the step - grandfather of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa . Shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars , Shmi was captured by Tusken Raider s . Lars and a number of other moisture farmers attempted to save her , but the sand people drove them back , and Lars lost his right leg as a result . Anakin Skywalker later arrived on Tatooine , having had visions through the Force of Shmi ' s suffering and met Lars . Skywalker found his mother , but she died in his arms and he returned her body to the Lars moisture farm for burial , where Lars said goodbye to his wife . Biography . Cliegg Lars was a moisture farmer on Tatooine . He lived on his family ' s homestead near the settlement of Anchorhead . He married a woman named Aika and together they had a son , Owen . However , Aika died and Cliegg and Owen continued to run the homestead . Later on , Owen ' s girlfriend , Beru Whitesun , lived with them on the farm . A few years before the Clone Wars , Lars took a trip to the spaceport settlement of Mos Espa , where he met Shmi Skywalker , a slave owned by Watto , a Toydarian junk dealer . Lars fell in love with Shmi and bought her from Watto , thus freeing her from slavery . The two married and lived together as husband and wife for many years . Approximately one month before the Battle of Geonosis , however , Shmi was kidnapped by a group of Tusken Raider s . An enraged Lars gathered dozens of other farmers and set out to rescue his wife . Although thirty farmers went out looking for her , only four returned alive . Lars himself returned maimed , having lost his right leg to the sand people . A month after Shmi ' s disappearance , her son , Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker arrived on the farm looking for her , having had Force visions of her suffering . Lars and his family met Skywalker for the first time and explained to him what had happened with the Tusken Raiders . Although Lars told his stepson to accept that Shmi was gone , Skywalker was determined to find his mother and set out into the desert to locate the sand people . He found them and his mother , but she died in his arms . Skywalker returned to the farm after slaughtering the Tusken Raiders for revenge , and , along with Lars and his family , buried Shmi on the farm next to Lars ' s brother and parents . Skywalker left shortly thereafter , leaving the Lars family behind . Soon after these events , Cliegg died , passing on the moisture farm to his son and his daughter - in - law Beru . Personality and traits . Lars was a human male who stood at a height of 1 . 83 meter s . He had light brown hair , blue eyes , and fair skin . While attempting to rescue his wife , Lars lost his right leg in pursuit of the Tusken Raiders . He felt an anger towards the sand people for taking Shmi , and felt that they were savage monsters . Behind the scenes . Cliegg Lars was introduced and made his first canon ical appearance in the 2002 film . He was portrayed by actor Jack Thompson .