Owen Lars

"*Owen is strong like his father: pragmatic and certain of his ways, grateful for simple joys and for his life on the moisture farm.*"
―Shmi Skywalker
**Owen Lars** was a human male moisture farmer who lived on the desert planet Tatooine. He was the son of Aika and Cliegg Lars, and he became the stepbrother of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker when Cliegg married Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker. In 22 BBY, Shmi was killed by Tusken Raiders, and Cliegg passed away soon after. After his father's death, Owen inherited the moisture farm and married his girlfriend, Beru Whitesun.

In 19 BBY, Lars and his wife were contacted by the Jedi, and were asked if they would like to take care of Skywalker's infant son, Luke. Lars believed that Skywalker had died due to his role as a Jedi, so to protect Luke, the farmer forbade Kenobi from visiting or training the boy. In the following years, Lars prevented Luke from knowing the truth about his father, and he kept the boy busy with farmwork.

In 0 BBY, Lars and Luke Skywalker purchased the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, who, unbeknownst to them, possessed stolen plans for the Death Star, an Imperial superweapon. Imperial stormtroopers tracked the droids to Lars' homestead, where they interrogated and murdered both him and his wife. When Skywalker discovered that his family had been killed, he left Tatooine with Kenobi to train as a Jedi, joining the Rebel Alliance and destroying the Death Star in the Battle of Yavin.

## Biography

### Early life

Owen Lars was a human male born to the kind-hearted moisture farmer Cliegg Lars and his wife, Aika, after they met on the bustling Core World of Ator. When Aika died, the father and son traveled to Cliegg's homeworld, the desert planet of Tatooine, where they returned to the Lars family's homestead near the township of Anchorhead.

At some point between 32 BBY and 22 BBY, Lars met a local girl named Beru Whitesun, a third-generation moisture farmer. The two fell in love and eventually began dating. A few months later, Cliegg went to Mos Espa where he met Shmi Skywalker, a slave owned by the Toydarian junk dealer Watto. Cliegg fell in love with Shmi, so he purchased her, set her free, and married her. Lars loved his stepmother very much, but he saw her sadness whenever she thought of her son, Anakin Skywalker, who had left Tatooine to join the Jedi Order on Coruscant. Lars valued family more than anything else, and hoped to one day meet his stepbrother.

### Clone Wars

#### A family tragedy

Though Lars planned for a comfortable future on his family homestead, the peace was broken by 22 BBY, when one morning, Shmi was attacked and abducted by Tusken Raiders. Furious, Lars' father rallied 29 other moisture farmers to help search for her. When the group returned, there were only four survivors, including Cliegg, who had lost a leg and was confined to a repulsorlift chair. As time passed, Lars and his father had little belief in Shmi's survival. A month later, Anakin Skywalker returned to Tatooine after a ten year absence to look for his mother. He found out from Watto that she had been sold to Cliegg, so he, along with Senator Padmé Amidala, visited the homestead. Lars introduced himself and Whitesun to the visitors, and when Skywalker asked about Shmi, Cliegg introduced himself, inviting the Jedi inside to talk. Cliegg told Skywalker about Shmi's kidnapping, telling the Jedi that she was most likely dead. Refusing to believe his stepfather, Skywalker borrowed Lars' swoop and tracked the Tusken Raiders. Whilst Skywalker was gone, Lars and his family took care of Amidala.

The next day, Skywalker returned with Shmi's corpse. The Lars family buried Shmi outside their home and held a quiet funeral. Following the funeral, Skywalker and Amidala left to help their friend Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, seeing how well Lars and Whitesun worked together convinced Skywalker to marry Amidala. After the wedding, although he was unsure if he wanted to go down the road of reaching out to his stepbrother, he also realized that Owen was the only person in his life whom he could ask for advice about married life. Meanwhile, Lars' father was determined to continue the life he worked hard to create, but the tragedy weakened Cliegg, and he died soon after of a broken heart, leaving his farm and traditions to Lars. Soon after, Lars and Whitesun married, and together they toiled to maintain the farm. The couple decided to have a child, however, problems of infertility precluded them to have one, leading them to consider seeing one of the fertility droids at Mos Eisley.

### Raising Luke Skywalker

#### Adopting Skywalker

"*And what of the boy?*"
"*To Tatooine. To his family, send him.*"
―Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda discuss Luke Skywalker's future
In 19 BBY, Lars and his wife were contacted by the Jedi, asking the couple if they would like to adopt Skywalker's infant son, Luke, which they both immediately agreed to. When Kenobi arrived at the moisture farm, he presented Lars and Whitesun with the infant Skywalker, and the couple held their newly adopted child as they watched the binary sunset of Tatooine. Lars came to believe that his stepbrother had died and that Kenobi was responsible. However, in secret, Lars' stepbrother was alive, having turned to the dark side of the Force, betraying the Jedi Order and becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader. After delivering the child, Kenobi went into exile, changing his name to "Ben" and watching over Skywalker. In an effort to protect Skywalker, Lars forbade Kenobi from training him, and asked him to stay away.

#### Run-in with the Inquisitorius

In 9 BBY, Lars and Skywalker were carrying out work at the homestead when they were observed from a distance by Kenobi, who left some spare parts for a toy T-16 skyhopper for Luke. Lars later confronted Kenobi in a stable in Anchorhead, tossing the toy parts on the ground and asking the Jedi to stay away from his family. When Kenobi told Lars that Skywalker must be trained as a Jedi one day, the farmer reminded him of his failure to train Anakin Skywalker. As Lars left the stable, Inquisitors Fifth Brother and Third Sister—hunting a supposed fugitive Jedi residing on Tatooine—arrived at the town square, with Lars caught in the ordeal.

After amputating the hand of an insubordinate woman with her lightsaber, the Third Sister, also known as Reva Sevander, made eye contact with Lars. Sevander sensed that Lars was hiding something, so she approached him, questioning him about his family and threatening to kill them unless someone in the town square provided information on the fugitive Jedi. As she held Lars at lightsaber-point, the Fifth Brother interfered and ordered the Third Sister to stand down. Afterward, Kenobi thanked Lars for not revealing anything about him or his whereabouts, with Lars stating that he didn't do it for him.

Later, Lars and Skywalker visited a mechanic at Mos Eisley in order to obtain a new belt for their landspeeder. During the course of their visit, the shop owner told Skywalker that his uncle was a patient man, to which Lars replied that he was not quite so patient. Just then, Dardin Shull approached Lars and informed him that the Third Sister had inquired about his whereabouts, as she was on the hunt to kill Skywalker. Horrified, Lars rushed back to the homestead, where he urged Whitesun to come inside. Once Lars had told Whitesun about the situation, he started to fret that they had to run, hide, and find help. However, to Lars' surprise, Whitesun responded that the two of them were enough, then handed him a blaster. That night, as the Third Sister approached the homestead, Lars warned Skywalker that if anything went wrong, he needed to run from the Tusken Raiders, who Lars told Skywalker were on the attack. Sevander soon entered the homestead, and Lars and Whitesun opened fire on the Inquisitor. Sevander then faced Lars, who attacked her with a metal stick. The Third Sister pointed out that Lars loved Skywalker like he was his own, to which Lars replied that Skywalker was his own. The Third Sister eventually managed to defeat Lars, who called out to Whitesun that the Inquisitor was coming, prompting her to distract Sevander long enough for Skywalker to escape. In the course of the skirmish, Kenobi returned to the homestead, where he found Lars and Whitesun frantically searching for their nephew. Soon enough, the Third Sister appeared and returned Skywalker to his aunt and uncle, having shown the boy mercy.

The next day, as Lars worked at the homestead, Kenobi approached him. Lars asked Kenobi what he was doing, as he had promised to keep his distance, and Kenobi replied that he had accept that Luke should be allowed to grow up like any ordinary boy. He went on to say that the only protectors Skywalker needed were his aunt and uncle, and Owen vowed to care of the boy. Before Kenobi started to ride off into the desert, Lars offered him the opportunity to meet Skywalker. Kenobi accepted Owen's offer, then continued on his journey in the desert.

### Galactic Civil War

#### A fateful purchase

By the time of the Galactic Civil War, extensive exposure to Tatooine's twin suns had prematurely aged his body.

In 0 BBY, a company of Jawas came by the homestead to sell miscellaneous droids. Lars, requiring an astromech droid and a droid capable of programming moisture vaporators, settled on purchasing the astromech droid R5-D4 and the protocol droid C-3PO, respectively. With the droids selected, Lars told Skywalker to clean them, despite the boy's plans of going to Tosche Station with his friends. However, Skywalker discovered that the R5 unit had a bad motivator, and he informed his uncle. At the suggestion of C-3PO, Lars bought the astromech droid R2-D2 in place of R5-D4.

Later, while Skywalker was cleaning R2-D2, he discovered a holographic message for "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Wondering if the droid was referring to Ben Kenobi, Skywalker asked his uncle during dinner. Lars replied that Kenobi was just a crazy old wizard, telling Skywalker to take the droid to Anchorhead and have its memory erased. When Skywalker asked about the possibility of "Obi-Wan" coming to look for the droid, Lars denied the thought, telling Skywalker that the man had died around the same time as his father. The mention of his father piqued Skywalker's interest, and he asked if the man had known his father. Lars told Skywalker to forget it, telling his nephew to take care of the droids by morning. Thinking the droids would provide extra help on the farm, Skywalker, who desired to enroll in the Imperial Academy like his friends, asked Lars if he could join that year. Fearing that Skywalker was too adventurous, Lars denied his nephew's wish, stating that his help was still needed and that he could enroll in the following year. Disappointed, Skywalker left, leaving Lars and Whitesun to discuss his future.

#### Death

When the morning came, Lars could not find his nephew, so he asked his wife if she knew where he was. Whitesun believed that Skywalker was doing chores, but in actuality, Skywalker was searching for R2-D2, who had run off in search of Kenobi. Unknown to Lars, R2-D2 was carrying stolen plans of the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's recently completed superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. Owen and Beru never saw Luke again, for they were killed by Imperial stormtroopers who were looking for R2-D2 on behalf of Owen's stepbrother, Darth Vader, after the droid escaped with the stolen plans for the first Death Star. Their execution was ordered by Darth Vader, who watched it via hololink, claiming it was "revenge" for their supposed weakness, and "failure" to defend his mother.

Imperial stormtroopers, desperate to reclaim the data, traced the droid to the Lars homestead, where they proceeded to interrogate Lars and Whitesun. Failing to acquire the plans, the stormtroopers killed the couple, burning the home and leaving. When Skywalker returned, finding his family murdered and home in ruins, he decided to leave Tatooine with Kenobi and train to become a Jedi Knight like his father.

### Legacy

The deaths of Lars and Beru prompted Skywalker to leave Tatooine with Kenobi and join the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Upon joining the Rebels, Skywalker fought in the Battle of Yavin, destroying the Death Star and becoming a Rebellion hero. Following the Battle of Yavin, Skywalker took a moment to consider his losses, and he wept upon thinking of his aunt and uncle.

Luke Skywalker eventually became a Jedi Knight like his father before him and eventually a Jedi Master following the end of the Galactic Empire. During the New Republic Era, Skywalker learned of the sacrifices that his aunt and uncle had made, and how their intentions were only to protect him from the potential harm that may come with the life of a Jedi. Although he already loved his aunt and uncle immensely, Skywalker gained even more appreciation for them with his newfound knowledge. Luke later went on to have a son of his own, Samuel Owen Skywalker, named after Owen Lars.

After the destruction of the New Jedi Order at the hands of his nephew Ben Solo, Skywalker went into exile, becoming a farmer once again, on the legendary planet of Ahch-To. During his exile, Skywalker reminisced on everything in his past, including Lars and Beru. In 44 ABY, prior to the Force-sensitive scavenger Rey's coming to Ahch-To, Skywalker had a dream about an alternate life where he ignored Organa's message and never joined the rebellion, remaining in the moisture farming business with Owen and getting married to his friend Camie Marstrap.