Theory: The Shocking Reason Why People Think Boba Fett Killed Owen And Beru
The turning point for Luke’s life came when he rushed back to his home to find that it had been burnt to the ground. In a shocking scene, we saw the charred skeletons of who could only be his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen Lars, the only parents he ever knew. There was nothing holding him back on this desert planet of Tatooine. He was free to leave. He did not have to wait one more reason to leave the planet. He could go right at this moment. After all, there was a princess waiting to be rescued somewhere off planet.
The “official” explanation was that stormtroopers did the deed. While the movie did not ponder much on the identity of Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen’s murderer(s), we fans just could not let this mystery go unsolved. Some said it was not stormtroopers as they seemed to have a horrible aim despite what Obi-Wan claimed. We would examine the available evidence to deduce who the actual culprit could be, and one theory became popular.
Boba Fett
Many years ago, a theory surfaced that perhaps Boba Fett was the one who murdered Owen and Beru Lars. He was already on Tatooine at the time. After all, he was part of Jabba the Hutt’s entourage when the crime lord first approached Han in Mos Eisley about the missing spice shipment. In The Empire Strikes Back, when Darth Vader tasked the bounty hunters with finding the Millennium Falcon, he emphasized to Boba Fett, “But I want them alive. No disintegrations.” Why would he say that? Was Vader referring to Boba Fett’s previous “disintegrations” of the Lars couple? Boba Fett’s armor came equipped with a flamethrower. It would not be beyond his ability to torch the couple.
However, this theory had been debunked with the release of Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View in 2017. This canon anthology of forty short stories celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Wars includes “Added Muscle,” a story told from the point of view of Boba Fett when he was on Tatooine during the events of A New Hope. Apparently, Darth Vader put a bounty on our runaway droids, and Fett had decided to earn some extra Imperial cash. He followed the trail to the destroyed Jawa sandcrawler, and then proceeded to the Lars’ moisture farm.
“Hard luck on the sizzled hicks I found at that torched moisture farm. Had a look-see and discovered there were three living there, not two. Betting the third ran with the droids. I’ll hunt around after I’m done here. Vader may triple the bounty if I bring him the fugitive along with the droids. Yeah, I know, intact corpse, 'no disintegrations.'”
Earlier in the story, Boba Fett referred to Darth Vader as “Lord ‘No Disintegrations!’” It was clear that the Dark Lord of the Sith only paid for identifiable bodies and not charred remains. Thus, it would make no sense for Boba Fett to destroy the Lars couple in such a manner. He was more than equipped to bring the two civilians alive for questioning. Also, it appeared someone had already done the deed by the time he arrived at the Lars homestead.
Stormtroopers
“These blast points [are] too accurate for sand people. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.”
Fans have argued that stormtroopers do not appear to be very accurate, especially as seen on the Death Star. The common rebuttal had been that perhaps they were ordered by Darth Vader to let our heroes escape and lead them to the hidden Rebel base. Perhaps Obi-Wan’s statement was correct after all. In the campaign mode of 2017's Star Wars: Battlefront II (which is considered part of Star Wars canon), a former Imperial statistician mentioned, “Do you know stormtroopers only land 77% of blaster shots?” While we could also discuss the difference between accuracy and precision, let’s instead take a look at a real world example. To earn the U.S. Army marksmanship badge, you must hit a minimum of 23 to 29 out of 40 targets, which comes out to roughly 57.5%. Keep in mind, there is a difference between shooting at the range and shooting while under pressure.
The only confirmation that the Lars’ murder had been the work of Imperial stormtroopers was found in the Legends Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. In one of the stories titled “When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale,” Zeta Squadron under Captain Terrik discovered the escape pod occupied by C-3PO and R2-D2. They followed the droids’ trail to a Jawa sandcrawler, where they learned that the droids had been sold to the Lars. When the squad arrived at the moisture farm, not only did Owen and Beru Lars refuse to hand the droids over, Owen also spat at Captain Terrik. When the stormtroopers noticed that a landspeeder was missing from the Lars’ garage, Darth Vader ordered for checkpoints to be set up in the spaceports of Mos Espa and Mos Eisley. To prevent anyone from questioning the increased Imperial activity on Tatooine, the stormtroopers were ordered to execute the couple, and set fire to their property. As of right now, there is no confirmation from a canonical source that this was how it actually happened. Maybe this will change in the future.
TROOPS - A Star Wars Fan Film
A 1997 fan film directed by Kevin Rubio hilariously showed what happened to the Jawas and the Lars couple. In COPS fashion, we saw that the whole incident with the Lars homestead was a result of a domestic dispute.
It seemed the troopers were able to de-escalate the situation when Aunt Beru showed up with a thermal detonator, which ended up blowing up the homestead. Not a likely explanation at all, but it was very amusing to watch.
Source(s): Military.com, Screen Rant, Tor, Wookieepedia