Summary

• Anakin's slaughter of Tusken Raiders was the first step towards eradicating the goodness in his heart.
• The contrast between Anakin saving a Tusken as a child and slaughtering them as an adult is heartbreaking.
• Anakin's massacre would have broken his mother's heart, as shown in the Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special! Anakin Skywalker’s hatred of the Tusken Raiders fueled his massacre of their people in the Star Wars prequels, as they were responsible for the death of his mother, Shmi, thereby invoking a murderous rage within Anakin that the young Jedi Padawan had not yet felt at that time. Anakin describing how he killed the Tuskens in Attack of the Clones is an immensely dark scene, and now, that atrocity has just gotten even darker.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special by Greg Pak and Will Sliney is a comic book tie-in to Episode I, showing fans additional scenes that offer greater insight into the characters - including and especially Anakin Skywalker. In one of those scenes, Anakin notices a Tusken Raider in chains, being sold at the Mos Eisley spaceport. Rather than looking the other way (Anakin was a slave himself at this time, after all), Ani decides to create a distraction and then free the Tusken, who runs back to their people.

Anakin Skywalker’s first instinct is to help someone in need, even a ‘savage’ like a Tusken (which is their reputation on Tatooine). He didn’t care about the potential fallout of freeing a slave in the middle of Mos Eisley as a slave himself - which could very well have meant his own death. Anakin simply knew that he had to do what was right, no matter the cost.

Anakin Skywalker’s Tusken Slaughter was the 1st Step to Eradicating the Goodness in His Heart

The two moments side-by-side of Anakin as a child saving a Tusken in need, and Anakin as a young adult slaughtering Tusken men, women, and children make the latter atrocity all the more heartbreaking. Here is a person who once risked his own life to save someone who was from a culture that was deemed by his society as ‘savage’ and ‘barbaric’, now slaughtering them “like animals”. Anakin the boy would have been horrified to see the man he grew up to be - and that’s the point.

Star Wars fans are well aware that Anakin officially ‘killed’ his inner child when he murdered the Younglings in Episode III, thereby completing his dark side corruption. However, with the addition of this scene in Episode I, it’s confirmed that the slaughter of the Tuskens was the first major step Anakin took toward the death of his inner child. Indeed, Anakin as a boy literally did the opposite of what adult Anakin did in Episode II, proving that that piece of him was killed along with those Tuskens he murdered.

Anakin’s Vengeance-Fueled Massacre Would Have Broken His Mother’s Heart - & This Comic Proves It

At the end of this Phantom Menace tie-in comic, the Tusken Anakin saved goes to Shmi’s hut and offers her a gift from the Tusken people, one that honors the story of Anakin Skywalker for what he did for one of their kind. This gift meant the world to Shmi, who just had to say goodbye to her son after he was taken in by the Jedi. It was proof that Anakin would be a hero, because if he could make such a difference right here on his homeworld, then he could do great things as a Jedi.

But then, just a few years later, Anakin kills the people who once honored him as a hero. Thankfully, he did this after Shmi was gone, but had she been alive to witness it, it would have utterly broken her heart, as it would have negated the evidence of his heroism. From Shmi’s perspective, to the comparison fans can make upon seeing it in this tie-in comic, it’s clear to see how Star Wars just changed the meaning of Anakin Skywalker’s Tusken Raider massacre in the darkest, most heart-wrenching ways possible.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special by Marvel Comics is available now.

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