CT Did Obi Wan burn down the Homestead on Tatooine, killing Luke's Aunt and Uncle?

That wasn't introduced till TESB though.

And throwing Luke around, telling him "it's for his own good" would be horribly out of character.

 

Not introduced to the audience but the power certainly exists canonically during the ANH timeframe.

Isn't this whole thread about better understanding Kenobi's true character?

 

I still have problems with the rogue element theory. Tantive IV-destroyed. Lars Homestead and the sandcrawler maximum prejudice. Docking Bay 94 "All right men, load your weapons". "Stop that ship-Blast them". First rounds fired by the Stormtroopers and NOT on stun. So at least three different blood lust squads of troopers, the entire bridge crew of the star destroyer AS WELL as the gunners blasting escape pods with life signs. "Hold your fire, there's no lifeforms".

Those are Command Directed activities, even if the only point in the Command Chain was Vader-the orders were still carried out and quite efficiently and with apparent gusto. The Nuremburg Defense couldn't even be applied here.

 

And Force speed too from TPM!

When Luke returned to Obi Wan, did Luke actually tell him what had happened? Obi Wan seemed to know a great deal already...

Interesting points. I think though you see at the very start of the film, the Imperial troopers fire warning shots. It is the Rebels who openly shoot to kill. Tantive IV is taken into custody. There has been a serious security breach by Rebel spies, and the Imperials are ordered to take prisoners alive. Princess Leia is stunned.

The Imperial mission on Tatooine seems to be to locate the plans and arrest any Rebels supporting them, not ordinary people who have nothing to do with the Rebellion. Luke himself was already keen to join the Imperial Academy at the first opportunity, but was staying for family reasons. The only ones to gain from his family being killed, were the Rebels - certainly if the Imperials were blamed for their deaths.

Imperial Stormtroopers on Mos Eisley are clearly shown to be policing the streets, and the bars against criminals and unruly elements. As for the search for the droids, that is a separate mission. They have reason to believe these are Rebels with top secret stolen plans.

"Stop that ship, Blast them" could merely indicate disabling the Millennium Falcon. Given the Stormtroopers outnumber Han (the only one outside the craft who immediately starts aggressively shooting back), it seems that the Imperials only are attempting to prevent the ship from leaving, not destroy it. Han himself is not privy to the activities his passengers are engaged in. But the Stormtroopers do not seem to try to kill him.

The gunners were only preventing Rebels from escaping the Tantive IV (they were being arrested on board). And they had proof of transmissions being sent to this ship.

The Imperials are not shown to be evil. They are the galactic government. For the most part they seem like decent folk. Many object to Tarkin's crazy doctrines at the Imperial Conference including at least one high ranking Imperial officer and Lord Vader himself. One wonders if Luke had indeed joined Vader, the two would have established a benevolent government far better than that of the Emperor which would not permit crazy people such as the likes of Tarkin to have such power and act in their name.

 

I don't agree that the stormtroopers fired warning shots. They were advancing through blinding smoke into a vessel that their own ship had been firing at, so they started shooting instantly. They didn't take time to aim, just blasted away to hopefully rattle the rebels and drive them under cover where they couldn't shoot back. As soon as they had the opportunity to take aim and shoot to kill, they did.

 

The Imperials clearly take prisoners.
The Imperials are apprehending a ship which has stolen plans aboard.
The Imperials set their weapons to stun later on, once they have boarded the ship.
The Imperials are the galactic government.

On Tatooine, the Imperials are policing the unruly bars, or respond to violence. Obi Wan also dispensed necessary justice against thugs.

Luke himself was already ready to join the Imperial Academy.

The Imperials had no reason to burn down the Homestead. The Lars were sold illicit materials by a specific criminal Jawa traders. We don't know for sure the Imperials burnt the Homestead down. It certainly wouldn't help with their mission to retrieve the stolen plans. On Tatooine, the Imperials clearly merely question Obi Wan and Luke in the speeder. And it appears the troopers are blasting at the Falcon to disable it and prevent it from leaving.

 

Ah, the mystery of Owen and Beru's death again. I really wonder if we ever get a definite answer to what happened to them.

My main theory was and still is, until i'm proven wrong, that it was the sandtroopers attacking the homestead with heavy blasters or an unusual strong blaster setting that destroyed the homestead and was also directly used against the two farmers.

Evidence for this theory: Grievous' burning viscera in ROTS and the condition of Greedo's corpse in ANH.

 

I think the Imps got pushy, and Uncle Owen didn't care for that and pushed back. Things escalated from there and a fight broke out, shooting started, and the Imps torched the place in retribution.

 

The trouble is it's speculation.

There's no logic in the Imperial's move there. Who are shown to be disciplined. Just a theory, because the only ones who gained from this were the Rebels.

 

Yes, it is speculation. And for me, this particular speculation fits the facts better than any other speculations I've heard of.

 

yeah, senile Old Ben was smoking a dooby and downing a colt 45 and burned down the Lars homestead

 

That is a point. I mean the Jawas, I can partly understand. I'm not sure what happened, but they were illicit dealers. Owen Lars questioned what kind of tricks were they trying to pull on him. And the Jawas stole both C3PO and R2D2. They seemed like rogue dealers.

As for the Lars, though, I'm not sure why the Imperials would torch the place. Didn't fit their mission, or help it. And served no purpose. I do think it is a powerful scene though with that epic music.

All I'm saying is there may be more than this than meets the eye. Only the Rebels stand to gain. Was it the Rebellion who did this to sway a young farm boy to turn on the Imperials he wanted to join?

The Rebellion brought nothing but pain and suffering to young Luke it seems. He just lost his family for all he knew at the time.

But that's true, for now this speculation seems the case. But I think Imperial NCIS may have to have a look into this!

 

And killed their best lead in finding the droids in the process. The Lars alive were sources of information both about the droids & Luke and potential hostages useful for drawing Luke out and coercing him into releasing the droids.

Dead, the Lars lose all value and purpose to their search efforts.

 

It was all a horrible accident, Owen tried to light his own farts while Breu filmed it. Quite tragic.

 

Makes more sense than Obi-Wan doing it.

 

Having just re-watched this scene today,

it is funny consider Obi Wan hiding matches and a propane tank behind his back.

Spoiler: Warning Graphic Images of Scary Obi Wan

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Because i'm not on Twitter, i'd like it if someone could ask Pablo about what exactly happened at the Homestead.

Maybe that's the only way to ever be sure about what really happened there!

 

Here is another disturbing possibility what if Luke did it. Obi Wan wanted to prevent Luke from joining Darth Vader in the Dark Side and he was too late for Luke's Aunt and Uncle. Although the theory does not hold up as it does not account for the Jawas getting killed by laser fire. Personally i believe it could have been another mercenary section of the Storm Troopers that were behind it. As we saw in the ESB Vader was chilling in who he contracted out to get what he wanted. Mercenaries are sent for and told to comb over the desert regions looking for the droids and stumble across Luke's home.

 

No. It must have been Yoda as a force ghost summining lightning strong enough to destroy the homestead and kill the Larses to bring Luke on the way to fulfill his destiny. As we learnt in "A certain point of view" Force Ghosts exist outside of linear time

 

I love the satire and parody that certain of the posters are sharing. "No, Luke did it." "No, Yoda did it."

Anyway, Uncle Owen is an interesting character. If one reads Old Wounds, which was non-canon even in the original Expanded Universe, it shows the respective psychological mindsets and motivations of Owen, Kenobi, and Maul accurately. Owen had a point to be protective of Luke, even if he wasn't right.

 

Just wish George had done something with the hints in ANH that Owen, Beru, Obi Wan and Anakin had a common history together and really knew each other very well instead of making Owen just the unknown half brother Anakin met just once in AOTC.