CT The murder of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru

Why would stormtroopers kill Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru if they were looking to get C3PO and R2D2 for the Death Star plans?
Wouldn't they have needed to keep them alive for more questioning and interrogation or as leverage to get Luke to give up the droids.?They were just moisture farmers. I'm sure they would of given the droids up to the Imperials without a fight.
What if the stormtroopers were still there when Luke arrived. What if Luke was killed? Would Ben Kenobi still of tried to go to Alderaan by himself with the droids?
Then I might as well ask what you would think of the outcome of Darth Vader, The Empire, The Death Star and everything else if the droids have never landed in the possession of Luke Skywalker and the Death Star plans never reached the rebellion.

 

The Stormtroopers questioned the Lars and when they proved uncooperative, they were eliminated. The old EU novel, "The Rise & Fall Of Darth Vader" revealed that the Stormtroopers reported back to Vader and after realizing who they were, told the Stormtroopers to eliminate them.

 

I think the Empire was eliminating anyone who came into contact with the plans, or thought to have come in contact for its security.

 

I recently watched AoTC and when Anakin takes back his mother's body he looked angry. Perhaps he had some resentment towards Owen.

They had apparently given up on Shmi and perhaps Anakin placed some blame on them.
So maybe he had the troopers kill them out of resentment. (If they reported to him and he saw who they were)



Also the D.S plans were secret so perhaps this is also a way of trying to keep things hush hush and not risk any leaks.

 

Yep, The Empire is supposed to be everything wrong with a government, including killing innocent people.

 

I think it was Boba Fett! I actually have a couple of theories not inspired by the EU, but only one of them involves the Stormtroopers being so ruthless.

You have some good ideas. I think that it would have been better to keep them in custody, in case they did know something. Killing them randomly accomplishes nothing. That's part of the reason I don't like the theory that they were just killed for no reason, or just because they "may have seen" the plans. That is vital information - where the plans have been, who has them, why they have them. I don't know if they'd have given up the droids, though (Owen seems pretty stubborn). Or if the Empire even thought they would. With the Rebellion around, not everyone is trustworthy.

I don't know if Obi-Wan would have gone. I think he might have, but he might need more reason to go now that Luke is killed. On the other hand, he could already have very good reasons to go. One thought I had is that he may go to Dagobah, to meet with Yoda.

The Empire would have been the same if the plans never reached the Rebellion. They would have eventually found the Rebel base, albeit not as easily as just following them. But the Rebels wouldn't have been able to destroy it right then. Things would've been good for Imperials...up until the remaining Rebels tried again.

 

Dictatorships are know to do things like that.

 

He did it!

 

The actual scene was shown right here (skip to 4:07), explains everything:

 

Well, the thing is that Owen and Beru probably only told so much of the truth to the Stormtroopers, but they believed that they were lying. They probably figured that they found the message and sent Luke and the droids away to either Anchorhead, or Mos Eisley. In reality, as far as the Lars knew, Luke had taken the droids out to the south ridge to effect repairs. So, the Stormtroopers killed the Lars and went on ahead to find Luke.

 

That's what I prefer to believe.

 

I believe the stormtroopers had orders to elimanate anybody they thought came in contact with the plans, regardless of how well the person may cooperate with them, they were good as dead for the glory of the Empire.

 

I've always thought that stormtroopers were not designed or trained for careful strategizing or negotiating - I think their approach was more like, "Blast! Blast! Blast!"

 

From the authentic screenplay March 15, 1976: "Send a detachment down to retrieve them, be subtle. Don't attract attention." (Vader)

I guess the problem was how to interpret and execute this order. To kill everyone who's gotten in contact with the plans (and frame the sandpeople for it), was probably the only way not to "attract attention".

As darth-sinister pointed out, the stormtroopers were at Lars Homestad, probably inquired about "stolen droids", got the information that they were taken to the south ridge, and then killed Owen and Beru Lars who probably never saw this coming. As with the sandcrawler it was made too look as if the sandpeople had attacked the farm.

 

Yes. And a statement of their power. Don't play games with us.

 

It did look like they were burned up, not shot with a blaster, and I believe Boba Fett does have a flame thrower type weapon. I'm going with this theory!

 

Yeah, because Stormtroopers don't have incinerators.

 

They don't in the OT, darth-sinister

 

Are you certain?

 

I don't see any Stormtroopers with flamethrowers in the films...(other than the ST, I guess). And as a bonus, I just looked up flamethrower on the Wook, it seems to be limited to droids and bounty hunters in the EU.

 

In ROTS, when Obi-Wan shot GG with a blaster he caught on fire and all his organic parts burned up. Perhaps enough blaster hits will cause a fire, some of the blaster holes left in the hallways on the DS in ANH would have little flames in them.

 

While technically speaking we never really saw it, I can't help myself but believe that the weapon the sandtrooper corporal in charge is carrying could be a flamethrower or a flamethrower combined with a blaster.

IIRC, he does fire at the Falcon or Solo but only "laserblasts" come out. As a grenade launcher we probably should have seen those.

 

In the newcanon, flametroopers exist and are used by the Galactic Empire in the OT era (source - the novel Lost Stars)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Flametrooper_(Galactic_Empire)

The Legends page also mentions them - as having appeared in The Force Unleashed.

And we saw flamethrower-wielding clone troopers in TCW.

 

Isnt it the empire's way just to eliminate people when they are done with them?