It seems the Tuskens are an advanced individuals. The native Tatooinians typified as evil savages within the early Star Wars movies have been revealed to be a lot extra, because of TV sequence The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. While it’s each improbable and essential to see cultural depth given to an indigenous individuals, even a fictional one, this retcon is having one unlucky aspect impact.

I communicate, after all, of the scene in Attack of the Clones the place Anakin discovers his mom Shmi has been captured by a tribe of Tuskens, finds her solely to have her die in his arms, after which murders each single Tusken there. “I killed them, I killed them all. They’re dead. Every single one of them. But not just the men, but the women, and the children too,” he states to Padmé when he returns to his stepdad’s homestead.

It was already a clumsy scene when Attack of the Clones premiered again in 2002; whereas it’s clear director George Lucas wished to make use of it to painting the anguish and anger that might finally lead Anakin to the Dark Side in Revenge of the Sith, the pointed slaughter of the kids appears like a particularly pointless step too far at this mid-point in Anakin’s character arc. (All that is to say nothing of how Padmé hears this confession and nonetheless finds him a viable marriage accomplice on the finish of the film.)

Having a bunch of Tuskens needlessly seize and torture Anakin’s mother is barely essentially the most obvious of their portrayals as uncivilized brutes. Right from the start, A New Hope introduces them as ululating marauders who assault Luke and pilfer by means of his landspeeder. They take potshots on the podracers in The Phantom Menace. The Tuskens have been introduced as monstrous unhealthy guys, to be given no extra consideration as individuals than the Empire’s faceless Stormtroopers. And maybe worse, for the reason that solely cause they assault Shmi is as a story device to present Anakin battle and propel him on his emotional journey.

This model of the Tuskens hasn’t aged properly, and would advantage a lookback and reassessment even when the Disney period of Star Wars hadn’t already been going out of its solution to preemptively rebrand them. In The Mandalorian’s first season, Din Djarin is ready to talk with them by way of signal language to securely journey by means of their land. In the Aftermath: Empire’s End novel, Freetown marshal Cobb Vanth manages to barter a take care of them to guard his city in change for water, and the Tuskens even liberate Freetown after a bunch of slavers seize it. In The Mandalorian season two, Din and Cobb workforce up with those self same Tuskens to defeat an unlimited Krayt dragon. There’s no kidnapping, there’s no barbarity—simply two very completely different cultures, working collectively.

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Of course, The Book of Boba Fett has accomplished essentially the most to redefine the Tuskens. Although a tribe captures the unconscious Fett after he escapes the Sarlacc pit, they finally let him turn into a full member, with all of the ritual and honor that entails. Fett later says that there are a lot of completely different tribes of Tuskens, every with their very own units of values (seemingly to assist justify the Shmi state of affairs). As the ex-bounty hunter spends increasingly more time with them, the Tuskens are revealed to be made up of distinctive people united underneath their distinctive tradition. For lack of a greater time period, The Boba of Fett has confirmed no doubt that the Tuskens have been “real people.”

This is nice and good and overdue, so kudos to Lucasfilm for recognizing the issue by itself and addressing it. There’s only one drawback—not a giant drawback, and definitely one value creating—and that’s now I really feel tremendous, super-uncomfortable about Anakin slaughtering all these Tuskens in Attack of the Clones.

Again, it was at all times an uncomfortable scene, however now it’s a lot worse as a result of it appears like much less of an act of vengeance and extra like a hate crime? Sure, narratively, it nonetheless is sensible that having his mother die in his arms would ship Anakin right into a berserker rage. But now, understanding the complexity of the Tuskens as a complete and as people, it’s unattainable to not see the scene as Anakin killing a whole cultural group of individuals for the crimes of only a few. Even assuming kidnapping and torturing individuals is a part of this specific tribe’s values, there are solely so many members of the tribe who may very well be liable for Shmi’s dying. If nothing else, the ladies and youngsters have been virtually definitely guilt-free, and but Anakin goes out of his solution to specify yep, he slaughtered them, too.

Look, I’m properly conscious Anakin killed a ton of individuals in Revenge of the Sith, together with one other gaggle of youngsters, so he was an equal alternative assassin by the top. But that’s fully irrelevant once I take into consideration the temporary glimpse we see of him attacking the Tuskens in Clones, together with the petulant confession he makes to Padmé. It’s a step too far into the real-world horrors that I’ve completely no need to confront when watching Star Wars. Honestly? It’s simply… icky.

Again, I do suppose it’s a very good factor Tuskens aren’t simply portrayed as homogenized savages anymore. But I do suppose it’s value noting that typically even good retcons can have penalties that weren’t essentially foreseen. I assume the silver lining right here is that I not often have any need to rewatch Attack of the Clones within the first place.

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