Lars homestead

The Lars Homestead was just one of several moisture farms that comprised the community within the Great Chott salt flat. This community was located at the southernmost edge of the Jundland Wastes on the Outer Rim desert planet of Tatooine. Primarily situated underground, with access provided through a pourstone entry dome, the homestead consisted of a network of interconnected rooms and expansive storage areas. As a moisture farm, it featured numerous moisture vaporators dispersed throughout the property. Many of these were decades old and capable of extracting water from Tatooine's arid atmosphere. The collected water was utilized for both consumption and the irrigation of the farm's marginally profitable hydroponic garden. Surrounding the homestead was a basic sensor perimeter comprising weather monitors and motion detectors. These were employed to monitor weather conditions and detect approaching intruders, such as the notorious Tusken Raiders. To conserve energy from the property's supercharged bio-converter power generator and smaller fusion-cell generators, the compound was powered down after sunset. The compound's rooms included a kitchen, dining area, refresher, storage space, power generator room, vehicle storage area, tech dome garage, and two living quarters. Several droids were employed on the premises, including a WED 15 "Septoid 2" Treadwell toolkit droid, a KPR security droid, and an EG-6 power droid that was several centuries old. The homestead also possessed a Zephyr-G swoop and multiple landspeeders, including a V-35 Courier and an X-34 landspeeder. While their primary weapon was a 6-2Aug2 hunting rifle, Beru had concealed several blasters within the homestead, specifically a sawed-off BE-29 blaster rifle and a BE-09 blaster pistol.

During the declining years of the Galactic Republic, moisture farmer Cliegg Lars cultivated the moisture farm that had been occupied by his family for numerous generations. Lars eventually passed the farm down to his son, Owen. Shortly before the Clone Wars began, Cliegg purchased slave Shmi Skywalker from the Toydarian junk dealer, Watto, and granted her freedom. He then proceeded to marry her soon after. One month before the First Battle of Geonosis, Shmi was abducted by a group of Tusken Raiders while she was out gathering in the morning. In response, Cliegg organized a search party, but out of the thirty farmers who joined the search, only four returned alive. Among them was Cliegg, who had lost his right leg during the rescue attempt. Believing Shmi to be dead and unwilling to endanger any more lives, Lars called off the rescue operation.

One month later, Shmi's son, the Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, arrived at the moisture farm, having sensed her suffering through the Force. After reuniting with his former protocol droid, C-3PO, Skywalker confronted the residents of the homestead. Upon learning about his mother's fate, Skywalker resolved to search for her, despite Lars advising him to accept her death. Skywalker commandeered a swoop bike and eventually located his mother, injured, in a Tusken Raider camp, where she passed away in his arms. The following morning, Skywalker returned Shmi's body to the farm, where she was buried and given a funeral.

Three years afterward, the Galactic Republic underwent a reformation and became the Galactic Empire, with Skywalker, now the Sith Lord Darth Vader, serving as its primary enforcer. To safeguard Skywalker's newborn son, Luke, Anakin's previous master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, journeyed to the Lars moisture farm and entrusted him to the care of Owen and his wife Beru. In 9 BBY, the former Inquisitor Reva Sevander attacked the Lars Homestead with the intention of killing young Luke, but she experiences a change of heart and refrains from taking his life.

In 0 BBY, a group of Jawas arrived at the moisture farm aboard a sandcrawler, where they sold Cliegg's old droid, C-3PO, to Owen, along with the astromech droid R2-D2. Tasked with cleaning the droids, Skywalker ventured beneath the farm's tech-dome, where he discovered that the astromech contained a recording made by Princess Leia Organa, who was seeking assistance from his father's former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. After nightfall, R2-D2 departed from the farm in search of Kenobi, a fact that Skywalker discovered. Consequently, the following morning, he decided to search for him. After encountering Kenobi and learning that the Empire was searching for R2-D2 and C-3PO, Skywalker hastened back to the homestead, only to find it burned down and his aunt and uncle murdered by stormtroopers. With no reason to remain on Tatooine, Skywalker resolved to accompany Kenobi to Alderaan and begin his training as a Jedi.

In the weeks subsequent to the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader sought to locate the Rebel pilot responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. Upon discovering that the pilot was, in fact, his own son, Vader, accompanied by Doctor Aphra, returned to the abandoned homestead and retraced Skywalker's steps. While examining the remnants of the farm, Aphra speculated that Skywalker would never have left Tatooine if his family had not been killed.

In 3 ABY, immediately following the duel on Cloud City between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, Vader embarked on a mission to find those responsible for Skywalker's upbringing. Enlisting the aid of forensics droid ZED-6-7, he traveled to an Imperial garrison on Tatooine. After uncovering the homestead's location through Imperial records, they proceeded toward it. Analyzing the area, Vader began experiencing visions of his past, which greatly agitated him. They then discovered that the headstones marking the graves of Cliegg Lars and Shmi Skywalker were missing, a measure taken to protect young Luke, and that the bodies of Owen and Beru were not present. This discovery further frustrated Vader and intensified the haunting visions. The pair were then ambushed by pirates, who eliminated the garrison commander who had arrived to warn them. Employing the Force, Vader vanquished the attackers and continued his pursuit of the next clue.

Later that year, scoundrel Kay Vess stumbled upon the deserted homestead, which had been largely buried by sand. Observing two scavengers inspecting the structure, Vess inquired if there were any items of value to be found. They replied that all valuables had already been looted. Vess commented that the damage to the structure seemed excessive for mere bandits. The two residents revealed that the Empire was responsible, suggesting that the Lars family must have somehow incurred the Empire's wrath and paid the price. Vess then searched the premises and discovered a datapad detailing repair work requested by one of the Lars' on Luke Skywalker's T-16 skyhopper toy. The message indicated that Skywalker had outgrown the toy but that it still held sentimental value due to the person who had gifted it to him, Kenobi. Vess also found a gray scarf that her merqaal companion, Nix, could use.

In 35 ABY, following the Battle of Exegol, Rey visited the now-desolate Lars Homestead and observed the location where Luke Skywalker, her Jedi Master, had once resided. She then utilized the Force to bury the respective lightsabers of Anakin Skywalker and Leia Organa as a gesture of respect to the Skywalker family, who had become extinct after Ben Solo sacrificed his life to save her own on Exegol. Laid to rest alongside the remains of Shmi Skywalker, the family was finally reunited in both the physical and cosmic realms of the Force. She also ignited her own lightsaber for the first time. Subsequently, when approached by an elderly woman passing by, Rey was asked about her family name. The spirits of Luke and Leia watched over the young Jedi, with Rey adopting the surname Skywalker to honor both her masters and the dyad that connected her to Ben Solo.