What in God’s Name Those Storm-Troopers Did to Owen and His Wife?

The grisly scene of Owen and Aunt Beru in A New Hope was a shock. Even though their actual deaths occurred off-screen, we clearly saw the aftermath.

What happened in this shocking moment? Read on to find out.

What Did the Stormtroopers Do to Owen and Beru?

Audiences remember the scene with Jawas and their Sandcrawler wiped out by stormtroopers, followed by when Luke discovered that they had attacked his home.

We know that Luke’s uncle and aunt died at the hands of stormtroopers, but it’s left for us to wonder about the specifics. Fans have weighed in on this topic. 

One of the answers on this discussion board points to story development. Luke seeing “his family murdered” in a “shocking and grisly” way drove “home the loss of innocence,” and Lucas had not fully determined yet the impact of stormtrooper weapons. 

Another post on the same board offers how in Legends “Vader never forgave Owen and Beru for letting Shmi get tortured to death and personally ordered them burned alive.”

A third suggests in a broader way that the stormtroopers “shot them and then burned the bodies” to cover up how the military was involved.  

Based on other responses, we seem to get a consensus from fans that the stormtroopers burned Owen and Beru in some way, including possibly with flamethrowers.

One of the unpleasant questions is whether they blasted them first and then burned them or burned them right away.

An older discussion posits that they were “probably shot, then set fire” because they were burning the farm anyway.

Likewise, it was unlikely stormtroopers would have flamethrowers with them. As indicated above, the stormtroopers were disguising their handiwork, although not that effectively. 

As for Vader’s involvement, that may hold weight. Vader was directly involved with tracking down the stolen Death Star plans.

When he discovered that R2-D2 was at Owen and Beru’s home, he may have decided to be particularly vindictive. That conclusion could coincide with an alternate theory as to what happened to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.

Who Could Have Done That to Luke’s Aunt and Uncle?

Another fan theory suggests that Boba Fett killed Luke’s aunt and uncle. This article comments on this possibility, and how we got a clue about it from Empire Strikes Back when Vader said to Boba, “I want them alive. No disintegrations.”

A related article explores this idea, but specifies how the canon novel From a Certain Point of View relays how Boba actually found “Owen and Beru’s charred corpses.” Hence, Boba may have been ordered to Tatooine but did not carry out the horrendous act. 

In this video, we get a brief review of the Boba theory, but more of a focus on why the Empire killed Luke’s uncle and aunt.

The main reason could be their embarrassment over losing the Death Star plans and their desire to keep this weapon secret. 

A fan on this discussion board corroborates this reasoning, indicating that since “Tatooine is such a hub of the black market commerce,” if the Death Star plans fell into the hands of “enemies of the Empire” they “could exploit weakness.” So, anyone who had any knowledge had to be terminated.

Of course, the cruelty of the Empire could explain the deaths of Beru and Owen.

We remember that the origin of the Imperial regime is that of the dark side and one willing to wipe out entire planets. A few bystander casualties would not disturb their consciences. 

The Stormtroopers and the Lars

Stormtroopers brutally killed the Lars. While Boba Fett was circulating around Tatooine looking for the stolen plans, it seems that the Empire’s troops carried out the task of blasting and then burning them. Grisly indeed but not out of character for Imperials.