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Owen Lars's Timeline
Key Events in Owen Lars's Star Wars Story
Owen Lars (Uncle) was born in 52 BBY and died in 0 BBY.
Owen Lars was a human male moisture farmer who worked the Lars homestead in the Great Chott salt flat on the desert world of Tatooine. The son of Cliegg Lars, he became stepbrother to the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker when Cliegg freed and married Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker. Owen met Anakin in 22 BBY, when the Padawan came to Tatooine searching for Shmi after she had been abducted by Tusken Raiders; Anakin recovered her body only for her to die in his arms, and Cliegg — crippled in the failed rescue attempt — did not long outlive her. Owen and his partner Beru Whitesun married and kept the farm running, and in 19 BBY, after the fall of the Republic and Anakin's turn to Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi brought them Anakin's infant son Luke Skywalker to raise in obscurity. Fiercely protective and deeply wary of the Jedi legacy that had destroyed his family, Owen kept Luke bound to the farm and told him his father had been a spice-freighter navigator, even warning Kenobi away from the boy. In 0 BBY, Imperial stormtroopers tracking the astromech droid R2-D2 and the stolen Death Star plans came to the homestead and killed Owen and Beru — a loss that severed Luke's last tie to Tatooine and set him on the path to becoming a Jedi.
~52 BBY - Birth
Owen was born to Cliegg Lars, a Tatooine moisture farmer. No canon source fixes the year; 52 BBY is a long-standing reference-work figure inherited from earlier material.
~32 BBY - Shmi Skywalker joins the Lars family
Cliegg Lars purchased Shmi Skywalker from the Mos Espa junk dealer Watto, freed her, and married her, making Owen the stepson of Shmi and stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker, whom he had not yet met.
22 BBY - Shmi's abduction and death
Tusken Raiders seized Shmi from the homestead. Cliegg lost a leg in the failed rescue, and Anakin Skywalker arrived with Padmé Amidala searching for his mother — the first time Owen met his stepbrother. Anakin found Shmi in the Tusken camp, where she died in his arms, and she was buried at the homestead.
~22 BBY - Death of Cliegg Lars
Broken in body and spirit after Shmi's death, Owen's father died, leaving Owen and Beru Whitesun to run the farm alone.
19 BBY - The Lars family takes in Luke Skywalker
Following the fall of the Republic and Anakin's fall to the dark side as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi delivered the infant Luke Skywalker to Owen and Beru on Tatooine. Owen accepted the child at Beru's urging and raised him as a nephew, hiding his parentage.
9 BBY - Guarding Luke from the Empire
With Obi-Wan Kenobi living as a hermit nearby, Owen rebuffed the former Jedi's attempts to train or contact Luke. When Inquisitors and bounty hunters hunting Kenobi came to Tatooine, Owen and Beru armed themselves and defended their homestead and the boy.
~0 BBY - Keeping Luke on the farm
Owen repeatedly delayed Luke's applications to the Imperial Academy and to piloting work, insisting he was needed for another season of harvest.
0 BBY - Purchase of C-3PO and R2-D2
Owen bought the protocol droid C-3PO and the astromech R2-D2 from Jawa traders, unaware that R2-D2 carried the stolen Death Star plans and a message from Princess Leia Organa for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
0 BBY - Death at the Lars homestead
Imperial stormtroopers tracing the droids' sale reached the homestead and killed Owen and Beru, burning their bodies and the farm. Luke found their remains on his return, and with nothing left on Tatooine, he left with Kenobi.
View Owen Lars in our timeline:
- Episode II: Attack of the Clones, 22 BBY (30 years old)
- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, 19 BBY (33 years old)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi, 9 BBY (43 years old)
- Episode IV: A New Hope, 0 BBY (52 years old)
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