Tatooine

Tatooine was a hot, arid desert planet in the Tatoo system of the Arkanis sector, located in the Outer Rim Territories and orbited by twin suns. The homeworld of the Jawa and Tusken Raider species, it was covered in sand dunes, mountains, and canyons, and almost entirely lacked surface water, forcing its inhabitants to draw moisture from the dry air. Distant from the centers of galactic power, Tatooine fell under the control of the Hutt crime syndicates and was notorious as a haven for slavery, smuggling, and bounty hunting. It was on this world that the former Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi went into hiding to watch over the boy Luke Skywalker, and from its spaceports that several of the galaxy's pivotal conflicts were set in motion.

Geography and environment#

Tatooine's landscape was dominated by sand, with vast dune seas, rocky bluffs, mesas, and deep canyons that made overland travel difficult. Rain fell so rarely that it might come only once in a year, a decade, or a century, and when it did some plants bloomed in a brief flowering before the moisture vanished again. With no reliable surface water, settlers relied on moisture farms that condensed water from the air.

The planet supported a range of hardy native life. The largest were the carnivorous krayt dragons; the common krayt was the more numerous, while the greater krayt dragon submerged itself beneath the shifting sands and used its powerful limbs to move through the dunes. Banthas, eopies, dewbacks, rontos, womp rats, massiffs, and scurriers also lived on the world. Settlers had once mistaken the highly reflective silicate surface of Tatooine for a third sun.

Society and the rule of crime#

Tatooine lay far from the heart of the galaxy, and central authority was weak there. The Tusken Raiders, native to the planet, were a nomadic tribal people with strict social and moral codes and defined territories; colonial trespass on their land often drove them to attack settlers whom they both feared and despised. Slavery, though banned under Republic law, was openly practiced beneath the twin suns, with an entire section of Mos Espa given over to a Slave Quarter. The institution was treated as a symbol of wealth and was overseen largely by the Hutt gangsters who dominated the planet's economy.

Under the Galactic Empire, the Hutts revised their operations, and regional wealth and influence shifted from Mos Espa to Mos Eisley, prompting the slow economic decline of the former. The crime lord Jabba the Hutt ruled much of the planet's underworld from his palace. During a Great Drought that scorched the surface in the years after the Empire's rise, Jabba's thugs collected "water taxes" from towns and isolated settlements, often through threats and force.

The Clone Wars era#

For the most part, Tatooine avoided the Clone Wars. A Jedi-led mission did reach Jabba's Palace, with the Jedi hoping to rescue the Huttlet Rotta from the Separatist Alliance. Later in the war, Chairman Papanoida and his son Ion Papanoida traveled to Tatooine to track down the bounty hunter Greedo, who had kidnapped members of their family.

The hiding of Obi-Wan Kenobi#

After Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side and the Galactic Empire began hunting the Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi went into hiding on Tatooine, bringing the infant Luke with him. On the desert expanses of the planet, Kenobi hoped to keep the boy from his father's influence, entrusting him to the family of Shmi Skywalker's stepson. The Empire's Inquisitors, including the Grand Inquisitor, the Fifth Brother, and the Third Sister, later landed on Tatooine in pursuit of a fugitive Jedi known as "Nari," who escaped them at first but was eventually found and killed. Because Tatooine lay outside the Empire's direct jurisdiction, its inhabitants were surprised by the Inquisitors' arrival, though that did not prevent them from operating. The Third Sister eventually returned intending to kill the young Luke, but chose to spare him and returned him to his family.

War comes to Tatooine#

Shortly after the Battle of Scarif in the Galactic Civil War, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO landed on Tatooine in an escape pod after their corvette, the Tantive IV, was captured by the Star Destroyer Devastator. The droids carried the technical readouts to the Death Star, and an Imperial task force was sent to recover them. This chain of events drew Luke Skywalker into the wider war. The Empire maintained only a small garrison on the planet, whose ranks included the 68th Legion, and Rebel-aligned operations eventually contributed to that garrison's defeat. The bounty hunter Boba Fett tracked down and dueled Skywalker when the young man returned to the late Ben Kenobi's dwelling, learning his name and reporting it to Darth Vader.

The death of Jabba#

Attempting to rescue the captured Han Solo, R2-D2 and C-3PO infiltrated Jabba's Palace disguised as servants after Luke Skywalker presented them as a gift to the crime lord. Skywalker arrived soon after to bargain for his friend's life, only to be refused and dropped into a rancor pit, where he killed the beast. Enraged, Jabba sentenced Skywalker and Solo to death in the Great Pit of Carkoon, while Leia Organa, who had come disguised as a bounty hunter, was made one of his entertainers. As the prisoners were about to be executed, R2-D2 fired Skywalker's lightsaber to him from Jabba's sail barge, allowing the captives to fight free. In the chaos Organa strangled Jabba with the chain that had bound her, and Boba Fett was knocked into the sarlacc. Skywalker, Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and their companions escaped the planet aboard the Millennium Falcon and other craft.

New days ahead#

After the loosening of Imperial rule, criminal syndicates such as the Red Key Raiders sought to legitimize themselves as mining companies and to seize the power vacuum left by Jabba's death. Cobb Vanth became the marshal of the settlement of Mos Pelgo, also called Freetown, dedicating himself to protecting the town from the Raiders. The bounty hunter Din Djarin passed through the world during this period, and the Pyke Syndicate moved to control the spice trade, sending the bounty hunter Cad Bane against Vanth. Boba Fett, surviving the sarlacc, returned to claim Jabba's former territory, declaring that where Jabba had ruled with fear, he intended to rule with respect. Throughout these years the Hutts continued to operate on Tatooine, and the planet remained known as a stronghold of criminal enterprise.