The Star Wars prequel movies showed us how Anakin Skywalker slid down a slippery slope towards darkness, until he eventually became Darth Vader. One of the most important moments in his descent was the death of his beloved mother Shmi, who was kidnapped and tortured by Tusken Raiders on her native Tatooine. Following her death, Anakin slaughtered the entire encampment and vowed that he would never let another loved one die. And we all know how that ended.
Given how significant this moment was in his downfall, is it really likely that this was a random incident? Or was a greater power pulling the Raiders’ strings? That’s what this compelling new theory argues. Reddit user u/steinrikur posted on the r/FanTheories subreddit the idea that Emperor Palpatine orchestrated Shmi’s death to some degree, to suit his plans to turn Anakin into his loyal servant.
Here’s how the theory goes:
“Palpatine was playing Anakin like a fiddle the whole time, and this was a huge step in his journey towards the dark side. It is inconceivable that it was just a coincidence that his mother was killed in such a way by the Sand people. My theory is that he either staged the attack and delivered Shmi to the sand people to torture, or he bribed/tricked/persuaded them to attack the farm and kidnap the woman.”
You have to admit this makes a lot of sense. Especially as, as time goes by, more and more Star Wars media is revealing that Palpatine was behind everything. Marvel’s comics have confirmed, for instance, that Sidious is responsible for Anakin’s own birth, having manipulated the Force within Shmi, hence the immaculate conception of her son. And, of course, The Rise of Skywalker revealed that Palpatine was calling the First Order’s shots all along.
For now, this is just a highly believable fan theory, but give it time and it doesn’t seem too far-fetched that some future Star Wars novel, comic or other piece of media could make this canon.
