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  • Tusken Raiders

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    Tusken Raiders

    Tusken Raiders, or Sand People as they are sometimes known, wear abundant clothing to protect themselves from Tatooine’s twin suns. The strong beings pursue a nomadic existence in some of Tatooine’s most desolate regions. They fear little, and make sudden raids on local settlers.

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Appearances
  • Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV)
  • Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (Episode II)
  • Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Episode I)
  • Star Wars Rebels
  • Star Wars: The Mandalorian
Affiliations
  • Tusken tribe
Locations
  • Tatooine
Creature
  • Beetle Larva
Weapons
  • Gaderffii Stick
  • Tusken Ballista
Resource
  • Black melon

History

A Tusken Raider camp on Tatooine

Tatooine’s settlers knew to be wary of Tusken Raiders, who hated outlanders and raided settlements, kidnapping or killing their inhabitants. Shmi Skywalker Lars was one of their victims, stolen away from the Lars farm and ritually tortured.

A Tusken Raider aggressively raising it's rifle

A generation after Shmi’s death, her grandson Luke almost lost his life to a party of Tuskens in the Jundland Wastes, escaping when Obi-Wan Kenobi frightened the raiders off by imitating the call of a krayt dragon. 

Video

  • video

    Tusken Raider Attack

    While traveling through the Jundland Wastes of Tatooine on a hunt for R2-D2, Luke Skywalker and C-3PO are attacked by a violent group of Tusken Raiders.

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Gallery

© 2015 Disney

Tusken Raiders Biography Gallery

  • 8 Images
    • Tatooine’s Tusken Raiders hated outlanders, attacking all those who trespassed on their territori...
    • A decade after leaving Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker returned to discover what had happened to his m...
    • Anakin discovered his mother in a Tusken camp, alive but near death after weeks of ritual torture...
    • A generation later, Luke Skywalker grew up on the Lars farm, wary of Sand People and their bold n...
    • The Tuskens passed up the chance to fire at Luke’s landspeeder, instead clambering onto their ban...
    • A Tusken with a gaderfii knocked Luke unconscious, and the Sand People began to loot his landspee...
    • When Luke and Obi-Wan came across the burned-out shell of a Jawa sandcrawler, Luke assumed the de...
    • After the destruction of the Death Star, Vader was forced to return to Tatooine on a mission for ...
  • Tatooine’s Tusken Raiders hated outlanders, attacking all those who trespassed on their territories and raiding outlanders’ towns and farms. Tuskens were an unexpected hazard during the Boonta Eve Classic, camping out on a ridge and firing their blasters at the podracer pilots on the course below.

  • A decade after leaving Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker returned to discover what had happened to his mother Shmi. To his horror, he learned Sand People had kidnapped her from the Lars moisture farm. Shmi’s husband, Cliegg Lars, told Anakin that his mother had to be dead after a month as a Tusken captive. But Anakin knew she was alive.

  • Anakin discovered his mother in a Tusken camp, alive but near death after weeks of ritual torture. When Shmi died in his arms, Anakin gave into his rage. He ignited his lightsaber and massacred the Tuskens.

  • A generation later, Luke Skywalker grew up on the Lars farm, wary of Sand People and their bold nighttime raids. After R2-D2 left the Lars farm in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke and C-3PO followed the little droid into the Jundland Wastes, unaware that Tuskens had spotted Luke’s landspeeder.

  • The Tuskens passed up the chance to fire at Luke’s landspeeder, instead clambering onto their bantha mounts to attack the young moisture farmer after he located R2-D2.

  • A Tusken with a gaderfii knocked Luke unconscious, and the Sand People began to loot his landspeeder. But then a ghastly howl sent them fleeing. It sounded like a krayt-dragon call, but it was actually a clever imitation by Obi-Wan – one of many tricks the former Jedi had picked up during his years in exile.

  • When Luke and Obi-Wan came across the burned-out shell of a Jawa sandcrawler, Luke assumed the destruction was the work of the Sand People – after all, he spotted bantha tracks and a dropped gaderfii. But Obi-Wan read the signs more closely, and knew better – the Jawas had been killed by Imperial stormtroopers.

  • After the destruction of the Death Star, Vader was forced to return to Tatooine on a mission for the Emperor. It was an unwelcome return – Vader’s long-ago failure to save his mother when he was Anakin Skywalker still gnawed at him. When bounty hunters answered the Dark Lord’s summons, they found him in the desert, surrounded by the corpses of Tuskens he had slain.

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Tusken Raiders Biography Gallery

Related

  • Tatooine

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    Tatooine

    Tatooine is harsh desert world orbiting twin suns in the galaxy’s Outer Rim. In the days of the Empire and the Republic, many settlers scratched out a living on moisture farms, while spaceport cities such as Mos Eisley and Mos Espa served as home base for smugglers, criminals, and other rogues. Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker both once called Tatooine home, although across the stars it was more widely known as a hive of scum and villainy ruled by the crime boss Jabba the Hutt.

  • Bantha

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    Bantha

    Banthas are large, furry mammals that travel in herds through Tatooine's desert wastes. They serve as mounts for Tusken Raiders, and the two share a close, almost mystical bond.

  • Shmi Skywalker Lars

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    Shmi Skywalker Lars

    The mother of Anakin Skywalker was also a brave and resilient woman who survived life as a slave to become a Tatooine moisture farmer. Shmi surrendered her son to the Jedi Order, putting him on a path to become one of the greatest Jedi. Her death at the hands of Tusken Raiders became a critical step on Anakin's journey to the dark side.

  • Anakin Skywalker

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    Anakin Skywalker

    Discovered as a slave on Tatooine by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker had the potential to become one of the most powerful Jedi ever. Some even believed he was the prophesied Chosen One who would bring balance to the Force. Always pushing the limits of his Jedi training, seeking to excel and live up to his reputation, Skywalker's passion often brought him into conflict with his mentor, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. A hero of the Clone Wars, Anakin was caring and compassionate, but suffered from a deep fear of loss that would prove to be his downfall.

  • Luke Skywalker

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    Luke Skywalker

    Luke Skywalker was a Tatooine farmboy who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the greatest Jedi the galaxy has ever known. Along with his friends Princess Leia and Han Solo, Luke battled the evil Empire, discovered the truth of his parentage, and ended the tyranny of the Sith. A generation later, the location of the famed Jedi master was one of the galaxy’s greatest mysteries. Haunted by Ben Solo’s fall to evil and convinced the Jedi had to end, Luke sought exile on a distant world, ignoring the galaxy’s pleas for help. But his solitude would be interrupted – and Luke Skywalker had one final, momentous role to play in the struggle between good and evil.

  • Obi-Wan Kenobi

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    Obi-Wan Kenobi

    A legendary Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a noble man and gifted in the ways of the Force. He trained Anakin Skywalker, served as a general in the Republic Army during the Clone Wars, and guided Luke Skywalker as a mentor.

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