Tatooine/Legends

"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from."

- Luke Skywalker to C-3PO

Tatooine was a desert world in a binary star system in the Arkanis Sector of the Outer Rim.

It was inhabited by poor locals who mostly farmed moisture for a living. Other activities included used equipment retailing and scrap dealing. The planet was on the 5709-DC Shipping Lane, a spur of the Triellus Trade Route, which itself connected to the Sisar Run. The planet was not far from the Corellian Run. It had its own navigation system. However, it would still play a role in galactic events, serving as the home of Anakin Skywalker and the place where his son Luke would be kept safe until his early adulthood.

Geology, geography, flora & fauna
"What a desolate place this is."

- C-3PO

Tatooine is thought to have been one of the oldest planets in known space and was composed of a molten core with a rocky mantle and silicate rock crust. Fossil records suggest Tatooine was once covered in large oceans, which dried up, leaving behind many geological formations including Beggar's Canyon formed around 2,000,000 BBY. Other notable geological features included the Dune Sea, an enormous desert, Mushroom Mesa a vast formation of giant standing stones, and the Jundland Wastes, a rocky region.

Tatooine is hot and arid as it was heated by two nearby suns, Tatoo I and Tatoo II. In fact, it was so brightly lit by the suns from space it could appear to be a star itself. Due to the extreme conditions, only a relatively mild region of its northern hemisphere was habitable. Surface water covered less than 1% of the planet.

Despite the planet's extreme aridity, many forms of life thrived on Tatooine; flora included the razor moss, funnel flowers, and Hubba gourds. Non-sentient life indigenous to Tatooine included anooba, bantha, bonegnawer, dewback, desert wampa, eopie, galoomp, ibian, jakrabs, jerba, krayt dragon, kreetle, massif, rill, rock wart, ronto, sandbat, sandjigger, sandswimmer, sandworm, sarlacc, scalt, scurrier, scyk, sketto, squill, urusai, womp rat, woodoo, worrt, and wraid.

Infinite Empire
Tatooine was once a subject world of the Rakatan Infinite Empire. It once had large oceans and a world-spanning jungle. This biosphere was destroyed by an orbital bombardment by the Rakata that "glassed" (that is, fused the silica in the soil into glass, which then broke up over time into sand) the planet and boiled its oceans away. This drastic climatic change split the indigenous Kumumgah into two races: the Ghorfas&mdash;also known as Tusken Raiders or Sandpeople&mdash;and the Jawas. It is a planet where natives (specifically the middle age and older humans) are often mistaken to be a decade or more older than they actually are due to the twin suns and harsh climate.

Galactic Republic
"The Republic doesn't exist out here&hellip; we must survive on our own."

- Shmi Skywalker

Tatooine was first discovered by the Republic in 5,000 BBY by spacers. Anchorhead was first established in 4,200 BBY. The human settlers disrupted the Ghorfa culture, causing the Ghorfa culture to evolve into that of the Sandpeople. The planet was represented in the Galactic Senate by Sidrona Diath, who was eventually elected Supreme Chancellor. Sidrona was also a Jedi, and founder of the long-lived Diath family of Jedi which survived until the Clone Wars. During the Great Hunt, the planet was cleansed of terentateks by the Jedi. Tatooine was ignored as not worth conquering by the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars; following the end of the war, a group of Mandalorian exiles settled on Tatooine, although their fate was unknown even a few years later. At the time of the Jedi Civil War, the planet was practically controlled by Czerka Corporation. Czerka Corporation was attempting to mine ores from Tatooine, though they discovered the ores had strange magnetic properties which made them largely unusable in production.

In 3,956 BBY, Revan came to Tatooine during the quest to locate the Star Forge. Revan discovered that Czerka Corporation was attempting to eradicate the Sandpeople due to attacks on Czerka sandcrawlers. The Sandpeople considered the Czerka to be invaders and dealt with them accordingly.

With the help of HK-47, Revan was able to communicate with a nearby tribe of Sandpeople and negotiate an end to the attacks on Czerka Corporation by giving the chieftain two moisture vaporators. The chieftain then presented Revan with his gaffi stick as a sign of good faith, and a map that helped him locate a Star Map hidden within a krayt dragon cave.



The Anchorhead settlement failed and the planet was forgotten until rediscovered by the Republic in 1,100 BBY. The B'omarr Monks built a monastery on the planet in 700 BBY. The bandit Alkhara used the monastery as a hideout in 550 BBY.

In 100 BBY, the Dowager Queen crashed on the planet at the site where Mos Eisley was later built. The crash survivors were Humans from Bestine IV and in 99 BBY established Bestine Settlement, the capital of Tatooine, and made first contact with the Jawas.

Three years later, a Droid Uprising occurred on Tatooine.

Shortly thereafter, in 96 BBY, colonists founded Fort Tusken, which was wiped out by Sandpeople a year after its establishment. From that point on the Humans referred to the Sandpeople as "Tusken Raiders". In 93 BBY, Anchorhead was inhabited again. In 85 BBY, Mos Eisley was settled by Humans and Rodians. In 80 BBY, Humans and Rodians established Mos Espa.

Corellian Mining brought many digger crawlers to the planet, but abandoned the planet—as did the Republic for all intents and purposes—in 70 BBY, when the orbital station Tatoo III crashed, revealing the unstable nature of the local ores from which it had been constructed. Although the planet was thereafter considered technically part of the Republic's Arkanis Sector, it was de facto part of Hutt Space. The abandoned crawlers, referred to as sandcrawlers, radically changed Jawa civilization, serving as mobile fortresses for Jawa tribes searching the deserts for materials to scavenge.

In 65 BBY, the Hutts arrived on Tatooine. In 60 BBY, Merl Tosche established Tosche Station on the outskirts of Anchorhead. Rival Hutt kajidics vied for control of the planet, notably Besadii (represented by Gardulla the Elder) and Desilijic (represented by Jabba). The notorious Jabba chased Alkhara out of his citadel of operations and claimed the B'omarr Monastery for his personal palace.

In 32 BBY, Anakin Skywalker became a local legend in Mos Espa by being the only human ever to win a podrace, and none other than the famous Boonta Eve Classic itself. After winning the race, he left Tatooine to join the Jedi Order.



Later that year, Jango Fett came to Tatooine and, on behalf of Jabba, disposed of Gardulla, giving Jabba a virtual monopoly on the rule of Tatooine's criminal underworld. However, Jabba's monopoly was eventually challenged by Whiphid crime queen, Lady Valarian.

In 22 BBY, Anakin Skywalker returned to Tatooine, sensing his mother, Shmi Skywalker, was in terrible pain. Shmi had been captured by Tusken Raiders who had tortured her. After Shmi died in Anakin's arms, Anakin gave in to the dark side and murdered an entire Tusken village.

Early in the Clone Wars, the Republic tried to reestablish a presence on the world by constructing a Republic spaceport, but Confederacy General Sev'rance Tann, allied with the minor Hutt crimelord Boorka, wiped it out and established her own fortress. Jabba protested Boorka's direct involvement in the Clone Wars, and betrayed the fortress's location to Echuu Shen-Jon, who wiped it out.

In truth, helping Echuu was simply Jabba's way of eliminating Boorka, since Jabba himself got directly involved in the Clone Wars: he shipped cortosis ore through Tatooine to Metalorn for the Techno Union to build cortosis droids. This operation was ended by Anakin Skywalker.

In 19 BBY, following the Great Jedi Purge, Obi-Wan Kenobi went into hiding on Tatooine, keeping a close eye on young Luke Skywalker, whom Kenobi entrusted to be raised by Shmi's stepson Owen Lars and his wife Beru Whitesun Lars, moisture farmers.

Galactic Empire
"I doubt the Empire would ever fight to keep this system."

- Biggs Darklighter

At the time of the early Galactic Empire, the planet's population was estimated at 200,000. In 18 BBY the Empire stationed several stormtroopers on the world to be picked up by the Eye of Palpatine, which never arrived.

Shortly before the destruction of Alderaan, the Star Destroyer Devastator captured Leia Organa aboard the Tantive IV above Tatooine. This began the First Extermination of the First Battle of Tatooine (Galactic Civil War). Leia had been trying to contact Kenobi, to ask him to help the Rebel Alliance resolve the crisis of the Death Star I, as she had been instructed by her foster father Bail Organa, a former compatriot of Kenobi. Leia did not realize the secret Bail and Obi-Wan shared: she was Anakin Skywalker's daughter. As stormtroopers boarded the corvette, she gave the recently received plans for the Death Star I to R2-D2, who escaped to the surface of Tatooine with counterpart C-3PO. Moments later, Darth Vader had Leia captured alive, not knowing she was his daughter.

Vader, the former Anakin Skywalker, had Commander Praji's stormtroopers, placed under the command of Brenn Tantor and Grand General Malcor Brashin, scour the planet for the droids, ignoring the protests of local Governor Tour Aryon. The droids were captured by Jawas and purchased by Owen Lars, but R2-D2 ran away seeking Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke Skywalker and C-3PO gave chase. They were attacked by Tuskens, but rescued by Kenobi, who began to teach Luke about the Jedi, although hiding the truth about his father, making him think that Anakin Skywalker had been murdered by Darth Vader. He gave Luke a lightsaber that had belonged to Anakin.



Meanwhile, the Imperial search party, following the droids' trail, had slaughtered the Tuskens who had attacked Luke and used their banthas to disguise their tracks as those of a Tusken raiding party. They attacked the sandcrawler which had rescued R2-D2 and C-3PO, interrogating and killing the Jawas. They proceeded to Lars' Homestead, where they interrogated and murdered Owen and Beru. The Imperials also ran into a local Rebel cell in the Dune Sea, beginning a brutal skirmish, with the Empire triumphing. The Imperials blockaded Tatooine to prevent the droids from escaping, and began a thorough search of Mos Eisley. This led into a second skirmish with some of the inhabitants.

In Mos Eisley, however, Kenobi and Luke hired Han Solo to take them to Alderaan with the droids. Solo's Millennium Falcon fled Mos Eisley and broke the Imperial blockade. The Empire had had enough, and they began a brutal pacification campaign, murdering anyone who showed their face. Hidden Rebel troops coupled with Mos Eisley citizens tried to resist but were soon overrun.



Either in conjunction with the above events or shortly afterwards two Rebel T-65 X-wings piloted by Rookie One and Ru Murleen took out a portion of the AT-ST garrison stationed in Mos Eisley. Turning their sights skyward, the pair then led an only partially successful attack on the Star Destroyer Devastator still in orbit around the planet. Though the Devastator was heavily damaged, both Rebel pilots abandoned their target in order to pull back to the Rebel base on Yavin IV in time for the Battle of Yavin.

Following this disaster, the Empire increased its presence on Tatooine. The Empire introduced Bledsoe's Disease to Tatooine. However, Luke Skywalker, now a Jedi in training and member of the Rebel Alliance, returned to the planet and blew up the Imperial garrison after kidnapping Dr. Bledsoe himself, from whom Luke acquired the antidote to the disease.

In 4 ABY, Boba Fett brought Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, to Jabba's Palace, and collected his bounty. Luke returned to Tatooine to rescue Han. Before undertaking the endeavor, he built a new lightsaber, the one Kenobi gave him having been lost on Bespin. Luke, Leia, Lando Calrissian and the droids infiltrated Jabba's Palace and freed Han Solo from the carbonite, but the Skywalker siblings and Han were captured. Jabba tried to feed Luke and Han to the Sarlacc at the Great Pit of Carkoon, but they turned the tables on him. Han accidentally sent Boba Fett into the Pit (which was just one of the Almighty Sarlacc's many mouths), Leia strangled Jabba to death with a chain, as Luke battled the Hutt's many guards with his new lightsaber. Luke and his friends would triumph, and Jabba's barge was destroyed, and they then left for their rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance.

New Republic
"Tatooine is a nasty, useless little planet. The only noteworthy things about it are Jabba, and the pilots it produces year after year."

- Kardue'sai'Malloc

After the Battle of Endor, Emperor Sate Pestage built a redoubt on Tatooine called Eidolon Base, although he never used it. Eidolon Base was later discovered by the New Republic's Rogue Squadron. Commander Wedge Antilles gave Elscol Loro many of the weapons stored in Eidolon Base. Elscol left Rogue Squadron and used the weapons to create an independent guerilla movement which liberated worlds from the Imperial Remnant.

As the homeworld of Luke Skywalker, Tatooine became something of a tourist trap as a member of the New Republic.

In 8 ABY, following her marriage to Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo traveled to Tatooine to retrieve the Alderaanian moss-painting Killik Twilight and the Shadowcast key hidden within it. There, she discovered her grandmother Shmi's diary and, with the help of her father's childhood friends Kitster and Wald, discovered her father wasn't the evil monster she thought he was and learned to forgive him.



In 12 ABY, the Eye of Palpatine stopped at the planet and, failing to find the stormtroopers it was looking for, took onboard a number of Tusken Raiders and Jawas whom it tried (with no success) to brainwash into being Imperials. The same year, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo searched Jabba's palace, and discovered that the Hutts were planning to build a superweapon.

In 14 ABY, Jaden Korr visited the planet twice while investigating the Reborn: The first time it was to investigate some mercenary activity. Arriving in Mos Eisley, the Raven's Claw was trapped by tractor beam held by the cultists. Jaden released the ship with the help of Chewie.

The second time was when a moisture farmer overheard a group of smugglers talking about a Sith cult in a bar and had his R5 droid record the conversation. Unfortunately, he became afraid and sold the droid to some Jawas before leaving Tatooine. Jaden returned to Tatooine and got a hold of that droid before the Jawas wiped its memory and returned to the Academy.

In 22 ABY, Jedi trainees Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila traveled to the planet after Tahiri's foster Tusken Raider father Sliven demanded that she return. All her life, she had been raised by a Tusken tribe without knowing her true parents. That day had come but first she had to prove that she was worthy of knowing.

She and Anakin would use the Force as they never had which included fighting a deadly krayt dragon and surviving the harsh Dune Sea. In the end, both Jedi prevailed and Tahiri learned that her parents were Tryst and Cassa Veila and that they had accidentally been killed during a Tusken raid on their moisture farm. Following that, the duo returned to Yavin IV and freed the trapped Massassi souls within the Golden Globe.

During the time of the New Republic, Tatooine experienced a cycle of harsh sandstorms that damaged and destroyed several Human settlements. It is unknown how this affected the Sandpeople on the planet.

Galactic Alliance
After the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed all life on Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa, the Hutts adopted Tatooine as their new homeworld. It is unknown if they left and returned to Hutt Space after the war.

Notable cities
See also Locations on Tatooine.
 * Mos Espa
 * Mos Eisley
 * Mos Osnoe
 * Anchorhead
 * Bestine
 * Mos Zabu

Behind the scenes

 * Tatooine is frequently misspelled as "Tattoine" in some sources. This should be interpreted as a typing error.
 * The planet is not actually named in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope; according to Lucas he used the name Utapau in the script, but eventually named it retrospectively after the movie's desert location, Tataouine (French spelling) in Tunisia.
 * Tatooine has appeared in every Star Wars film except Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the planet appears only in the closing shot.
 * Some critics have seen Lucas's use of a desert planet as excessively derivative of Frank Herbert's Arrakis in the Dune series of novels. However, Arrakis itself could be taken as a derivative of the planet Mongo of Flash Gordon, which is presented as a desert planet in some media.
 * In The Phantom Menace, the map of Tatooine is actually a map of Mars.
 * In the Star Wars universe, planet names similar to Tatooine's name are quite common, for some reason: Minntooine, Dantooine, and Vactooine, just to name a few.