Cliegg Lars was a human male moisture farmer from the desert planet Tatooine. He lived and worked on a family farm he inherited from his parents with his son from his first marriage, Owen Lars, and Owen's girlfriend Beru Whitesun. Though the Lars family was content with their simple lives, they became involved with the White Suns liberation movement, which helped free Tatooine's slaves. Because of his work with the movement, Cliegg met his future wife, Shmi Skywalker Lars. Through his marriage to her, Cliegg would be the step-father of Anakin Skywalker and the step-grandfather of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.

Cliegg won Shmi's freedom in a bet with her enslaver, Watto, and the two moved to the Lars homestead, where they married and lived happily as moisture farmers. Using a deprogramming device the family had designed to remove Shmi's transmitter chip, the Larses secretly helped emancipate escaped slaves. One day, however, Shmi was captured by a band of Tusken Raiders. Cliegg organized a posse to rescue her, but the attempt failed, and he lost his leg in the process. As he mourned her, Cliegg was visited by her son, Anakin Skywalker, who led his own rescue mission, but the boy returned only with her corpse. Cliegg never recovered from the incident and died shortly after. He was buried alongside Shmi on the farm, which was bequeathed to Owen and Beru.

Biography[]

A tragic youth[]

Cliegg Lars was born to Lef and Gredda Lars on the desert planet Tatooine in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories.^[6] Despite the arid conditions of Tatooine and the danger posed to settlers by the native Tusken Raider tribes,^[8] the small and humble Lars family, which included Cliegg's brother Edern,^[9] became pioneers of the Great Chott salt flat, where they operated a moisture farm on the outskirts of a settlement known as Anchorhead.^[8] Cliegg helped found and build the underground homestead, and the Lars family made their living^[6] harvesting water from the atmosphere by employing the use of dozens of moisture vaporators.^[10] Because the water harvests rarely supplied the Larses with quantities sufficient enough to sell for profit, the family kept the water for themselves to sustain their hydroponic gardens instead.^[6] Tragedy would strike the Lars family when Edern suffered an untimely death^[9] at the age of fourteen when he lost control of the family's V-35 Courier landspeeder.^[6]

Over time, Edern was followed in death by Lef and Gredda,^[9] and all three were buried on the family's property.^[6] Cliegg, the last surviving member of his immediate family, decided to leave the moisture farm behind.^[9] Still a young man, Cliegg wanted to experience life on a bustling Core World and departed Tatooine to explore the galaxy. In the galactic Core, Cliegg met a woman named Aika, and the two fell in love, married, and parented a son together, Owen.^[5] Despite the brief reprieve, Aika died when Owen was still very young, leading Cliegg to decide to return to his homeworld with his son. As Owen grew up, he became a diligent farmhand and helped his father operate the moisture farm. As a young adult, Owen developed a relationship with a local girl named Beru Whitesun, who became his girlfriend, and the Lars family grew when she moved into the homestead.^[9]

A new chance at happiness[]

The White Suns[]

In the twilight years of the Republic Era,^[9] the Lars family began aiding the White Suns, a liberation movement established to organize the emancipation of enslaved beings on Tatooine. It was by chance that the Larses would be introduced to Shmi Skywalker, who would go on to become an integral part of their family. While on a supply run in the city of Mos Espa, Beru's portable navigator unit malfunctioned, and at the recommendation of a merchant she had been bartering with, she went to Skywalker's residence^[7] in the Slave Quarters Row^[6] to have it fixed for cheap. When Beru returned to the Lars homestead, she told Cliegg and Owen of Shmi's talent for tinkering with machines, which soon became of interest to the White Suns. On behalf of the White Suns, Cliegg went to meet with Shmi, and he, too, became interested in her following their first conversation. Over the following weeks, Shmi told Cliegg, Owen, and Beru about her enslaver, the Toydarian junk dealer Watto, such as how he cheated to avoid the White Suns.^[7]

To give Shmi time away from serving Watto, Cliegg hired her out from the junk dealer, ostensibly to tune his moisture vaporators. They developed a liking for one another and, in their time spent together, grew close. Though Shmi spent much of her time on the farm with Cliegg, she also set about working with Beru to build a tracking device that could be used to locate the transmitter chips planted in those enslaved on Tatooine.^[7] Around 27 BBY,^[12] the day finally came for Cliegg to make his move and emancipate Shmi from Watto's ownership. Armed with Shmi's information about Watto's weaknesses and gambling tendencies, Cliegg lured Watto into a game where she was the promised prize. Lars won the game and,^[7] after settling the reward with Watto,^[12] quickly brought Shmi^[7] and her protocol droid, C-3PO,^[4] away from Mos Espa and to the boundaries of his farm, setting her free. Though Shmi was no longer enslaved, her transmitter chip remained somewhere in her body.^[7]

Over the next three months, the Larses and Skywalker worked tirelessly to complete a functioning deprogrammer device to remove Shmi's chip. The work was tedious, and it was only because of Cliegg's technical ownership of her that Shmi could volunteer to have the device tested on her; had she still been under the control of Watto or another enslaver, a monitoring device would notify them that the chip was being tampered with. Since the monitor connected to Shmi's chip belonged to Cliegg, someone who cared about her, the Larses knew Shmi would be unharmed if they removed her chip, but an enslaved person taken in by the White Suns would not have the luxury of time. Though Cliegg, Beru, and Owen continued to fret over the situation, Shmi remained positive, in part because her son, Anakin, who had once been Watto's slave but was taken in by the Jedi Order, had always wanted to build a deprogrammer. At the end of the three months, Shmi and Beru finished the device and had only to test it once more.^[7]

Cliegg couldn't bear to watch the procedure again, and Owen took him to the other side of the homestead to keep him distracted. While Cliegg and Owen waited, Beru successfully located Shmi's chip, which was fused to her lower spine. Knowing that they would have only a short window before the monitoring device discovered that the chip was being disturbed, Beru made quick and clean cuts into Shmi's skin and removed the chip, deactivating it. The experiment was successful, leading Cliegg, Owen, Beru, and Shmi to use the deprogrammer on escaped slaves they took in. The Lars homestead became an important stopping point of the underground White Suns, where fugitive slaves had their chips removed. The procedure did not always work, and some of those they tried helping died during the chip's removal, but the Larses remained devoted to their cause, and Shmi worked endlessly to improve the device.^[7]

Losing Shmi[]

Having grown close in the time they knew each other,^[7] Cliegg and Shmi married, and Shmi adopted his surname.^[13] With their marriage, the Lars and Skywalker families officially blended.^[9] Cliegg, Shmi, Owen, and Beru lived quiet lives on their homestead, where they survived against the harsh desert together while continuing their anti-slavery work.^[13] Shmi brought happiness into the Lars family, and she became a bright center and indispensable part of their family unit.^[7] Though she was greatly content with her marriage to Cliegg and emancipated life on the farm, Shmi spent many nights worrying about Anakin and his well-being.^[2] After existing as an island of familial warmth amidst the vast desert wastelands, tragedy soon struck the Larses.^[13] In 22 BBY,^[12] Shmi was picking mushrooms off the moisture vaporators when, just before dawn, a Tusken hunting party arrived and took her captive. Cliegg immediately investigated her disappearance, concluding she had been halfway home when the Tuskens took her.^[4]

Cliegg assembled a quadrille of thirty moisture farmers, including himself,^[4] and prepared to take on the Tusken tribe he believed had kidnapped his wife.^[10] Despite their brave effort to rescue Shmi, the farmers were outmatched by the Tusken Raiders and were slaughtered. Of the thirty posse members,^[4] only four survived the counter-raid, including Cliegg. Although Cliegg managed to survive the violent attack, his right leg had been hacked off at the knee. Rather than incur the expense of a cybernetic prosthesis for his lost leg, Lars took to using a repulsorlift chair, which he found more practical.^[10] Over the next month, Cliegg lost hope and believed that Shmi was no longer alive. While he, Owen, and Beru mourned their loss, the farm was visited by Anakin Skywalker, who had been haunted by dreams of his mother in agony. Skywalker arrived with Republic Senator Padmé Amidala, who was under his protection. Upon their arrival, C-3PO led them into the homestead.^[4]

While Skywalker and Amidala greeted Owen and Beru, Cliegg entered the room and introduced himself to Anakin as Shmi's husband, then invited him inside to discuss what had happened. In the dining room, Beru served everyone drinks while Cliegg informed his stepson of Shmi's disappearance and his failed rescue attempt. Lars was pessimistic that Shmi was still alive, but an emotional Anakin got up from the table. Owen asked where he was going, and the Jedi Knight replied that he was going to find his mother. Cliegg implored him to accept that Shmi was dead, but Skywalker was adamant and left the farm in the evening, leaving Senator Amidala in the care of the Larses. During the night, Anakin was able to track down the Tusken Raiders' camp, and he found his mother, emaciated and bound but still alive. Though Anakin tried to escape with her, she died in his arms, after which he massacred the entire Tusken tribe, including women and children, in a fit of fury.^[4]

Joining his wife[]

The next morning, Anakin returned to the Lars homestead with Shmi's corpse. The Larses placed her body in a coffin,^[14] and she was buried next to Cliegg's parents and brother.^[6] A small funeral service was held later that day,^[4] and Cliegg briefly spoke his last respects.^[1] Anakin too spoke, but instead of memorializing Shmi, he swore never to allow himself to fail anyone else as he had failed her. The funeral was interrupted by Anakin and Padmé's droid, R2-D2, who informed them that he had received a message for them.^[4] The visitors remained at the farm for just a short while longer,^[15] and just as soon as they had arrived, Skywalker and Amidala left the Lars family alone once more.^[1]

Cliegg was bereft at the loss of Shmi, while Owen barely contained his anger as well. Beru remained steadfast and continued the family's work with the White Suns even as Cliegg and Owen dealt with the loss.^[7] After some time, Cliegg was determined to continue the life he had worked hard to create on Tatooine^[5] and began working to make the Lars homestead an oasis of security in the desert,^[13] but he quickly began to fade as the tragedy continued to weigh him down heavily. The once-strong man became weak even as time passed since Shmi's death,^[1] and he died from the wounds he received from the Tuskens^[2] and of a broken heart not long after her death.^[5] Cliegg's body was, like Shmi's, placed in a coffin and buried next to hers. The Lars homestead was bequeathed to Owen and Beru,^[14] who married and sought to continue the family's traditions.^[16]

Legacy[]

Owen and Beru worked hard to maintain the farm^[16] that Cliegg had founded.^[6] At the end of the Clone Wars, Owen and Beru were made the guardians of Luke Skywalker, Anakin's son. Owen and Beru were entrusted by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin's former teacher, to keep Luke safe and hidden from his father, who had turned to the dark side of the Force and become Darth Vader amid the rise of the Galactic Empire.^[17] As a measure of keeping Luke safe, the headstones above Cliegg and Shmi's graves were sandblasted. Early in his stay on Tatooine to watch over Luke, Kenobi, ventured to Shmi's grave to apologize for Anakin's downfall. Though he had never known her, he felt guilt that he and the Jedi never released her from slavery as they did for Anakin, and reflected to himself that it was only Cliegg's love for her that saved her from bondage.^[18]

Obi-Wan often visited the burial site and sometimes left toys there for the young boy.^[19] At some point, Owen and Beru went one step further and removed all the headstones from the Lars property, leaving Cliegg's grave,^[14] as well as those of his parents, brother,^[6] and second wife unmarked.^[14] The Lars homestead was destroyed^[20] in 0 BBY^[12] when, after unknowingly taking in two fugitive droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, Owen and Beru were executed by Imperial stormtroopers, and the farm was burned.^[20] Luke, who had been away from the farm at the time, joined Obi-Wan Kenobi on a mission away from Tatooine after their murders and became a hero in the Alliance to Restore the Republic.^[20] The farm was left abandoned after Luke left, and it became a target for Tusken Raiders, who damaged what was left of the former homestead despite the absence of any inhabitants.^[14]

Years later, Darth Vader, after learning of Luke's existence and confronting him, returned to the homestead to learn more about his son. Vader was accompanied by a forensics droid, ZED-6-7, who listed off the former residents of the abandoned farm, including Cliegg and Shmi. Vader was haunted by his memories of his mother's death and his visit to the farm. ZED later located the coffins belonging to Cliegg and Shmi, which he detected were two meters below the surface. ZED speculated that Owen and Beru had removed the headstones, and his further scans found no evidence of Cliegg's son or daughter-in-law's remains. Vader and ZED left shortly after.^[14] The farm built by Cliegg Lars^[6] was left in its ruined state and,^[14] by 35 ABY,^[21] had begun to disappear under the sands of Tatooine.^[22]

Personality and traits[]

Cliegg Lars was a human male who stood at 1.83 meters, or 6 feet. He had blue eyes, light skin, and blond hair,^[5] which by the time of Shmi's kidnapping was graying on the sides.^[4] Though a modest man content with his quiet and peaceful life as a moisture farmer on Tatooine,^[1] Cliegg had a yearning to experience a more bustling place to live in his youth. His life, however, was one marked by tragic losses. The death of his first wife, Aika, dashed Cliegg's dreams of a life away from Tatooine,^[5] and he also lived through the deaths of his brother and parents.^[6] Cliegg was a tough and strong-willed individual,^[2] but he was also a good-hearted^[13] and humorous person, and he used his sense of humor to make his second wife, Shmi Skywalker, laugh even in dire situations.^[7]

When Cliegg and Shmi married, they happily formed a family unit with Owen and Beru, and lived in peace on the Lars homestead.^[7] Cliegg was happy to be able to share his life with as good a person as Shmi was.^[23] Altogether, the Larses dared to aid in the emancipation of enslaved persons in secret and used their land as a place for escaped slaves to seek help.^[7] Though Cliegg was able to see his family create a warm and loving environment,^[13] their happiness was shattered by Shmi's kidnapping and death.^[7] The kind Cliegg^[1] became angry and spiteful towards the Tusken Raiders for what they did to her, and he saw them as nothing more than vicious animals.^[4] Cliegg never recovered from the loss, and though he attempted to accept her death, move on, and continue his life's work,^[5] he grew weaker without her and succumbed to his sadness, becoming a shell of the man he once was and eventually dying as such.^[1]

Equipment[]

Cliegg Lars wore weather-worn work clothes, which included a light brown tunic and undershirt, gray pants, and a sleeveless gray duster coat. He also wore a gear harness that was wrapped around his midriff and slung over his left shoulder.^[5] After losing his right leg and injuring the other in his failed mission to rescue Shmi, Cliegg was forced to use a repulsorlift-powered chair to mobilize.^[4] Although Lars was content with the repulsorlift chair's inexpensive practicality, the mobility device was uncomfortable and the seat could not be adjusted, and the only semblance of luxury it offered was a footrest for his remaining leg.^[10]

Behind the scenes[]

Cliegg Lars first appeared in the second film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones,^[4] which was released on May 16, 2002.^[24] The name Cliegg, or variations of it, had existed since the earliest screenplay drafts of the original Star Wars. One rough draft from 1974 featured a young blonde Alderaanian character named Cliegg Whitesun.^[25]

In Attack of the Clones, Lars was portrayed by Jack Thompson. During shooting, Thompson wore a blue sock to facilitate the digital removal of his leg by Industrial Light and Magic.^[25]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
• Star Wars Journeys: Beginnings
• Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (First appearance)
• Attack of the Clones Read-Along Storybook and CD (Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Graphic Novel Adaptation
• Queen's Hope (Mentioned only)
• Queen's Hope audiobook (Mentioned only)
• Ahsoka (Indirect mention only)
• Ahsoka audiobook (Indirect mention only)
• Darth Vader (2020) 1 (Grave only)

Non-Canon Appearances[]

• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Sources[]

Notes and references[]