How did Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru die in Star Wars?

For a film where the entire Jedi order outside of masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi are slaughtered, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ends on a hopeful note.

Setting up the original trilogy, we see Bail Organa and his wife with a baby Princess Leia on Alderaan, and a baby Luke delivered to Anakin’s stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru Lars.

We all know the fate that awaited Bail Organa during the destruction of Alderaan, but some fans may forget what happened to Luke’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in Episode IV: A New Hope.

Living with Luke on a moisture farm, the Lars family live a quiet life under the hidden protection of Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, when R2-D2 and C-3P0 arrive at the Lars homestead with the plans to the Death Star in tow, the Empire begins a hunt throughout Tatooine to find the two droids, and the Lars family gets pulled in.

What happened to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru?

While Luke is being saved from the sand people by Obi-Wan Kenobi, a horrible fate befalls the Lars family offscreen. Luke returns home from the Jundland Wastes to find the moisture farm in ashes, with the horribly charred corpses of Owen and Beru sitting lifeless in the sand.

The empire had sent stormtroopers through the area and murdered Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen in their search for the rebel plans. Their deaths are two of the many heartbreaking losses throughout the Skywalker Saga.

Though this is what we’re meant to believe happens to Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, one interesting fan theory claims that it wasn’t stormtroopers that killed Owen and Beru, but instead they were killed by none other than Boba Fett.

The bounty hunter is chastised by Darth Vader in Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, being told, “I want them alive. No disintegrations” as he is sent out in search of the Millennium Falcon. Some fans believe this reminder comes as a result of Fett burning Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.

Regardless of who set the pair on fire, the way they died is clear. In Star Wars, “no one truly ever dies,” but Owen and Beru will not be returning anytime soon, sadly.