Mission to rescue Shmi Skywalker Lars

A mission to Tatooine took place shortly before the First Battle of Geonosis, the first battle of the Clone Wars, in 22 BBY. After the Jedi High Council gave Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker a mission to protect Senator Padmé Amidala on Naboo, Skywalker had a dream of his mother suffering and both Skywalker and Amidala left Naboo to go to Tatooine to find his mother, Shmi Skywalker Lars. Skywalker received information of Shmi's whereabouts from his old slaver, Watto, and soon Skywalker met the Lars family, who bought Shmi from Watto, and discovered she had been kidnapped by a Tusken Raider raiding party and was believed dead. After much investigation, Skywalker tracked his mother, who was extremely weak after a month of torture, who then died in his arms. Consumed by rage, the young Jedi touched the dark side of the Force and massacred nearly the entire village, killing every male, female, and child he could find, and paid no attention to the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, who spoke to Skywalker in an attempt to prevent the carnage, while Yoda felt Anakin's grief grow darker as the Jedi Master meditated in the Jedi Temple.

Skywalker returned to the Lars Homestead with his mother's body in his arms. The Lars family, protocol droid—C-3PO, Skywalker and Amidala buried Skywalker's mother near the Homestead and paid their respects. Enraged, he told Padmé Amidala of the massacre and showed no mercy to the Tuskens. He blamed the death of his mother on his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had taught him to be mindful of his thoughts and dreams of his mother would pass in time. Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, arrived during the funeral to alert Skywalker and Amidala of Kenobi's transmission from Geonosis. C-3PO accompanied Skywalker, Amidala, and R2 and left Tatooine for Geonosis on Amidala's personal yacht.

Text and facts from the “Mission to rescue Shmi Skywalker Lars/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.