Anakin, the Tusken Raiders, and justice

[extrapenguin]

I came across some complaints about a trend in fic tagged as Anakin/Consequences where Anakin gets punished for his misdeeds by all his friends kicking him to the curb in an OOC fashion and started thinking about fics where Anakin faced actual, constructive consequences that include some restitution to the Tuskens. There's a lot of fic where his Fall is averted by a time-traveling Obi-Wan determined to do right by him this time, or in general someone else saving him, with a few fics where he himself wises up and reforms himself (mandatory plug for In Fire here), but I don't think I've ever come across a fic involving restitution to the Tuskens in the wild. I mean, I wrote one (though the Tuskens themselves are more of a side note), and one of the commenters outright said Also you’re the first author I’ve seen actually take a stab at having Anakin offer reparations to the Tusken people and then spell out what those reparations were, so kudos to you I at least thought that was really well done so I assume it's not a case of me being in a fic bubble of my own making wrt filtering and all the people writing justice for the Tuskens fic being, idk, Anidala OTPers.

(FTR, the official novelization states Anakin went personally lightsabering all the warriors/adult men, then came out of his murder fugue to discover he'd created a Force sandstorm or something that killed the women and children as well.) (ETA: This was the junior novelization. I have been lied to.)

Then I started thinking about what restitution the Tuskens could possibly be offered. Sing Dead the Dark (linked above) had Anakin vaccinate the Tuskens' banthas against a settler-brought virus. Parts 2b and 3 of the series of my current WIP of doom, All That is Solid Melts into Air, will have him negotiate some sort of peace treaty/land usage settlement so as to break the cycle of Tuskens and settlers killing each other out of vengeance. What else could he offer? Help rebuilding for the survivors of the clan he massacred, even if all the adults were at best complicit in torturing his mother to death? He might also go OTT in his personal penance out of guilt and, idk, shroud Tatooine in a perpetual sandstorm to get the Hutts and the moisture farmers and the like to evacuate the planet and leave it just to the Tuskens.

But the Tuskens also seem to have a completely different moral code to the rest of the GFFA. What if Anakin turns up on Tatooine, ready to make what amends he can and atone for his crimes, only for the general Tusken opinion to be "Oh, they were torturing your mother to death? Massacring them was 100% the right thing to do, gj on succeeding with it! Honestly you're an inspiration." Like, what does he do then? How does one make amends if the people one needs to make amends to see your severe crime as no big deal? At what point does wanting to make restitution become more about one's own comfort than morality and justice?

Comments

[annathecrow]

Tatooine -- I don't know about TCW, but you're right, dammit: "Had he been born in the Republic, we would have identified him early."

Lol, that's the second planet this month where I learn I have been misinterpreting their Republic member status! What's the meme about getting a dollar every time X happens...

For the record, this is the passage I was referencing:

PADMÉ: I can't believe there's still slavery in the galaxy. The Republic's antislavery laws...

SHMI: The Republic doesn't exist out here.

I still like the interpretation that the Republic simply doesn't have proper borders, though. I mean, borders with whom? Historically, lots of big countries would claim that places belonged to them that the places themselves would have... slightly different opinion on, or didn't care one way or another. The Hutts are portrayed as criminals, not a recognized government, which leaves enough wiggle room for my theory.

I mean, yours is probably the more canon-compliant one, but ehhh, canon ;)

Republic not being a EU parallel -- oh, obviously not. I mean, simply because I don't imagine Lucas giving a shit about EU :D I don't know that much about US Senate, but I feel the actual inspiration for the Republic Senate was the UN: a huge body that pretends to care, but only squabbles and doesn't offer help when needed. Including the slightly unsavory "diverse groups of people being incredibly petty" vibe, sigh.

[extrapenguin]

By TCW they're treating Hutt Space as a separate polity, and the Council of Netural Systems seems to be both in and out of the Republic in a very odd way. I can see the Republic claiming that all spacefaring civilization is under its aegis, and young, naïve Padmé believing that, but the Hutts having always been there, a bunch of mob bosses running the lawless remnants of what was once an Empire, plus all the polities in the Unknown Regions.