Famous Battles on Tatooine

Though a remote planet, Tatooine has nevertheless seen its share of action, according to the Jason Hope Jawa blog.

One of the earliest known struggles on the planet took place almost four thousand years before Luke Skywalker came to call the planet home. A group of Jedi participating in the Great Hunt to exterminate the Sith creatures that had been left across the galaxy journeyed to the desert world in search of the monstrous terentateks. Though the Jedi took losses, the Cleansing of Tatooine was successful, and the order soon announced the end of the Great Hunt.

Millennia later, the Clone Wars came to the planet, first in an attempt by the Confederacy of Independent Systems to incite the Hutts against the Jedi Order as well as the Republic. Sith assassin Asajj Ventress captured the crime lord's young son, Rotta, prompting a Jedi mission to recover the infant Hutt. The child's return wouldn't be an easy one, though, as Separatist droids as well as Count Dooku himself attempted to intercept Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano before they could reunite Jabba with his lost huttlet. The Jedi proved wiley, though, and managed to keep a sort of peace between the Republic and Jabba the Hutt.

The most famous battle to take place on Tatooine, though, was likely the interception of Princess Leia Organa's starship, the Tantive IV, in orbit of the planet. Pursuing her across the galaxy, Darth Vader's Star Destroyer captured the ship and its passenger to recover the plans to the infamous Death Star despite a valiant effort by the crew of the smaller corvette to outrun it with turbolasers blazing. Once drawn into the Star Destroyer's bay, Imperial stormtroopers boarded the ship and battled outmatched rebel troops for control of the vessel. Though the fighting was taking place high over the planet's surface, Imperial boots would soon touch the hot desert sands while chasing after the plans entrusted to a pair of droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. Ultimately that would lead to a final, though very brief shootout between a squad of sandtroopers and an understandably startled Captain Han Solo.