Discussion YMMV / AttackOfTheClones

"Or perhaps, like everyone else, Padmé just assumes that the Sand People are nothing but savage cannibals who go around brutalizing people for fun and thus viewed them as not deserving sympathy; an assumption that's hard to argue with after Anakin brings back his mother's heavily tortured corps"

That still doesn't explain her putting aside him killing their children. Complete savage barbarians or not, no decent person would do or defend doing that.

This felt like a long diatribe that feels particularly out of place with KOTOR being placed in the Legends continuity.

• Here's the problem with Sand People/Tusken Raiders: They're survivors of the cataclysm caused by the Infinite Empire that reduced Tatooine to a giant desert. As a result, they're extremely paranoid, violent and anti-technology, and will attack anyone using any of it, even a housewife caring for moisture vaporator(Basically a machine to make water out of humidity). The only person who ever managed to talk with them was Revan, and that was because he used a translator droid; even then, they were extremely hostile. Padmé doesn't know any of that, neither does the rest of the galaxy. All she knows from the Sand People is that they're mindless desert savage tribe who, in her time in Tatooine from years ago to present time, tried shooting Anakin as a child while he was podracing, kidnapped and killed his mother, as well as cripping her husband and killing all rescuers, for no clear or good reason. It's not illogical for her to think they're Always Chaotic Evil, or Anakin; he grew up in Tatooine, and probably heard of the horrible things Sand People do. She WAS horrified by Anakin's act, but the mix of his mother's murder and the fact the Sand People seem to be nothing but monsters lessened the horror from the act (And unless you played the games, you'll also reach the same conclusion.). The Jedi Younglings are another thing entirely. They are kids, sentient and innocent, and Anakin killed them in cold blood when he didn't even need to. He could have just as easily taken them into custody and let Palpatine try and convert them to the Dark Side. Unlike the first time, Anakin doesn't have a good enough excuse.
  • The reason behind their savagery doesn't exist in the context of the movies. Unless they gave moviegoers a copy of Knights of the Old Republic, it's irrelevant (and besides, the game was released about a year after the movie). In the context of the film, they're a hostile race who cannot be reasoned with. I'd argue they're more akin to animals than to humans..
  • Considering they'd do the same to Tatooine's inhabitants if they could, it's a complicated situation in the saga's context. Revan only got close enough to talk because he stole the clothes from other tusken he killed (Which is a big taboo for them, and he doesn't tell them WHERE he got it. If you do it in the game, they'll attack you and you'll be forced to kill the whole settlement). The Tusken Raiders just shoot anyone who get near them for no good reason; it's not even a territorial dispute, because most of Tatooine is vacant, so it's not like they're an oppressed people. Genocide is never okay, but would you shed a tear if someone decided to kill all the Hutts? As with the Tusken, we have very few, if any examples that Hutts can be good and friendly instead of slaving criminal bosses PlanetOfHats, but the Sand People at least have a Freudian Excuse.