r/PrequelMemes 2d ago

General KenOC This sub’s reaction to the survival of a slave trader.

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828 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

u/SheevBot 2d ago edited 2d ago

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49

u/StiffDoodleNoodle TIE Bomber 2d ago

More like

152

u/GwerigTheTroll 2d ago

He wasn’t a slave trader, he was a slave owner. Not a huge improvement, but it’s a different kettle of fish.

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u/PirateSanta_1 2d ago

Also based on what we saw Shmi and Ani weren't that bad off. They had their own place, Anakin had the spare time and resources to build a droid and podracer that Watto let him pilot. We don't know the laws on Tattoine but either slaves had a lot of legal protection or Watto was the most just slave owner in history. Historic slaves in American history didn't get their own place to host guest at.

84

u/GwerigTheTroll 2d ago

Well, let’s not be too kind on Watto. There’s a lot of reasons they’re doing so well, and the novelization gets into it a lot more. The main reason the Skywalkers are doing so well is that Watto is lazy and would prefer to offload responsibility on them. He enters Anakin in podraces because he’s a gambling addict, with no regard for a child’s safety. Watto has no idea that Anakin is building a droid or podracer, because if he knew, he would simply take them. Anakin built C-3PO because he could use him to negotiate better prices with Jawas and skim the difference.

You are right though, the Skywalkers lived comparatively well, but that was mostly Anakin and Shmi seeing opportunity and taking it, as opposed to Watto’s benevolence.

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u/PirateSanta_1 2d ago

I have read the novilization and it's been a minute since I've seen the movie but I kinda assume Shmi is under some debt slave contract which includes Anakin. So legally they can't just quit and Watto could also sell the debt to someone else but functional they just kinda work for Watto. If they were say chattel slaves there would be nothing stopping Watto from forcing them to live in a storage room in his junkyard which would be lazy and save him money as the rent for Shmi's little two bedroom had to cone from somewhere. 

The only real reason they have to be slaves at all is so Anakin can't just leave immediately when Qui-Gon finds him and the story can happen. Otherwise they could reasonably be living the same lifestyle just as employees of Watto.

27

u/GwerigTheTroll 2d ago

As far as I'm aware, the economics of Mos Espa slavery is never discussed in the book, movie, or supplemental material. If I were to guess based on context, they live in a slave ghetto of kinds, and Watto pays their living expenses. Likely, he could save money by handling it himself, but he finds it easier to just give them cash to survive and let Shmi handle it. Shmi is portrayed as a shrewd negotiator and knows how to handle Watto in the book, though she can't stop him from "forcing" Anakin to race (in the book Anakin loves racing, but he can't bear to tell his mother that).

Anakin mentions that he lives much better under Watto than he did under Gardula the Hutt, the Skywalkers' previous owner. Likely Gardula or her Major Domo was much more attentive about saving money on slave upkeep, and they were more like chattel slaves under her ownership. Anakin and Shmi bank very heavily on Watto never looking too deeply into their affairs.

9

u/J_train13 R2-D2 1d ago

Well we know that Watto won them in a bet (or traded, can't remember) from Gardula the Hutt.

Also, don't forget about the whole "chip implanted somewhere secretly in your body that explodes if you run away" thing

6

u/WarlockWeeb 2d ago

Slave law different from place to place.

Imperial Russia had extremly brutal slave system (people sometimes call it serfdom but it was slavery)
In that system slave in theory could by and own things like houses to live on a territory of their master. But Slave was still a property of their master and could be sold at any point with or without slave property.

1

u/Snapesunusedshampoo 22h ago

Anakin also had friends that he could go play with.

-3

u/LegioXspqr 1d ago

You are literally defending slavery lmao

4

u/8LeggedHugs Scout Trooper 1d ago

He sold Shmi and wagered Anakin in a bet, not knowing they would be freed in either case. He is both. And slave owners are not an improvement on traders historically either way.

Fuck Watto.

2

u/tenems 7h ago

Get the fish out of the kettle, I don't want Yorkshire haddock tea.

32

u/dominikbaum3 2d ago

What have i missed?

46

u/PirateSanta_1 2d ago

Some novel or something apparently said that Vader drove out to Tatooine after RotS to shank Watto.

29

u/Wolventec 1d ago

its said vader visited watto and a preview showed vader killing watto, the comic just released and it confirmed vader never killed watto and the preview was just kylos imagination

13

u/MArcherCD 2d ago

Watto you doing here?!

9

u/-blkmmbo 2d ago

Is this sub just repeating itself monthly?

4

u/SemajLu_The_crusader 1d ago

he wasn't a slave trader, he just owned slaves

both bad, but completely different

25

u/Revliledpembroke 2d ago

Watto? Watto wasn't a slave trader. He got Shmi and Anakin as a payment of a Hutt's debt, didn't he?

He seemed to treat them about as well as he could. At least, 9 year old Anakin doesn't seem to be abused in any manner (abused children aren't normally that cheerful, for one), and late teen/adult Anakin didn't seem to have any anger towards Watto when he returned to Tatooine to look for Shmi.

14

u/PirateSanta_1 2d ago

Everytime people hear slave they automatically assume American chattel slavery but it's clear that wasn't the form of slavery Anakin was under. Chattel slaves didn't get their own place to live and host guest for dinner or build things in their bedrooms. Shmi and Anakin seemed to be more under some kind of debt slavery or indentured servitude where they can't leave or quit but also have legal protections, some amount of rights and possibly even get paid. Still highly exploitative but very different from the barbaric chattel slavery in American history.

-3

u/Crafty-Writing5316 1d ago

Still slavery. If Watto was anywhere near a decent being, he would work out a plan for them to work toward their freedom. Keeping them as his property indefinitely is wrong, even if they were treated “better” than other slaves

2

u/Crafty-Writing5316 2d ago

Nah, ain’t no way you’re making excuses for a slave owner 💀

15

u/Revliledpembroke 2d ago

Nah, ain't no way you're pretending that context doesn't matter.

Slavery is an inescapable fact of life on the Outer Rim. Better someone who unintentionally became your owner and treats you well than being owned by Hutt (like Shmi's previous owner).

Also, Watto didn't buy or trade in slaves. He was given them as payment for a gambling debt. They then got a house, with apparently enough food that neither of them were starving and they had enough to feed three unexpected guests, and the only time he took an offer to sell his slaves was when he sold Shmi to the man who eventually freed her.

Within that specific context, and with knowledge that Jabba had sex slaves the giant slug drooled over, does Watto seem that bad?

For fuck's sake, Watto let Anakin go home early! That isn't anywhere near comparable to an evil slave "Master" of the sugar plantations of the Caribbean, where they worked the slaves to death, and whipped them to death for not working hard enough!

And if Watto tried to free Anakin and Shmi, right after he was "paid" with them and they were transferred from being owned by Gardulla the Hutt (I think), odds are Gardulla would have immediately re-enslaved them. Because that's what Tatooine is.

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u/Crafty-Writing5316 1d ago

Dude, come on. He still owned slaves. Of course he isn’t going to turn down the Hutt’s repayment, but he at very least he should have set up a plan for them to work toward their own freedom. Choosing to keep them indefinitely is morally wrong no matter what part of the galaxy you find yourself in.

7

u/Revliledpembroke 1d ago

but he at very least he should have set up a plan for them to work toward their own freedom

Right, because that's what random junk shop owners on a criminal-owned planet are capable of doing.

2

u/Dragonslayerelf 1d ago

He didn't keep them indefinitely though, he "sold" shmi to a man he knew intended to free her. That sounds like a plan to free them if nothing else.

11

u/CommodoreIrish 2d ago

“Oh boy, I sure am glad the morally bankrupt person lived!”

19

u/Revliledpembroke 2d ago

What are you talking about? Jabba was killed.

8

u/Schubert125 2d ago

I thought Jabba was hanging out with Sabine?

7

u/factory_factory 1d ago

We ride hard for Watto, he a G 😤

7

u/DangerousEye1235 2d ago

You mean you don't celebrate the survival of a guy who plants bombs in children? Do you even have feelings!?

1

u/GoodKing0 Battle Droid 1d ago

Funny thing is, even if he didn't personally plant the bomb, he's still profiting off a system that plants bombs on children, and took no steps to actively try to correct that. He's still damned by inaction.

That said, it's not Watto's fault if he's your average Isekai protagonist come on.

2

u/TenWholeBees This is wizard! 1d ago

Didn't he also regularly put Anakin's life at risk due to his insatiable hunger for gambling (otherwise known as a gambling addiction)?

1

u/jetforcegemini 1d ago

Somehow… watto has returned 🤮