Star Wars: Why The Empire’s Defeat Was Really Bad For Tatooine
When the Rebel Alliance finally defeated the Empire in Star Wars, the future looked brighter - just not on Tatooine. Return of the Jedi's finale marks the momentous moment Sheev Palpatine is defeated, and celebrations erupt everywhere from Naboo and Coruscant, to Endor and Alderahhh... never mind. George Lucas' supplementary CGI montage shows the entire galaxy raising a glass to the Empire's defeat, and includes the fateful planet of Tatooine, which played an important role in both the formation and downfall of the Palpatine regime. As per the Star Wars sequel trilogy, a fair and democratic New Republic then assumes control, pioneering a period of peace until its destruction at the hands of the First Order.
But the truth of the Empire's fall isn't quite so straightforward. Set in the gap between Star Wars' original and prequel trilogies, The Mandalorian takes Din Djarin, bounty hunter extraordinaire, through a post-Palpatine galaxy, and the view isn't always pretty. As much as civilized planets might've hoped for better when they witnessed the fall of the second Death Star, the Rebel Alliance's new dawn is still struggling to get over the horizon in The Mandalorian's era.
This is especially true of Tatooine. Djarin visits the planet in both seasons of The Mandalorian, initially to get the Razor Crest repaired after a dogfight, and later to investigate rumors of another Mandalorian. The Mandalorian's Tatooine episodes offer a detailed glimpse at the planet's fate after Return of the Jedi, and the Rebels' victory arguably leaves Luke Skywalker's sandy home in an even worse predicament than when the twin suns were eclipsed by the dark shadow of the Empire.
It's Cobb Vanth's story in The Mandalorian season 2 that truly shows Tatooine life in all its ugly glory, but even before then, Din Djarin's journey was successfully exposing the deep flaws of the New Republic. The Empire's presence bubbles beneath the surface of planets like Nevarro, where Imperial agents strike shady deals with bounty hunters and local officials. It's the same corruption and tyranny of old, just no longer conducted in the open. When Mando visits Sorgan, he finds a peaceful village under threat from local criminals who are using a stolen Imperial AT-ST to terrorize locals into handing over their food. The Seven Samurai of Sorgan is an early indicator of how the Empire's defeat created a power vacuum that smaller-time bad guys could occupy.
"The Prisoner" takes Din Djarin directly into the New Republic's firing line, and this is the The Mandalorian's first opportunity to explore the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the new leadership. As it turns out, the New Republic is desperately struggling to maintain order - stretched thin as they attempt to quash Imperial uprisings, settle planetary disputes, and prevent chaos from breaking out entirely. After years of warfare, soldiers such as Cara Dune come resent these menial tasks, and duly quit the New Republic, leaving their ranks even more short-handed. These lingering Imperial forces and New Republic teething problems account for why smaller, out-of-the-way locales such as Sorgan fall into situations just as bad (if not worse) than life under the Empire.
The Mandalorian expands on the inherent impotency of the New Republic in season 2. The same two or three X-Wing pilots appear to be the only fighters ever on patrol, while the Empire enjoys an open presence on Trask, Nevarro, Corvus, and Morak - all planets where ordinary folks are being subjugated by Imperials without any response from the good guys.
The New Republic aren't exactly covering themselves in glory anywhere in the galaxy, judging from The Mandalorian, but the situation on Tatooine is especially dire. In flashback scenes, The Mandalorian season 2 shows the exact moment victory is achieved at the Battle of Endor, prompting a bar full of patrons to explode with joy. But Cobb Vanth recalls that as soon as the Empire were kicked off the sandy rock, the Mining Collective swept in and assumed control of entire settlements, turning Mos Pelgo into an unwilling workforce within the space of a single night. If that wasn't bad enough, Tusken Raiders continue to cause problems, warring with villages they accuse of stealing their water, and Mos Eisley doesn't seem any less scummy or villainous than when the Empire were in charge. In the New Republic's absence, it's up to vigilantes and mercenaries like Vanth to uphold the law.
On the other end of the spectrum, the legacy of the Hutts remains strong - even if Jabba himself is long dead. The Mandalorian season 2 confirms that Bib Fortuna took over Jabba's criminal Empire after the original don was strangled to death by Leia. However, the final moments of The Mandalorian's season 2 finale show Boba Fett positioning himself as the new boss, ruthlessly killing everyone in the palace. Before the Empire, the Hutts ruled Tatooine like a mafia, imposing "taxes" and trafficking humans, despite slavery being outlawed by the Republic. By the time the Empire falls, the Hutts' power has also waned, but this leaves small factions of ne'er-do-wells to carve up Tatooine for themselves, leaving the planet in a more chaotic and fractured state than ever before.
Tatooine is rife with wrongdoing and criminality, but it's the presence of slavery that best highlights the planet's backward progression after Return of the Jedi. Defying galactic law, slavery was commonplace on Tatooine before the Empire came to power, with Shmi Skywalker informing her confused future daughter-in-law that the Republic's reach doesn't extend to the Outer Rim. The Hutts also played a role in maintaining this abhorrent tradition, making a profit from the trade and keeping servants for their own purposes.
The Mining Collective bide their time while the Empire occupies Tatooine, and only make their move after the planet's liberation, which implies that the Imperials actually abolished slavery on the wild deserts of Tatooine. Unfortunately, the truth isn't quite so simple. Star Wars canon is filled with examples of the Empire participating in slavery. Palpatine repealed the Galactic Republic's ban and even classed certain species (Wookiees, for example) as non-sentient, so they could be dominated as a slave workforce. But the Empire was more interested in allowing slavery for their own purposes than letting other organizations enhance their power. The Mining Collective most likely waited until after the Empire's defeat to subjugate Mos Pelgo because Palpatine's mob would've never allowed them to grow so influential by snatching an entire village of free workers - not because the Imperials had any particular moral aversion to human slavery.
In practice, this meant settlements such as Mol Pelgo were protected from greedy criminals and evil companies because the Empire kept those forces in check for entirely separate reasons. Life under Imperial rule was obviously tough for the people of Tatooine (otherwise they wouldn't have celebrated so wildly in The Mandalorian season 2's flashback) but the revelers perhaps didn't realize that the Empire's presence was deterring smaller, local baddies who would exploit the villagers in a heartbeat for a few extra credits, and this is why the Empire's rule was arguably the lesser of two evils for Tatooine. As Qui-Gon Jinn famously taught his young Padawan, sometimes a bigger fish is a good thing in the Star Wars universe.