Qui-Gon Jinn helped free Anakin Skywalker from slavery in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but before Disney relegated the Expanded Universe to an alternate timeline, he also indirectly helped free his mother, Shmi Skywalker. After the iconic podracing sequence in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon attempted to free Shmi Skywalker as he did Anakin, but Watto wouldn’t allow it. The Legends continuity expresses Qui-Gon’s tenacity by having him subtly contribute to Shmi’s freedom.
Qui-Gon Jinn and his companions were on an urgent mission to repair their starship and bring Queen Amidala to Coruscant in The Phantom Menace, but after discovering the astounding strength in the Force of a young Anakin Skywalker, Jinn also sought to free and train him as a Jedi. Although he couldn’t free Shmi, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones reveals that she was sold to Cliegg Lars sometime after The Phantom Menace and freed. What the film didn’t reveal, however, was that Qui-Gon Jinn contributed to Shmi’s freedom.
The 2003 novel Tatooine Ghost reveals that one of Qui-Gon Jinn’s final acts was arranging for a valuable starship part, a tobal lens, to be delivered to Shmi Skywalker in secret. The part allowed Cliegg and Owen Lars, the former of whom was in love with Shmi, to purchase and immediately free her. Though Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t live to see it, he ensured Shmi’s freedom in a move that demonstrated his rule-breaking nature.
Shmi Would've Had A Different Fate In Qui-Gon Lived
As a Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn was inclined to help others whenever possible. Despite the urgency of his mission in The Phantom Menace, Jinn wished to free Shmi because it was the right thing to do. Anakin wouldn’t have been able to see his mother as a Jedi, but Qui-Gon set events in motion to at least give her a better life than that of a slave. Given Qui-Gon’s tendency to bend or break rules for the greater good, however, he might have allowed Anakin and Shmi to see each other if he’d survived The Phantom Menace.
Qui-Gon Jinn was unique among the prequel-era Jedi. While the order had fallen into corruption by the events of the prequel trilogy, Jinn followed the will of the Force, even if it put him at odds with the Jedi Order as an institution or the Galactic Republic that it served. If Qui-Gon survived his duel with Darth Maul and mentored Anakin, he might have helped Anakin more easily transition into the life of a Jedi by allowing him and Shmi to occasionally see each other.
The canon version of Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t make any additional attempts to free Shmi Skywalker after Watto refused his request. While still a maverick Jedi Master, the canon iteration of Qui-Gon doesn’t quite highlight his tenacity and crafty adherence to his ethics the way that Legends did. Before Disney made Star Wars Legends a secondary continuity, Qui-Gon Jinn succeeded in freeing Anakin Skywalker’s mother, something that most prequel-era Jedi wouldn’t do.