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Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun raised Luke Skywalker. But had they adopted him?

Luke calls them uncle Owen and aunt Beru. He knew of the family relation between Owen and his father, Anakin.

Yet the Skywalker family tree on Wikipedia (since corrected) shows a dashed line from Bail and Breha Organa to Leia, representing the adoption, but shows no such line from Owen Lars and Beru Whitesun to Luke Skywalker.

Skywalker family tree, from Wikipedia

Had Luke Skywalker been adopted by Owen and Beru? Was there any need to formally adopt him?

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    I have found a reference to a canon source which suggests they did adopt him, but I cannot get a primary source account
    – Edlothiad
    Jul 26, 2018 at 13:11
  • @SQB Gah! Ignore what I said. I somehow had Shmi and Cliegg as being siblings in my head there. Yes, Owen is of course his half-uncle.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Jul 26, 2018 at 13:11
  • @JanusBahsJacquet If you are going to get into that, Owen is Luke's step-uncle, not half uncle. They are not blood relatives.
    – Buzz
    Jul 26, 2018 at 13:48
  • @Buzz Very true!
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Jul 26, 2018 at 13:51

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There's a glancing reference in the Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia to Beru and Owen having

"adopt[ed] Anakin's son"

but on a world as lawless as Tatooine, it's not clear whether there's even a formal mechanism behind this. Certainly they raise him as 'Aunt Beru' and 'Uncle Owen' and we know that he's very well aware that they aren't his parents.

My instinct is that this is the sort of informal adoption arrangement you'd expect to find in any 'New Old West' environment.

enter image description here

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