SilverWook said:
The impression I got of Sand people in the original was scary territorial nomads who are best avoided. The novel pretty much says this in the photo insert. The snipers on the pod race course are consistent with that.
If you follow the old school of thought about how Star Wars is a "space western", the sand people fill the same plot function as hostile indian tribes would.
Kidnapping Anakin's mom, and basically torturing her seems needlessly sadistic, even for them.
I think given that we only have two actions to judge the Sand People on
- attacking, robbing, and abducting a young man for unknown reasons.
- Taking pot shots at people for no benefit to themselves
It seems odd to me to label kidnapping a lone defenseless women as somehow out of character. They seem like a pretty vicious people.