Quote Originally Posted by WorzelG View Post
This irks me too. Even if they can't get her out then, why can't they go back and buy her out after the events of the story?
Qui-Gon couldn’t later go back for her because he was dead. But even if he had lived he probably wouldn’t need to go back to free Shmi because she was ultimately emancipated anyway without jedi help, and she freely chose to marry and continue her life on Tatooine allowing Anakin to properly train with Obi-Wan. The jedi council wouldn’t have cared about freeing her any sooner as they clearly didn’t even want to take in and train Anakin-a person who could potentially fulfill an important sithending prophecy. Qui-Gon alone was the catalyst to freeing Anakin and later convincing Obi-Wan to train Anakin against the council’s decision not to. It seems doubtful that anyone other than maybe Qui-Gon (had he lived) or eventually Anakin would have gone back for Shmi.