Enligt filmens junior novellering var det Ben Kenobi som byggt pjuren, med hjälp av droiderna. Det finns ingen indikation på vad som bad honom att göra det.
Luke drove his landspeeder back to the ruined sandcrawler. In his absence, Ben had prepared a pyre near the sandcrawler, and he returned to find C-3PO and R2-D2 placing the Jawa corpses onto the flames. The droids stopped what they were doing and watched Luke as he stepped away from his landspeeder and went to Ben. Ben saw the torment in Luke’s face and said, “There’s nothing you could have done, Luke, had you been there. You’d have been killed too, and the droids would now be in the hands of the Empire.”
Luke didn’t have time for pity. He said, “I want to come with you to Alderaan. There’s nothing for me here now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.”
Ben nodded. When the last Jawa had been placed on the burning pyre, the two men loaded the droids onto the landspeeder and drove off.