"I wish that I could say," Qui-Gon told Han. "As I understand it, I didn't live to ask or answer that question in my own time. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure Shmi Skywalker's freedom while on Tatooine. The measures taken in the Outer Rim at the time to enforce slavery made it difficult at best to liberate a slave without the consent of the master. Had anyone attempted to free Anakin's mother by force, Watoo could have easily killed her out of spite."
The issue was a troubling one, to say the last. Qui-Gon had hoped that something might be done for Shmi, once matters on Naboo were settled. Without another Jedi from his own time to ask, he could only speculate.
"Anakin's fall from the light was not a simple matter of altering one or two events," he continued. "While the seduction of the Dark Side may seem straightforward, that is rarely the case in practice." Of all Jedi of his time, Qui-Gon should know this, having lost an apprentice and, after Tahl's death, very nearly himself.