For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of the third and final Star Wars prequel, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, is Anakin's emotional struggle concerning the fate of Padme. Visions of her death plague him during the twilight hours. His concern, as we all know, leads him to make several drastic and fateful choices. Which gives rise to several questions: Were these visions glimpses into a future set in stone, or was this future simply a manifestation of what might be? Therein lies the problem.

The thoughts and feelings experienced by Anakin early in the film must be, in many ways, similar to those very ideas that form in the mind of the audience member. He faces the most terrible of possibilities: The death of a loved one. Two paths, two choices now exist for young Anakin Skywalker. 1.) He can simply go about his Jedi duties and wait for his foresight to be or not be realized or 2.) He can take action to try and prevent Padme's death during childbirth. Let us examine each option more closely.

1.) Had Skywalker followed Master Yoda's advice and given himself to the will of the force, would Padme have died? As it stands now, we, as the audience, will never know. It might be interesting to note that in most Science Fiction films involving time travel or pasts and futures (i.e. Terminator, Back to the Future, Paycheck, etc.) time is an entity that is not altered per say, but that exists as an unmanipulated stream of existence. On simpler terms, the future is set in stone, and any attempts by the protagonist to alter it, in the end, only cause that very future. If Anakin had taken a more passive approach to his predicament, the likely possibility is that Padme may have died anyway. She may have been destined from the beginning to die in childbirth... Anakin's choking her may have been only an alternate catalyst for her death. Any other number of complications may have arisen if he had acted different.

For example... let's say that Anakin rejected Palpatine's offerings of power and that the Sith Lord was either taken into custody or killed. Mace Windu might have survived, as would the majority of the remaining Jedi Order. No Order 66... no ending to the Clone Wars. Perpetual war... Padme decides that she would like to have her children far from the political congestion that is Coruscant, and takes her skiff to head to her homeworld of Naboo. On the way, the skiff blunders upon a Separatist flotilla and is badly damaged in the resulting firefight. Oxygen levels decrease aboard the ship and Padme experiences high levels of trauma. The crippled craft limps to the closest system, Polis Massa, where Padme gives birth to the twins and subsequently dies. The possible outcomes here on out are endless...

2.) As seen in the film, Anakin pledges himself to Darth Sidious in the hopes that he can prevent Padme from dying. His disillusioned quest leads him down a path of darkness, and in the end, to cause that which he fought to stop. The rest is galactic history...

Was it the unstoppable will of the Force that Padme die from the beginning? Impossible to know, but an interesting plot element to contemplate. These wonderings bring up more questions related to other visions found throughout the Star Wars films, i.e. Anakin's dream of freeing the slaves, Luke's vision of Han and Leia suffering and dying at Bespin... but these are debatable in their own right.