There have been several entries very recently (some fun, some hot, some reflective) that are about or include Padme and her relationship to Anakin. I'll be honest that one thing I adore about the PT is the love story, crappy dialogue and all. I have been known to read and watch AOTC in a way I call "the good parts version" where I just skip to anything about Padme and Anakin's developing relationship and do my best not to drool (the squealing like a 13 year old girl I have given up trying to control entirely).

However, as much as I love it, I always find myself wondering exactly what a woman like Padme would see in a man like Anakin. What would cause her to fall in love with him other than the obvious, well established, undisputed FACT that Anakin is, as one fan put it so eloquently, "a monument of man." Anakin's falling for Padme makes so much sense. Not only is she beautiful she is also intelligent, a warrior, a queen, a mother figure, honorable, and kindness itself. What's not to love? As Hayden said in an interview about it on the special features of AOTC he could see how "anyone could fall in love with her." Interestingly enough when Natalie was asked a similar question she smiles (with that knowing look I think all of us Hayden fans get) and says "because he looks like Hayden Christensen. I mean, let's face it!" But is that all? After a while even the fan in me thinks it would be sad if it was.

But what else is there?

First of all, Padme's mothering instinct. Even before the moment Padme covers little nine year old Ani with a blanket her instinct to protect him, save him is established. She has already worked with refugee relief programs trying to save entire species from destruction. Her desire to help others is what drives her to be queen, and part of what makes her reign so successful. She is willing to protect her people at any cost. The results of the invasion of Naboo were something like what happens when a hiker finds himself in between a mother bear and her cubs, even Palps was surprised by her aggressiveness. Later in AOTC when Anakin slaughters the sand people Padme isn't frightened by his intensity. Instead she holds him, cares for him, listens to him. In the novelization it even says she "rocks him... and tells him everything will be alright." Anakin was looking for someone to mother him after being separated from Shmi, and Padme had a strong drive to mother.

The second reason was one I was only recently reminded of while listening to the ROTS novelization: "He is a wild creature who has come gently to her hand..." Anakin is a force of nature, a whirlwind of emotion. He comes on strong and fierce in everything he does. He is like the electricity in lightening, the sound in thunder, there is no need for him to reach out into the force because there is no part of him that is not in it all the time. As he says later "I am the disturbance (in the force)." He is turbulence itself - that awesome destructive/creative power that shakes up fates and foundations, and he has set his sites on her. How could she not get swept up in that momentum? There is nothing tame about him. I think Padme was used to being in control, and while she lived in heartfelt way, she was more accustomed to using her head to guide her life. I think Anakin "spoke" to her on a more instinctual almost energetic level.

Thirdly, I will borrow some words of wisdom from my little green friend. Why? "there is no why." I've often found that when I try to explain why I love my husband the description I give falls short of what I feel. Each word, though meaningful and true, feels small in comparison to the truth of the mysterious whole. The real reason I love him is that I just do. I loved him from the first moment those kind brown eyes looked down into mine. I didn't know a thing about him yet, and at the same time, in that moment, somehow I knew exactly who he was. Maybe this is true of all love. Perhaps there is no logical list of reasons, and perhaps there doesn't need to be.....

What do you think?