Hello, all! I'm puzzled about something. I'm not sure if this has ever been brought up........

In The Phantom Menace, after R2 fixes the Queen's Naboo starship, he is presented before the Queen, who is actually Padme's loyal bodyguard Sabé. She calls on Padmé to take the droid to be cleaned.

Okay, wait a minute.... Why would she send the real queen of Naboo to clean up a droid, a droid that has no actual importance in the saga as of yet? Wouldn't she want the real queen to stay by her side in case an important decision concerning her planet's safety and security is to be made? Why did Sabé feel Padmé would be of better use cleaning a droid?

I understand the importance of making everyone believe Padmé was just a mere handmaiden, and that Sabé assumed the role as a decoy in times of crisis But why not let the Jedi, who we "presume" didn't know about Padme at this time, (maybe Qui-Gon knew and maybe he didn't.....) in on their little secret? Wouldn't that have been a helpful thing for them to know from the start, since they were more or less protecting the queen?

Am I missing an critical plot point concerning R2? Was he more important at the beginning than I realize? Was it really THAT important for Padmé to be the one to clean him? Of course we knew how significant R2 was at the end of TPM, and in the subsequent movies, but if you watch the saga from 1-6, R2 was introduced as just a astromech droid on the queen's ship.

So why tie the "real queen" up in a menial task that one of the other crew members on the ship could have taken care of?



Or was this a plot on Sabé's part to overthrow the thrown and take it for herself???? She did seem awfully comfortable in the role.

Something to think about.

GB