I've seen a lot of blogs about the effects of Anakin's love for Padme on him but I've never seen a blog entry about the effects of their love on Padme and exactly how she changed throughout the prequel trilogy. I am here to deliver such a blog entry:

Let's start off with TPM. In TPM, she was the Queen of Naboo in disguise who would switch roles with her handmaiden, Sabe'. She went with Qui-Gon and Jar Jar Binks on Tatooine when technically her ship succumbed to a broken hyperdrive engine. There she met a sweet (perhaps too sweet......), little boy named Anakin Skywalker who would become a Jedi. When they came to Naboo, she revealed her true identity to Boss Nass. In the end, the battle was won, peace was restored, yatayatayata......

Now, Padme never had a great amount of freedom in her life nor did she try to change anything. Even though she ultimately made all the decisions, Padme was always being represented by a lesser handmaiden of hers. When her term was up as Queen, she should have been happy but Padme was not very adaptable (which may be the irony of the deleted scene from AOTC in her bedroom), probably due to the fact that she had little freedom to change her life in the first place. When Queen Jamilia offered her a job as senator of Naboo, she couldn't refuse. It gave her a chance to not have to think about her life and re-enter politics (something discussed in the first few chapters of the AOTC novelization which take place in Padme's house before she departs to Coruscant).

Of course, this led to her falling in love with Anakin, perhaps the biggest mistake she ever made. Not only did she generally love him, it gave her a chance to let somebody else control her life, perhaps a reason why she finally married him.

Soon, the Clone Wars arrived and now her political power too was usurped by Palpatine who seemed to preside over everybody else in the Galactic Senate. She was practically nothing now and by the end of the war, Padme desperately longed for Anakin, the only thing that meant anything in her life. She just wanted to be with Anakin. That's why she allowed Anakin to want to quit the Order and why she just wanted to rush off to the Lake Country with him so they can peacefully raise their baby there. Despite it having the cheesiest love dialogue in movie history, the balcony scene was one of the most defining in the film.

Padme did die of a broken heart but not just because she had lost the love of her life, because she had lost everything: Anakin, all freedom, all power. Love doesn't necessarily have to be associated with a broken heart.

So that pretty much concludes my analysis. Please provide feedback. I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts.