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Diary of a Temple Archive Girl
date posted: Aug 20, 2005 1:56 PM  |  updated: Sep 01, 2005 3:36 PM
Parents: A Necessary Evil
One of my favorite things about SW in general is that I am so conflicted about many things. My opinions vascillate and I can see the same situations from multiple points of view. It makes for endless 'what ifs' and 'playing Sith's advocate' and is wildly entertaining. That being said, let me begin my blog with one of my very favorite topics.

Mr. & Mrs. Skywalker. Anakin & Padme.

I love them. I absolutely do. What's not to love (aside from their inability to articulate their feelings in a mature way, but that's a whole other thing;). I was rooting for them, hoping against hope, eventhough I knew it all ended tragically, that everything would work out, somehow. When the inevitable played itself out, I accepted it as necessary to the story as laid out. But only to a point. I had a Denial of Death issue that I know Ernest Becker couldn't speak to and it was just killing me. So, I did what any self-respecting Dame of Denial would do, I went and sought out some fan fic that would make me feel better.

With that done, I've had some time to sit back and think about the destiny ravaged couple and now I have to ask... Are they the galaxy's worst parents or what?

Upon viewing ROTS, I had a whole WTF moment from the time Ani issued the force-choke on his beloved right through Padme's demise. Jedi Order & politics aside, what in the name of Courscant was he thinking? Granted, Anakin had been under a tremendous amount of stress for a time and he was a tad emotional, but still. Spare her, if not for her for the child. When he did this, I thought back to his expression when she told him they we're expecting. You know, that half-second look where he seems to be thinking, "And this is supposed to be a good thing?". Could it be that he didn't care about his progeny to begin with?

Then there's Padme. By all accounts she seemed pleased to be pregnant and was looking forward to being a mother. That being the case, I cannot for the life of me understand why she chose death. I know she loved Anakin and was heartbroken by his fall but she was also a determined, sometimes stubborn, strong young woman. Her Senatorial status aside, she was a former Queen of Naboo and people relied on her. She had the determination to fly to Mustafar to intervene on her errant husband's activities after lying to Obi-Wan about his whereabouts. This is the woman who choses death? This is the woman who leaves her newborns in the care of of others, in a galaxy swallowed by darkness? I think she had more reason to live with the birth of the children. If nothing else, to protect them from thier father. Instead, she left them behind. She left them in a world she would not exist in, but had a hand in creating. She left them to a fate she herself would not accept.

It seems it turned out that in the end, after all was said and done, Anakin and Padme only had room in their hearts for each other and themselves. A thing that sheer biology couldn't overcome.

But that's just how I'm seeing it right now. As with all things, it's subject to change without notice and go in a completely different direction.

  lia_nailo
Random Ruminations of a SW Fangirl
date Posted: Aug 20, 2005 4:26 PM
This is the first time I've seen someone write what I'd been wondering about, namely Padme going, "well, that's it for me" and just throwing in the towel. I've spent most of the prequels feeling kind of sorry for her ... but that changed my tune a little bit. Maybe it's cause I have two kids, I don't know ... but there is no way that I'd just up and abandon them, which is really what she did.

But, like you, my opinions seem to change at the drop of a hat, so I might feel totally different about it tomorrow. :D
  anisanissa
Diary of a Temple Archive Girl
date Posted: Aug 20, 2005 10:27 PM
I don't have any children & I still don't get it. I can't believe such a fiesty woman would just relinquish everything, let alone leave her children behind. I would have thought she'd fight that much more. Then again, I thought she would have put up more of a fight to save Ani from himself. She seemed like the kind of woman who would have been more pissed off by the force-choke thing, than hurt. I saw her yelling, "So you thought you'd dictate how it'd all play out, huh? Well, Sith de damned, I'm not surrendering anything!" & then having the babies, only to be offed by Palpatine after the fact because she was a constant threat. But hey, maybe that's just me. ;)
  lia_nailo
Random Ruminations of a SW Fangirl
date Posted: Aug 21, 2005 8:12 AM
LOL ... now see, that would have been a much more satisfying ending. :D She did really pull a 180, though; if it had been the same Padme from "The Phantom Menace", things would have been very different, I think. It's really baffling, because you tend to get a lot more snappy when you're pregnant (I got in trouble at work a couple times for that).
I know a lot of people have bemoaned the "she died of a broken heart" deal (I admit, I thought it was kind of cheap) ... but it might not have been so bad if she'd TRIED to save Anakin first. Although Obi-Wan's timing for his entrance was pretty spectacularly bad, Padme didn't do much besides kind of sniffle at Anakin prior to that.
  Sunnyskywalker
Sunnyskywalker's Star Wars Stuff
date Posted: Aug 21, 2005 5:05 PM
Yeah, I don't get it either. She's so motherly and protective toward Anakin, but she just up and dies on her actual children? It's like her hormones turned her into Senator Super-Wimp or something. How do you die of a broken heart, anyway?
  anisanissa
Diary of a Temple Archive Girl
date Posted: Aug 21, 2005 6:05 PM
LOL!! Senator Super-Wimp!!!:^O I'm sure I speak for Lia also when I say, we're glad it's not just us who found it strange and deeply disappointing.
  jediracer41
Jediracer
date Posted: Aug 21, 2005 6:36 PM
Maybe Padme figured the babies were bound to die anyway. If her husband would try to kill her, why wouldn't he go after the kids too? Maybe she just didn't want to be around when that happened. just a thought.
  marieaz
date Posted: Aug 22, 2005 10:37 PM
Decisions made in the depths of despair are often the wrong ones, but like suicide, this kind can't be taken back.

Artemisz
Mind Probe
date Posted: Aug 23, 2005 6:28 PM
I'm not one who subscribes to the "she died of a broken heart" idea. It just completely goes against her character, she failed in her duty to her children and that's something that the Padme' we've come to know would never do. I would prefer to believe there was some unseen cause, something we weren't told. I know there is no basis for that, but it's easier for me to accept than "a broken heart". And yeah, I agree - bad parents. Based on what we saw in Ep. III neither one of them is ever gonna win a parent of the year award.
  Sunnyskywalker
Sunnyskywalker's Star Wars Stuff
date Posted: Aug 23, 2005 7:53 PM
I sure hope it's something other than a broken heart. I recently read a blog (can't remember where now) that hypothesized that somehow Vader reached out with his anger as he was being put in the suit and killed her. Not sure if I buy it, but it's better than the whole icky broken heart idea.
  Sunnyskywalker
Sunnyskywalker's Star Wars Stuff
date Posted: Aug 23, 2005 7:57 PM
Which still doesn't let Padme off the hook! Did anyone hear any real plans for how to raise the baby from her? If she was going to resign from the Senate, how was she going to support herself? Her family started off as a family of humble farmers. It looks like they're doing better nowadays judging by the AOTC cut scene, but how much better? How much does Padme have saved up? Would she have had to use up her retirement fund? Or was she going to have her sister adopt the kids and see them on the weekends or something? Why didn't Anakin and Padme talk about these things? But no, they only got as far as, "Gee, it would be nice to have the baby on Naboo where it's pretty and there aren't as many reporters."
  anisanissa
Diary of a Temple Archive Girl
date Posted: Aug 24, 2005 5:02 AM
OMG! LMAO, Sunnyskywalker!!! Yeah, she was going to cash in her 401K because Ani's Jedi stipend wouldn't have been enough to care for one, let alone two children. He can't even afford his dry cleaning bill. ;) I have a feeling I'll be posting a detailed explanation of their plan at some point....:p
  Darth,Nilhilous
date Posted: Sep 06, 2005 11:51 PM
i have an answer to why anakin force choked padme cuse he was a sith does that answer your qestion?
  -----DarthRinger------
date Posted: Sep 26, 2005 1:42 AM
Yes, but Anakin also killed the one thing he went to the darkside in the first place for. That & power. If you think about it from the very beginning all he wanted was more power. I think that when he choked Padme he had become so addicted to power that nothing else mattered at all ( like he said "love won't save you know, only my power can do that").

  -----DarthRinger------
date Posted: Sep 26, 2005 1:43 AM
But as for why Padme chose death, I really do not know, perhaps with her husband gone she felt that there was no point in living any more. It would be hard for any one to accept that the person they loved has completely changed & turned on them like that. Plus with the added stress of child birth it must have been a very difficult & stressful situation.

When played out in the movie, this scene along with others don't make sense. If you have read any ROTS novels (especially Matthew Stover's) you will notice that it was explained a little better & in more detail. The novels also go into the character's mind which you obviously cannot do in a movie with out it looking extremely corny.

  -----DarthRinger------
date Posted: Sep 26, 2005 1:45 AM
Over all, I would have to agree, there were not really any good reasons as to why Padme chose to die. But we all knew she had to, otherwise when Anakin wakes up in his Vader suit, realises what he has done & that Palpatine had been lying all along about being able to use The Force to save lives, he would kill Palpatine, return to Padme & then there would not be an original trilogy. Or, (this is what I think would have made for a better ending)Palpatine would have to kill of Padme & the twins to keep Vader as his apprentice & simply lie about how they died.

Well no one ever said that this story was perfect, it is great, but not perfect.
  -----DarthRinger------
date Posted: Sep 26, 2005 1:46 AM
Over all, I would have to agree, there were not really any good reasons as to why Padme chose to die. But we all knew she had to, otherwise when Anakin wakes up in his Vader suit, realises what he has done & that Palpatine had been lying all along about being able to use The Force to save lives, he would kill Palpatine, return to Padme & then there would not be an original trilogy. Or, (this is what I think would have made for a better ending)Palpatine would have to kill of Padme & the twins to keep Vader as his apprentice & simply lie about how they died.

Well no one ever said that this story was perfect, it is great, but not perfect.
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