Reading the following thought provoking blog entry has got me to playing with an old theory I came up with in regards to Padme's destiny. As I have detailed elsewhere in my blog, Padme is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. Her death has been a source of consternation to many, myself included. I don't think that I ever envisioned her death coming at the hands of Anakin, even if he had turned to the dark side by then. Which brings us to the next point of debate. How could such a strong character have simply died from a broken heart? Personally, I'm not so sure that she died from a broken heart, although that seems to be the cause of her death. We all think that she had lost the will to live because of Anakin's fall to the dark side. I do think that Anakin's fall to the dark side is what caused her death, but not perhaps from a broken heart because of said fall to the dark side.

What if Padme's loss of the will to live was related to protecting her children? I realize that this is a bit of a radical idea. Why would a mother choose to die in order to protect her children. In order to answer why this may be the case, I'm going to examine Padme's life through the historical perspective of how her life intertwined with events in the galaxy.

Consider what Padme has seen in the moments leading up to this point in her life. She has spent her entire life in service to freedom and liberty, and has just witnessed the death of liberty. To make matters worse, it has come at the hands of an old mentor, a man that she ended up helping place in the position he now occupies. It was her vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum that helped Palpatine become Supreme Chancellor. It was the vote of her stand-in, Jar Jar Binks that gave Palpatine emergency powers to create the Grand Army that helped plunge the galaxy into war.

Now as if all of this isn't bad enough, her husband is being accused of joining the Emperor and slaughtering younglings, some of whom are not much older than the child she now carries. Distressed and heartbroken, Padme goes to Mustafar to talk to Anakin in a last ditch effort to save him. She already sensed that he was troubled. She is going to try desperately to save him. Note how she pleads with him to leave everything behind and come with her so they can raise the child away from the Empire. As much as Padme is committed to freedom and liberty, I think her priorities have changed now. The life she carries insider her is far more important to her now than anything else. Given that this pregnancy is hidden, she also must appear to carry on like nothing is different, hence her involvement with Senators Organa and Mon Mothma in laying the foundations of what will become the Rebellion.

In her confrontation with Anakin, Padme realizes that Anakin is gone. He has fallen to the dark side, and she realizes that he is, as Obi-Wan warned her, very dangerous. She begins to move away from him, afraid of what he has become when Obi-Wan emerges from the ship, and all you know what breaks loose. In this moment, Padmes sees how truly dark Anakin has become. He joined the dark side to save her, and is now using those very dark side powers in an effort to choke her. Nothing matters to him anymore. He will do whatever it takes to please his new master, including the killing of allies, friends, and even his wife.

At this point, we have to consider what may have been running through Padme's mind. Anakin will stop at nothing to keep Sidious happy. She knows that Anakin went to the dark side to save her. He will keep coming after her, and anyone associated with her. Surely, she knows that the Sith are the mortal enemies of the Jedi. She's been married to a Jedi for 3 years. She probably also knows that the baby inside her is likely to be force sensitive if she doesn't already know it. She knows that Palpatine will either kill the baby or use it to meet his own evil designs. And Anakin will continue to hunt down that baby either to kill it or take it in an effort to serve his new master. If Padme lives, Vader will hunt her and the child down. But what if she's dead? With Padme dead, Vader knows that the child died with her. There is no son of Skywalker. The child will be raised in anonymity and safe from the Emperor. Even if Padme gives the child up, Vader could still hunt her down, and do who knows what to find the information out from her. But in death, the child would appear to have died with her. It's worth bringing up the allies that Padme has. Bail Organa, as we know has been looking to adopt a baby girl. Is it possible that Padme, a close ally and friend, knows of this? She already knows that Obi-Wan will do everything he can to protect her child.

With all this in mind, I come to theory. That Padme didn't lose the will to live so much as she believed that the best way she could protect her loved ones and fight for what she believed in was to give up her life. Yoda would later tell Luke that he may have to sacrifice his friends if he believes in what they fight for. Luke and Leia were raised anonymously, safely hidden in plain view from the Emperor and Darth Vader, who will not to try to find his child that was never born, nor try to find his wife since she's dead. I suspect that Leia had seen pictures of her mother, perhaps when she was very young. She was certainly taught about what her mother believed in. And Luke inherited much from his mother. It is beautiful that Luke, who had no memories of his mother, would nonetheless echo her dying words as he tried to save his father. Somehow, he knew that there was still good in his father.

I realize this theory has no real basis from the films themselves, but it helps me to fill in some of the questions raised by her final destiny. In the prequels, Padme is the character that symbolizes freedom and liberty. It is fitting that her death would mirror the end of the republic, but also that she would literally give birth to the new hope that would grow up to lead the Rebellion and redeem her fallen husband, with both brother and sister defeating the Empire. They couldn't have done it without the other. Perhaps she didn't lose the will to live so much as she understood that her children would be targets of the Empire if their parents were known, but if they were orphans, then they could be raised in safety until the time came for them to fulfill their destiny.