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Template:SW Character

Padmé Naberrie (46 - 19 BBY), also known as Queen and then finally, Senator Amidala, is a prominent citizen of the planet Naboo in the fictional Star Wars universe.

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She is the wife of Anakin Skywalker and the mother of future rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. In the Star Wars films, the young heroine is portrayed by actress Natalie Portman. The Star Wars Visual Dictionaries describe the character Padmé as raised by "humble" parents in a small mountain village of Naboo, although in the films, Padmé's parents are depicted as aristocrats. Perhaps this is funded by Padmé's later social success.

Apparently very seriously trained as a child, Padmé is named Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital city, when barely a teenager, and is elected Queen of the entire planet at age fourteen. As queen, Padmé takes the reign name of Amidala. Just as "Padmé" is Sanskrit for lotus flower, "Amidala" is the spiritual manifestation of a lotus flower. As queen, she takes five handmaidens as her bodyguards and companions. These five and others will provide her with her most loyal friendships throughout the films. The handmaidens of Queen (and later Senator) Amidala are:

• Sabé - Amidala's body double during dangerous situations
• Cordé - who serves as decoy for Amidala when she is a Senator
• Rabé - who serves as hairdresser to the queen
• Eirtaé - royal protocol expert
• Saché
• Yané
• Dormé - who serves as a bodyguard to Padmé when she is a Senator
• Versé
• Motté
• Ellé

The Phantom Menace

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Padmé fights hard through political and physical means to rid her planet of the blockade of the Trade Federation. She refused to fight the Federation out of fear of bringing harm to her people. Instead, she tries to appeal to the Galactic Senate. On the advice of Naboo's senator, Palpatine, she persuades the Senate to cast a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Finis Valorum, who is swiftly removed from office. Palpatine is elected in his place.

Unbeknownst to Padmé, however, Palpatine is in fact the main instigator of the conflict; secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, he is providing the Trade Federation with monetary and political support in order to create the crisis necessary to elevate himself to a more powerful post.

While returning to Coruscant, Padmé is guarded by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Their ship is attacked by a Federation flagship, and they are forced to land on Tatooine, the nearest non-Federation planet. There, they encounter a nine-year-old slave, Anakin Skywalker, whom Qui-Gon is convinced is the Chosen One, foretold of in Jedi prophecy, who is destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Qui-Gon wins Anakin's freedom, and takes him to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi. Padmé and Anakin form a strong bond during the trip.

Padmé, with help from a Gungan army, the two Jedi, and Anakin, defends her homeworld against invasion from the Federation army in what would become known as the Battle of Naboo.

Attack of the Clones

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set ten years later, she is elected to the Galactic Senate after her two terms as Queen expire. She is leading a faction opposed to the establishment of an army to quell the emerging threat from the Confederacy of Independent Systems and their army of clone troopers. Padmé was a target for assassination because of her attempts to resolve resolutions in the Senate. She is the intended target of a failed assassination attempt on her life, which is later revealed to have been organized by her old enemy Nute Gunray. Anakin, who is now Obi-Wan's apprentice, is assigned to protect her. Palpatine sends Padmé to vacation on Naboo, far from harm's way, with the secret intention of having her murdered.

On Naboo, Anakin, who has developed a strong infatuation with Padmé, confesses his love for her. She initially rebuffs his advances, but over time grows to return his feelings after he saves her again and again from Seperatist attack. The turning point comes when Anakin's mother, Shmi, is killed by Tusken Raiders, sending the young Jedi into a blind rage in which he slaughters all of them; when he tearfully confesses to her what he has done, she realizes that he truly loves her, and that she, much to her own surprise, loves him in return.

When Obi-Wan is kidnapped on Geonosis by Separatist leader (and fallen Jedi) Count Dooku, Padmé and Anakin journey to the planet to save him, but are captured themselves and condemned to death in a gladiatoral arena. Minutes from certain death, Anakin expresses his love for her, which she reciprocates for the first time. They are saved, however, by Jedi Master Mace Windu, who bursts into the arena in the nick of time, accompanied by a band of Jedi, to duel with Dooku's forces, in the first battle of the Clone Wars. Padmé shows herself to be rather more handy in combat than might be expected of a politician. Anakin, meanwhile, engages Dooku in battle, but is quickly defeated, losing an arm to the rogue Jedi's lightsaber. Upon returning to Coruscant, Anakin and Padmé are married in a secret ceremony attended only by R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In some of the deleted scenes of Attack of the Clones, Padmé's family is also introduced: her parents, Jobal and Ruwee Naberrie, her sister Sola, and nieces Ryoo and Pooja Naberrie. On an interesting note, Pooja later follows in her aunt's footsteps to become Senator of Naboo during the years of the Galactic Civil War.

Revenge of the Sith

While keeping their marriage a secret from the Jedi and the Senate, Padmé becomes pregnant during one of her husband's rare nights with her during the Clone Wars. She tells him the news upon his return, igniting in him an implacable fear that she will die in childbirth.

Palpatine, meanwhile, has by now become the most powerful man in the galaxy, amassing near-absolute emergency powers as he claims to defend his people against the Separatists. He appoints Anakin as his representative on the Jedi Council so that he can have eyes into the Jedi's plans, and also so he may turn the young Jedi to the dark side. Palpatine senses Anakin's fear for Padmé's life, and tells him that the dark side holds the power to prevent death. He reveals himself to Anakin as a Sith Lord, and later pleads with him for help as he duels with Windu, who went to arrest him after learning of his true identity. When Windu apparently has Palpatine at his mercy, scarring the Chancellor horribly by reflecting the Force lightning he fires back onto him, Anakin finally gives in and severs Windu's arm as he is about to strike, giving Palpatine the chance to blast Windu out of a high-rise window to his death. Palpatine then repeats his promise that, together, they can save Padmé with the dark side, and Anakin becomes his new apprentice, Darth Vader.

Padmé, meanwhile, is helpless as Palpatine declares himself the Galactic Emperor and pledges to destroy the Jedi, whom he claims tried to assassinate him so they could rule the galaxy. She lacks the power to stop him, and so plans to escape Palpatine's grasp with Anakin. Her plans are dashed, however, when she learns that Anakin has become a Sith Lord and has murdered countless Jedi, including children, at Palpatine's order. She briefly joins Mon Mothma in creating a resistance movement that will later become the Rebel Alliance.

She then goes to the volanic planet Mustafar, where Anakin has been sent, to try one last time to pull him back from the brink; unbeknownst to her, Obi-Wan has stowed away in her ship. It is no use, however, as Anakin has gone mad with power, justifying the atrocities he has committed with the promise that, together, they can remake the Republic "the way we want it to be." Heartbroken and frightened, she recoils from him in horror. This rejection, coupled with Obi-Wan's sudden emergence from the ship to battle his former apprentice, enrages Anakin, who uses the dark side to choke her into unconsciousness. She suddenly goes into labor, and her attendants take to Polis Massa to give birth.

During the duel with Obi-Wan, Anakin loses both his legs and an arm, and is nearly burned to death by lava. He is saved at the last moment by Palpatine, who revives him with extensive cybernetic prosthetics and artificial breathing apparati, which transform him into a fearsome cyborg. Palpatine tells him that the Force-choke killed her and her unborn child, which breaks what remains of Anakin's spirit and completes his tranformation into Darth Vader.

At Polis Massa, meanwhile, doctors try to save Padmé's life, but after the birth of the twins, whom she names Luke and Leia, she dies; while completely physically healthy, she has completely lost the will to live. Her body is returned to Naboo and given an elaborate funeral ceremony. The official explanation of Padmé's death is that she was killed by a Jedi during the alleged Jedi uprising. It is also said that her unborn children died in utero, to hide them from the Sith.

Luke was brought to Tatooine by Obi-Wan Kenobi while Leia was adopted by Bail Organa and raised as a Princess of Alderaan. Both play central roles in destroying the Empire, and redeeming Anakin Skywalker, 23 years later.

See also

• Anakin Skywalker
• Bail Organa
• Galactic Senate
• Jobal Naberrie
• Leia Skywalker-Organa-Solo
• Luke Skywalker
• Mon Mothma
• Naberrie family
• Naboo
• Palpatine
• Pooja Naberrie
• Rebel Alliance
• Ruwee Naberrie
• Ryoo Naberrie
• Skywalker family
• Sola Naberrie

• Star Wars Old Republic characters
• Fictional queens
• Fictional politicians
• Star Wars Skywalker family
• Star Wars Naberrie family