The Star Wars universe is a science-fantasy epic, a space opera filled with knights and wizards and nobility pursuing noble acts against the most dastardly of villains. A splash of romance in the genre, then, is welcome every once and a while. Sometimes even expected, such as films like The Princess Bride. For Star Wars, the Prequel Trilogy threaded a romance ten years in the waiting, climaxing with the origin of the heroes for the Original Trilogy. Padmé Naberrie met Anakin Skywalker when she was a teenager. Ten years later they reunited, married young, and got pregnant three years after that. Considering her status in the galaxy, Anakin is an interesting choice of companion, as his vows to the Jedi Order basically make him a priest. She could have been with anyone she wanted. No doubt there was a long line of assorted or more interesting suitors waiting to take her hand. So why did she settle for Anakin when she could have chosen someone else? Padmé could have done way better.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace introduced fourteen-year-old Queen Amidala to the enslaved ten-year-old Anakin Skywalker on the sandy desert planet of Tatooine. For Anakin, who presumably never saw a lady before ever in his life, it was love at first sight. He believed she was as an angel, or at least that was the pickup line he used to start a conversation with her. For Padmé, it is hard to say what she felt for him.
First, her visit to Tatooine was not a vacation. She was escaping Naboo from an illegal Trade Federation invasion force. Every second she wasted on the desert planet was a life lost on Naboo. How patient could she be if she knew a gun were put to an innocent person’s head back home while she was stuck in the outskirts of the Outer Rim watching a podrace? One would assume she was gravely distracted by the serious events developing in her palace.
Second, how would an ordinary young teenage girl look at a boy child? She probably saw him like a pesty kid brother if anything. Once their adventure concluded and Naboo was liberated by a huge battle, Amidala resumed her duties as Queen of Naboo, and the boy went to school with the space wizards. That was their meet-cute. The two would not see each other again for another ten years.
Padmé concluded her term as Amidala, Queen of Naboo and became a Senator in the Galactic Senate. This transported her life from rural majestic Naboo to bright lights big city Coruscant, an ecumenopolis. Suppose she could not find love on Naboo because she was a duty-bound Queen, Padmé always was one for responsibility and commitment to her community, once she stepped foot on Coruscant her little pond became a sea. Though she was a passionate politician, she was still a human female – a young single lady with wealth and a royal title attached to her name.
The sky was not even the limit for her dating potential! She had the pick of the litter, a buffet of men surrounding her from all walks of life. She could choose someone in her own field, not an uncommon thing for most people. She could reach out to other sectors, say medicine, or the judicial system? Padmé came from a planet of artists and poets, there is no doubt that Coruscant had an entire continent-wide district exclusively catering to arts and entertainment. Moreover, how come her parents, Ruwee and Jobal, were not meddling in her love affairs? If she earned a royal title on their home planet, she was a prized candidate for matchmaking. Did her older sister know anyone of interest? The time between first meeting Anakin and her attempted assassination at the beginning of Attack of the Clones was long enough for her to forget all about the dusty slave boy and find a quality man.
When Anakin did re-enter her life, besides physical infatuation, what did she see in him? They did not share the same political views or life experiences. She understood his role to be that of a celibate recluse who was in service to the wider galaxy, which meant he vowed to suppress his emotions and that he traveled extensively. How could that be a stable relationship for her? In their conversation prior to leaving Coruscant back to Naboo, Anakin seemed fixated on the presumed contentious relationship between he and his master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Padmé is no doubt far more mature than him, and likely saw it for what it was, a defiant outburst from a stifled young adult. She respected rules and order, she understood the mentor-mentee relationship. All he wanted to do was advance himself because “he was so much better with the Force than Obi-Wan acknowledged blah blah blah.” The slave boy she briefly met ten years ago was now a petulant young man who was uncertain about his role in society.
She acted on her infatuation once sheltered with him in the rolling grassy plains of Naboo, but that was just a weekend fling. If this were reality as soon as the guardian mission ended Anakin would have been booted to the curb so she could return to the comfort and control of her own life. There were likely men on her radar prior to Anakin’s visit, and many more to trifle with once that monastic bread crust returned to his life with the rest of the monks.
In the real world, Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration of love and relationships. The fact that Padmé’s marriage ended in betrayal and her untimely death, well, she would believe it was all worth it. She genuinely loved Anakin right to her end. She was too good for him, and he took her life for granted, but if he was who her heart chose, who in the Star Wars galaxy can object?
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