Padmé Amidala

Padmé Naberrie Skywalker, also Her Royal Highness, Queen Amidala of the Naboo and later Senator Amidala of Naboo (46 – 19 BBY), is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe played by Natalie Portman. "Padmé" is Sanskrit for "lotus flower," while "Amidala" is the spiritual manifestation.

Padmé is the wife of Anakin Skywalker and mother of Leia Organa Solo and Luke Skywalker. She was the democratically-elected Queen of Naboo before representing the planet as a Senator in the Galactic Senate. Prodigiously talented and well-learned, Padme was still not the youngest Queen of Naboo to ever be elected. Her given name was Padmé Naberrie, Amidala was actually a Regnal name. She appeared very regal and austere as Queen Amidala. As Padmé, she was headstrong and compassionate. Amidala plays an important role in the last years of the Old Republic.

In The Phantom Menace, she fights hard through political and physical means to rid her planet from the blockade of the Trade Federation. In her early teens in this saga, she forms a close friendship with the then nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker.

In Attack of the Clones, set ten years later, she has become a Senator in the Galactic Republic's Senate after her two terms as Queen expired. She is leading a faction opposed to the establishment of an army to quell a separatist movement (surprisingly, given her career change, she retains an elaborate fashion sense and a constantly-changing wardrobe). After a failed assassination attempt on her life, Anakin, who is now an apprentice Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi, is assigned to protect her. The two fall in love, though both of them are duty-bound to deny it. In the process of rescuing Obi-Wan Kenobi, they become directly involved in the first massed battle of the Clone Wars, where Amidala again shows herself to be rather more handy in combat than might be expected of a politician. The movie ends with Anakin, with a robot arm to replace the one he lost in the battle, and Amidala marrying in a secret ceremony attended only by R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In Revenge of the Sith, she becomes alarmed by the changes in her husband's character as he is seduced by the Dark Side. Following the declaration of the Galactic Empire and the Great Jedi Purge lead by Anakin, Amidala joins with Bail Organa to declare the founding of a Resistance Movement that will become the Rebel Alliance. Travelling with Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet Mustafar, she confronts Anakin in an attempt to turn him back to the Light, however Anakin uses a force choke against her. At Polis Massa doctors try to save Amidala's life but after the birth of the twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Skywalker, she dies while being comforted by Obi-Wan.

In the Return of the Jedi, however, Leia tells Luke that she remembers her mother dying when they were young, and described her as very kind, beautiful and sad. This inconsistency could be explained in Revenge of the Sith. It is also possible, however, that the mother that Leia remembers is the adoptive mother that she grew up with on Alderaan, rather than her birth mother.

See also

• Palpatine
• Anakin Skywalker
• Luke Skywalker
• Leia Skywalker-Organa-Solo
• Naboo

External links

• The Next Amidala