From Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Star Wars prequels were full of stupid moments, from that clunky “I hate sand” speech to practically every second Jar-Jar Binks was on screen. However, in general, most fans agree that this is absolutely the case stupidest At that moment, Padmé Amidala died of a broken heart. Even in a galaxy far, far away, it’s hard to accept that a former queen and mother of the galaxy’s greatest hero would simply die of sadness. However, some fans have tried to justify this idiotic Padme death plot development with a simple theory: that Anakin Skywalker subconsciously drained her of life force in order to survive.
The Padme death theory
Credit where credit is due: Revenge of the Sith had some clever editing moments, including intervening scenes where Padme gives birth to Luke and Leia and scenes where Anakin Skywalker is reincarnated as a robot Darth Vader. Part of what made this rebirth so scary is that we’ve already seen Anakin dismembered and then left to catch fire and die from former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi. It didn’t seem like something even a powerful Force user could survive, and according to this death theory of Padme’s, the only way Anakin could survive was to drain all life from his wife (husbands, right?).
An interesting side effect of the Padme death theory is that it also makes up for another stupid prequel moment. Darth Vader’s cartoonishly stupid “NOOOOOOO” scream when he is told that his wife is dead. Palpatine had just told his new apprentice, “In your rage you killed her,” and Vader’s scream was pitiful, for it seemed as if he was being easily deceived by the galaxy’s most obvious liar. However, according to this theory, Palpatine was actually telling the truth and Vader, blinded by rage, unconsciously drained Padme’s life force in a way that could not be detected by medical scanners.
More than a Padme death theory
While this theory of Padme’s death is compelling, there are variants and other theories that are just as interesting. For example, the primary theory posits that Anakin did all of this unconsciously, which is why he is so surprised and saddened when he learns that his wife is dead. Others believe that he intentionally drained her of life force (perhaps starting with the Mustafar Force chokehold or even earlier), and he only felt bad when he realized he had gone too far and killed her (let’s talk about the clarity after the bot!).
Of course, the most popular variation on this Padme death theory is that it was actually Palpatine who drained her life force, and not Anakin. This would fit with an enduring theory that it was Palpatine who sent Anakin visions of his wife dying, essentially planting the idea of her death in his head so that he could then offer her the false carrot of giving her eternal life. By intentionally sucking the life out of her body after all of these manipulations, the newly crowned Emperor was able to ensure that his strong right hand had nothing but the Empire.
Obviously, whether this Padme death theory truly rehabilitates the prequel trilogy may vary. Even if George Lucas came out tomorrow and gave us his best Han Solo (“It’s true…everything”), we would still be left with terrible dialogue and shoddy plotlines. Plus, it’s a bit embarrassing that fans have spent nearly two decades trying to fix all the wrongs in a movie that has more holes in its plot than the hull of the Millennium Falcon. On the other hand, considering how much Disney currently ruining this franchise, fans and their theories could be ours only I hope for some good Star Wars storytelling in the foreseeable future.
