The amazing women of Star Wars

Photo courtesy: Penguin Random House

Padmé Amidala

The former two-term queen and senator from the planet of Naboo is best known to the Star Wars collective as Anakin Skywalker’s wife and the mother to twin siblings (and future Rebellion heroes) Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.

Her entire life was dedicated to public service and she proudly served the people of her home planet (as both elected queen and senator) from her early adolescence all the way up until her postpartum death.

She was wise beyond her years and was keenly able to use her intellect, insight, and intuition in order to masterfully navigate the cutthroat world of high stakes politics within the Galactic Republic.

As portrayed by actress Natalie Portman, Padmé was imbued with a sense of prestige and action, seamlessly able to take care of herself both in the political realm and also with a blaster if her life was threatened in any way.

And it was while her life was endangered (due to her views against the Military Creation Act championed by Chancellor Palpatine) that she was accompanied by her Jedi protector, Anakin Skywalker, from Coruscant back to her home in Naboo where the two fell in love. Despite Anakin being expressly devoted to the Jedi Order—which had rules that strictly prohibited against marriage and relationships— the young couple wed in secret.

A few years later, after hearing Obi-Wan Kenobi’s account of Anakin’s descent to the dark side of the Force, Padmé went to meet her husband on the fiery planet of Mustafar. After the realization that he had indeed fallen, Padme was Force choked by her husband out of his own anger and extreme paranoia. He had turned his aggression towards her before she could depart after he falsely thought that she had sided with his former mentor and had brought him there to kill him.

After Kenobi mortally wounded Skywalker during their lightsaber duel, he returned to Padmé and took her to a facility where she gave birth to her son and daughter. As a result of her husband’s downward turn, she lost the will to live but even on her deathbed she clung to one truth.

She knew that there was still good in her husband despite his evil deeds. Her belief was inherited by her son who proved it to be true as he not only helped his father to find redemption but also helped him to ultimately fulfill the ”chosen one” prophecy, which brought balance to the Force.

Padmé’s daughter inherited her mother’s sense of duty and public service as she went on to a prolific career in her own right as she led the very movement that her mother helped to begin.