Revenge of the Sith: 5 moments that kept it from being the best film in the saga
By Nik Edlund
She Has Lost the Will To Live
This scene gets my goat every single time I watch Revenge of the Sith. Throughout the Prequel Trilogy Padme is portrayed as a strong independent woman who isn’t afraid to jump into the middle of a fight. That fight could be a physical one like we see in The Phantom Menace when she grabs a blaster and helps Captain Panaka and the other troops of Naboo liberate the throne in Theed Palace. Or when she’s on Geonosis fighting the winged critters who are in charge of making the battle droids.
She also takes on political battles through her work in the Senate and her opposition to the war. She’s proven to be a headstrong, fearless woman, who stands up for what she believes in and will battle to the end. That is why her “lost the will to live” moment is so degrading.
It’s completely out of character for her. The Padmé we have watched throughout the movies and the Clone Wars animated series wouldn’t simply give up her life because she has a broken heart. She has two babies to take care of, and she would do everything in her power to make sure they grow up healthy and happy. It doesn’t matter her husband has become a Dark Lord of the Sith, the Padmé we’ve come to know would continue to fight.
It would’ve been much better if the medical droids said her trachea was collapsed and are unable to save her. That would’ve put a tragic twist to the love story of Padmé and Anakin as it was his anger that truly killed her.
It also would’ve been better if she was killed in a different way, perhaps by a bounty hunter like Boba Fett who was paid off by Nute Gunray. Then an angry Anakin could’ve gone to Mustafar with a purpose and killed those amphibian looking rascals. Instead, she dies of a broken heart, and part of my love for Episode III dies right alongside her.