Padme - Bad Mother?

[Stravo]

At the end of ROTS Padme dies simply because she loses the will to live. She lost the man she loved and has seen her world (meaning the Republic, friends, etc) changed forever.

Yet...she can't find the will to live for her children? How many single moms out there are struggling to make ends meet for their children? How many could walk away at any time if they wanted to but don't? How many sacrifice and get over their baby daddy leaving them or dying and go on to raise their children? How many women find meaning in their lives through their children.

I posit that Padme was a selfish woman. The man she loved was gone...wah wah now let me leave my twins behind as I simply lay back and lose the will to live. Let me take the easy way out even though throughout two other movies I've been a fighter.

[Vympel]

I was never too impressed with Padme. She strikes me as an upper-class bint, obsessed with her looks and wardrobe, constantly changing her bloody hairstyle. Seriously, how many times does she go to the salon? VAIN.

[18-Till-I-Die]

She didnt die because she lost the will to live. That was just a medical droid's opinion, and one that seems suspect to me. "Will to live"? How could that possibly register as any measurement?

More than likely, Anakin damaged her spirit somehow with the Force, perhaps he was syphoning life from her subconsciously while on the table to keep himself alive.

It's cruel, but it seemed to be what they were inferring.

[Darth Fanboy]

The despair at having the most important person in her entire life fall from grace and nearly kill her, combined with the guilt she must have felt for enabling Anakin and Obi Wan to duel (if she hadn't told Obi Wan Anakin was at Mustafar, or if she hadn't enabled Obi Wan to travel to Mustafar undetected)

Now im not saying that it was her fault that duel happened, it was inevitable, but despair and guilt are crazy things. You might be able to make a case that she had severe depression prior to her death (DUH DF) and it robbed her of her will to live. I doubt she had an entirely rational mind before she died.

[LadyTevar]

That's a scary thought, 18.

[Darth Fanboy]

More than likely, Anakin damaged her spirit somehow with the Force, perhaps he was syphoning life from her subconsciously while on the table to keep himself alive.

It's cruel, but it seemed to be what they were inferring.

Inferring from where? Evidence please? Not disagreeing outright, but there's nowhere in the movie where that can be inferred.

[Knife]

At the end of ROTS Padme dies simply because she loses the will to live. She lost the man she loved and has seen her world (meaning the Republic, friends, etc) changed forever.

Yet...she can't find the will to live for her children? How many single moms out there are struggling to make ends meet for their children? How many could walk away at any time if they wanted to but don't? How many sacrifice and get over their baby daddy leaving them or dying and go on to raise their children? How many women find meaning in their lives through their children.

I posit that Padme was a selfish woman. The man she loved was gone...wah wah now let me leave my twins behind as I simply lay back and lose the will to live. Let me take the easy way out even though throughout two other movies I've been a fighter.

That was one of the down sides to RotS, Padme really turned into a wimpy bitch. The other two movies she's a strong woman, but the last one, they made her into a tower of whiney snot. Sad.

It would have been much nicer to have her live, be angry, devote her self to the early rebellion and have her live on Alderan as some sort of handmaiden to Organa so she could be close to her daughter and have it implied that she was killed when the Deathstar attacked.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Shroom Man 777]

DW, or someone, mentioned the possibility of Annie and Padme being linked via the Force, and that Anakin's ordeal had a negative effect on Padme *shrugs*

Meh.

[PainRack]

She didnt die because she lost the will to live. That was just a medical droid's opinion, and one that seems suspect to me. "Will to live"? How could that possibly register as any measurement?

More than likely, Anakin damaged her spirit somehow with the Force, perhaps he was syphoning life from her subconsciously while on the table to keep himself alive.

It's cruel, but it seemed to be what they were inferring.

I don't know... The medical droid could be simply saying, "physically, there's nothing wrong with her........ but her vital signs are still plunging." in a metaphysical way.

It would be strange to have medical droids running around with knowledge of Force powers and its effects on beings.

[18-Till-I-Die]

More than likely, Anakin damaged her spirit somehow with the Force, perhaps he was syphoning life from her subconsciously while on the table to keep himself alive.

It's cruel, but it seemed to be what they were inferring.

Inferring from where? Evidence please? Not disagreeing outright, but there's nowhere in the movie where that can be inferred.

The agony of Anakin's transformation, perfectly synched with her agony and slowly dying. I may be wrong, but it seemed they were inferring in the scene that her death was either connected or, as i beleive, caused by Anakin becoming Vader. It 'hurt' her somehow.

In that sense...Palpatine's line "You killed her" has a fully different, more literal meaning than what it appears.

As an aside, in the EU and KOTOR the Sith show the ability to drain life (i beleive it's called Life Syphon) and use it to heal themselves. So this would not be an isolated event, but an example of a sepecific, documented Sith power.

[Stravo]

Frankly what we saw is a nice cutscene between the two, a montage showing the birth of a new hope as the old hope dies and becomes evil. I saw nothing in that scene to imlpy that an ability that Anakin has never displayed before or since was playing out. Anakin didn't even know if she was safe or where she was so how could he leach life force off of her?

It would have had more dramatic impact if indeed Anakin's force choke had broken something inside of Padme and she was slowly dying, then Vader would have been directly responsbile for her death making him an irreddemable son of a bitch.

The "she just dies." bit was a bit annoying to say the least. You can show Anakin killing children but not the woman he loves?! Anakin himself states that the Sith were creatures of passion only thinking of themselves. Rage is about selfishness. The ultimate selfish act is killing someone - the one you love being the pinnacle of selfishness. Too bad we couldn't see that play out in this story.

[Darth Fanboy]

snippage

Her death was something that could easily be explained by her grief, and not Anakin sucking out her life through the Force. Esepcially seeing as how Anakin was probably using all of his power to just hang on, using his Hate to keep him alive. Not to mention that when Obi Wan leaves Mustafar Padme is many many many light years away and you have to prove that this "Life Syphon" can be accomplished over such a great distance.

[Petrosjko]

The graphic novel did it better. At the end of the force choke and just before the fight with Obi Wan starts, Anakin force-pushes her into a wall pretty brutally, which makes the whole thing a lot more plausible.

[LadyTevar]

Up to the point where the droid said 'there is no physical reason' I thought that Anakin *had* injured her that badly. It was obvious that she was unconscious for a long time, and didn't seem to be able to move on her own.

I wish we'd seen the scene of R2 and 3PO carrying her inside, that would have clarified how bad she was before ObiWan came back. I can see why Lucas didn't add those scenes, tho, because it would have broken the tension and excitement.

[Durandal]

I got the impression that Anakin sucked her life force out of her or something along those lines.

[Lord Revan]

Well it shown that people that are as close as Anakin and Padme (and at least one them is Force user) can form a bond thru the Force and this bond can transfer pain and other such things from one person to the other, so it could that Anakins pains did kill Padme, but because they were too intense for her to handle.

[Glimmervoid]

More than likely, Anakin damaged her spirit somehow with the Force, perhaps he was syphoning life from her subconsciously while on the table to keep himself alive.

It's cruel, but it seemed to be what they were inferring.

Inferring from where? Evidence please? Not disagreeing outright, but there's nowhere in the movie where that can be inferred.

Some EU source say force lightning and chocks are not physical but attack the sprit. And Anakin force chocked her.

[Darth Fanboy]

Force Lightning im sure isn't physical but its outrageous to say that a force choke doesn't have any physical effects.

[Zaia]

That was one of the down sides to RotS, Padme really turned into a wimpy bitch. The other two movies she's a strong woman, but the last one, they made her into a tower of whiney snot. Sad.

Then maybe it had more to do that she was resigned to the vision of herself dying during childbirth, so she figured there was no use fighting to stay alive.

[Stormbringer]

That was one of the down sides to RotS, Padme really turned into a wimpy bitch. The other two movies she's a strong woman, but the last one, they made her into a tower of whiney snot. Sad.

Then maybe it had more to do that she was resigned to the vision of herself dying during childbirth, so she figured there was no use fighting to stay alive.

Resigned to it, scared shitless by what Anakin's done, and then choked. She could have stayed alive for the kids but damn she's had it really, really rough. That would break many a strong person.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I got the impression that Anakin sucked her life force out of her or something along those lines.

Am I misremembering when I recall Palpatine telling Vader that "You killed her"? That seems like a pretty explicit statement from a trained force user.

[Caius]

I think if Padme had lived after child birth, the Emperor would have had her killed anyway. If even she went into hiding with the children. The emperor probably guess that Padme could have turned Anakin back to the lightside of the force. Then the Emperor would have been in a whole lot of trouble.

As for her dying, I think it was a combination of what Anakin did and probably the fact that due to her personality she wouldn't want to live in a galaxy ruled by Palpatine and Anakin. She seemed to believe in the republic strongly enough that it would have been a crushing blow. Or at least as I see it, it could have been a factor in the long run. She seems like the type to give it all up over something like that.

Although she would have been a good leader in the rebellion.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Inferring from where? Evidence please? Not disagreeing outright, but there's nowhere in the movie where that can be inferred.

Darth Sidious: "It appears that, in your anger, you killed her."

Darth Vader: "No! That's not possible. She was alive. I felt her!"

[Stravo]

Inferring from where? Evidence please? Not disagreeing outright, but there's nowhere in the movie where that can be inferred.

Darth Sidious: "It appears that, in your anger, you killed her."

Darth Vader: "No! That's not possible. She was alive. I felt her!"

Yeah, its called the Force choke scene.

Nice way of ignoring his next line "No, she was alive, I felt it."

[Stormbringer]

I got the impression that Anakin sucked her life force out of her or something along those lines.

Am I misremembering when I recall Palpatine telling Vader that "You killed her"? That seems like a pretty explicit statement from a trained force user.

And he has every reason to lie in that. If nothing else Padme's survival would probably make him highly unreliable in the same manner Luke did. With that line he cuts all ties between Anakin and Padme as well as ensures that Anakin embraces the Dark Side full tilt.