Padmé Amidala Didn’t Die of a Broken Heart Like Fans Think

From the beginning, there were a lot of misconceptions about the Star Wars prequel trilogy that introduced fans to what happened in the galaxy before Luke and Leia. Specifically, the films introduced young Anakin Skywalker and the woman he loved, who eventually became the twins’ mother. While the prequel trilogy is seen differently today, there are still some misconceptions out there. Chief among them is that Padmé Amidala died of a “broken heart” at the end of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. She didn’t.

One thing none of the fans or even George Lucas likely saw coming was how the “meme generation” would embrace these Star Wars films. One such meme that has been adopted by fans as a true reading of the film’s “text” is that Padmé Amidala’s death came about because of Anakin’s fall. While that part is correct, saying that she died of a broken heart diminishes one of the most tragic Star Wars scenes in the prequel trilogy. It also misses the point of the statement it makes about the cost of falling to the dark side.

Updated November 4, 2024, by Joshua M. Patton: When Revenge of the Sith first debuted, most Star Wars fans only saw Anakin and Padmé in the films, despite their story being expanded upon in the novels and comics of the Expanded Universe. When Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuted in theaters and followed with a television series, the evolution of that relationship is a key part of the show, and it strengthens the subtext in the films. This article has been updated to add details about The Clone Wars and comport with CBR’s current formatting standards.

Why Do Fans Think Padmé Died of a Broken Heart?

She Tells Anakin as Much, but It’s Not Her Cause of Death

Fans who were adults when the Star Wars prequels debuted may not be particularly moved by Anakin and Padmé’s love story. The film that establishes it, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, is often criticized specifically for how the story handled those characters. However, it was different for younger audience members at the time. Both Anakin and Padmé’s awkward flirting resonated with them, because the characters were their emotional peers. Senator Amidala lived a life of service to Naboo and the Republic. As a Jedi Padawan, Anakin Skywalker lived a life of sacrifice, duty and compassion without room for material or emotional attachments. Their affection for each other felt childish, which is why it felt rushed when they were married in secret.

When Anakin broke bad in Revenge of the Sith, it wasn’t the first time. Shortly after the kiss that Anakin believed she never should’ve given him, the young Jedi slaughtered an entire village. Another popular meme suggests Padmé missed a huge red flag there, but she didn’t. She made a choice. Anakin was a child soldier even before the Clone Wars, and the Tuskens were not the first blood on his hands. Padmé was able to see beyond that violence and anger to the good person Anakin was at his core: that boy on Tatooine who believed the galaxy would be better if people just helped each other.

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She tells Anakin on Mustafar that he’s breaking her heart, but if anything, he broke her windpipe when he used the Force to choke her. Later, when Padmé is giving birth, the medical droid tells her assembled allies that “it’s like she lost the will to live.” In those last moments, Padmé’s thoughts are not on her children, but Anakin. She uses her dying breath to remind Obi-Wan there is still good in him, because she felt it. In those moments, it’s like she’s connected to Anakin directly, also in a medical bed fighting for his life after being maimed, burned and left for dead by Obi-Wan.

The Explanation for the Death of Padmé Amidala’s Death Is On-Screen

The Editing in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Encourages Viewers to Make the Connection

In Revenge of the Sith when Padmé and Anakin are both taken for treatment after the clash on Mustafar, the way the scenes are edited together subtly implies the events are connected. Both are lying on hospital beds, being tended to by droids who are not living things. The droid tending to Padmé tells Obi-Wan, Yoda and Bail Organa that “medically” she is perfectly fine. The Force is deeply connected to one’s will and is shared by people who have a deep bond, such as Jedi Masters and their Padawans. Even though Darth Vader attacked Padmé, she still shared a connection with the part of him that’s Anakin. When the Emperor arrived on Mustafar to find Anakin, he’s clearly surprised to see his apprentice still lives.

Between the scenes of Padmé getting treatment and giving birth, viewers see Anakin writhing in pain as his cybernetic limbs are being attached. Later, he’s clearly awake while being sealed into his suit. He doesn’t speak until after the scene in which Padmé dies telling Obi-Wan to not give up her husband. What people often miss is it means she knows he’s still alive. Anakin’s love for Padmé bonded them even more closely than to his master or padawan. Neither Obi-Wan nor Ahsoka know Anakin survived because they stopped feeling his presence in the Cosmic Force.

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Rather than losing “the will to live,” it’s possible the Emperor employed some kind of Sith magic to use that bond to rob Padmé of her life and give it to Anakin. The Emperor has no idea what happened to her or Obi-Wan, yet he tells Darth Vader that he killed his wife in anger. While this might be just another lie, it’s one that could have blown back on him had Senator Amidala survived. This suggests that he knows Vader surviving meant that Padmé couldn’t have lived. While Padmé’s death was seemingly caused by Sith magic, the Emperor may have even been telling the truth about Anakin being the one to kill her.

Anakin Skywalker Grew More Violent, Possessive and Selfish During the Clone Wars

He Was a True Jedi Hero, but War Made His Dark Seduction Inevitable

During the seven total season of The Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side was foreshadowed in countless ways, none more so than “the Mortis Arc.” The show also looked beyond Anakin to in-fighting amongst the Sith, especially when Darth Maul was discovered alive in Season 4. He kept himself alive after being bisected by Obi-Wan on raw hate and spaceship trash, which he used to replace his legs. As a former apprentice of Palpatine, it’s possible that Maul knew something about Darth Plagueis and using the Force to survive what should’ve killed him. Or, perhaps it was just raw hatred, instinct and power in the Force.

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Where The Clone Wars really shines, however, is in the way it developed the legacy Star Wars characters, specifically Padmé who was an active participant in the galactic government and the war effort. She and Anakin made a spectacular team. The films show this relationship at their most intense and stressful times, specifically the beginning and the end. The Clone Wars allows viewers to see them at their strongest. Seeing Anakin, Padmé and even Ahsoka all together in these stories changes how viewers see them between films. The Clone Wars makes it clear why the couple believed they could successfully have a family. Despite the secrecy and the war, they were happy.

Of course, even in a cartoon for kids, Star Wars deals in matters of life and death. There were a number of episodes where Anakin and Padmé were willing to risk or trade their lives for one another. The Clone Wars made them better partners, if only because their love story was a background element. Anakin was also truly the most powerful Jedi in the war, able to accomplish impossible things. Frankly, it makes the Jedi Council’s distrust of him seem, well, outrageous and unfair. Still, if anything, The Clone Wars strengthens the idea that Anakin’s survival is tied to his wife’s death, and Maul’s survival suggests Darth Vader had something to do with it.

Could Anakin Have Killed Padmé Without Realizing It?

Anakin May Have Subconsciously Stolen Padmé’s Life

If Anakin and Padmé shared a similar kind of bond that Jedi and their masters do, it’s possible he was the cause of her death. In his anger on Mustafar, he believed that she betrayed him. He arguably did try to kill her with the Force Choke. As he endured the torturous procedure to save his life, perhaps he somehow used that bond to take Padmé’s “life Force” or “will to live” from her? While her last words — both on her ship and in the hidden hospital — Anakin’s last unmasked words were about hating Obi-Wan.

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The premonitory dreams he had of Padmé’s death may have been the Force warning Anakin about this very thing. When he talks to Palpatine in the opera house, the implication is that Darth Plagueis used his power to cheat death for himself. Palpatine said Anakin could use it to save his wife as a way to seduce him to the dark side, perhaps knowing that’s simply not how the power worked. As Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker later defined, people can use the Force to heal others, though at great personal cost. That is a power one could learn from a Jedi.

The dark side and the Sith especially are defined by their selfishness. Anakin’s fear of losing his wife led him to his heel-turn, and that dark side act being the cause of his wife’s death fits into that philosophy. The dark side doesn’t give, it takes, usually for the user. Padmé was thinking selflessly about Anakin at the time of her death. Anakin’s thoughts, however, were colored by rage, pain and fear. Given the extent of his injuries, if it was possible for the Emperor or Anakin himself to use the Force this way, it’s the only way he could’ve survived.

What Is the Point of the Emperor or Anakin Killing Padmé?

Padmé’s Death Has Symbolic Resonance Either Way

Palpatine wanting Padmé Amidala dead is nothing new in Star Wars. Thus, the Emperor likely knew the love they shared was only useful to him insofar as it made Anakin afraid. Had he saved her, the darkness in him would not have taken root as completely. Palpatine needed her gone for his control over Darth Vader to be absolute. If Sith magic was somehow used to ensure her death and Vader’s survival, it’s the perfect way to ensure the Chosen One is forever plagued by anger, despair and guilt.

While the film doesn’t present this reason directly, it’s also in keeping with the larger theme of the prequel trilogy. It’s a six-hour saga about how violence and fear of loss turn a good person into a fascist. The justification for Anakin’s fall was the need to do anything to save his wife from death. What he fears most coming to pass because of his fall is exactly the kind of moral that Lucas would want in the film. How it happens isn’t important, because Star Wars is more fantasy than science fiction. It’s why Padmé dies that carries the emotional impact.

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Of course, in the real world, a “broken heart” can lead to someone’s death. Examples of such things abound. Yet, that’s not what Revenge of the Sith was going for when it depicted Padmé Amidala’s death. Without making it explicit, the connection the two characters shared because of their love for each other is what ultimately saves Anakin’s life. Anakin was afraid to let go, but his wife’s affection for him was pure. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that she willingly gave up her will to live to Anakin, so that he would eventually find redemption on a path back to the light.

The Star Wars saga is currently available to own on DVD, Blu-ray, digital and streams on Disney+.

Three years into the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan pursues a new threat, while Anakin is lured by Chancellor Palpatine into a sinister plot to rule the galaxy.

Director

George Lucas

Release Date

May 19, 2005

Studio

20th Century Fox

Cast

Hayden Christensen , Natalie Portman , Ewan McGregor , Ian McDiarmid , Samuel L. Jackson , Christopher Lee , Frank Oz

Runtime

140 minutes

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

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