Here it is, my latest scene analysis for Star Wars, this time in honour of Mother’s Day which has passed we have a post examininig a mother, this one being the great mother of Anakin’s children.
To say Padme is important to the Saga is to state the obvious, to state that she played an important role in Ep 3 is to earn oneself the biggest ‘duh’ or ‘durh’ in the universe. In this film where Padme had shown herself previously to be a dunce, in this one she truly earns the status in some ways by deciding to trust in Anakin even after his judgement from somewhat haywire to utterly insane.
That is until the end when it is revealed he has ‘died’ and Darth Vader has devoured what remains of him. In the novel it is decsribed that there is a single ‘thread’ of Anakin Skywalker still alive within Vader and that Vader has not been able to stamp this sliver out no matter how hard he has ‘tried’.
This is where Padme is not a dunce, she is no fool and tries to appeal to this thread as she can somehow sense it is there via the Force. Now Padme is not Force Sensitive, and so cannot ordinarily sense things, but in this instant she can, in some ways far better than Skywalker’s own adoptive father Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan tries to reach out to this thread but by this time Vader is not willing to listen to either of them.
It may sound odd but while I think it incredible and great that Padme could sense that thread, I’m of the view she could not read it. She tried after all, and failed. Neither could Obi-Wan, nor could Qui-Gon, nor even Shmi, Kitster or anyone for that matter.
This is why Luke Skywalker is so important. He was the only one who could possibly reach Anakin. And the reason for this was because Anakin needed to stew awhile in his own juices, or rather his suit for a time.
Though the question does remain whether Luke could have reached Anakin in Episode III at all. My first instinct is to say nope, because of how utterly bonkers Vader had become, rationalizing the murder of children he liked to show off for, that he was a mentor to, and who idolized him, trust me when I say Anakin loved those kids as much as any teacher might love a classroom of theirs. This much is hammered home in the EU.
On the other hand, we shouldn’t underestimate Luke’s cunning as shown in Ep VI and in the Jedi Knight series. I know in quite a few EU books Luke is shown to be stupid, but this is a subversion, in actuality Luke is one of the cleverest characters around and he knew how to read a guy, especially Anakin.
In a lot of ways, Luke is not a ‘good version’ of Anakin later, but instead a ‘good version’ of Palpatine. Arguably if Palpatine is supposed to embody Satan, well Luke is meant to maybe embody someone like Joseph son of Jacob or Moses or even St-Paul or something.
He is clever and good and far more powerful than Anakin himself, so that he could likely fight off Anakin better than Obi-Wan could. But the question remains; could he reach Anakin? I’ll tentatively say it is highly possible.
You see, Padme could discern the good in Anakin, Obi-Wan could defend himself ably enough against Vader, but Luke could probably do both things and more. He could not only sense the good but as shown in Ep VI reach it, so if he subverts Palps’ argumetns to lure Anakin to the Dark Side, he could probably reach Anakin.
But this is where I wonder if Luke in Episode VI could do it, as he was still somewhat inexperienced. Now if you take a fully trained, Luke who has ‘mastered his Fate’ so to speak, as he has by the time of Jedi Academy (the greatest of the Star Wars games), Luke could no matter what reach Anakin even at his darkest.
I only say that because of how calm, and in control Luke is with even the worst of Dark Siders, and has reached similar individuals.
So Luke could reach Anakin in Ep III, and I’ll even hazard a guess that he might do it with nary a fight. Or if there is one Luke will simply use the opportunity to defend himself without fighting back, so that he could prove his point.
That said, if Luke is wise enough, and brilliant enough to accomplish this, what of his twin-sister, Leia? Could she pull it off?
I’ll say no here, as Leia though more powerful in the Force than Luke, and arguably a stronger fighter is not as great a Jedi as he. Sure by the time she’s 30 she’s a fully trained Jedi Knight, capable of stomping Palpatine with ease, but the trouble is that that’s not what being a Jedi is about.
Being a Jedi is about being a ‘do-gooder’ who can reach the darkest of people, who can remain calm and help as many people as out, not winning some laser-sword fight. In this regard, Leia and Kyle Katarn are not the Jedi Luke is, they might be stronger but they are not wiser.
Luke is the wisest, and where did he get this wisdom? Likely from his adoptive grandfather Obi-Wan, but also one could say from his mother in that it was her faith in Anakin that he inherited.
If Leia likely took more after Obi-Wan in some ways, and Anakin in others with very little of Padme beyond the physical, Luke got all the gentleness and interpersonal wisdom. Leia could read people in the same way Anakin could (detecting weaknesses), but Luke could detect their strengths and positive motivations, and could use these to help them or to counter the Dark Side’s influence over them.
Arguably the only one he could not reach of those closest to him was his former pupil Desann, but Desann was utterly bonkers even before he turned.
With regards to Anakin, only Luke could reach him, this much is obvious. That said, Padme’s plea to Obi-Wan is for him to try again, and sadly for the two of them it is then that Obi-Wan gives into his own darker nature and becomes the manipulative, spineless shadow Ben Kenobi.
I describe Ben as such because in this persona Obi-Wan is really hardly likeable, as he is to Obi-Wan what Vader is to Anakin. And this is where the EU books or at least some of them shine, as they delve into how Ben as a shadow archetype devoured Obi-Wan, and left him broken until there was but a single thread of Obi-Wan left.
This is why when Luke rescued Anakin, he was not only doing this to rescue Anakin but his grandfather Obi-Wan. Because he knew that should Anakin perish, a part of Obi-Wan would as well, and Obi-Wan would have been utterly corrupted into Ben. So that he was struggling to save two souls, and this is why what he did was so important.
Anakin was not the Chosen One, but Luke was if one reads the story a certain way.
Padme plays a role in this, by pleading that there is still good in Anakin, she is also pleading if inadvertently that there is still by extension good in Obi-Wan and even to an extent Yoda.
Both of the latter would become corrupted by fear and resentment towards Vader, broken by their own inability to stop him. And this is what Padme did; planted the seed in them, the seed of doubt. Doubt towards whether Vader truly was as in control of the ‘body’ of Anakin Skywalker as they had come to believe.
This brings to mind the possibility that Anakin is the soul, while Vader is the body so that the body could be corrupted and distorted bu the soul could not be. Because the soul did not ultimately belong to Palpatine, and who helped Obi-Wan later to realize this; Padme.
So her story goes from impetuous adolescent, to foolish young woman, to helpless mother to ‘seed-planter’ of sorts, so that she becomes the spiritual equivalent of a gardener.