The Star Wars franchise’s very first image of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala together was created in 1993, six years before both would appear in the prequel trilogy. Return of the Jedi ended the Star Wars original trilogy with a succinct explanation of Darth Vader’s tragic backstory, a mention of Padmé Amidala, and a glimpse at the good man that Anakin Skywalker once was, via his Force ghost. While the live-action movies would not delve into the histories of Anakin and Padmé until 1999, non-movie materials would provide early looks at the two pivotal characters.

Anakin Skywalker’s Force ghost would return in the 92nd issue of Marvel’s classic Star Wars comics, guiding Luke to find and redeem Flint, a young man who had become one of the first of a new generation of Sith, thanks to Darth Vader’s machinations. Before the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the fifth issue of The Last Command’s comic adaptation would include a painting of Padmé Amidala, using the likeness of the recently-casted Natalie Portman. While these materials are canonical to the Legends continuity, they were nearly preceded by an illustration of Anakin and Padmé.

The First Padme & Anakin Image Explained

Fascinatingly, artist Brian Ashmore created what could have been the first image of Anakin and Padmé in 1993. The artwork – which was intended for a card in the Topps Star Wars Galaxy 2 set – depicts Padmé cradling an infant Luke Skywalker as a dark-robed Anakin looms in the background, his shadow ominously taking the shape of his armored form as Darth Vader. George Lucas himself requested that the art be omitted from the set, which is unsurprising, given his usual stance on then-Expanded Universe materials covering the prequel era at the time.

Why George Lucas Pulled This Image

In the 1990s, Star Wars non-movie materials were as canonical as the films themselves, and George Lucas wanted to avoid discrepancies between his planned prequel movies and Star Wars materials from other creators. For this reason, properties rarely depicted events like the Clone Wars or Anakin Skywalker (before he became Darth Vader). As it turned out, Ashmore’s artwork would not fit with the prequel movies, as Anakin never got to see either of his children before Padmé’s death and his extensive cybernetic resuscitation.

Brian Ashmore noted in a 2008 interview that his depiction of Padmé vaguely resembles Natalie Portman and Anakin’s Vader-like shadow would be used by a famous Phantom Menace teaser poster. Ashmore even wonders in the interview (with a hefty amount of doubt) if his artwork inspired Portman’s casting or the Phantom Menace poster. In any case, Ashmore’s artwork is a beautiful, melancholic, and ominous look at what Star Wars viewers might have imagined when thinking of the parents of Luke and Leia.