Star Wars Has Left One Major Padme Amidala Mystery Unsolved For 22 Years

Although Padmé Amidala is one of Star Wars‘ most honorable characters, a bewildering choice she made 22 years ago still has yet to be explained. Before becoming Anakin Skywalker’s wife and Luke Skywalker’s and Princess Leia’s mother, making her the origin of some of the most powerful Skywalkers, Padmé was a Queen of Naboo when she was just a teenager and became one of the foremost senators in the Republic during the Clone Wars era. Her romance with Anakin muddied the waters, though, long before Anakin became Darth Vader.

Padmé is in many ways the moral compass of the Star Wars prequel trilogy characters. Although that role should have fallen to the Jedi, the nature of their relationship with Palpatine and the way they were tied up in politics and the war jeopardized their ability to truly stick to their values. That was not the case for Padmé, who remained focused on protecting her people and preserving justice throughout the galaxy to the greatest extent possible. That history, however, makes one decades-old choice all the more baffling.

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Padmé Amidala Easily Forgives Anakin’s Slaughter Of The Tuskens

When Anakin confesses to Padmé in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones that he slaughtered the men, women, and children at the Tusken camp, she seems remarkably unaffected. Her concern seems to be entirely about Anakin, whom she bizarrely tells, “To be angry is to be human.” While it’s become something of a meme in the decades since, this nevertheless reflects one of the most confusing lines and biggest flaws for the character. Padmé, based on all her other actions throughout the prequel trilogy, would never co-sign such a terrible act of violence.

Star Wars Has Never Explained Why Padmé Forgave Anakin So Easily

“To be angry is to be human” is one of Star Wars’ most confusing lines, and that would be the case even if it wasn’t delivered by a character who had been established throughout the prequel trilogy until that point to be level-headed, wise, and fair. This response, and Padmé not mentioning the vicious attack again, even marrying Anakin afterward, makes no sense for the character, whose entire focus as a dedicated Queen and Senator was protecting others and valuing life.

Padmé was falling deeply in love, but this moment is completely incongruent with who she is at all other times. In fact, when she’s much further into the relationship, married to Anakin and pregnant with their children, her morals still win out. When she realizes what Anakin has done during Order 66, she tells Anakin explicitly that she cannot follow the path he is currently on. Despite it meaning giving up a future with Anakin, she knows she cannot go along with his violence. This is completely contradictory to how she responds to the Tusken attack.

Star Wars has yet to explain why Padmé made such an odd decision at that moment. However, given how well the franchise deals with messy plot holes, it’s still possible that this will be retconned in some way. It remains to be seen how that will be done, though; it will be tough even for Star Wars to explain away Padmé blatantly ignoring genocide.

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