Saga Padme & Anakin: Who knew?

The EU provides contradictory explanations, but the ROTS novel's version is the one that got the OK from Lucas.

Hah, the novel says that? Well, leave it to the books to give details and to do it in the most boring way possible.
(Before this thread I figured that line in Jedi, "your thoughts betray you" was plenty good enough to apply here. Palpatine's in his head, same as Vader was with Luke)

Idn't dat da truth?!

Even after this thread, I'll continue thinking this.

Although I agree this is evident, I personally think it is a combination of things. Vader reads Luke's thoughts to the point he senses he has a sister, but at no point does it seem Vader knows the identity of that sister. With Palpatine I think it is likely he senses from Anakin's inner emotions that he secretly has a wife and one he is worried about. However, I believe the scene which was cut, where Anakin and Padme share time with Palpatine (the one where Palpatine questions Padme's motives in private with Anakin), give him the sense that Padme is the likely identity of Anakin's secret wife.

Whether cut scenes are canon or not I'm not sure, but I certainly think there was intention with this scene to show Palpatine figuring their relationship out - we have Anakin defending Padme and Palpatine probing the true nature of her character. In their next meeting, Palpatine seems to know everything.

This aside, given how much we know Anakin confides in Palpatine (things that he would not to the council) its also possible Anakin previously revealed to Palpatine he was secretly in love with someone.

Did Padme's parent or other members of her family know?

I'm guessing no. I'd be interested in knowing what story they were told about how and why she died.

and the mysterious pregnancy

^ Whtat's wrong with them having sex theory? The whole virgin birth thing is bad enough for Shmi, Don't tell me that Padme's pregnancy is virgin birth canon as well.

EDIT: If you mean that her being pregnant is mysterious, not a mystery then disregard what I said above.

I was refering to the one day she is alive, 'single' and not pregnant, the next dead and pregnant...

That's a good question, did anyone know Padme was pregnant? I'm assuming from his line in RotS that OB1 did. Did she hide it under her clothes? But, he had to have seen a doctor. IF others knew, I wonder what she said about the father?

If she hid it under her clothes, she didn't do it very well. She certainly looked pregnant to the audience. She might have been able to hide it initially--the script says that Anakin had been gone for five months, so she was at least that far along and he didn't know it until she said something--but it seems that in the latter stage of a pregnancy with twins, hiding it under clothes wouldn't work. Obviously Obi-Wan noticed, giving his looking at her belly and asking if Anakin was the father. The only other option was that she told him, which I seriously doubt.

Maybe her parents didn't know if she didn't visit and didn't tell them, but what about fellow members of the Senate? Did they know and did they wonder who the father was?

I didn't see any indication that they did. Or even knew about her having a relationship with anyone whatsoever.

I suspect Anakin may have revealed to Palpatine that he was secretly married to Padme. Let me explain why I suspect this. As close as Anakin was to Obi-Wan, Anakin knew that he could never completely confide in him because Obi-Wan followed the Jedi Code so strictly that any confessions of attachment or marriage would've certainly went straight to the Jedi Counsel, and immediate removal from the Jedi Order. In AOTC, look at how Obi-Wan chides Anakin when he just alludes to the fact that he's attracted to Padme. I find it interesting in that same scene that when he meets Jar Jar again after 10 years, the poor guy is pouring his heart out about how he's carried this torch for Padme all these years, and she barely remembers him...... ANAKIN POURS HIS HEART OUT TO JAR JAR!!!!! It's pretty sad, and a clear indicator, that Anakin has few other outlets to express his feelings, as he can't confide in Obi-Wan who follows the Jedi Code to the letter, yet he obviously needs to express his feelings to someone.

Meanwhile, Palpatine has become a mentor and trusted friend to Anakin, someone who he can confide in with his darkest secrets. It seems apparent at some point Anakin confided in Palpatine that he mercilessly slaughtered a whole Tusken Raider village, including the women and children (something that would definately warrant his removal from the Jedi Order, most likely even a greater crime against the Jedi Code than falling in love). Trust me, if Anakin is pouring his heart out to Jar Jar about his feelings for Padme after seeing him for the first time in 10 years, he is definately telling Palpatine of his feelings for Padme. That's a given.

Besides, Palpatine orchestrated the failed assassination plot on Padme's life on Coruscant in large part to bring her and Anakin closer together while he served as her Jedi protector on Naboo, so Palpatine obviously knew about Anakin's feelings for Padme in advance, and how to manipulate them. It's possible Anakin may have kept the marriage secret from even Palpatine, but considering how Palpatine knew enough of Anakin's feelings for Padme to arrange for the death threat, how Anakin poured his heart out to Jar Jar (POURED HIS HEART OUT TO JAR JAR!), how Palpatine knew of Anakin slaughtering the Tusken Raiders, and was regarded as a close friend and mentor (perhaps the only person in his life that he could completely confide in about anything), I suspect Palpatine knew of the secret marriage between Anakin and Padme.

I think Anakin might have told Palpatine for the reasons you mentioned, but I thought the failed assassination plot on Padme was to get her away from Coruscant so she couldn't vote against the Clone Army.

That would be the other reason, of course. In my post I just wanted to focus on the Anakin/Padme point of it. But you're right, the failed assassination attempt helped draw her away from Coruscant for the Army vote, and also drew Anakin and Padme closer together (and away from those prying eyes of Obi-Wan!) at the same time.

Obi-Wan knew... and declined to interfere until such time as Anakin's attachment led to an actual breach of duty, because of the terrible shortage of Jedi going into the Clone Wars, only heightened by attrition during it (Grievous had been an especially effective Jedi-killer, enough to make a habit of collecting lightsabers). Simply put, the Jedi could not afford to lose Anakin on a technicality.

Yoda certainly seems to have known, and opted not to act upon that knowledge. Presumably, this was for fear of arousing the "great danger" he sensed in accepting Anakin as a Jedi in the first place, not knowing what form it would take, due to his future being "clouded". When Anakin came to Yoda for counseling in regards to his premonitions of Padme's death, Yoda let Anakin tell as much as he was willing to, refrained from confronting him with his relationship, and gave Anakin the best advice he could. And when Obi-Wan claimed not to know where to look for Anakin, Yoda very nearly chided him. Yoda not only knew, he knew Obi-Wan knew.

The Jedi could not see how the Prophecy of the Chosen One would unfold, and did not wish to act in a way that would be counter to Anakin's purpose. This let Anakin be in many ways a law unto himself, with tragic consequences for the Jedi, but also sowing the seeds of his own redemption.

Palpatine certainly knew of the relationship, but seems to have been unaware of the pregnancy. Anakin was aware of the pregnancy, but everyone was surprised that Padme had twins.

The ROTS novel indicates that Anakin never told Palpatine about his relationship with Padme.

Here's an excerpt:

I think Palpatine found out through one of Padme's former guards, Panaka(?). How he found out, I don't know. But once he did, he told Palps. Wonder why he did that?

Different sources give different explanations. I don't know where the Panaka thing comes from, but the Naboo civil clergy thing comes from the ROTS novel. LOE also mentions Palpatine finding out, but doesn't specifically say how, though it is implied that it had nothing to do with the Force.

But in ROTS, when Palpatine tells Anakin that his sith powers will help his wife Anakin seems surprised that he knew....

Anakin was surprised; it was at that point in the novelization that Palpatine mentioned his connections to the Naboo clergy. (I looked it up after a prior post in this thread; I found that interesting.)

I think Obi Wan knew in AOTC Obi Wans there when Anakins telling him about how Anakins been thinking about her and how beautiful she is and such and he never talks him down about it.

And in ROTS Padme tells Anakin that Obi Wan came by today to see how Anakin was doing. So ObI Wan must have known, what other reasons would there be for Anakin and Padme to be living together?

In Clone Wars: Wild Space, which gives the aftermath of Geonosis, Obi-Wan goes to Padme, on Yoda's orders, and tells her that she cannot have more than a "cordial relationship" with Anakin. She initially tells him (in a Padme-esque way) to shove it where the sun doesn't shine, then changes her mind and plays along, asks him to let Anakin escort her back to Naboo so she can say her goodbyes privately. Of course she has no intention of ending the relationship with Anakin. In fact, after reading the first few chapters of this book, I had to wonder if Padme didn't propose to Anakin instead of vice versa.

Throughout the rest of that book, Obi-Wan thinks that Padme cut Anakin off, in fact, at one point he thinks that something is happening between her and Bail Organa. But, obviously by the time of ROTS, Obi-Wan has realized that Anakin and Padme have maintained their relationship. There is a scene in the script, lines that never made it to film, in which Obi-Wan tells Padme that he isn't dumb, that he knows that she and Anakin are in love; he promises not to go to the Council.

And the two books succeeding that has Obi-Wan knowing each still carries a torch for the other but believing they've "cut ties." He's sympathesizes with each, but keeps an eye on benovelent and concerned eye on Anakin.

In The Clone Wars its implied that Obi Wan had some kind of secret relationship in the past. This to me fits in nicely with the Movies and Obi Wan being secretive about Anakin and Sexy Padme.