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Index Theed Palace, v. 2: Naboo Index/Discussion Thread.

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by Pandora, Jan 24, 2006.

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  1. Knight-Ander

    Knight-Ander Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2002
    Rabé's accent is exactly the thing that made me notice the handmaidens! I just had to know more about this girl, which led me to reading handmaiden fics and the RHS crew.

    BTW, I don't remember the actress' name, but I think she was from Brazil, which should explain why her accent sounded so exotic.
     
  2. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    So Rabe was good with Amidala's nerves? :) *files that away for future reference*

    I've never written much in the tpm-aotc inter-episode era, and I've read only a little more so I don't know much about the handmaidens of Queen Amidala other than Sabe.
     
  3. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    You know, I just checked wookieepedia, and it only mentions Rabé's skills as a hairdresser. But I know I've seen references in at least several other places that she was also good at calming Amidala, and presumably, the other handmaidens. I think I even saw somewhere that she had studied psychology. It sounds interesting, but I would be surprised if it's canon. Pity.

    Oh, and apparently she is also credited as being good with Amidala's wardrobe.

    I've never written much in the tpm-aotc inter-episode era, and I've read only a little more so I don't know much about the handmaidens of Queen Amidala other than Sabe.

    Now that I think about it, I've never written anything in that time period either. Most of my impressions of the Episode I handmaidens are based off the fan fiction I've read, since there is very little official material about them.

    Oh, and:

    The actress's name is Cristina da Silva. I don't think she's done anything since TPM. And I remember hearing that one of the first handmaiden threads on the boards was inspired by Rabé and her accent, though, at the time, the starter of the thread thought she was Saché. And I must admit that I wouldn't be able to identify the handmaidens if it weren't for the RHS. The only time you can ever clearly see them is when Rabé and Eirtaé wear their battle dresses.

    However, that said, Rabé is the handmaiden I can most easily identify, and who stands out the most, especially given I have a pan n scan video. Hmmm.

    I have more to say, but it's getting late here.
     
  4. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    My comments about Rabé:


    First, based off my impressions of her from her screentime, I would guess that she is perhaps fifteen or sixteen, a little bit older than Amidala. She just seems...more mature. I do know that at least one site, which I take with a big shaker of salt, claims that she's the youngest, but then, Yané and Saché are also supposed to be the youngest.

    At any rate, I don't believe it.

    (For the record? I think Yané's the youngest. And until I see otherwise, that's what I'm sticking to.)

    Rabé comes across as, even in her silence, very calm, confident, and self-possessed. She clearly smiles along with Sabé when she has Padmé clean the droid. But it's hard to tell what exactly amuses her. It might not be the obvious. Rabé strikes me as someone who usually has her own opinion, even if she doesn't let others know what it is. If she's good with psychology, she would also be good at reading people. And that could be helpful for Amidala, if she needs an opinion on whether or not she can trust someone.

    And then, there are her big lines. I've never seen anything about how much Anakin interacted with the handmaidens, other than Padmé, but you will notice that Rabé addresses him familiarly, as Ani. And in the novelization, she also speaks to him, telling him where and how he can overhear the Queen's conversation with, I think, Palpatine. Correct me if I'm wrong--I don't have access to the book right now.

    Oh, and Rabé's also a good shot, and serves at the right hand of Panaka in the battle of Naboo. (You'll notice she's right behind him, as they go into the fray.)

    There isn't much about her outside the movie. As I mentioned before, the Visual Dictionary claims, in the little blurb about her, that she is the Queen's hairdresser. And while I don't remember where I read that she is good with working with people, I know someone in the RHS said that there would be plenty of time to talk while working on those hairstyles. Especially the senate one. One site claims that Rabé's test scores were low and she barely made it into handmaiden training. I have no idea where they got that from.

    I've also heard that Rabé went on to serve as a handmaiden under Queen Jamillia, but I don't know what source that is from, so am hesitant to think of it as official. Partly, I've heard that her name is part of a list of Jamillia's handmaidens, and I just *wish* the EU would do that sort of thing. I've also heard that she comes from the same part of Naboo as Jamillia, due to the fact that they both have accents.

    There isn't a lot about Rabé in fanfiction (and what there is I have linked in the index on pg. one). Unlike Sabé and Eirtaé, she doesn't have a set image in fanfiction, or at least, I don't know of one.

    There is definately potential. For example, there are those three days she spent on Tatooine, waiting for Qui-Gon to come back with the ship part. Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if offically she, and Eirtaé and Sabé, spent the whole time shut up in the Queen's quarters, speaking and interacting with no one, when not attending an audience with Obi-Wan, but let's face it, that would be boring. According to my brother, the only thing they would do during that time is worry about the Queen (he doesn't think the handmaidens are capable of anything else, really, because he doesn't think of them as independent people apart from the Queen), but it is possible, even whilst worried, to feel and think about other things.

    And then there's Rabé's life after TPM. What do she do next? Well, as I just said, one theory is that she was Jamillia's handmaiden. But there are other possibilities.
     
  5. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    I like the idea of her going on to Jamillla. Culturally, it's nice continuity from the old monarch to the new. From a storytelling point of view, it'll be interesting to see to whom she have her loyalty when Jamilla and Amidala had their clashes.
     
  6. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    I like the idea of her going on to Jamillla. Culturally, it's nice continuity from the old monarch to the new. From a storytelling point of view, it'll be interesting to see to whom she have her loyalty when Jamilla and Amidala had their clashes.

    That's a good point, leia_naberrie.

    If she did go on to serve as a handmaiden to Jamillia, it certainly lets us know more about being a handmaiden. It would indicate that handmaidens' loyalties belongs ultimately to Naboo, rather than to any one monarch. Too bad that I've never seen anything about what happened to Jamillia's handmaidens when she steps down. I suppose I should have expected that.

    (I haven't seen anything about Apailana's handmaidens, either. It's as though when she is asssassinated, they not only aren't there, they never existed to begin with. Well, that's why I wrote a fanfic to make up for it. Okay, back on topic.)

    And if Rabé feels caught between her old mistress and her new one, that would indeed provide the conflict! conflict! conflict that makes a story.

    I did edit my earlier comments since I remembered that I had seen, in a comment by eirtae_rules, that she had found Rabé's name in a list of Jamillia's handmaidens, but she didn't remember where. I have to admit I'm curious about that book, especially if it gave that much attention to handmaidens.

    *

    Also:

    Would anyone be interested in having challenges here, perhaps on a monthly basis?

    While I considered doing that when I first started the index, I don't wish to do so unless there is sufficent interest. As in, I don't want to have a challenge if I'm the only one writing anything for it.

    (And yes, I did put up a challenge here, but took it down. If you were one of the people who saw it in the three minutes it was here, I may put it up again. It depends.)
     
  7. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    Well, if they're any kind of handmaidens, they'd have to be dead for the assassin to have got to the Queen. ;) But no-one would probably remember them, in the wake of the Queen's own death.

    I'm interested in the challenge! :D Great idea.
     
  8. Obischick

    Obischick Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2001
    Mmm... so much to do! Sorry about my... erratic apperences... graduating on Saturday and NHL playoffs are both giving me panic attacks! :p

    Rabé

    Oh, Rabé was/is the whole reason I got into my whole mess of handmaiden... (for lack of a better word) obsession. I loved her voice in the one scene she talks to Anakin. So beautiful. So I took notice of her. And the more I watch TPM (which, was A LOT) the more I noticed what she did. I loved watching out for her in the end battle scene, particularly when she's being the distraction with Panaka. I thought it was awesome that Padmé felt that she was qualified enough to go with Panaka, good enough of a warrior. Or that Panaka respected her enough to request that she go with him. Whatever it was, I loved it. And I loved her.

    That's why I wrote my first fanfic about her. I've noticed that while she's not as popular as Sabé, she's a lot of people's second-favorite, if not favorite handmaiden, even though she doesn't have a clearly defined personality in fanfic or canon fic, for that matter. (Not that any of the handmaidens have anything in canon fic :rolleyes: ) Unlike Eirtaé, who has a pretty sterotypical "casting" in fanfics, as the "snobby one" and therefore, the one who doesn't get along with everyone else, Rabé is generally the one who comes between Eirtaé and Sabé when they decide to go at it. I'm really not sure what gave everyone this impression, because besides Eirtaé not smiling in the Artoo scene, none of the handmaidens ever act oddly toward one another, and let's face it, Eirtaé could have merely been nauseous because of Ric Olié's erratic flying abilities.

    Anywho, back to Rabé. The Visual Dictionary tells us that she did Amidala's hair and soothed her nerves. I can understand how they want to "assign" each handmaiden a duty to the queen, so I'm cool with the hairdressing. At first I was confused by the soothing nerves thing, but then I thought about Rabé's voice, and well, I could probably listen to her read me all the laws enacted by congress ever, and it would be okay, because her voice is so melodic. Like I said before, I love it.

    I love the idea of Rabé becoming Jamilla's handmaiden after Amidala leaves office. Perhaps thats who she sent when she wanted Amidala to become Senator... so many posibilities with that theory... *absently thwacks at the plot bunnies now attacking her and multiplying* leave me alone, you! Hmmm... now I may have to rewrite my whole darn Rabé story (which I was playing on doing anyway, since I wrote it when I was 16-ish and I get embarassed by it now... [face_worried] ).

    A monthly challenge sounds interesting. I'd be willing to give it a try!

    ~Obischick~ [face_peace]
     
  9. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    Congratulations, Obischick.

    And it looks like today is the big day, too. (Saturday, right?)

    And, since I remember my own post bachelors life too well, good luck. Sure, it's exciting to graduate--but it's also stressful, especially since you have to start an entirely new life. I certainly wish people had acknowledged this more when I graduated.

    --

    A few final (?) comments and responses regarding Rabé:

    Obischick wrote:

    ...Rabé is generally the one who comes between Eirtaé and Sabé when they decide to go at it. I'm really not sure what gave everyone this impression, because besides Eirtaé not smiling in the Artoo scene, none of the handmaidens ever act oddly toward one another.

    Really, I'm not sure the handmaidens are ever shown interacting with one another, at least not in the movies. They just seem to because they're always grouped together, even if they don't speak. Still, it's safe to assume that they do interact, and that they probably don't get along all of the time. Though that is no reason to think that Eirtaé and Sabé would have particular disagreements.

    Like you said, in canon fic, there's nothing on the handmaidens. So I think a great deal of the interpretation people do is based not just on their small screen time, but general knowledge of human nature.

    I think it's in Rabé's favor that she's hard to identify and label, or at least, fanfic writers haven't tended to do so. It means that there isn't one image to overcome, or at least, confront, whilst writing her, the way there is with Eirtaé. Not that I blame Eirtaé for that.

    And if Rabé did go on to serve as Jamillia's handmaiden:

    As I said before, there's heaps of potential for drama and tension there. I would also wonder if Rabé would go from serving Amidala for eight years straight to Jamillia, or whether she would have returned to being a handmaiden after doing something else for a few years or so. I can see either one as working.

    I do watch out for Rabé in that end battle scene, though I don't watch TPM very often. (It is, admittedly, my least favorite Star Wars movie. If it weren't for the handmaidens and Amidala's clothes, I'm not sure I would ever need to watch it again.) Like I said before, she's the handmaiden I notice the most.

    --

    After some thought, I think I will give a challenge a go here, and see how it works out. Then, I'll decide how I want to do it on a more regular basis.

    I'm thinking over ideas, and I should put something up on Monday, along with a new topic.
     
  10. Alishu06

    Alishu06 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 29, 2005
    I would love to do challenges! that would be awesome!
     
  11. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    It may not be Monday yet on the boards, but it's Monday where I am. And so, I now present our first challenge, which will, in part, finish up our discussion of the TPM handmaidens.

    We all know that Amidala has a different set of handmaidens for each prequel. Now, it makes sense that in the ten years between TPM and AOTC, a lot could have changed and happened for her handmaidens. But what about Dormé? It seems odd that she's just gone, and after only a few years.

    As for the ROTS handmaidens, after Padmé's death they are no longer in service, and presumably back safe on Naboo. What do they do next?


    Your challenge:

    Write a story about one of Amidala's handmaidens set after their respective movies. Show what just might have happened next.

    A few loose rules:

    --It can be set while the handmaidens are still in Amidala's service, but I would hope that not everyone will do this. (This wouldn't apply, obviously, to Moteé and Ellé.) Bonus points if it's set after ROTJ.
    --After you post it, please post here with a link.
    --Word count is open.
    --There is no deadline. Feel free to respond to this at any time.

    I'm hoping to see many (or a few) possibilities here.

    --

    And the new topic:

    Yané and Saché.

    Oh, the handmaidens of very, very little screen time. (Confession: I've never been able to make out Saché in my brother's pan & scan video, only screenshots). Despite that, Yané has a distinct personality in fanfiction, whether she's depicted as a mechanical whiz or being silly.

    How much can you tell about a character who is only there for a few silent moments of screentime?

    And just what do you think happened to them when they stayed behind on Naboo?

    Any thoughts?


    *Edit for clarity.

    *You know, if I were evil, I could have had a challenge to write Ric Olié angst. Or: Ric Olié angsty songfics, set to, say, "I Believe I Can Fly" or the theme song to "The Great American Hero."


    [face_devil]
     
  12. Alishu06

    Alishu06 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 29, 2005
    Love the challenge, will get started on it after finals!!!!
     
  13. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    They may have virtually no screentime, but you *know* I can still think of something to say.

    Yané:

    Most sources agree that Yané is the youngest handmaiden. This is sometimes given as the reason for why she stays behind on Naboo when the Queen (the decoy and the real one in disguise) leaves for Coruscant. She appears in several scenes, but for the most part, the pan & scan video I've seen cuts her out. This page at the fan site The *elusive* Yané shows just how much.

    I've only ever been able to make her out in the Kiss your francise goodbye scene. She's standing next to Rabé.

    In that scene, she looks completely different from the most commonly seen screenshot, where she looks very young and innocent: She has a full-lipped, almost sullen beauty that, in that moment, could come from a pre-raphaelite painting.

    So, who is she?

    For a handmaiden with so little screen time, Yané hasn't done too badly in fandom. As you can see, she even has a fansite. Most fanfic starts her characterization with the fact that she is the youngest. (And there's that silly smile she makes, that I've never seen, because pan & scan cuts her out there.) Official lit. supports this: In the novelization, Yané cries a little and needs to be reassured by the Queen when they leave for Coruscant without her and Saché. She doesn't fight in the hangar battle, so we have no idea how good a shot she is.

    Yet, because there is so little about her, we have fanon such as the belief that she's a mechanical whiz. The movie does nothing to prove this, but then again, it doesn't disprove it either. According to a card in some sort of role playing game, Yané is a musician. I can certainly see some fanfic potential there.

    And then, there's the big question:

    What happened to Yané, and Saché, after they were left behind?

    The movie doesn't say. All we know is that, whatever they went through, they're back in service with Amidala after the battle of Naboo as though nothing had happened. We don't know where they were (it's likely they were taken into custody along with Sio Bibble) and how they got back. While it's nice to think they were working in the resistance movement, there is no evidence at all in the movie that this is the case. They're certainly not with the leaders who show up to meet Panaka--who all seem to be royal guards. Really, the movie just forgets about them until it needs to plunk them right back in. But then, it was never clear why they were left behind in the first place. Yes, they are glorified extras, but it seems that they were two chess pieces in the plot that just got swept to the side.


    Saché:

    Now, Saché is a mystery. In the screenshots I've seen of her, she looks serious, and mature, which is why I've never bought the commonly held belief that she is only slightly older than Yané. Supposedly, another reason that they are both left behind is that they haven't been in Amidala's service as long as the others. I don't know how true that is, though.

    I can't think of any fanon about Saché. She is completely open to interpretation. The most distinctive portrayal of her that I remember is in Amidolee's "One Prick to Bleed," where she was Sabé's best friend in school. Really, there is so little about Saché, that writing about her nearly counts as writing an OC.

    I have heard people say that, as the Queen's party leaves without her, she is turning away, determined, ready to carry out the resistance movement for her Queen in her absence. While, again, the movie doesn't show this, it's nice to think it just might, possibly, be true.
     
  14. Alishu06

    Alishu06 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 29, 2005
    I started on the challenge! Motee! fun stuff!
     
  15. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    I started on the challenge! Motee! fun stuff!

    That's good to hear, Alishu06.

    I see that you're doing Moteé, from ROTS. Now, while I wrote the challenge to apply just to the TPM handmaidens, I actually did consider opening it up to the handmaidens in the next two movies. (Well, the surviving ones.) But I wasn't sure. I didn't want it to be too limited, but then, most challenges *do* focus on only a few characters...

    That said, I believe I'll expand the challenge.

    ETA:

    And I've done just that. See the challenge post just above for the new additions.


    *

    And now, I think I'll change the topic. Yes, it's only been a few days, but honestly, I never expected much interest in Yané and Saché. Still, you never know. So, if you've come late, feel free to discuss them.

    Our new topic is:

    Dormé.

    Dormé is Amidala's only surviving handmaiden in AOTC, and, her wookieepedia entry stresses, one of her most loyal and faithful. The fanlisting for Dormé is called Selfless, and that seems to sum her mostly up.

    For me, the big question is not where the loyal Sabé went after TPM (after all, as I said, a lot can happen in ten years), but where Dormé went. How is it that, after so much loyalty, she's not there only a few years later?

    Let's discuss.
     
  16. Alishu06

    Alishu06 Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 29, 2005
    oops, I knew I was forgetting some of the rules. *headdesk* ;) Thanks for changing it!
     
  17. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    Maybe she was killed? :) I actually wrote a story trying to explain that - even though it was a bit over the top and odd.

    Generally, and not specific to Dorme, I was a bit dissapointed that handmaidens changed gaurds, so to speak, so easily during the course of the films. I mean, how difficult could it have been to just explain that it was Sabe - not Corde that died in the bomb blast at the start of Episode 2? It would have given her character - who was Amidala 50% of the time in TPM - some closure. And even if the same actress could not play the role of Dorme in Episode 3, could it have been so strange to have another dark-haired pale-skinned type take on the role? After all, there are hardly any close-ups of handmaidens, and they exist in their wide-shadow-casting hoods.


     
  18. Obischick

    Obischick Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2001
    Hmmm.... very interesting challenge!! I may have to steal that Rabé/Jamilla connection idea-thingy and do something with that.

    Ack! That makes three more things for me to write... good thing I have nothing to do :p

    Yané

    I always pictured Yané as a very deeply shy person. I think I get this because from what I can see of her, she always has her head down, she's always looking to the ground, whereas the other handmaidens are always looking ahead or up. I think of her as the youngest because the official visual dictionary told me to, and because she seems to be the smallest of the bunch, a tiny little slip of a girl, really. The woman who portrays her, Candice Orwell, has very dark eyes and dark hair. She is very young looking from the few pictures we have of her:

    Candice @ RHS

    In the fanfic I've written with her in it, I play up her shyness, and because of that shyness make her sort of a homebody. That being said, I had to figure out how to make her become a handmaiden, so I made her become sort of obsessed with technology and enginerring and computers, part slicer part Mcgyver, and that gets the attention of one Captain Panaka, who puts her skills to good use.

    During the occupation, I have Yané stay with Sio Bibble, as opposed to trying to flee Theed, to stay as a figurehead for the people that Amidala has not left them. Of course, I haven't written her story yet, so this is all speculation and fun on my part :p

    Saché

    I always really liked Saché, and I think that's because it's Sofia Coppola who just happened to wander onto set at the right moment, and got to be a handmaiden. So it gave me hope that if somehow my dad became bestest buds with Georgie Lucas, I could wander onto set and be a handmaiden.

    Anyways, I always figured Saché for the oldest because she looks like the oldest to me, probably because Sofia Coppola was like, late twenties when she "played" the part. I always figured Saché as one of the better ones in weapons/self-defense, and I don't know why because Saché never actually sees any action, that we know of. I like to think that Saché was told by Amidala before she left to try to start some kind of Rebellion and she takes the extra security guards and pilots to the woods and they do whatever while Amidala is cruzin the outer rim. And that's where all those spare people came from for the end battle in Theed.

    Saché tends to have a party-girl persona in a lot of fanfic, and I'm not sure why. I've also seen her portrayed as a romantic, as a musician and as someone who is very shy. She's a very versitile character, one of the most versitle of the handmaidens, I think.

    Dormé

    Dormé is very interesting to me, because I've never really thought very deeply about her before. She has the most lines out of any handmaiden while a handmaiden, yet she has very little screentime. What's interesting about her as compared to the Fab Five, is that we see three of those handmaidens reacting throughout the movie to what's happening, and two of those at the beginning and the very end, so we know where their stories start and end. But Dormé is given so little screentime that we have very little to go on with her. We don't see her react to Cordé and Versé dying. We don't see her react to the war starting, or Padmé getting captured.

    What we do see: Dormé looking calm, sad and stoic when Padmé meets with Palpatine. Dormé looking mildy akward as Ani and Obi fight in Padmé's apartment. Concern when Padmé is attacked (though she still calls her milady... lack of friendship/closeness?), and trying not to laugh when Anakin is whiny, and tears when Padmé is leaving, though if I recall correctly, they don't even sit next to each other on the bus? I don't remember... perhaps someone else does?

    So there is concern on Dormé's part, but not enough closeness for Dormé to stop calling her milady or
     
  19. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    Obischick:

    Yes, Saché does seem like she's one of the oldest handmaidens, which is why I've never believed references to the contrary. It would also explain why Amidala trusted her enough to handle things on Naboo while she was gone. She wasn't leaving her, and Yané, behind in the best of situations, and she had to believe they could handle it.

    Saché tends to have a party-girl persona in a lot of fanfic, and I'm not sure why.

    You know, I completely, totally, forgot that. And I know I've seen this mentioned before somewhere. I wonder if people like to portray Saché this way because it shows she has a side *other* than the shadow following Amidala. (I'll bet money *no one* is going to show Dormé as a party girl, not even in parody.) But it's true, we see so little of her, she could be anything.

    I always pictured Yané as a very deeply shy person. I think I get this because from what I can see of her, she always has her head down, she's always looking to the ground, whereas the other handmaidens are always looking ahead or up.

    That makes sense. I think I've also started to think of Yané as a bit shy, partly because in the one scene where I can see her, she *is* looking away, and possibly towards the ground. Otherwise, if I wrote about her, I think I'd have her be a musician. I admit to liking that idea.

    And if you give us a Ric Olié angst Songfic, I may have to hurl

    Don't worry--there's no danger of that. It was possibly the most evil, twisted idea I've come up with lately, and I just had to share.

    leia_naberrie:

    Generally, and not specific to Dorme, I was a bit dissapointed that handmaidens changed gaurds, so to speak, so easily during the course of the films.

    You know, I feel the same way. Somehow, I wasn't surprised, but I was a bit disgusted, to find out the handmaidens had been changed yet again for ROTS. Padmé is supposed to have this deep connection or friendship with her handmaidens, but it's not too convincing when you see there are new ones after only a few years. Of course, I doubt Rose Byrne would have been interested in returning--I recall she said in an interview that playing Dormé just involved sitting near Natalie Portman and looking serious.

    And this is just my opinion, but given that Dormé is only hooded in the deleted senate scene, and there are close-ups on her during the good-bye scene, I doubt she could have been replaced with another actress so easily.

    *

    And, a few thoughts on Dormé:

    I should admit that it was Dormé who first got me interested in the handmaidens when I saw AOTC last year. Dormé seemed like a lady-in-waiting, or even companion to Amidala. And she had what I called the Victorian lady's maid in space look. She certainly seemed different from the hooded shadows the handmaidens had been in TPM. But like them, she was silent and watchful, with her serious, almost tragic eyes.

    Even though I knew the film's narrative wanted me to look elsewhere, I couldn't help but notice her, and wonder who she was. Just as I couldn't help being annoyed on her behalf when my brother assured me that yes, she would be playin' decoy so that it would seem that Amidala hadn't left Coruscant, but was just hiding away in her apartments whilst Jar Jar represented her in the senate. At the time, I didn't see how that was necessary.

    (No comment on Jar Jar taking her place in the senate. I'm not sure there are words.)

    As Obischick, pointed out, she is the handmaiden with the most lines spoken as herself. It is telling that all of these lines are addressed to her mistress. She appears to be totally selfless, if we go only by how she presents herself. Even when she is about to enter a risky situation, her thoughts are only for Padmé: "It's not me, Milady. I worry about you."

    "Are you all right, Milady?"

    We never see Dormé with a blaster or in action, but the speed and urgency with which she rushes to Padmé's side after the assasination attempt show how protective she is. Makes me wonder if per
     
  20. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    Mmm... I don't think Padme was cold to Dorme when they said good-bye as they left Coruscant. When Dorme looked like if she would cry, Padme said: 'You'd be fine', reassuring Dorme about herself, not thinking that Dorme was more worried about her (Padme). Then she turns it into a joke about Anakin (whom they had laughed at together - in the book, anyway - and they hug). It seemed affectionate enough for me. *shrugs*

    I don't really think Dorme died. She probably just left service the way the other handmaidens from TPM did. If she died, it had to have been between eps 2 and 3, not during the film.


    GunsrayLawyer's Ivoverse has Dorme starring as the female lead character. If I remember correctly, she was supposed to be a musical prodigy and she ended up marrying an aristocrat. (I think she was an aristocrat as well, by birth, but I can't remember accurately). She's not a self-effacing character at all - but someone who looks like 'butter can't melt in her mouth' in public, but is very relaxed, jovial, intelligent and passionate when she's with her own group. I agreed with that - because if her jokes and her laughter are any indication, she looks like someone who has a risque sense of humour.

    My favourite Dorme though is geo3's Dorme. She writes Sabe and Dorme like the Sugar/Spice Sisters - with Sabe as the Spice sister (adventurous, spunky, outspoken one who hates sewing) and Dorme as the Sugar sister (sweet and gentle, firm but not a thrill-seeker, she's the sensible sister). I like the way both women complimented Padme in the story, and the nice balance between friendship and the mistress/handmaiden relationship that they struck.
     
  21. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    Since, as I said in my earlier post, it had been a while since I'd seen the good-bye scene, I watched it again just a few minutes ago. Okay, I rewound back to Padmé and Dormé's conversation too many times. And yet-- I still can't really tell just how close, or not close, they are from that scene. I don't think Padmé is cold or distant. But I'm not sure how close she is to Dormé either.

    Ultimately, I think Dormé is not truly Padmé's equal (well, Padmé has been elevated up and apart from everyone else since childhood). They are close, but they cannot, really and truly, be friends. Oh, I just thought of what Aristotle would say on this, but I think a stiff drink of...water will get rid of that.

    What I did notice:

    As the airtaxi stops, you can see Padmé, and Dormé, walking up to the front, with Typho behind them. I couldn't tell what their seating arrangement was. Padmé pats Dormé's arm when she tells Typho to take care of her. (Dormé, meanwhile, is smiling.) She is letting them know that she is aware of what she might be leaving them to.

    When Padmé and Dormé are talking, Padmé gives her all of her attention. When she sees that Dormé is visibly upset, she is clearly, if subtly (remember, Padmé has spent years in politics hiding her emotions) affected, and she reassures Dormé that she'll be fine.

    Of course, Dormé is worried about her lady. Really, they are both better at thinking of others than themselves. And, I noticed this time, when Padmé makes the remark about her Jedi protector, she smiles in such a way as though it's a joke she and Dormé already know. We can't see Dormé's reaction, but it makes sense that she probably smiled too. Oh, they had to have been discussing him when he wasn't around.

    The pan & scan cuts out their hug, which I've seen in screenshots, so I can't comment on that.

    I don't really think Dorme died. She probably just left service the way the other handmaidens from TPM did. If she died, it had to have been between eps 2 and 3, not during the film.

    That makes sense to me.

    I think she probably did leave service, at some point between AOTC and ROTS. I do wonder *why* she did, though, well, I have a challenge going on right now to answer that.

    I've always meant to write a fanfic about Dormé, including starting a still empty file for it on my computer. It was going to be a novel like the one the EU is not giving us. (My Jedi mind tricks are soooo not working there.) It just hasn't happened, partly because I have a character for it, but not much else. No real story (plot). It was possibly going to open with Dormé's resignation, and what she does next, but I also wanted to write about her experiences as a handmaiden, esp. during her decoy time on Coruscant. And I hates flashbacks.

    But maybe I'll write something about her for the challenge. We shall see.
     
  22. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    My Jedi mind tricks are soooo not working there.
    lol! Maybe we could combine forces? A mind-meld or something. :) On the other hand, it's a mixed blessing. Would you like someone like Stover to write about how all the handmaidens in TPM were secretly swooning over Obi-Wan Kenobi? :rolleyes:

    Good point about Dorme and Padme never being 'real' friends. Although Padme is such a compassionate character - as shown in TPM when she made friends so easily with Jar Jar and Anakin, the outcasts - she's always been 'on the outside, looking in' for most of her life. 'It's lonely at the top' and all of that. I don't think she's even as close to her own family as she would like. It's part of what makes her so connected to Anakin.

    Please let me know when you start writing the Dorme story. That would be interesting.
     
  23. Obischick

    Obischick Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2001
    Dormé & Co. on Bus I think this pic is the reason I think Dormé and Padmé don't sit next to each other on the bus. It's obviously a behind-the-scenes kind of thing, and I think it's really fifth grade for Padmé to be sitting behind her crush, but oh well :p

    As for Dormé period of service to Amidala/Padmé, whose to say she hasn't been with Amidala since she was a Queen? What if one of the OG Five decided to leave midway through Amidala's second (or first) reign and Dormé was brought in as a replacement? She could have been with Padmé for, like, eight years now.

    Going along with that line of thought, we're never given the impression that the OG Handmaidens are that close to Padmé (at least in the movie), she doesn't even refer to them by name. Not even Sabé in the Boss Nass scene. How hard would it have been to say: "Sabé is my decoy, my loyal friend and bodyguard?" Oh well. Anyways. We get in the books/Dictonarys that Sabé is considered Padmé's "best friend." Besides, with Padmé acting as handmaiden, it might have given Rabé/Sabé/Eirtaé an opportunity to see a side of their Queen most normally don't. This probably brought them closer together. I'm willing to bet Dormé never had an opportunity to get that close with Padmé as opposed to Senator/Queen Amidala.

    The Why Question. I often wonder why any of the Handmaidens leave Amidala's service, especially Dormé since we are given so little about her background. We know that R/S/E have been with Amidala since the beginning of her reign, so it only makes sense that they might be sick of her by the time she's Senator :p And that Y/Sch joined the other handmaidens soon thereafter. But with Dormé, everything's so... well, the lack of any information whatsoever is frustrating. To say the very least.

    Flashbacks can be really irritating and hard to pull off. I never know quite how much detail to go into or how long it should be or what.

    On the other hand, it's a mixed blessing. Would you like someone like Stover to write about how all the handmaidens in TPM were secretly swooning over Obi-Wan Kenobi?

    That's when you attack Stover :p I would be really upset if anyone ever made them that one dimensional. That's why I'm holding out that GL will discover someone (like one of us) to write a Handmaiden series... how cool would that be?

    Anyways, I think I got the coldness from the goodbye scene because of the weak hug Padmé gives Dormé and then she's giving Anakin the goo-goo eyes fifteen seconds later and giggling like a schoolgirl at his R2 joke. Which is ironic, because R2 ends up saving her butt at the end of the movie... and everyone elses butts in all the other movies. Poor R2 is so underrated :p

    ~Obischick~[face_peace]
     
  24. Pandora

    Pandora Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2005
    I have to admit that yes, while it would be nice to see the EU put out a handmaiden related novel, it may be for the best that they haven't. Personally, I think if anyone wrote it, it would be Jude Watson, and she would give them only one dimension, that of the Loyal Retainer.

    I can think of an author who I think, not so humbly, could write a good handmaiden novel, provided he was interested: Sean Stewart. I've only read his original novels, but I think he could do it. Plus, he had a handmaiden reference in his EU novel, Dark Rendevous.

    Of course, we could just start working on the one, big, true, mind meld Jedi mind trick...

    *Gets wrist ready.*

    As for Dormé period of service to Amidala/Padmé, whose to say she hasn't been with Amidala since she was a Queen? What if one of the OG Five decided to leave midway through Amidala's second (or first) reign and Dormé was brought in as a replacement? She could have been with Padmé for, like, eight years now.

    That's a good point, Obischick. You know, I've always assumed that she had only been in Padmé's service for the few years she had been senator, though it's true, the movies are pretty vague on how long any of the handmaidens serve. I do get the feeling, still, that she only signed on when Padmé was a senator, partly because the senatorial handmaiden position seems to be different from that of the royal handmaidens. I think the official site itself says that they are more like bodyguards than a de facto court.

    As senator, Padmé is seen as having both three and two handmaidens; I can't tell if this is standard for female senators from Naboo. Also, while the royal handmaidens are hooded at all times, the senatorial handmaidens are not. Sometimes they're hooded (the cut senate scene in AOTC) but mostly, it seems, not. Dormé isn't hooded in most of her scenes, and Moteé doesn't wear a hood in her one senate scene in ROTS. There doesn't seem to be the same need to conceal their appearances, and despite the hoary old decoy trick rearing its head, it wouldn't really work for a senator, and certainly not close up. It was mostly the Queen's makeup that made it work to begin with.

    It is interesting that really, you can't tell anything about Padmé's relationship with her handmaidens from TPM. It's only in AOTC that you see her actually speak with them, and even then, I think that what you see is their public images, and really nothing about how they are in private.

    Padmé does address Sabé by name in the TPM novelization--in fact, that's how I knew what her name was. All of the handmaidens are named there, though I did wonder how it was Anakin knew their names. You certainly don't get the impression that introductions were made.

    Like I said, I didn't see the Padmé and Dormé's hug because the pan n scan cuts it out. I did notice that the last you see of Dormé, she's walking back into the airtaxi whilst Typho & Obi-Wan watch Anakin and Padmé walk away. The story doesn't need her anymore, but we can see her, and she almost looks sad in that one glimpse that she will go on outside the plot.

    And of course, they were right to be glad to have R2. Of course, he saves her butt. That's what he does. He's like Mighty Mouse, here he comes to save the day.

    Flashbacks can be really irritating and hard to pull off. I never know quite how much detail to go into or how long it should be or what.

    I know, and that is why I hate them. But sometimes, I am forced into writing them anyway. I do still plan on writing a story about Dormé, but I suspect I won't be able to get to that for some time, especially as I need to focus on finishing stories I've already started.

    It's late here, so I'll do a catch-up post later on anything I might have missed.
     
  25. leia_naberrie

    leia_naberrie Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2002
    I agree about Sean Stewart. He's easily the best EU writer in the business - writes all the characters fairly, engaging and 3-dimensional.

    *flecks wrist* Let's start that mindmeld. :D


    Mmm... I'll just go home and watch that scene again. I was pretty sure that Padme was either sitting with Dorme or Anakin.

    Dorme was actually in Padme's service during her tenure as Queen. According to the Episode 2 visual dictionary, she becamse Queen Amidala's handmaiden, shortly after the Battle of Naboo. So she was actually part of the Big Six. ;)


    Giggling like a school-girl? ;) I really need to watch that scene again. I thought that Padme was worried, looked back at the others (Dorme included) and that was why Anakin tried to lighten the tension.

    I don't think the hug was 'weak' - unless there's some way of measuring hugs that we don't know about. :p It's precisely the same way she hugs her sister in the deleted scenes. When you think about it, the only people we ever see Padme being affectionate with are Anakin, her family - and Dorme.

    Maybe it's just me but I think they had a good friendship - it may not have been equal in every aspect, but it was a strong one.
     
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