Why Didn't GL Make Padme Die the Other Way

Try a Google search for "is it possible to die of a broken heart" sometime and read up. It's not as farfetched as many here would like to think.

 

Lucas didn't want it to be ambiguous. He didn't want it to be open to interpretation. He wanted it to be specific, so that there is only one truth to how she died. Not a bunch of fans thinking it could be this or that.

 

No need to debate on boards then I guess.

 

Sorry I did not read this entire thread but I did catch alot of it. Has anybody mentioned the fact that Sidious tells Vadar that "it seems in your anger you killed her" Maybe sids just wants to further provoke Vadar, or maybe as Anakin/Vadar was sliced down by OB1 and burning up, he was thinking "that !!@$@@#ing b**ch betrayed me and I shoulda just kept on choking her" So intentionally or not his last gasp of pre-suited force powers was to will Padme to death. And the only explaination the medical droids can come up with is she is losing the will to live for whatever reason. Just a thought.

I agree with the general thoughts here that Padme dying of a broken heart is weak.

 

If GL wanted hismovies to be melodrama then all of them would have been melodrama. Leia didnt loose the will to live when she lost her planet. Obiwan and Yoda didnt loose the will to live and they lost everything. If someone is going to die a weak death then they should have been a weak character from the beginning. Padme was drawn as a Leia character as strong and independent, not someone who gives up on life. And people who die of a broken heart take longer than 2hrs. And as for her leaving her children, there are women who abandon there children; those who do are just like Padme comes across as selfish. Abortions are to complicated and controversial to get involved in. But when that child is born it is your responsibility; any mother who abandons their child is selfish. Padme had no reason to die, she had children, and the rebellion that she had already started in the book needed her as well as the Naboo. A person who puts others ahead of herself in the first 2 movies all of a sudden just doesnt care about them anymore. Yes her husband betrayed her and tried to kill her but a strong woman would get back up and fight again. Now the theory that her children are draining the life out of her could work if it was explained like that and not as "she has loss the will to live". Again I say the droids,who are the main reason we know why Padme is dying, could have said that it is either her life or her childrens lives and Padme could have chosen her children lives over hers and died brnging them into the world. But instead what we got is a woman dying already and droids having to take the children out of her so they wont die with her. And again about the melodrama, again it doesnt work in star wars because though the movies are sometimes melodramatic they still make sense in the real world. Padme could have died along with the republic, though Leia's memories still dont make sense, but she could have died for a good reason instead of a selfish one.

 

"I made a series of movies that was about one thing: Darth Vader. Originally, people thought it was all about Luke. The early films are about Luke redeeming his father, so Luke's the focus. But it's also about Princess Leia and her struggle to re-establish the Republic, which is what her mother was doing. So it's really about mothers and daughters and fathers and sons.

So now, instead of all these surprises that aren't actually surprises, when you get back to Episode IV, as soon as Darth Vader walks through that door, and you see Princess Leia with R2, you're going to say, "Oh, my God, that's his daughter. Are they gonna find out?" And you get through the whole first movie and nobody figures anything out. The figuring-out part is mostly done off-screen. The first three episodes are a tragedy, and the second three go slightly goofy, but they're inspirational: Even the worst, most evil people find compassion. Darth Vader has compassion for his children, and that's ultimately what children are for."

--George Lucas, The Cult Of Darth Vader article, 2005.


"Well, in real Greek tragedies, the kids are usually the problem. They're the ones that are killing the parents, but this is more uplifting: It's up to one generation to fix the sins of the last generation."

--George Lucas, The Cult Of Darth Vader article, 2005.

Padme creates a great sin by falling so in love with Anakin, that when he turns evil, she dies of a broken heart. So it's up to Leia to make up for that, by becoming a leader and a warrior, but also by falling in love compassionately. Not by developing too strong an attachment to someone, as Padme did with Anakin. Whereas Anakin's attachment lead to his becoming evil and power hungry, Padme's lead to her dying as she did.

As she told Anakin, she's been dying a little each day since he came back into her life. The thought of a life without Anakin was unbearable to her.

 

I thought it would've been nice had Padme stayed alive for at least a short while. Before ROTS, I always thought that Padme had died when Leia was just a little girl but Padme had let the Organa's raise her so she could protect her. So I've been trying to make a connection between the death of Padme and what Leia says in ROTJ; "Just images really, feelings...She was very beautiful, kind, but sad."

In the end the conclusion that I came to/want to believe. Is that Leia was in fact talking about Padme and the reason she could remember the images and feelings is because of some kind of special bond, weather it be through the force or otherwise. I think that because Leia was born second, she was inside her mother a little while longer than Luke and was able to develop that bond a little quicker since Luke recalled that he had no memory of his mother. The reason I believe this is, not so much on Leia's behalf but on Luke's. Obi-wan was carrying Luke and was next to Padme and then when Padme died, he started crying. That to me didn't seem like any random baby cry. To me it signalled a special bond that both the twins had.

 

I agree with your assessment about Leia's memories. I think Yoda answered the question about why, and how, Leia remembers her mother in TESB.

And Lyvia you wrote the following:

And again about the melodrama, again it doesnt work in star wars because though the movies are sometimes melodramatic they still make sense in the real world.

Here is the definition for a Melodrama; A drama, such as a play, film, or television program, characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts.

Star Wars isn't trying to be melodramatic, it is a Melodrama, and has been from the beginning. In a Melodrama, characters die of a broken hears, lost wills, or whatever else you care to call it. Some would even argue that it still happens in real life. When one loses the will to live its not nearly as selfish as you are making it out to be. Padme's entire universe came crashing down in a day, and she dies under the pressure. There is no crime in that.

 

And Ill say it again, if star wars is melodrama then people should have been dying of broken hearts before Padme, but everyone who looses everything doesnt just give up and loose the will to live.
Obi-Wan'
Luke
Leia
Yoda
he** even Vader looses everything they hold dear but they dont go out like punks. The most melodramatic death out is Yoda's and even he had a reason to die instead of just "loosing the will to live". If you are going to say the star wars movies are melodramatic that people die of broken hearts then other should have died of broken hears before Padme. Dying of a broken heart works only if it makes sense, but Padme's death doesnt make sense in the character that she once was. She didnt loose everything she still had much to live for and she just chose not to live; that is selfish especially when you have newborn babies

 

Darth-Sinister, I'm greek and I dont kill my parents or anyone, so shut up about greeks killing people.

 

Calm down. That quote is referring to ANCIENT Greek mythology.

 

I saw the movie three times, and each time, her death and "Anakin's Death" grew on me. It was done very well IMO. I think it wasn't really about a broken heart, it was about Anakin taking his final breaths. The idea was that Anakin and Padme were so connected that as one died, the other would die, for no reason but their souls are like one. That is a bit mushy, but it is also touching and tragic. If your going to show how much people love each other, have them die at the same time, that just shows it in a very Shakespearian way.

 

i think its so cool that ppl arent satisfied by padmes death. i mean, "the king dies and the queen dies of grief" is basic plot, a chain of related events, thats what my english teacher said. but now we expect women to be empowered and real. and everybody expects it, not just some radicals. really makes you think that things are getting better or something.

i didnt really hav a problem with padmes death tho. i just assumed that she realized that she couldnt run from anakin, he was in love with her and he'll sense her presence. she cant raise her children, anakin will track them down, for sure. she could only try to run and she wont join the darkside, so she was torn.

 

Vader doesn't go out like a punk? He's murdering children and stabbing mentors in the backs just based on the thought of Padme dying. The whole point was that their relationship was very unhealthy, Anakin became a paranoid; borderline insane man and Padme becomes an entirely too attached; borderline weak woman because of it. That's what they were talking about for most of AotC, that them being together "could" destroy their lives; and it does. Padme's a lot stronger than Anakin though; she's willing to walk away from him in the end, it isn't until he chokes her that she never recovers. Anakin can't do that until the very end of RotJ.

- O_F

 

Anakin is a sick person but he still doesnt just lie down and give up. I have a problem with Anakins turn also, it doesnt make sense but thats for another thread. Im sick of repeating myself so Ill say it one more time and just leave it alone. PADME'S DEATH DOESNT WORK FOR ME!!!!!!
She is supposeto be a strong woman not a weak wife; she was written as that at the beginning then all of a sudden she gets marrief and becomes weak as well as stupid. Themother of Luke*Leia would not just give up; neither Luke or Leia just keeled over when things went to he**. Melodrama or not if they wanted Padme to die symbolizing the death of democracy they could have given her a good reason to die. No good mother would leave her children alonein the world cause her husband is a bastard. Her world was not destroyed, she still has much to live for. Her people, her children, the rebellion; and once again Anakin cant find his children, or Obiwan so how the heck would he find Padme if she really wanted to hide.
I hate the way she just gives up and I wish they had actually gave her a reason to die, but Ill just ignore it like I ignore everything else I dont like about the prequels.

 

The whole point is that Padme changed when she married Anakin. Just as Anakin became closer towards evil, she became less than she once was. Padme couldn't adapt to the change, which as Lucas says, will result in death.

"Most organisms either adapt and become part of the system, or get wiped out. The only thing we have to adapt to the system with is our brain. If we don't use it, and we don't adapt fast enough, we won't survive."

--George Lucas, Academy of Achievement Interview, 1999

Padme couldn't adapt.

 

The Padme/Anakin relationship is the perfect symbol for the theme of symbiosis that plays so heavily in the prequels. Just as Obi-Wan insisted that Boss Nass realize the importance of the Gungan's reliance on the Naboo, and vice versa, Padme and Anakin's lives were just as reliant on one another. As Anakin dies, so too does Padme, as the rebellion rises, the children, the new hopes, rise as well. I love that Star Wars lives in a world of symbols, a world where mothers die only after being completed by their children, and old men don't really perish, but come back, stronger than you could possibly imagine. If I'm looking for a gritty, realistic drama, there are a ton of choices that will do it far better than Star Wars ever good. Thankfully its not even trying to compete, content to live out its fairytale existence utterly unashamed.

 

Did GL say anything in the commentary or elsewhere about why Palps/Sids told Anakin that he killed Padme? And why he seems happy when Anakin discovers that it was he himself who was responsible for her death. Frankly I don't believe the logic that "Sids needed Anakin to hate himself" in order to make Vader stay with Sids and be his apprentice. It seems counterintuitive that Vader would stay, if he really believe he killed Padme. If I were him man, I'd hate the dark side for making me so angry that I killed my wife. I think GL screwed up on the cause of padme's death thing, he should have had her get in between Obi-1 and Anakin and accidentally get hit by a rock hurled at Ani by Obi-1, then Anakin could have just blamed Obi-1 and that would explain his subsequent hate and his reluctance to see his own son turn into a jedi in the OT.

In ROTJ Luke says, "I feel the conflict within you let go of your hate." Basically,you get the feeling that by ROTJ, Vader is not turning back to the good side just because of his hate and also because he fears Sids or feels that he needs Sids, since he's weak (as a reult of his injuries).

 

Why Didn't GL Make Padme Die the Other Way

for the same reason he didnt start the PT with ROTS and showed vader killing jedi in the next 2 :because thats not his vision,thats not what he wanted.

 

I hate the way Padme dies, and I thnk it would of been *far* better to see her die wanting to live, instead of her living, and wanting to die

 

if she had died another way then i think it should be simply in child birth and not related to anakin's attack, i would hate to think that he actually " killed " her.

 

I have a hard time accepting that having just given birth to twins wasn't enough to make her want to live.

 

I think the idea Lucas is trying to give us is that when Anakin dies in spirit, so does she and it kills her physically. Anakin sees the vision that shows Padme dying. He interprets that vision as death in childbirth. When he consults Yoda about his fears, Yoda warns him not to follow the shadow of greed. When Anakin disregards that advice (understandably in my opineon; which is why it's tragic) he sets into motion events that would alienate Padme and ultimately break her heart, but that is beside the point. Her death is a mystery. Period.

Also something important to consider is that the medical droid said there is nothing wrong with her 'physically'. They're not force users and wouldn't be able to understand a spritual death due to unseen dark side force powers or even a symbiotic bond with Anakin or even the children themselves. So it's entirely possible that Darth Vader did kill Padme in his anger, not by choking her but by going to the dark side in the first place. It could mean anything. Perhaps the birth of two extemely high force potential twins was too much for her own force to handle. Remember, the midichlorians are in all living things and so is the force. Their nature is somewhat supernatural. Maybe she developed a small amount of force sense through the blood of the twins flowing through her body? Maybe that sense was too much for her normal midichlorian count to handle?

I mean really, if this was a case where the children were from normal folks or even normal jedi, then the situation might demand more logic in the scenario. But these kids were from the line of the most potent force user ever recorded in the history of the Jedi Archives. Who's to say what the normal result would be? Perhaps her days were numbered the moment conception occured? There's just no defining it in absolute terms.

Now to recap, nowhere in the films does it say she died of a broken heart. Nor does it show inconclusively that Anakin killed her. All we know for sure is that she had twins who end up being highly gifted potential force users and that she was in perfect health at the time of her death. This to me sais that Lucas wanted to let Yoda and Obi Wan know that this was a unique situation unlike any other they had encountered. Perhaps this single occurance is the source of Obi Wan's choice to:

1) encourage Luke to learn about the force
2) Tell a white lie to Luke to see where the will of the force would guide everyone involved
3) self sacrifice according to the will of the force instead of destroying Vader once and for all in Episode IV
4) convince Yoda to train Luke in Episode V to see what the will of the force would reveal

This isn't Star Trek. There doesn't have to be a fully meshed out scientific explanation for everything. And since the original foundation of 'The Star Wars' was to film it in the visual style of a silent film based on elements of mythology, the events on screen should speak for themselves, or atleast enough to accept it for what it is, a fantasy.

 

I agree 100%!

 

me too but aparently the past(anakin) was more important to her than the future(the twins),it happens a lot in real life(choosing past over future,not the lost of will to live)