PT Why didnt Padme save Shmi from Slavery ?

Padme did talk to Anakin on the ship, where he was sad about missing his mother.
And Anakin came to say goodbye to Padme and that he was going to begin his training as a Jedi.

So she knew that he missed his mother and that he was going to be trained as a Jedi.
Since she knew that Anakin and Shmi had both been slaves and now here was Anakin going with them.
Obviously he had been freed.
Did she ask about his mother?
We don't know but I find it very unlikely that she would either not ask or assume that she had been freed and elected to stay on Tatooine instead of coming with her son.

Plus Anakin gave her that carving he made and he came with them to Naboo and was instrumental in winning the battle.
Had Anakin stayed on Coruscant and Padme had not seen him again, then perhaps.
But Anakin went with her and helped her yet again.
So she does not really have any excuse to not think about him or his mother.

About Watto, yes he likely sold her because he was in need of cash and he did not buy a new one.
Did the people he owed money too buy one with that money?
Impossible to answer as we don't know those people and if they dealt in slaves.
So likely, the number of slaves was reduced by one.
And that would still be the case if Padme arranged to buy her.

So that excuse is gone.

Would someone that sells a slave want to buy a new one?
Impossible to say for sure as there are a number of possibilities.
1) This person wants to retire from his business and no longer needs slaves.
2) This person has decided that droids make better labor as they don't need to sleep or eat.
3) This person wants to go into a new kind of business where slaves are not required.
Etc.

And we don't know where new slaves, if any, would come from.
Have there been wars of conquest by the Hutts, where people were taken as slaves?
Nothing in the film indicates this.
Are regular people kidnapped and sold as slaves?
Again nothing in the film indicates this.
Do new slaves come only from the children of slaves?
Don't know.
Do people get sold into slavery if they can't pay their debts?
Don't know.

There does not seem like there would be a big market for slaves since it is illegal in much of the galaxy.
Plus the existence of droids would negate much of the need for slave labor.
I don't remember exactly but didn't Shmi and Anakin used to belong to some Hutt before Watto owned them?
Did he win them? Or got them really cheap?
I read something about it but I forget where.

So whether or not a person selling slave would want or be able to buy a new one is uncertain.
Enough that one can't argue with total certainty that buying Shmi will condemn another person to slavery.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

Cliegg had cash to burn, so he went bride shopping. The desert sure did not agree with Richard Gere.

 

Watto didn't accept Republic credits so there was nothing Padmé, a 14 year old girl, could give him and Tatooine wasn't under the jurisdiction of the Republic. I don't think there's anything they could've done short of the Republic annexing Tatooine.

 

The entire galaxy didn't have currency exchange?

If you couldn't make some crazy deal at the Mos Eisley bar, then you just aren't trying.

Not sure what Padme's age had to do with it. She was the leader of Naboo.

 

I suspect that some precious jewels or an air conditioned landspeeder with Bantha skin seats would do just fine for Watto to deal

 

Watto said that right before the race started. From her perspective it's more logic to assume that he's trying to shake her and Anakin up. She doesn't ask Qui-Jon or refer to Watto saying that at all later, so she clearly didn't know that or felt a second bet was made.

I can argue all those points but there is no point since neither of us will change their perception so I will not waste my energy writing more paragraphs. Good day to you.

 

Pretty sure the Queen & the wealthy planet of Naboo could adequately compensate Watto. If a poor moisture farmer like Cliegg Lars can, they surely can to.

 

Which makes you wonder, is the Republic really worth fighting for if it doesn't even protect its own citizens? At least the Empire patrolled the streets of Tatooine and pushed the criminal thugs to the sand dunes. They operated openly with slavery and crime in the days of the Republic.

I agree, wouldn't Padme have felt immense gratitude to Shmi and attempted to free her or fight against this injustice that "the Republic didn't exist out there"?

 

Tatooine is not part of the Republic. Why would they send forces out to monitor a planet outside their jurisdiction? The Hutts would rightfully see this as an invasion by an outside force and respond accordingly. Granted, this does make the Republic look bad as it looks like they couldn’t give two ****s about the suffering of people outside their “precious Republic zone”

Now, no one is saying Padmé needs to drag the Republic into a war with the Hutts, I think they’re simply saying why she didn’t use her resources (which puts Cliegg Lars’ resources to utter shame) to free Shmi. If Cliegg — a dirt-poor moisture farmer, mind you — could do it, then this would be a childishly easy task for Padmé. Send some agent disguised as an Outer Rim Merc over to Watto, give him what is valuable to him (i.e., maybe droids that could cover the labor of human slaves), and take Shmi.

@Samuel Vimes — In the film, Anakin informed Padmé that he and his mom were sold into slavery when he was three; they belonged to Gardulla the Hutt before she lost them to Watto in a bet on a podrace.

 

Cliegg's just a simple moisture farmer. He's not concerned about the larger ethical ramifications of participating in the slave trade, just like he's not concerned about dehumanizing Sand People by intellectually reducing them to the level of animals. He's a good person at heart, but that doesn't mean he's a moral paragon.

And I doubt Watto would be content with any droids. Part of the appeal of organic slaves is the prestige they confer upon the owner. There's also the fact that it's well-established in the Star Wars universe that droids tend to be inferior to humans in terms of ability to think creatively.

 

Which is why the Empire was better. They patrolled that backwater and drove the criminality off the streets. The Republic was bloated, self serving and tolerated corruption and crime. Slavery etc.

 

If we’re being entirely honest, it’s a really bad situation with no good answers. You could potentially go to Tatooine to buy Shmi Skywalker’s freedom, but that just props up slavery.

Depending on how autonomous Naboo is, her best option as Queen likely would’ve been to put an embargo on Tatooine until they abolish slavery, and later, to introduce a bill in the Galactic Senate for the entire Republic to do likewise, similar to how disinvestment from South Africa forced that country to end apartheid.

 

When did helping someone you know depend on the ability to help every single person?

Padme's ability to abolish slavery in the galaxy is a complex question. Her ability to save Shmi from slavery is not.

 

I seriously doubt Tatooine does much official trading with Naboo or any other Republic system. Any embargo would probably be toothless.

If Padme is financially able to liberate many more slaves than just Shmi without doing much damage to her pocketbook (as she no doubt is) then why wouldn't she be morally obligated to? She should at least free all of Anakin's friends and their families, surely? The only reason I pose that question is because no one ever brings up any of the other slaves she encountered, for some reason.

But the real point is, saving Shmi directly dooms somebody else.

 

I always viewed freeing Shmi as more for gratitude to Anakin than anything else. Instead, she freed absolutely nobody. She did the usual "this is awful" when it was in front of her face and then "outta sight outta mind".

But Padme was never one for making good decisions

 

Why do you keep ignoring the fact that buying Shmi from Watto means that he buys another slave and makes a profit? Does that just not matter?

 

Why should it? It happened anyway, now didn't it?

 

Why do you keep ignoring the fact that a rich planet like Naboo could try to free Shmi & offer Watto enough to relocate to a non slave world?

Why do you also ignore Qui-Gon gambling for the release of slaves? Watto could’ve replaced Anakin with some other poor kid.

If a poor homeless person asks you for a dollar to buy some food do you never give it to them bcs in theory you could give a dollar to thousands of homeless people? Must it be “everyone or no one”?

 

This homeless person helped save me from a mugging. Good thing because not only was my life saved, but I was being mugged for my family's mortgage payment.

They asked for a Big Mac. I told them I couldn't afford to buy every dirty bum a Big Mac. Then I gave Jar Jar the mortgage payment to make sure it was paid in my absence. Dealing with bigger problems right now. Like my spouse's murderous rampage of women and children.

 

So if some guy punches you in the face for no reason five minutes from now, that means I would have been justified punching you in the face for no reason five minutes earlier? Brilliant moral reasoning. You should be a philosopher.

 

And you should not.

 

Anakin saved the entire planet of Naboo with his piloting. Not mentioning that at all in Attack of the Clones seems like a miss opportunity. Maybe as a grownup he's unrecognizable. Still during the audience with Queen Jamilla and Sio Biddle, you'd think he'd be greeted as a hero. Having people see Anakin that way could add another layer to Padme and Anakin's courtship. Publicly I could see why the military might downplay how an 8 year old boy saved their planet when the trained Space Air Force failed. But it was never mentioned even in the deleted scenes with Padme's family.

But back to freeing Shmi. The Star Wars universe is huge. And in a lot of ways it has more in common with ancient Rome than today's society. How much clout or goes long with being the Queen of Naboo on a galactic scale. Is she like the governor of a state, is it the equivalent to being the mayor of Cincinnati Ohio. Then again, Padme had no trouble getting a silver spaceship for her and Anakin to effortless hop over and visit Tatootine.

Not sure where I got this idea, but I thought Cleigg Lars met Shmi Skywalker first. The two of them fell in love and then Cleigg bought and freed her because he wanted to marry her. Either way the entire situation sounds terrible. Much worse than how it is portrayed in the movie.

 

Great points. Of course they were trying to lay low so perhaps Padme emailed ahead & asked them to cancel the celebrations. But the new Queen & old beard-face could've at least mentioned it. Gratitude isn't the Naboo's strong suit.

Let's face it, the society of Naboo is a train-wreck. Often in hereditary monarchies a nation gets stuck with a child or teenager as their sovereign. They just have to muddle through until they're adults. Often appointing a Regent to rule until they come of age. Imagine a society that willingly elects a teenage girl to lead them!! What the...? Out of your entire world, filled with experienced competent adults the best most promising candidate for that role is a some kid?? On top of that they appoint an incompetent buffoon to be their Representative in galactic affairs. Who then helps to appoint a dictator. The Naboo are comically absurd.

Maybe that was fleshed out in a book, I'm not sure. How it's described in the movie is as creepy as hell. "I sold her to a moisture farmer named Lars. I heard he freed her & married her!". Great. Maybe he removed her explosive implant on their wedding night . You wonder how Lucas can't see how these sorts of things come across. Why would you establish the Lars are the types of people to buy slaves!? It beggars belief.

 

@Darth Downunder - Excellent points. Star Wars politics are just as weird and inexplicable as real world politics. It's odd I never thought of Cleigg buying a wife. I always saw it as he met Shmi in Mos Espa during his regular routine. They fall in love over time. He wants to marry her and finds out about her situation. So together they hatch a plan to free her.

We never even see what life is like for Shmi with the Lars family. I guess we get a good enough idea from when Luke lives there. A hard and meager life but a free one.

 

It may well have happened that way. We get none of that in the movie though. It's just casually mentioned that Cliegg purchased Shmi as a slave. Everything else is speculation. You'd think when Lucas wrote that line he'd put a pin in it & remember that when Anakin meets Cliegg to briefly mention that he met Shmi & then rescued her from slavery. Only buying her to free her immediately.