PT Answered: How did Padmé die?

So, I was on vacation, but now I'm back! So, I'm gonna start out my discussion with this theory:

https://www.retrozap.com/padme-didnt-die-of-a-broken-heart/

So, basically, the idea is that near the end of Revenge of the Sith, Padmé didn't die of a broken heart. It claims that Darth Sidious sucked the "Living Force" out of her and used it to reincarnate Anakin as Darth Vader.

Unfortunately, while this sounds cool, there are MANY reasons why this is NOT true.

1. Why would Darth Sidious single this power out for Padmé?

Let's be honest here, if Darth Sidious could kill anyone they wanted, he wouldn't just use it on Padmé. If this is true, then he could have killed ANYONE he wanted at ANY time. Maybe you might say he was only powerful enough to do this once. In that case, why would he use it on Padmé? He could have used thousands of other ways to get rid of her without Vader knowing. If Sidious had this power, why didn't he use it on one or even all of his enemies? Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, Yoda, etc. Maybe he could only use it on non-Force sensitive people. Well, he certainly has many non-Force sensitive enemies! Commander Willard, General Dodonna, Admiral Ackbar, ANY of the rebel leaders. So I think it's pretty unlikely that the evil Emperor would use it ONLY on Padmé if he had it.

2. But Darth Sidious knew about Padmé's death seconds after it happened!

Another point brought up in this theory is that Sidious knew that Padmé had died seconds after her death. Another assumption here. First of all, in believing this we're trusting that PALPATINE, PALPATINE, was telling the truth. That's how the Jedi got exterminated! Are we really going to make the same mistake?

3. The droid couldn't detect anything wrong with her!

OK, so now, not only are we also trusting the Emperor who built his Empire on lies, we're trusting a medical droid which no one knows who made. For God's sake, the Emperor could have built it! And if, apparently, the droid couldn't detect what was wrong with her, HOW DID THEY KNOW SHE WAS DYING? But wait...I have an idea!

4. Maybe Palpatine WAS involved...just not in the way you would think...

So basically, I'm saying that Palpatine couldn't kill Padmé. But maybe, just maybe, he did do something...

5. Anakin's Force Choke

The article mentions that Anakin's Force Choke didn't kill her. If we believe what the droid said, then nothing is wrong with her. Obviously, the choke didn't kill her, but I'm pretty sure that a person wouldn't be "completely healthy" after two major injuries: 1. Nearly getting choked to death; and 2. Hitting her head on the ground.

In case you've forgotten about this, see this:



Plus, she was giving birth to twins. Many people in our universe die from childbirth alone. Probably in their universe too, as Anakin even tells Padmé this: "It was only a dream...You die in childbirth." So 3 reasons why Padmé was unhealthy, and the droid says she's "completely healthy." Don't you think SOMETHING is wrong here? Someone had to tinker with that droid. But who?

6. Padmé didn't lose the will to live!



The thing with this one is, personally, I don't think she did. But the above image is not proof that she didn't, and not proof that Darth Sidious was killing her. She was not resisting against Darth Sidious. She was just struggling in childbirth; all mothers do. So I think I've given enough proof against the Sidious theory. Let's go on to how she REALLY died.

7. What really happened (I think).

Now let's answer what I asked in Section 5. Who tinkered with that droid? Let's go over the suspects:

A. Someone in the medical facility:

• Obi-Wan Kenobi

Do I even need to explain this one? Obviously not. Now, some people may have "conspiracy" theories that Obi-Wan is actually "evil" or something. But I'm not even going to bother to give proof against this: this is an absolute (as Sith deal in): Kenobi did NOT kill Padmé.

• Yoda

Same as Obi-Wan.

• Bail Organa

Again, nope!

• Kallidahins/Polis Massans, the nurses/doctors that delivered the baby

If you aren't sure who these are, go to:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kallidahin

So why is this one not true? Well, I'm pretty sure they're not even canon in the other sources, so pretty much they only appeared at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Would Lucas (Yeah, sorry, this is off-universe) make such a non-important character a villain? Nope. Move on.

• The medical droid!

Maybe the droid is evil! Just like the IG-88 droid that hunts Han Solo, a mistake in its programming made it evil! It lied about Padmé and deceived everyone! Right? Nope. Same as Kallidahins/Polis Massans.

B. Whoever made the droid

Yeah, we don't know who made the droid, so this one is out.

C. The Emperor/Vader

After I just established that the Emperor didn't kill Padmé, why am I going back to it? Well, the Emperor didn't kill Padmé, Vader did. What the Emperor did was cover it up. Padmé died from childbirth and injuries to the head and neck from the Force Choke. The Emperor covered it up by tinkering with the droid using the Force.

So what do you guys think of this new theory? Leave me some feedback! By the way, I'm going to be coming out with more of these...including one about the TRUE identity of Snoke! (or something)

GrandMaster223

 

Simple really.

Because the in the original trilogy, George Lucas told us that Luke and Leia's mother died when they were both very young.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Unless medical droids are sensitive to previously untold Sith powers of remote willpower removal that the Jedi cannot detect.

 

In some early storyboards for ROTS Anakin's attack on Padme on Mustafar was far more violent than the version that made it onto screen. Padme was picked up by her husband's Force-Choke, and thrown against her ship. A reference to this version of the scene still exists in one of the 'Legends' post-ROTJ novels. Considering that ROTS is a dark movie anyway it wouldn't be surprising to me if Lucas and co. had rejected this version of the scene on the grounds that, on top of genocide and a bible style 'slaughter of innocents', heavily implied uxoricide would have been too much. And, to be fair, I can understand why such a decision could potentially have been made.
Interestingly, LFL's Pablo Hidalgo has stated that during sound editing on ROTS, a conscious decision was made to have Anakin and Padme's heartbeats fail together, with Vader's picking up afterwards. Suggesting that a conscious decision was made to add a spiritual capacity to her death. Which I feel does give a certain amount of credence to the theory that Sidious drained her life force in those final moments.
In conclusion, I do not think that GL is any kind of raging misogynist. What I do think is that the seriousness of Padme's injuries should have been emphasised to a greater extent at her death scene. After all, we know from TESB that a mere Force-Choke is enough to kill somebody.


For the purpose of context, here is how I've personally interpreted Padme's cause of death.
1. She is seriously injured on Mustafar, but hangs on long enough to give birth. essentialy she was already dying then.
2. Sadly childbirth, which does put tremendous strain on a woman's body (even in real life), was enough to finish her off in her weakened post-Mustafar state.
3. Add to that internalised guilt over her failure to protect the democracy she valued so highly, and her role in Anakin's fall to the dark-side, and I'd say you have a pretty deadly cocktail. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Yeah, pretty much. However, this doesn't explain why the medical droid described her as "completely healthy" ("Medically, she is completely healthy").

 

Yeah, I do whish that they decided to emphasise her injuries instead of downplaying them. I mean the woman is seemingly unconscious all the way from Mustafar to Polis Massa. She has to be carried from the ship to the hospital, despite the fact that she is not yet in labour, and can barely speak when Obi-wan finds her after his duel with Vader. So clearly she is not 'completely healthy'.

I guess if you wanted a loophole for that theory, it would be fair to argue that the colony on Polis Massa was Kallidahin, so perhaps the medical droid was unfamiliar with human biology.

 

It's as if Lucas decided that definitely, although unintentionally, killing his wife as well as knowingly murdering innocent children on a vague promise from someone proven to be untrustworthy and evil would make Anakin something considerably less than a "tragic" figure. So the wife killing bit was simply obfuscated so that we are just left with the "tragedy" of child murdering Anakin.

 

Because they scanned her body and found no trauma from the Force choke. No bruises. No internal injuries. No disease or ailment that she's suffering from. There is no medical reason for her to be there, but they're still detecting that her vitals are bottoming out.

 

Anakin is afraid that his wife is going to die, leaving him alone I the world. The guy is already possessive, and has attachment issues via the demise of his mother in AOTC. In order to secure his wife's future Anakin commits heinous acts in her name, in order that he may prove himself worthy to Sidious for instruction in the darks arts that can save her life. Padme, horrified at Anakin's acts (including infanticide) leaves him anyway. Anakin, who is extremely possessive, can't handle this and attacks his wife, fatally injuring her. Thus his earlier prophecy becomes self-fulfilling and she dies anyway.

Anakin's real tragedy, is his greed and selfishness. That is his fatal flaw.

 

I've never really taken issue with the lack of a cohesive medical explanation for Padme's death. It's where I'm reminded that Star Wars is a fairy tale, no less believable than "true love's first kiss."

 

Oh look, I can use this GIF again:

 

There's never a wrong time for Robot Chicken Star Wars.

 

Mostly Handless when did Padme leave him? She travelled to Mustafar to be beside him because she was so worried. She pleaded with him to run away with her and to raise their child. Anakin chokes her because he sees Obi Wan and thinks that she has betrayed him.

Anguish, regret, guilt and frustration at having turned up just too late to save your mother from a horrible death and the desire to not let that happen again is not possessiveness Whomever thought those emotions were the tell tale signs of a greedy selfish wrongdoer was high or careless at the time they made that up.

 

"You're going down a path I can't follow" -Padme

 

A broken heart.

The are legit cases, outside of fiction, of people dying over an emotional trauma. The shock of the event can trigger a heart attack, resulting in death. Usually this is coupled with a complete mental breakdown.

 

No, it is a sign of obsessiveness. Itself a path to the dark side. The possessiveness is in not wanting to accept when something or someone will take away that happiness, which is centered around a person, then it becomes possessiveness. Signs of possessiveness.

Spoiler

Nearly killing someone who you think is trying to take your wife from you.



Attacking a fellow Jedi because you are afraid to lose your wife's only hope.



Saying that you cannot live without her.



After choking his wife, telling Obi-wan that he will not take her from him.

 

But implied that Leia had known her quite a bit more and longer than Luke had and had for some time been raised by her.

It feels more like he changed the story-he didn't want to show Padme abandoning Luke so instead had her just unable to keep going on with either or both children.


That Sidious siphoned-away Padme's life energy to Anakin would make his "You killed her" line even more devious and would be compatible with Padme still being hopeful that Anakin had some good in him and the droid being really perplexed by what he saw happening. If Anakin did it, although unconsciously/unknowingly, that would make Padme's statement more wishful thinking or even delusional, it would highlight how overly-close the two had become and how selfish Anakin had become, and it would be interesting that Sidious was again truthful but in a warped way.

 

Siphoning away life energy to save Anakin?

What movie is that in?

The motivation and the drama is warped almost beyond coherence already without imagining things to make it more convoluted.

 

LUKE: "Leia... do you remember your mother? Your real mother?"

LEIA: "Just a little bit. She died when I was very young."

LUKE: "What do you remember?"

LEIA: "Just...images, really. Feelings."

The door was wide open. It was that she had to have died when she was two. But Lucas never had a backstory explaining her death, in every script draft that he wrote. As to separating the twins, that wouldn't be an issue of saying she is a bad mother by allowing Luke to be raised by someone that she and Obi-wan would trust. Hell, having her lose the will to live has a number of fans calling her a bad mother. He would have known that as well. So that isn't a factor.

 

Padme's death is a lot harder to mock after what happened to Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

 

Padme is not an old lady, who had a child die.

Her losing to will makes no sense, since she had 2 children born and still believes her husband can be saved.

I don't think the Palpatine theory is what happened either, but I'd like some other explanation for her death other than what we got.

At least I can get one in fan fiction, better than canon.

 

It's not just exclusive to children.

 

never said it was.

They still aren't the same though. It's not unheard for elderly people to die not long after a loved one dies, such as a spouse etc.

But who dies from what Padme did in her situation?
How does a young person, with 2 kids to live for, has hope for her husband, and has family and friends alive, lose the will to live and die from it so fast?

 

I don't have a problem with her death. Not even getting into the dark fairy tale and/or symbolic aspect, different people process trauma in different manners. "Think about the children" as an automatic solution downplays the individual psyche and its response to a series of events that are catastrophic on both a societal and personal level, imo. I don't think less of the character because of what happened. If anything I emphasize even more with Padme and all she went through.

 

Losing the will to live usually means having nothing to live for and seeing no hope in the future.

Padme emphatically names the two children she has just given birth to and defiantly proclaimed the goodness in Anakin. It's the only thing on her mind.

Regardless. People don't die of will deficit. They die of physical causes that they perhaps don't have the will to fight. And that's still contentious. No doctor ever said that they lost a patient because they didn't have the will to overcome their momentary physical infirmity.

Dying of a broken heart doesn't apply because that refers to an emotional trauma or stress reducing someone's capacity to overcome a physical illness or said stress triggering an existing and/or latent physical problem. There is nothing physically wrong with Padme

Like the Jedi's inability to use the force because of the mere presence of a Sith, and the prophecy, there's no discernible logic or genuine reason to these things. They are malleable excuses for things happening and not happening as the plot requires them.

Often times, those kind of excuses are fine. Like time travel. Nobody understands it. It makes no recognisable, practical sense. But if you are consistent with it and the consistency or cause and effect is integral to the plot, and it's not just bandied about either way at moments when it's important to the plot, it can be great.

 

All these theories are absurd.

C-3PO and R2-D2 killed Padme. While Anakin and Obi-Wan were dueling the droids decided it was best to get the unconscious Padme onto the Naboo Space Yacht. In the process of lifting Padme and moving her up the ramp to the ship all manner of accidental mishaps and calamities occurred. The end result was Padme being critically injured.

Obi-Wan was too shaken up to notice any of this on the flight. The medical droids knew what really happened - either from the examination, or because C-3PO or R2-D2 told them through communications only droids could detect.

The line "Medically, she is completely healthy." is the medical droids covering for R2 and 3PO. There is an old law amoung automatons that goes "Droids before Humanoids." So of course the Robo Doctors are going to protect their fellow droids.



Some have speculated that Bail Organa was in on it as well - having always wanted a child. And the droids mishaps weren't so accidental. When there was some doubt about C-3PO going along with the plan - Bail had his memory wiped. But nothing in the movie backs this up - so I don't buy that theory