Between TPM and AOTC: Why did Queen Amidala not purchase Shmi's freedom?

I've searched for this topic but have yielded no results. I know it's been discussed in random threads, but there is specific thread dealing with this question. Please re-direct if you know of one.

Why did Queen Amidala, after being restored to power following the events of TPM, not purchase Shmi's freedom? Surely the Queen had the power and resources to do so. The aristocrats of Naboo are clearly a wealthy class who live a luxurious lifestyle. Anakin, for whom Padme/Amidala has expressed to care, was obviously distraught that his mother was still a slave, and Padme herself was surprised that slavery existed at all.

What is the best explanation for this convenient plot device? I ask this from a logical and consistent storytelling point of view, not a "Lucas had to write it this way because there would have been no story without it" point of view.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

 

Maybe someone else bought her and freed her and married her, before Padmé had time to do something.

 

Sure, I understand that Cliegg freed and married Shmi. But Anakin was not aware of it and so suffered as a result, thinking she was still a slave. Padme never even made the attmept, and so neither she nor Anakin discovered that Shmi was free.

What's more (and I realize this is hypothetical), had Cliegg never taken Shmi as his wife, she would never have been captured by the Tuskens, leading to her grisly demise. But that's an aside.

 

You can't know if Padmé did anything.
Could it be possible she eventually sent someone to Watto to get her, only to be told that she was sold to someone else? Watto wasn't the one to give away information in Episode II, and only resigned to tell Anakin out of some weird kind of respect/fear. (My guess)
If the courier came home to tell Padmé that Shmi was gone and he couldn't find her, what could she really do? She can't comb Tatooine (and other slave dealing planets) looking for one woman.

 

This isn't like Padme is heartless and doesn't give a crap about Anakin or Shmi. She didn't do this because

A) She was busy recovering from a war

B) She didn't think she'd see Anakin again, so if she got Shmi onto Naboo, just what was she gonna do with Miss Skywalker? Keep her in the palace until she or one of her servants tracked down Anakin in the Jedi Temple?

C) If Padme Amidala descended onto Tatooine to free Shmi, then she'd best go ahead and free all the other slaves because the instant they receieve word that a freaking QUEEN of a distant planet just landed and freed one of them, then they would get jealous and wonder what made Shmi so special that she got to ride in a queen's starship to freedom while they are stuck there?

D) Would the Republic allow her to do something like that? It's the whole Legal vs. Moral thing again. Padme can go around freeing all the slaves on Tatooine, but would the Republic allow this or not?

 

I don't agree completely. I think she could find Watto again if she tried.

 

Yes, that's easy, go to Watto and ask for Shmi's freedom, but remember, Watto's stubborned. He wouldn't just let Shmi off so easily. Padme would have to do some serious negotiations to buy Shmi her freedom.

 

Would you want your mother-in-law lurking around?

 

I agree completely. I'm just argumenting for the possibility that she did something about it. She had the funds and the motive. The time, not so much.

 

What I want to know is why Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan didn't come back with a posse of Jedi and free all of the slaves. Surely slavery is "against the Jedi code". Sheesh. They could make war against the trade federation, but couldn't go make war against some gangsters? feh.

 

Slavery is legal on Tatooine. If the Jedi started freeing slaves they would really be robbing people of their rightful property.

 

Well, Coras, we know that Padme didn't try to free Shmi by her reaction to Watto's news in AOTC. Although one is certainly free to imagine that Padme is reserving the information, I don't get the sense from what we see onscreen that Padme has ever heard the news about Shmi and Cliegg Lars before. (BTW, I'm all for imagining scenes to fill in missing details, as long as they do not contradict the onscreen evidence.)

LINK, I agree that Padme isn't heartless or uncaring. She clearly cares for Anakin a good deal, even in the very few scenes she shares with hinm in TPM. This is part of what is so confounding about her lack of action to do the right thing. As to your points:

A) For 10 years?

B) Well... why not? Surely Anakin is easy to contact through the Jedi Temple. And the point is not that Shmi and Anakin are together -- obviously this would contradict the Jedi rules on family -- but that she is liberated from the bonds of slavery.

C) So, okay: the other slaves would be jealous. Why exactly is that a problem?

D) It doesn't have to be an issue of the Republic "allowing" Padme to travel to Tatooine (which, as we know, is not far from Naboo) and barter with Watto for Shmi's release. The Republic wouldn't have to know, and if it did, so what? Is it illegal to free a slave??

 

It's even worse that Padme becomes a senator and still does nothing.

It really casts her character in an unfortunate light,IMHO.

A great coda to TPM would've been Jinn and Kenobi returning to Espa and buying her with the Queen's finances.

Just music and visuals, no dialogue needed.

 

Exactly, ShaneP. Knowing that Rep. credits are no good on Tatooine, they might have simply purchased an excellent racing pod on some other world and offered it in exchange for Shmi.

 

It might not be the first time she heard about Shmi being elsewhere, but it has to be the first time she hears she's a free, married woman.

 

Watto couldnt have been too tough to deal with. Clieg Lars got her without too much trouble. Keep in mind, Clieg is not rich, and didnt appear to be overly intelligent either.

 

I suppose that's true...FROM a certain point of view

 

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan did not make war against the Trade Federation. Queen Amidala, Nabooan pilots, Panaka and his security guards and the Gungans made war against the TF. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan merely helped, until they were confronted by Darth Maul.

Since the Jedi were so bent upon following the Galactic Senate's mandate, they could not free the slaves on Tatooine without inviting a whole slew of trouble.

 

"Merely helped"? Tell me did the USA go to war with Nazi Germany in WWII or did they merely "help" England?
Two jedis went to Naboo with the full intent of attacking the TF's soldiers and overthrowing their rule of Naboo.
Sounds quite a bit like war to me.
Also the jediorder has plenty of reason to have cause against the TF.
Two jedi, with Ambassador status went to Naboo to deal with the TF and they responded by trying to murder them.
So the TF could actually have declared war against the jedi when they tried to kill two of their number.

Since Qui-Gon was able to free one slave without any fuss from the senate, the Hutts or the jedi council, there is no evidence that the freeing of Shmi would cause any alarm.

About Padmes inaction towards Shmi.
I find to be against Padmes character and thus it annoys me a little and it weakens Padmes character.
There is no reason given or infered in the films why Padme did nothing and so we are left to wonder if she is really cold hearted or uncaring.

For Padme this would take very little time, simply tell one of her people to work it out.
The cost to Naboo would be minimal. The republic would never know and nor would anyone on Tatooine, except Shmi.
All this talk of upsetting the Hutts or the senate is nonsense, they would never know about so why should they react?

Also it would not take much time in the films, Padme mentions to Anakin that she bought Shmi's freedom several years ago but Shmi did not want to leave Tatooine and so she does not know where she lives.
Then Anakin still has to pay Watto a visit and he directs them to the Lars.

Regards
Nordom

 

]"Merely helped"? Tell me did the USA go to war with Nazi Germany in WWII or did they merely "help" England? Two Jedis went to Naboo with the full intent of attacking the TF's soldiers and overthrowing their rule of Naboo.
Sounds quite a bit like war to me



They were ordered to accompany Amidala to Naboo to protect her and to investigate the possibility of a Sith connection to the Trade Federation?s invasion of the planet:


PANAKA: The moment we land the Federation will arrest you, and force you to sign the treaty.
QUI-GON: I agree...I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish by this.
AMIDALA: I'm going to take back what's ours.
PANAKA: There are only twelve of us, Your Highness....we have no army.
QUI-GON: I cannot fight a war for you, Your Highness, only protect you.


Since Qui-Gon was able to free one slave without any fuss from the senate, the Hutts or the jedi council, there is no evidence that the freeing of Shmi would cause any alarm.


If that is what you want to believe, fine. Be my guest. But freeing one or two slaves and freeing the entire slave population of Tatooine or the Queen of Naboo freeing a slave are different matters, as far as I?m concerned.

 

I would not call Padme uncaring or heartless, but she was just as flawed as anyone else, and never really showed any especially outstanding morality or ethics, IMO.

My main reason for saying this is the whole "losing the will to live" thing. She just gave birth to twins, and the father turns out to be a bad guy who will not be present in her future. This happens everyday in the world we live in, and these mothers continue to live, if for no other reason than for their children's sakes. She just had two new babies. Unless Padme was suffering from some psychological post-pardom depression, she should not have allowed herself to lose the will to live. Who is she, Anna Nicole Smith?

Of course, why didn't anyone, including Obi Wan, Yoda, Mace, etc, do anything to help Shmi? They all knew the situation. All of them are supposed to be morally impeccable.

The only person who showed any signs of that kind of compassion was Qui Gon, and it's fair to say he might have gone back for Shmi with Annie had he not been killed by Maul.

Why did Queen Amidala not purchase Shmi's freedom? Assuming she didn't know about Cliegg (she would have told Anakin in Ep II), the only answer is...she didn't care enough about Shmi to do anything. In fact, chances were she would never see Annie or Shmi again.

No other explanation possibly suffices.

 

My main reason for saying this is the whole "losing the will to live" thing. She just gave birth to twins, and the father turns out to be a bad guy who will not be present in her future. This happens everyday in the world we live in, and these mothers continue to live, if for no other reason than for their children's sakes. She just had two new babies. Unless Padme was suffering from some psychological post-pardom depression, she should not have allowed herself to lose the will to live. Who is she, Anna Nicole Smith?


I believe that Padme was as flawed as any other character. But I don't see Padme's loss of will to live as a sign of her lack of morality.

 

That's a good point. For all we know, Padme might have tried to free Shmi but discovered she, Shmi, had already been purchased.

Still, this doesn't satisfy, because surely, during Anakin's angst-ridden morning on the balcony in AOTC (prior to their leaving Naboo for Tatooine), Padme would have revealed that she tried to free Shmi in order to assuage Anakin's suffering over his mother being in some kind of unknown pain. You might argue that Padme did so after the scene wiped, but I think that's stretching the point a little too far; and in any case Portman's performance seems to tell otherwise.

 

There is no need to free all the slaves and "make war on the Hutts". All they had to do in order to alleviate the suffering of two people (Shmi for her enslavement and Anakin for his guilt and pain of leaving her enslaved) was to collect enough funds to buy Shmi and free her. No violence, Senatorial mandates, or indeed Republic assistance of any kind was necessary.

 

Because she wanted to keep Anakin all to herself...

No sharing the Son of Suns with Shmi!!