In what way did Corde "fail" Padme?

The first words
That we heard
In this Star Wars flick
Were more or less
The confessions
Of this Corde chick;

I wonder why
She would lie;
The Good Guys did prevail -
She gave her all
She took the fall
In what way did she fail?


It's hard to imagine a servant doing more for someone than Corde did...

She "failed"? How?

 

This...is a very good question actually. For which I honestly can't find a good answer.

I suppose even though Padmé arrived safely and the "job" was completed successfully - she felt that she failed since she could no longer protect Amidala further.

For example: the President's bodyguards aren't simply there as human-shields, but rather to protect plus take active interest in his well-being and future. (In theory anyway). This is amplified if the two parties have a friendship and trust within each other; which I believe Cordé and Padmé had.

 

'she felt that she failed since she could no longer protect Amidala further.'

BINGO!

 

Is Corde part of Naboo's security force. If so, she could mean that she failed to ensure a safe landing dock.

 

Some people who I have watched AOTC with have raised this question and I told that it seemed to me even the first time I saw it that it was very likely what with the relationship between Padme and her girls that a sort of pep talk went on with the handmaidens before every major opperation. A "You come back to me, you hear?" sort of thing.

 

I think it means more that the security force as a whole failed to detect the threat beforehand.

On a somewhat unrelated note, are ou practicing to be the Riddler, or is there some other good reason why you had to write the opening post in the form of a poem. To continue, I'll make my answer like that too though, just in case:

We can't see
Through Dark Side haze
So though Corde
is worthy of praise
She chose instead
A turn of phrase.

 

Said G.L.,
III would tell
Us more ?bout Palpatine;
& we have yet
To see the depth
Of all his evil schemes;

Will we learn
That she?s concerned
About some big mistake?
Palp?s a creep
He?s dug in deep?

Was Corde on the take?

 

whoa, I'm digging the rhymes buddy.

 

Seriously, lol, are all your posts like this?

 

Which poster here will always rhyme?
Who made a thread to waste your time?
You'll find him in another's shoe's
When threes are fours, and ones are twos.

 

Corde failed to do the trick.
They thought the plan would be real slick.
Who the hells this Corde chick?
Typhos there but where is Ric (Olie)?

 

"Where's Ric" asks the rhyming poster,
But shouldn't he really question why Owen didn't recognize his toaster?
After all, we may not know why Cordé failed the queen,
But neither do we know why Owen failed to bat an eye at 3PO's golden sheen

 

Ric Olie was blown to bits,
During Anakins days of having zits.
Cleigg and Owen were always smashed,
On Blue Milk and wiskey mash.

Where Shmi had gone they can't recall,
She broke his leg in a domestic brawl.
C-3POs gold they'd not recognize.
For 3PO's maker was caught in lies.

 

Put on the ritz
Then go to town
Read this thread
And laugh or frown

Either way I somehow sense
the the rhyming skill has gone far down.

But back on topic!
This Corde crap
Akbar'dve told her
"It's a trap!"

 

Cordé and the other handmaidens serving had sworn their lives to protect Senator Amidala. Cordé knew immediately after the attack she would die momentarily. She had no idea if the culprits would strike again and kill the Senator. So in the sense of Cordé dying, she felt that she had failed. The handmaidens were that selflessly loyal.

EDIT: If you are going to post, just do it. Avoid the poems, they are getting just annoying. Take it to the Fan Fic forum...or something.

 

She failed because she died.

 

I thought it was just meant to be dramatic, with a touch of Shakespeare, if you will. A sort of "civilized" manner of speaking.

 

I agree with the original post. Corde does not say "I failed", she says "I failed you", speaking to Padme. Perhaps, in dying, she failed herself in some way, but there's absolutely no way to construe her as having failed Padme.

Corde's role was that of a DECOY. A person who impersonates the real target so that if there is an assassination attempt, the decoy will be killed. That is her job, to ensure that the real target, Padme, will survive any assassination attempt. And in this, she succeeded. She did precisely what she was supposed to do, which was to sacrifice her life for Padme's.

The key to it is that a decoy's job is not really to do anything in specific - it's just to impersonate the real person and see if something happens.

The only way her line can make any sense is:
(1) if she believed in that moment that Padme was also injured or mortally wounded in the attack -- in this case, she might have thought she "failed" because despite her presence, Padme was hurt.
(2) if she had some other unstated role which involved making sure the landing platform was secure. However, there is no basis whatsoever in the film for this inference, and even if it was the case, Corde still did what she was supposed to as outlined above.
(3) if she had absolutely no clue whatsoever about what the purpose of her job was.
(4) if she was secretly in cahoots with Jango Fett and/or Zam Wessell in the assassination attempt, which again there is no basis to infer.

"She failed because she died" just doesn't cut it. By dying, she succeeded in the most crucial possible way. Would James Brady have told Ronald Reagan "I failed you" after the 1981 assassination attempt? I don't think so. It's just a poorly written line. It would have made much more sense instead for Corde to ask Padme if she was safe. (Kind of like Spock - "ship ... out of danger?")

 

Corde says that because she's just suffered a concussion. This is what makes the scene tragic. She's dying of a head wound (extreme impact) and in her state of incoherence she thinks that she has 'failed' Padme in some way - she dies thinking so. This makes Padme feel even more helpless - not only did her Handmaiden die (the first time we've seen this happen - perhaps the first timne it *has* happened?) but she couldn't even comfort her. Corde dies in a delusional state thinking she has not fulfilled her duties as a Handmaiden even though she has - to the Letter.

The scene is more effective this way than it would be if
(a) Pamde found her already dead
(b) Corde was aware of her sacrifice - a noble but less tragic end.

 

In my opinion, she didn't fail; she just thinks she does because she had head trauma from being hit by a bomb and was kind of delirious because she was dying.

Wow; that sounded horrible, didn't it? I really didn't mean to be that blunt.

 

The book was even more obscure
With Corde adding, ?I?m not sure??

Her parting words before she?d rise
To that Beauty Parlor in the Skies;

What the Devil was she on about,
Expressing this half-spoken doubt?

 

:stares.:

 

The bomb was ticking, like a clock
When the ship stopped, off came her socks

Dirt and soot covered her face
her hair a mess, she'll be replaced

Fire in the hole coming down the runway
and Corde hoped to meet NuteGunray some day

I failed you M'Lady she said with passion
"find my shoes and socks, and you can have them"

Padme was filled with joy plus saddness
she hoped that the free shoes were not burnt or damaged

 

Amateur poetry heaven!

 

The scene is more effective this way than it would be if
(a) Pamde found her already dead
(b) Corde was aware of her sacrifice - a noble but less tragic end.

exactly, its the little scenes and lines like these that make AotC hard to watch sometimes. we know corde did not fail. she did her duty. in fact, typho reassures us of this a few minutes later. so, why does she say it? your guess is as good as george's. the movie is filled with all these outta-left-field moments and lines. GL mustve had a really hard time time writing the script because sometimes it just doesnt make sense...