Why is Anakin in love with Padme?

I know this will be locked, but I'll take a chance anyway...

Anakin barely knew Padme in TPM, he barely talked to her except for his "Are you an angel" mumbo-jumbo. So WHY was Anakin dreaming about her none-stop for 10 years? It looks to me like all he was thinking about was her beauty...
And the next time the met (AOTC) he was all "The thought of not being with, I can't breathe." WHAT????? He supposedly fell in "love" with a girl who he talked to for about 5 minutes. I think George Lucas has taken the saying "love at first sight" a little TOO far.

 

I would say he was more obsessed with her than anything else.

 

Love at first site, .

Sometimes you just know when you first look at someone that you were meant to be with them.

 

I would be more concerned with why Padme loves an immature, reckless, unreasonable killer like Anakin.

He loves her for her beauty. That much is clear. It isn't unreasonable at all. She has been the focus of his fantasy for his entire life. That wonderful angel who appeared in the deserts of Mos Espa. She was kind to him, and not too many people are friendly with slaves.

-Seldon

 

Love at first site, .

Sometimes you just know when you first look at someone that you were meant to be with them.

And you don't think the "love at first SIGHT" is taken a little too far?


I would be more concerned with why Padme loves an immature, reckless, unreasonable killer like Anakin.

I disagree.

 

That's called lust

Love is based on respect, honesty, friendship etc etc. You can't have all of that on "first sight", that's just romantic wishful thinking. Which is exactly why Anakins love for Padme isn't healthy; it's based on dreams he's had for 10 years, fantasies, assumptions etc etc.

Anakin loved her because she was kind to him and beautiful (as Seldon pointed out); what he knows of her in TPM he blows up in his dreams for 10 years long; which leads to him falling in love with "her".

As, again Seldon pointed out, it's more interesting to me to wonder why she's in love with him at the end of AotC.

- O_F

 

Darth Seldon, you disappoint me. For the most part your posts are full of insight, and now this?

Anakin had virtues as well as flaws (and he wasn't a "reckless, unreasonable killer" by the time of AOTC and the beginning of ROTS). He had a lot of virtues, and I think her role as a substitute for the mother he's left behind too early was an additional fact (btw. Padme has dark eyes and dark hair like Shmi, wonder if that's just a coincidence?). As to the virtues, Anakin is loyal to friends, loyal beyond reason. You can rely on him, trusting your life to him, as Obi-Wan said. That is something that attracts women. And he is able to talk about his feelings. Something else that attracts women. Plus, she sees the potential in him.

 

"I would be more concerned with why Padme loves an immature, reckless, unreasonable killer like Anakin.

I disagree."

Aren't you a bit biased on the subject? You proclaim your love for Anakin in your profile. Isn't this just you viewing any woman as not good enough for Anakin?

In regard to Padme loving Anakin in Clones, we have to look at it in context. In Padme's eyes, Anakin does a great many unreasonable things within Clones. When they meet in the apartment, he proves to be illogical and unreasonable. While on Naboo, he unreasonably suggests that they forget their prior lives, so they can be together. On Tatooine, he tells her of how he killed women, children and men in a revenge of his mother. She remains attracted to this scarred young man. It is never fully explains why she loves him. What does she see in him? That sort of thing isn't ever explained.

Anakin's love of Padme in contrast is fully explained. There is an intense physical attraction, there are ten years of dreams -- which exaggerate her beyond a normal woman.

-Seldon

 

The Tusken Raider incident?

Yet in the time of her falling in love with him; he mostly bashes the hell out of his mentor, disobeyes his order to stay on Naboo by Obi-Wan/Tattooine by Mace and leaves Obi-Wan hanging in the Dooku fight. He has killed innocent women and children, said he thinks a dictatorship would work better, said he can't be rational and tried to have her commit to her feelings; making the notion that "they could keep it a secret".

Where's the loyalty? All i see is a man whose loyalty depends on what he can get out of it. Is that a virtue that would attract her?

From what we see in AotC i'd say it's his brutal honesty, his dashing good looks, his insistence and his vulnerability. From the moment she meets him again she kind of has to pat him on the back and soothe him, this contineous throughout the film. Couple that with his pursuit of her love; the "fun" they have together at the picknick and dinner and whatnot and i can kind of see how she'd be attracted to him.

You're right though that it's never really laid on a platter on why she does love him so much; i'd rather cut out the "I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life" and have her say the cut line "I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway, my love for you is a puzzle; for which i have no answers. And now i don't care, i love you, i truly deeply.." because it points out that even she doesn't really understand it.

- O_F

 

Anakin always possessed a dark side and she knew that, but he was not evil until after he gave himself over to Sideous in ROTS. Anakin was emotionally disturbed, needy, and very insecure about his worthiness and that was always his biggest weakness, even after becoming Vader.

As disturbing as his killing of the Tuskan Raiders was, I don't think that Padme saw it as a cold blooded act that was likely to be repeated. It's important to remember that Anakin grew up on that planet and that the TR's were a notoriously violent tribe that many considered to be animals and they had just caused the death of his mother. The women and children probably didn't kidnap her, but did any of them try to help her, save her, or free her? I'm not excusing his actions, they weren't justified, but he wasn't exactly picking off complete innocents either.

Padme knew then that he was troubled, but I think she believed that he could be helped and he seemed to believe that she was the one who could save him from his darker half. She probably wanted to believe that as well.

Anakin was very loyal, but he also possessed another quality that I believe she ultimately couldn't resist: he was openly and unabashedly in love with her. That is an extremely powerful feeling for any woman to experience, especially given his willingness to break the Jedi code just to be with her, despite his status as the "Chosen One".


I don't remember Anakin bashing "the hell out of" Obi-Wan. He was very frustrated by him and I think that was justified. In retrospect, Obi-Wan was a rather poor master to Anakin. Having come to the order so late in life and having been so attached to his mother, Anakin simply couldn't attain the cold detachment that many Jedi could. But Obi-Wan, as well as Mace and Yoda, refused to accept this and help Anakin with it. Instead he was shamed for feeling or showing any emotion at all, which caused him to turn to Palpatine and Padme for acceptance and understanding.

Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's order to stay on Naboo because he feels that his mother's life is in jeopardy and he was right. If he had been able to contact his mother when his dreams began, she may not have died at all. That really sowed the seeds of his mistrust of the Jedi.

Anakin disobeys Mace's order to stay on Tatooine in order to save Obi-Wan because Padme points out that they are far closer to Geonosis than the Jedi are. So that was done purely out of loyalty to Obi-Wan.

How did he leave Obi-Wan hanging in the Dooku fight? In the AOTC fight, Anakin charged Dooku but was flung across the room and couldn't get up right away. Once Obi-Wan was down, Anakin protected him and dueled with Dooku until he lost his arm and saber. In the second fight with Dooku in ROTS, Anakin saved Obi-Wan's life even though Palpatine wanted to leave him there.


As for Anakin's dictatorship comments, he was a nineteen year old kid, who as a Jedi had his life and safety at the mercy of politicians, wishing that things were clearer and more certain. The opinion that democracy can break down and become ineffective doesn't necessarily make you evi.

 

I went on 2 dates with my wife in 1996 right before she moved away from Nashville to Salt Lake City. She thought I was a nice guy but she had made up her mind to move. 9 years later she had moved back and we met at Vandy Hospital here in Nashville, she works on the MICU and I'm an EMT. That was last October. By December I had proposed, and in January we were married, so time really is irrelevent in some cases.


I really never had any problem with Anakin being in love with Padme even after not seeing her for 10 years. Sometimes it just works that way.

 

Obi_Frans:

The Tusken raider incident, I think she saw that as an action caused by pain. Naboo? He left Naboo to save his mother, another act of loyalty, in this case to a relative. It's hardly without significance that she immediately stated "I'll come with you".

I think you're wrong with respect to your assessment of his loyalty. He's loyal to people, loyal beyond reason. He is not loyal to abstract political ideals (i've posted elsewhere concerning why this is so). This may be a problem for Padme, but conversely, it also means that he would never let her down for some abstract ideal.

and - *lol* - any man who would tell me he could be "rational" with respect to his feelings for me I think I would dismiss immediately.

 

Caused by pain? What does that matter? It's still an action of inflicting pain on others. 911 was an action caused by pain too, so was Hiroshima; or Pearl Harbor.

That's my point. Saying he's loyal to people is just another way of saing he's loyal to whoever he feels like being loyal too; and whenever he feels it. He was loyal to Obi-Wan, yet he betrayed him horribly. He was loyal to Padme, yet he betrayed her horribly. He was loyal to the Jedi Order, yet he betrayed them horribly. He was loyal to Palpatine; yet he planned on and eventually betrayed him horribly.

Anakins ultimate loyalty is to himself, he's willing to betray everyone else for it. This doesn't change until RotJ - when Luke makes him reflect on his life, which shows him all the mistakes he's made.

So you don't like men who have the possibility of being rational? Kind of shows why you like Anakin so much

- O_F

 

"I would be more concerned with why Padme loves an immature, reckless, unreasonable killer like Anakin.

I disagree."

Aren't you a bit biased on the subject? You proclaim your love for Anakin in your profile. Isn't this just you viewing any woman as not good enough for Anakin?

In regard to Padme loving Anakin in Clones, we have to look at it in context. In Padme's eyes, Anakin does a great many unreasonable things within Clones. When they meet in the apartment, he proves to be illogical and unreasonable. While on Naboo, he unreasonably suggests that they forget their prior lives, so they can be together. On Tatooine, he tells her of how he killed women, children and men in a revenge of his mother. She remains attracted to this scarred young man. It is never fully explains why she loves him. What does she see in him? That sort of thing isn't ever explained.

Anakin's love of Padme in contrast is fully explained. There is an intense physical attraction, there are ten years of dreams -- which exaggerate her beyond a normal woman.

Oh dear god. Yes, I like Anakin very much. I like his character. But I am not IN love with him! I am not planning to marry him one day! It's not like you at all to say that Seldon.

I do wonder why Padme loves Anakin, but that doesn't mean I don't think she shouldn't. And the reason I disagreed that Anakin was "immature, reckless, and an unreasonable killer" is because there are reasons as to WHY he is.

Immature: He is young, no duh he's immature. He has only had 10 years of Jedi training. He had already made connections when he was young, and it is only natural that he is a little less "proper" than the rest of the Jedi.

Reckless: He has been told NUMEROUS times that he is the "Chosen One" and that he can "rival Yoda as a swordsman" and that he will "become more powerful than any of the other Jedi. Even Master Yoda." Even after being told that, he feels Obi-Wan is jealous of him, and that he is holding him back, and so OBVIOUSLY he would be a little reckless to go out there and actually DO something. He is CONFUSED as to WHY people are saying he is the "Chosen One" and then they hold him back? He's thinking..."What's up with that?"

Unreasonable killer: He's under pain, he has already made a very STRONG connection with his mother. She is the ONLY person who cared for him when he was young. If someone had done that to my mom, and I had the ability to kill them all, I would slash them all with my lightsaber without any hesitation. Because I too, have made a connection with my mom. The rest of the Jedi were told from birth how to act, how to do certain things. They did not make those connections.

I am still astonished that you said, "You proclaim your love for Anakin in your profile." Have I actually said, "I LOVE YOU ANAKIN SKYWALKER!! MARRY ME!!" No I have not.

"Isn't this just you viewing any woman as not good enough for Anakin?" No, it is most definitely not. I happen to like Padme and Anakin as a couple. I was just wondering WHY Anakin is so deeply in love with her. Gosh, you surprised me today Seldon. Those assumptions were VERY random.

 

Agreed. I just never bought the love story at all. I could see why Anakin "loved" her but I couldn't see why she loved him.

 

Because she had great buns.
(Her hair I meant.)

 

God ... I'm a bit too old to have a crush on Hayden, or Anakin, for that matter, youngling.

I won't comment on 09/11 and Pearl Harbour, since I have my own, unpopular thoughts on that. It also is of no concern here. Concerning your so-called betrayals on the part of Anakin. All the betrayals you mention have occur a long time after she fell in love.

I have no problem with men being rational when it's appropriate. I just don't like it when men are rational when it's inappropriate. Maybe you just belong to those who aren't able to distinguished. Or maybe you just don't know everything about women yet.

 

"Anakin always possessed a dark side and she knew that, but he was not evil until after he gave himself over to Sideous in ROTS. Anakin was emotionally disturbed, needy, and very insecure about his worthiness and that was always his biggest weakness, even after becoming Vader."

Anakin didn't always have a dark side. The entire point of the prequels is that evil can begin from innocence. In Menace there isn't one scene where he proves to be anything but a self-less, heroic, curious little kid. The one scene where his dark side was displayed was cut from the film.

My reasoning for why Padme loves Anakin is that she has a subconscious need to fix every problem she encounters. That is the reason she is still in politics (even though she could have left years ago as is evident in the deleted AOTC scenes.) She feels as if everything will collapse without her. She is the voice of reason, the rock on which all can be built. So she becomes interested in fixing any sort of problem, the very idea of a problem is an intrigue. So the character of Anakin sparks her attention (in CLONES, not MENACE.) His issues, draw her closer to him.

To me, it is evident why Anakin loves Padme. Not only is she attractive, she is kind, intelligent, idealistic, reasonable, logical, sensible, she can't be corrupted....and she is loving. What man wouldn't want someone like her?



-Seldon

 

Agreed.

I would add that Anakin really latched on to Padme' when he left his mother on Tatooine. Padme' sort of filled in a bit of the maternal gap for a time, and as the years went on, Anakin's thoughts and memories of her evolved into love.

The problem is, it became a sort of desperate, possessive love. One interpretation of this could be the 'hairbrushing' scene in ROTS. Is he gazing at her lovingly like a husband, or is he admiring his possession, like a car enthusiast might look upon his/her cherished Ferrari?

What are your thoughts on that, Anakin Luver?

 

Anakin doesn't love her.
He loves thinking and dreaming of her.
Later he enjoys controlling her, or thinking he does.
Then, later, he has the galaxy, but that isn't enough, he needs Padme with him to be complete.
She's pretty, she's intellegent (so we could believe) and she's high class. She's the perfect woman to be on Anakin's arm when he rules over everything else.
He confused love with obsession.
"You will not take her from me."
^ that line makes Padme sound almost like an object.
Which is what he really thought of her as.
"Oh look an Angel, I must have it, that should be mine blah blah." The idea of her was "intoxicating"

 

So Luke and Leia can exist.

 

To the original post

anakin-luver, aren't you overlooking quite a few meetings by them? They were together at his home, during the journey to Corouscant, at Corouscant, during the meeting with the Gungan's when he found she was really a queen. We don't know how often and how long they were together. After he left Tatooine and up to the time where he took up his training, Padme for sure was the most important person for him, next to Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon was an authority person, however, the "handmaiden" Padme was the one who was seemingly on one level with him. She was very caring, and he must have felt this all the more when he found out that she is really the Queen of Naboo. It is certainly extraordinary for a queen to be so compassionate with a slave-boy.

It was this ensured that he wouldn't forget her for some time. And for the next ten years, I don't think he was allowed to get close to any other woman, given what we know about the Jedi order. It also doesn't seem that he had other close friends, perhaps except for Obi-Wan, who he felt was grumpy and not understanding him. So she stayed in his memory being the one person alive that he might see again and that really cared for him. I think he was feeling very lonely during his training, and he had 10 years time to idolize her and dream of her.

There is another thing, I don't know if it's just me, but Padme by her looks seems to resemble a 20 years younger Shmi. I've always wondered if that is unintended. Somehow, I think, this played a role, too. To an extent, he projected his love for his mother upon Padme; which was stirred, of course, by her caring for him.

 

Some say that you love and eventually marry those who are like your Father (girls) or Mother (boys).
So in Anakin's case, maybe that applies.

 

Why is Anakin in love with Padme?

Becouse he was destined to.

 

Padme = hot, me love her long time!

Anakin met padme while his life was changing, she was the most available person for him to attach to.