#Naboo handmaidens

[stealingpotatoes]

I am SO TOTALLY NORMAL about your comics of the twins and Padmé's handmainens!

THANK YOU THEIR DYNAMIC MAKES ME GO INSANE!!! I need to do more on them but for now I'm busy and low on energy so here's this:

(donation doodles! // tip jar)

[galactic-rhea]

the handmaidens + padmé group can't be be this super wholesome group of besties that share make up and gossips and giggle as they make out ocassionally, they can't be always this cool and badass girlpower considering the fucked up way they are on this situation. Considering each of them is actually A Person that's different from Padmé, as much as they trained themselves to mentally replicate all her moves, considering that they're ready to die for her (but she won't for them, she can't, she's too important, as much as it pains her) I can't not think of this as a awfully unbalanced group of people that got forced to become friends and develop weird and intense feelings for each other but also a deep resentment and extreme passive-agressiveness because at the end of the day, they're Padmé's subordinates and there's no way Padmé doesn't, inherently and unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) step into a Boss role, there's no way Padmé, sometimes, doesn't realize the disagreements or drama that might be going on, and if she does there's...well, lots of awkwardness they're forced to overcome. She probably will obliviously hurt them, and they won't retaliate because that's their boss. Sure, there's a window of honestity that goes beyond the professional, but it only make things harder and messier. And them there's probably lots of talking behind backs, and little cliques and mini groups, not to even touch on the dating or romantic feelings, that probably just makes the drama skyrocket.

And still, they're a very close group of Friends (perhaps more for some of them), but more intimate than normal friends and at the same time less intimate than real friends because real friends become honest and intimate as a choice and as a natural relationship developing, and definitely not as healthy and honest as any normal friends. And do you think that keeps them awake? They're look-alikes, trained to copy Padmé's mannerisms and behaviour, and clothes, everything, and they all together created Queen Amidala as a facade, and yet there's still that feeling of lack of actual íntimacy, a feeling of a lack of actual friendship, like the itch isn't really satisfied in between them because as much as they care for each other, there's a feeling of fakeness into it all, a feeling of 'what brough us together is just a job, and what keeps us together is that we don't know something different'. But some of the handmaidens do leave and adventure away from this, and there IS happy moments and real kinship at times... is just that, the uglyness isn't not very far from the surface.

[womenofswzine]

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Rebel, Rebel: Women of Star Wars is a charity fan anthology celebrating a range of rebellion women in Star Wars. This zine contains 80+ pages featuring the work of 8 writers and 28 artists and merch artists. Proceeds will be donated to Luke's Place which works to improve the safety and experience of women and their children who are or who may become involved with the family law system when leaving an abusive relationship.

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[padmestrilogy]

ruler and girl

natalie portman via "the star wars archives: episodes i-iii" by paul duncan / "the journal of padme amidala" by jude watson / torrin a. greathouse / monica piloni / lisa lovatt-smith / kimya dawson / art by john alvin

[jewishcissiekj]

you know what? I don't *transparent pngs your handmaidens*

[josephsaturn]

…do you ever think Padme’s girlies™ ever talked shit about Anakin behind his & padme’s backs?

Like they’re all supportive and stuff when the happy couple is nearby, but the moment they leave they’re just like “oh FORCE that guy is annoying”

Like I don’t think any of them hate Anakin, but sabé WILL mock how awkward his flirting is, y’know?

[stealthetrees]

Commander Fox is very good at lying. He has to be, to be able to get away with breaking the law and going against orders as often as he does. The unfortunate reality is that nearly all of his brothers are awful at lying. He does his best to teach them, they need to be able to do it well to get away with stealing money from senators to fund Fox’s war on organized crime after all.

Fox enlists the help of Padme’s handmaidens after repeated failures. The women are baffled by how bad Fox’s brothers are when he is so good at it. It becomes so frustrating for them they promise to help Fox with whatever scam or con he wants to pull for the rest of eternity as long as he doesn’t put them through that again.

The one exception is Havoc, who is actually very good at lying. The problem with Havic, however, is that they simply choose not to. Havoc knows how to lie bc they were trained as a medic and needed a good bedside manner, but is not allowed to help in the med bay because they like the sharp tools a little too much. Fox tried to cheer Havoc up by giving them a knife and it worked a little too well.

[grumfield]

handmaiden activities because you’re both in love with your boss and both look like her

[emilybarksdaleart]

"I am Queen Amidala. This is my decoy, my protection... my loyal bodyguard."

Queen Padmé Amidala and her handmaidens getting ready for the Peace celebration at the end of The Phantom Menace. This piece was among the many sketches I started this year but didn't have a chance to post until now!

[armoralor]

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! (part three) ✰ if you're looking for canon lesbian relationships that appear for more than 2 seconds in the background, check out The High Republic & Doctor Aphra comics ✰ reminder that T*RFs can fuck off, only interact if you love trans & nonbinary folks ♡ more characters under the cut!

Tumblr only allows 30 images per post, so this was the max number of characters I could include BUT if there is anyone you would like to see made into one of these edits that isn't here, just let me know and I'll make it separately ♡

[wlwanakin]

the queen trilogy by ekj is like aggressively fine and i have many bones to pick but i think one of the biggest issues i have with it is that they had the absolutely golden opportunity to really expand on cordé and versé and make their deaths more impactful + shed light on padmé’s subsequent grief and then they just. did not do that

[stealingpotatoes]

@crossover15 kofi requested the twins meeting Padmé's handmaidens!! (sequel to this)

(kofi requests are open!)

[thetorturedlover]

Sabé

[womenofswzine]

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Need a couple more days to snag that bundle? We’ve got you! With only 9 physical orders away from reaching our final stretch goal the team thought it would be a shame to lose out on that amazing enamel pin!

Rebel, Rebel: Women of Star Wars is a charity fan anthology celebrating a range of rebellion women in Star Wars. This zine contains 80+ pages featuring the work of 8 writers and 28 artists and merch artists. Proceeds will be donated to Luke's Place which works to improve the safety and experience of women and their children who are or who may become involved with the family law system when leaving an abusive relationship.

💥 ORDER HERE 💥

[padmestrilogy]

So you know how the handmaidens don’t have last names technically cause of the whole anonymity/security thing? Would they use the queen’s name as a “last name” if they needed one for something (like travel documents or whatever)? I still need to read the Padmé books but it’s also not mentioned on wookieepedia so maybe that’s just not a thing but it definitely adds an interesting layer to the whole depersonalization/separation of self thing that they have going on. Just some thoughts I’ve been having.

these ARE interesting thoughts. i’ll admit im not super up to date on padme’s beyond-movie lore either: i’ve looked around at the books and comics and i think there’s some cool stuff in there, but also part of the appeal of padme for me is that when people try and reinterpret her, they typically end up transforming her. they make her infallible; they make her the Worst. she’s a character who it’s very easy to get wrong, as evidenced by 90% of fandom making her the Girlboss and moving on. so when it comes to filling in the gaps for padme’s lore i usually return to the movies, no matter how disinterested in padme’s heart they are, bc watching comic writer #56 waffle between her and anakin’s relationship as Toxic or Domestic is pretty tiring. (i know they’re doing their best too ! it’s just not fun)

if i’m just sticking to the movies when thinking about this, i’ll say it’s pretty obvious the handmaidens enter into this arrangement expecting to live their whole lives around padme. they are the shadows in every room she’s in, they die for her, they speak for her, they surround her. any and all handmaiden characterization we get in the movies is through their interactions with padme. even when they’re dying, they only speak of her and their duty. you talk about “travel documents” but it’s hard for me to imagine a reason a handmaiden might need to travel independently from padme, or why they’d need legal identification other than “handmaiden of naboo”. even with the handmaidens supposedly going on to have lives after padme, that’s not how they’re represented in the films. even if they do have political careers, i’d imagine they’d get into the naboo system by being known as a handmaiden, not a new identity.

i think the devotion of naboo’s handmaidens, who chose to forsake their lives and names at 14 until they die, is a solid parallel to the jedi, especially in a trilogy so obsessed with duality. that’s really where i’d start with questions of names and depersonalization. think of the jedi’s monk levels of isolation for the sake of the Cause, but the Cause in this case is a fourteen year old girl, and you are also fourteen. and even when you are an adult with grey hair and supposedly moved on, you will still bear the mark of being fourteen and having served and loved this girl.

[jewishcissiekj]

at the Start. War s