#padme amidala critical

[antianakin]

I think one of the funniest things to see in Star Wars fandom is this idea that Anakin and Padme would actually genuinely be good for each other and be a happy, healthy couple if only Anakin didn't go dark or if only Palpatine hadn't manipulated them or something along those lines.

And I'm over here like "based on what common values and interests?"

The things they share the most in common are the things that make them TOXIC, it's the very traits they share that lead them to their shared doom and destruction. Their shared selfishness, greed, and ambition is what allows them to throw aside their ideals in order to be together no matter the cost. Their shared willingness to ignore reality in favor of what they WANT to believe is what allows their situation to continue to deteriorate.

Padme fights for democracy, and Anakin believes in dictatorships.

Padme wants a large family because she has fond memories of her childhood with her own family, and Anakin wants one person whose life revolves around him and him alone.

Padme (usually) believes in mercy and justice, and Anakin believes in might makes right.

What about them would make anyone think they'd actually ever be a functional couple when the only stuff they have in common are the lies they tell themselves about each other?

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Luke and Leia would have been so fucked up if Anakin and Padme actually raised them

[jedi-enthusiast]

I just came across a post someone made where they basically just said that Padme telling Anakin “it’s human to be angry” after he commits the Tusken Massacre is fine because she was “empathizing with him” and also criticizing the SW fandom via satire for criticizing Padme for that and saying that there was still good in him.

So one thing I need people to understand before they ever start getting on the- “you can’t criticize Padme, she did nothing wrong, she was just in love” -soapbox, is that her and Anakin’s love story is inherently toxic on both ends.

There is no version of their story that ends well if they stay together.

Anakin is a narcissistic abuser*, and Padme is an enabler of his behavior.

(*Keep in mind, when I say “Anakin is an abuser,” I mean the emotional abuser sort—as he doesn’t ever physically harm her until RotS)

This post is primarily about Padme, though, so I’ll just make another post analyzing Anakin—if that’s something y’all would be interested in.

—————

Think about it, though.

Anakin commits mass murder, including the murder of literal children, and Padme—someone who the fandom loves to point to as being morally perfect—basically says that it’s fine because being angry- (and committing mass murder because of it ig) -is normal.

She even rewards him by marrying him like, what is it, a day later? And she never tells anyone about it because god forbid Anakin face any consequences.

Anakin almost beats a man to death and then blames Padme for her own assault, she says he scares her and they need to take a break…but then she goes back to him soon after and apparently forgets all about the whole- “almost beating a man to death” -thing and is so excited to raise a family with him.

Because growing up in a household where their father regularly gets incredibly angry, and physically violent when he is, totally won’t traumatize the kid or anything! Raising children with a child-murderer totally isn’t cause for concern!

Anakin takes part in a genocide, massacres the Temple, ONCE AGAIN MURDERS CHILDREN…and she’s still begging him to stay with her so they can raise their perfect little family on Naboo.

And apparently he’s still a good person.

Right.

—————

Anakin never receives any consequences or pushback from Padme for his actions/behavior and, on the rare occasions she does push back, she goes running back to him—plowing over her own boundaries—almost immediately because she refuses to let go of her own delusional fantasies about their relationship.

That is what people are criticizing for, not for falling in love in the first place.

Anakin has his own set of issues that make the relationship toxic, but Padme also takes part in that toxicity by enabling his behavior—and people are well within their rights to criticize her for it, just like they should criticize Anakin.

[girlrandomstuff]

SHUT UP, FINALLY A SW NOVEL FOCUSING ON MON MOTHMA AND BAIL ORGANA!

also this has to be one of my favorite art cover design of star wars books

THOUGHTS:

I'm so excited cuz I have RANT for literally YEARS, about Star Wars not giving characters like Bail Organa, Breha Organa and Mon Mothma the appreciation and development they deserve, and here it comes, this is so personal to me, I it's going to be like my entire personality for the next months.

Still, I'm a bit, idk if 'worried' is the word to go with but I can't find other, because of how they're going to handle them, I have read that the books are going to explore "Padme's legacy" and if you know me well, you know I'm not a big fan of this character, so I'm really like worried that they will make Bail Organa and Mon Mothma "Padme's legacy", which they are not, Bail became Palpatine's #1 oppositor YEARS before Padme became a senator, Bail and Mon were allies and worked together to achieve good things years before Padme became senator, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were the ones to put together the Delegation of the 2000 before Padme joined them, it was Bail's office the first place in which the first meeting took place, and I can say many other things they both did because they were good people and great leaders, not because in memory of a lost ally/friend, and I just really hope they give Mon and Bail the appreciation, the development, the story they are worthy.

[lightdancer1]

I will also note on the Anakin-Padme relationship:

That I really do tend to see it, and write it, as an innately toxic thing but for entirely human reasons, because if Anakin is always one set of footsteps away from Darth Vader then what was there for him to fall? Where I view the toxicity stems from a dynamic not unlike what I write for and with Death and Dream in Sandman, though explicitly romantic where the other isn't.

Anakin puts Padme on a pedestal and worships the ground she walks on, where actual human Padme Naberrie is far more complicated than that. She is as impulsive as he is, and where he is unapologetically violent and capable of swift steps to it, she calls it 'aggressive negotiations' and jokes about it while pretending that the ultimate result is not, in fact, the same. Nine in ten of the flaws stem from Anakin ultimately rushing into a marriage with the first woman he saw after a week and never considering the consequences, nor that a relationship takes a lot more work than that, and that he's ultimately a rabid golden retriever garbage fire man.

The other tenth was the secrecy that ultimately, given Anakin has zero impulse control or ability to consider the consequences of his actions blended with great power, I believe was Padme herself. And ultimately that she was willing to lie to her friends and her family about the marriage to, in my view, keep one thing for herself that was Padme Naberrie's and neither the Senator nor the former Queen's, and this is a not unimportant part of why things failed. I also believe that in this regard that if Anakin Skywalker were left to himself he would have led a ticker tape parade celebrating that he won the most beautiful woman in the Galaxy as his.

He wouldn't have reckoned on how literally anything else with that might have complicated his life because he's Anakin Skywalker, thinking is for other people. Padme, OTOH, would have much greater awareness of all those risks and wouldn't consider, either, the pressures of keeping a marriage secret and what it'd mean.

It all ultimately stems to incompatible expectations and Anakin never seeing the real Padme, as appreciating the actual woman and her rationales for the marriage might have given him second thoughts. I also think if he and Sabe had ever had the chance to meet beforehand that he might have fallen head over heels for the person trying to actually get the Tatooine slave system ended over the Queen, with that exact same impulsiveness and lack of control he did with Padme, and that exact same lack of thought. Anakin is both a rabid golden retriever and a Siberian tiger sized orange cat, great power but never had a thought and never will. Wouldn't matter who, if anyone, he fell in love with, much of the same dynamics would apply for much of the same reasons.

[antianakin]

No Order 66 AU where Anakin leaves the Order after the war ends and he and Padme end up retiring to Naboo to try to raise the twins together, but neither of them ends up feeling particularly satisfied with life on Naboo (for Anakin it just doesn't give him any purpose the way he desperately needs and for Padme it's always been this perfect rosy dream and reality doesn't measure up), so they end up leaving the twins behind a lot so they can pursue other things and are pretty absentee parents in general. They mostly end up getting raised by Padme's parents instead, and while they're perfectly good guardians for the twins and raise them kindly and love them a lot, there's always an obvious elephant in the room regarding who ISN'T there.

This causes a bit of a rift between Luke and Leia because while Luke is trying to keep the peace and give their parents the benefit of the doubt as he moves on and figures out his own life with what he DOES have, Leia is less willing to just forgive and forget.

Luke ends up becoming a pilot working for the royal palace for a while, but Leia goes into politics (something she'd entered while younger because it's what her mother did and she'd been hoping it would get Padme's attention and bring the two of them closer; it didn't work out that way at all and now Leia's sticking with it at least partly to spite Padme) as an aide for her cousin Pooja who is now Senator of Naboo.

And it's here, once she finally makes it to Coruscant and starts working in the Senate, that Leia meets Bail Organa, still working as Senator of Alderaan. The two of them click IMMEDIATELY and Bail ends up becoming Leia's mentor in politics, as well as the person who actually introduces her to the Jedi themselves. Anakin and Padme had never really bothered to do so, both because they were so rarely around, but also because they had chosen not to give Luke and Leia to the Temple and decided at that point that it would be easier to keep the twins and the Jedi separate. Bail of course has no such compunctions and even if he knew about Anakin and Padme's feelings on the matter, I imagine he'd find ways to allow Leia to accidentally bump into some of the Jedi while she was on Coruscant. If he just so happens to double book himself for lunch with both Leia and Obi-Wan, it's hardly anything malicious and they may as well all eat together!

Leia finally feels like she has a parent who gives a damn about her, someone who acts like a parent to her, the parent she's always wanted. Her grandparents had always been incredibly kind and they obviously had to do a lot of parenting, but they'd always been very strict about making sure the twins saw them as GRANDPARENTS and not their actual parents, which just make the absence of their parents that much more obvious and painful. But with Bail, she's finally got someone who doesn't care that Anakin and Padme aren't there and doesn't feel the need to create a wall between them for Anakin and Padme's sake. Bail takes her under his wing, teaches her everything she knows, allows her to explore things she'd never been allowed to explore before, connects her to even more people who can help her understand herself better than she's ever been able to before. THIS is what a parent was supposed to do for her and she knows it, THIS is what selfless love looks like from a parent and she THRIVES under it for the first time in her life.

She eventually decides not to stay on as Pooja's aide because she has no real desire to become a senator for Naboo at any point, but she IS good at politics and desperately does want to help people any way she can, so she starts up some sort of organization of her own to help people around the galaxy (and connects it to the Jedi because deep down she KNOWS she was supposed to be one of them even though that path is now closed to her). But she doesn't go back to Naboo, she doesn't make her home on her mother's home planet.

She goes to Alderaan instead. And this time, she gets to stay there for the rest of her life.

[revenge-of-the-shit]

I think Padme's character deserved to become unhinged and go absolutely batshit, as a treat. I want a scene where she's confronted by someone else - one of her handmaidens, Riyo Chuchi, Bail Organa, Captain Typho, someone - about how her love for Anakin has shown that she is outright compromising her morals, and how what she has isn't what it seems, and she just loses it, she demands, Why can't I have this one thing for myself, just once? I've given everything for Naboo!, and indeed she has - she lost her childhood, her chance to be a kid and then a teenager, she lost her safety and parts of her personhood in pursuit of making her planet better, and she just wants the illusion of this ONE thing, just this one thing

[jedi-enthusiast]

There’s another question I want to ask

Do people think Padme and Shimi would agree to annihilation of the galaxy just to prolong their lives?

And why? Why would they?

I think that, in some cases regarding Padme, the answer is yes---people think that Padme would be completely fine with the galaxy being brought to its knees, as long as she was the ruler of it- (or someone who she approved of was). And, to be completely honest, while I do think that people who think that are fundamentally wrong---I don't really blame them for holding that belief for her.

Mainly because we see her excuse things like the Tusken massacre and the Jedi's genocide. So they're basically just taking the "she would excuse/ignore it, as long as Anakin was the one doing it and he went forward in a way that would allow her to ignore it" aspect of her to the extreme and saying "she would want that done for her," even though I do think she would never actively want something like that.

For the most part though, I don't think people ever think about Shmi or Padme in regards to Anakin at all, unless they can use them as tools to uplift him or excuse his atrocities.

When people talk about- "the Tuskens killed Shmi so Anakin killed them, so it's ok, they deserved it!" -or- "the Jedi took Anakin away from Shmi/the Jedi wouldn't let him see Shmi, so they caused/deserved their genocide!" -or whatever, they are only thinking about Anakin.

Shmi, her wants, her wishes, how she would feel about all of it...none of it matters to them, all that matters is Anakin---what he wants, how he feels.

It doesn't matter that Shmi is the one that kept insisting Qui-Gon take Anakin to the Temple, it doesn't matter that Shmi would've been horrified and disgusted by what Anakin did in her name. All that matters is Anakin.

The same goes for Padme---how she would feel or what she would want is of zero importance to these people, as long as they can use her as a tool to uplift Anakin.

For Anakin stans and apologists, the women in his life are nothing except tools and character canon fodder---they don't matter unless they can be used and exploited to frame their favorite fascist man-baby in a favorable light.

[donttouchmeimsleeping]

Okay, now I do not have a lot of problems with Padme.

But where I do have problems, is whenever/wherever Anakin is involved.

"Do you like Anakin?"

"She sounded like the girl she'd been, huddled under blankets, asking questions"

"I understand why you like Anakin"

"He's completely devoted to you"

"but when he's angry, he scares me a little bit"

"He's very powerful in a way I could never understand"

"His sense of justice is extreme"

"There was an incident with a Tusken encampment on Tatooine"

If it's not obvious, Padme had most definitely been manipulated with force suggestion by Anakin.

Padme is clearly described to be acting like a teenage girl or more closely like a insecure girl, rather than the queen and lady she is.

Which mean these insecurities came from somewhere or more accurately someone. Anakin is known to have such insecurities, especially where his own feelings are involved. I am not above believing that he projected such things onto Padme with the force.

Sabe does not sugar coat what she sees between Padme and Anakin, but she has enough respect and loyalty to Padme to trust Padme can take care of herself. But doesn't change the fact she's calling it how she sees it, just softly.

Padme would have definitely called what Anakin did on Tatooine to the Tuskens for what it was, but do you know who would called it an incident? Anakin.

Because he didn't mean to lose control, didn't mean to get his emotion get the better of him. At least, that what he's trying to convince himself, and in turn force suggest to Padme so she can help enforce that. But Padme heard he had killed children.

No, I don't believe Padme would've called this an incident if she wasn't being manipulated.

This has also been explored in Clone Wars, where their relationship is not treated as a healthy or sustainable one. Despite them technically being inseparable throughout the seasons whenever their in the same episodes. And there are times where Padme breaks from the force suggestion, because it's just suggestion, and insists this relationship is a bad idea.

Which fuels the notion that Anakin is very much manipulating with his use of the force to keep them together. And no matter how you spill it, it foreshadows how this love story ends in tragedy.

"Do you like Anakin?" Padmé asked. She sounded like the girl she'd been, huddled under blankets, asking questions about Harli Jafan all those years ago. "You're really the only one who has spent any time with him as an adult."

"I understand why you like Anakin," Sabé said. "He's a little bit intense for me. He's completely devoted to you, which I admire, but when he's angry, he scares me a little bit."

"He's very powerful in a way I could never understand," Padmé said. "His sense of justice is extreme. There was an incident with a Tusken encampment on Tatooine when we were there."

Star Wars Queen's Hope, E.K Johnston

[girlrandomstuff]

So, this is just me ranting about how much i do not like Anakin and Padme as both couple and individuals, but mostly as a couple. Long post

No hate to anyone who likes them, or for the actors who had play them, nor to George Lucas who created them. Let's start.

1. How they met

So The Phantom Menace starts. Padme is elected Queen of Naboo, and the Trade Federation is attacking the Planet, long story short cuz we all know it already, she has to run away but get stuck in a far planet. There she meets 9yo Anakin who is a slave, he's kinda smart and capable with machines. They help him win a race and the boy is set free but his mother has to stay behind. He's sad cuz he miss his mother and finds a good friend in Padme. Until there all is cool, they are both children.

2. Where their relationship really starts.

10 years had passed. Anakin is 19 and Padme is 24. He's send to protect her. They arrived in Naboo and when Padme is just trying to help with the situation Anakin starts to underestimate her and gets angry every time she shows him he needs her to be a succesful mission, I know he's a jedi and he may be the one to know better about protecting people, but if he really knew better he would know that a person that has live there for years is going to know better than him and he just seems angry and proud and can barely bring himself to admit she knows better than him. Then they get into a picnic and spend a good day just talking and playing, BUT Anakin literally started sharing VERY authoritarian and f*cist views and Padme is just like “you are so funny”. First time Padme ignores Anakin being abussive, or possesive or violent or any other toxic behavior. He kisses her and then a few hours later he literally says to her “I'm in agony for the kiss you should have never given to me” if that's not manipulative behavior i don't know what it is, she tries to tell Anakin to think clear and send him away, but then a few days later, Anakin commits his first massacre of women and children and admited to her all that and she's just like “to be angry is to be human”. She literally saw him in one of his most violent behaviors and just shoved it away. Second time Padme ignores Anakin violent behavior. They leave Tatooine, fight side by side, survived and married each other a few days later. Padme literally marry Anakin just days after he tells her he killed children.

3. The Clone Wars.

They have good moments and they had bad moments. But then a year or two had passed and Padme is helping fighting the war within the senate. Things happens and Clovis comes back to Padme's life. He lies and she believes him. Things scalate and she starts working with Clovis, at this Anakin literally tells her “as your husband I demand”, he may be right about Clovis, he was not one to trust, maybe Padme was wrong, but thinking that cuz you are married to someone you can demand something from the other is just wrong. First time Anakin despites Padme's work. Things gets even worst when Clovis tries to kiss Padme and Anakin walks in the middle of it. He was right to be angry and to get him away from her. BUT what was not right is him going full Vader mode trying to kill him, the moment he hears Padme asking him/them to stop, Anakin points at her and says “YOU DON'T HAVE A SAY IN THIS”, he doesn't care about Padme or protecting her or respecting her, it was about him and his jelousy, it was him, saying “she's mine, you are mine”. He never even asked her if she's right, he even thinks she was part of this, that she was cheating on him. Then Padme tells him a bunch of truths but it's for nothing cuz a few days she forgets everything and forgives Anakin. Third time Padme forgives Anakin toxic behavior.

3. Anakin fall.

So, Anakin is back in Coruscant after being away for a while. Padme waits for him and they reunite. Padme tells him she's pregnant and regardless of what many post says about Anakin smiling when he realizes he's going to be a father, he literally has the worst look ever, he's worried and even upset at what Padme is saying and he only pulls up a smile when he realizes she's looking at him and waiting for his reaction.

Then, they go back home, he gets nightmares about Padme dying, and he is worried about her, of course, any partner would be worried too. But what's not okay is that, he doesn't care about his child, he never thinks about the baby when he's seeing Padme die in childbirth. He only mentions their child until Padme asks him about the baby, and he only answer “I don't know” he doesn't even question himself about them, again, he just cracks a smile and sweet words when he sees Padme worry about the things they talked. Days pass by and Padme asked Anakin to speak to the Chancellor in good faith to stop the war so they can start fixing everything that is bad and Anakin snaps at her with “dont ask me to do that, do it yourself in the senate”, so, he gets to demand but she doesn't get to ask something from him? What a man Anakin Skywalker is. Second time Anakin desdain Padme's work. Sith happens and starts Order 66, he doesn't leave a single soul alive. Not even the children. He comes back fully turned and tells Padme he's leaving on a mission. Obi Wan goes and talk with Padme telling her everything, he literally tells her “Anakin killed children” and she answers “he wouldn't” when she knew he would CUZ ANAKIN LITERALLY TOLD HER HE ALREADY SLAUGHTER CHILDREN BEFORE. Fourth time Padme ignores Anakin violent behavior. She reproches Obi Wan he just wants to kill him like OF COURSE, he had literally massacre in cold blood hundreds of man, women and children, he's fully dark side mode and he's still the most powerful force sensitive being. At this point Anakin deserves to die, he needs to die cuz he could literally bring the entire galaxy down if he wanted and she knows, and still she doesn't care about anyone else but him and her (I mean of course having to accept your husband and father of your unborn children needs to face consecuences for his actions is hard but after all the inocent blood he droped i think any good soul would accept it as hard as it would be).

Then she runs to him, Padme tells Anakin everything Obi Wan told her about him, and he never denied it. So Padme starts yo realizes the true, now she knows it was all true, and even after she knows that Anakin massacre children and his fellow men and women, she stills asks a children-murderer-Sith to “run away with her and HELPS HER TO RAISE THEIR CHILD” who in their sane minds would ask a man who AGAIN, killed children to help her raise their baby? WHO? Fifth time Padme is willing to ignore Anakin's violence. Sith happens and Anakin thinks again she lies and chokes her. No matter what, a healthy couple would never end in one trying to kill the other, NO MATTER WHAT. Anakin choking Padme was just his last violent, toxic and possesive act against her.

Then to conclude everything, she goes into labor and Luke and Leia are born. But she's heart broken for Anakin, she's so heartbroken she doesn't want to live, cuz everything that happened. And for the ones who would say “you can't blame Padme for dying” the medical droid literally said she was fine but she didn't wanted to live anymore. She was more worried about Anakin “wheres Anakin?” than for her child(ren). Her last words are not even for her children, they are for Anakin, she literally believe there was still light in a man who literally had his hands wet with children blood. I do believe Padme didn't really care about her children, she barely gives them names but is never concerned about their wellbeing or anything.

And don't get me wrong, I can understand people losing every sanity they had left after Order 66

Ahsoka was attacked by her own men, men she saw as her brothers, good friends, who fought side by side with her, who help her train, she barely get out alive, and she had to see how all these good men were turned to puppets, had to see how every man died, not even as free men, and it took her 1-2 years to step back into the fight.

Obi Wan same thing, he had to see how men he trusted turned against him and try to kill him, only to come back and see one of the people behind all this crimes is the young man he had trained since he was just a little boy, even with all his pain he is willing to fight Anakin, maybe not kill him cuz he thinks leaving him burned was going to be enough to stop him, but he literally fight him, he has to see how his family was slaughter, how his home was burned down and how his brother betrays him and them all, and it took him 10 years to step back into the fight and overcome his grieve.

Bail Organa, the man saw as the Clones attacked the Jedi Temple, saw it burning, saw how they killed a child as he couldn't do anything to stop it, he saw his life work falling into pieces as he wasn't able to stop it, and he never stoped fighting, the moment he scaped the Temple, he jumps into help any jedi he can find, rescued Yoda and Obi Wan, helps Yoda scape from Darth Sidious, and helps Padme get medical treatment, he jumps in to adopt an orphan baby, and just a couple days later he offers Ahsoka help and comfort. Months pass, years pass and he never quited the fight, he always kept going, he never stoped, even when even a year after Order 66 he still dealing with trauma.

[groove-on-boogie-down]

Just watched Attack of the Clones and noticed more parallels between Anakin Skywalker and Osha Aniseya.

(Long post ahead, with visuals!)

In AotC, Anakin's mother dies before she can tell him, "I love you," and Anakin descends down a path of destruction out of grief.

Osha force-chokes her father figure before he can say, "I love you," because she grieves his betrayal and the loss of her family.

Now these are very different forms of paternal love by Shmi and Sol, but I LOVE comparing and contrasting Anakin and Osha because these situations lead to different outcomes and reactions. Yet at the core, they have these strong emotions they hold inside. In the simplest form, they have both lost parents and both lost their mothers.

Both Osha and Anakin are born with the help of the Force, we know this. Anakin is born completely of the Force. Osha and Mae are born through their mother's magic augmented by the Force. Anakin didn't care for his home planet. He was born into slavery and trauma. But his mother loved him dearly. He left because he dreamt of better. To be a Jedi and return to free her too.

Osha came from a family that loved and protected her, but she longed for individuality and to explore the galaxy outside of their coven walls. Anakin finds his mother in her last moments, and the dark side takes over him. He seeks revenge and kills the Tusken camp out of rage.

Osha learns the man who raised her killed her mother. Her silent anger is simmering. She doesn't lash out the exact same way, she's in shock.

Their reactions work for both of them. Anakin had his emotions building inside of him. In his feelings of inadequacy, he tells Padme that he is used to fixing everything, but this is the one time he failed. Anakin thinks he lost his mother due to his own weakness and believes more power will prevent it in the future. However, he is also ashamed of how his anger manifests and the act he committed in the camp. Padme tells him, "To be angry is to be human." (And as I am typing this RotS is on and Palpatine tells him the same, that seeking revenge on Dooku is natural despite his unease). But because of his training, Anakin says, "I'm a Jedi. I know, I'm better than this."

Osha has power, but she doesn't realize it. Striking out at Qimir catches her off guard. Killing her master startles her to shock. She's not seeking power. Osha seeks an understanding of herself and to be understood. Just like Anakin, Osha believes she failed as a Jedi for showing her anger. For not being able to accept loss. Qimir pushes her to confront his realization, and similar to Padme, he tells her, "This anger, this pain. This is who you are."

Anakin and Osha descend to darkness in similar ways. They feel and emote in similar ways. The Jedi are not successful in teaching them how to healthily deal with their feelings. So these experiences mirror, but they are still distinct examples of Jedi that are seduced to the dark side.

To me, Anakin Skywalker and Osha Aniseya are incredibly compelling characters that are only strengthened when analyzed together. End.

[jaydude1992]

[The Phantom Menace begins with two Jedi intervening on behalf of a planet currently being blockaded by a greedy, ruthless corporation looking to bully the Republic into reducing trade route taxes cutting into their profits. Serving as official ambassadors, they hope to resolve things through peaceful negotiation, but end up forced to fight against the corporation's armed forces; first in self-defense, and later to keep the planet's ruler out of the corporation's grasp. It's soon very strongly implied that the corporation plans to get its way by starving out the planet's population, and said corporation is later indicated to be a part of the Republic's ruling elite via having a voice in the Galactic Senate, while also (implied to be*) controlling the Republic's head of state through bureaucracy and bribery.]

Jedi critical folks: The Jedi are just violent hired thugs of the Republic ruling elite and don't care about the common folk!

*Technically speaking, Palpatine/Sidious is the one making this claim, and he's doing so in order to manipulate Padmé into effectively making him the head of state in Valorum's place. I don't know what's said on the matter outside of the film, but given that one of Lucas's themes in the Prequels is the Senate being corrupt, I wouldn't be surprised if Palpatine was telling the truth here.

[antianakin]

It's also just a warning that even a good politician will have an agenda (and, in fact, SHOULD have an agenda because their entire job is to prioritize their own world/system that they represent) while the Jedi are intended to be as neutral as possible and these two things can and will conflict eventually.

So I don't think that it's a warning to stay OUT of politics because the Jedi do work with the government and are therefore working within politics to some degree (they mediate political conflicts and represent the Republic when doing so, that's politics), it's just a reminder that they have to accept that having an agenda is a PART of politics. Much like the Jedi have to accept that darkness is a natural part of everyone and everything, they must also accept the reality that every politician has their own personal agenda. Any Jedi who doesn't recognize that runs the risk of getting taken advantage of and potentially showing favoritism towards one world/system as a result.

I don't read it as "These people are all hypocrites, stay the fuck away from all of them and everything they do" so much as "These people's jobs require them to do things that we as Jedi cannot always support and any Jedi worth their salt has to be able to acknowledge that in order to recognize when to step in and when to stand back." The Jedi can like certain politicians, they might even consider some of them to be friends, but if they can't recognize that those same people might do things they don't agree with, then they're compromised and that's an issue.

Funnily enough, Obi-Wan is RIGHT that Padme isn't trustworthy, but it isn't because she's a politician with an agenda. Almost all of her bad choices have to do with Anakin in some way shape or form rather than with Padme actually doing her job well. She can't be trusted because she's got selfish and greedy tendencies of her own that she succumbs to and DOESN'T prioritize her duty to her people.

Obi-Wan's line that Padme is a politician and can't be trusted can be read on so many different levels. On one hand it's a warning to Anakin to stay out of politics and not trust Palpatine. But from an audience standpoint she certainly makes some contradictory (hypocritical?) decisions throughout the course of the trilogy, like some real life political figures.

[sstarssucker]

Girls don't wanna have fun.

Girls want to have that pretty yellow-pink-purple dress Padmé wears in Attack of the Clones.

[confused-much]

Padme is the original delulu because if my husband killed kids not once but TWICE, openly admitted to serving under a Sith and Force choked me, I would not, in fact, say on my deathbed that there is still good in him.

Quite the opposite, I would probably beg Obi-Wan to hide my kids from that guy.

[happycattail]

This made me think of this wonderful fic by Virdant (if you haven’t read their fics totally check them out)

It’s just a conversation between Obi-Wan and Leia who’s been raised by Anakin and Padme and boi does it hurt

I can't stress enough how funny and unrealistic "padme and anakin raise the twins and everything is good and happy 😊" aus are to me. Neither of them would be good parents I can like promise you that