#vii. HEADCANONS. › and i hear you whispering something sweet but it doesn't move any nerves in me.

[eleutheriana-archive]

May I ask where you're getting that arranged marriages are common on Naboo? I'm curious, since I haven't seen that anywhere. Is that a headcanon of yours or something you've found? If it's a headcanon of yours I'd love to hear your reasoning for it since, as you say, the two Nabooian marriages we see (three if you include Padmé's) are not arranged. Or if you've already written the headcanon would you mind linking? I'd love to read it.

so it’s actually legends canon that arranged marriages are common on naboo, and cited if you look up jobal and ruwee’s marriage because they were actually originally intended to be an arranged match by their respective mothers, but they fell in love on their own time while ryoo and winama were busy working out the idea / terms of the arrangement, which just worked out better for everyone involved. the idea of them being more common than not is hinted at in legends canon but to my knowledge i don’t believe it’s directly outright stated so that is something that’s like…a combination of inferred from the text and headcanoned by yours truly, you feel me ? and the reasoning for thinking that it’s more common than not is basically that it makes a fuckload of sense to me when you look at it through the eyes of like…padmé’s mentality and psyche ? 

so okay we don’t have a lot to go on for naboo culture ( which btw nabooian is actually a common misconception and not the actual terminology, it’s literally just ‘naboo’ no matter what, the people are not nabooian people, they’re ‘the naboo’ ) other than that they’re really heavily focused on the arts, value purity and innocence above all else, do not have a standing army and do not prize warrior culture, and humans colonized the planet and nearly eradicated the gungans in the process. ( let’s play a game called ‘one of these things is not like the others’. ) everything else is pretty much just inferred, and because padmé is the only main character from this planet other than palpatine and we tend to get more of her viewpoint than his during the films, ( granted, it’s still not a lot that we get from her POV bc lucasfilm hates her and owes me so many apologies and reparations but w/e ) we have to go off what she gives us. the one line that i’ve always cited as my reasoning for about 99% of my personal naboo headcanons is the line from ROTS where she says 

“ anakin, this baby will change our lives. i doubt the queen will continue to allow me to serve in the senate,* and if the council discovers you are the father, you will be expelled from the jedi order. ”

* emphasis mine

so what i found interesting about this was the fact that a baby would force padmé out of the senate, and given that we’re looking at neeyutnee’s rule here, it led me to a specific conclusion, something that is entirely my own headcanon for my portrayal and not to be taken as actual film canon. ( this is a bit of a deviation from your original question here but i’m getting to it in a very roundabout way i promise. ) so it’s been seen from interactions with the former and current queens that jamillia had a very personable and friendly relationship with padmé. jamillia is also the one who asked her to serve in the senate originally. her reign ended shortly after the beginning of the clone wars, and neeyutnee took over for her from there. we don’t know a lot about her in canon, but what we’ve seen of her interactions with padmé in the clone wars are….not great…..and we also know that when the election at the end of the war began, padmé put her public support behind apailana, who was one of the youngest queens ever elected and took office literally weeks before padmé’s death. so. padmé and neeyutnee did not get along. god only knows why. it’s not for me to judge. the point here being that it’s clear neeyutnee would have pulled padmé from the senate if padmé gave birth to a child out of wedlock, which says a lot about naboo culture to me. 

they elect mainly female children to rule their entire planet, they prize innocence and purity, they would’t allow a senator to serve on the senate if she had a child out of wedlock, for me, all signs are pointing towards a very traditional and old fashioned sort of society on naboo, which is something that i’ve always implemented for my own headcanons and for my portrayal. and something that makes perfect sense for the more aristocratic class on a very traditional and old fashioned planet is a history of arranged marriage over what we tend to think of as ‘love matches’. canon supports evidence that they’re at least common on naboo, and with my own personal interpretations of the culture we’ve been given via padmé, i’ve extended that a bit. 

another important note, especially in regards to padmé and the way she views this and the way this has all influenced her, is the fact that in legends canon, she was the one to propose to anakin, not the other way around. padmé holds a lot of stock in marriage, and it actually makes a lot of sense that they rushed into marriage if you look at it with the idea of just how traditional and old fashioned naboo culture is. marriage is important to her, and i’ve always felt like if she and anakin had never fallen in love on varykino and circumstances hadn’t led to the events of their lives together, she very likely would have returned home at some point and asked her parents to look into a match for her, especially given how badly padmé wanted kids and to settle down, but that’s, again, all just personal interpretation.

[eleutheriana-archive]

How did Padmé choose her regnal name?

bruh…i have….so many headcanons….about padmé + names and naboo naming culture…..thank you for asking me this….so okay it’s no secret i tend to associate padmé with flowers and floral imagery ( there’s a meta about that specifically around here somewhere i’ll reblog when i find ) and that actually ties in a lot to her name(s) as well !! padmé comes from padma, meaning lotus, and i’ve always imagined padmé itself or even padma is also is a flower on naboo, the same way ryoo ( her maternal grandmother and niece ) is a type of flower. ( for reference, i believe the padmé/padma flower is the unidentified pink flower that padmé wears a cape made from in the end of the phantom menace, because legends canon states those flowers only grow in the mountains of the village she was born in, you see where i’m going with this. ) so from there, less relevant to this question but still relevant to the discussion at hand ––– anthia, the alias she adopts during my rebellion verse/au, means lady of the flowers. so now we gotta look at her regnal name, AMIDALA, which means beautiful flower.

the reason(s) i think she chose this name was because while her name ends in -é, most female naboo names end in -a; sola, winama, etc. i also think there’s a conscious decision there with beautiful flower being the name she chose for herself when her parents named her after a flower to begin with. there’s a sense of honoring her mother and her father there, and her grandmother, because this was before ryoo was born. i also think this set off a chain of events in regards to regnal names with her own court. 

according to legends canon, padmé was the first naboo royal to serve a term that wasn’t lifelong, and that’s a direct result of her predecessor’s influence, and due to his influence, she had a target on her back as soon as she took the throne. padmé served as princess of theed as padmé naberrie, and while i don’t think taking a regnal name was an alien ( pardon the pun ) concept at the time, i do think there was a significantly higher need for PRIVACY in her reign than in her predecessors. she took the name QUEEN AMIDALA and then became solely known by it for the eight years she served her people as queen, and she kept that regnal name as SENATOR PADMÉ AMIDALA, because, as i’ve said a few times before, it’s what she’s better known by in the republic, and because it affords her family more privacy. and i think that same attitude got applied to her handmaidens. if padmé was going to be able to blend in seamlessly with them if she needed a decoy on the throne in times of danger, they were going to need their own ‘regnal names’. all this to say ––––– i don’t think all of them use their real names. 

now, for a few –––– sabé and eirtaé, for example –––– i think these are their real names, or at least their middle names. i think the -é ending in naboo naming is something that’s like…a naming trend for that age group, if that makes sense ? not every girl born on naboo between the years 46 - 40 BBY has a name that ends in -é, but a startling number of them do, etc. but all that aside, again, i don’t think all of them are their real names. of her royal handmaidens, sabé, eirtaé, rabé, yané, and saché, i believe sabé is her real name, eirtaé is her real or her middle name, and rabé, yané, and saché are all aliases/pseudonyms they adopted after being accepted into the handmaiden ranks. same with her senatorial handmaidens –––– in my head, teckla is the only one of padmé’s handmaidens during her time as senator who used her real name. cordé, moteé, and dormé were all adopted names that the women took on upon taking their positions. 

[eleutheriana-archive]

sometimes i think about how many clear warning signs / red flags padmé willfully ignored in regards to anakin and their relationship because she loved him and how if she’d survived the birth of her children and vader she would have spent so much time going back through her memories and searching for the beginning of it all and all the signs she ignored or didn’t catch the first time because how could this have happened, how could i have let this happen ?? 

[eleutheriana-archive]

*   MUSE’S   WORST   TRAITS.

aggressive   / callous   /   cannibal   / careless   /   compulsive   /   cowardly   /   domineering   /   envious   /   greedy   /   hypocritical   /   impatient   /   impolite  /   incompetent   /   kidnapper   /   lazy   /   liar   /   materialistic   /   murderer   /   obsessive   /   overcritical   /   overemotional  /   patronizing   /   sarcastic  /   self - indulgent   /   serial  killer   /   torturer   /   touchy   /   traitorous   /   unclean   /   unpredictable   /   untidy   /   vain   /   vengeful

tagged by: @kybersung && @oletherian

tagging: @aftcrshocks / @astraeana , @aletheios , @weaponexpert / @goldenpariah , @dathomirborn / @senatetraitor / @borifle , @serennian / all ur fuckin blogs , @alderaanheir , @burntmartyr , @crdered , @demandpeace , @masterofcraft , listen if you’re reading this you’re tagged

[eleutheriana-archive]

RULES: repost , don’t reblog . tag some ppl if you want to , i guess ? 
TAGGED BY: drive it like you stole it lads

██▒ GENERAL

NAME: padmé amidala naberrie skywalker 
ALIAS(ES): queen amidala ( technically ) , padmé ( listen i know it’s her real name but as handmaiden naberrie it’s an alias damn it ) , anthia barrie ( rebellion era ). 
GENDER: female 
AGE: canonically anywhere from fourteen to twenty seven, as she dies a month prior to her twenty eighth birthday. 
DATE OF BIRTH: 46 BBY ( june 30th )  
OCCUPATION: princess of theed, queen of naboo, senator of the chommell sector. rebel alliance chief of staff ( rebellion verse ).

██▒ APPEARANCE

EYE COLOR: brown 
HAIR COLOR: dark brown 
HEIGHT: very long and naturally curly 
SCARS: one blaster scar on her left hip, west of her navel and a bit above her hipbone, sustained during the battle of theed. there’s another on the front of her left shoulder, just underneath her collarbone, from an assassination attempt by aurra sing. the masterpiece, however, is three large scars that span the length of her back from right shoulder almost entirely to left hip, from the attempted execution in the arena of geonosis. a connecting scar also mars her upper right arm, though it’s much more faded and healed in comparison to the ones on her back. 
BURNS: minor ones on her fingers and wrists from cooking, nothing very noticeable. 
OVERWEIGHT: nah 
UNDERWEIGHT: tbh padmé’s definitely a bit underweight outside of her pregnancy but it’s just because she hyperfocuses a lot and has a hard time prioritizing things for herself so she often forgets to eat when she’s working on important things.

██▒ FAVORITE

COLOR: ocean blue. 
HAIR COLOR: she’s partial to blonde for obvious reasons, but she doesn’t have a genuine preference. 
EYE COLOR: blue. 
SONG: there’s an old lullaby her mom used to sing to her and sola, and sola sang to her kids, and padmé used to sing to her unborn twins during her pregnancy. that’s her favorite.  
MOVIE: she likes dramatic romances. 
TV SHOW: does this look like a woman who has time for television? 
FOOD: padmé fuckin loves five blossom bread and shuura fruit and tendril nuts. 
DRINK: if she could drink caf intravenously she would. she’s partial to tea as well. 
BOOK: she couldn’t possibly pick one.

██▒ HAVE THEY

PASSED SCHOOL: with flying colors and very early. 
HAD SEX: she’s married. 
HAD SEX IN PUBLIC: define....Public..... 
GOTTEN PREGNANT: yes 
KISSED A BOY: yes 
KISSED A GIRL: yes 
GOTTEN TATTOOS: nah 
GOTTEN PIERCINGS: just her ears 
HAD A BROKEN HEART: LMAO DID SHE EVER 
BEEN IN LOVE: very much so 
STAYED UP FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS: more times than she could count

██▒ ARE THEY

A VIRGIN: nope 
A KISSER: oh god yeah, padmé loves kissing and being kissed. 
SCARED EASILY: not easily, no. 
JEALOUS EASILY: not.....Easily...but she definitely gets jealous yes. 
TRUSTWORTHY: this girl is loyal to the point of self destruction she is so trustworthy padmé please be slightly less trustworthy think of yourself for once in your life 
IN LOVE: verse dependent but honestly at any given moment yeah probably 
SINGLE: verse dependent, generally no

██▒ RANDOM QUESTIONS

HAVE THEY HARMED THEMSELVES: nah she’s like neglected her own needs but never intentionally hurt herself. 
THOUGHT OF SUICIDE: no. 
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: no. 
WANTED TO KILL SOMEONE: .....yeah..... 
DROVE A CAR: a speeder / speeder bike / ship yes 
HAVE/HAD A JOB: yes 
HAVE ANY FEARS: lmao yeah 100% buddy

██▒ FAMILY

SIBLINGS: older sister, sola, brother in law, darred. 
PARENTS: ruwee and jobal naberrie. 
CHILDREN: luke skywalker and leia organa are her only biological children in mainverse canon; she considers ahsoka tano to be her daughter in most if not all verses, as well as daisy johnson, and also considers cassian andor and jyn erso to be like children to her in most of her rebellion verse variations. in one au, rey kenobi is her daughter. 
PETS: she has a kitten named shiraya she affectionately refers to as shira and y’all can fight me.

TAGGING: everyone.

[eleutheriana-archive]

FASHION && APPEARANCE

BOLD: What applies to your muse.

TAGGED BY: DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT LADS

TAGGING: everyone

BODY

long legs /  short legs  /  average legs / slender thighs /  thick thighs / muscular thighs / skinny arms  /  soft arms  / muscular arms / toned stomach / flat stomach  /  flabby stomach / soft stomach / six pack / beer belly / lean frame  / muscular frame / voluptuous frame / petite frame /  lanky frame  / short nails  / long nails  / manicured nails  /  dirty nails / flat ass / toned ass  / bubble butt / thick ass / small waist / thick waist / narrow hips /  average hips / wide hips / big feet / average feet /  small feet / soft feet / slender feet / calloused hands / soft hands / big hands / average hands / small hands / long fingers / short fingers / average fingers / broad shouldered / underweight  / average weight / overweight.

HEIGHT

shorter than 140 cm     /     141 cm-150 cm     /     151 cm to 160 cm    /    161 cm to 170 cm   /   171 cm to 180cm /     181 cm to 190 cm  /     191 cm to 2m     /     taller than 2 m.

SKIN

pale /     rosy    /     olive    /     dark   /   golden  /  tanned     /     blotchy     /    smooth   /     acne     /     dry     /     greasy     /     freckled   /   scarred

EYES

small   /     large     /     average     /     grey    /     brown     /     blue     /    green     /   gold  /     hazel     /   doe - eyed    /     almond   /     close - set   /     wide - set     /     squinty     /    monolid    /    heavy eyelids   /     upturned     /     downturned

HAIR.

thin /   thick  /    fine    / normal   /    greasy  /   dry   /   soft   /   shiny /   curly   /  frizzy   /   wild   /   unruly   /  straight   /  smooth   /  wavy   /  floppy   /  cropped   /  pixie-cut   /    afro   /   shoulder length   /    back length.  /   waist-length   /  past hip-length   /   buzz cut   /   bald    /    weave   /    hair extensions   /    jaw-length   /  wohawk   /    dreadlocks   /    box braids   /    faux locks    /    white   /   platinum blonde   /  golden blonde   /    dirty blonde   /   blonde     /    ombre   /   light brown   /   mouse brown   /    chestnut brown   /   golden brown   /    chocolate brown    /   dark brown   /   jet black /    ginger   /   red    /   auburn   /     dyed red   /  dyed any “unnatural color”   /   thin eyebrows    /   average eyebrows   /   thick eyebrows   / plucked eyebrows /

TATTOOS/PIERCINGS

no tattoos   /     one tattoo     /     a few here and there   /     multiple     /     full sleeve    /     thigh tattoo     /    face and neck tattoo     /     chest tattoo     /   back tattoo   /   no piercings   /     ear piercings   /     nose piercing     /     lip piercing     /     tongue piercing     /     eyebrow piercing     /     navel piercing     /     cheek piercing     /     nipple piercing     /     genital piercing  /  

COSMETICS

eyeliner   /     light eyeliner     /     heavy eyeliner     /   cat eyes  /   mascara     /     fake eyelashes     /     matte lipstick     /     regular lipstick    /     lipgloss     /    red lips   /     pink lips     /     dark lips     /     bronzer     /     highlighter    /     eyeshadow     /     neutral eyeshadow     /     smoky eyes     /     colorful eyeshadow     /     blush    /     lipliner     /    light contouring    /     heavy contouring     /   powder     /     matte foundation     /     shiny foundation     /   concealer    /     wears regularly     /     occasionally wears    /

SCENT

floral    /     fruity   /   perfumes  /    aftershave   /     cocoa     /     moisturizer     /    shampoo   /    cigarettes  /  leather     /     sweat     /   food    /     incense    /    marijuana   /   cologne    /   whiskey   /    wine     /     fried food     /   blood    /     fire     /   metal    /    ice

CLOTHES

jeans   /   tight pants   /     over knee socks     /     tights     /     leggings     /     yoga pants   /  pencil skirt    /   tight skirt  /    loose skirt  /     formfitting dress     /    cardigans    /    blouse     /  button up shirt     /     band t - shirt   /     sweatpants    /     tank top     /   wifebeater   /   cut off t - shirt     /   designer  /     high street     /     online stores     /   thrift   /     lingerie     /     long skirt     /    miniskirt    /    maxidress     /   sundress     /     tie     /   tuxedo     /     cocktail dress     /     highslit dress/skirt     /   t - shirt     /     loose clothing     /   tight clothing  /     jean shorts     /     sweater     /     sweater vest    /     khaki pants     /    suit  /    hoodie    /     harlem pants     /     basketball shorts  /     boxers   /     briefs    /   thong     /     hotpants     /     hipster pants   /     bra     /     sportsbra    /    crop top     /     corset    /     ballerina skirt     /     leotard     /     polka dot     /     stripes     /     glitter    /  silk    /   lace /     leather    /    velvet  /     chemise     /    patterns   /   florals    /     neon colors   /     pastels   /     black  /     dark colors  /     fur     /     faux fur

SHOES

sneakers    /     slip - ons     /     flats     /     slippers     /     sandals     /   high heels     /     kitten heels     /   ankle boots    /     combat boots   /     knee - high boots     /     platforms     /     stripper heels     /     bare feet     /     loafers     /     oxfords   /     gladiator shoes     /  boots   /  

[eleutheriana-archive]

rolls back in with more questions. if asked by luke or leia, if she had ever told them she was their mother, about how anakin died ? what would she tell them ? :D

full disclaimer: this 10000% depends on other luke / leia rpers and what they’re comfortable with / what kind of plots they’re looking for, this is in NO WAY set in stone for canon for my rebellion verse, this is just my own personal opinion.

now, that said, padmé would have been….careful, with luke and leia, about telling them about their father. especially with leia, more so than with luke ? leia has anakin’s rage, his anger, and, again, depending on the verse / storyline, ESPECIALLY after the destruction of alderaan. it’s important to padmé that her children know who their father was before the dark side twisted and corrupted him, but she also understands that THEY MIGHT NOT BE READY TO HEAR THAT. especially not leia, after the death of her adopted parents and the straight up betrayal that her aunt has been her mother all along and has never bothered to tell her until her twin brother enters the scene. ( of course, that’s not all there is to it, and leia would understand that too, but i imagine leia would be ?? really angry about that ?? because leia’s grieving her parents and she’s shouldering a rebellion and leia has EVERY RIGHT to be angry with padmé. ) 

the thing is, the entire fate of the galaxy rests on the hope and the idea that anakin skywalker’s children will able to defeat darth vader and the emperor. padmé cannot run the risk of either of them developing sympathy for the machine that killed their father. but that said –––– i have a hard time believing padmé would lie to them ? she carries SO MUCH GUILT in her heart regarding her children and her husband, she views anakin / vader as her own responsibility, and like…she’s spent leia’s entire life lying to her about who she is, and she’s spent luke’s entire life apart from him. that WRECKS her. she carries so much guilt regarding that. 

it’s a very delicate balance she’d have to strike, between letting leia’s rage be justified and tempering luke’s sympathy and only vilifying vader, not anakin. and it’s hard to strike that balance by telling the twins the entire truth. so i imagine there’d be a lot regarding anakin’s “death” that she never tells them, or at least, doesn’t tell them until after their father is well and truly dead. there are things that happened on coruscant and mustafar that will always remain a secret between anakin and padmé and obi-wan, but she would tell luke and leia…a fair bit more than obi-wan ever would have or did tell them.

so if padmé had been alive, luke would have gone into cloud city KNOWING that vader had killed anakin but that vader and anakin were the same man, and the murder had been one of the mind and the soul, not of the body. leia would have known that her father stood idly by while tarkin ordered her planet destroyed and her family killed, and that he did not know she was his daughter, but that she’s still entirely justified in her hatred. she would have been significantly more honest with them, but it would have taken her a little while to open up about the truth, and even longer to open up about the full truth of everything that had happened, because talking about the way their marriage started to fall apart at the end, or how she went after him with a knife shortly after their birth, those things….complicate the story. and they cast anakin’s memory in a shadow that she doesn’t want her children bearing, especially when they have to reconcile the man hunting them down with the man who helped create them. 

[eleutheriana-archive]

AND ANOTHER THING.

PADME: Anakin, what are you going to do?

ANAKIN looks down for a moment and then walks away from Padme.

ANAKIN: I will not betray the Republic … my loyalties lie with the Chancellor and with the Senate … and with you.

ANAKIN turns and walks back to Padme.

PADME: What about Obi-Wan?

ANAKIN: I don’t know … Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that he’s remained loyal to the Chancellor.

PADME: How could this have happened?

ANAKIN: The Republic is unstable, Padme. The Jedi aren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation. There are also traitors in the Senate.

PADME stands and reacts ever so slightly.

PADME: What are you saying?

ANAKIN: You need to distance yourself from your friends in the Senate. The Chancellor said they will be dealt with when this conflict is over.

PADME: What if they start an inquisition? I’ve opposed this war. What will you do if I become a suspect?

ANAKIN: That won’t happen. I won’t let it.

if you think for ONE SECOND palpatine was going to let padmé live after he took over the galaxy and crowned himself emperor you are !!!! so fucking mistaken !!!! palpatine was always going to start that inquisition and have padmé arrested for treason after she had the babies and you can bet your ASS he was going to manipulate vader into believing that padmé had never loved him and was conspiring against him and make him execute her to feed his hatred !!!!!

[eleutheriana-archive]

REMEMBER TO REPOST ,  NOT REBLOG. &  FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THE LIST.

bold the aesthetic of your muse. italicize what can be taken two ways.

the softest palms that never want to touch you until after a bottle of wine.   /   “just braid your hair if you won’t brush it, at least, you useless girl.”   /   pulling on your skirt with one hand as you shuffle away.  /   “you’ll get it done before the day is up.”   /   guilt that isn’t yours to have.   /   it’s a crooked game, but it’s the only one in town.   /   chains.   /   “how could you do this to me? ”   /   the sharp sting of guilt.   /   you feel something even though you’re paid to do the opposite.   /   the family you never had.   /   falling backwards through time.   /   quicksand.   /   drowning, but you don’t save yourself.   /   “you’re getting better. ”   /   “they smile like a snake.”   /   you’re the stars and the sky.   /   there’s a part of you that couldn’t stay away even if you were forced to.   /   they are your wings, there’s no doubt there.   /   “let’s take off somewhere. let’s fly.”   /  you edge a bit too close to the sun.   /   another ghost to take your place after every stumble.   /   deep roots in the ground slashed open in the sun.   /   rock candy melting in water.   /   waves rise and leave the foam behind.   /   the precipice you call home has a tip you’ll reach eventually.   /   happiness is the best front a man can take.   /   “i’ve never seen someone as beautiful as you before.”   /   you disagree; they’re more beautiful.   /  discomfort at the tiniest of touches.   /   the sky opens up when you see them.   /   rain comes down.   /   poppy fields.   /   your sanity hanging by a thread.   /   “oh god, what have you done?”   /   roommates weren’t supposed to be the smartest ones of all.   /  they’ve got a devil on their shoulder and an angel in their mind.   /   you try to help, but it only got worse.   /   now they’re dead, it’s all your fault.  /   adam & eve in the garden.   /   a temptress in crisp button-downs.   /   “fuck, you’ve gone off the deep end, haven’t you?”   /  they lie so perfectly you almost forget yourself.  /   the spark that lit the kindling on your funeral pyre.   /   sugar and spice and a taste for the dark side.

yves saint laurent black opium on your pillow, a scented cloud drifting behind you like a cape.   /   crisp green apples piled up on the table.   /   your shoes are sharp, but your wit is even sharper.   /  what a pretty one, they say.   /   you laugh without humour.   /   a soft, hollow spot sits in your chest.   /   there’s a place you’ll never leave no matter who tries to stop you.   /   the seat of power fits like a glove.   /   heavy is the head that wears the crown.   /   you share a space, but not a mind.   /   they think you are weak; you are, maybe.   /   “what are you going to do with all of these pills?”   /   an empty bird’s nest.   /   broken pencil tips.   /   there’s an empty paper in front of you that you’ll never fill.   /   “we want you to succeed. i hope you can grasp that.”   /   “they weren’t there when it happened.” /   corruption.   /   there’s a red string tying you together.   /   the scent of whiskey on the horizon.   /   “you’re the best friend i’ve ever had.”   /   pink tipped fingers lock in secrecy.   /   99 red balloons drifting through a hazy sky.   /   you try to lift your head up, but it’s so much effort.    /   always walking on sunshine.   /   there’s a million reasons to come down from the clouds, but you can’t be bothered.   /   loon is the word of the day.   /   hair twisted up with glitter butterfly clips like a haphazard mobile.   /  you drift, but you know where you’re going.   /   no one has any dirt on you because you’re infinitely spotless.   /   the empty side of your bed they crawled into when they were nine.   /   court hearings.   /   “i miss you.”   /   siblings are a funny thing.   /   they point out every family-shaped hole in every picture on the mantelpiece.   /   ivy infiltrating an empty, corroded church.   /   proud marble busts faceless & crumbling: a proud mirror to your waning sanity.   /   you will do anything to keep them. tear apart the world, mass murder: all that matters is that you’re together.   /   a cemetery by the moon, unblessed.  /   even when you walked one would think you waltzed.   /   madmen know nothing, but you should have seen me.   /   my blood ran cold, ice cold.   /   power corrupts.

tagged by :  @hiddensteel !! thank you !! tagging :  @aftcrshocks // @jedibetrayer // @kybercore // @kybersung // @jedimessianic // @masterofcraft // @demandpeace // @sempermemoriia // if you’re reading this and want to do it say i tagged you bc i wanna read it

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DAUGHTER. ( this is your kingdom, this is your crown, this is your moment, don’t look down. ) WANDERING STAR. ( when the day is done and i lay me down, i sit alone in my lonely bed. ) QUEEN OF PEACE. ( out there always echoing. oh, what is it worth when all that's left is hurt ? ) BURN. ( be careful with that one, love, he will do what it takes to survive. ) LOVE IN THE DARK. ( i can’t love you in the dark, it feels like we’re oceans apart. ) MINESHAFT II. ( fifteen years from tonight, you’ll have to make a decision. ) BONES. ( and you love like you’ve always been lonely, you love him with all of your body. ) THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE. ( oh lord, i’m begging you please, don’t take that sinner from me. ) AFTER THE STORM. ( and there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears, and love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. )

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what went through padme's mind when she heard the chancellor announce that all jedi's were to be hunted down and defeated ? (i'm curious)

in a few words ? there’s shock, a bit of horror, and a lot of panic, but it’s ––– muted, by this point. to explain that, we gotta like…talk about the root of this problem / instance, which is the idea that the jedi have been plotting to overthrow the senate, something that she did not actually hear about from palpatine in my canon. 

so here’s the scene in question. anything in BOLDED PARENTHESES were cut from the theatrical running of the film but are, as usual, something i consider canon in my timeline.  

PALPATINE: … and the Jedi Rebellion has been foiled. 

BAIL ORGANA: What’s happening? 

PADME: The Chancellor has been elaborating on a plot by the Jedi, to overthrow the Senate. 

( BAIL ORGANA: That’s not true! )

( PADME: He’s been presenting evidence all afternoon. )

( BAIL ORGANA: And the Senate will go along with it, just like they always do. )

PALPATINE: The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated. [ there is applause ] ( Any collaborators will suffer the same fate. )

now, for one thing, this implies padmé was there at the start of the emergency congress, which…while i don’t necessarily LIKE this, because the way the timeline is presented this means anakin told padmé to sit there in her apartment and wait for him and she did ( no i’m not bitter about the character assassination she went through in that movie why would you think that ) , i do agree with the idea that she came straight to the senate building when summoned. most of padmé’s storyline in revenge was cut, but in those cut scenes, she was working tirelessly with the delegation of the 2,000 to attempt to find another diplomatic and peaceful solution to the war. the chancellor had taken control of the jedi and appointed governors to the star systems, systematically starting to render the senate useless and gain power for himself. padmé has been aware of this the whole time. she didn’t want to believe it of a man who was friends with her father and who was her advisor as queen, but the evidence has been staggering up to now, and she’s already accepted it and realized that SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG IN THE REPUBLIC. she’s also already realized that it’s too late to fix it.

she’s also become very aware that something is happening to her husband. she’s still not sure just WHAT is happening, but she knows something is wrong.

the real horror at this idea of the jedi being hunted down and the power displayed by the chancellor came earlier, when anakin stopped by on his way to mustafar.

PADME: Anakin, what are you going to do? 

ANAKIN looks down for a moment and then walks away from Padme. 

ANAKIN: I will not betray the Republic … my loyalties lie with the Chancellor and with the Senate … and with you. 

ANAKIN turns and walks back to Padme. 

PADME: What about Obi-Wan? 

ANAKIN: I don’t know … Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that he’s remained loyal to the Chancellor. 

PADME: How could this have happened? 

ANAKIN: The Republic is unstable, Padme. The Jedi aren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation. There are also traitors in the Senate. 

PADME stands and reacts ever so slightly. 

PADME: What are you saying? 

ANAKIN: You need to distance yourself from your friends in the Senate. The Chancellor said they will be dealt with when this conflict is over. 

PADME: What if they start an inquisition? I’ve opposed this war. What will you do if I become a suspect? 

ANAKIN: That won’t happen. I won’t let it. 

padmé’s already voiced concern that the republic has become corrupt, literally: “the very evil [we] have been fighting to destroy.” anakin has already remarked that she sounds like a separatist. padmé is horrified at the idea of the jedi being hunted down and destroyed, but….while she’s afraid for anakin, it’s a different sort of fear. 

padmé hears palpatine’s words, and she’s afraid for herself. she’s opposed the war since the beginning, she’s been well known as a friend of the jedi order. every last remaining jedi will be hunted down and defeated. any collaborators will suffer the same fate. she’s horrified that it’s come to this, that the chancellor who used to advise her when she was queen has become this twisted man. she’s terrified at what this means for her friends, for herself, for her children. and she is disgusted at the reaction of the senate around her at these words. the jedi have been fighting this war for the senate for YEARS, and the senate is full of bloodlust at the idea of their deaths. 

and she is just as horrified and disgusted at the reality that she contributed to this. 

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DETAILED APPEARANCE INFO

TAGGED BY: @aftcrshocks TAGGING: @jedibetrayer , @kybercore , @tachiisms , @withoutpeer , @cosmichymns , @cosmosbeing , @demandpeace , @masterofcraft , @coughbot / @crdered , @jaigvision​ , @rebelsacrifice​ , @rcbelborn​ , @acediaskin​ / @scarificed​ , @moonjeweled​ , and if you’re reading this, you’re tagged !!!

do not reblog, repost.

HEAD

FACE SHAPE: angular; mostly heart shaped, with a sharp jawline and a small but defined chin. CHEEKS: erring on the side of hollow. CHEEKBONES: high and pronounced, with a sharpness to them that increases with age. LIPS: well defined, with a slightly fuller than average lower lip. her cupid’s bow is subtle, and her lower lip does not taper much at the sides. SKIN COLOR: beige and naturally very lightly sun tanned, with golden undertones. SKIN TYPE: normal, smooth, unblemished aside from two moles; one on the middle of her right cheek, lined up with her iris and parallel to her nostril. the other is on her left cheekbone. EYE SHAPE: well proportioned; a bit close together, and tilted slightly upwards. EYE COLOR: warm brown, amber tinted in bright light. EYEBROW SHAPE: very straight, though they angle up a bit at the ends. incredibly expressive. EYEBROW COLOR: dark brown. EYELASHES: dark, long, and curling. NOSE SHAPE: small but well proportioned to her face; thin down the middle, very straight, with a slightly elongated tip. HAIR TEXTURE: naturally curly. hair styling is verse dependent –– modern verse sees her straightening it with frequency or curling it to tame it; all other verses see her frequently wearing it in elaborate styles.  HAIR COLOR: medium brown. HAIR LENGTH: verse dependent; in main verses, her hair reaches down to her knees when curling, and to her ankles when straightened. in modern verses, it waves down to her middle to lower back. EARS: average size, connected lobes, single piercing.

UPPER BODY

SHOULDERS: average, slightly narrower than hips. ARMS: smooth skin, very soft to the touch, toned muscles, but no visible definition. one singular scar, more information below. STOMACH AREA: toned, but still very soft to the touch with a good amount of give. she maintains one small, smooth blaster burn on her left hip, from the invasion of theed. her first ever scar received in the line of duty, she let it heal the old fashioned way as a reminder of what leaders are required to sacrifice for their people. LOVEHANDLES?: minimal. her hips flare out but her waist is just so small. CHEST/BREASTS: small, and sit high on her body. NIPPLES: small, pink with a tinge of beige. BACK: perfectly straight posture. pronounced shoulder blades. after the battle of geonosis, she has three irregular scars spanning from the middle of her right shoulder blade to just before her left hip, as well as one matching, smaller scar on the back of her upper right arm marking the start of the third scar; this one is significantly more faded. HAND SIZED: pianist hands; average sized hands with small palms and long, thin, elegant fingers.

LOWER BODY

HIPS: more curved than her bust, though this is mainly visible due to how small her waist is. BOTTOM: very rounded, and full in proportion to the shape of her hips. THIGHS: thin, with toned muscle definition. CALVES: very toned, smooth. LEG LENGTH: very long for her height, almost double the length of her torso.

OTHER

BODY HAIR: virtually nonexistent. shaves and waxes frequently. SCENT: her most common scent is that of fresh roses and the padma flowers for which she is named ––– padmé bathes frequently with the hip oil of both flowers and fresh petals crumbled into her bath, often with the addition of violets and/or lavender. she leaves the smell of flowers in her wake, but her perfume is not overbearing. HAND NAILS: short to medium length, always trimmed and filed, and almost always painted. her most frequent nail color, especially as queen, is an opalescent white, something that she wore almost exclusively as a child to fit in line with the traditions of her home town. as a senator, she incorporates other colors in her rotation, most often a pale, neutral pink tone, but she returns to white more often than anything else. TOENAILS: filed short, always painted to match her hands or in a neutral toned pink. VOICE: her accent can only be described as ‘faint naboo’; that is to say, like this. her accent was significantly stronger as a child ( to us, this would be a strong australian accent ) , but she worked consciously to attempt to rid herself of it as a princess of theed, and by the time of the blockade, it became very faint, as linked above. through adulthood, it is stronger when she’s under extreme stress and anger, but very difficult to detect otherwise. in modern verses, her family is originally from australia, and her accent sounds more like ma,llory ja.nsen. HEIGHT: 5’3” WEIGHT: 115 lbs. PIERCINGS: earlobes, single. TATTOOS: none. BRA SIZE: 34B. SHOE SIZE: US size 6. PREFERRED CHOICE OF SHOES: she tends to wear flats and heels with a similar sense of regularity; when working in the senate or during her time as queen, heels are more frequent, due to her need to seem larger than she is in an effort to be taken more seriously. however, when not in the senate, she prefers flats and a sense of comfort, though she does not sacrifice style to do so. at home, she is most often found barefoot. CLOTHING STYLE: best described as ostentatious. her sense of fashion is impeccable, and she favors fine fabrics and elaborate designs in her clothing. her color palette is very soft and jewel toned, with an emphasis on purples and blues. GENERAL BODYSHAPE: somewhere between a column and a pear. very thin, with soft curves.

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Bold What Applies to Your Muse!

tagged by: @rosecrime tagging: everyone reading this !!

Broken A Bone  |  Gotten Welds  |  Had A Near Death Experience ( padmé refers to this as ‘a thursday’ )  |  Killed Someone  |  Tried And Failed To Kill Someone  |  Invented Something  |  Been Hungover  |  Kissed Someone  |  Slow-Danced  |  Been In A Long-Term Relationship  |  Had Sex  |  Had Sex And Regretted It |  Had A One-Night Stand  |  Had A Threesome  |  Experimented With Their Sexuality  |  Had A Kid  |  Gotten Bonded  |  Self-Harmed  |  Traveled To Another Country Planet  |  Been In A Play  |  Received An Inheritance  |  Been In A Car Wreck  |  Lost A Loved One |  Been Dumped  |  Dumped Someone  |  Smoked  |  Gotten High  |  Been Slipped Something In Their Food/Drink   |  Won A Contest  |  Won An Election  |  Joined A Sports Team  |  Gone Skydiving  |  Gone Hunting  |  Been In A Band  |  Had A Job  |  Been Fired  |  Been To A Wedding Party  |  Owned A Pet  |  Seen A Ghost  |  Skipped Class/Work  |  Learned An Instrument  |  Gotten A Noticeable Scar  |  Sued Someone  |  Been Robbed  |  Been Mugged  |  Been Kidnapped  |  Been Sexually Assaulted  |  Been Brainwashed  |  Gone More Than One Day Without Eating  |  Had A Recurring Nightmare  |  Been Bullied  |  Bullied Someone   |  Seen Someone Die  |  Attempted Suicide  |  Been Tied/Chained Up  |  Shot Someone  |  Stabbed Someone  |  Saved Someone’s Life  |  Cheated On Someone |  Been Cheated On  |  Had A Stalker |  Been Betrayed  |  Was A Traitor  |  Been In A Fight  |  Been Arrested  |  Been To A Funeral  |  Had Surgery  |  Broken Someone’s Trust  |  Gotten A Piercing  |  Gotten A Tattoo  |  Used A Fake Name  |  Been Tortured/Tortured Others    |  Been Abused   |  Been Blackmailed  |  Had An Attempt On Their Life  |  Gotten Away With A Crime  |  Gone On A Road Trip  |  Been In Love

[eleutheriana-archive]

I just watched a video from Star Wars Theory about what might happen if Anakin killed Obi-wan on Mustafar, then Palpatine, and became the Emperor, but i didn't like the story they set up for Padme, so i figured there is no one better than you to ask: If Anakin became the Emperor, how would Padme react, and what would she do?

i just want you to know i saw this before i ate breakfast and got online and i’ve been highkey crying about it since then and i didn’t want to touch it until i had enough coffee. but like ??? i’m ???? ‘no better than you to ask’.

me: starts fucking bawling

I’M JUST !!! THANK YOU !!! SO MUCH !! FOR TRUSTING ME TO DO OUR GIRL SOME JUSTICE

but okay !! onto the question –––– if anakin had killed obi-wan and palpatine and crowned himself emperor, what would have padmé done ?

so let’s start at the beginning of the mustafar scene with this one, because i need to go into this in a meta somewhere and i think this is the perfect time to talk about it. i’ve mentioned this before here and there in passing but there was a scrapped part of rots where padmé gave birth before mustafar and then effectively went after darth vader with a knife, which is normally what i consider to be canon for my padmé verses where she doesn’t die in childbirth, and like….padmé pulling a knife on anakin on mustafar is pretty much canon for my padmé regardless. the reason for this ––––– i’ve talked a lot before about how padmé feels RESPONSIBLE for anakin in a lot of respects, and knowing that she, in a way, caused his fall into the dark side….she’s going to feel responsible for the monster he’s made himself into, and she’s going to feel like it’s her responsibility to kill him. this isn’t an act of hatred or anger. this is an act of love. padmé loves her husband, she loves anakin, and she knows that deep down the man she fell in love with would not want to see himself become this monster. padmé’s mentality here is a matter of ‘i made him into this, i have to unmake him. i owe him that.’ so like keep that mentality in mind while you read this. padmé feels like she made darth vader. it is her responsibility to unmake vader. 

so we open on mustafar, we’re going to say for the sake of argument here that padmé has not yet given birth. she runs down to try and talk anakin down, it doesn’t work, vader takes over, and while embracing him, she pulls out a vibrodagger and tries to end that motherfucker. also doesn’t work, because he’s a sith lord now and padmé, god bless her, is not force sensitive, and does not have jedi reflexes. vader chokes her to the point of unconsciousness with the mentality that he’ll come back for her and the child when he’s done with obi-wan ( and if that sentence doesn’t fill you with the blessed and holy spirit of perpetual yikes idk what will ) and then goes to duel obi-wan. in this universe, obi-wan dies at vader’s hand. 

WHILE THIS IS GOING ON: padmé has woken up from being unconscious, manages to stumble back onto the ship. somewhere in this process, her water breaks. this is important, because SHE WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT OBI-WAN ON MUSTAFAR OTHERWISE. it’s VITAL for padmé’s survival that she gets off mustafar before the duel ends, but she would not leave obi-wan there unless she goes into labor. obi-wan is one of her best friends, she trusts obi-wan with her life, and she would not leave him ––– unless her child is in more pressing danger. 

so she leaves mustafar and hates herself for it, is probably sobbing the entire time because not only is her husband dead, but she’s just left her friend to certain death, and her baby’s on the way and there’s literally nothing she can do to stop any of this, but it’s really important to note –––– SHE GETS IT DONE. 

she probably makes it to the rendezvous point on polis massa with like contractions less than two minutes apart and six centimeters dilated but the point here is that she makes it. she gives birth to luke and leia, which is a long and grueling process, and she’s highkey in shock and about to crush bail’s hand, but because vader isn’t dying and palpatine isn’t leeching off her life force, padmé doesn’t die in labor.

now, this is probably around the time they find out obi-wan didn’t make it. i’m assuming, for the sake of ease with this storyline, that anakin/vader goes straight back to palpatine, some exposition happens there that i’m less concerned about because this isn’t about that, it’s about padmé, and anakin/vader kills palpatine. now, vader’s named himself emperor, is probably ready to hunt down his child and his wife, dead or alive, and padmé is. not. about. this. fucking. business. the reason luke and leia had been separated was because it would be harder for the empire to find them, and i stand by that in a verse where palpatine survives and is ruling the galaxy with an iron fist, but in a world where it’s vader vs his wife ? nope. it’ll be a cold day in space hell before padmé lets anyone take her children away from her. 

FIRST ORDERS OF BUSINESS: get her family off naboo and find sanctuary for herself and her children. vader has enough of anakin left in him to know that the naberrie family is the first place to look for information, and padmé knows that, so she would get her family off planet first and foremost. while i’m attached to the idea of padmé hiding on alderaan, it’s not the smartest move, given that her friendship with bail and breha is public knowledge. now, knowing what padmé knows about anakin, she’s not going to take them to tatooine. while anakin would never want to set foot on that planet again, owen and beru are still there, and padmé doesn’t have the added security of sand straight up destroying vader’s suit in this verse. so with all that in mind, she’d find a remote planet, something that they do not have personal history on. somewhere like dantooine. she’d follow mon mothma and the rebellion, with luke strapped to her back and leia strapped to her chest, and work as a leader of the rebellion against the empire that her former husband is now the head of. 

the main difference here is that ANAKIN WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO FIND HIS CHILDREN AND HIS WIFE. and padmé would rather set herself on fire than see him ever come near their children. she’d probably move around more and hide significantly more. she’d use an alias, and her priority would always be her children. she’d be hell bent on taking vader down, because, again, this is her responsibility, but luke and leia’s safety would remain, always, her priority. ( if i’m being honest she’s probably the one on the ship that gets the death star plans and then confronts vader directly with the same vibrodagger she tried to kill him with nineteen years prior and it all comes full circle but anyway !!!!!! ) 

so yeah that’s how i feel like her life would go thank you for letting me ramble about this i love you.

[eleutheriana-archive]

What do you think Padme would be like if she'd never fallen in love with, or married, Anakin?

this is….such a difficult question to answer…..because then it ends up with like…..listen not to be dramatic or anything but the entire fabric of the galaxy as we know it hinges on padmé and anakin falling in love.

so answering this question gets really complicated really quickly because there’s so many different alternatives to reality when you remove anidala from the equation. we have to look at the root of it –––– why doesn’t she fall in love with anakin ? is anakin completely removed from HER story –––– does she never meet him on tatooine, or does she, but she never meets him again in coruscant / has him accompany her to naboo ? because when you think about it, naboo is the catalyst ( which makes perfect sense when you realize palpatine was the puppet maser behind all of the assassination attempts on padmé that led her to needing to be on naboo and then he’s also the puppet master in bringing the two of them together and man i could write a whole fucking meta on palpatine being the real reason that anakin and padmé fell in love and i just !!!! those fuckin space ophelia vibes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kill me !!!!!!!!!! ) for their love story. if anakin had not accompanied padmé to naboo to protect her, there would be no love story. and even then, i think the only reason it does work is because there’s….a lot….of subtle manipulation going on there. palpatine deliberately put them in a place where they’re isolated, it’s beautiful, and lbr anakin’s hormones are going crazy. padmé’s already in a weak place mentally because she was hoping that she’d be settled down with a family by now, so when you add all of those things together, you get this perfect storm that almost didn’t work, and wouldn’t have worked if they hadn’t been thrown into a death pit. 

the thing about anakin and padmé is that while there’s definitely alternatives that i’ll talk about in a second about what her life in canon would have looked like without this love story, it’s really important to remember like….there is a startling lack of agency when it comes to this romance, for both of them, but especially for padmé. she falls in love with anakin because of circumstances and manipulations and the fact that palpatine needed something to fuel anakin’s inner rage and sadness and turn it into a weapon. padmé had no choice in falling in love. it was always preordained and planned long before she went back to naboo with him. so even if this had not happened, the universe ( palpatine ) would have been fighting to get them together somewhere, because this love story is instrumental to the state of the galaxy. padmé’s thoughts and feelings do not matter. now, don’t get me wrong, padmé loves anakin. she does. but she never had a choice in the matter.

so we have to look at the different possibilities here of what padmé and her life would have looked like without anakin and that love story. the easiest way to answer this is if we take anakin out of padmé’s equation completely. they either do not meet on tatooine or that’s it for their lives –––– anakin and his mother become a sweet little boy and a sad story on a planet in the outer rim that linger in padmé’s head every now and again when she thinks about how important it is for the republic to get involved in situations they may not want to be involved in. padmé spends more and more time time working, isolating herself from her family, until one day she wakes up and she’s pushing thirty and she still doesn’t have the family she’s always wanted. she’s doing good work. she’s getting things done, she’s fortifying the republic and making the galaxy a better place. bail probably nominates her for chancellor when palpatine’s term is up ( because without the catalyst, the clone wars are stamped out before too long; the war was only ever meant to weaken the republic and buy time for anakin to be groomed and weakened enough by palpatine to succumb to the dark side. without the fear of losing padmé, he wouldn’t have fallen, and the war would have been won within a handful of years. ) and she probably wins the seat, because by this point in time, the rest of the senate is just as tired of the war as she is. she retires after her term is up and she goes back to naboo and she is the best aunt anyone has ever seen. 

her life is successful and fulfilling, but she is deeply and profoundly unhappy.

the other option is where padmé does what she initially set to do, which is shut down anakin’s advances and refuse to give into the feelings she has for him, even in the face of death. a lot of people talk about anakin being super pushy but canonically, in attack of the clones, he backed down when she told him to, and respected her personal space when she was vocally clear about her boundaries. when padmé was weak, he pushed; when she was clear and firm, he respected it. so if she was still clear about it before the arena on genosis, i don’t….think anakin would have pursued her again ? if he’d still fallen to the dark side, he might have, but that’s some sith AU shit i gotta talk to chloe about before i pass judgment on what anakin would or what would not have done. in this case, it’s a bit different, because while padmé is trying to end the war, anakin has already had a brush with the dark side, and the plot would follow canon a bit more closely, i think ? padmé wouldn’t be pregnant during revenge of the sith, so she’d be more actively involved in the delegation of the 2,000 and trying to overturn the chancellor, and when this doesn’t work and the empire rises, she’d have been one of the founders of the rebellion, working to overturn it. she would harbor intense guilt that someone she considered such a close friend, someone who she very nearly fell in love with, was the one who destroyed the republic as they all know it. 

she would take this fight very personally, and, realistically, without her kids, she would have been the one on the ship at the end of RO / beginning of ANH that went after obi-wan, rather than leia. and we all know how that story goes. 

[eleutheriana-archive]

wax poetic about padmé + ophelia metaphors / imagery

DID SOMEONE SAY OPHELIA IMAGERY ???

alright, so, let’s talk about padmé and ophelia, aka, let’s just listen to nicole scream incoherently for the next thirty years about ENTER OPHELIA, DISTRACTED. 

ophelia, for those of you who never had to read hamlet in high school, is the tragic heroine ( debatable; most scholars tend to think she doesn’t have enough agency to be the heroine and is therefore merely tragic ) of hamlet. she is the potential wife of hamlet, but is driven mad by a number of components ( hamlet’s rejection and then implied aggressive sexual advances, her father’s and her brother’s control of her life, etc. ) and after a time, drowns in a nearby river, either from falling from a tree, or jumping. 

padmé is, herself, a bit of an ophelia allegory, albeit not necessarily a straightforward one. there are no father / brother figures to force her into a relationship with a mad man or make her decisions for her, but in a lot of ways, padmé’s decisions are not always hers to make, especially not where anakin is concerned. every decision padmé makes is preordained to create luke and leia by virtue of the story that we are being told, and by the fact that it is, of course, already over.

this story happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. it is already over. nothing can be done to change it. it is a story of love and loss, brotherhood and betrayal, courage and sacrifice and the death of dreams. it is a story of the blurred line between our best and our worst. it is a story about the end of an age. a strange thing about stories –– though all this happened so long ago and so far away that words cannot describe the time or the distance, it is also happening right now. right here. it is happening as you read these words. this is how twenty-five millennia come to a close. corruption and treachery have crushed a thousand years of peace. this is not just the end of a republic; night is falling on civilization itself. this is the twilight of the jedi. the end starts now. 

                                                                    ––– beginning of the revenge of the sith novelization.

anakin descends into madness because he cannot save padmé. padmé dies because of his actions. the irony here is palpable, especially when combined with the reality that there was no way he could have saved padmé to begin with. she was doomed from the beginning; her story was always, always, already over. she was doomed the moment she met anakin, which is just, honestly, glaring neon lights that read HAMLET + OPHELIA over both of their heads. 

hamlet rejects ophelia by nature of her virtue being above everything else –––––– ‘ get thee to a nunnery ! why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners ? ( … ) i am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck than i have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. what should such fellows as i do, crawling between earth and heaven ? we are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. go thy ways to a nunnery. ’ –––––– now, granted, hamlet has a bit more self awareness than anakin does, but the language and the warning is the same. anakin skywalker is proud, revengeful, and ambitious. there is more darkness in him than can be contained or even can be executed before he dies. 

padmé, of course, falls in love with him anyway, because this is how the story goes. this is how the story always goes. 

he then becomes more aggressive in pursuing –––––– ‘ i could interpret between you and your love, if i could see the puppets dallying. ’ ‘ you are keen, my lord, you are keen. ’ ––––– which is more of the anakin we know, and the padmé that we know.  ––––– ‘ please don’t look at me like that. it makes me feel uncomfortable. ’ ‘ we shouldn’t have done that. ’ ‘ i can’t. we can’t. it’s just not possible. ’ ‘ i couldn’t do that. could you, anakin ? could you live like that ? ’  ––––– padmé rejects anakin time and time again, only to fall right into the very relationship she stated, explicitly, would destroy both of them. blatant and heavy handed foreshadowing ? probably. we all know how terrible lucas is with dialogue. but it also suggests a bit of perceptiveness that most people don’t give her credit for. padmé walked into her doom with her eyes open.

she didn’t fall from the tree. she jumped.

ophelia descends into madness –––––– padmé falls out of the frame, unable to adapt to the darkness surrounding her husband. she goes from a beautiful flower with iron thorns on the stem to a wilted rose in just a few years’ time, because for one thing, lucas is awful at writing female characters consistently, and for another thing, because she’s being suffocated by the war and the dark side of the force and the nature of a story that was already written down and decided long before she came along. ( you made flowers grow in my lungs, and although they are beautiful, i can’t fucking breathe. // when i was little i picked up a flower and put it in a vase. after a few days, it died. i asked my mom why and she said: ‘ you can’t force a flower to thrive somewhere it doesn’t belong to. ’ and now i have realized that people are like that too. )

she starts fading at the beginning of rots, and she dies by the movie’s conclusion, which leads us to the most blatant and on the nose ophelia metaphor and imagery –––––– PADMÉ’S FUNERAL. ( or as i like to call it, space ophelia makes nicole cry every time. ) 

when down her weedy trophies and herselffell in the weeping brook. her clothes spread wide, and, mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, as one incapable of her own distressor like a creature native and enduedunto that element. but long it could not betill that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious layto muddy death. ( 4.7.199-208 )

this is the description of ophelia’s death that we’re provided with in text. who does that sound like ? 

OH YEAH.

another interesting note is that ophelia’s death is the one death in the play that makes every other character sit up and take notice. they all kind of collectively come to the realization of, to paraphrase, holy shit, what have we done to this innocent girl ? which is fitting, given that padmé dies exactly two days after empire day, and it is her death, more even than the fall of the republic, that shocks bail, yoda, and obi-wan to their cores. padmé was beautiful, innocent, kind, and loving, until outside influences strangled her from the inside out, and her death is the catalyst for the next twenty years of death and destruction that fall on what used to be the republic.

ask me questions you have about my bae // always accepting // @aftcrshocks