fuckyeahpadmeamidala:

I’ll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can’t follow.

She died because she did not have the “will” to live. Some say it was because “Darth Vader” (Anakin Skywalker) Force choked her. But she would be unable to speak, which she did when Obi-Wan Kenobi left Darth Vader to burn and flew to Polis Massa.

So what happened? Why did the once very strong-Padme Amidala (Skywalker) die less than tragically, like she was a “woman thrown into the refrigerator”?

It has been our stance (SWAG 77) for 4 years for the reason why Force Users should not be in romantic relationships non-Force Users:

The Force Bond 

A Force Bond is made to another being so that through the Force they connected with that, always. Bonding is how we are social beings. Without bonding at birth to mothers, a baby will die – called “Failure To Thrive”.

Force Users need it to make sense of the Universe, since they see it differently. The tree, the brook, the rock – all act in concert to life in the Force. The Force ebbs and flows and we are luminous in it. Surrounds us and binds…us… Think how that feels as a child to come into the realization you feel things others around you cannot feel. How scared would you be?

That is why the Jedi take them as children to manage those feelings and teach them to put them in a productive us. But first the master bonds with his/her padawan so that moves in the Force correct and connected. Each master is different.

When Jedi die, all Jedi feel this in the Force and it is painful. It hurts. They can re-focus, but it takes time.

But being bonded to a non-Force User, no matter how strong of a personality one may have, the loss of a Force Bond can kill them.

When did Anakin Skywalker turn to the Dark Side of the Force? Was he born of it? When he killed the Sandpeople? When he killed Count Dooku? When he realized Palpatine was the Sith Lord they were looking for? Or when he pledged himself to the Dark Side of the Force and became Darth Vader? 

We think his path started in “The Phantom Menace” when he felt cold at the Jedi Temple. He may have been a product of Darth Plagueis’ experiments. He was the Chosen One, but he rejected the Father at Mortis. Because of Anakin’s losses, he Force Bonded to whomever felt like “love” to him. 

Padme gave him love after he lost his mother. She saw good in him, intimately. He felt stronger in the Force when he was around her – which could have been an inadvertent Force Drain. When she had to portray herself as unmarried to dine with other men (i.e. Rush Clovis), Anakin became very jealous and angry. 

This is called the “Duluth Cycle of Domestic Violence” – toward the “end” of their relationship, before Padme became pregnant, Anakin was nearly destructive, only Palpatine could slow him down really. In fact pregnancy is often used against women to oppress them.  Just that, Jedi Sex Education leaves much to be desired – they kind of learn sex “on the streets”.

Here is a proposed timelien of events when Padme learned Anakin turned to the Dark Side:

1) How did she know what Force Sides were and if she did, would she be able to tell? Of course that’s a plot device written in the prequels

2) She had never cried so much in the other movies, it seemed as if a depression was taking over her. The more Anakin moved toward the Dark Side, the more the Force Bond was being ripped from her, and the symptoms look like depression and incessant crying. The only thing that may have kept her alive were those babies (Luke and Leia)

3) When the babies were ready to be born – called parturition – just like an umbilical cord had to be cut, so was the Force Bond gone.  Padme’s will to live had been given all to the babies, and without Anakin (now Darth Vader), what would be the point?

What if Padme was stronger and decided to be evil with Darth Vader? It’s well known Padme did not like or trust Palpatine. House Naberrie never really trusted House Palpatine. There was some shadiness at House Palpatine – once a happy family together, then the son (Palpatine) experiencing the loss of his family in a poorly described starship accident. House Naberrie never really trusted that. Padme was too honest and good-natured to fall into the throes of evil, underhanded dealings. She also knew that Anakin could not do that, but his rage was uncontrollable. She never fought back with Anakin, except three times – when she asked him to ask Obi-Wan for help, to be honest with her; and to run away. And Anakin took over her mind and changed it to his wants and desires.

Anger, jealousy, and rage = selfishness

Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side made it easier for him to “rationalize” his selfish choices for his own needs.

Padme did sacrifice herself because she knew selfishness does not rear healthy children. She could not live her life knowing Anakin as evil and dark. In a way, she made a strong choice by not clinging to the dissolving Force Bond with Anakin. She just let go and lost her will. No greater strength did she have than to let go and let Anakin be.

Tragic that Padme died. Weak on the surface. But once you look deeper into it, the psychological torture this poor woman suffered at the hands of the Sith, would not be worth living.

That’s our take.