What if Padme had lived?

[Gerevick]

To the present day, I believe the Star Wars universe could have been enhanced if Padme had remained a part of it. The continued conflict between her and Anakin would have added more possibilities to the overall story. As a way for Darth Vader to properly assert his dominance, Padme would have served him well. I extend an open invitation to hypothesize what could have happened had Padme lived. For better or worse, there are many things that could have, I think.

[Sabretooth]

If she had lived, I hope the first thing she'd do is find a doctor with you know, real credentials, who doesn't explain things away as "she has lost her will to live".

[cafiwam]

I don't think having Padme in the Original Trilogy would have really "enhanced" things, especially in the first two films. In "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" we aren't supposed to sympathize with Vader, and are meant to see him as more of an inhuman and unfeeling monster. Having Padme in those films would ruin part of the menacing feeling we got from Vader when those movies first came out and he might not have been as effective as a villain as he was.

 

Hypothetically if she was in the original trilogy, there would have been no reason to give up Luke and Leia and they would have been raised by Vader and the Emperor. The entire story would have to have redone, with perhaps Luke rebelling against his father and turning away from the life of a sith.

[Gerevick]

 

Hypothetically if she was in the original trilogy, there would have been no reason to give up Luke and Leia and they would have been raised by Vader and the Emperor. The entire story would have to have redone, with perhaps Luke rebelling against his father and turning away from the life of a sith.

 

Indeed. Such a reality would have been more inspiring than the one created by Padme´s death. Had she lived, the spirit of rebellion against the Galactic Empire would have been stronger and the fate of the galaxy a more natural one. We would have seen Padme´s partisan soul versus Vader´s imperial one and regardless of who would have won, we would have seen a purer, more flawless story unfold.

[Totenkopf]

Padme had to die so we could get this bit....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1d3QWsyk0&feature=related

[Pho3nix]

I don't know, she probably would have joined the Rebellion

[Gerevick]

I don't know, she probably would have joined the Rebellion

 

What would Vader have done to fight Padme if she did this? Would he he have opposed her directly, or would he have tried to capture Dared Janren and her sister Sola and threaten their lives if Padme didn´t submit to him, as he did to the Apprentice using Juno Eclipse in TFU II?

[Pho3nix]

What would Vader have done to fight Padme if she did this? Would he he have opposed her directly, or would he have tried to capture Dared Janren and her sister Sola and threaten their lives if Padme didn´t submit to him, as he did to the Apprentice using Juno Eclipse in TFU II?

Hard to say, but he'd probably do a combination of those. He might even blow up Naboo just for kicks.

[Gerevick]

Hard to say, but he'd probably do a combination of those. He might even blow up Naboo just for kicks.

 

He would resort to such an extreme action? If Vader were to, how would he justify it to Padme?

[Klw]

Vader would be unrecognizable if Padme had lived. He turned to the Dark Side for her sake; his passion for her supplied him with the anger and the determination to reject the Jedi and challenge death. It was her death that turned him into a docile, cynical apprentice who, as far as we know, gave up his dreams and aspirations. It destroyed his spirit far more than the loss of his limbs.

 

If Padme had lived, Vader would almost certainly have challenged the Emperor's rule early on. He would have continued to be obsessed with her to the exclusion of obeying Palpatine. Given time, this obsession could have turned him back to the Light Side. Love can work both ways, as seen at the end of the Return of the Jedi.

 

Despite this, if Vader had not lost his duel to Obi-Wan in such spectacular fashion, Palpatine probably would have wanted to keep Padme alive to act as a carrot for Vader, baiting him to keep exploring the dark side of the force out of his perverted love for her. But since Vader was a broken man, the Emperor was most likely happy to use her death to snuff out his apprentice's spirit and ensure that he would never try to overthrow his master. Little did he know that Padme's son would soon come and restore Vader's lost passion, giving him a reason to be more than just an apprentice.

 

I think that Padme's presence would not so much enhance the Original Trilogy as preclude it. The role of Luke Skywalker would become less compelling; even unneeded.

[noizer]

Vader would be unrecognizable if Padme had lived. He turned to the Dark Side for her sake; his passion for her supplied him with the anger and the determination to reject the Jedi and challenge death. It was her death that turned him into a docile, cynical apprentice who, as far as we know, gave up his dreams and aspirations. It destroyed his spirit far more than the loss of his limbs.

 

If Padme had lived, Vader would almost certainly have challenged the Emperor's rule early on. He would have continued to be obsessed with her to the exclusion of obeying Palpatine. Given time, this obsession could have turned him back to the Light Side. Love can work both ways, as seen at the end of the Return of the Jedi.

 

Despite this, if Vader had not lost his duel to Obi-Wan in such spectacular fashion, Palpatine probably would have wanted to keep Padme alive to act as a carrot for Vader, baiting him to keep exploring the dark side of the force out of his perverted love for her. But since Vader was a broken man, the Emperor was most likely happy to use her death to snuff out his apprentice's spirit and ensure that he would never try to overthrow his master. Little did he know that Padme's son would soon come and restore Vader's lost passion, giving him a reason to be more than just an apprentice.

 

I think that Padme's presence would not so much enhance the Original Trilogy as preclude it. The role of Luke Skywalker would become less compelling; even unneeded.

 

verry interesting theory

[Gerevick]

Vader would be unrecognizable if Padme had lived. He turned to the Dark Side for her sake; his passion for her supplied him with the anger and the determination to reject the Jedi and challenge death. It was her death that turned him into a docile, cynical apprentice who, as far as we know, gave up his dreams and aspirations. It destroyed his spirit far more than the loss of his limbs.

 

If Padme had lived, Vader would almost certainly have challenged the Emperor's rule early on. He would have continued to be obsessed with her to the exclusion of obeying Palpatine. Given time, this obsession could have turned him back to the Light Side. Love can work both ways, as seen at the end of the Return of the Jedi.

 

Despite this, if Vader had not lost his duel to Obi-Wan in such spectacular fashion, Palpatine probably would have wanted to keep Padme alive to act as a carrot for Vader, baiting him to keep exploring the dark side of the force out of his perverted love for her. But since Vader was a broken man, the Emperor was most likely happy to use her death to snuff out his apprentice's spirit and ensure that he would never try to overthrow his master. Little did he know that Padme's son would soon come and restore Vader's lost passion, giving him a reason to be more than just an apprentice.

 

I think that Padme's presence would not so much enhance the Original Trilogy as preclude it. The role of Luke Skywalker would become less compelling; even unneeded.

 

Agreed. I will make use of this for my host´s own narrative. Already I have made many attempts to influence his creative development, but this offers me a fresh perspective to work with. At present, a universe in which Padme had lived and created an alternate timeline is in the works.

[madgirl7734]

if Padme had lived, Aniken/Darth Vader would have been terribly abusive and she might have become suicidal. it would have left plot room for Luke and Leia to find out who their mother is and try to help her. On the other hand, she was about 10 or 20 years older than him and i kind of find that disturbing.

[starwarzchick112]

If Padme had lived, Vader would probably turn back to the light.

[evilhazardz]

On the other hand, she was about 10 or 20 years older than him and i kind of find that disturbing.

 

She was only 5 years older than Anakin.

 

Anyway, I think Padme being in the originals would have ruined it so much that they would no longer be good movies.

The reason why the OT is so good is because they establish a plot, they have a guy who is just an everyday man who at first lives a normal life but gets dragged in to these circumstances, eventually Darth Vader becomes a villain who has an actual reason to be a antagonist (blew up Alderaan, tries to blow up Yavin, killed Obi-Wan) and we get the events of the galaxy explained to us through Luke because he's also new to all of this stuff, so we relate to why Luke needs to kill him, because even though he's scared he has no other choice.

The shock that Vader is Luke's father is suprising because we portray Vader as the villain and we're not sympathetic towards him, but with Padme still alive, Vader would have no reason to stay on the Dark side, Luke wouldn't be the average joe, Han would probably never be included and the tension would be gone from all of the movies.

How Vader was redeemed is much more entertaining and important than how he became Vader, because we've been with Luke through the whole journey and we want him to succeed and we want him to defeat the sith.

[HED]

Padme living would have changed the OT so drastically that it would have been unrecognizable, and I would never want that. Fans, myself included, get upset at minor changes to the original trilogy. I can't imagine that there would be any support for the idea.

 

At best, it could be a fun "what if?" scenario, like the three Infinities comics were. But an improvement to the greater Star Wars universe? Absolutely not.

[Kurgan]

In the earlier story treatment (circa 1983) she lived on Alderaan and died when Leia was a little girl. Obi-Wan and Anakin were both older in that timeline and many other differences.

 

The idea that Anakin turned evil because of Padme never sat well with me. Plus, once she's gone, what's the reason to stay with Palpatine? Just because he killed all his friends (or tried to) and felt that was nothing left? If that's the case, then you kill Palpatine and end up the last "Dark Lord of the Sith" and rule the galaxy. At least you can retire in style instead of spending your life running errands for some "master."

 

In any case, having her survive is no crazier than a dozen other possible plot points or things that actually happened. So it could have worked. Padme's role was much more symbolic in Episode III anyway (note the decrease in active screen time from the previous two films). It's maybe a little more important than if Mace Windu or Darth Maul had lived (or Boba Fett) but still.

 

From the point of view of the "six film saga" now as it stands, there are plenty of Prequel characters that should be alive during the time of the OT movies that never appear onscreen or run into the main characters, so it's not like the universe would implode if they just never met. That reminds me of the days when everyone thought every new character introduced in the Prequels had to be killed off by the time of A New Hope, because somehow they would have had to be onscreen or dead (not just offscreen because there was no reason for them to be there during those events, etc.)

 

My take on it is this, Anakin was turning the Dark Side already when Padme was alive, so her dying or not dying really has little to do with it (unless you try to force it to be that way in the story). If anything it was his mother dying that started him on the path to the Dark Side. But no, you could argue he already had a dark future, he already had a rough beginning and Palpatine was already trying to meddle in his life even before she was ever in danger. If he had a loving mother with him would he have turned? Maybe without a father figure, he still would have turned. Then again in real life there are plenty of evil people who had two loving parents who tried to raise them right. Ultimately it's nobody's fault but Anakin's that he turned bad. If he was never bad, how could he be redeemed? Is he just a good guy who just got tricked by some bad people? That weakens that whole thing quite a bit.

 

Oh well. It is what it is now. Lucas made it up as he went along and what we got in 2005 was not what he planned in '76 or '79, or '82 or even '92.

[GrandMasterMarek]

If Padme had have lived Darth Vader's apprenticeship would have ended before it started she would have died protecting them anyway, the emperor would have knew sooner of Luke & Leia existence & would made off most importance to capture them I remember I once read that Padme's ghost visited Vader to turn from the darkside but he refused Padme would have urged Luke not to kill his father leaving probably to Leia to do it once she knew of her jedi powers off course Padme would have been a good rebel but I guess we will never know.

[Gurges-Ahter]

I think Palpatine would have killed Padme if she did survive, and still blamed Anakin/Vader for it. It was necessary for Vader to fully accept his new role - he now had nothing left to cling on to from his old life, and nowhere else to go. I also think the rage fueled his descent to the dark side.

 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Padme was in the Original Trilogy, so her fate had to be decided by the end of the prequels.

[GrandMasterMarek]

Yes your right her fate to die in child birth was her last act in the prequels there was nothing left for her now that Vader had be consumed by the darkside it was his fault all this happened the love that kindled the destruction of a thousand years of peace was his doing she could not prevented him for going down that path I was surpised Obi Won did not turn away from the jedi when he lost Satine but he had the strong will to something Anakin had not.

[Alexrd]

I was surpised Obi Won did not turn away from the jedi when he lost Satine

 

Why? He's a Jedi, trained from birth to let go and not let his emotions affect his judgement.

[GrandMasterMarek]

Why? He's a Jedi, trained from birth to let go and not let his emotions affect his judgement.

Im sure you seen the clone wars series when Satine declared her love Obi Won stated he would have left the jedi for her but her death at Maul's hands made him realise he was emotionally compromised

[Wild Horse Fantasy]

It's hard to say, but I don't think he'd have choked her in the first place if Obi-Wan hadn't been in her ship. He was emotionally unstable and definitely fallen into the dark side, but he was still actually listening, not physically hurting her at the time.

His reaction when he found she was dead was very telling. He turned (he thought) to save her and lost her anyway, probably because of his actions. That just sent him deeper into the dark.

 

Padme may well have left him and sent her kids into hiding to parts unknown with Obi-Wan and gone back to try and break through to him. (Of course she wouldn't risk the kids.) And only if that didn't work would she have tried to escape to the Rebellion.

 

But even on her death bed she believed in him. And that certainly would have affected things somehow if she'd lived.

[Alexrd]

Obi Won stated he would have left the jedi for her

 

No, he didn't.

[GrandMasterMarek]

No, he didn't.

Did you see the episode in the clone wars series?