So, who killed padme?

[Skorixor]

was it really anakin being focused and pissed off?

or was it palp using the last straw to make vaders transformation complete?


I'm leaning towards option 2

[Dwilah]

I think she just kinda plblblllbed out. She gave up. The Force choke maybe for me was the closest thing to a physical reason for maybe having issues with living, but the droid said there wasn't any problem. No physical problems...she just gave up.

I think the Emporer just told Vader that to like, piss him off...complete the journey to the Dark Side. Didn't you see that asshat little smile on his face when Vader was like crushing everything?

[Sai'nu]

It was overwhelming for her to even think about going on. Democracy died at the hands of a power hungry dictator. Her confussion built up because she didn't know wither to believe Anakin or Obi-wan for a bit. Then the horror of what Anakin did; what he wanted her to do, and his attack upon her, really did destroy her hope. This new galaxy couldn't possibly be a good place for their children. She'd lost her Love in Life.

Palpatine just used her death as icing on the cake. And I think it 'was' assumed that her and her children had died.

However, if you remember, she was trying to tell Obi-wan that there was still good in Anakin before she died. And they seemed to be communicating (perhaps because of the sensitivity to the force of the twins throughout the movie). She may have given up the last bit of her life so Anakin Skywalker could live.

[Skorixor]

I just can't believe she just gave up and died and ppblblblbd out (lol dwi)

it just seems so lame to me, and padme was a lot stronger than that...

[Rinna]

Skorixor wrote:

it just seems so lame to me, and padme was a lot stronger than that...

I agree with Skorixor on this one - I can't believe that the same woman who fought side-by-side with her security forces would have ust "plblblllbed out" like such a wuss. And as a mother myself, I REALLY can't believe that she'd just leave her newborn children - Lost Love or not. It's not consistent with the way her character was developed.

I also agree that Anakin/Vader didn't kill her, but rather was told that by Palpatine to cement his turning to the Dark Side - a convenient lie, told by a master.

Rinna

[Hashum]

Skorixor wrote:

it just seems so lame to me, and padme was a lot stronger than that...

I agree with Skorixor on this one - I can't believe that the same woman who fought side-by-side with her security forces would have ust "plblblllbed out" like such a wuss. And as a mother myself, I REALLY can't believe that she'd just leave her newborn children - Lost Love or not. It's not consistent with the way her character was developed.

I also agree that Anakin/Vader didn't kill her, but rather was told that by Palpatine to cement his turning to the Dark Side - a convenient lie, told by a master.

Rinna

My take is this. The Force choke really did some damage, maybe not even to leave physical evidence but the loss of air and the emotional trauma followed by the physical trauma of labor and delivering twins probably took the life out of her. She didn't give up, she just gave everything she had and then her body gave out on her.

[Seret Sajet]

I'd like to believe all the theories of anakin or palpatine's invovlement but sadly I cannot shake the notion of what I believe Lucas meant. I believe he wanted Padme to die in some hokey Shakespearian way of simply dying of a broken heart. This is what I believe Lucas wanted and I can honestly say I hate that he went that way. This film, in my opinion, did not need to have some greek tragedy ending for padme.

Simply saying the trauma from having her oxygen cut off by her own husband was enough to cause complications that resulting in her death at birth would have been enough for me. It might comfort us a bit to think the dark side powers of Anakin or the Emperor had something to do with it but at the end of the day it will still be a bad move in my mind.

[Hashum]

Ok, now having seen the movie here's my take on this.

While giving birth to the twins and they both being strong in the Force she had a sort of "experience" or connection at that time with Anakin possibly a vision either way there was some connection there. Either

A) Anakin in his state and fall to the dark side killed Padame VIA his dream. Basically subconsiously while being transformed he fulfilled his dream.

B) Palpantine knew that Padame needed to die and so killed her himself while Vader was under using the Force, again there was come kind of bond or connection between Padame and someone in that room. He needed after all to make sure her children weren't born. Hense why the stage her to look preg. at the ceremony.

[Krusshyk]

I think I would just chalk it up to "Lucasian inconsitency"...the Star Wars saga suffers from a bout of it every now and again.

If the Emperor could just off people by willing them to do so, don't ya think he would have done it a shit ton more than just once? As strong of a character as Lucas paints Padme to be, she just gives up when she finds out that ol' ani has gone off his rocker and dies from a "broken heart" like Seret said.

[X'an Shin]

I vie for option C:

YOUR MOM.

[Jabe Adaks]

I vie for option C:

YOUR MOM.

I second your mom... Er his mom.. My mom?

Jabe

[acantho]

Well I have to think it was probably Padme just giving up type thing.

You have to remember that she didn't show a lot of care for her babies in the film. It was an unplanned pregnancy, she put them in danger, and she was more interested in her Annie.

I think all that strain was just too much for her.

Then again maybe it was the fact that she was giving birth to twin force sensitive babies... had this ever been done by a human before?
Maybe it drained too much from her.
*shrug*

I'm still not sure I'm cool with her dying like that though

[Kyanus]

Okay... *cracks knuckles* Here's someone with a specialty in literature taking a crack at this.

Regardless of the physical/mental/emotional/etc. aspect(s) of why Padme died, there remains one important factor: she had to die.

Call her a martyr or whatever, but for the story to make any sense in the wide spectrum of things, Padme had to die. In order for the story of Luke and Leia to make any sense, she had to die. In order for Anakin to fully become Vader (and his subsequent repentence), Padme had to actually die--not just be told by Palpatine that she was dead, but really die. I think that Seret hit the nail on the head, although I wouldn't call anything Shakesperean "hokey." Everything in a story has to happen for a reason; that reason being so the story can continue.

Granted, Lucas gave us a mediocre reason of why she died, but at least we got to see her death, feel her pain, and come to a better understanding of why things come to be the way they are in the OT. So as opposed to leaving Padme's death to the mist of confusion that spans between Episodes III & IV, he decided to include it in III in an attempt to drive it home.

[Ekade]

Lucasian Inconsistancy.. gosh I love that term... heretofore known as "LI"..


LI is the only reason I can think of for Padme's death.

Padme is a strong character. Look at how she is portrayed in Episode I. She stands up for her people and comes across as someone who gets it. She is very bold and confident. You would not use the term "mentally weak" to describe her.

She would risk her life for her people, she feels it her duty to do so!


Fast Forward to the end of Episode III...

Obi-wan shows her children to her.. droid says she lost her will to live.

<slams on the brakes>
WHAT!!?!

Where in the force did her confidence and sense of duty go? What about her MOTHERLY INSTINCT?

All these traits seemed to evaporate a bit too quickly and without explanation for my tastes. Sure she was upset.. but I saw her as a little stronger than that. Giving up on life? Come on.. if that is the case, at least set it up a little better so it might be believable.