All general opinions, questions and such about the 3rd film in the saga!

I went to see this at the cinema...only Star Wars film I have seen on the big screen...and I'm ashamed to say I cried over Padme's death!

:(

Poor Padme! She didn't deserve to die! And why did Lucas kill her off anyway? Just because she's not in the original trilogy?
Well what if she'd survived and gone into hiding like Obi-Wan? She's not a Jedi, so she wouldn't have been hunted, and Anakin would have believed she was dead, so she'd be in no danger from him either.

I sometimes wonder if Lucas just did things for the sake of it. Did he think 'Oh, Padme's not in the originals...I'll just kill her off. No-one will mind.' ? Because if he did...he was WRONG! :angry:

Padme and Obi-Wan were the best characters ever! (Oh, and Darth Vader before he became more machine then man) Don't kill them off, just because you've got no further use for them!

Padmé's death was just to add to the tragedy of Anakin's betrayal. Lucas always knew that she died, it was in the original draft of A New Hope that she had died. I knew it was going to be a bit strange to show it already in ROTS, but the reason is obvious. Indeed you don't see her in the original trilogy, so yeah she must have died before. Inserting Padmé would only conflict the story, cause the point is that Luke and Leia both grew up without knowing much of their parents, if not nothing at all. Luke was misinformed and Leia only had some images and feelings as she said in Return of the Jedi. It was also in the early script of "A New Hope" and in some of the rougher drafts that Padmé died and even in an early draft of "A New Hope" Padmé was set to be burried at the homestead but this detail was left out of the film and was then changed. So even 1975 - 1976, Padmé's fate had been decided then.

Ah I see...I didn't know this before! Now it makes more sense!

Yeah she was always meant to die, adds to the tragedy of the story. It's the same with all Hero's Jounrey's in fairytales and legends, the hero either lost his parents or family in general etc

Ah true...but wouldn't it have been even more tragic, in a way, if she'd survived and gone into hiding, watched her son grow up, and then died at the hands of Vader just after they meet - like Ben did. Then Luke would have seen his father murder his mother...surely you can't get more tragic than that?

Personally I don't think Vader would have tried to kill Padmé in any way if she survived the events of Mustafar. You can see in 'Revenge' that he already regrets his actions when the Emperor lies that he killed her in his anger. True, Vader is responsible but it was not only his 'Force Grip' that killed her. The reason in episode III is clear...a Broken Heart, which adds up to the tragedy, that she didn't die because of physical reasons, but because of love. Vader killing her with a lightsaber if she survived afterwards wouldn't be as tragic in my opinion.

Plus I think if Luke had seen Vader kill Padme it might have taken away from the whole thing that Luke still thinks there is good in him. Also something like Vader killing Padme might have been overkill to the tragedy plot of Episode 4. And if she was alive people in the 70s wouldn't have had the same emotional attachment if she would have died in the movie she was introduced in. Also that would have been a bit awkward having Padme with both of her kids on the Death Star. There just seem to be a thousand likely suggestions for her death in Episode 3 being better timing.

Yeah, I guess...I can see what you're all saying...but I personally still don't think she should have died...and if like you say, she had to...then I can think of a few better and even more tragic deaths for her.

For example, I know everyone knew she was going to die - that much was obvious - but her death was predictable. What if she'd had an unpredicted death earlier in the film. Not only would this have shocked everyone, but it could then also have been the reason for Anakin's turn to the Dark Side.

After all, his turn wasn't really well reasoned. By this I mean that apart from saving his wife, Anakin had no reason to turn, and (I may have missed it) but I saw no real reason for Anakin to turn on Obi-Wan, the man he's seen as a father for thirteen years.

Ok, he may have wanted power, but he was already becoming one of the most powerful Jedi of the time...why would something so dangerous to him be a better option than the life he aleady had.

As I said before, I may have missed things in the movies...its been so long since I've seen any of them, but these are just my opinions.

Since Anakin turned to the Dark Side to save Padmé, the perfect way for Palpatine to make sure he doesn't become a Light Side Jedi again would be by telling him his wife died by his own hand. Because of this, Anakin considered himself beyond redemption, only then truly becoming Darth Vader.

If Padmé had still been alive, Vader would realise that both Palpatine would have lied to him as well as the one he was originally gaining power for to save... would still be alive. There'd be a very high chance that those two things would have led to his redemption, turning him on Palpatine.

Much as i regret to see a loved character die, in her case it was definitely a necessary one to ensure Darth Vader remained Darth Vader throughout parts 4 to 6, until Luke comes along.

I think that Anakin was kinda set from the beginning. Because of those nightmares of him seeing Padme die, he had to turn to Palpatine for help. What he DIDN'T realize that he was oblivious to the fact that he was hurting Padme to the point of dying from a broken heart. Palpatine then gave him false hope of saving her by giving him the choice of turning to the Dark Side, so he could use the Force to prevent her from dying, and after he was reconstructed to Darth Vader, he eventually learns that Padme died anyway. So all in all, Palpatine played Anakin for a fool almost throughout the movie... or so I think... >.>