Pah

Padme/Amidala

Qui-Gon is (ANH) Luke in that he is a rebel by his day’s standards and he drives the story he is in, but he is not the exceptional person Luke was (will be). There are three exceptional people in new trilogy: Palpatine, Anakin, and Amidala. (Shmi and Jar Jar don’t need to be exceptional to other people.)

Padme is 14 years old in TPM, elected leader of the people of Naboo - the human people, that is. She’s never seen even one of the Gungans, who have a significant presence on their shared world. She has a keen mind and has been trained in combat. She’s all dressed up with no place to go.

Palpatine assesses her as meek, unable to move beyond her limitations, but he soon finds himself as her student. When Palpatine expects her to remain confined to Naboo, she escapes. When he expects her to remain quiet, she speaks out and initiates the greatest (and, for Palpatine, most fortuitous) break from his plan. When he expects her to stop, she keeps going, defeating him. What her limitations are, exactly, remains a private affair.

Within a week she goes from meeting her first Gungan to raising their army against the Trade Federation. If never confronted she might have fulfilled Palpatine’s expectations. Given an adventure, she is adventurous, an adventuress. And then, she returns to politicking.

Amidala is 24 years old in AOTC. She is instantly attracted to Anakin. She senses in him the potential that Palpatine nurtures and the Jedi fear. She senses adventure, but one she has been ill-prepared for. Unlike their first meeting, she is now unable to retreat into her role and clothing, unable to unite who she represents and who she loves.

Confronted by the horror of Anakin’s Sand People atrocity, she offers as unsuitable comfort as anyone in her time. But she hasn’t been confronted, she’s chosen to be with him. She’s said: attachment matters; emotion matters.