Padme Amidala Naberrie is a pivotal character in the Star Wars franchise. Portrayed by Natalie Portman in the prequel trilogy, the character was first mentioned in The Phantom Menace as the Queen of Naboo, and she goes on to become a senator in the Galactic Senate. She was secretly married to Anakin Skywalker, as the Jedi Order (of whom Anakin was a member) are forbidden from marriage, and is the mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.
A significant moment in the portrayal of Padme was when she died in Episode 3 of Revenge of the Sith. The fear of losing Padme also played a part in driving Anakin to the dark side of the Force, after which he eventually becomes Darth Vader. Although there is an obvious reason that mentioned what causes Padme’s death, multiple reasons have been cited on what additional causes could have led to the unfortunate incident.
So how did Padme really die?
Various Causes Of Padme’s Death
Death By A Broken Heart
Canonically, Padme’s death is said to have been caused by a broken heart, and that she lost her will to live. Before she was about to give birth, Anakin Force choked her, as he thought she sided with Obi-Wan to kill him. Although he lets go of her after a few seconds, it would go on to worsen her condition. Anakin’s actions shocked her to the very core and caused her to have her heart broken, and she may have been subject to depression. As she was in a weakened state, and with the depression adding to it, Padme may have very well died due to a broken heart.
Now this would mean that Padme’s death came about due to emotional reasons. But as we know, she was never a person with a weak mind. She was a strong willed woman, and was an influential queen and senator, and her smart tactics is what helped her get out of the Geonosis arena alive.
Another factor to consider is that she had just given birth to Luke and Leia. Knowing how strong minded she was, she wouldn’t have wanted to leave Luke and Leia alone, and would have fought for her life, let alone die due to losing her will to live because of Anakin’s actions. Moreover, Padme’s final words were that she still believed that there was some good in Anakin.
Although she didn’t know whether Anakin was still alive or not, her belief in her hope for Anakin would have served as her fighting spirit to live on and to try to bring back Anakin to the light side. If at all Padme knew that Anakin was dead, she would have fought to live so as to raise her children.
Therefore, although canonically it serves as the cause for her death, a broken heart would in no way become the sole reason for her untimely death.
Anakin’s Force Choke
Padme’s main bodyguard, Captain Typho, had an intense love for her that sustained even after her death. Following her unfortunate death, he would go on to find out what truly killed her. Using his privileges, he gets access to restricted autopsies and reports, which all agree on the one fact that Padme died due to some form of strangulation, which caused extensive damage to her trachea, larynx and also caused a fractured hyoid bone.
But a bewildering discovery was that there was no sign of external damage to her throat, so as to indicate that someone strangled her. There were no bruises or hand marks present to indicate external trauma.
Typho then eventually comes to the glaring conclusion that Anakin is the most likely culprit to have killed Padme by using the Force Choke. With this discovery at hand, Typho would venture out to get revenge for Padme and face Anakin, now Darth Vader, only to die at the hands of Vader.
Palpatine Killed Padme
A well debated theory is that Palpatine is who caused the death of Padme. It is said that while giving strength to Anakin, who becomes Darth Vader, Palpatine/Sidious drew on Padme’s life force. An exciting piece of evidence that strengthens this theory is that Padme’s and Vader’s breathing are in sync, where as Vader takes his first breath, Padme struggles with her last.
As Padme is taken to the medical ward of Polis Massa, she is cared for by medical droids. One thing we have to take into consideration is that droids do not understand the Force. They cannot feel or interact with the Force. The exact words of the droid was:
DROID: “Medically, she’s completely healthy. For reasons we can’t explain, we’re losing her.”
OBI-WAN: “She’s dying?!”
DROID: “We don’t know why. She’s lost the will to live. We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies.”
This interaction makes it clear that the Force caused by Palpatine was acting on her, but since the droids could not understand it, they were unable to explain what was causing her to die.
How Could Palpatine Affect Padme When She Was All The Way In Polis Massa?
By his own admission, Palpatine learned everything from his master Darth Plagueis, and killed him only after there was nothing more to acquire. Therefore he knew how to create life and save people from dying. Even when Palpatine was fighting Yoda, he felt that something was not right with Anakin who was all the way out in Mustafar. We should consider that the dark side is the strongest and the Emperor is at the height of his power. So he would have been completely capable of affecting Padme on Polis Massa, siphoning off the Living Force from Padme and bringing it to Anakin, making his reborn as Darth Vader.
As Darth Vader rises from the tortuous and excruciating ordeal that he went through, the first thing he inquires about is Padme. He was awake and not unconscious during the procedure, and he could feel her in the Force. But once it was over, he could no longer feel her. The conversation which followed was:
PALPATINE: “Lord Vader, can you hear me?”
VADER: “Yes master. Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she alright?”
PALPATINE: “It seems, in your anger, you killed her.”
VADER: “I–I couldn’t have. She was ALIVE–I FELT IT.”
{Palpatine knowingly smiles}
Therefore this is the biggest evidence to show that Darth Vader was reborn due to the influx of the Living Force from Padme by way of Palpatine’s dark arts, and it was not merely a coincidence that she died in the exact time the procedure got over.
