Unsung hero of the prequels

BEFORE WE MET Padmé on screen, we’d heard about her. And she tended to be described in terms of other people — Luke’s mother, Leia’s mother, Darth Vader’s wife. Rarely have a person’s actions been so unjustly diminished. So let’s take a moment to recognise a few of them: elected leader of an entire planet at 14, she went on to become a galactic senator, survived multiple assassination attempts, and worked tirelessly for the good of her people in the face of widespread, Trumplevel corruption. She’s arguably the true hero of the prequels.

Certainly, in any given situation, she was likely to be the character making the most sense, most memorably as she declared, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.” But she wasn’t just a politician. When diplomatic solutions failed, she was equally adept at getting her hands dirty during the “aggressive negotiations”, whether it was leading the squad retaking the royal palace on Naboo, or fighting in the Battle Of Geonosis. And watch again as the beasts bear down on her, Anakin and Obi-wan in the Geonosian arena — it’s Padmé who escaped first, while the two Jedi were still bickering. Hell, she even put up with Jar-jar. What a hero.