Template:SW Character

Padmé Naberrie (46 - 19 BBY) is a prominent citizen of the planet Naboo in the fictional Star Wars universe. In the Star Wars films, the young heroine is portrayed by actress Natalie Portman. The Star Wars Visual Dictionaries describe the character Padmé as raised by "humble" parents in a small mountain village of Naboo, although in the films, Padmé's parents are depicted as living a fairly aristocratic lifestyle. Perhaps this is funded by Padmé's later social success.

Apparently very seriously trained as a child, Padmé is named Princess of Theed, Naboo's capital city when barely an adult, and is elected Queen of the entire planet at age fourteen. As queen, Padmé takes the reign name of Amidala. Just as "Padme" is Sanskrit for lotus flower, "Amidala" is the spiritual manifestation of a lotus flower. As queen, Amidala takes five handmaidens as her bodyguards and companions. These five and others will provide her with her most loyal and true relationships throughout the films. The handmaidens of Queen (and later Senator) Amidala are:

• Rabé- who serves as hairdresser to the queen
• Sabé- Amidala's body double during dangerous situations
• Eirtaé- royal protocol expert
• Saché
• Yané
• Cordé- who serves as decoy for Amidala when she is a senator
• Dormé

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Amidala fights hard through political and physical means to rid her planet from the blockade of the Trade Federation. Around fourteen years of age in this episode, she forms a close friendship with the then nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker. Although The Phantom Menace was panned by most critics as an overall film, the costumes designed for this character were widely admired, and were featured in a Vogue magazine spread. Some critics viewed them simply as a marketing ploy to bring more feminine viewers to an action movie, but whether intentional or not, for some viewers, Amidala's costumes were the most memorable part of the film. They also serve an important plot function as they allow Amidala's handmaidens to impersonate her behind voluminous robes and white makeup. This listing of the royal gowns of Queen Amidala uses several words created by archaeologist Doctor David Reynolds to imbue the costumes with a sense of imaginative history:

• Throne Room Gown- The most reproduced images of Amidaia (see above) are probably ones showing this domestic regalia. Her hair is dressed over a padded form and her face is encircled by gold "faceframes" dangling a Jewel of Zenda. The wide-shouldered gown is embroidered in gold and lined in potolli fur. Large illuminated sein jewels decorate the skirt. The handmaidens wear coordinating golden robes inspired by Art Nouveau.
• Traveling Gown- A dark purple gown with cerlin sleeves, drapa bindings, and a chersilk hair net.
• Arrival Gown- This black, spiderweb lace gown is actually worn by the handmaiden Sabé, but this is not known to other characters in the film nor to first-time viewers. Her face is framed by a black cowl, which is decorated with filigree ear coverings and a headdress of black feathers. It portrays to Chancellor Valorum and Senator Palpatine the majesty and seriousness of her mission upon arrival at the capital world of Coruscant. The handmaidens wear saffron colored robes reminiscent of Buddhist monks.
• Foreign Residence Gown- A black gown, reminiscent of Victorian mourning dress, expresses Amidala's anguish at being separated from her people. Black Cyrene silk is beaded with 240-year old emblems. Her hair is arranged in a fan shape with a prominent foreknot and small suspensas.
• Senate Gown- Clearly derived from Mongolian bride costume, this embossed red gown is braided with gold, and is meant to portray the majesty of Naboo to the jaded Galactic Senate. To help make her more visible in the vast chamber, Amidala's hair is dressed in a wide arc centered by an escoffiate headpiece and the Royal Sovereign of Naboo medal. Gold hairbands hold the arc in shape, and orichalc finework finials dangle from the ends. Natalie Portman was photographed in this costume for Vanity Fair and Premiere magazines.
• Palpatine Gown- When meeting with Naboo's senator, Amidala wears a mauve robe highly reminiscent of a Japanese kimono, with several layers and a wide obi. A Shiraya fan headdress is hung with Veda pearl beading and glass filaments. (The actual costume headdress was cut from a 1910 dress.) The handmaidens wear burgundy purple robes embellished with fleurs-de-lys.
• Parade Gown- A brilliant white gown worn at the end of the film symbolizes Amidala's joy at achieving peace, and echos the gown worn by her future daughter at the end of the film A New Hope. In both films, the titled leader presents heros of battle with an honor at the end of a long avenue of people amidst magnificent architecture. Amidala's costume is embellished by a petaled cape that evokes huge flowers near her home village. The flowers only bloom once every 88 years, heralding a special celebration. She also wears an aurate fan which resembles the starched collars worn by England's Queen Elizabeth I as well as the framing fans worn by characters on the Dune miniseries.

Throughout the film, Amidala wears white thumbnail polish, a tradition from her native village, as well as a red "scar of remembrance" dividing her lower lip, and a red beauty mark on each cheekbone.  

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set ten years later, she has become a Senator in the Galactic Republic's Senate after her two terms as Queen expired. She is leading a faction opposed to the establishment of an army to quell a separatist movement. After a failed assassination attempt on her life that is believed to have been executed by Count Dooku, Anakin, who is now an apprentice Jedi under Obi-Wan Kenobi, is assigned to protect her. The two express their love which they have harbored for the last ten years, though both of them are duty-bound to deny it. Just before rescuing Obi-Wan Kenobi, she admits her love for Anakin, and the couple become directly involved in the first massed battle of the Clone Wars, where Padmé again shows herself to be rather more handy in combat than might be expected of a politician. The movie ends with Anakin (with a robot arm to replace the one he lost in the battle) and Padmé being wed in a secret ceremony attended only by R2-D2 and C-3PO.

In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, she becomes alarmed by the changes in her husband's character as he is seduced by the Dark Side. Following the declaration of the Galactic Empire and the Great Jedi Purge led by Anakin, Padmé joins with Bail Organa to declare the founding of a Resistance Movement that will become the Rebel Alliance. Travelling to the planet Mustafar (with Obi-Wan stowed away on board unbeknownst to her), she confronts Anakin in an attempt to turn him back to "the Light." However, Anakin believes that she brought Obi-Wan with her to kill him and, consumed by the Dark Side and enraged by her perceived betrayal, blindly uses a Force choke against her; though immediately regretting it afterwards. At Polis Massa doctors try to save Padmé's life, but after the birth of the twins, whom she names Luke and Leia, she dies of a complete loss of the will to live and a broken heart while being comforted by Obi-Wan. Her body is returned to Naboo and given an elaborate funeral ceremony but it is prepared so that she looks pregnant, an attempt to hide the actual birth of her children by making the people of Naboo believe her unborn child dies with her (before the actual birth, she believes she is carrying only one child).

In the Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, however, Leia tells Luke that she remembers her mother dying when they were young, and described her as very kind, beautiful, and sad. It is possible that the mother that Leia remembers is the adoptive mother that she grew up with on Alderaan, rather than her birth mother, since she does not say "our mother." However, since Luke asks her, "Do you remember your real mother?" it is assumed that Leia did, in fact, know she was adopted by the Organas, and had impressions of her biological mother from her time in the womb, due to her Force sensitivity, which is believed by many to be higher than Luke's. After all, Leia always "felt" that Luke was her brother, yet he did not suspect that she was his sister.