Wedding of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala

Twenty-two years before the Battle of Yavin, and shortly after the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala were married in a secret wedding on Naboo. The marriage, witnessed by the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, was kept secret due to Amidala's place as a prominent Senator in the Galactic Republic and because of Skywalker's membership in the Jedi Order; the Jedi Code prevented Jedi from falling in love and forming attachments such as marriage.

Skywalker's marriage to Amidala helped lead to his fall to the dark side of the Force, as Darth Sidious—the Dark Lord of the Sith—was able to seduce him to the dark side with the promise of finding the power to save Amidala from death. Amidala eventually died giving birth to the couple's children Luke and Leia Skywalker.

Prelude

During the invasion of the planet Naboo, Queen Padmé Amidala and her Jedi protectors escaped her besieged world and sought refuge on the desert planet of Tatooine. It was there that they met a young slave named Anakin Skywalker, who helped them gain the parts they needed to leave Tatooine. The young Skywalker earned his freedom, helped the queen and the Jedi liberate Naboo, and ultimately joined the Jedi Order.^[7] Over the next ten years, he thought of Amidala often and frequently had dreams about her. He did not see her for an entire decade following the Naboo Crisis, but his feelings for her nonetheless grew.^[5]

During the Separatist Crisis that preceded the outbreak of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, then-Senator Amidala was targeted for assassination due to her opposition to the Republic's proposed Military Creation Act. Skywalker was assigned to protect her and traveled with the senator to Naboo to keep her safe while in hiding. Their time together allowed their feelings to blossom, with Amidala growing ever-closer to the young Padawan. Despite their growing attraction, Amidala did not believe that she could be with her Jedi protector; Amidala was a prominent senator, and Skywalker was required to follow the Jedi Code, which forbid attachments like romance. The pair was later captured on Geonosis while attempting to save Skywalker's Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, from Separatist captivity, and all three were sentenced to death. Just before being led into a Geonosian execution arena, Amidala admitted that she truly loved Skywalker and wanted him to know that before they died.^[5]

The wedding

Skywalker and Amidala escaped from Geonosis with their lives, after being rescued by a Jedi assault team and the Grand Army of the Republic. The rescue led to the First Battle of Geonosis, sparking the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Alliance.^[5] After recovering from the battle, including being given a cybernetic hand to replace the one he had lost to Count Dooku,^[8] Skywalker returned with Amidala to Naboo under the pretense that he was escorting her back home, as the Jedi High Council was unaware that the Padawan had fallen in love with the senator.^[5]

Amidala's wedding dress was made for her by her former handmaiden Yané, though she did not know who Amidala was marrying. Amidala made her veil from her family's wedding fabric, at the advice of Yané, using sewing bots from Varykino Villa.^[1]

Protocol droid C-3PO tried to keep the bride and groom out of each other's sight until the wedding ceremony came. During their time together on Naboo, Amidala constructed her wedding dress with the help of Yané and Skywalker meditated at the shrine dedicated to fallen Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. On the morning of their wedding day, Amidala was contacted by Queen Jamillia of the Naboo to rescue a group of artists on the planet Nooroyo who were members of the Torada Collective. Upon completing their mission, where only the queen's sister Antraya chose to return to Naboo with them, the couple returned just in time for their wedding.^[1]

The dress Yané had made for Padmé arrived at lunch before the ceremony and was unpacked by C-3PO immediately as he did not want to wrinkle it and spread it out on the bed. Padmé did her own hair and makeup making sure to highlight her features instead of mute them like she usually did. After putting on her shift and underdress Padmé realized that the dress Yané had made for her had about a million tiny pearl buttons on the back that Padmé could not possibly reach by herself. This caused Padmé to feel incredibly lonely as her friends were far from her, she did not know where her handmaiden Sabé was, her parents Jobal and Ruwee Naberrie were unaware she was on Naboo and her colleagues only knew the generalities of where she had gone following the Battle of Geonosis. Padmé then reminded herself she chose this and wanted this before getting into the dress.^[1]

The two star-crossed lovers were married^[5] during sunset^[1] at Varykino, a lake retreat in Lake Country on Naboo,^[4] as a private yet simple ceremony. When the two presented themselves to him,^[8] the union was officiated by a holy man from the region^[9] with respect for ancestral traditions.^[8] Other than the priest, it was only witnessed by the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. The marriage remained a secret, as Skywalker could have been expelled from the Jedi Order if the union was discovered by the Jedi Council.^[5] Additionally, by marrying a Jedi, Amidala had accepted the risk of a scandal that could have ended her career as a senator.^[8]

As a wedding gift, Amidala gave her new husband R2.^[10] Similarly, after the wedding, C-3PO became more Amidala's property than Skywalker's because, thanks to her job as a Galactic Senator, she needed a reliable translator more than Skywalker did.^[11] As Skywalker still needed to recover from the Battle of Geonosis, the two newlyweds had time to enjoy each other's company even after their honeymoon ended. Aware that he would soon be apart from her for some time, Skywalker devoted every second of his time to Amidala.^[8]

While some of Amidala's staff became aware of the relationship, she changed the way her household was run, with her new handmaidens, Ellé and Moteé, taking on more traditional roles of a handmaiden unlike Amidala's previous handmaidens. The handmaidens slept on the floor bellow in Amidala's apartment rather than in the penthouse like they did before, and her household underwent a new routine, including Amidala's nights becoming free and no longer having daily dinners with her security personnel. This isolated Amidala to give her time for her marriage, which was noted by her handmaiden Sabé when she stood in for Amidala in the senate shortly after the wedding. Sabé's discovery of the relationship from Skywalker rather than Amidala contributed to her decision to leave her position as Amidala's handmaiden and "shadow" to return to Tatooine with her partner Tonra to help end the slavery there.^[1]

Yané would also tell her wife Saché, who had also served as a handmaiden to Amidala, about how she had made a wedding dress for Amidala and Saché subtlety congratulated her shortly after. Another of Amidala's handmaidens, Dormé, also realised that the two were in a relationship and told Sabé that she was going to recommend Amidala tell Ellé and Moteé.^[1]

Aftermath

The wedding arguably became the most important wedding in galactic history.^[8] Skywalker and Amidala's marriage ultimately ended in heartbreak. Having seen visions of Amidala dying in childbirth, and unable to find the answers he sought from the Jedi, Skywalker became the apprentice of Darth Sidious, publicly known as his friend Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who offered to show him the power to save people from death. Skywalker became a Dark Lord of the Sith and took on the name Darth Vader, before helping his new master destroy the Jedi Order. Amidala attempted to save Skywalker from the dark side of the Force, but Skywalker, in a fit of rage, attacked his wife after he believed she had betrayed him to the Jedi.^[12]

Amidala died shortly after giving birth to her twins, Luke and Leia, while a grievously-injured Darth Vader was forced to spend the rest of his life in a suit of armor. Sidious led Vader to believe that it was Vader who killed Amidala—medical droids instead speculated that Amidala had lost the will to live—^[12] and he carried this guilt with him for many years.^[13]

After Padmé's death the couple's son Luke was taken in by Anakin's stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru on Tatooine and was watched over by Obi-Wan. Their daughter meanwhile was adopted by Padmé's fellow senator and friend Bail Organa and his wife Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan, renaming her from Leia Amidala Skywalker to Leia Organa and making her princess of Alderaan.^[12]

Shortly after the Battle of Fortress Vader, Darth Vader entered a portal constructed by Darth Momin to resurrect Amidala. While walking through visions, he saw his wedding as the words of "We are encouraged to love" resounded in his mind.^[14]

Despite his dark turn, Amidala's dying words were that there was still good in Vader,^[12] a belief that was later carried on by Luke, who was able to guide Vader out from the dark side as Vader sacrificed himself to save Luke. Vader's dying words to Luke were to tell his sister he was right about Vader^[15] however Leia didn't want to hear about it.^[16]

Behind the scenes

The wedding of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala was depicted in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, the second installment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[5]

The scene was shot on a balcony at Villa del Balbianello, the Italian villa that portrayed Varykino in the film.^[17]

Appearances

• Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
• Star Wars Battlefront II (Mentioned only) (DLC)
• Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (First appearance)
• Attack of the Clones Read-Along Storybook and CD
• "The Brink of War" — The Prequel Trilogy Stories (and audiobook)
• Queen's Hope (and audiobook)
• Brotherhood (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
• "Hostage Crisis" — The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark (and audiobook) (Indirect mention only)
• "Intermission, Part 1" — Star Wars Adventures (2017) 12 (Indirect mention only)
• Ahsoka (and audiobook) (Indirect mention only)
• Darth Vader (2017) 25 (Vision to Darth Vader)
• Leia Organa: Ordeal of the Princess (In flashback(s))
• "Stories in the Sand" — From a Certain Point of View (and audiobook) (Appears in hologram)
• Darth Vader (2020) 2 (In flashback(s))
• Darth Vader (2020) 28 (In flashback(s))
• Force Collector (and audiobook) (Vision to Karr Nuq Sin)
• Legacy of Vader 4 (In flashback(s))
• Legacy of Vader 5 (Mentioned only; in the opening crawl)

Non-canon appearances

• LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales — "Exit from Endor" (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Appears in cutscene(s))

Sources

Notes and references