While Star Wars is a franchise often unhealthily obsessed over by men who take it seriously, others are aware of how silly and baffling it is and has been. There is Jar Jar, and, now, fans are wondering why Padme stays with Anakin after his many murders.
For those unaware or just coming out of a coma, in the 2002 release of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Hayden Christensen’s angry Jedi padawan rescues his mother from Tuskens on Tatooine only to see her die in his arms after she was subject to heavy torture by them. He subsequently goes on a rage-induced killing spree befitting of school shooters in our world, later tells his future wife Padme (Natalie Portman) about it and Reddit is debating just how the pair worked out after this.
In a post published to the Star Wars subreddit today, a number of users offered theories on just how the two managed to have kids after Anakin pulled out his inner mass shooter. One user says it was due to the poor writing of the piece and also because of historical precedent in our world, it would make sense for her to not be too unsettled by what he did to some alien figures;
Another person writes Padme’s decision does make sense due to her view of being an institutionalist, and a recent tie-in book from 2020 shows she would not have given up on Anakin easily, as Padme still has faith in the Republic even though it is flawed and corrupt;
Others remark in the thread that this type of coupling is common when you consider how people can stay with abusive partners and, for one fan, it could have worked out better for the story had Anakin kept his darkness from Padme and ultimately revealed it in the next film;
Maybe someday Portman will get to reprise her role and give it more depth, like Christensen did in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Until then, there will always be tie-in books, games, comics and other merchandising to harvest more depth for the movies.
