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bbygirl-obi · 10 months

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shmi skywalker adhered to the jedi code more than anakin ever did

okay that's a very clickbaity title but i was rewatching the phantom menace and i found it so interesting that shmi actually demonstrated non-attachment and adhered to the jedi code with regards to anakin two different times during her brief screentime! i think it's important to emphasize this because shmi was anakin's only parent and primary influence during the early stages of his life. anakin's tendency towards attachment is not a result of shmi's parenting- it's despite it. so let's go through it!

the first instance of shmi's non-attachment occurs when she is presented with the notion of anakin racing on boonta eve in order to help qui-gon and padme. she explicitly says she thinks the racing is "awful" and tells anakin, "i don't want you to race." but she sets her own feelings aside- she lets go of her fear about anakin and prioritizes the greater good. the greater good, in this case, is padme and qui-gon's mission, and its implications for naboo.

shmi recognizes that her fear is not more important than an entire planet: "i may not like it, but he can help you... he was meant to help you," she says. there are also implications that she is listening to the will of the force here, and that she understands this is what anakin was meant to do.

the second instance of her non-attachment occurs when anakin is freed and she is not. she is the one who requests that qui-gon take anakin with him to coruscant to become a jedi. though she is clearly sad to part ways with him, lamenting to qui-gon that "he was in my life for such a short time," she still encourages anakin to go.

here, shmi recognizes that her desire to keep anakin near her is not more important than what is best for anakin. i've written a post here about the fact that shmi struggles to understand anakin's unique status with regards to the force, and that she turns to qui-gon and the jedi for help. shmi knows the jedi can help anakin grow this special part of him that she "can't explain" herself. she also knows that doing this will make anakin happy: she tells anakin that going with qui-gon is a chance to "make your dreams come true."

and she even drops a little nugget of wisdom, straight out of the jedi code, onto anakin. wisdom that anakin will later reject from the mouths of people like obi-wan and yoda, even though it is the exact same thing shmi believes, the exact same thing shmi is shown to have taught him. "you can't stop change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting," she tells anakin. "it is time for you to let go... to let go of me."

it's not a coincidence that shmi's screen time in the phantom menace is exclusively spent adhering to the jedi tenets of love without attachment. shmi is human, and she feels love just as anyone else. she feels scared when anakin is in danger, and she feels sad at the idea of not having him near. but she does not allow this to take precedent over the greater good, whether that is for the planet of naboo or for anakin himself.

that is non-attachment. it is letting go of someone- not because you don't love them, but because you do. and shmi skywalker is the very embodiment of it. when anakin rejects obi-wan's advice about letting go, when he refuses yoda's advice that death is inevitable, he is not just rejecting the jedi's philosophies. he is rejecting shmi's values as well. the further he sinks into attachment, the further he is forsaking his own mother's memory. that's the tragedy.

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goldens0422 · 3 years

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Far Too Many Coincidences - Anidala Fanfic

It all started when she went to that fertility clinic, and she was able to choose which sperm donor she wanted to have as the biological father of her baby. The name Anakin Skywalker on one of them felt familiar, and not long after choosing him, she soon remembered that kid that she met on Tatooine when she still lived there, a nice coincidence. He had the biggest crush on her back then. Now, they’ve both grown up: At 27 years old, Anakin Skywalker owned a tech company and was a millionaire well on his way to becoming a billionaire, and at the other end of the spectrum, at 31 years old, Padmé Amidala owned a well-known law firm in the same state as Anakin ended up moving himself.

She met him soon enough by accident, the both of them meeting in a Starbucks which they were both coincidentally in at the same time as Padmé moved from one favorite coffee shop to another. They both knew at least a bit about how the other fared at life since media kept tabs on them as was the norm, and Padmé soon told him about her pregnancy and how she got pregnant, something only her immediate family knew back then, though she didn’t tell him he was the biological father just yet as he was conflicted in that category. The two then exchanged numbers in order to be able to further keep up with one another.

Coincidentally, the two only lived a few blocks away, with both of them residing in townhouses because Padmé was still rather frugal and Anakin wasn’t interested in sleeping in his headquarters nor buying a larger house before it really felt time to do so. Padmé also started working less, and this led Anakin to start visiting a lot to check on how things were going. She tells him often that he doesn’t need to worry so much, but at some point, she gave up, knowing he would still come back either way. Then again, she shouldn’t have tried getting him to leave anyway. She was comforted by his presence.

She would usually say to herself that she didn’t know why he kept coming back, but she knew. She knew it for the longest time. She swears it was already obvious since Day 1, and she had a feeling her reciprocation of his feelings were equally obvious.

She soon found out she was having twins, a boy and a girl, and coincidentally, Anakin came by the next day. The first person she broke the news to was him. Something tells her that propelled Anakin to come by even more often because that’s exactly what he did.

She even discussed the baby names with Anakin, even though he wasn’t even going to be the acting father (something struck in Padmé when she thought of that). They eventually came up with calling the boy Luke and the girl Leia.

She was deep into her pregnancy now, and she knew having twins (or having multiple babies for that matter) were likely to break her water earlier than expected. She was also very tempted to tell Anakin who the father really is.

They were finishing watching a romcom which Anakin recommended, and she loved it. In fact, she loved all the movies she and Anakin watched together, though she vaguely remembers spending a lot of the time looking at Anakin.

“So, did you like it?”, Anakin asked almost nervously.

“I did,” she smiled up at him. “Loved it.”

He narrowed his eyes as he held in a smile, “I don’t know, really. You didn’t cry while watching, so…”

She laughed, “Yeah, I guess I didn’t, but then again, maybe I am holding back all the crying for the big day.”

Anakin laughed himself, “I guess you are.”

She slowly nodded awkwardly, and there was a bit of silence.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“You did say you got the two through a fertility clinic, right?”

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“Now, not that it matters so much, but may I just ask who the father is?”

Oh, wow, what a coincidence.

She turned to her bedside table and pulled open the drawer. The folder including a copy of information of the sperm donor was inside, and she pulled it out. There was a logo of the fertility clinic embossed on it. She handed it over to Anakin.

“Open it for yourself,” Padmé said.

Anakin opened it, and she could tell the exact moment he realized it.

There was a baby picture of him there along with a picture of him probably taken around 6 years ago, and basic information on him was provided.

He turned to her, suddenly treating this as a lot more important than he first stated, “M-me? I-I’m the donor you chose?”

“Y-y-yeah, you,” Padmé replied shyly, her cheeks warming up. “I just thought the baby pictures were cute, and I would’ve wanted my kids to look like that. You have…pretty good hair, too, and I want my kids to have good hair.”

Anakin blushed and rubbed the back of his head, his hand running through his thick, fluffy chocolate brown hair, “Thank you.”

Padmé smiled for a bit before she noticed something.

Yet another coincidence, she supposed.

“My water broke.”

____________________

Anakin rushed Padmé to the hospital, and it wasn’t long before she was rushed to a room to eventually give birth.

Anakin was sat down next to her the entire time, and Padmé occasionally took a look at him, and as much as he wasn’t going to be one of those taking care of the children, he looked like a husband so nervous as he watched his wife push. It was almost as if he wanted to go through the pain himself so she didn’t have to go through it.

Eventually, the first baby came out, and it was the boy. A great many minutes later, the girl came out as well. By that point, she noticed Anakin was crying as well, though it was tears of joy. Padmé’s tears were tears of joy as well soon enough.

Anakin held the boy, and Padmé held the other.

“Any names yet?”, the doctor asked.

Padmé shook her head, “Not yet, could you give us a bit? We’re still kind of arguing over it.”

The doctor laughed before leaving them space, “Of course, well, I’ll be back in a bit.”

Anakin turned to her, confused, “I thought we decided on Luke and Leia?”

Padmé smiled once he said we. She had something in mind. It was profoundly stupid, but it was what she wanted, and it wouldn’t be any harder than raising twins alone, would it?

“Well, we didn’t have second names yet.”

“Oh,” Anakin slowly nodded. “Yeah, good point.”

“Any ideas?”

“Would Shmi for Leia and Jinn for Luke work? Those names are pretty important to me, so that’s why. I mean, they don’t matter so much because I’m not really going to be their acting dad. Well, that is unless you’d be willing to give me visitation rights, which still really isn’t that.”

She brushed off his last statements.

“Shmi and Jinn would work, yeah,” Padmé gave him a small smile.

Anakin smiled with a satisfied look on his face.

“Luke Jinn Amidala. Leia Shmi Amidala.”

Padmé shook her head, “Luke Jinn Amidala-Skywalker. Leia Shmi Amidala-Skywalker.”

His eyes widened, “W-what? B-but, I’m not their dad.”

“You are.”

“Well, biologically, yes, but I’m not gonna raise them.”

“That won’t be the case if you want to,” Padmé pursed her lips. “I-I-I know this is very stupid, but-but I-I love you, Anakin. In fact, I’m in love with you, and if you want to raise our babies with me, that would make me more than happy. It’ll be pretty tough at first, yes, but it honestly won’t be any harder than raising twins alone.”

She knew Anakin considered it. Without a doubt, it would be hard, especially in the early. After all, the two didn’t even live together, but as time would pass, it would become a whole lot easier, and she knew it. She also knew it would be very sudden. As much as Anakin had been acting like her twins’ dad throughout her entire pregnancy, she knew he didn’t consider legitimately being the dad.

Anakin eventually nodded, smiled, and kissed her, “I love you, too, and I’d love to be their dad. I can’t say I started the day thinking I’d even come close to being a dad nor come close to finding someone who loves me as I do her, but I also can’t say I’d say no to it.”

And, as Padmé Amidala-Skywalker looked at her now-family of 7 wonderful people, her and Anakin having 3 more kids after Luke and Leia, she couldn’t help but thank God for giving her the courage to make that stupid decision.

Though she still had to wonder how many coincidences it took to get there.

My Masterlist

#anidala #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #modern au #anakin x padme #fanfiction

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