May I ask where you're getting that arranged marriages are common on Naboo? I'm curious, since I haven't seen that anywhere. Is that a headcanon of yours or something you've found? If it's a headcanon of yours I'd love to hear your reasoning for it since, as you say, the two Nabooian marriages we see (three if you include Padmé's) are not arranged. Or if you've already written the headcanon would you mind linking? I'd love to read it.

so it’s actually legends canon that arranged marriages are common on naboo, and cited if you look up jobal and ruwee’s marriage because they were actually originally intended to be an arranged match by their respective mothers, but they fell in love on their own time while ryoo and winama were busy working out the idea / terms of the arrangement, which just worked out better for everyone involved. the idea of them being more common than not is hinted at in legends canon but to my knowledge i don’t believe it’s directly outright stated so that is something that’s like…a combination of inferred from the text and headcanoned by yours truly, you feel me ? and the reasoning for thinking that it’s more common than not is basically that it makes a fuckload of sense to me when you look at it through the eyes of like…padmé’s mentality and psyche ? 

so okay we don’t have a lot to go on for naboo culture ( which btw nabooian is actually a common misconception and not the actual terminology, it’s literally just ‘naboo’ no matter what, the people are not nabooian people, they’re ‘the naboo’ ) other than that they’re really heavily focused on the arts, value purity and innocence above all else, do not have a standing army and do not prize warrior culture, and humans colonized the planet and nearly eradicated the gungans in the process. ( let’s play a game called ‘one of these things is not like the others’. ) everything else is pretty much just inferred, and because padmé is the only main character from this planet other than palpatine and we tend to get more of her viewpoint than his during the films, ( granted, it’s still not a lot that we get from her POV bc lucasfilm hates her and owes me so many apologies and reparations but w/e ) we have to go off what she gives us. the one line that i’ve always cited as my reasoning for about 99% of my personal naboo headcanons is the line from ROTS where she says 

“ anakin, this baby will change our lives. i doubt the queen will continue to allow me to serve in the senate,* and if the council discovers you are the father, you will be expelled from the jedi order. ”

* emphasis mine

so what i found interesting about this was the fact that a baby would force padmé out of the senate, and given that we’re looking at neeyutnee’s rule here, it led me to a specific conclusion, something that is entirely my own headcanon for my portrayal and not to be taken as actual film canon. ( this is a bit of a deviation from your original question here but i’m getting to it in a very roundabout way i promise. ) so it’s been seen from interactions with the former and current queens that jamillia had a very personable and friendly relationship with padmé. jamillia is also the one who asked her to serve in the senate originally. her reign ended shortly after the beginning of the clone wars, and neeyutnee took over for her from there. we don’t know a lot about her in canon, but what we’ve seen of her interactions with padmé in the clone wars are….not great…..and we also know that when the election at the end of the war began, padmé put her public support behind apailana, who was one of the youngest queens ever elected and took office literally weeks before padmé’s death. so. padmé and neeyutnee did not get along. god only knows why. it’s not for me to judge. the point here being that it’s clear neeyutnee would have pulled padmé from the senate if padmé gave birth to a child out of wedlock, which says a lot about naboo culture to me. 

they elect mainly female children to rule their entire planet, they prize innocence and purity, they would’t allow a senator to serve on the senate if she had a child out of wedlock, for me, all signs are pointing towards a very traditional and old fashioned sort of society on naboo, which is something that i’ve always implemented for my own headcanons and for my portrayal. and something that makes perfect sense for the more aristocratic class on a very traditional and old fashioned planet is a history of arranged marriage over what we tend to think of as ‘love matches’. canon supports evidence that they’re at least common on naboo, and with my own personal interpretations of the culture we’ve been given via padmé, i’ve extended that a bit. 

another important note, especially in regards to padmé and the way she views this and the way this has all influenced her, is the fact that in legends canon, she was the one to propose to anakin, not the other way around. padmé holds a lot of stock in marriage, and it actually makes a lot of sense that they rushed into marriage if you look at it with the idea of just how traditional and old fashioned naboo culture is. marriage is important to her, and i’ve always felt like if she and anakin had never fallen in love on varykino and circumstances hadn’t led to the events of their lives together, she very likely would have returned home at some point and asked her parents to look into a match for her, especially given how badly padmé wanted kids and to settle down, but that’s, again, all just personal interpretation.

sometimes i think about how many clear warning signs / red flags padmé willfully ignored in regards to anakin and their relationship because she loved him and how if she’d survived the birth of her children and vader she would have spent so much time going back through her memories and searching for the beginning of it all and all the signs she ignored or didn’t catch the first time because how could this have happened, how could i have let this happen ?? 

RULES: repost , don’t reblog . tag some ppl if you want to , i guess ? 
TAGGED BY: drive it like you stole it lads

██▒ GENERAL

NAME: padmé amidala naberrie skywalker 
ALIAS(ES): queen amidala ( technically ) , padmé ( listen i know it’s her real name but as handmaiden naberrie it’s an alias damn it ) , anthia barrie ( rebellion era ). 
GENDER: female 
AGE: canonically anywhere from fourteen to twenty seven, as she dies a month prior to her twenty eighth birthday. 
DATE OF BIRTH: 46 BBY ( june 30th )  
OCCUPATION: princess of theed, queen of naboo, senator of the chommell sector. rebel alliance chief of staff ( rebellion verse ).

██▒ APPEARANCE

EYE COLOR: brown 
HAIR COLOR: dark brown 
HEIGHT: very long and naturally curly 
SCARS: one blaster scar on her left hip, west of her navel and a bit above her hipbone, sustained during the battle of theed. there’s another on the front of her left shoulder, just underneath her collarbone, from an assassination attempt by aurra sing. the masterpiece, however, is three large scars that span the length of her back from right shoulder almost entirely to left hip, from the attempted execution in the arena of geonosis. a connecting scar also mars her upper right arm, though it’s much more faded and healed in comparison to the ones on her back. 
BURNS: minor ones on her fingers and wrists from cooking, nothing very noticeable. 
OVERWEIGHT: nah 
UNDERWEIGHT: tbh padmé’s definitely a bit underweight outside of her pregnancy but it’s just because she hyperfocuses a lot and has a hard time prioritizing things for herself so she often forgets to eat when she’s working on important things.

██▒ FAVORITE

COLOR: ocean blue. 
HAIR COLOR: she’s partial to blonde for obvious reasons, but she doesn’t have a genuine preference. 
EYE COLOR: blue. 
SONG: there’s an old lullaby her mom used to sing to her and sola, and sola sang to her kids, and padmé used to sing to her unborn twins during her pregnancy. that’s her favorite.  
MOVIE: she likes dramatic romances. 
TV SHOW: does this look like a woman who has time for television? 
FOOD: padmé fuckin loves five blossom bread and shuura fruit and tendril nuts. 
DRINK: if she could drink caf intravenously she would. she’s partial to tea as well. 
BOOK: she couldn’t possibly pick one.

██▒ HAVE THEY

PASSED SCHOOL: with flying colors and very early. 
HAD SEX: she’s married. 
HAD SEX IN PUBLIC: define....Public..... 
GOTTEN PREGNANT: yes 
KISSED A BOY: yes 
KISSED A GIRL: yes 
GOTTEN TATTOOS: nah 
GOTTEN PIERCINGS: just her ears 
HAD A BROKEN HEART: LMAO DID SHE EVER 
BEEN IN LOVE: very much so 
STAYED UP FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS: more times than she could count

██▒ ARE THEY

A VIRGIN: nope 
A KISSER: oh god yeah, padmé loves kissing and being kissed. 
SCARED EASILY: not easily, no. 
JEALOUS EASILY: not.....Easily...but she definitely gets jealous yes. 
TRUSTWORTHY: this girl is loyal to the point of self destruction she is so trustworthy padmé please be slightly less trustworthy think of yourself for once in your life 
IN LOVE: verse dependent but honestly at any given moment yeah probably 
SINGLE: verse dependent, generally no

██▒ RANDOM QUESTIONS

HAVE THEY HARMED THEMSELVES: nah she’s like neglected her own needs but never intentionally hurt herself. 
THOUGHT OF SUICIDE: no. 
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: no. 
WANTED TO KILL SOMEONE: .....yeah..... 
DROVE A CAR: a speeder / speeder bike / ship yes 
HAVE/HAD A JOB: yes 
HAVE ANY FEARS: lmao yeah 100% buddy

██▒ FAMILY

SIBLINGS: older sister, sola, brother in law, darred. 
PARENTS: ruwee and jobal naberrie. 
CHILDREN: luke skywalker and leia organa are her only biological children in mainverse canon; she considers ahsoka tano to be her daughter in most if not all verses, as well as daisy johnson, and also considers cassian andor and jyn erso to be like children to her in most of her rebellion verse variations. in one au, rey kenobi is her daughter. 
PETS: she has a kitten named shiraya she affectionately refers to as shira and y’all can fight me.

TAGGING: everyone.

AND ANOTHER THING.

PADME: Anakin, what are you going to do?

ANAKIN looks down for a moment and then walks away from Padme.

ANAKIN: I will not betray the Republic … my loyalties lie with the Chancellor and with the Senate … and with you.

ANAKIN turns and walks back to Padme.

PADME: What about Obi-Wan?

ANAKIN: I don’t know … Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that he’s remained loyal to the Chancellor.

PADME: How could this have happened?

ANAKIN: The Republic is unstable, Padme. The Jedi aren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation. There are also traitors in the Senate.

PADME stands and reacts ever so slightly.

PADME: What are you saying?

ANAKIN: You need to distance yourself from your friends in the Senate. The Chancellor said they will be dealt with when this conflict is over.

PADME: What if they start an inquisition? I’ve opposed this war. What will you do if I become a suspect?

ANAKIN: That won’t happen. I won’t let it.

if you think for ONE SECOND palpatine was going to let padmé live after he took over the galaxy and crowned himself emperor you are !!!! so fucking mistaken !!!! palpatine was always going to start that inquisition and have padmé arrested for treason after she had the babies and you can bet your ASS he was going to manipulate vader into believing that padmé had never loved him and was conspiring against him and make him execute her to feed his hatred !!!!!

DAUGHTER. ( this is your kingdom, this is your crown, this is your moment, don’t look down. ) WANDERING STAR. ( when the day is done and i lay me down, i sit alone in my lonely bed. ) QUEEN OF PEACE. ( out there always echoing. oh, what is it worth when all that's left is hurt ? ) BURN. ( be careful with that one, love, he will do what it takes to survive. ) LOVE IN THE DARK. ( i can’t love you in the dark, it feels like we’re oceans apart. ) MINESHAFT II. ( fifteen years from tonight, you’ll have to make a decision. ) BONES. ( and you love like you’ve always been lonely, you love him with all of your body. ) THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE. ( oh lord, i’m begging you please, don’t take that sinner from me. ) AFTER THE STORM. ( and there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears, and love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. )

TAGGED BY @jedibetrayer ( sort of ) // TAGGING: @aftcrshocks , @demandpeace , @sempermemoriia , @masterofcraft , @kybersung , @jedimessianic , @ironfistedwill , @afewmistakes , @crdered , @ostardust , @rebelsacrifice , @lastorgana , @rebelraiised , @rcbelborn , @scarificed , and if you want to do this, say i tagged you so i can see it !!!!

DETAILED APPEARANCE INFO

TAGGED BY: @aftcrshocks TAGGING: @jedibetrayer , @kybercore , @tachiisms , @withoutpeer , @cosmichymns , @cosmosbeing , @demandpeace , @masterofcraft , @coughbot / @crdered , @jaigvision​ , @rebelsacrifice​ , @rcbelborn​ , @acediaskin​ / @scarificed​ , @moonjeweled​ , and if you’re reading this, you’re tagged !!!

do not reblog, repost.

HEAD

FACE SHAPE: angular; mostly heart shaped, with a sharp jawline and a small but defined chin. CHEEKS: erring on the side of hollow. CHEEKBONES: high and pronounced, with a sharpness to them that increases with age. LIPS: well defined, with a slightly fuller than average lower lip. her cupid’s bow is subtle, and her lower lip does not taper much at the sides. SKIN COLOR: beige and naturally very lightly sun tanned, with golden undertones. SKIN TYPE: normal, smooth, unblemished aside from two moles; one on the middle of her right cheek, lined up with her iris and parallel to her nostril. the other is on her left cheekbone. EYE SHAPE: well proportioned; a bit close together, and tilted slightly upwards. EYE COLOR: warm brown, amber tinted in bright light. EYEBROW SHAPE: very straight, though they angle up a bit at the ends. incredibly expressive. EYEBROW COLOR: dark brown. EYELASHES: dark, long, and curling. NOSE SHAPE: small but well proportioned to her face; thin down the middle, very straight, with a slightly elongated tip. HAIR TEXTURE: naturally curly. hair styling is verse dependent –– modern verse sees her straightening it with frequency or curling it to tame it; all other verses see her frequently wearing it in elaborate styles.  HAIR COLOR: medium brown. HAIR LENGTH: verse dependent; in main verses, her hair reaches down to her knees when curling, and to her ankles when straightened. in modern verses, it waves down to her middle to lower back. EARS: average size, connected lobes, single piercing.

UPPER BODY

SHOULDERS: average, slightly narrower than hips. ARMS: smooth skin, very soft to the touch, toned muscles, but no visible definition. one singular scar, more information below. STOMACH AREA: toned, but still very soft to the touch with a good amount of give. she maintains one small, smooth blaster burn on her left hip, from the invasion of theed. her first ever scar received in the line of duty, she let it heal the old fashioned way as a reminder of what leaders are required to sacrifice for their people. LOVEHANDLES?: minimal. her hips flare out but her waist is just so small. CHEST/BREASTS: small, and sit high on her body. NIPPLES: small, pink with a tinge of beige. BACK: perfectly straight posture. pronounced shoulder blades. after the battle of geonosis, she has three irregular scars spanning from the middle of her right shoulder blade to just before her left hip, as well as one matching, smaller scar on the back of her upper right arm marking the start of the third scar; this one is significantly more faded. HAND SIZED: pianist hands; average sized hands with small palms and long, thin, elegant fingers.

LOWER BODY

HIPS: more curved than her bust, though this is mainly visible due to how small her waist is. BOTTOM: very rounded, and full in proportion to the shape of her hips. THIGHS: thin, with toned muscle definition. CALVES: very toned, smooth. LEG LENGTH: very long for her height, almost double the length of her torso.

OTHER

BODY HAIR: virtually nonexistent. shaves and waxes frequently. SCENT: her most common scent is that of fresh roses and the padma flowers for which she is named ––– padmé bathes frequently with the hip oil of both flowers and fresh petals crumbled into her bath, often with the addition of violets and/or lavender. she leaves the smell of flowers in her wake, but her perfume is not overbearing. HAND NAILS: short to medium length, always trimmed and filed, and almost always painted. her most frequent nail color, especially as queen, is an opalescent white, something that she wore almost exclusively as a child to fit in line with the traditions of her home town. as a senator, she incorporates other colors in her rotation, most often a pale, neutral pink tone, but she returns to white more often than anything else. TOENAILS: filed short, always painted to match her hands or in a neutral toned pink. VOICE: her accent can only be described as ‘faint naboo’; that is to say, like this. her accent was significantly stronger as a child ( to us, this would be a strong australian accent ) , but she worked consciously to attempt to rid herself of it as a princess of theed, and by the time of the blockade, it became very faint, as linked above. through adulthood, it is stronger when she’s under extreme stress and anger, but very difficult to detect otherwise. in modern verses, her family is originally from australia, and her accent sounds more like ma,llory ja.nsen. HEIGHT: 5’3” WEIGHT: 115 lbs. PIERCINGS: earlobes, single. TATTOOS: none. BRA SIZE: 34B. SHOE SIZE: US size 6. PREFERRED CHOICE OF SHOES: she tends to wear flats and heels with a similar sense of regularity; when working in the senate or during her time as queen, heels are more frequent, due to her need to seem larger than she is in an effort to be taken more seriously. however, when not in the senate, she prefers flats and a sense of comfort, though she does not sacrifice style to do so. at home, she is most often found barefoot. CLOTHING STYLE: best described as ostentatious. her sense of fashion is impeccable, and she favors fine fabrics and elaborate designs in her clothing. her color palette is very soft and jewel toned, with an emphasis on purples and blues. GENERAL BODYSHAPE: somewhere between a column and a pear. very thin, with soft curves.

wax poetic about padmé + ophelia metaphors / imagery

DID SOMEONE SAY OPHELIA IMAGERY ???

alright, so, let’s talk about padmé and ophelia, aka, let’s just listen to nicole scream incoherently for the next thirty years about ENTER OPHELIA, DISTRACTED. 

ophelia, for those of you who never had to read hamlet in high school, is the tragic heroine ( debatable; most scholars tend to think she doesn’t have enough agency to be the heroine and is therefore merely tragic ) of hamlet. she is the potential wife of hamlet, but is driven mad by a number of components ( hamlet’s rejection and then implied aggressive sexual advances, her father’s and her brother’s control of her life, etc. ) and after a time, drowns in a nearby river, either from falling from a tree, or jumping. 

padmé is, herself, a bit of an ophelia allegory, albeit not necessarily a straightforward one. there are no father / brother figures to force her into a relationship with a mad man or make her decisions for her, but in a lot of ways, padmé’s decisions are not always hers to make, especially not where anakin is concerned. every decision padmé makes is preordained to create luke and leia by virtue of the story that we are being told, and by the fact that it is, of course, already over.

this story happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. it is already over. nothing can be done to change it. it is a story of love and loss, brotherhood and betrayal, courage and sacrifice and the death of dreams. it is a story of the blurred line between our best and our worst. it is a story about the end of an age. a strange thing about stories –– though all this happened so long ago and so far away that words cannot describe the time or the distance, it is also happening right now. right here. it is happening as you read these words. this is how twenty-five millennia come to a close. corruption and treachery have crushed a thousand years of peace. this is not just the end of a republic; night is falling on civilization itself. this is the twilight of the jedi. the end starts now. 

                                                                    ––– beginning of the revenge of the sith novelization.

anakin descends into madness because he cannot save padmé. padmé dies because of his actions. the irony here is palpable, especially when combined with the reality that there was no way he could have saved padmé to begin with. she was doomed from the beginning; her story was always, always, already over. she was doomed the moment she met anakin, which is just, honestly, glaring neon lights that read HAMLET + OPHELIA over both of their heads. 

hamlet rejects ophelia by nature of her virtue being above everything else –––––– ‘ get thee to a nunnery ! why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners ? ( … ) i am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at my beck than i have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. what should such fellows as i do, crawling between earth and heaven ? we are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. go thy ways to a nunnery. ’ –––––– now, granted, hamlet has a bit more self awareness than anakin does, but the language and the warning is the same. anakin skywalker is proud, revengeful, and ambitious. there is more darkness in him than can be contained or even can be executed before he dies. 

padmé, of course, falls in love with him anyway, because this is how the story goes. this is how the story always goes. 

he then becomes more aggressive in pursuing –––––– ‘ i could interpret between you and your love, if i could see the puppets dallying. ’ ‘ you are keen, my lord, you are keen. ’ ––––– which is more of the anakin we know, and the padmé that we know.  ––––– ‘ please don’t look at me like that. it makes me feel uncomfortable. ’ ‘ we shouldn’t have done that. ’ ‘ i can’t. we can’t. it’s just not possible. ’ ‘ i couldn’t do that. could you, anakin ? could you live like that ? ’  ––––– padmé rejects anakin time and time again, only to fall right into the very relationship she stated, explicitly, would destroy both of them. blatant and heavy handed foreshadowing ? probably. we all know how terrible lucas is with dialogue. but it also suggests a bit of perceptiveness that most people don’t give her credit for. padmé walked into her doom with her eyes open.

she didn’t fall from the tree. she jumped.

ophelia descends into madness –––––– padmé falls out of the frame, unable to adapt to the darkness surrounding her husband. she goes from a beautiful flower with iron thorns on the stem to a wilted rose in just a few years’ time, because for one thing, lucas is awful at writing female characters consistently, and for another thing, because she’s being suffocated by the war and the dark side of the force and the nature of a story that was already written down and decided long before she came along. ( you made flowers grow in my lungs, and although they are beautiful, i can’t fucking breathe. // when i was little i picked up a flower and put it in a vase. after a few days, it died. i asked my mom why and she said: ‘ you can’t force a flower to thrive somewhere it doesn’t belong to. ’ and now i have realized that people are like that too. )

she starts fading at the beginning of rots, and she dies by the movie’s conclusion, which leads us to the most blatant and on the nose ophelia metaphor and imagery –––––– PADMÉ’S FUNERAL. ( or as i like to call it, space ophelia makes nicole cry every time. ) 

when down her weedy trophies and herselffell in the weeping brook. her clothes spread wide, and, mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, as one incapable of her own distressor like a creature native and enduedunto that element. but long it could not betill that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious layto muddy death. ( 4.7.199-208 )

this is the description of ophelia’s death that we’re provided with in text. who does that sound like ? 

OH YEAH.

another interesting note is that ophelia’s death is the one death in the play that makes every other character sit up and take notice. they all kind of collectively come to the realization of, to paraphrase, holy shit, what have we done to this innocent girl ? which is fitting, given that padmé dies exactly two days after empire day, and it is her death, more even than the fall of the republic, that shocks bail, yoda, and obi-wan to their cores. padmé was beautiful, innocent, kind, and loving, until outside influences strangled her from the inside out, and her death is the catalyst for the next twenty years of death and destruction that fall on what used to be the republic.

ask me questions you have about my bae // always accepting // @aftcrshocks

listen. i need you to talk about why she goes so hard with her wardrobe. she doesn't need to drag the whole galaxy every time she gets dressed so ! why does she do it ! explain !

LOOK AT HER ! SHE’S FLAWLESS ! I DIE ! 

but alright, you asked for it, and i’m here to provide. 

now, we all make a lot of jokes about how padmé is continually being extra af in her wardrobe and frankly, she is, but also there’s a lot of logic and reasoning behind this. so let’s start with our introduction to padmé –––– or, in this case, queen amidala. 

her red dress as amidala is pretty fucking iconic at this point so i’m not going to waste a lot of time talking about it, but what i want to do with this is bring up all of her clothing as amidala vs her clothing as padmé in tpm. so let’s go through these, starting with queen amidala’s wardrobe:

queen amidala’s wardrobe, here shown only on padmé rather than on her and sabé both, is SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to do a number of things. they INCREASE HER STATURE. everything she wears includes some sort of elaborate headdress and/or voluminous robes/skirts. they make her bigger. they make her taller. they make her larger. she takes up more space, she is easier to spot, and she is impossible to ignore, especially when she wears red, which is a traditional color of naboo royalty, and something amidala wears a lot of. she’s only five feet and three inches in bare feet, which makes her very small, especially in comparison to most of the men on her guard detail, or that she interacts with as queen. she has to look larger, and more imposing, to be taken seriously. and because most of what she wears covers her hair or twists her hair into elaborate headdresses, and she wears the traditional face paint of her station, it makes it significantly easier for sabé to slip into her role without anyone else catching on. ( side note, it’s almost impossible to see in these caps even though i switched icon styles for this meta to show off some more of her clothing, but any time padmé is in her queen regalia and acting as the part of amidala, you can almost always see sabé in the frame or in the room, listening in on everything so that she’s able to seamlessly transition into her role as decoy when she takes over for the queen. ) now, let’s look at padmé:

there is NOTHING INDIVIDUAL ABOUT HER OUTFITS AS A HANDMAIDEN. this is incredibly important, as it allows her to blend seamlessly in on tattooine, and with the other handmaidens. even in the last cap, where she’s giving orders to the captain of her guard and eirtaé, one of her handmaidens, she blends in. she’s wearing the same thing that every handmaiden wears so that her position remains in the shadows, and it keeps her hidden, even when sabé turns to get confirmation from her before making a decision; it just looks like she’s confirming loyalty from a handmaiden, not getting permission from her queen. 

this, more than anything, is where padmé’s wardrobe and her inability to dress in anything remotely simple comes from. she knows when to blend in, and she’ll do it ( though let’s be real, the refugee gown is literally modeled after a russian princess’s ballgown like babe please you’re not fooling anyone ) , but she also knows when and how to use her wardrobe to her advantage. dressing the right way can get you noticed, or it can hide you. it can make people take you seriously, or view you as an object ––– which isn’t always a bad thing, if it’s going to help you accomplish something in the long run. so now let’s take a look at senator amidala’s clothing: 

now, i’m not really including any of her ‘senatorial clothing’ mainly because we’re all really familiar with it and because it would just be me repeating myself re: making her appear larger and more formidable and forcing people to look at her and take her seriously, so i want to, instead, talk about the other functions of her wardrobe. 

the packing dress, the slate blue and black dress she wears after the second assassination attempt is thwarted and she’s being sent back to naboo with anakin, is something she wears for only a few minutes on screen, but it’s a very important dress for padmé’s character and a clear indicator of her mindset during the assassination attempts on her. we see her here, outwardly irritated that she’s being sent away from coruscant when she’s in the middle of important work. she doesn’t think she needs a bodyguard, she just wants to know who’s trying to kill her and why, and while she’s glad to be getting some time to spend at home, she doesn’t like that she’s being forced into it, and doesn’t like that it’s coming at the expense of her work, or her personal safety. she acts like this is a minor inconvenience, simply a blip on her radar, and that she’s frustrated and irritated by it all. 

but she’s wearing a dress containing armored panels in her own home.

the metal panel down the front of her dress, the thick and structured bodice, the metal plating on her sleeves, even the headdress that contains metal along her forehead, this is all very cleverly disguised armor that betrays the fact that, irritated through she might be on the outside, padmé is scared, but she’s not going to vocalize it and run the risk of losing her credibility. so she does what she knows how to do best –––– she dresses for the occasion. if someone is going to come after her, she’s going to wear armor, and she’s never going to let anyone else know. 

then we look at the refugee/senatorial dress. again, she’s wearing a headdress that protects her head, should someone try and take a shot at her. she’s wearing a dress that is unassuming, but still professional enough to be worn during an audience with a queen. she’s also wearing neutral colors ––– nothing that draws the eye. she’s being careful. she’s flying under the radar. i also want to take this moment to point out how her outfit plays off of queen jamillia’s; where the queen is wearing black and white, padmé is wearing brown and gold, and their headdresses are very similar. it doesn’t serve much of a purpose, but i just think it’s an interesting visual callback and reminder that padmé used to sit in the chair that jamillia is now occupying. it’s also a good time to point out –––– we never see padmé wearing red during her time as a senator, which i think is just so interesting ? there’s probably another meta in there somewhere because red is explicitly shown, time and again, to be an official color of naboo, and specifically, the color of royalty. padmé wears the naboo official insignia on almost everything she owns, and it’s incredibly present in her personal space in her apartment, but she doesn’t wear red. personally, if you ask me, i wholeheartedly believe she doesn’t wear red because she feels it’s disrespectful to the current queen of naboo, especially when you remember that her people tried to amend the constitution to get her to remain in office for longer. ( another interesting side note ––– padmé sticks to cool tones, for the most part, in her wardrobe as senator, and her official residence is also done in cool water tones. palpatine’s, on the other hand, who is also from naboo but who never served in office as king, is done almost entirely in reds. )

getting back on topic, next we have the genosis battle outfit, which, fun fact, the first time i watched this movie i was pretty young, and i knew immediately that something was up and going to happen because i was like nah man padmé’s wearing pants, she didn’t even wear pants when her planet was under attack and she was shooting the crap out of droids, something’s up, something’s about to go down. and, lo and behold, shit did in fact go down. but i digress –––– this outfit is important because it contains a metric fuckton of pockets and pouches and holds all kinds of shit in it, most notably, a lockpick. padmé is fucking crazy prepared for any situation, something her time as queen taught her, and it is very evident in her outfits. i’d be willing to bet any and all of her clothing as senator contains the same little kit of stuff that the genosis outfit contains, just better disguised. she’s only twenty four years old. she’s been senator for three years. she was queen for eight. she’s had more attempts on her life than any twenty four year old has a right to have had, and she’s now come to accept that this is her normal. therefore, she’s ready for it at any given moment, and she looks damn good doing it. 

now, onto the clothing that we’re all here for, aka the beautiful shit she wears on naboo while consistently insisting that she doesn’t return anakin’s affection. a lot of people have talked about padmé using clothing as seduction in this instance ( think: the black dress she wears at dinner with anakin because honestly she did not have to go that hard ) , but i don’t necessarily see it that way ? legends canon tells us that padmé’s paternal grandmother, winama naberrie, was a seamstress, one of the best weavers in theed, and that she is where padmé got her love of fashion from. i don’t see padmé wearing these beautiful gowns, both simple and complex, as a way of seducing anakin while verbally telling him she’s not interested. 

she wears them because she’s starting to feel safe again. 

think about it: we watch her go from armor plated dresses to, suddenly, an entirely backless dress when she arrives at varykino from theed. why ? if someone’s trying to have her killed to the point where she has to retreat to a property her parents own in the countryside of her home planet, if she’s been so concerned and afraid for her own life that she was disguising herself on routine flights to coruscant and wearing armored dresses in her own home, why does she suddenly shift to a silk and slinky dress that doesn’t even have a back ?

because she feels safe. 

she does this because she feels safe at home. she feels safe with anakin next to her. she knows that if something or someone comes after her, he’s going to stop it, and that the chances of something coming for her this far out in the lake country are slim to none. she feels safe. she feels at home. she’s reverting back to the padmé that existed in the ten years between tpm and aotc, the padmé we never got to see. the padmé that has a mother and a father and a sister and two nieces she dotes on. the padmé who was close to her grandmother and learned how to sew and mend clothing from her. the padmé who is a queen and a senator but is also a person behind both of these faces. 

padmé repeatedly uses her clothing as a lot of things, most notably a line of defense, a way of distraction, and even a weapon, if you look at them abstractly. she also uses her outfits as a way of expressing herself. they all have a functional and narrative purpose, no matter how unassuming the garment itself may seem.

Idk if you have addressed this, if you have I'm sorry! But in your verse where padme lives (bless that verse), during the time where the senate hasn't been dissolved yet (between III-IV) what's padme's posture about the Empire? Does she think they should convince the senate & look for a pacific way out of it or does she think a peaceful solution is no longer possible? I know she's a diplomat but was curious considering it failed before? (even tho it was different kind of conflict)

also continuing that line of thought! now I’m curious about what has changed in her between that time? have her beliefs change, her ideals, her personality?

ask me questions about my character // literally never not accepting

i actually have not !! and i’m so !!!!! at this entire question like honestly you are speaking my love language right now i’m so !!! 

i’m probably going to answer the second question you sent before the first one because it provides a better sense of background for her conscious choices in this verse, especially regarding the empire. so ––– what has changed ? the first big one is, truly, anakin. anakin has changed. it’d be easy to pin the big shift in padmé’s characterization on the moment her husband snaps on mustafar and completely loses himself to vader and tries to kill her, but that’s….not where rebel padmé started. 

to say padmé didn’t see vader coming is a total and absolute lie. she had hoped it wouldn’t happen, but padmé’s not an idiot. her marriage was FULL of warning signs, and there were canonical incidents where she genuinely did not feel safe around her husband, and even insisted on time apart. and i think padmé justified a lot of that on things like the war and the secret they were keeping, which, the first of which she assumed would be temporary, and the second of which, i think padmé always really blamed herself for ? it wasn’t her fault they were keeping this secret ––– after all, anakin was the one to suggest this option, even if she was the one to follow through. they’re both guilty here. ––– but i think she takes responsibility for it. she’s the older one. she’s the wiser one. she’s the responsible one. she’s the level headed one. she should not have been blinded by her feelings for him; she should have shut him down and insisted on space between them and let it go. so by the time we get to mustafar, padmé’s pregnant, she’s devastated, but she’s prepared. she makes a last ditch effort to call her husband back to the light, and when that doesn’t work, listen, i FIRMLY believe padmé went at him with a knife and i’ll probably write a bigger meta on that scrapped storyboard sequence that i’m using for mustafar BUT THE IMPORTANT THING HERE IS THAT SHE’S PREPARED TO FACE VADER. this is also important because i’m also operating under a few deleted scenes as canon here ––– namely, that padmé was heavily involved in the delegation of the 2,000. padmé had been involved in the beginnings of the rebellion well before the republic became the empire. she knew something was happening to her husband, and that he wasn’t going to let her help him or let her in. so once those things became a reality for padmé, her priorities shifted. she was pregnant. the world was falling apart. her priority was not anakin’s safety or his sanity. it was the safety of her children. 

so that…..definitely changes her characterization a lot. and that’s not even getting into spending almost two decades living mostly on alderaan, watching her daughter grow up with another family and being separated from her son. anthia barrie is DRASTICALLY different from padmé naberrie, and that’s….kind of the point. i think in a lot of ways padmé relies on her alias and her new identity as a crutch. she can try and compartmentalize a bit better if she thinks of herself as anthia ––– it keeps her from trying to constantly ask herself what she could have done differently during the clone wars, during her marriage. at the beginning, she spent a lot of time blaming herself for not reaching out to obi-wan or the council or even bail, honestly. she felt like she had to protect anakin for a while there, and so it kept her from reaching out for help, and in turn, that made her feel like she was responsible for more than she was when things started to go to hell. but she was better equipped to handle that hell because of these things she did and did not do, so in all it’s kind of a catch 22 and it’s impossible for her to dwell on these things without going mad, so she clings to her new identity in the hopes it’ll make things easier. ( spoiler alert: it only makes things a little easier. ) 

so because all of this shapes her differently, her personality and her ideals have definitely changed when you look at her even a few weeks after III and especially closer to IV. she’s not necessarily colder, but she’s definitely ––– harder ? she’s still soft, still kind, but it’s a bit more buried now. where before, padmé would reach for kindness as her first response to literally anything, now, she’s quieter, less quick to offer comfort, and more apt to simply….observe. she’s significantly less trusting, and diplomacy is not something she believes will fix every problem anymore. padmé comes from an INCREDIBLY PEACEFUL PLANET, and her reliance on diplomacy in I and II comes directly from her upbringing on that planet. she protested the clone war so heavily because she saw what the trade federation did to theed when she was ruling naboo, and because of what the war was doing to people on a personal level. it stands to reason if you look on the surface, that padmé would advocate for a peaceful solution to the empire, and keep the rebellion as merely a BACK UP PLAN to diplomacy.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE. 

padmé has lost everything to the empire. she never believed in true and real and irredeemable evil until palpatine crowned himself emperor and anakin became darth vader and her children were taken away from her for their own safety. i also, and this is just a personal headcanon, FIRMLY BELIEVE that imperial forces went after her family and killed ( at least ) her parents at some point after she faked her death, trying to find out what had happened to her child. when we look at rebel padmé, we have to remember that she literally does not have anything left. diplomacy failed her, and not for the first time, and every other time that it has failed, she’s resorted to violence as a last option. with the rebellion, violence is the only option. she will not rest until the empire is destroyed, and if that means she goes down with it, so be it. 

i think a lot about that quote in RO where jyn says ‘a fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day’ because like honestly if padmé has to go after darth vader with a knife –––– she’s done it once. she’ll do it again. her children are safe, but it is CONDITIONAL SAFETY, and it has always been conditional, which is another big reason as to why she doesn’t view pacifism as a viable strategy anymore. 

there is no making peace with the empire. there is no bargaining. there is no diplomatic solution. there is the empire, and there is the rebellion. and while she’ll be calm and level headed about everything regarding the rebellion, there is no other option to rebel. padmé will not rest until the emperor is dead, no matter what the personal cost. 

important things to know about modern padmé: 

( DO NOT REBLOG. ) 

- is a poly sci/theory professor and a highkey child prodigy - graduated high school at fifteen, got accepted into ya.le - majored in poly sci and minored in philosophy with the goal of eventually ending up in politics or in the supreme court - went to law school and got her jd in civil rights law by the time she turned twenty three - practiced until she turned twenty five, intending to then start a political career - realized VERY QUICKLY that she was NOT ABOUT THIS and that it only sounded nice on paper but was significantly less so in theory - went back to school to get her teaching credentials / masters - is a lowkey ( highkey ) workaholic who does not understand when to stop or take breaks - cares very deeply about her students - wears very tall heels and a lot of jewel toned pencil skirts and white button downs  - is the professor who sits on her desk and swings her feet and debates with her students for hours  - one time one of her students came in with their daughter bc the babysitter bailed last minute and padmé taught an entire lecture with this baby on her hip so the student could take notes and it was one of the happiest days of padmé’s life - refuses to admit that she needs glasses even though she very much needs reading glasses and will constantly steal glasses from anyone who makes the mistake of setting theirs down for longer than two seconds - good luck ever getting them back if you’re sleeping with her bc she’ll literally wear them any time she has to grade papers like you could be like hey um quick q but why don’t you go to the eye doctor and get your own and she will deadpan in all genuine seriousness: ‘i don’t need glasses’ while wearing your glasses - drinks a lot of red wine and even more coffee - is extremely close to her sister and loves her nieces to bits and pieces and really wants kids of her own incredibly badly but has literally never talked about this to anyone except her sister - sees a therapist for anxiety and feelings of inadequacy  - cannot hold a relationship down to save her life  - is better than you

Self-Knowledge Questionnaire

Below the surface everyone is pretty complicated. Based on your answers, we think the following three traits are important strands in your personality:

TENDERNESS

You are not afraid of the sufferings and sorrows of other people, even when they are acted out in unappealing ways. Beneath even defensiveness and self-righteous behavior, you know that deep down people need nurturing and consolation. One danger is being naive about people’s dark sides. But at your best you know you can be mean yourself, which helps you to sympathize. You bring strength and forgiveness where other people might panic.

AMBITION

You have a strong sense of potential and an intense drive to accomplish difficult things. The core of this is your ability to hold together the big goals and the daily efforts. Where other people’s hopes collapse when they encounter the tedium of the journey, you keep coming back. Oddly, it is actually your ability to endure feeling unheroic that counts. You know the power of working away solidly on what’s in front of you.

SENSITIVITY

You have delicate, sensitive perceptions; you can be deeply moved by appearances – the right light in a room, or good food, or the texture of a piece of clothing. Expressive, intelligent language has a powerful hold on you; your mind works better when it is inspired and provoked by vivid imagery. It can be sad to live in a world which is often so ugly and not properly looked after. But you know that things can be otherwise, and you have the ability to appreciate the world at its best.

test is found here. tagged by: @aftcrshocks & @masterofcraft tagging: @jedibetrayer , @demandpeace , @kybercore , @rebelsacrifice , @rcbelborn , @arebelnow , @lastorgana , @tachiisms , @ everyone reading this right now

rcbelborn replied to your post: shout out to this meme and specifically @rcbelborn...

i got to know more about this

fam u just opened Such a Can of Worms i s2g BUT OK LISTEN I JUST 

canon makes it pretty clear padmé doesn’t have scars from the nexu in the petranaki arena just from like character design and subsequent outfits that aren’t necessarily revealing but don’t cover the spots the nexu scratched her ––– her right bicep more so than her back ––– but like. padmé has those scars. fight me. i’ll die on this hill idc like she 100% absolutely has those scars. and THE REASON why i say this is because the only real way to get rid of scars would be to submerge herself in a bacta tank for anywhere from a few hours to potentially a couple days and like first of all: no. second of all: nah. anakin had just lost his arm, obi-wan was heavily injured, and padmé is really big on like....idk it’s late i’m tired idk how to pretty words right now but she’d have been more concerned with their health and well being than her own and like...these scars are just...cosmetic, for the most part. i do think a muscle got sliced in her arm that had to be repaired so that scar is more faded than the three on her back but i don’t think she would have gotten rid of them. so padmé absolutely still has them and canon can fucking bite me.

important random headcanon #34567890987654:

in the deleted scenes in the naberrie house, all of padmé’s family had faint accents ( which makes sense bc they’re all played by australian actors ) which has had me thinking for ages about this and i’ve finally arrived to the conclusion that padmé herself had a very pronounced accent as a kid that she’s worked incredibly hard to correct because i feel like on naboo it’s a very country kind of accent and she wanted to be taken more seriously in politics and not seen as the ignorant little country girl, even though she’d lived just outside of theed for most of her life. by the time she becomes queen, she’s tampered her accent enough so that she sounds LIKE THIS , and by the time she leaves office and is appointed to the galactic senate, her accent is all but nonexistent, except when she’s extremely angry and shouty, or under other extreme duress/emotion. in which case, lots of accent. 

ARCHETYPE QUIZ

39% Caregiver Friendly, sincere, and compassionate, the Caregiver finds their reward in helping others. No one could ask for a better best friend.

39% Advocate The Advocate is the one everyone wants on their side. In the name of justice, they are not afraid to challenge authority or speak up for others.

22% Intellectual The Intellectual is the ultimate dinner-party guest. Engaging questions and thoughtful debate are their trademarks.

TAGGED BY:    @masterofcraft & @aftcrshocks TAGGING:    @tachiisms , @jedilegacy , @demandpeace , @kybercore , @snipisms , @jaigvision , @rcbelborn , @rebelsacrifice , and you, reading this right now !!!

what i say: i’m fine what i mean: sola naberrie loved her little sister so fucking much i can’t believe how much the naberrie sisters loved one another they were as different from each other as the sun and the moon and they never quite understood each other but they were so jealous of each other and even then they never let it affect their familial bond with each other; they loved each other and sola always thought for sure that padmeé would move back to naboo when her senatorial terms were up and marry someone ( anakin ) and have children of her own and then their kids would get to play with each other, they’d probably live up the road from each other and down the street from their parents, their husbands would play with the kids in the backyard every sunday when they got together for family dinner and they’d cook for their families and gossip and padmé would be pregnant and sola would be so happy for her aND YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND SHE THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAPPEN SHE LITERALLY HAD SO MUCH CONVICTION BEHIND THAT THOUGHT, THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY THE UNIVERSE WOULD WORK OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE THE NABERRIE SISTERS, THEY WERE SO CLOSE, THEY WOULD ALWAYS BE CLOSE. THEY WOULD ALWAYS BE TOGETHER. THEY WOULD RAISE THEIR KIDS TOGETHER. THEIR HUSBANDS WOULD BE BEST FRIENDS. BECAUSE THEY WERE BEST FRIENDS. 

and then padmé died. and sola knows that everyone talks about how no parent should have to outlive their child, but big sisters should not have to outlive their baby sisters. 

HOGWARTS HOUSE SORTING

GRYFFINDOR: 65%

HUFFLEPUFF: 82%

RAVENCLAW: 94%

SLYTHERIN: 66%

TAGGED BY: @aftcrshocks TAGGING: @jedibetrayer , @kybercore , @masterofcraft , @cosmichymns , @snipisms , @rebelsacrifice . @rcbelborn , @tachiisms , @demandpeace