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But they don’t even get two decades together before Obi-Wan is struck down, killed by the man he’d considered a son, a brother, and a friend. Yoda follows soon after, and with him the last of the old Jedi Order.
Things seem their bleakest then; one of the very few arguments Obi-Wan and she ever had was about telling the twins their true parentage. Obi-Wan was insistent that they be told once old enough, but Padmé had flatly refused, insisting that there was no reason to. But the consequences of not telling them – when they’d rescued Luke from Cloud City, missing a hand and lashing out in both physical and emotional pain mirrored by Leia when confronting their mother for the truth – make it obvious Obi-Wan was right, and having her children find out the way they did becomes her biggest regret.
Padmé wants nothing more than to hide away and grieve, but she can’t afford to. She has grieving children (age and broken trust be-damned) to look after, a rebellion to help lead, and a galaxy to save. The remaining Jedi have been instrumental in keeping the rebellion going and secretly training the next generation, but Padmé discovers that loving one for over two decades doesn’t mean she knows everything about them.
The reappearance of Obi-Wan as a Force ghost leads to a lot of screaming, crying, apologies, and lengthy explanations before things settle back down.
It takes time, but age – not to mention death – has done nothing to dull Obi-Wan’s skills as a negotiator, and eventually the relationship between the four of them is repaired (though it will never be the same).
And it never fails to be a source of amusement watching Han Solo struggle to interact normally with the father of the woman he is clearly – to everyone else, anyway – interested in.
Misgivings about his future son-in-law aside, Obi-Wan is there to comfort Leia after Han is taken, as well as aid their daughter in getting him back.
And his insistence on keeping up with their training helps Luke find the courage to defeat Darth Sidious, which provides the catalyst for the hidden Jedi to announce themselves to the galaxy.
He welcomes Anakin back to the light side of the Force, sitting down with his former Padawan and Padmé for an emotional conversation that brings a little bit of ease to old wounds.
He helps to form the foundations of the New Republic, as well as the re-establishment of the New Jedi Order, and then one morning…he just isn’t there anymore; and losing him all over again breaks something inside of Padmé.
She retires from public view, taking the ship – they’d named it A New Hope – and leaving more and more of the responsibility for running the New Republic in the hands of Leia and her colleagues.
Returning home to Naboo, she finds living on the planet a bittersweet pill of remembrance, occasionally sojourning when the memories become too much.
It’s on one of these sojourns that she happens to wind up on a Tatooine-reminiscent planet just in time to meet another scared little child that practically shines in the Force.
And when Ben Solo falls and the First Order rises she tries – oh, how she tries – to fight the fight, all over again. But she’s too old and too tired to fight any more, and as awful a legacy as it is, she leaves the fledgling Resistance in the hands of her children and their friends.
The darkness may have finally won against her light, but Padmé is comforted by the blazing flares of new hope across the galaxy – Rey, Finn, Poe, just to name a few – and by the realization that the darkness isn’t the end of everything, merely the bridge between one state and the next.
And wearing his gentle smile, in Jedi robes of old, Obi-Wan extends his hand to help her across.
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