It Doesn’t Make Sense If Padmé Comes Back in The ‘Darth Vader’ Comics; Here’s Why
The Skywalker saga of Star Wars ultimately has a happy ending. The Force is balanced, and Rey will undoubtedly train a new crop of Jedi in the future. But in the early days of the saga, there was only pain and loss. For Anakin Skywalker, that happened often, and it resulted in him turning to the Dark Side and becoming the one and only Darth Vader. In a new comic series based on the masked, mechanical villain, one of the people he lost comes back, but it’s probably not what everyone thinks.
The new ‘Darth Vader’ comic leaves off on a massive cliffhanger: Padmé is back
The new comic book series, Darth Vader, explores the villain’s time between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. While we know how the story ends, the comic fills out the time in between the two movies with his exploits. He just revealed to Luke that he’s his father.
After Luke refuses to accept Vader as his father, Darth Vader goes on a mission to learn more about Luke’s upbringing so he can destroy everyone who kept them apart. He also wants to know what happened to Padmé after she left him on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith. Vader goes to Tatooine and visits the place where Anakin told Padmé about his murderous rampage on the Tusken Raiders, who killed his mother. He relives his time with Padmé on Coruscant too, when he goes to her old apartment, the one they lived in while she was Senator of Naboo, and he was Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.
Surveillance footage from the apartment helps him trace the origin of the scout device back to a different planet. When Vader goes there, he’s met by someone who looks exactly like Padmé. He’s beyond shocked, and that’s where this first issue of the Darth Vader comic ends.
It’s most likely Sabé, one of Padmé’s former handmaidens
How the heck could Padmé survive all these years without anyone knowing? That’s the thing: it’s most likely not Padmé Amidala Naberrie. While that’s not definite yet, since the next issue hasn’t revealed her secrets, it makes the most sense that the person Vader comes in contact with is actually Sabé, Padmé’s most trusted companion.
When Padmé became Queen of Naboo at 14 years old, she had multiple handmaidens that also doubled as bodyguards and decoys. Most of them because they were able to pose as the queen and protect her from harm. Her best handmaiden was Sabé, who looked the most like her and shared the most time with her. The novel Queen’s Shadow, written by E.K. Johnston, is about the beginning of Padmé’s time as Senator. This book details Sabé’s role at Padmé’s side even after she was the queen. And Sabé’s still able to fool people into thinking that she was the Senator if needed.
It’s not 100 percent certain where Sabé ended up after the Empire came to be. The epilogue of Queen’s Shadow suggests that Padmé’s best friend wants to figure out what exactly happened to Padmé since her death doesn’t make any sense. She’s also contacted by Bail Organa, which either means she’s brought into his burgeoning Rebel Alliance or possibly entrusted with information about the Skywalker twins.
Actually bringing Padmé back would require a lot of out-of-character decisions, and disrespect Vader’s whole origin story
It makes so much more sense for Sabé to be the person Darth Vader sees in the comic books. For one, if Organa did bring Sabé in on the secret of Leia and Luke’s whereabouts, this could explain why Leia remembers her mother. Instead of the prequels retconning when Padmé died, Sabé could have been in Leia’s life early on, possibly confusing the infant.
Plus, the Sabé that readers meet in Queens Shadow was all about the mission. She would want to be a part of the Rebel Alliance, which Padmé had a significant role in creating. It would make sense that she’s fighting on a mission on some planet when Vader finds her. And the whole reason Sabé became one of Padmé’s decoys was because of her uncanny resemblance to Amidala. So after decades of not seeing her, Vader would understandably think Sabé was Padmé.
What doesn’t make sense is if this does end up being Padmé. For one, it’s out of character for Padmé to abandon her duties as a mother and a leader to the Rebel Alliance. If she didn’t die, why has she gone missing all this time? Also, Padmé is one of two people who could have brought Vader back to the Light Side, aside from Luke. A lot of lives could have been sparred if Padmé were alive and could get through to Vader.
Basically, all signs point to Sabé being the mysterious figure Vader sees in the comics. It’s still an interesting story, to see what the former handmaiden is up to and see how she handles coming face-to-face with the man that played a part in Padmé’s death.
