The Moons of Iego: The Padmé Amidala & Anakin Skywalker Website

ESSAYS & DISCUSSION

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I Can't Live Without Her:
The Destruction and Re-Emergence of the Sacred Feminine in the Star Wars Saga

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The sacred feminine, as defined by mythology scholar Joseph Campbell, refers to the "mythic representation of the mother Goddess symbolized through images and events connected with fertility and reproduction."₁ The Star Wars saga uses this imagery, or the lack thereof, throughout all six films to illustrate decay and rebirth on a broad galactic scale with the Republic-turned-Empire, and on a more personal scale with the parallel journey of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

Campbell states that the linking of images of the earth or mother Goddess to symbols of fertility and reproduction came about largely through agricultural societies such as ancient Egypt: the earth gives life to plants just as the woman gives birth to her child.₂ The energy of the female became synonymous with the energy of life itself. He goes on to say of the Goddess: "She is the world creatrix... She encompasses the encompassing, nourishes the nourishing, and is the life of everything that lives. She is also the death of everything that dies."₃ She is renewal, and rebirth, and without her, the world is not truly alive. It is not coincidental that the prequel trilogy, before the Empire rises, is full of female characters and imagery -- nearly all of which is gone by the time of the original trilogy, where the tyrannical Empire has taken over. The destruction of the female heralds the destruction of the Republic, and of Anakin himself, and it is the re-emergence of that energy in Return of the Jedi that marks the Empire's fall and Anakin's redemption.

The strong female imagery of the prequels is present almost from the very first frames of The Phantom Menace, which introduce the world of Naboo and its queen, Padmé Amidala. Naboo, which features heavily in the first two prequels, is the most feminine planet in the saga: a verdant, water-filled world teeming with flora and fauna, the architecture of both its dominant races (human and Gungan) full of gentle slopes and curves. And of course, it is ruled by a queen. Women are prominent throughout the prequels -- in Republic society -- as mothers, rulers, Senators, advisors, fighter pilots, even bounty hunters and Jedi. Children are also a fixture: young Anakin, the other slave children, and other children in the Naboo parade in Menace; Attack of the Clones has young Boba Fett, Padmé's nieces (in the deleted scenes), and the Jedi younglings, the latter two of whom briefly show up again in Revenge of the Sith.

Padmé is perhaps the most dominant embodiment of the feminine/Goddess figure in the entire saga, and certainly in the prequel trilogy. She fits to a tee the role of the Goddess in Anakin's Hero journey: "She is the paragon of all paragons of beauty, the reply to all desire...She is mother, sister, mistress, bride...the incarnation of the promise of perfection; the soul's assurance that, at the conclusion of its exile in a world of organized inadequacies, the bliss that once was known will be known again."₅ She is the prequels' female lead, queen and senator of the fertile Naboo, caretaker and lover/wife to the saga's central character, and mother to two of the original trilogy's most important heroes. Her very name is associated with life and fertility, "padme" being Hindu for "sacred lotus" -- a flower crucial to Hindu creation mythology.₄ Unlike her future daughter, Padmé is not primarily a warrior (though is certainly capable), has more opportunity to be a nurturer, tends to favor more classically soft, flowing gowns and hairstyles, and is the only character seen pregnant and giving birth.

Anakin, the saga's central figure, while male and from a world the climatic opposite of Naboo, is strongly linked to the feminine from his first moments on-screen. Out of all the newcomers to his shop it is Padmé he is drawn to instantly, and his first significant dialogue is with her. His very conception was apparently virgin in nature, and he was raised solely by his mother Shmi. She appears to have been the only constant in a life of being shunted from place to place as a slave, and upon the prospect of leaving Tatooine, the only thing he appears to regret -- and what almost makes him stay -- is that he must leave Shmi behind. (He later remarks to Padmé in a deleted scene from Episode II that the only place he ever considered home was wherever his mom was.) The very nature of his birth and upbringing has predisposed him to seek comfort in a feminine form; he constantly craves a stable female presence in his life. Upon separation from Shmi in Menace he immediately finds comfort in Padmé, who assumes the role of caretaker. In the ten-year gap before he sees Padmé and his mother again, Anakin thinks and dreams of them frequently. In Episode II he passionately pursues a romance with Padmé, and even when she rejects his pursuit, he still considers her presence "soothing." After Shmi's death, she becomes the single most important person in Anakin's existence.

Even at the beginning of the saga, there are signs of the feminine energy being marginalized or threatened. Coruscant, the capital of the Republic, is pure city, all signs of natural plant or animal life long ago obliterated. For thousands of years the Jedi Order has continued the practice of separating their initiates from their birth families and severing all contact, eliminating the need for birth mothers. The plot of Menace centers on a threat to Naboo and Amidala; likewise the other two prequels' plots are propelled by a threat on her life -- which in every case serves to increase Senator (and later Chancellor) Palpatine's attempts to take the Republic more and more under his control. Clones marks the beginning of the feminine energy being destroyed in earnest with the brutal deaths of several female characters: Padmé's decoy dies bleeding in her arms after being hit by an explosion meant for Padmé, Padmé's would-be assassin loses her arm and is poisoned by a dart, and Shmi is kidnapped and tortured for weeks by Tusken Raiders before dying in Anakin's arms.

Clones also shows the marginalizing of female energy in another medium -- the introduction of the clone army on Kamino. Kamino is as artificial, monochromatic, and sterile as Naboo is fertile, its inhabitants only able to live on the world's violent seas in giant metal enclosures. Their entire existence appears to center on the mass-production (and sale) of human life in massive Brave New World-esque₆ facilities: human beings artificially conceived and mass-produced literally by assembly-line, each genetically modified to grow and behave a certain way. The Kaminoans have further asexualized this kind of reproduction by eliminating the need for any maternal involvement, simply duplicating a single original male host and gestating the babies in glass tubes. The facilities stand in stark contrast to the corresponding scenes of Anakin and Padmé's romance: the Kaminoans artificially "create" human life which will one day serve as the footsoldiers for a tyrannical Empire -- whereas the courtship/marriage of Anakin and Padmé in the lush environs of Naboo will result in the natural birth of Luke and Leia, the downfall of that Empire.

Threatened by an attacking army of machines from outside, the Republic eagerly seizes on the use of this ready-made army of seemingly quickly-produced, completely obedient humans who have absolutely no need or desire to be nurtured. These clones become the stormtroopers for the Empire in the original trilogy, and the Republic's embracing of them to fight their war marks a further step towards that eventual transformation.

This destruction of the feminine, while subtly reflecting the changing nature of the Republic, has an even more direct influence on the path of Anakin, and the way he himself shapes the galaxy. Anakin, while from a world the climatic polar opposite of Naboo, is linked to the feminine from nearly his first moment on-screen in Episode I. He is instantly drawn to Padmé; his first significant spoken dialogue is with her, asking if she is an angel. It is learned he was borne solely from his mother with no known biological father. He was raised only by his mother, who appears to have been the only constant in a life of being shunted from place to place as a slave. The very nature of his birth and upbringing predispose him to seek comfort in a female form. Even Obi-Wan, at one point in an expanded universe novel, makes the observation that Anakin "misses the female,₇" and is most at ease in their presence, a notion backed up by Anakin calling Padmé's presence -- even after her painful rejection of his declaration of love -- "soothing" in Clones.

It is separation from that feminine, or the threat thereof, that mark the dark moments in Anakin's journey. Separating from his mother in Menace heightens a fear of losing his loved ones that never completely goes away. The threats against Padmé's life in Clones prompt him to lash in anger at Zam Wesell, and later rashly attack Count Dooku, costing him his right arm. Also in Clones, his mother's violent death spurs his first true step towards the dark side when he vengefully slaughters the entire Tusken village holding her captive. And of course most prominently the nightmare visions of Padmé's death in Revenge send Anakin on a desperate course that ends with him turning to the Dark Side, destroying the Jedi, and Padmé herself.

Revenge shows the ultimate subjugation of feminine energy by the oncoming Empire. The two most dominant worlds, Coruscant and Mustafar, are -- with the exception of Padmé's apartment -- anything but nurturing environs. Kashyyyk, the greenest planet in the film, is overtaken by clone troopers, many of its native Wookiees slaughtered. Naboo is all but absent. Padmé herself, the only significant female character, is increasingly marginalized by both the dying Republic and her husband. She is forced to hide her pregnancy, or she and Anakin would face dire consequences from the Jedi and Senate. The Republic is coming more and more under Palpatine's direct control and therefore Senators such as herself are increasingly powerless. Anakin is so terrified of the prospect of her dying he will use any means to ensure he does not lose her -- in the process of trying to protect her he increasingly shuts her out, rendering her unable to comfort him.

In addition, two female Jedi are shown killed by their clone troopers during the massacre of Order 66, and another is glimpsed via hologram being killed by Anakin. The Jedi younglings are murdered by Anakin in arguably the most vicious act of his transformation. The true point of no return for him, however, comes in his own rage-induced Force-choke of Padmé. This seals his physical destruction in that it prompts the duel that leaves him so badly maimed he can't survive without machines, and his spiritual destruction in that by causing Padmé's death and the death of his child -- he believes -- he has destroyed everything good in his life, and has destroyed his own future. On a broader level, the attack by Anakin, the physical representation of the newly-formed Empire, upon Padmé -- the prequels' primary Goddess figure, and herself carrying new life within her -- is the Empire strangling everything maternal and feminine. Padmé herself gives birth and dies in a sterile white hospital room far away from her beloved Naboo, which is shown for the only time in Episode III after her death, itself now dark and subdued. With her death comes the seemingly ultimate destruction of all that is female and nurturing, the only glimmer of hope remaining in her newborn daughter and son.

A New Hope shows the galaxy taken over by the harsh, dictatorial Empire. The Empire itself is the embodiment of sterility, characterized in starkly lit, lifeless metal battle machines and identical faceless stormtroopers. Its officer ranks are solely made up of white human men, not a single woman or non-human anywhere in sight. Even in civilian locales such as Mos Eisley, women are sparse and children completely absent. As Darth Vader, Anakin himself has become the most visible symbol and embodiment of the Empire, a harsh, brutal machine who chokes those who anger him. The only female characters are Princess Leia and Aunt Beru, the latter of whom (and the more maternal of the two) is violently murdered early on, and Leia herself is hunted and slated for execution. But even in A New Hope, there are glimmers of the feminine energy that the Empire has not yet crushed: even the typically warrior-like Leia has moments of nurturing, comforting Luke after Obi-Wan dies and before he goes into battle. Leia also, as a leader in the Rebellion, presents a stark contrast to the all-male Empire. The Rebellion houses its main base in the jungles of Yavin IV, a moon that from space much resembles Naboo. The Empire fails to destroy the moon, losing its Death Star in the process. Vader himself remains seemingly unchanged at the end of the film, but has sensed the presence of the one he will soon discover is his and Padmé's long-lost son -- which will launch Vader on an obsessive quest to find him.

The Empire Strikes Back, by the very nature of its title, is the Empire reasserting itself against this new emergence with renewed force (pun not intended), and as such, any inklings of feminine energy are still difficult to spot. Occasional glimpses are shown of other women in the Rebellion -- which is constantly on the run -- and in Cloud City, but none nearly as prominent as Leia or even Aunt Beru, and children are still absent. The film's filled with largely artificial or inhospitable locales. Hoth is frigid and doesn't have enough life "to fill a space cruiser," and the denizens of itself and Bespin are forced to construct artificial protective habitats to exist there. The exception is of course the swamp-filled Dagobah, where Luke -- Padmé's avatar in the second trilogy -- in earnest begins his training in the Force and prepares to confront Vader, where he will learn his true heritage. Leia starts to show a softer side as she falls in love with Han, dressing in soft flowing attire in their private quarters in Cloud City -- attire that quickly disappears again upon capture by Vader, who later freezes Han in carbonite after Leia declares her love for him. In addition to being Han's lover she is also his comforter after his torture, and likewise comforts/tends to Luke after rescuing him from Vader and at the end of the film. Vader himself is inadvertently re-linking himself to the feminine in his desperate attempt to claim Luke as his son, for to truly claim to be Luke's father he will have to acknowledge that he was once a man who was desperately in love with a woman, enough to conceive a child with her.

The title of the final film in the saga, Return of the Jedi, indicates some sort of rebirth is at hand, and there is certainly a strong resurgence in feminine energy in this film. The beginning of the film even recalls the beginning of Menace, the view of a beautiful green world marred by the machine of war looming above it. The feminine energy is present, but the Empire still very much threatens it -- or in this case is exploiting it, using the pristine forest world of Endor as a base for constructing a monstrous death machine meant to be the final defeat of the Rebellion and ultimate assertion of the Empire's might. There are other signs of re-emergence scattered throughout the film -- Leia is reunited with her lover and is the one to awaken him from his carbonite stasis (in itself a rebirth); the leader of the Rebel Alliance is the most maternal-looking woman to appear in the movies since the ill-fated Beru. But most of the feminine symbolism in Jedi is associated with Endor, which is easily the most nurturing planetary environment shown in the original trilogy, filled with thick, lush, vibrantly green forests, opposite in every way to the Death Star the Empire is building above it. It is home to the tree-dwelling Ewoks, who include the only mothers and children seen in the saga since Episode III, and who help the Rebels overcome Palpatine's troops -- many of them the remnants of those long-ago Kamino clones -- and clear the way for the Rebel fleet to destroy the Death Star. Surrounded by this energy Leia's warrior exterior softens, briefly donning a simple, earth-toned gown and leaving her long hair completely unbound. It is also on Endor that Padmé is discussed for the first and only time in the trilogy by both her children.

The representation of feminine energy also occurs, most importantly for Vader, in Luke himself: never is Luke more his mother's avatar, the embodiment of her spirit and faith, than in Jedi. This is the film where he has undertaken the quest Padmé failed in years ago, and -- despite his claims of not remembering her -- no less than twice almost exactly echoes her final words as affirmation of his belief of the good in his father. Vader does not believe he himself can be saved, but still very much wants Luke at his side on the path he is on, the path Padmé was unwilling to accept; he still deeply desires the sort of just, compassionate presence that Luke and Padmé represent beside him in some form. He struggles against Luke's attempts to turn him back and denies Anakin means anything, even threatening Leia to manipulate Luke into giving in to the Dark Side himself. All through their battle, Luke continues to try to appeal to him. But it is not until Vader is faced with the sight of his son screaming and pleading to him as he dies before Vader's eyes -- much like Padmé in the dreams that tormented him years before -- that Anakin is able to finally rise up and kill Palpatine. Indeed, the juvenile novelization of Jedi -- the first edition of movie novelizations that take prequel events into account -- declares that it is ultimately the memory of Padmé's "undying love" for Anakin that directly spurs him into realizing he can not simply stand by and watch Palpatine murder their son.₈ By saving Luke, Anakin casts off Darth Vader permanently and kills the Emperor, sealing the death of the Empire.

It is by re-embracing the feminine -- or rather, the part of himself that sought and loved the feminine -- through Luke that Anakin is redeemed and the galaxy is saved. Endor becomes the site of galactic rebirth, in the hope of a new, less tyrannical government under the Rebel Alliance. On a more personal level it is the site of a new beginning for the Skywalker family: it is where Vader's physical remains are destroyed and where Luke sees the fully restored spirit of his father; it is where Anakin and Padmé's children are reunited and their daughter happily resolves her relationship with Han, opening up the possibility that one day she may marry and have children of her own, in hopefully a far more pleasant galaxy than the one she was raised in. In his redemption Anakin destroys the very Empire he helped build, paving the way for the galaxy to renew itself.

Works Cited:

1. Wikipedia.org, "Sacred feminine." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_feminine
2. Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. Doubleday, 1988.
3. Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. MJF Books, 1949.
4. Wikipedia.org, "Sacred lotus." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_lotus#Religious_symbolism
5. The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
6. Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley.
7. Star Wars: Rogue Planet, by Greg Bear. Del Rey/Lucas Books, 2000.
8. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, by Ryder Windham. Scholastic Paperbacks, 2004.

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