Couple: Rapunzel and Unnamed Prince
From: Fairy Tales
Website: N/A

A baby girl, in her parents' life-or-death bargain with an evil witch, is taken at birth to be raised alone high atop a locked tower. The girl, Rapunzel, grows up to be a beautiful young woman, her only companion the witch.

One day, a prince traveling nearby hears Rapunzel singing and is enchanted, and seeks her out. He sees the witch call Rapunzel to let down her long hair to climb into the tower.

The prince calls for Rapunzel to let her hair down, climbing up it. Rapunzel is initially startled because he is not the witch, but is soon glad for the companionship. The two fall quickly in love, and the prince regularly meets her in secret every night, sneaking into the tower while the witch is away and helping plot Rapunzel's escape.

In the early versions of the tale, it is Rapunzel accidentally revealing her pregnancy that in turn reveals the secret romance to the witch. In a rage, the witch casts Rapunzel out into the wilderness alone. The prince arrives to find the witch, who gleefully informs him that his love is gone forever. In his grief, he immediately leaps from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The blinded prince despairingly wanders alone in the same dark wilderness Rapunzel was cast into. While in her exile, Rapunzel gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. After many years, one day Rapunzel and the Prince find each other again. Her tears of joy restore his sight, and the two of them return to his kingdom with their children.

As with Rapunzel - and many classic fairy tales - Padmé's birth family is not present much in her main journey. The closest we see to a real mentor or parental figure is Palpatine, the "witch" of her tale. Rapunzel being locked away in her tower can be a metaphor for the secluded, emotionally isolated life Padmé herself lives before Anakin returns. She even lives atop a high tower - and it's after ascending this tower (though in an elevator, of course) that Anakin is reunited with her. Many of their secret meetings also occur here.

Like Rapunzel, Padmé's hair is a distinguishing physical feature, very long and in Padmé's case often sculpted into severe, elaborate styles befitting her high station. As she falls more in love with Anakin, she "lets down her hair" more and more, eventually doing so completely.

Like Rapunzel and her prince, Anakin and Padmé embark on a secret relationship, stealing what time together they can, until her unexpected pregnancy threatens their secret. Like the prince, Anakin leaps into darkness as a result of being led to believe his love is completely gone, and wanders alone and maimed for many years - until he is eventually healed by her love and their children.