Darth Vader May Have to ‘Kill Padmé’ A Second Time

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Darth Vader #20!

The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, isn’t just regarded as Star Wars‘ best villain; he’s one of the greatest villains in fiction. In Marvel’s Darth Vader #20, by Greg Pak & Raffaele Ienco, someone resembling Padmé Amidala plans to use and kill him in the period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Because Vader and the Empire are intact at the beginning of Episode VI, it could mean the end for her.

Although Padmé dies of a broken heart at the end of Revenge of the Sith, the corrupted Anakin Skywalker was directly responsible for Force choking his wife on Mustafar. Thankfully, Obi-Wan Kenobi is there to defeat Anakin and return Padmé to safety. Even though Padmé survives well past her arrival at Polis Massa, fans widely regard that the fallen Chosen One is entirely to blame, especially when the Emperor says, “it seems in your anger, you killed her.” This divulgence evidently torments Vader’s entire life in Marvel’s current Star Wars comics.

When Pak and Ienco began the new Darth Vader run in 2020, Vader encountered the same woman resembling his wife in the first two issues. When she shoots at Darth Vader on the planet Vendaxa, he deflects the blaster bolt and Force chokes her. As the imposter floats in the air, grasping her throat, Vader remembers when he did the same thing to Padmé on Mustafar. Vader eventually deduces that she is, in fact, Sabé—Queen Amidala’s decoy from The Phantom Menace. As he remembers his wife’s unconscious body laying on Mustafar, he can’t bear to lose her again, so Vader releases her. He then joins forces with Sabé and returns to some significant prequel trilogy locations on Naboo. In issue #20, Sabé forms a plan to use Vader, which might bring her exactly where she was when she encountered Vader in issue #2.

If Vader realizes Sabé is trying to use him, the most likely outcome is that he’ll kill her. If Vader kills her, it will undoubtedly bring him back to recollecting his grief. Since her brief partnership with Vader, Sabé seems to have joined forces with Crimson Dawn, at least as an imposter, to gain power and kill Vader. She believes Vader killed Padmé and Anakin on Mustafar, but after discovering Luke Skywalker is Anakin and Padmé’s son, she only comes closer to Vader’s true identity. Sabé doesn’t appear in any content after Return of the Jedi, so her final moments could be near. The question is: will she find out Vader is Anakin Skywalker before she meets her end? Will Vader kill another woman who called herself “Queen Amidala?” Only time will tell.

While Sabé isn’t technically Padmé Amidala, she strongly influences Darth Vader. It’s more likely than not that the Dark Lord of the Sith’s full story will adopt a new meaning if he kills Sabé. Star Wars‘ creator, George Lucas, said it himself: “It’s like poetry, sort of, they rhyme.”

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