Darth Vader Was Aware That Padmé Died? Here’s How

Padmé Amidala was the one person Anakin Skywalker loved the most, other than his mother. As a matter of fact, his desire to keep Padmé safe eventually pushed Anakin to the dark side as he wanted to have the power to prevent Padmé’s impending death. But we all know that Padmé died after childbirth and shortly after Anakin’s complete transition into Darth Vader. So, was Vader aware that Padmé died?

Darth Vader was aware that Padmé Amidala died. That’s because Palpatine told him what happened to Padmé after he saved Anakin on Mustafar. In fact, there was a big funeral held for Padmé on Naboo. But Vader didn’t know that Padmé died of a broken heart as he thought she died by his hand.

It was always a fact that Darth Vader was aware of the demise of his wife. The only thing that he didn’t know was that Padmé died of a broken heart, as Sidious lied to his apprentice to make Vader hate himself even more and become stronger in the dark side of the Force. So, with that said, let’s look at how Darth Vader knew that Padmé had died.

Palpatine told him

One of the most emotional events of the Star Wars lore happened in ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ when Padmé and Anakin Skywalker rendezvoused in Mustafar.

Padmé had learned from Obi-Wan that Anakin had fallen to the dark side, but she wanted to confirm what happened to her husband in person. That was why she went to Mustafar to see Anakin, who had already taken up the Sith Lord name of Darth Vader.

Of course, we saw in that confrontation that Padmé did not exactly agree with the decisions made by Anakin. She was hurt because her husband, who used to be nice, had fallen so far that he was willing to take the lives of innocent Jedi younglings.

And when Anakin told her that he did all that for her so that they could rule the Empire together, Padmé realized that she was not willing to walk down the path that her husband had paved.

Obi-Wan Kenobi suddenly appeared because he secretly snuck onboard Padmé’s ship. This led Anakin to think that his pregnant wife brought Obi-Wan to kill him and that Kenobi had poisoned her against him. As such, he used the Force to choke Padmé even though he fell to the dark side to save her from death. Only when Obi-Wan told him to release Padmé did Anakin do so.

The fateful duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin happened, with Kenobi winning it by cutting off all of his former apprentice’s limbs and allowing him to burn in the fires of Mustafar. Of course, we know that Palpatine eventually arrived to rescue Darth Vader from certain death. He kept Vader alive by giving him cybernetic limbs and by making him wear a life-support suit.

Meanwhile, while that was happening, Obi-Wan brought Padmé to her ship as she was about to give birth. The droid administering the birth of Padmé’s surprise twins said that she was dying. And she eventually died just after giving birth to her children and naming them.

After Vader woke up from his procedure, he first asked Palpatine about Padmé’s condition. That was when the emperor told him that Padmé had died. An enraged Vader let out his emotions as he destroyed the droids in the room.

As such, Vader learned about Padmé’s death because Emperor Palpatine told him she had died. Of course, Padmé’s death eventually became public knowledge. That’s because a big funeral was held for her on Naboo. This was shown during the final portion of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi.’

Because of this funeral, everyone in the galaxy became aware of Padmé’s death. But the only thing kept a secret from the rest of the galaxy was the cause of her death and the fate of the children she was carrying in her womb. 

Vader didn’t know how Padmé died

Of course, it goes without saying that Padmé’s death was one of the things that Darth Vader first found out after he survived the fires of Mustafar and turned into a cybernetic monster.

But the twist was that Palpatine lied to him by telling him a different story. The emperor told Vader that Padmé died due to Vader’s rage when he used the Force to choke her, as the former Anakin couldn’t believe it because he felt that she was alive before he released his hold over her.

As such, Vader continued to live on with his life, thinking that he killed Padmé directly when he used the Force to choke her. The reason why Palpatine lied to Vader was the fact that he wanted his apprentice to become even more hateful. It was Vader’s hatred that allowed him to become strong. However, his self-hatred was stronger than his hatred toward other people.

So, by making Vader think that he killed Padmé, Palpatine allowed him to hate himself even more. This turned him into a monster of hatred that wanted nothing more than to destroy and kill everything around him. And this also allowed Palpatine to manipulate Darth Vader easier.

But the truth was that Padmé’s vital signs were normal, and she had no problems after giving birth to her children. However, the droid that delivered her babies said that Padmé didn’t want to live anymore, leading to her death.

In other words, Padmé Amidala died of a broken heart after she learned that her husband had fallen to the dark side and was willing to kill her for his twisted ideals. And, probably, Palpatine never told Vader that Padmé died of a broken heart because he didn’t want his apprentice to regret falling to the dark side.

By lying to Vader, Palpatine would have made him hate Obi-Wan for pushing him to choke Padmé. But if he had told Vader the truth, he might have realized that Padmé’s heart was broken because she truly loved him and felt the worst pain when she saw how far he had fallen.

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