’Til The End

by MaskoftheRay

Summary:

The warning signs have all been / bright and garish / far too great in number to ignore.

Padmé, despite what certain political opponents may claim, is not a woman prone to naivete. Nor is she blindly optimistic. However, she does believe a better future for the galaxy is possible; it simply requires the right allies and a commitment to the grueling work. All that said, she is not unaware of the strain Anakin is under and how it seems to be pushing him closer and closer to some kind of psychological edge.

But I will walk down to the end / with you / if you will come all the way / down with me.

As always, Anakin does it all for Padmé.

Notes:

The Mountain Goats have so many incredible songs - a number of which I think work quite well for various Star Wars characters - but this one screamed Anidala to me. It's about sticking with another person despite the likelihood of having a terrible outcome because you care for them even as you recognize their flaws.

I DON'T think Padmé was naive! If anything, she was the Prequels character most intimately familiar with Anakin's darkness - without being judgemental about it. That is the key difference between her, the Jedi (Council), and Palpatine. The Jedi are rightly concerned about Anakin, but their punitive reactions to even his innocent mistakes only makes the growing distrust worse. Anakin feels he cannot safely err, and so, out of fear, attempts to conceal everything from them.

Sidious and Padmé have similar roles in Anakin's life as the two outsiders who are 'on his side.' However, only Padmé's support of Anakin is genuine. While she rarely outright criticizes Anakin, she is willing to do so when necessary (as we see on Mustafar). Of course, she does so with his well-being and happiness in mind; Padmé wants what's best for Anakin as a person. Palpatine | Sidious, however, exploits this gap of trust between Anakin and the Jedi Order and uses Anakin's fear - of messing up, of his own inner darkness - against him to trap him with it. If Anakin felt he could go to the Council, or even Obi-Wan, with the small things, it may have slowed his downward spiral enough for someone else to more successfully intervene. I'm not saying that Anakin is innocent; even by ROTS he had done some awful things. But Star Wars is about redemption. If Vader can get redeemed, so can a younger Anakin be.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 12 of Fan 📽️