Was *One* Really Breaking Into Two?

Originally posted on December 14, 2006

"Obi-Wan was right...you've changed." 
"You're going down a path I can't follow."

Both of these lines were said by Padmé to Anakin on Mustafar. We all know what happened shortly after this conversation...and it still remains one of the saddest moments in the saga for me. I have been thinking about this "break" in our beloved couple for a few weeks now. Not so long ago, I found a video to the song One by Faith Hill detailing the events of Anakin and Padmé's love, and it got me to thinking...was *one* really breaking into *two*?

As my good friend Angel would agree, Anakin and Padmé became *one* when they sealed their love in marriage at the end of AOTC. A war was looming over their heads and their duties to the Republic would be tested; however, they still vowed to love each other, forever, through both good and bad. Over the following three years, they were frequently separated for varying periods of time, primarily a result of Anakin's duty to the Jedi Order. They spent as much time together as they could, given the circumstances...but was that enough to sustain them as a couple, as individuals?

When they were reunited in ROTS, everything appeared to be going well between them...Anakin was home, Padmé was expecting their child(ren), and it appeared that the war was almost over. However, we soon discovered that the happiness surrounding that reunion would not last...as Anakin began having visions of Padmé's dying in childbirth. He was desperate to save her...and would do anything to keep her alive...even sell his soul to the Dark Side.

Padmé tried to help Anakin with his fears (as I discussed in a recent entry)...but he did not want her help. She wanted nothing more than to reach out to him, to reconnect the way they had *so long ago when there was nothing but our love.* Sadly, nothing she said or did changed things, and Anakin sought help elsewhere. Ironically, the person he turned to, his mentor and friend Palpatine, turned out to be the one person he sound have turned and run away from...and the only person to offer him the promise of cheating death, of saving Padmé. Anakin's pledge to Palpatine and the Dark Side essentially changed him so much that even those closest to him no longer recognized him. The moment Anakin turned on Padmé was the final "dagger" through the heart, so to say...it was what finally "broke" our *one* into *two*.

"I feel lost." Anakin, ROTS

The more I have thought about this song and the relationship between Anakin and Padmé through ROTS, the more I started thinking how this song also related to Anakin and Padmé as individuals. Not only had the Clone Wars changed them as a couple, it also changed them as individuals as it tested them both in different ways...Anakin, for his loyalty to the Jedi, and Padmé, for her loyalty to the Republic, to Democracy. As the War was coming to a close and Palpatine's power was being questioned, members of both the Jedi Order and the Senate were gathering to challenge this power. The Jedi asked Anakin to spy on Palps, while Padmé was meeting with other Senators to discuss plans for what would become the Rebel Alliance. Anakin felt betrayed by the Jedi for being asked to spy for them, while Padmé felt like she was betraying Anakin by discussing such actions with others and not him. They were both being torn between their duties to the Republic and to each other...their lives were splitting into many fragments, and there was nothing they could do about it. Padmé wanted to return to Naboo to try and "fix" things not only between her and Anakin, but also for each other's sanity.

I could go on with this for what would seem like forever...so I will stop now. I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Were Anakin and Padmé, as *one* really breaking into *two,* both as a couple and as individuals, near the close of the Clone Wars?

As always...your comments are welcome.


May The Force Be With You