My Mother
by EsmeAmeliais a Star Wars fic set a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi, written before the release of the Sequel Trilogy. The prologue reveals that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa attempted to save Padmé Amidala’s life after she gave birth to Luke and Leia by freezing her in carbonite, but an unfortunate chain of events afterwards resulted in them losing track of Padmé and assuming that she was dead. Almost thirty years later, Leia Organa Solo is exploring an old hospital that she is planning to re-open as part of a series of reforms when she finds a mysterious woman frozen in carbonite, and soon realises that this woman is the mother she never knew.
My Mother contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Padmé talks with Chewbacca about her complicated feelings regarding Anakin and Vader, she asks Chewbacca if he wouldn’t want to forgive his own mate if she ever fell like Anakin did, and Chewbacca can’t answer her question.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: Even before her reunion with her sister and nieces, Padmé has to deal with her children only being a few years younger than her and a son-in-law who is physically a couple of years older than she is.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Invoked; Leia nearly loses at least one of the twins before Anakin steps in to help.
- Body Surf: Anakin briefly ‘possesses’ Padmé so that she can help him channel his power to help save Leia and her twins during complications in childbirth.
- Canon Welding: The fic mostly skims over the idea that it has anything to do with Legends canon, except for the fact that Han and Leia have twins named Jaina and Jacen.
- Cessation of Existence: In a sense; Anakin and Obi-Wan reveal to Padmé that it is impossible for non-Force users to retain sentience after death on their own, and it has even taken time for the Jedi to learn how to manifest as Force ghosts, but they have managed to learn how to teach non-Force-users to retain or even regain their identities after death, with their first success case being Bail Organa.
- Child by Rape: Leia assumed she and Luke were this before meeting Padmé, as she couldn't believe anyone would willingly be with Vader.
- Cool Aunt: Padmé is confirmed to have been this to her young nieces before she was frozen in carbonite.
- Dead Girl Junior: At least intended; Padmé’s niece Ryoo named her own daughter after Padmé when she believed that her aunt was dead.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: When Obi-Wan's Force ghost appears to Padmé, he initially appears as the old man he was when he died, but he is able to change his appearance to the younger man Padmé is more familiar with.
- Gilligan Cut: Han is insistent that he will not be serving breakfast to the newly-unfrozen Padmé. After a scene break, he's doing exactly that.
- I See Dead People: Anakin explicitly notes that only certain people can see Force ghosts; Padmé can see him because of her many positive memories of him despite lacking the Force herself, but Leia can't because she can't accept the idea of Darth Vader as a good man.
- Internal Reveal: When Han learns that Vader built Threepio, he reflects that he shouldn’t be surprised as only someone that evil could make something that annoying.
- It's All My Fault: As she learns about Anakin’s actions as Darth Vader, Padmé blames herself for both her husband’s fall to the Dark Side and Palpatine becoming Chancellor in the first place.
- Killed Offscreen: Padmé is saddened to learn that her parents died years ago, although her sister and nieces are still alive.
- Long-Lost Relative: When Padmé and the others return to Naboo, she is swiftly reunited with her sister Sola, and introduces the now-older woman to her nephew and niece.
- Meaningful Rename: A relatively minor example; Leia has never had a middle name, but when Padmé reveals that she would have given Leia the middle name of ‘Shmi’ after her paternal grandmother if there had been time after her birth, Leia’s acceptance of that name is the first sign to Padmé that Leia is coming to accept her father’s side of the family.
- Mistaken for Romance:
- When Luke initially visits the Solos’ apartment after Leia wakes up Padmé, he wonders if Leia is concerned that Han is having an affair with the woman Leia released from carbonite before Leia helps Luke realise who the woman is.
- When Lando meets the family for the first time since Padmé is awakened, he assumes that she is involved with Luke before witnessing a news broadcast that confirms her real relationship with him.
- Mr. Exposition: Luke takes this role when he tells Padmé what happened to Anakin after he became Darth Vader, explaining Vader’s role in the destruction of Alderaan and his final sacrifice to kill the Emperor.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: Padmé basically looks like she's Leia's age after spending practically Luke and Leia's entire life frozen in carbonite until Leia found her.
-
Nightmare Fuel: Literally; Padmé at one point has a nightmare featuring her and Anakin with the newborn twins that turns into Anakin blaming her for everything he did as Vader. - Older Than They Look: Padmé isn't sure if she should consider this to apply to her, given that she's chronologically in her fifties but physically only in her mid-twenties.
- Open Secret: When Padmé starts talking about her husband to the Senate in her first public appearance after she is unfrozen, quite a few people know that she is referring to Darth Vader, even if she insists that she was married to Anakin and not Vader.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Invoked when Padmé is visited by Anakin and Obi-Wan's Force ghosts; Anakin's can only appear to her once she's fully accepted his death and his past, and when Obi-Wan appears to her, he initially manifests as the old man he died as but is able to change his appearance to the image Padmé is more familiar with.
- Posthumous Character: Not only does Padmé talk with Anakin and Obi-Wan’s Force ghosts, but when Leia is experiencing a difficult childbirth, she is contacted by the spirits of her adopted father and her biological grandmother.
- Redemption Equals Death: Although Luke has forgiven his father, Leia still has trouble accepting the idea that there was ever any good in Anakin even after Luke told her about Vader’s final sacrifice.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Padmé basically brings this up when she's introducing herself to people she knew before she was frozen, ranging from Mon Mothma to her own sister.
- The Scapegoat: Padmé is shaken to learn that she has basically become the scapegoat for Palpatine’s rise to power, as she was a convenient ‘target’ when she was apparently dead and no longer around to defend herself, although Mon Mothma assures Padmé that she had no part in that particular decision.
- Secret-Keeper: Luke and Leia are surprised to learn that Artoo has known so many details about their family history, to the extent that he still has the recording of Anakin and Padmé’s wedding.
- Selective Obliviousness: Padmé basically has this for a few moments when she learns that Naboo is still loyal to the Empire's memory, even as Leia points out that it's perfectly logical for the Emperor's home planet to still be loyal to Palpatine.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Naturally the whole point of this fic is that Padmé Amidala survives her canon death, although this is only learned almost thirty years later when she's unfrozen from carbonite.
- Spirit Advisor: ‘Advisor’ is probably the best term for how Anakin and Obi-Wan appear to Padmé as Force ghosts, Anakin apologizing to Padmé for everything he did after he fell to the Dark Side and Obi-Wan explaining that she was spared by the Force to help Luke and Leia gain a new understanding of their pasts.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Regardless of what she learns about Anakin’s sins as Darth Vader, Padmé never stops loving him.
- The Unintelligible: Defied as Padmé has learned the Wookiee language herself.
- Wham Line: "Naboo is not part of the New Republic."
