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Darth Sidious was always a magnificent bastard and seemed to not leave anything to chance.

Did he, under the guise of Palpatine, "inspire" Anakin to believe that he loved Amidala? And did Anakin, subconsciously or otherwise, employ mind tricks to seduce her?

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  • Why on earth would Palpatine want Anakin to get it on with Padme?
    – bharal
    Aug 12, 2014 at 11:39
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    @bharal: because love leads to fear (that Natalie Portman will suddenly realise how whiny and annoying you are and die from the surprise), and fear leads to hate, and hate leads to etc. etc. Feb 1, 2016 at 9:20
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    First time I've ever heard that...mess...referred to to as "seduction"...
    – DavidS
    Mar 8, 2016 at 17:04

4 Answers 4

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Not sure if there's a direct canon answer for the first one (Sidious making Anakin fall in love), but we all remember Obi-Wan's teaching to Luke:

The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.

Neither Anakin nor Padme were especially weak-minded, to put it mildly, so this is highly unlikely.


The latter part (Anakin's mind trick on Padme) is refuted in canon; in Episode II the following dialog takes place:

Padmé: "You gonna use one of your Jedi mind tricks on me?"

Anakin: "They only work on the weak-minded."

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  • While neither Anakin or Padmé were weak-minded, as such; D. Sidious certainly held sway over D. Vader; and it's not impossible that given the time frame within which we are operating, D. Vader could maintain sway over Padmé, no? Dec 20, 2011 at 21:21
  • @WillihamTotland - to the best of my understanding, Force Persuasion succeptibility does not change with time but it's not 100% clear. Dec 20, 2011 at 21:43
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    Also, I suspect that both Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker have a poor understanding of the subtler aspects of the workings of The Force. Dec 20, 2011 at 21:43
  • I suspect "weak minded" is only relative to the force user... A sufficiently strong-minded individual could probably have Force Persuaded Padme, Anakin, or even Obi-Wan
    – Izkata
    Dec 21, 2011 at 4:02
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    We also know from canon that "Jedi Mind Tricks" genuinely do not work on Hutts (who are notoriously strong willed)... it's not at all likely that Padme was long-term "adjusted" by Anakin. And a mind trick isn't likely to be sufficient to turn a Jedi to the dark side. Sidious' impact on Anakin isn't via the force, but via twisted logic. Ani is strong willed, and strong in the force, but not really all that bright...
    – aramis
    Dec 21, 2011 at 21:50
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I would say no for both question parts

1.) The force can only affect those weak in minds and amidala never was that. Additionally anakin already had a crush on her in phantom menace where he asked her if she was an angel and wanted to marry her later on. Thus his crush and love was not the work of palpatine as he had that alerady before first meeting him.

2.) Amidala was already anakins wife when he became vader thus it would be the question if anakin used the force to seduce her. If we take his sadness at her forgetting him and also the force not affecting strong minds into account I would say no. Even later on when he was vader he didnt do that. He was too aggressive as vader (we see him reflexively strangling her instead of trying to seduce her back when he was jealous) to even think about using the force to seduce her.

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It can go either way. Certainly Anakin cared enough about Padme, even when he was pursing her (and she initially resisted his advances in spite of her complimentary attraction to the handsome young Jedi) to not deliberately attempt to manipulate her to his will. And, yes, naturally Padme, with her experience as a two-term Naboo queen and a Senator, was experienced in the art of negotiation and reading people, Force-sensitive or not. However, it might be postulated that her life in politics had left her lonely, wanting a man and eventually a family as her older sister Sola had already done. Yet she did not want to leave behind her political ambitions. With Anakin, she could have it both ways, so it could be said that whatever Force-driven seduction that Anakin may have been subconsciously employing (not unlike how he Pod-raced as a boy), Padme willingly gave into it for her own desires. Still a fair deal, in spite of how it all turns out. In a fan fiction writing, Yoda chides Luke for his infatuation with Mara Jade..."Jedi Boy meets girl...wants girl...mate they do...girl finds herself with youngling, parents angered are and blame Jedi for using his powers to advantage of their daughter take!"

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if you watch episode 3 it is clear that palpatine actually weakened anakin's mind and used a mind trick on him example he tells anakin something right after anakin repeats it in a manner similar to how someone who was just mind tricked would react example palpatine says he senses that the jedi are going to overthrow the republic anakin replies i agree the jedi are trying to overthrow the republic this is a clear sign of mental manipulation

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