#padmenaberriens

[padmenaberriens]

"On Naboo. What's it like?"

Padmé could hardly even register the question, [ ... ] "Oh, it's very... very green. You know, with lots of water, and trees and plants everywhere. It's not like here at all."

— Attack of the Clones novel, R.A Salvatore.

[nabooro]

It may seem like a difficult or strange question, but what do you think Padmé would be like if her gender was changed? I can easily visualize Anakin as a woman, but Padmé as a man is something interesting and difficult to think about since there are many personal details involving Naboo and its culture about women that make me think. I would love to know how you would see it! From how Padmé would be adapted, the handmaids of Naboo, political role, personality...

Hi, thanks for the ask!

I'm not a huge genderbending fan, but the things I like about it are mostly about the insight into what makes a character a character - which parts are intrinsic and what parts are societal, and would necessarily be different. For Padmé, at least the parts of her we see most in canon, are I guess her strong moral backbone and her political presence (and acumen!), both of which are not that difficult to translate.

Naboo does have [elected] kings in the same way it has queens, and a similar parallel figure to Pads' handmaids in cânsag. I've talked about it in a couple of places, I think - and I do think Padmé (let's call him Padim) would probably still be just as enthused to go for the role as in canon.

My HC of the timeline pre-TPM is that the previous monarch - Ars Veruna, who I believe is no longer canon as Padmé's predecessor? - had a long reign and kept being re-elected and didn't do much good for Naboo, so perhaps Padim would stand on a similar platform as Padmé, acting as a sort of youth figure, looking to Naboo's future with a fresh start and a young face, rather than relying on the [corrupt] power that Veruna did. Granted, this would be a weaker platform for Padim, with less Rojile associations, but I think he would probably make it. Of course, this doesn't exactly save him from trouble with the Trade Federation...

Padim would have his own cânsag, of course, boys who resembled him and were handy with weapons and mostly politically fluent, or later trained to be so. On the whole, I think there would be little difference in his role as elected monarch, except that I think he would have to prove himself a little bit more, again due to those lack of associations. I do think his symbolism would change quickly, especially with the events of TPM, but I don't imagine his integrity - or strong sense of process - even in a scenario would let him go too far even with Zenda comparisons.

In the end, this hypothetical doesn't give me anything too different off the top of my head, because I don't believe Padmé's core aspects as a political figure would be any different in a gendered way - at least in my imagination, Naboo is relatively free of assumptions of what men and women can or can't do, and so she's never had to grapple with that, and so little changes. People are probably still socialised somewhat differently, so there would be changes, but I can't imagine what precisely unless I follow them from the start, if that makes sense. Maybe Padim is brasher and makes hastier choices! Maybe he trusts Palpatine more? Maybe he trusts Palpatine less, as he has other [male] figures around him he'd rather rely on? Maybe he decides his place is with his people in a more action-oriented role to align with his new symbolism, and never goes to Coruscant! Anything could happen.

Hope this answered your question a little bit!