It’s Sith Week! During this scene in the fabulous Sithisis, Palpatine uses a giant crystal in his underground lair to send a lightning storm across Coruscant. The storm frightens the children in the Jedi Temple, who are being babysat by Artoo and a pregnant Padme. A lot of things about this situation don’t really make sense in the plot, but they convey the mood and situation with drama and style. I like the muted palette, theatrical compositions, and lightning as a symbol for Palpatine’s abrupt turn. I also like how the close-up of Artoo’s eye makes him look like HAL 9000.
It makes me emotional to think that Padme feels a connection to the children in the Temple, and may have even visited them. In the movie, we see her weep for the burning Temple. She may have even assumed that the Jedi kids would one day become companions for her future children.
There is something uniquely twisted about Palpatine’s betrayal of Padme, a fellow Naboo in the same career. We see them argue yet remain allies in the first movie, but by the third he finally reveals his true nature, and she finally becomes wise to the evil at the heart of the government she’s served her whole life. Too late!
“Sithisis,” found in “Star Wars: Visionaries.” Dark Horse. March 16, 2005. Writer and artist: Derek Thompson.
