How Old Is Padme In Star Wars & Is Her Age Difference With Anakin Problematic?

The "Star Wars" prequel trilogy mainly served as a method to fill in the backstory of iconic characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd/Hayden Christensen). However, it also worked to fill in gaps in the story and answer some questions that fans may not even have been aware of at first.

When viewers first met Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) in "Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace," it seemed like it was her role as the Queen of Naboo that motivated her place in the story. However, when she gave a flirtatious smile to Anakin at the end of the prequel, some fans were left scratching their heads.

At this point in the story, Padme is 14 years old, while Anakin is much younger, being a mere 9 years old. While most people wouldn't scoff at a 5-year age difference when it comes to adult relationships, many would likely argue that there's a massive maturity gap between someone who's in the 3rd or 4th grade and someone who has just begun high school. Though this element of the story has often had fans raising their eyebrows, the "Star Wars" prequels skirted controversy to some degree in "Attack of the Clones."

Though there seems to be a connection between the two characters in the first prequel, they don't become romantically involved in any way until the sequel, "Star Wars: Episode 2 — Attack of the Clones." At this point in the story, both are a full ten years older, with Anakin being 19 and Padme being 24, which is a much more appropriate version of that same age gap from the first movie.

Unfortunately, given the tragic nature of Anakin's eventual fall to the Dark Side, the two would only have a few years to spend together before death parted them. Padme died at the age of 27, and Anakin was horribly maimed for life in a battle with Obi-Wan at the age of 22.

While the "Star Wars" timeline can be extremely complicated by how many events have occurred in a short period of time and how much they cross over with one another, fans can take some comfort that the doomed lovers did have a few years of happiness before Anakin embraced the Dark Side. Of course, it helps that Padme had two kids before she died, and they offered something of A New Hope for The Return of the Jedi.