matril: (vader)
[personal profile] matril
I've been musing about this topic, fandom-wise, ever since 2005 when we were presented with two troubling mother-deaths that bore a number of similarities.


So here's the similarities that strike me about Padmé and Merope:

-Both die in childbirth
-Both are emotionally distressed because of something the father has done
-Both could, theoretically, have made an effort to stay alive for the children but did not
-Both have been criticized as very negative portrayals of feminine weakness

The odd thing is, I pity Merope, but I find her more condemnable than Padmé. Why? I'm not entirely sure, but it probably has something to do with the differences between them.

-The father of Merope's child was not, by all indications, actually in love with her. He was manipulated into marrying her. Padmé's relationship with the father of her children was genuine, even if it ended badly.
-We had been following Padmé through three movies, sympathizing with her plights, admiring her courage, appreciating the internal conflict she is undergoing. We see Merope once and then have a few supppositions about her actions. She's a pathetic figure, but not much else.
-Padmé's children grow up to save the galaxy and redeem Anakin. Merope's son becomes the most powerful Dark wizard who ever lived.
-Padmé probably knows that Obi-Wan will make sure her children are taken care of after she dies, and that they will eventually be told the truth about their heritage (she might have given him a bit more credit than he deserves ;). Merope has her son in a Muggle orphange, where he will grow up without any knowledge of his inherited powers, and probably without much love either.

Some reasons are a bit more solid than others. Just because Merope's son becomes evil certainly doesn't mean that she's responsible for it. Tom Jr. made his own choices. Would he have chosen the same if she had survived? Who knows? Would Luke and Leia have turned out differently, being raised together by Padmé? Probably. But then again, they might have been in more danger, if Vader could sense his wife's presence. A lot of questions without easy answers. But there can be no denying the idea that the death of one's mother has a profound impact on one's life, and I would argue that the way she dies is important to that impact.

Take Lily. She dies before Harry can remember anything, so it's not much better than in childbirth. Her death, however, is nearly the opposite of Padmé or Merope's - utterly unselfish, the ultimate sacrifice. It is also a deliberate choice, which makes all the difference in the world in terms of protecting Harry. Were Padmé or Merope's death's deliberate choices? The movie is rather fuzzy regarding Padmé - "lost the will to live" could be interpreted in so many different ways. Part of me likes to think that she intentionally sacrificed herself to keep her children safe from Vader, but honestly, there's not much in her behavior from Mustafar to her death to indicate that sort of resolution. She seems more despairing than deathly determined. So was it just weakness, after all? I think that Padmé's emotional state has holes in it even from the very beginning of the prequels - she makes a great queen and Senator, but she's denied herself the chance to grow up as an ordinary girl, with the normal interactions and friendships that every human needs. It makes her particularly susceptible to a relationship with Anakin, because she's never had the chance at anything like that before. Not that I'm intensely critical of Anakin and Padmé's relationship - er, I'm pretty obviously a big fan of that particular pairing. ;) However, as much as Anakin's whole Dark Side thing is the main problem that leads to their falling apart, I think there is an element of Padmé's inadequate emotional coping abilities that contributes to it. In other words, she wasn't flawless. Hmm...I meant to talk about Lily, but instead I've gone on about Padmé. Well, anyway.

Lily's death impacts Harry in a great many ways. He longs for his lost parents, and sometimes that is a danger to him, as when he gets stuck on the Mirror of Erised. By and large, however, his knowledge of her sacrifice gives his life greater direction and purpose. And he never has to doubt whether his mother really loved or wanted him. That's a great knowledge to carry around. I don't know whether Luke or Leia had that knowledge, but I'd like to think their surrogate parents made them aware of her love for them. If they eventually find out about how she died, however, they may no longer be certain of that love. I have the feeling Tom Jr. assumed from the start that his mother didn't want him or care about him. I don't think that it's just the difference between their mothers, however, that leads to the different choices that Tom and Harry make. After all, Harry doesn't know how his mother died for the first eleven years of his life, yet by that point he's a nicer, far more considerate person than Tom was at his age. It's all about choice. And I suspect that Tom's problem has to do with thinking he has no choice. He's the heir of Slytherin, he talks to snakes, his forebears had nothing to do with wizarding authorities - so naturally, he must become a Dark Wizard. Harry could have followed the same line of reasoning, but he escapes it. Merope's backstory explains how Tom ended up parentless in a Muggle orphanage; it is not an explanation or justification for his behavior. Nor is Lily's sacrifice the reason Harry must be good. He could have just as easily become another Voldemort. He chose not to.

Finally, Shmi. Dying in childbirth or a year afterwards is quite different from dying in your son's arms. It's a whole different sort of mother-death trauma. But there's still room for comparison. Shmi didn't choose to die, but when Anakin finds her, she is ready to die, no regrets. She has no way of knowing how her death will affect him, and even if she did there is little she can do to prevent it. But her death is just one thing affecting Anakin's choices. She has also given him a happy childhood - as happy as possible while being a slave - taught him to be kind and generous, and given him unconditional love. Those things are inside him somewhere, though buried very deep, during his long years in the Dark Side, and they re-emerge just before his death. Even her death could have taught him a cruical lesson, if he had been able to hear and understand it - "Now I am complete." Peace even in the face of death and loss. If Anakin had grasped that concept then, instead of 20 years later while he is himself dying, his mother's death would have had a vastly difference influence upon his life. Alas.

I'm rambling a lot, and not making many solid conclusions. Well, this topic is intriging, and bears deep perusal. I'm done for now.
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