The Tragic Downfall of Padmé Amidala

Sometimes I think about how Padmé Amidala missed so many red flags about Anakin Skywalker. He had so many issues which includes his overwhelming infatuation/obsession and stalkerish tendencies towards her. Padmé's love for Anakin caused her to overlook this and more, for instance in the second Star Wars movie Attack of the Clones, she comforted Anakin while they were on Tatooine after he told her he had killed all the Tusken Raiders. The Raiders had kidnapped his mother Shimi and she died from her injuries after he found her. However, instead of trying to deal with the situation the Jedi way, he angrily and impulsively killed the entire group. There wasn't even any thought or consideration that there may have been Raiders who were not involved with Shimi's abduction.

(Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala   Star Wars: Attack of the Clones)

This was such a down grade on Padmé's character, because as a Senator she should have reported Anakin's actions on Tatooine. Instead, she not only comforted him but later secretly married him. The moment she decided to do nothing besides comfort him, she became complicit in his actions. Somehow she must have forgotten about the Raiders incident because by the third movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi told her that Anakin had led an attack on the Jedi Temple and not only killed Jedi but younglings as well and she couldn't believe it.

How could she be comforting when he killed the Tusken Raiders which also included children but she couldn't believe he could do the same thing to the Jedi? It's astounding how strong her disbelief was. When she went to Mustafar to see Anakin, she tried to get him to leave with her so they could run away. She didn't care that he had killed Jedi and younglings, all she cared about was her love for Anakin and her desire for them to leave so they could raise their child together. It wasn't until Padmé saw for herself how much Anakin had changed after hearing him talk about the Jedi, his growing powers that would save her and his plans for taking over the galaxy that it finally sunk in that he had become a Sith.

I don't know why she was so surprised that he aligned himself with a dictatorship, he express interest in it when they were on Naboo in Attack of the Clones. For some reason, hearing him speak of undermining democracy is what made her back away and tell him he was breaking her heart.
It's surprising that this is what made her see him as a monster not the other numerous red flags she ignored along the way.

To make it even worse, when Anakin saw Obi-Wan leave Padmé's ship, he assumed she had betrayed him and force choked her until she passed out. I can't believe she risked her life trying to get Anakin to turn his back on the Sith and be with her. And not to mention she died from a broken heart after giving birth to her twins. It's hard to believe Padmé was so sad that she no longer had the will to live not even for her children.

When you look back at Padmé's story which began in The Phantom Menace it's disappointing to see how her life ends. She was so amazing, smart and take charge as Queen of Naboo saving her planet from the Trade Federation's invasion that she became a shell of her former self once she fell in love with Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones. There were so many red flags about Anakin that Padmé ignored in favor of love that by the time she finally saw the truth in Revenge of the Sith it was too late for her and the galaxy.