Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

ok, based on her looks, in TPM, amidala is in her early teens. however, she is the ELECTED queen of naboo. why on earth would the naboo elect a little girl to be responsible for an ENTIRE PLANET. it doesnt make ANY sense, even if you try to argue that its just how thier culture works. Our history is filled with young kings and queens, but they were in power because of their BIRTH. they were not ELECTED.

the only explaination i can see is that padme is VERY old. maybe even 100. i know this is very far-fetched, but wasnt there some rumor that the emperor is supposed to be 3,000 years old in ROTJ? Maybe the naboo age slowly and live longer than everyone else?

wawww 3000 years old!!!! I think he has this face on ROTJ for his use of the dark power (as is stated on EU Dark Empire) But the theorie that he is very old is nice... maybe he knows the old siths after all.

Ah, and for the thread, i remember to have redaded somewhere (maybe in EP1 Insiders Guide on CDRom) amidala was 14 on TPM and will be 24 in AOTC, what makes sense to be in love with a boy 19 years old, i think

Either way, she's a ****!

she's 14 in TPM and that's just how it works there, you get elected and after X years you are out

Hey, if GL wants his strange freaky worlds to have elected child monarchs, then let him, I say...

Well US elected Bush, and he is a little kid in his head. And that is the real world
I guess GL uses a little bit of earth histories of monarchies in it. The monarchs was not elected, but they could enter the throne at a very young age. They want to show Naboo as a very democratic an peaceful planet

Hey, now. Bush is handling the Afghanistan situatuin way better than Al Gore ever good. I may be young but I'm more politically aware than a lot of people I know who can vote.

Anyway. The official site says that Amidala was elected Princess of Naboo at 12 or something and then when the current king "abdicated the throne in scandal" she was elected queen. And I know that the site isn't completely canonical, but face it, it's the best thing any of us have to go on.

If Amidala is 100 years old, I'm gonna marry a race of her type. If my wife has an ass like that in 100 years,I'll be a happy man!

yeah yeah To

Well, I don't think we need to complicate any more than what the film says which is that she is the 'recently elected ruler of Naboo'.

Could Palpatine have had something to do with her election?

hmmm, interresting!

don't think so... he's in Coruscant then I think

i think either amidala is either very old or its a discrepancy. no people would elect a girl that young to lead them. lucas wanted a queen close to anakins age. heaven forbid a main character in the star wars sage be a queen in a non-democratic society. lucas is trying to be politically correct. it wouldnt have bothered me if padme was only queen because naboo was a patriarcy, her mother died, and she was next in line. there are only two possibilities that make sense. either padme's race ages slow and lives a very long time, or lucas made a boo-bbo.

the EU said that she was a politician when she was 8 so it's possible for her to be queen at age 14 (or was it 16?)

its still rediculous for someone that YOUNG

It's ridiculous here, but thism is Star Wars and teleknenetic people are ordinary, so open your mind.

Remember, there was that Governor too. I'm sure he did a lot of the work. Maybe it was like this: She was the figure-head of the government, while the Governor was in charge of most of the stuff politically. Who knows?

We're talking about the Star Wars Universe. With so many planets, there's bound to be one culture that elects their leaders young. Besides other EU sources say that Amidala is not Naboo's youngest monarch.

EU also says the emperor is 3000 years old. so amidala could be very young. padme could be 200 years old and not be the youngest. someone could have been elected at 150

EU DOESNT COUNT

easy finti!
I know, you know, they don't

Eu may not be the "truth" but it makes good reference points and interesting stories.

it's not cannonical, so can't be used

when there's something that's not true in the EU, you don't know whats false or true, so it's worthless.

sorry, but that's the truth...

GL picked a young girl to play Amidala because that is EXACTLY what we are meant to think she is; not some alien with freaky aging.

indeed

then GL made a blunder calling her an elected ruler.

Not at all; he wanted to reflect cultures different to our own. Cultures with young rulers occur in history; why not in a distant civilisation?

as a queen she couldn't marry, wasn't it?

Where'd you dig that fact up? ...EU...'cause you know how people around here view EU.

about ushgarak's comment. when cultures in our history had young rulers, it was because they were monarchys, not democracys. the young rulers werent elected. the older eligable persons in their family had died, so they became the rulers. they werent elected. naboo is not a monarcy, or patriarchy. it is a democracy. name me one democracy on earth that would elect a 14 year old child to make important decisions for them

But it's not on Earth. It's in a distant Galaxy with uncountable cultures- cultures that may seem strange to us. It's odd, to be sure, but no odder than the Force. And it is, at least, conceivable.

Besides, she is meant to be extremely precocious.

So they combine monarchys with democracy, pretty cool if you ask me.
the Kalmar union between Denmark ,Sweden and Norway in 1397 they elected Erik of Pommern as a King. Born in 1382 so he was 15, when elected by the nobels in thos three countries.
So it happens in history as well

You tell him, finti! Wow, we actually agreed on something. Must be the Christmas spirit I'm feeling.

probably misread it somewhere, but a while ago I read that there was a Scandinavian country that has an elected king... could be wrong (probably will)

Blimey. Fun though the history lesson is, I tbhink we have fully established that Amidala IS 14, and that while it is hardly conventional to elect her Queen, it's not SO stupid as to ruin anything.

Any other comments?

I'm not getting why this thread was started actually...

curiosity? or perhaps the person who started it just had too much time on their hands.

perhaps...

Maybe they were truely confused on the age of Queen Amidala?...hey you never know when the most obvious answer is right.

nah, probably noy... perhaps someone just felt like typing something

Well, I think this thread has served its purpose. Closing.