Two things I’d never realised until reading Eddie’s plot summary:
- Why does Sidious want to invade Naboo? Why the fixation on recapturing Padme?
- When exactly do Padme and the decoy switch places? She introduces herself to everyone as “Padme” when she’s pretending to be a handmaiden; do people not know that’s Queen Amidala’s first name?
1- Because the original plan was to get her to sign the treaty ( Palp thought she was young so easy to scare) to legitimize the occupation and create sympathy for him in the Senate so he could use it to win the next election ( Valorum had less than a year left on his mandate.) He never expected that Amidala would find her way to Coruscant. He just adapted after that and he got what he wanted even quicker. The old EU cover that story pretty well ( Cloak of Deception )
I wonder if there’s a way to hint at that more in the movie? (Which may or may not work if it’s an edit that tries to keep Sidious and Palpatine separate, depending on how it’s done.)
2- Amidala is a persona. Every queen of Naboo get one. Nobody knows Padme Naberrie is the queen of Naboo apart from a few selected people. Padme is just one of the handmaiden for the casual personnel.
Again, I wonder if there’s any way to hint at this? I like the backstory; it evokes the names given to Japanese Emperors and their ruling eras (I forget the word for it).
Canon book Queen’s Peril cover that in details. The first switch with Sabe in TPM as the decoy is just before they get captured (black dress.)
I personally think leaving this being ambiguous in the movie works in its favor, but it’s cool to know there is actually a point where they switch and I’m going to see if I can spot it next time I watch it.