If Anakin and Padme had been close in age, I could buy their romance as authentic (well, more authentic, anyway). As-is, it feels like Anakin, suffering separation anxiety from his mother, latched onto the closest friendly female to ease the pain of his loss. That, combined with his unhealthy fixation on Padme in the years between TPM & AOTC — a girl he’d only known briefly, mind — leave me with the impression that he wasn’t truly in love with her; he was only obsessed with this idealized surrogate maternal figure.