Return of the Jedi established that Leia remembered her and Luke’s mother, yet George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ended with Padmé dying after Leia had just been born. One of the trickiest Star Wars plot holes, Leia remembering Padmé in Return of the Jedi is a headscratcher that the Star Wars canon has tried to fix several times. Like many other Star Wars plot holes, the Leia and Padmé inconsistency originated from how greatly the Star Wars prequels different from the storylines Lucas had established in the first Star Wars trilogy.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith all added much to the Star Wars canon, making the Star Wars lore far richer. However, as a consequence of how unpredictable and innovative the Star Wars prequels were, there are several inconsistencies between the original trilogy and Anakin Skywalker’s backstory. In fact, the Star Wars prequel trilogy differs even from what George Lucas himself had originally planned for Darth Vader’s origin story.
George Lucas' Plans For The Prequels Changed
The reason why Leia remembering her mother in Return of the Jedi was not really set to become a plot hole is that George Lucas intended for the Star Wars prequels to end with Luke and Leia being three-and-a-half years old as opposed to newborns, as revealed in The Secret History of Star Wars by Michael Kaminski. Paul Duncan's The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 reveals that George Lucas’ original outline for Anakin's backstory, which would become the Star Wars prequels, involved “Anakin’s wife” going to Alderaan and briefly raising Leia before dying. Had Lucas not changed his original Star Wars prequels plans, Return of the Jedi’s Leia plot hole wouldn’t exist.
The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005 highlights how much different George Lucas’ original outline for the prequels was compared to how Episodes I, II, and III turned out. Though the final moments of Anakin Skywalker prior to becoming Darth Vader remained quite similar — including the famous battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan on a lava planet — many of Lucas’ ideas regarding Anakin’s backstory were never put to screen. For example, there was no mention of Star Wars' Order 66 back when Lucas first presented his plans for Darth Vader’s origin story. Instead, it was Anakin himself who would be secretly killing Jedi. Upon learning the truth, Anakin’s wife would have left for Alderaan.
Though Anakin’s feelings would obviously still play a role in his fall to the dark side, Lucas’ original plans for the Star Wars sequels did not involve Padmé confronting Anakin on Mustafar. It is difficult to say at which point Lucas’ planned story changed, as 22 years separated Return of the Jedi from Revenge of the Sith. It is also important to note how Lucas’ first ideas for Vader’s backstory, which were revealed to the Return of the Jedi creative team ahead of the film’s production, did not involve any of the events seen in Episodes I and II. That confirms how much Lucas’ Star Wars prequel plans changed.
Star Wars Would Have Been Better If Padme Lived Longer
Between “Mrs. Skywalker,” as Lucas referred to the character in the pre-Return of the Jedi pitch, and Padmé dying at the end of Revenge of the Sith, there is probably an even better version of the character who lived longer. Padmé being involved in the story until the very end of Revenge of the Sith was an improvement from “Mrs. Skywalker” exiting the movie upon learning the truth about Anakin — yet, Padmé living longer would have worked better. Firstly, it would avoid what is arguably the most significant Star Wars plot hole. No matter how many Return of the Jedi retcons are there, Leia remembering Padmé simply does not work.
Canon and continuity aside, Padmé living longer would have also served the character and the overall Star Wars better. Padmé dying after giving birth to Luke and Leia right after confronting Anakin for what he did was an anticlimactic ending for one of the most important Star Wars prequel characters, and it made a lot of potentially interesting stories impossible. How Padmé would have reacted to the fall of the Galactic Republic and the formation of the Galactic Empire in the long term, what Padmé’s role in the initial rebellion would be, and how different Leia’s origins would have been with Padmé around, for example.
Padmé staying alive for too long after Revenge of the Sith would have made the Star Wars timeline a bit more complicated, but a couple of years after Anakin became Darth Vader would have fit canon just fine. If Leia vaguely remembers her mother, then Padmé should have spent from two to three years in Alderaan as Lucas had originally imagined to maintain continuity. Though Padmé’s death in Revenge of the Sith adds to Anakin’s tragedy, such a drastic Return of the Jedi retcon was not really worth it. Of the many Star Wars “what if…” scenarios, the "what if Padmé lived longer..." is one of the most interesting to consider.