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Queen's Shadow

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Queen's Shadow

Attribution information

Author(s)

E. K. Johnston

Cover artist

Tara Phillips(Cover illustration)
Leigh Zieske(Design)

Publication information

Publisher

Disney–Lucasfilm Press

Release date

March 5,2019^[1]^[2]

Media type

Hardcover
Paperback^[3]
eBook

Pages

352

ISBN

9781368024259

Chronology

Timeline

32 BBY(Prologue)
28 BBY^[4]
19 BBY(Epilogue)

Series

Star Wars: Queen's Series

Followed by

Queen's Peril

"It's the story of Padmé changing from a queen to senator and the person right behind her and all the other handmaidens behind Padmé."

―E. K. Johnston^[5]

Queen's Shadow is acanon young-adult novel written byE. K. Johnston. It was published byDisney–Lucasfilm Press onMarch 5,2019. Set fouryears after the events ofStar Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace,Queen's Shadow focuses onPadmé Amidala and her transition fromqueen tosenator.

Publisher's summary[]

The end of her reign is just the beginning....

When Padmé Amidala steps down from her position as Queen of Naboo, she is ready to set aside her title and return to life out of the spotlight. But to her surprise, the new queen asks Padmé to continue serving their people—this time in the Galactic Senate. Padmé is unsure about the new role but cannot turn down the request, especially since, thanks to her dearest friend—and decoy—Sabé, she can be in two places at once. So while Padmé plunges into politics, Sabé sets off on a mission dear to Padmé's heart.

On the glistening capital planet Coruscant, Padmé's new Senate colleagues regard her with curiosity—and with suspicion for her role in ousting the previous chancellor. Posing as a merchant on Tatooine, Sabé has fewer resources than she thought and fewer options than she needs.

Together with Padmé's loyal handmaidens, Padmé and Sabé must navigate treacherous politics, adapt to constantly changing landscapes, and forge a new identity beyond the queen's shadow.

Plot summary[]

Transition of roles[]

On the day of the election to decidePadmé Amidala's successor asqueen, the outgoing monarch and herhandmaidens, along with their guards, are in seclusion atVarykino, as is traditional. Relations between Padmé andCaptain Quarsh Panaka have been strained for some time due to disagreements over theion pulse being installed for planetary defense, and she thinks his impending retirement from theRoyal Naboo Security Forces is a good thing for him. A surprise visit fromSupreme Chancellor Palpatine, come home to vote in the election, has the handmaidens scrambling to make Padmé presentable with the resources they have on hand. After Palpatine's departure,Rabé, skilled in lip-reading and trained to read body language, tells Padmé that he was concerned about something, but she couldn't tell what. Padmé discusses her desire to free theslaves onTatooine, andSabé vows to stand by her no matter what.

WhenSergeant Tonra arrives with the election results, it turns out thatSaché's bid for a seat in thelegislative assembly has been successful. The new queen isRéillata, a former monarch who had initially chosen to step down after one term, before declaring her intent to run again this year. Padmé privately would have preferred that candidateJamillia win. The handmaidens discuss their plans for their future: Rabé is attendingTheed's most prestigious music academy,Yané wants to care for children and orphans, andEirtaé has managed to arrange to study inOtoh Gunga.

TheDay of Ascendancy comes, and Réillata iscrowned Queen ofNaboo for the second time. At the inaugural government meeting afterwards, the new Queen surprises Padmé by making an unexpected request of her:Senator Oshadam intends to step down from theGalactic Senate, and Réillata thinks that Padmé is the perfect replacement. Padmé needs time to think about the offer, and after discussing it with her handmaidens that evening, she decides to accept. Sabé offers to go to Tatooine, doing what Padmé had originally planned to do. Discussing things with newly-promoted CaptainMariek Panaka, she offers to guard Padmé along with her nephew, SergeantGregar Typho. Tonra, now a captain as well, will go to help Sabé. It is also decided that Padmé will need new handmaidens. Mariek suggests her nieceVersaat, Rabé suggests a girl namedCordyn who could serve as a body double, and Typho suggests a former classmate of his namedDorra. Padmé's final task of the night is calling her parents,Ruwee andJobal, who offer their blessing and advice for her new role.

Novice Senator[]

By the end of her mandatory six-week Senate orientation, Senator Amidala has had enough. Padmé, always a fast learner, is frustrated by the slow pace of things and the unwieldy traditions, taking it out on the Senate-issuedprotocol droid,NON-3. However, the orientation has given her the time to get to know her new handmaidens, now Cordé, Dormé and Versé. An attempt by NON-3 to take Padmé on a scheduled private tour of theSenate Building's lower levels sets off alarm bells with the Senator and her staff, who decide to take the opportunity to test Cordé's impersonation of Amidala. Thedroid takes Padmé and the disguised Cordé to an area of the building that, asAlderaanian SenatorBail Organa informs "Amidala" when he unexpectedly appears, is scheduled for demolition. After returninghome, Padmé and her inner circle wonder who was behind the assassination attempt, and why Organa was even there.

First senate session[]

By the next morning Padmé's incident with NON-3 has been reported by severalholonews articles presenting Padmé as young and incompetent. Versé was running a text analysis on the articles to attempt to find a singular author but couldn't find anything and as NON-3 had yet to be returned to her she had to make her own way from heroffice to the Naboopod.

Padmé's first general senate session begins with the representative from Ithor discussing dissemination ofhyperspace lane mapping who was then joined by theTrade Federation delegate and a human male from theUrce sector who were both against sharing the maps because they, separately, felt that they owned the rights to them. After five minutes of 'squabbling' Palpatine calls a vote. The route through theLesser Plooriod Cluster had been particularly mapped out by the Trade Federation but for the most part theIthorians had done most of the work and the Urce sector only had claim to the portion of the trade route in their own space but combined with the Trade Federations claim they could potentially block the Ithorians into a corner something that Padmé could relate to.

Padmé only has a few minutes to decide and sides with the Ithorians. The motion fails however and they move on to the next topic with the red-haired human woman fromChandrila beginning to speak. Padmé doesn't has time to dwell on the failed vote as she has to move onto the next one. For what feels like hours several motions were raised and passed to various committees or were voted on and several bills that Padmé thought were sound failed and even more were bounced back to the bargaining table before the chime sounds again and and Palpatine calls an end to deliberations.

After Padmé is approached by SenatorRush Clovis, who Padmé recognises as one of the other eight senators in the orientation group, who tells her about a reception being hosted by Palpatine for the new senators and some guests. The other senators were informed via their NONs.

The two walk togther toPalpatine's office. Padmé talks with Palpatine who introduces her to other senators which makes her feel like she was being shown at theannual midsummer livestock fair in Theed. Padmé is then introduced to SenatorMina Bonteri who reassures her she did well in the senate and tells her that she needs to make allies and that the newsnets were after Padmé because she's an easy story which she can combat by doing her job and by trying not to give them anything to sensationalize. Padmé briefly speaks with Organa and the senator fromTargappia.

Upon returning to thesenatorial residence Padmé discusses the editorials fromTriNebulon News and her new role as senator with her staff.

Development[]

Johnston paid homage to Natalie Portman's Judaism with the inclusion of a mezuzah-like object on the doorpost of the Naberrie home.^[6]

Continuity[]

The novel establishes that theMonarch of Naboo could only reign for two terms, with twoyears per term. However, the2016 reference bookStar Wars: Complete Locations previously stated thatKing Ars Veruna ofNaboo reigned for thirteen years.^[7]

In one instance,Gregar Typho's first name is misspelled as "Gregor." When Padmé talks to Sabé onAlderaan about what her life could have been like if she had not become a handmaiden, the musical instrumenthallikset is misspelled as "halliket."

The novel claims there is a stain glass window in the Theed Palace showing the handmaidens holding a canopy which isn't mentioned in any other materials however there is a painting matching this description shown inStar Wars Battlefront II meaning Johnston may have misidentified the piece of art.

The novel depicts Padmé Amidala's relationships withSenators Rush Clovis andMina Bonteri in a manner which contradicts the information given byStar Wars: The Clone Wars, where the two characters originated. In particular, the depictions in the novel are far more adversarial than what was mentioned in the show:

Clovis was introduced in "Senate Spy" a close friend of Amidala, with their friendship being public knowledge to the degree that it is the reason theJedi High Council asks her to spy on him when he is suspected of being aSeparatist.^[8] In the novel, Amidala does not have a relationship with Clovis, instead completely breaking off their friendship after the events onBromlarch after he pushes himself onto her and forcefully kisses her.

Bonteri, introduced in "Heroes on Both Sides," was a former mentor of Amidala's, with the two depicted as missing each other greatly and respecting each other's counsel. Although the television series implied that Amidala knew Bonteri prior to becoming a Senator, as she states that Bonteri was her mentor while she was growing up on Naboo, the novel depicts them as first meeting afterwards. Amidala is initially friendly with Bonteri, but theOnderonian Senator becomes frostier to her after Amidala begins to ally herself withMon Mothma and Bail Organa, who believe more strongly in the Republic than she does. "Heroes on Both Sides" also depicts Bonteri as unwittingly admiring of Separatist leaderCount Dooku, to the degree of being apparently totally unaware of his true nature as aSith Lord and like many members of the Separatist Parliament was directly stated by Amidala to be more than Dooku's pawns.^[9] Conversely, in the novel Amidala catches Bonteri speaking with a man who is implied to be Dooku on two occasions, whom she is outright fearful of and acts intimidated by.

Amidala and Clovis' proposal to saveBromlarch'splanetary aqueduct system was first mentioned in theClone Wars episode "The Rise of Clovis."^[10]