Padmé Amidala Naberrie and Sabé

No, I am your spoiler warning!
Obi-Wan never told you what happened in Queen's Trilogy, but this article does. Before you read it, search your feelings: you know you'll be spoiled if you do.

Padmé Amidala Naberrie and Sabé are both LGBTQIA+ characters in the Star Wars New Canon continuity. Their canonical queerness is separate from and in relation to each other. The Sabé/Padmé Amidala Naberrie ship is known by the portmanteau Sabédala.

See also: Padmé Naberrie's amulet

Out-of-universe

Author commentary

Out-of-universe, author E.K. Johnston (EKJ) discussed Padmé's sexual and romantic orientations and the relationship between Padmé and Sabé in EKJ's Queen's Series. Among other things, she said of the pair:

I'll always take the opportunity to make a character queer, something like, 'hmmmm... they're not— they're not queer for each other, but they are both queer.'

— E. K. Johnston

EKJ said she didn't write Sabé and Padmé as having a romantic relationship in her trilogy, which she said was in part because she didn't want to write their inevitable break up. According to her, she wrote them with a "strong friendship" and a "platonic love story." It's no surprise when she says she's a Sabedala shipper herself as a fan.

In our humble opinions, EKJ failed at not writing romantic love between Padmé and Sabé, especially in Queen's Hope. Her characterization is at odds with the text's depiction as mutually in love with one another and constantly pining, a feature not commonly present outside of romantic relationships. In longstanding sapphic tradition, they never become an official couple, possibly because Padmé fails to realize that Sabé reciprocates her romantic feelings (and vice versa).

Because this wiki gives precedence to in-universe material over out-of-universe authorial intent, we have chosen to document Padmé's attraction to Sabé as romantic, regardless of whether or not EKJ "intended" to write her that way.

In-universe: My hands are yours

The Queen's Series by E.K. Johnston consists of Queen's Shadow (2019), Queen's Peril (2020), and Queen's Hope (2022). In these books, Sabé and Padmé are both portrayed as canonically queer without in-universe terminology.

The order by IU chronology is actually Queen's Peril, Queen's Shadow, and Queen's Hope (aside from some flashback/flashforward chapters.)

Queen's Peril

In Queen's Peril, Padmé and Sabé are fourteen years old and full of feelings. Sabé and an alien girl named Harli Jafan quickly develop a mutual attraction that Padmé observes on the night of a concert: "Sabé and Harli moved well together, and Padmé almost forgot to watch the band. She didn't like this feeling. She didn't think it was jealousy—not entirely, anyway."

The next day, Harli encounters Padmé posing as a handmaiden and mistakes her for Sabé. When Harli says she wants to "kiss you" (meaning Sabé, Padmé reflexively says "Oh no", immediately regrets it since she knows Harli thinks Sabé just rejected her, then apologizes and flees. Padmé doesn't tell Sabé about it and Harli sends a note to Sabé afterward that infuriates her:

Sabé

I got the strangest message from Harli Jafan just now. And frankly, I'm surprised I didn't get even a slight heads-up from you. It seems she tried to say good-bye to me this afternoon. And I was very rude.

Padmé

She surprised me. I wasn't expecting to be mistaken for you. It's supposed to work the other way around.

Sabé

And so you had to be awful about it? You can charm a whole planet into loving you, but you can't take two seconds to consider her feelings?

Padmé

Should I have let her kiss me? Do you think she still would have thought I was you then? Don't you think she might have recognized me from the concert, since I'm still covered in glitter?

Sabé (shouting)

I don't know! I just thought for one second, you might have been able to think of someone besides yourself.

Padmé

I tried, Sabé. I saw that you liked her, and I didn't know what that meant. If I were only your friend, I could just ask you, but I'm your queen, too. I can't order you to tell me about your personal life, can I? I had to trust that you would come to me and tell me what I needed to know. And you didn't.

Sabé

Did you think I would give up secrets? Do you really think so little of me?

Padmé

No. I think the world of you. But it's harder than I thought to be your friend and your ruler all at the same time, and I can't do that if you don't help me.

— Please don't fight, Padmé and Sabé!

Because of the fight they just had, Sabé switches places with Saché in order to share with Padmé that night. In her thoughts, Sabé "knew it was important not to fall asleep angry with Padmé, however much she might want to. She didn't want to talk about it, but maybe if they were in the same room, everything would work itself out on its own." After getting into the same bed, they have a vulnerable moment:

"Did you really want to kiss her?" Padmé asked.

Sabé knew what she was doing, and why she was doing it, but she couldn't bring herself to mend the fence. She could do her job, but that was it for now.

"Not yet, please," she said. "I just want to talk about politics."

Padmé dutifully changed the subject.

— Oof.

Several chapters later, Sabé and Padmé discuss what went wrong and how they feel now. Sabé tells her why she was selected as a handmaiden; "I'm good at a lot of things. I work hard and I get results, but I am never the best. And I thought I had accepted that, until Harli looked at me like I was special. And yes, hanging out with her was fun and I did want her to kiss me, but I learned something important that night." Padmé asks what and Sabé responds:

"I'd rather be second to you than first to anyone else."

Confessing her feelings was like a weight lifting off of Sabé's chest. It had taken her so long to figure it out, to put to words what she knew in her heart. And now she had done it. She wanted to fly.

"I can order you to your death," Padmé said.

Her voice was so quiet that Sabé barely heard her. She reached out and took Padmé's hands.

"And I would go," she said.

"I can't be that dedicated to you," Padmé said.

"I know," Sabé said.

A long silence grew between them, but it wasn't awkward. They both knew where they stood.

— This confession of feelings is immediately following by strategizing for meeting with the Gungans

Queen's Shadow

... TBA!

Queen's Hope

Padmé hosts a handmaidens' dinner to welcome Sabé back to Naboo and keeps putting off telling her about getting married to Anakin. During the dinner, Padmé thinks:

This time with Sabé was exactly what she needed. She would use it to find her way forward, balancing the old with the new. [...] When they had to separate for Padmé to go on the mission, she would know that Sabé would be waiting for her when she came back.

[...]

She wished Anakin were here. That was the only thing that kept the night from being perfect. She missed him, and not even Sabé could make her feel better. It was strange, to love two people so much, so differently. She didn't quite understand it, and she wasn't sure how to make it work.

Someday, she would figure out how to put both halves of her life together. Someday, she would make the political and the personal more cohesive. Someday, she wouldn't keep them so divided. Someday, Anakin would sit at this table, too. There was a war on, and they were always in danger from that, but there was no reason not to plan for an optimistic future, where every person she had brought into her life was just as happy as everyone else.

— Padmé's internal narrative, chapter 10

Despite EKJ saying she hadn't wanted to write Padmé and Sabé breaking up over Anakin, when Sabé later confronts Padmé, it plays out very much like a break-up scene. Sabé is heartbroken on multiple levels; Padmé kept her marriage a secret from Sabé when they were supposed to be so close, and Sabé discusses how she can no longer be by Padmé's side. They also touch a lot during it, and afterward, they sleep together in the same bed one last time. Sabé later tells Tonra, "I always knew she wouldn't pick me. I just thought that she would pick more. Like a planet. Or a species."

Fan resources

• Archive of Our Own:
  • Padmé Amidala/Sabé (romantic relationship tag) (NOTE: This link has NSFW content only appropriate for those 18+.)
  • Padmé Amidala & Sabé (platonic relationship tag) (NOTE: This link has NSFW content only appropriate for those 18+.)
• Padmé Amidala and Sabé (character A and character B filter) on FanFiction.net
• Padmé/Sabé article on Fanlore

References

Queen's Shadow [QS]:

Queen's Peril [QP]:

Queen's Hope [QH]:

All other references