32 BBY: A Summer's Dream

After reading A Summer’s Dream, I had to go back to Attack of the Clones and rewatch the love scenes between Anakin and Padme (which was a little painful).  In one of these scenes Padme mentions to Anakin an artist she used to date, Palo, with dark curly hair, whose mention makes Anakin a little jealous.  I think in the entire love sequence between Anakin and Padme on Naboo this exchange about Amidala’s past love was the most honest.  I know I never liked it when my current girlfriend talked about her ex, but then again, who does?  So I identified with Anakin’s jealousy a little, as I think we’re all a little jealous of our partner’s past.   In A Summer’s Dream I thought we were being provided the backstory of Palo, and how he and Amidala came to be young lovers.  But it turns out that the boy in A Summer’s Dream is not Palo at all, but a red-headed boy named Ian, son to the disgraced King Veruna’s foremost advisor.
 
A Summer’s Dream, by Terry Moore, was a great tale because it flushed out the character of Padme Amidala a little more.  Of course there was more than Palo in Amidala’s past – she’s a beautiful girl mature beyond her years, Queen of a planet, both wise and intelligent.  We can also read into why she never mentioned him to Anakin on those grassy knolls of Naboo.  Firstly, the most obvious answer is Lucas did not conceive of this storyline, therefore, Ian does not exist with Lucas’ Amidala.  But if we play the game that all Star Wars is one canon, then Amidala’s omission of Ian to Anakin is interesting.  It could be that a few kisses with a boy at sunset before she was Queen really did not mean much to her.  Maybe she was simply infatuated with Ian’s infatuation with her, so she played along not minding a few kisses here and there.  But maybe she really did have feelings for the boy, and after Anakin’s obvious reaction to the mention of Palo, decided to stay mum about Ian, and senator Clovis for that matter.  Anakin was shocked to discover there was more than a “friendship” between his wife and the senator from Scipio.  Interesting indeed.  I wonder if the list of Amidala’s lovers will grow with time, or stay at 3.  Who knows, she may one day rival Obi-Wan Kenobi for list of lovers left with a broken heart.

As it is, the tale ends with Ian leaving Naboo just before Amidala’s coronation, tears in his eyes and broken hearted.

Beyond the love story between Padme and Ian, another aspect of this story I found interesting was the mention of Padme’s “special abilities”:
“Instead, Amidala talked about her home and family in the mountains and how she ended up in Theed when her special abilities were discovered”

What “special abilities” are being referenced here?  Are we talking about some Force abilities, or simply her uncanny ability to lead or otherwise be an effective monarch and politician?  Maybe some of you reading can fill me in on what was meant by “special abilities”, if anything at all.

For my next post I’ll be taking a look at The Starfighter Trap, by Steve Miller.  Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.