Star Wars Retcons The Phantom Menace to Make Naboo Smarter

Star Wars has been using various tie-ins to improve different properties over the years, with The Phantom Menace being one of the films Disney has been refining, from Qui-Gon Jinn's character to the Chosen One prophecy. Retelling the film through the perspective of Padme, E.K. Johnston's Queen's Shadow retcons Star Wars: Episode I to make the Naboo smarter.

The novel has subtle rewrites that achieve the goal of making this possible. However, as pointed out by Screen Rant, the most "glaring" retcon involves a message sent by Sio Bibble that Padme received on Tatooine.

The part heard on the film was to "cut off all food supplies" until her return, as well as warning her that "the death toll is catastrophic," urging Padme to "bow to their wishes" and asking for advice.

As it turns out, this message actually contained a hidden code
from the handmaidens who had been captured on Naboo. When Sio Bibble mentioned the words "death toll," this tells Padme that the handmaidens were alive and safe, doing their best to oppose the Trade Federation. This code gave Sio Bibble a way to urge Padme to go on with her mission without the Trade Federation's knowledge.

Granted, Obi-Wan cautioned Padme that it was a trap, Johnston essentially rewrites this scene, showing Kenobi's ignorance, given that he underestimated Padme and the handmaidens. While Emperor Palpatine has his ways, this shows that Padme is smarter and had a few tricks up her sleeve despite some doubts.

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