With Padmé’s death at the end of Revenge of the Sith, it always felt like the Skywalker twins were robbed of something deeply human—the chance to truly know their mother. By the time of Return of the Jedi, Leia recalls faint impressions of Padmé, but Luke admits he remembers nothing at all. For him, his mother’s face is a complete mystery.
But Star Wars canon gave us one hauntingly beautiful moment that brought Luke closer than ever to seeing Padmé. In the comics, Luke crosses paths with Sabé—Padmé’s most loyal handmaiden and body double, whose resemblance to the late Queen of Naboo was so uncanny she could pass for her in public. Standing before her, Luke unknowingly comes face-to-face with a reflection of the mother he never knew.
Sabé Challenges Luke
In Star Wars: Darth Vader (2020) #48, which takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker encounters Sabé — Padmé Amidala’s loyal handmaiden. By this time, Luke knows the truth about Vader, and Sabé knows it too. But that knowledge makes her afraid. If Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, then what if his son is destined to follow the same path?
The meeting begins violently. As soon as she sees Luke, Sabé opens fire with her blaster, forcing Luke to defend himself and wonder why she’s attacking without reason. But this isn’t random. Sabé is deliberately trying to provoke him — to push him into anger and see whether he’ll tip toward the dark side.
To raise the stakes, she kidnaps Luke’s companion Warba and attempts to escape in her starfighter. Luke intercepts the ship, bringing it down in a crash landing. The three of them — Luke, Warba, and Sabé — finally stand face to face. Warba is confused, Luke is frustrated, and Sabé is relentless.
Luke tries to reassure her: “I’m a Jedi.” But Sabé doesn’t believe him. To test his restraint further, she points her blaster directly at Warba. When Luke still resists, Sabé fires — one shot striking Warba in the shoulder. Wounded and in pain, Warba falls, and Luke has no choice but to act.
Fueled by emotion, Luke ignites his yellow lightsaber, charges Sabé, and cuts her weapon in half while shouting: “ENOUGH!” In that instant, Sabé sees the shadow of Vader in him and assumes her fears were right.
But Luke isn’t finished. Demanding answers, he asks: “Vader sent you, didn’t he?” Sabé shakes her head.
“No. I just know he’s looking for you. And so is the Emperor. And if they find you… and sense your hate… you will become one of them. And we are all lost.”
Only then does Luke finally understand her motive. She wasn’t trying to kill him — she was desperate to prove he wasn’t already lost to the dark side. And though she tested him to the breaking point, Luke assures her he will not become his father.
Why This is the Closes Moment Luke Got Closest to see his Mother’s Face
As we all remember from Return of the Jedi, on the forest moon of Endor, Luke revealed to Leia that they were twins and that Darth Vader was their father. During that quiet conversation, Luke asked Leia if she had any memory of their mother. Leia admitted she remembered just a little: “She was… very beautiful, kind… but sad.” Luke, on the other hand, confessed, “I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her.”
That line has always carried a sting. For Luke, Padmé Amidala was a ghost — someone he could never picture, never reach. And that’s what makes his encounter with Sabé so haunting. As one of Padmé’s most loyal handmaidens, Sabé was literally trained to be her double, to mirror her words, her mannerisms, and most importantly, her face.
So when Luke confronted Sabé in the story above, standing close to her, arguing and pleading, it was perhaps the only time in his life he was truly face-to-face with a living echo of Padmé. He didn’t know it, of course, but in that moment Luke was as close as he would ever come to seeing his mother’s face.