Naboo Royal Handmaidens

The Royal Handmaidens of Naboo provided assistance to the ruler in various daily activities, such as managing hairstyles, applying makeup, and selecting outfits. Beyond these tasks, the monarchs often confided in their handmaidens as trusted companions. They also played a crucial security role as guards, necessitating close collaboration with the Royal Naboo Security Forces. Each handmaiden underwent training in self-defense and shooting skills, and they were equipped with a compact energy weapon.

The practice of royal leaders utilizing handmaidens as security and shields originated long before the Invasion of Naboo, in more unstable periods. Before Queen Padmé Amidala's election, the use of handmaidens had diminished, with monarchs typically employing a single handmaiden who did not function as a bodyguard. However, Captain Panaka suggested a revival of the tradition. Panaka's idea involved choosing a young woman who closely resembled the queen, enabling her to impersonate Amidala and act as a decoy, while the real monarch remained concealed. This practice had been discontinued since the Naboo-Gungan conflict.

Amidala was uncomfortable with others risking their lives for her safety but understood its necessity as queen. To Panaka's surprise and approval, she proposed that multiple handmaidens would be more effective in concealing her identity. Several selected handmaidens shared physical traits with the queen, allowing for multiple potential substitutes, with one designated as the primary decoy. Five young women were chosen and adopted names similar to Padmé's—Eirtaé, Rabé, Sabé, Saché, and Yané—to confuse those not closely observing them.

Panaka trained Amidala's handmaidens in defense and security. They wore identical hooded outfits to mask their identities, featuring flowing capes that concealed weapons for the queen's defense in case of an attack. To Panaka's frustration, the Queen and her Handmaidens began planning their strategies independently. They practiced breathing techniques taught by Sabé to suppress their emotions and developed a unique vocal tone, enabling them to impersonate the Queen when required. Saché was the only Handmaiden unable to convincingly impersonate Amidala due to her youth.

During the Invasion of Naboo, Panaka commanded Amidala's security detail. Throughout the crisis, Queen Padmé Amidala frequently switched roles with Sabé, who, disguised with makeup and wearing a black travel dress, posed as the Queen. The actual Amidala wore the same reddish-orange robes as her handmaidens. This deception allowed the "handmaiden" Padmé to accompany Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn to Mos Espa discreetly when their group was marooned on Tatooine, while her decoy remained aboard the royal spacecraft. Saché and Yané stayed on Naboo.

Eirtaé and Rabé accompanied Amidala to Tatooine and Coruscant, witnessing her appeal to the Galactic Senate on Naboo's behalf. Rabé also aided in deceiving Anakin Skywalker into believing Padmé was away on an errand while she was present as Queen Amidala. Upon the queen's return to Naboo, they reunited with Yané and Saché. The handmaidens participated in the operation to reclaim the Royal Palace of Theed from the Trade Federation. Sabé, acting as the decoy queen in her royal combat attire, played a vital role in the operation's success after Amidala was captured.

Following the invasion's conclusion, numerous paintings and stained-glass artworks depicting the handmaidens in their reddish-orange robes were commissioned for the Theed Royal Palace. One artwork depicted Amidala in a royal procession surrounded by her handmaidens, with one carrying a canopy above her, which Saché, a former handmaiden, criticized, stating that the artist did not understand what they did.

After Amidala became a Galactic Senator representing Naboo in the Republic Senate, handmaidens continued to support her and act as decoys, though less frequently than during her reign as queen. Initially, Amidala hesitated to bring handmaidens into the Senate, but her former handmaidens convinced her that she required handmaidens, not just aides, in the government. Her first three senatorial handmaidens were named Versé, Dormé, and Cordé, with Sabé also joining in an unofficial capacity. Before the Clone Wars, Cordé served as Amidala's decoy but was killed, along with Versé, in an attempt on the senator's life. Amidala later mourned Cordé's passing with a handmaiden named Duja.

Dormé witnessed a second assassination attempt on her mistress by Zam Wesell, which Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padawan Anakin Skywalker thwarted during the night. Dormé inquired about Amidala's well-being. She also expressed concern when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine ordered Amidala to return to Naboo under Jedi protection. Before leaving for Naboo with Skywalker, Amidala bid farewell to Dormé. Seeing Dormé's tears, Amidala reassured her, but Dormé explained that she feared Amidala's assassin would discover her departure from Coruscant.

After Amidala wed Skywalker and needed to keep it a secret, as Jedi were prohibited from marrying, she divided her handmaidens into those residing with her under Dormé and those assisting with her governmental duties. This arrangement gave her the freedom to spend time with Skywalker. Following Versé's and Cordé's deaths, Dormé hired two new handmaidens, Ellé and Moteé, who assumed a more traditional role than Amidala's previous handmaidens and aides. During a brief period of impersonating Amidala, Sabé found Amidala's new life isolating. Upon discovering Amidala and Skywalker's secret marriage, Sabé, who had not been informed by Amidala herself, permanently left Amidala's service and returned to Tatooine with her partner Tonra to help end enslavement.

During the Clone Wars, after a Separatist bombing on Coruscant, a handmaiden named Teckla Minnau discussed with Amidala the impact of the Republic's military spending on her family and others. Inspired by Teckla's words, Amidala delivered a speech to the Senate, which defeated legislation to increase military spending and order more clone soldiers. Later, while escorting Senator Amidala on a mission to Scipio, Teckla was killed by the bounty hunter Embo while detonating a charge to grant Amidala access to the InterGalactic Banking Clan's Main Vault.

Shortly before the war's end, Moteé was present in the Galactic Senate Chamber when Palpatine proclaimed himself Emperor.

Amidala's successor, Réillata, was an older queen who had previously served and brought handmaidens of similar age, as well as a younger handmaiden, her relative, who attended Réillata's second coronation. Upon Amidala's return to Naboo during her first Senate recess, she noticed that Réillata's handmaidens were the only ones close enough to overhear their private conversation. Her eventual successor, Jamillia, was also attended by handmaidens. Queen Apailana was escorted by her own handmaidens during Amidala's funeral, along with several of Amidala's former handmaidens, including Sabé.

By 3 BBY, the tradition had begun to wane as the role of queen became more symbolic following the establishment of the Galactic Empire. However, handmaidens still possessed qualities honed through mental and physical tests that, according to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, would challenge even Imperial Academy cadets. Sabé formed a resistance group in Amidala's memory, known as the Amidalans, to avenge their former Queen.

Shortly after Emperor Palpatine's demise, two royal handmaidens were present at a meeting between Queen Sosha Soruna and her guest, Leia Organa. They later assisted Soruna in donning her flight apparel as she prepared to pilot an N-1 starfighter to defend the planet from an Imperial scheme to render Naboo uninhabitable, codenamed Operation: Cinder. When Captain Korro suggested a handmaiden take Soruna's place, the queen stated that she could never ask her handmaidens to make a sacrifice she herself would not make.

The Naboo Royal Handmaidens debuted in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first film in the Star Wars prequel films.

The handmaiden decoy concept originated in George Lucas's initial script for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, where two handmaidens, Alana and Mina, accompanied Leia to the Chatos Academy. Mina impersonated the princess to mislead the Empire when Annikin Starkiller escorted her to safety as the Empire's Space Fortress arrived at Aquilae.