Eirtaé/Legends

Eirtaé was a female Human who served as one of the handmaidens of Padmé Amidala when she was Queen of Naboo. She was brought up a wealthy girl in a remote river valley of Naboo.

Early career


Eirtaé was the only applicant for the Queen's handmaidens that had blond hair and blue eyes in contrast to Amidala's brown hair and brown eyes. She was sometimes known as the "Blond Handmaiden".

Eirtaé had also taken the same examinations as Amidala to run for the position of Queen but lost the election to Amidala.

At first Eirtaé tended to be bossy with the other handmaidens and was resentful toward Amidala, having lost the election to her but they soon became friends.

Eirtaé and the other handmaidens were trained in self-defense and marksmanship by Amidala's head of security, Captain Panaka. She particularly excelled in dealing with protocol and spotting treachery. However, she was less skilled in martial arts than the other handmaidens.

In 32 BBY, Eirtaé was one of the three handmaidens who accompanied Amidala to Coruscant when the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo. At the Second Battle of Theed, she helped to end the Invasion on Naboo, and was present at the funeral of Qui-Gon Jinn and the celebration following the next day.

Later career
Around 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, the Jedi High Council discovered that the Confederacy of Independent Systems had paid several outlaws on Coruscant to kidnap Amidala before a crucial speech in the Senate. In an effort to draw out the kidnappers, the Jedi hid Amidala in a safe location and allowed Sabé and Eirtaé to be captured instead. The Council then sent Anakin Skywalker&mdash;now a Jedi Knight and, secretly, Amidala's husband&mdash;to rescue the Senator; Skywalker was not aware of the exchange that had occurred. Skywalker successfully tracked down the kidnappers and subdued them. He released Amidala's decoys, but did not like that he was not told the truth about the Jedi Council's plans.

Behind the scenes


Eirtaé was portrayed by Friday "Liz" Wilson in The Phantom Menace.

In the children's book Queen in Disguise, Eirtaé's hair was erroneously colored brown, while in the comic story In Triplicate, her name was misspelled as "Eritaé".

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Queen in Disguise
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode I Journal: Queen Amidala