Episode I: The Queen's Amulet

The Queen's Amulet

Author: Julianne Balmain

Illustrator: Matilda Harrison

Medium: Picture book

Publication Date: September 1999

Timeline Placement: 32 BBY

 

This book takes place immediately prior to and during the opening events of The Phantom Menace, concluding just as the first Trade Federation troops are touching down on the planet during the invasion of Naboo. Queen Amidala wakes up that morning and realizes that the amulet she always wears around her neck is missing! It was a gift from her father from before she became queen, and she is frantic to retrieve it. Amidala and her handmaiden Sabé (played by Keira Knightley) venture outside the palace grounds before the rest of her entourage awakens. They find the amulet buried in the leaves beneath a tree in a meadow outside the capital city of Theed. Presumably there's an interlude here where the queen communicates with Nute Gunray and then Senator Palpatine via hologram, because the next thing that happens is Amidala and Sabé trading places in preparation of the arrival of the invading Trade Federation army. Amidala gives Sabé her amulet to wear as recognition of her bravery for being her body double, vowing to wear it again once the crisis has passed.

Unfortunately, no other Expanded Universe authors ever read this book so the queen's beloved amulet was never mentioned again. Apparently Amidala traded it in for the japor snippet charm Anakin carved for her during Episode I, although she presumably never wore that until after her marriage to him ten years later.

Anyway, this story is mercifully short, which already gives it a high rating in my estimation. But I also find the art by Matilda Harrison uniquely charming. I'm not sure if it's the style or the coloring or some combination of the two, but it's almost reminiscent of the art from a stained glass window or a medieval tapestry, despite not really looking like that at all. There aren't a ton of illustrations but they aren't really similar to any other Star Wars art I can think of.

At only a few pages long, the actual book The Queen's Amulet is kind of not even the main feature of this product. The book itself was originally sold inside a larger keepsake box that came with a real-life replica of the eponymous amulet that you could wear, as well as a printed note advising you to keep the box to store your childhood valuables. A very cool and unique piece of Star Wars merchandise for anyone who was a five-year-old girl in 1999.