Princess Leia: Difference between revisions

Princess Leia redirects here. For the Blackadder character, see Princess Leia of Hungary.

Leia redirects here. For the website, Lissa Explains it All, see Lissa Explains it All. Template:SW Character

Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan (born Leia Amidala Skywalker, on Polis Massa in 19 BBY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars galaxy. She is the daughter of Padmé Amidala of Naboo and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, her twin brother is Luke Skywalker.

Princess Leia was raised on Alderaan by Senator Viceroy Bail Organa and his wife, Queen Breha Organa. Raised around politics, she eventually joined the Imperial Senate and took great advantage of her position to aid the Rebel Alliance. The only Skywalker twin to remember their mother, Leia had "just images really...feelings." George Lucas stated that he wanted one of the Skywalker twins to recall their mother, and since Luke knew Vader was their father, he probably felt that Leia was entitled to the brief memory of her real mother from infancy.

Carrie Fisher played Princess Leia in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special. Aiden Barton appeared as an infant Leia in Revenge of the Sith. Ann Sachs provided the voice of Leia in the 1980s radio dramas of the original trilogy.

History

Leia's family consisted of many influential individuals, primarily government officials and politicians. She is raised as the adopted daughter of Queen (and later Minister of Education) Breha Organa and her husband, Viceroy/Prince Consort Bail Organa of Alderaan. A politician-turned-rebel and spy, she has a forceful personality and keen intellect, having accomplished much in her youth. Leia was a member of the Imperial Senate until Emperor Palpatine dissolved it and passed power to the regional governors. She then became a leader of the Rebel Alliance and, many years later, Chief of State of the New Republic. While raised in privileged surroundings, this fiery diplomat received martial training in order to defend herself, learning hand to hand combat and how to use a blaster.

Early life

File:Babyleia.jpg

Baby Leia being put in the care of Bail Organa and his wife after the death of her mother and the fall of her father and the separation between her and Luke.

Chronologically, Leia first appears in Revenge of the Sith, when her real mother, Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo, gives birth to her and her twin brother, Luke, at Polis Massa. Before Padmé dies while being comforted by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Leia looks at her and gains a faint memory of her mother, due to her connection to the Force. Leia mentions to Luke that she remembered how her mother looked, saying that she was a beautiful, kind yet sad woman.

After Padmé's death, Obi-Wan and Yoda decide that they must hide the Skywalker children from their father, who had recently turned to the dark side and become the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Leia is sent to Alderaan with R2-D2 and C-3PO with her adoptive father so she would not be found by the Empire. According to the Episode III Visual Dictionary, Leia's full name at birth is Leia Amidala Skywalker.

According to the Expanded Universe, Leia is raised with Winter, who becomes her handmaiden later on in life, as well as her children's nanny.

At the age of 18, Leia becomes the youngest member of the Imperial Senate and becomes good friends with Senator Pooja Naberrie of Naboo, her biological maternal cousin. She also becomes one of the driving forces behind the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic and even later, the Galactic Alliance.

A New Hope

Princess Leia aboard the Death Star with her unknown twin Luke Skywalker, and her future husband Han Solo.

In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Senator Organa is captured by Darth Vader. He accuses her of being a traitor and demands to know the location of the secret technical plans of the Death Star, the Empire's newest and most powerful weapon. Unknown to him, the young senator has hidden the plans inside an Astromech droid, R2-D2, and has sent it to find the Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the nearby planet of Tatooine. Later, Vader has her tortured, but she resists telling him anything. Still believing she could be useful, Grand Moff Tarkin, Commander of the Death Star, threatens to destroy her homeworld with the superweapon unless she reveals the location of the hidden Rebel base. She still does not give in and lies to them, as Tarkin ordered Alderaan to be destroyed anyway, killing the entire population (except those who had been off-world) and her entire family. Expecting to be terminated, she does not give up hope and is finally rescued by unlikely heroes: Luke Skywalker, an elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi, the cocky smuggler Han Solo, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and the two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. When they finally escape, at the expense of Obi-Wan's life, they take part in the Battle of Yavin. Luke, in his one-man X-wing fighter, destroys the Empire's most powerful weapon. In the Massassi Temple at the hidden Rebel base on Yavin 4, the radiant Princess Leia Organa presents the Alderaanian Medal of Honor to her rescuers and the heroes of the battle.

The Empire Strikes Back

Three years later, in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia helps with the evacuation of the Rebel base on Hoth. Despite the ongoing battle, she remains vigilant and issues commands from the crumbling base. Luckily, she is able to escape any danger and flees with C-3PO, Han, and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon. Although they are pursued by Imperial fighters, they manage to dodge their fire by flying into an asteroid field when the Falcon's hyperdrive breaks down. Although the Princess is constantly at odds with Han, romance blossoms; while hiding in a cave (actually the mouth of a space slug), she shares her first kiss with the scruffy-looking Corellian smuggler. Later, when they stop at Bespin for repairs, Han's friend Lando Calrissian turns them over to Vader, who uses them as bait for Luke. Han is also used as a test subject for the carbon freezing chamber meant for Luke, and it is there that Leia finally confesses her love for Han. Vader then gives the frozen Han to bounty hunter Boba Fett to give to Jabba the Hutt, to whom Han owes a very large debt. Later, Lando helps Leia, Chewbacca, and the two droids escape. While escaping, she senses that Luke is in trouble and makes them go back for him. They manage to save Luke, who is badly hurt after a near-fatal duel against Vader, who has revealed that he is Luke's father.

Return of the Jedi

File:Leiabikini.jpg

Leia in her golden slavegirl "bikini" outfit.

Six months after Han is kidnapped, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando, Luke (now nearly a Jedi Knight), and the droids go to Tatooine to try to rescue him from Jabba the Hutt. Her part of the plan consists of posing as the Ubese bounty hunter Boussh, who is turning in Chewbacca to Jabba. By using a thermal detonator in her negotiations for a bounty, she gains the trust and respect of both Jabba and the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett (who had, in fact, delivered Han Solo to Jabba.) Leia is discovered by Jabba, his servants and criminals, just as she has freed Han from the carbonite. Rather than send her to the dungeons like Han and Chewbacca, Jabba has a Gammorean Guard bring her to him and pulls her closely against his body, at which point she warns Jabba that he will regret capturing her. Mocking her words with an implication that he'll take great pleasure in her, he then proceeds to lick her face. Jabba strips her of her clothing and forces her to wear her famous gold bikini (with a loin cloth bottom piece), a costume worn by Jabba's slave girls, which symbolizes her captivity and how attractive she is. She also wears a leash around her neck forcing her to stay close to Jabba and preventing her from escaping.

Over a long period of time, Leia endures the shame, disgust and humiliation of being chained to Jabba as his newest slave girl. She lays beside the crime lord against his scaly skin and squirming belly during this time on his rectangular throne with nothing but a few pillows. All the while Jabba keeps Leia pulled closely against himself and strokes her hair like a pet cat, enjoying Leia's horrified reactions. Leias' master jabba also enjoyed taunting her with his tail while she was trying to sleep or when she was trying to concentrate. She was treated with the same cruel lechery as his previous slave girls, such as ill-fated dancer Oola , and Jabba often tugged on the chain wrapped around her neck, strangling her many times. All of this has led to the popular theory that Leia was Jabba's sex slave, this is actually a very interesting theory, firstly she was in a sexy costume, she was attractive, she was on a leash living and sleeping with Jabba and she had he same job as Oola who was his sex slave. That is, until Luke arrived to rescue her. After Luke slays Jabba's monstrous rancor, he and Han are sentenced to be fed to a Sarlacc pit creature. Luke and Calrissian overpower Jabba's guards at the last minute, and Leia springs into action during the resulting confusion. She slips through Jabba's grip and grabs the chain that had just recently bound her, wraps it around Jabba's throat like a garrote and pulls, choking him to death but is still stuck as the chain is around jabba and locked to the throne. Luckilly for her R2 is there to break her chain and let her escape to the barge. She then uses a huge gun to blow-up the ship. With Lukes help she is then able to swing to the escape ship. Then she escapes the sail barge and is reunited with Han while she is wearing her gold bikini, and returns to the Alliance.

While preparing for a last battle with the Empire on Endor, Leia recalls a faint memory of her birth mother and she tells Luke. Afterwards, Luke reveals to her that she is actually his twin sister, and that the hated Darth Vader is their father/ Luke reveals to her that, if he fails, she would be the last Skywalker and heir to their Jedi legacy, and the only hope for the Rebels and the Jedi. She is stunned, but through her "relation" to the Force senses it's true and recovers sufficiently to lead the Rebels in battle on Endor as the Rebel Fleet battle the second Death Star.

On board the battle station, Emperor Palpatine pits Luke into fighting Vader, intent on making the young Jedi his new apprentice. Luke initially resists, but loses control when Vader telepathically probes his mind, learns of Leia's existence, and threatens to convert her to the dark side. Enraged, Luke nearly kills Vader — until he realizes, at the last second, that doing so would suffer him to his father's fate. He rejects Palpatine, who attacks him with Force lightning. Vader then turns against and kills his master, and is mortally wounded in the process. In his dying breaths, the redeemed Anakin Skywalker pleads with Luke to tell Leia that there was still good in him after all.

Leia, meanwhile, leads the Rebels to victory on Endor as Lando and the Rebel fleet destroy the Death Star, and with it, the glory of the Empire.

Trivia

• Leia's infamous gold bikini, worn in Return of the Jedi, was featured in an episode of Justice League Unlimited. It was worn by an undercover female Green Lantern as a homage to the character.
• In June 2005, Norway's Princess Märtha Louise of Norway admitted in an interview that the first name of her youngest daughter Leah Isadora Behn — 5th in succession to the Norwegian throne — was inspired by Princess Leia.
• Leia's hairstyle has been affectionately called the "donut hairstyle" or "cinnamon buns" by many Star Wars and sci-fi fans. Fisher herself has not commented directly on her character's hairstyle. Miss Piggy from Jim Henson's Muppet Babies once copied this hairstyle using donuts in a Star Wars-themed episode of the show. This was also spoofed in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs; in one scene Princess Vespa appears to have the hairstyle, but is actually wearing a large set of headphones.
• In the original Star Wars trilogy, Princess Leia is the most accurate shot with a blaster, hitting a higher percentage of her intended targets than any other character.
• The Slave Leia Bikini scenes were voted among the most memorable in movie history, according to Empire magazine.
• In the parody movie Thumb Wars, the role of Leia was a character named Princess Bunhead, who, as the name implies, had two cinnamon rolls for hair.
• Pop-punk band blink-182 have a song called A New Hope, on their album Dude Ranch. This song is about a boy in love with Princess Leia. It uses numerous Star Wars metaphors. The track was originally titled "Princess Leia".
• In the episode of Friends called The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy, Ross Geller has a sexual fantasy that he has which involves his girlfriend Rachel Green dressing up in the slave girl gold bikini from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
• All of the characters in the Star Wars films say her name as Layuh - that is, except for General Dodonna in the briefing room before the Battle of Yavin, Grand Moff Tarkin, and C-3PO in which they say "Princess Leeuh".
• In Volume 1 of the Episode VI comic series shows Leia attack a pig guard on the barge right before it would've attacked Luke.
• She is named for Steven Spielberg's mother, Leah Adler (née Posner). In Yiddish and in the original Hebrew, "Leah" is pronounced "LEH-ah" (לֵאָה).

See also

• Skywalker family
• Organa family
• Solo family
• Princess Leia's Theme

References

• Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Novelisation, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1
• The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
• The Truce at Bakura, 1st paperback printing, 1994. Kathy Tyers, ISBN 0-553-56872-8
• The Courtship of Princess Leia, 1995. Dave Wolverton, ISBN 0-553-56937-6
• Heir to the Empire, 1st paperback edition, 1992. Timothy Zahn, ISBN 0-553-40471-7
• Dark Force Rising, 1st edition, 1992. Timothy Zahn, ISBN 0-553-08574-3
• The Last Command, 1st paperback edition, 1994. Timothy Zahn, ISBN 0-553-56492-7
• The New Rebellion, 1st printing paperback, 1996. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, ISBN 0-553-57414-0
• Dark Empire, trade paperback, 1993. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-56971-073-2
• Dark Empire II, trade paperback, 1st edition, 1995. Tom Veitch, ISBN 1-56971-119-4
• Empire's End, trade paperback, 1997. Tom Vietch, ISBN 1-56971-306-5
• Heirs of the Force, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. Berkley, 1995. (ISBN 0-425-16949-9)

External links

• Princess Leia at the Star Wars Databank
• Leia Organa Solo on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
• Leia's Metal Bikini