Princess Leia

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

Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan (born Leia Amidala Skywalker) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. She was portrayed by actress Carrie Fisher 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.

She is one of the main protagonists of the original Star Wars trilogy. In Return of the Jedi, it is revealed that she is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and thus the daughter of Darth Vader. In the Star Wars prequel films, her mother is identified as Padmé Amidala.

History

Princess Leia was raised on Alderaan by her adoptive parents, Senator Viceroy Bail Organa and his wife, Queen Breha. 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.

A politician-turned-rebel and spy, Leia 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 gave its powers to his 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.

By the fictional chronology, Leia first appears in Revenge of the Sith, when Padmé gives birth to her and Luke at Polis Massa. (In an apparent plothole, Leia is able to recall in Return of the Jedi- set 23 years later- that her mother was "beautiful, kind, but sad", despite the fact that Padmé dies immediately after Leia is born. )

After Padmé's death, Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda decide that they must hide the Skywalker children from their father, former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who had recently turned to the dark side and become the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Leia is sent to Alderaan with the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO with her adoptive father (Bail Organa) 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 (and her good friend) , 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 future husband Han Solo.

In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Darth Vader captures her onboard the ship Tantive IV, where she was acting as a spy for the Rebellion. 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 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, the Death Star's Commander, Grand Moff Tarkin, threatens to destroy her homeworld of Alderaan 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 orders Alderaan to be destroyed anyway, killing the entire population (except those who had been off-world) and her entire adoptive 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 (lost in a sacrificial diversionary duel with Darth Vader), they take part in the Battle of Yavin. Luke, in his one-man X-wing fighter, destroys the Death Star. 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 Han's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Although they are pursued by Imperial fighters, they dodge their fire by flying into an asteroid field when the Falcon's hyperdrive breaks down. Although Leia 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 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

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. Leia's part of the plan consists of posing as the Ubese bounty hunter Boushh, who will turn Chewbacca over to Jabba. Her ruthless bargaining as Boushh, negotiating the price for Chewbacca at the end of a thermal detonator, impresses Jabba and Boba Fett enough to allow her quarters in the palace for the night. The Huttese gangster eventually discovers her real identity, captures her,and makes her his new slave after she frees Han from the carbonite.

After Luke kills the Rancor, Jabba sentences Luke and Han to be fed to the Sarlacc. Just as all seems lost, Lando, disguised as a guard, helps Luke and Han overpower their captors. Leia seizes the moment to kill Jabba by strangling him with the very chain that bound her. R2-D2 cuts her loose, and after Luke boards the sailbarge, he rescues Leia. With Leia's help, Luke uses a deck cannon to blow up his barge as they swing to safety.

While preparing for a last battle with the Empire on Endor, Luke reveals to a stunned Leia that she is, in fact, his twin sister, and that Vader is their father. Initially reluctant to believe him, Leia realizes that Luke speaks the truth and joins Han Solo in leading the Rebels in battle on Endor as the Rebel Fleet battle the second Death Star. Leia is injured in the battle (and it is at this point where Han reveals to her that he loves her), but the Rebels, allied with the Ewoks, are victorious over the Imperial troops.

After the destruction of the Death Star, Han offers to step aside for Luke if it is in fact Luke whom Leia is in love with. Leia clarifies to Han that she does love Luke, but reveals to Han that Luke is actually her brother. Han is therefore reassured of Leia's love for him, and the issues affecting the couple's romance are resolved happily.

Expanded Universe

Alderaan

As the heir to the Alderaanian throne, Leia also serves in the legislative High Council of Alderaan and a term as Galactic/Imperial Senator of Alderaan. After the Rebellion's victory on Endor, she establishes New Alderaan, a sanctuary for the destroyed planet's surviving inhabitants. The Royal House of Alderaan, in the person of Leia Organa Solo and her children, continues to hold sovereignty over both New Alderaan and the old Alderaan system. Her title is largely ceremonial, however, as the government on New Alderaan actually administers the Alderaan system and New Alderaan in her name. Alderaan thus has been ruled under what seems to be a constitutional monarchy.

Although her relation to Darth Vader became public knowledge some time after the Empire's defeat on Endor, she remained known as the heir of Queen Breha and Bail Organa, and thus a member of the Royal House of Alderaan.

The Star Wars Holiday Special

File:Leiaand3po.JPG

Leia and C-3PO in The Star Wars Holiday Special

Leia briefly appears in the 1978 TV movie The Star Wars Holiday Special, where she is once again portrayed by Carrie Fisher. In the show, Leia is a leader and administrator of the new Rebel Alliance base. She is accompanied by C-3PO when contacting Chewbacca's wife, Mallatobuck, for assistance in finding Chewbacca and Han. She also appears in the cartoon segment at a different Rebel Base, located in an asteroid field, and at the Life Day ceremony at the end of the film. (Carrie Fisher reportedly claims she was "heavily medicated" during the performance.)

The Truce at Bakura

As depicted in the novel The Truce at Bakura, immediately after the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance receives a long-range messenger droid from Bakura, which is under invasion by the Ssi-ruuk. As Bakura is a well-armed system, which despite its remoteness produced important war-material (such as repulsorlift cells) the battered Alliance decides to dispatch a task force to aid the Bakurans; Leia and Luke are both assigned for their diplomatic and martial skills. The remaining Imperial forces gather at Bakura gratefully receive the aid once the Rebels' victory at Endor were made known to them, and a truce between the Imperials and the Rebels is signed. It is during this time that the spirit of Anakin Skywalker appears to Leia to beg for her forgiveness, which she cannot grant at that time.

The New Republic

Princess Organa is a founding member of the New Republic, which is formally promulgated in 5 ABY. She succeeds Mon Mothma as its Chancellor, and later fills other offices, such as Chief of Defense and various diplomatic posts. Although most of her life is devoted to such matters of state, she engages in limited study of the Jedi arts, with Luke as her teacher. Notably, she wields a blue lightsaber that she built herself. In the book "Heir to the Empire" by Timothy Zahn, Luke builds her a green lightsaber which she uses to help free the Noghri from their perceived debt to the Empire. Luke then gives her a red one (not of Sith construction) to complement the weapon she had constructed earlier.

After a near-disastrous courtship in which Prince Isolder vies for Leia's affections, she marries Han in 8 ABY. As described in The Courtship of Princess Leia, Han kidnaps Leia and takes her to a planet he had won in a game of sabacc named Dathomir. There they encounter the Nightsisters, whose attempt to escape eventually leads to the demise of the Warlord Zsinj and his empire, equal rival at this time to both the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic.

At first, Leia does not want to have children, fearing they would succumb to the dark side as her father had done. In the Expanded Universe novel Tatooine Ghost, however, she begins to understand what happened to her father to bring him to the dark side. When she and Han go on a mission to Tatooine to retrieve the Alderaanian moss-painting Killik Twilight and the Rebel code hidden within it, Leia discovers her grandmother Shmi Skywalker's diary and, with the help of her father's childhood friends Kitster and Wald, discovers her father wasn't the evil man she thought he was, and eventually learns to forgive him.

A year later during the Thrawn Crisis, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who had formed an alliance with Joruus C'Baoth, orders Noghri commandos to kidnap Leia, who was pregnant. C'Baoth intended to warp Leia and Luke to the dark side, and planned to corrupt also the two unborn twins, as he was aware of their great promise and minimal resistance to being molded to his whims. To avoid capture, she hides on the planet Kashyyyk, but her would-be kidnappers track her down. She later learns that Vader once landed on the Noghri home-planet Honoghr and tricked the Noghri into serving the Empire by promising to help their planet recover from the ecological disaster that it suffered during the Clone Wars. Because of this, they were fiercely loyal to Vader. Leia is able to leverage her biological relationship to Vader to persuade a Noghri assassin to travel with her to Honoghr and help convince the Noghri of the Empire's deception. Leia shows an assembly of Noghri matriarchs that the droids which the Empire demanded are actively poisoning the land and slowing down the reconstruction. They leave the service of the Empire after one of their assassins (and Thrawn's personal bodyguard), Rukh, kills Thrawn during the Battle of Bilbringi and becomes allies of New Republic. For her efforts, Leia is known as "Lady Vader" among the Noghri, and she and her family become revered figures in their society.

During the Thrawn Crisis, Leia gives birth to the twins Jaina and Jacen on Coruscant during Thrawn's siege.

Dark Empire

During the events of Dark Empire, the New Republic suffers severe setbacks, losing most of its worlds, as well as Luke Skywalker to the dark side. After her brother's capture on Coruscant, subsequent transport to Byss, and temptation by the cloned Emperor, a pregnant Leia along with her husband, Han Solo, reach the Emperor's new stronghold of Byss where she confronts the reincarnated Emperor. At first Leia is unsuccessful in turning Luke away from the Dark Side, but does manage to take a Jedi Holocron away from the Emperors chambers. Leia boards the Emperor's Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer during its assault on the Pinnacle Moon of Da Soocha. She appeals to the goodness inside Luke, redeeming him, and assaults Palpatine with the light side of the Force, cutting him off from the dark side and control of the titanic Force-storm he had exerted himself to the utmost to conjure, intending to obliterate the Rebel Alliance fleet. The Eclipse I and Palpatine are both destroyed.

During Operation Shadow Hand, the Rebel Alliance continues to flee. Leia's second son, born in 10 ABY on a space station-turned-into-Alliance-base in orbit around Nespis VIII, is given the name Anakin in honor of her father's redemption (See Solo family.)

Along with a Jedi named Jen, she defeats Palpatine's second-in-command, a Dark Jedi assassin.

Even this respite proves to be short, however, as Palpatine is reborn in his last remaining clone body, which is quickly deteriorating, due to sabotage by Carnor Jax and one of the Emperor's Hands. Leia is forced to flee to Onderon to hide Anakin from Palpatine, who intends to transfer his spirit into the young infant. The Emperor did eventually find her, but Han accidentally shoots him in the back just as he is about to possess the baby. A sacrifice by a dying Empatojayos Brand saves them both from Palpatine's wrath, and took the emperor's spirit forever.

As Chief of State, Leia guides the New Republic through a number of dangerous external crises from post-Imperial warlords. As the threat of Imperial warlords diminishes and the New Republic's growth accelerates rapidly, she also faces a number of internal political conflicts in the Third Electoral. These two forces come to a head during the Black Fleet crisis in 16 ABY, in which she invoked Article Five of the Common Charter to forestall a recall vote against her office and declare war against the Yevetha. Cracks in her widespread popularity begin to show during this period, cracks that would accelerate with the political ascendance of the canny Bothan politician, Borsk Fey'lya.

The Yuuzhan Vong War and beyond (25 ABY–35 ABY)

After serving a second term, Leia resigns as Chief of State, and is replaced by Borsk Fey'lya. After the Yuuzhan Vong attack on Sernpidal in 25 ABY, Leia goes before the Senate to bring attention to the threat posed by the approaching Yuuzhan Vong. Her pleas go unheeded, and the Vong legions swarm into the galaxy, destroying system after system and defeating the Jedi and the New Republic army in countless battles. Sometimes, even the might of Luke, Leia, their friends and allies couldn't prevent the dark victory of the Invaders. Leia, her chidren, Han Solo and their friends could definitively see that the invaders were winning the war, but Borsk Fey'lya and his supporters concluded the New Republic army and navy were taking advantages.

Leia contributes to the war effort by joining SELCORE, a movement that aided refugees.

Shortly afterward, Chewbacca's death sends Han into a deep depression, causing a large rift between him and Leia, culminating in his walking out of the marriage after an argument. They patch things up after Leia is gravely wounded by Tsavong Lah at the Battle of Duro. Their troubles were not yet over, however; When the Vong unleashed the ultimate slayers, the voxyn, to find and kill all the Jedi, Leia was targeted by a Voxyn master slayer who had already killed many Jedi. With the help of her Noghri bodyguards, she eliminated the assassin with her lightsaber. Soon after, in 27 ABY, Leia and Han lost their youngest son, Anakin, during the Myrkr mission and the fall of Coruscant.

After Coruscant's fall, Han and Leia go to Hapes for Anakin's funeral, then on several missions to restore HoloNet communications to the Unknown Regions, including foiling a second attempt of the Ssi-ruuk to invade Bakura in the process. Leia helped the Pwecks to rebel on their masters during her confrontation face to face with the Imperium; her stand allowing several traitors to ambush the Imperium.

Near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong war, she and Han Solo rescued Thorsh, a prisoner from the internment camps of planet Selvaris. Later, her husband and she entered with Kyp Durron, Jedi Master, Wraw, a Bothan secret agent and a few more allies on the planet Callulla. They found that Alpha Red was released on this world. During the battle with the ill Yuuzhan Vong warriors she managed to destroy a few Slayers and a Commander before being captured. The commando was eventually rescued by Lando Calrissian, Talon Karrde and Tendra, Lando's wife.

When Zonama Sekot makes its existence known near Coruscant in 30 ABY, Han and Leia travel there to be reunited with the rest of their family. While there, they meet Harrar, a Yuuzhan Vong priest. Leia, Han, and a few companions work with Harrar and a group of heretics (Yuuzhan Vong Shamed Ones) to get inside the Well of the World Brain on Coruscant.

After the destruction of Shimrra and Supreme Overlord Onimi, Nom Anor travels with the Solo's Twins and their parents across the labyrinth to espace the mighty war vessel of the Master Shaper. However, the executor turns on them and shoots his venom towards Han Solo but Jacen catches the poison, saving his father from certain death. Leia engages the Prefect before he can eliminate her husband and her elder son. Darth Vader's daughter proves victorious and cuts off the rogue Nom Anor's arm. The princess and the former smuggler allow the executor to die on the mighty war vessel but do not witness his certain death.

Leia is among those gathered on Zonama. She gives up politics and becomes Han's copilot, a position she holds for the next five years.

The Dark Nest

In 35 ABY, Han and Leia follow various Jedi who had disappeared into the Unknown Regions, and discover Raynar Thul was alive and had been taken in by a nest of Killiks. To avoid a war with the Chiss, Leia suggests to "UnuThul" (as Raynar was now known) that the Killik nest be moved to a new planet, but makes him think it was his idea. At this time, Leia comes to terms with her heritage and asks Saba Sebatyne to train her as a Jedi Knight, as per a promise Luke had made to her during the Thrawn crisis.

Around this time, R2-D2 suffers some severe malfunctions and shows Luke a holoclip of his father and a pregnant woman, whom Luke learns is his and Leia's real mother. In the holoclips, Anakin and Padmé are discussing a dream of Anakin's in which Padmé dies in childbirth. Before Luke can get more info out of R2, the droid has a meltdown, claiming he is protecting information. Frustrated, Luke contacts master slicer Ghent, who manages to recover one other holoclip from R2, this time featuring a scene in which Padmé is talking to Obi-Wan Kenobi about Anakin, which is displayed to both Luke and Leia. In the Swarm War, Luke and Leia finally see their mother's death. Also, Sebatyne tells Leia to constuct a new lightsaber to show she is a true Jedi Knight.

During the Swarm war, she defeats the evil Joiner Alemar Rar, a former Jedi champion. She manages to defeat her and assumes that she is dead although Alema didn't die, in fact she was severely injured and spent a while recovering, during which she came down with a fever and thought she was exploring the mountains on Yavin IV with her dead sister, Numa.

Leia and Han become grandparents to Allana, Jacen's daughter, in 36 ABY but remain unaware of it as of Exile or 40 ABY.

The Legacy Era or the Second Corellian Crisis

During the Second Corellian Insurrection, Leia was secretly aiding the Corellians while she was still a member of the Galactic Alliance and the New Jedi Order. As time passed, tensions in her own family and her extended one grew as both were on opposing sides of the war, namely the Galactic Alliance, Jedi Order and the Corellias. Her own son was slowly falling to the dark side, training to be the next of the new Dark Lord of the Sith under the tutelage of Lumiya, embodying the very reason why she didn't want to have children in the first place as she feared that they would follow in the footsteps of their grandfather, Darth Vader.

Pop culture status

The Metal Bikini

The term "Metal Bikini" refers to the iconic slave girl costume worn by Princess Leia when she was held captive in crimelord Jabba the Hutt's palace, at the beginning of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The costume consisted of brass and cloth top, brass bottom with loincloth and various adornments (a snake arm-wrap and two bracelets), including the chain and collar, with which she was chained to Jabba and, ironically, used to strangle him later. Close examination of the film and its novelization reveals that Jabba sexually assaulted her while she was wearing the outfit. Nonetheless, some fans believe that she kept the golden outfit because of its sheer worth, and it has been rumored that she once slept with husband Han Solo while wearing it. Shortly afterward, however, she decided to destroy it, disgusted by what it represented.

File:Leiabikini.jpg

Leia wearing her iconic golden metal "bikini" slave outfit at Jabba's palace. Leia's appearance has been voted one of the most memorable swimsuit moments of cinema history.

The costume has an extremely large fanbase, most of which have been in recent years. After her appearance wearing the "Golden Metal Bikini" , Carrie Fisher (and thus Leia herself) almost immediately became a sex symbol. Actresses like Melissa Joan Hart and Jennifer Aniston are known for having worn the costume before.

The costume designer for the films had a "no lingerie in space" policy, which prevented Fisher from wearing a brassiere. To maintain decorum, adhesive tape was used in place of the banned garment. Despite the ban on some undergarments, Leia's metallic bikini scenes were voted by Empire magazine as among the most memorable in movie history.

Carrie Fisher had complained about her costumes in the previous two films. She said they were so long, you could not tell "she was a woman". Those complaints led to the skimpy outfit she wore as Jabba's prisoner. The costume became something of a running joke among the crew, because the metal framework that held the top together meant that the costume did not move well with her. Since Fisher did not like the industry standard solution of using double-sided tape, it became necessary before each take to have a wardrobe person check to ensure that her breasts were still snug inside the costume top (and several scenes had to be re-shot when "wardrobe malfunctions" occurred). There were several versions of Leia's slave costume. One was made of metal, which because of clunkiness did not truly fit to her body. Another was made of rubber and was used for stunts because it was more comfortable. Costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers says that the inspiration for Leia's slave outfit came from the artwork of Frank Frazetta, which often focused on the female form.

See also

• Skywalker family
• Organa family
• Solo family
• Princess Leia's Theme
• List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

Notes

Citations

• http://www.leiasmetalbikini.com.
• http://starwars.wikia.com.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Princess_Leia_Organa/Archive_1#Leia_as_Jabba.2.
• http://www.imdb.com/rg/title-tease/trivia/title//tt0089190/trivia.

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

• Princess Leia in the StarWars.com Databank
• Leia Organa Solo on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
• Princess Leia at The World of Star Wars