From her double-buns hairstyle to the way she stood up to rakish Millennium Falcon pilot Han Solo (Harrison Ford) — long before she fell in love with him — Leia was a new kind of Princess who didn’t need anyone to rescue her.
She fought for the Rebellion with everything she had, yet maintained an air of grace, dignity, and humanity that was apparent even in the sequel trilogy. Shortly before Fisher tragically passed away, she reprised her Star Wars franchise role in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
The way General Leia led Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and her favorite pilot — who may have reminded her a bit of someone else — Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) was a testament to not only her strength but her compassion for all those who inhabited the galaxy.
As it turns out, however, Leia might have had a slightly darker side that was willing to sacrifice just about anything, even innocent lives, to defeat Palpatine and the Galactic Empire.
Over the past four decades, the character’s lineage — she was the daughter of Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker (David Prowse/James Earl Jones in the original trilogy) and the sister of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) — has been assessed and reassessed.
Now, a Star Wars comic book has given fans a look at Leia’s absolute devotion to her cause, seemingly at any cost.
In the Marvel Comic, The Empire Strikes in Star Wars #11 — written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Oscar Bazaldua — Leia and the Rebellion are coming off of a heartbreaking defeat on Hoth and are, perhaps, more vulnerable than they’ve ever been.
During the scene in question [pictured above], the Rebel fleet is scattered throughout the galaxy and their communications have just been compromised by Imperial forces — Leia, therefore, knows that the most recent threat can only be conveyed face-to-face.
ScreenRant perfectly described what happened next:
Surprisingly, the success of the first attempt is mostly contingent on the connection that the hybroid Lobot makes with an ancient translator droid to help the Rebels create an unbreakable code. But there’s a slight problem. It’s killing Lobot.
Lando Calrissian, Lobot’s friend, is obviously not okay with this unwelcome development and demands that Leia terminate the connection to save Lobot’s life. But Leia refuses. Exacerbating the entire situation is that she flat out ignores Lando at first as he continues to make his pleas known. While already a thoughtless and unsympathetic response, Leia soon does the unthinkable when she refuses Lando’s request: “If it helps, know that I hate doing this, too. But this is bigger than Lobot, you, me, or any one of us. Right now, it’s about the Rebellion.”
Ultimately, of course, Leia’s actions helped to save the Rebellion, destroy the second Death Star, and, eventually, give the Resistance the hope they needed at the end of the Skywalker Saga.
However, this new comic proves that there was a darker side to Leia that rarely sees the light of day — she was willing to do whatever it took, even, perhaps, sacrificing innocent lives, to preserve her father, Bail Organa’s, cause.
What do you think? Did Princess Leia have the potential to make darker decisions than we’ve previously seen? Do you prefer the original trilogy Leia or General Leia Organa from the sequels?
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Credit: Lucasfilm
