Princess Leia
Princess Leia Organa is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the original Star Wars film and its novelization, Leia is a princess of the planet Alderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate, and an agent of the Rebel Alliance. She thwarts the Sith Lord Darth Vader and helps bring about the destruction of the Empire's superweapon, the Death Star. In The Empire Strikes Back, Leia commands a Rebel base and evades Vader as she falls in love with the smuggler Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi, she helps rescue Han from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and is revealed to be Vader's daughter and the twin sister of Luke Skywalker. Leia is portrayed by Carrie Fisher in the original film trilogy and the sequel trilogy.
The 2005 prequel film Revenge of the Sith reveals that Leia's mother is Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo, who dies after childbirth. Leia's father is Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi who falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader. After her mother's death, Leia is adopted by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and his wife, Queen Breha. In the sequel trilogy, Leia is a founder and General of the Resistance, which fights against the First Order. She and Han have a son named Ben Solo, who turned to the dark side and became the First Order warlord Kylo Ren. In The Rise of Skywalker, it is revealed that Leia was trained as a Jedi by Luke sometime after the events of Return of the Jedi. Leia dies towards the end of the film but returns as a Force spirit alongside Luke.
One of the more popular Star Wars characters, Leia has been called a 1980s icon, a feminist hero and a model for other adventure heroines. She has appeared in many derivative works and merchandising, including the Star Wars ''Legends narrative universe, and she has been referenced or parodied in several TV shows and films. Her "cinnamon bun" hairstyle from Star Wars and her metal bikini from Return of the Jedi have become iconic cultural symbols. Fisher was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress for Star Wars and Return of the Jedi. She also received Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi'', the latter being a posthumous nomination.
Creation and development
In 1999, Star Wars creator George Lucas reflected on his early development of the original film's main characters:The character Princess Leia went through various changes as George Lucas wrote and refined the Star Wars screenplay. In one early draft, she was the spoiled teenage daughter of King Kayos and Queen Breha of Aquilae. In a later version, she was Luke's cousin and the daughter of Owen Lars and his wife Beru. A subsequent story synopsis established her as Leia Antilles, the child of Bail Antilles from the peaceful world of Organa Major. In the fourth draft, she is Leia Organa of Alderaan, which is how she appears in the finished film.
In his early story development for The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas intended for Luke to have a twin sister—not Leia—who would be the focus of another film. Following the production of Empire, Lucas was burnt out and decided not to make his planned sequel trilogy. Needing to explain the identity of the other potential Jedi mentioned by Yoda, Lucas decided that Leia would be revealed as Luke's twin.
In an early draft of the screenplay for Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan tells Luke a slightly different story about his twin sister than that which appears in the finished film. He explains that Luke's sister and their mother were sent to a distant star system for protection. Their mother died soon after, and Luke's sister was adopted by the governor of Alderaan and his wife, who were friends of Obi-Wan.
Portrayal
Carrie Fisher was 19 when she was cast as Princess Leia. She was cast over Karen Allen, Glenn Close, Farrah Fawcett, Anjelica Huston, Amy Irving, Jessica Lange, Terri Nunn, Linda Purl, Meryl Streep and Cindy Williams. Jodie Foster was offered the role, but turned it down as she was under contract with Disney. After meeting Fisher, Mark Hamill said that she defied his expectations. Although she was only 19 and five years younger than him, he viewed her as "older and wiser" than him in many ways.In 2014, Fisher reflected on playing Leia. She said the character is worried, angry and "snarky" for much of the original trilogy, and that those attributes "aren't fun things to play." She stated that she would have rather played the "wry and sardonic" Han Solo than Leia. Fisher said that killing Jabba the Hutt was the most satisfying moment of her acting career.
Characterization
of Entertainment Weekly has described Leia as a diplomat, spy, warrior, and undercover agent. Fisher has described her as a soldier. Fisher explained to Rolling Stone in 1983 that since Leia has no friends or family, all she has is a cause—the Rebellion—after her home planet is destroyed. Fisher claimed that Leia is often angry because it was the only way the filmmakers knew how to make her strong.Writing in 2015, Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post examined Leia's character and her relationship with Han. Rosenberg praised Leia's courage and resiliency in the face of imprisonment, torture, and the destruction of her home planet. She claimed that Leia and Han end up in conflict because she insists on asserting authority and he automatically resists, even as she proves herself to be worthy of it. Regarding Han's attempt to pry a confession of love out of Leia in The Empire Strikes Back, Rosenberg writes that "Han's not wrong that if Leia doesn't figure out that she's a person with needs, she's going to burn out... In a way, it's an early confession of love: Han's anxious about the bounty hunters who are still pursuing him... But he would stay and give his love and support to Leia if she could just acknowledge that she needs him."
Following the release of Return of the Jedi, Fisher commented on the way Leia is depicted: " gets to be more feminine, more supportive, more affectionate. But let's not forget that these movies are basically boys' fantasies. So the other way they made her more female in this one was to have her take off her clothes."