It doesn’t take the Force to appreciate this moving tribute to Princess Leia, the original and toughest woman in all of Star Wars up to this point. I’d go so far as to say that not even Captain Phasma, who’s already been seen to be as tough as anyone in the franchise, could match wills with Leia if pressed to do so. Even Rey hasn’t accomplished this feat yet, and she’s well on her way to becoming a hardened Force-user that might return the balance to the Force or sunder it again depending on which way the next movie goes. Leia however was the most iron-willed of them all and one of the most classic characters within the Star Wars universe.
It might be fun to start the argument that she’s the strongest-willed scifi character ever devised but then there would likely be many people that might jump on that and make other equally bold claims that would range from the reasonable to the ridiculous. Let’s just say that there hasn’t been anyone like Princess Leia as of yet in the Star Wars franchise. Even Padme, who came the closest and understandably so, was not the match of Leia despite what she had to go through.
Keep in mind that Padme died relatively young while giving birth to her twins. The medical droid stated that she had lost the will to live, and was fading rapidly. It’s not hard to imagine why however since Anakin had broken her heart and nearly broke her body. The rapid descent of her lover, the father of her children, into the madness that compelled him to almost kill her and their unborn children, was enough to shatter her faith in the universe and finally force her to just give up. It didn’t help that she probably sustained a good amount of damage from the Force choke, but her will had been broken.
Princess Leia has known loss as well, and has never fully broken. In the non-canon stories she gave birth to three children and had to experience the death of the youngest during wartime, while one of her eldest slipped into the Dark side of the Force and was eventually killed by his twin sister. In canon however, she still has to endure her only son giving way to the Dark side, and then killing his own father as a means to finalize the transition. She’s also had to deal with the absence of her brother, the Force-wielding Jedi Master who could have been a tremendous help against the First Order and Kylo Ren. Depending on him however would have meant that she would be asking him to face the man that murdered his students and corrupted others to the Dark side, something that Luke was obviously not ready to do.
So with Han and Chewie off somewhere in the galaxy and Luke in seclusion Leia had to pick up the pieces and push forward. She didn’t have the benefit of lying down to die, nor did she have the inclination. She became a very saddened and aged general, but the fire never once left her eyes in all that time. She has been and was the very heart of the Rebel Alliance.
Follow Us
