Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb just barely scratched the surface of the reason why Leia didn’t become a Jedi in this current canon, but it was touching all the same. This is where it might sound a bit salty however since those of us that have read the books that stemmed from the original trilogy know this for certain: Leia DID become a Jedi in the canon that Disney so casually tossed aside. This is what’s truly frustrating about Disney taking over Lucasfilm since in the books offered so many different stories that the Mouse House could have used to continue enchanting new and older viewers with throughout the years. Talk about being short-sighted. Anyway, Leia DID become a Jedi thanks in part to her brother and to her eventual master, Saba Sebatyne, a lizard-like Jedi known as a Barabel. Why in the world Disney decided to scrap so much useful material was kind of a hard hit to take since not only could they still be making movies and TV shows that people would agree with entirely, but they would have been able to ride the Skywalker legacy for some time to come, and the tragedies and triumphs would have been even greater, insuring that people would have been looking forward to each and every show and movie. But hey, their idea to rip it all up and keep only a few key elements was great, yeah?
Disney has done a great disservice to Star Wars, but being a Star Wars fan, well, I can’t say it’s been all bad. There are moments however, such as when Leia was floating in space and used the Force to pull herself back into the ship. That left a glaring hole as to whether she was really trained as a Jedi or not, and people lost their ever-loving minds for good cause. The story in this current trilogy seems to go that she was training with her brother but stopped when she became pregnant with Ben, which is a good reason really, but then why didn’t she take up her training again? The Force runs strong in the Skywalker family, so it’s not hard to assume that she might be a natural, but you would almost think that another Jedi would be advantageous to have within an army that needed hope on a frequent basis. Plus, a Jedi General would be something that hadn’t been seen since the Clone Wars, so you can imagine the kind of inspiration that people would have taken from this.
A lot of people would say grow up and move on, and I’ve been one of them, but there’s still that nagging feeling that Disney screwed up royally when taking on Star Wars. There’s no telling if George Lucas would have done anything further or if he would have followed the many books that offered so much detail and material that could have kept this series going for a long, long time to come, but it certainly couldn’t have been much worse. At this point the worst thing that some Star Wars fans will say about the movies is ‘I liked them’ as they don’t want to sink to the level of those that have called the past two movies utter garbage. But it is admittedly getting a bit hard to justify the existence of the past two movies simply because the inconsistencies and the direction that’s been taken is a huge decline that has yet to iron itself out. Rey has been a decent character, Kylo has been a whiny, rage-driven adolescent that is hard to appreciate, Luke became a hermit that was far unlike the confident Jedi we saw in Return of the Jedi, and Han and Chewie were reduced in stature it would seem. Leia was a worn and weathered general that had only a slight measure of the same steel that she exhibited in the original movies, and overall the movies have felt as though they’ve taken off in a direction that has the best intentions in mind but somehow still falls short of the mark when it gets going. In a big way it’s like revving up to something you think is going to be epic, only to watch it stumble and falter near the end as you get a slapped-together showdown that becomes little more than a shadow game.
Leia WAS a Jedi in the books, and she was a mother of three, not just one. Her children went on to serve in the Jedi Order and become among the most powerful beings in the universe at the height of their powers. Han wasn’t killed by his son, but instead had to witness the loss of his best friend and confidante when Chewbacca sacrificed his life for that of Han’s youngest son. Good job Disney, smooth sailing…right? It’s easy to keep hoping that this franchise will continue to get better, and remaining a fan through the good and the bad is what takes care of the fair weather fans, but in some instance it’s still enough to wonder just why Disney has made certain decisions.
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