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rthstewart) wrote2020-09-14 03:53 pm
more about that Star Wars AU and Leia Organa
To be clear, I could drive when I saw Star Wars in 1977 at Big Edwards in Newport Beach CA. I was graduating from college in 1983 when Leia was revealed as the Other Hope. And ever since, the lack of treatment of Leia's force abilities has been a constant irritant. It was lousy in the EU now Legends, with the exception of a few things Tim Zahn did. I still remember a scene somewhere in the Hand of Thrawn duology where she comes swinging out a window with her lightsaber shouting I am Jedi Knight -- or some such thing. I pretty much lost my mind.
At the same time, there have always been some things about ANH that bugged me. Why doesn't Leia identify herself to Obi-Wan in the recording? "You served my father in the Clone Wars." Yes, and?
You're really going to send an astromech down to a whole planet and he's going to figure out how to find this one person? Now, this was before we really understood just what that hellion Artoo was capable of, but the point stands.
Most importantly to me, which created more and more dissonance for me, even in ROTJ, was how Leia escaped the notice of Vader and Palpatine. She's the Senator and Princess of Alderaan. She's out, about and being seen and judged and assessed constantly. Her ability to resist mental coercion and invasion (something which Luke doesn't have when his emotions betray her to Vader) is notable canon in ANH -- "her resistance to the mind probe is considerable" and "she would never consciously betray the Rebellion." And then later when Vader is on Bespin and the implication, "why are they doing this to us" is that she's being tortured too. Again, she seems to avoid Vader's notice although maybe he begins to suspect something which is why he plans to take her when they leave Bespin.
How does Leia do this? How has she learned to hide herself, her feelings and thoughts? This has bugged me for nearly 40 years and it's so frustrating because Leia's ability has been ignored for so long. And so I forgave A LOT for the little that Rise of Skywalker gave us regarding Leia being called "Master" and seeing her train with Luke.
Back in 1999 when we saw more of what the Jedi were in TPM, I decided that obviously, Leia had had access to Jedi training even if she wasn't specifically aware of what it was. I went so far, with my co-author ginef at the time, of developing a Jedi Knight woman who survived the purges (this was before we knew Order 66), who secretly trains Leia on Alderaan and is with her on the Tantive and is murdered by Vader who recognizes her. From this Knight, Leia learned the skills of hiding her thoughts and emotions from Force users.
A very long time ago, I read a zine where Obi-Wan actually suppresses Leia's Force ability when she's an infant and it only comes back when she meets Luke for the firs time. I had that idea in my head but didn't like it when I was presented with this SW AU that Padme doesn't die and she's a Jedi and AU: parent doesn't die.
And so The Radiance Of Quenchless Fidelity Like A Star came about with Padme herself being so skilled in the Force that she's able to hide she has it it at all and her in utero daughter. Then with Ashla ( who is Ashoka Tano in canon), pPadme teaches Leia to hide her abilities as she herself did. And that led to this, which has taken me 37 years to write, with Padme (disguised as "Ismat") speaking to Leia on the Tantive IV.
Padme to Leia: “Go. And remember, Vader is here. Be very careful in how you use the Force. Don’t let your barrier down for a moment. If he senses what you are, he’ll tear the ship apart to find you and will never let you go.”
I am a rock.
It was a lesson Ismat and eventually Ashla, had drilled into her over the last ten years. The deep, unsettling wrongness she’d sensed in Palpatine was the Dark Side of the Force. Lord Vader had it, too. They were both Sith Lords and if they knew the Princess and Senator of Alderaan was as strong in the Force as the extinct Jedi of old, they would kill her. Or, as Ashla and Ismat warned darkly, something far worse.
Learning to build an impenetrable wall around her mind had been a lesson that, eventually, could not be taught to her any further. She had to do it to herself -- actively and willingly suppress what Ismat and Ashla said was her own strong, innate Force ability. It might hinder her development of more advanced, Jedi-like skills later, but would protect her from Vader and Palpatine and shield what she knew of the Rebellion from those who would invade her thoughts. It hadn’t been a difficult decision.
They teach Leia how to suppress her Force ability so she can hide herself and eventually the Rebellion from her father and Palpatine. She never regrets this decision but it does have lasting consequences and why she's unfairly compared to Luke.
While I was at it, I also fixed the part with Leia being so stupid in firing on the stormtroopers. ARGH. I hate that scene. So that's fixed too.
It took me almost 40 years to do this so I wanted to share.
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