Speculation Should Leia be a Jedi or Politician in the ST?

The film should begin with a hooded Jedi (back turned to camera) arriving to meet a delegation. "Jedi Master Skywalker, we are honored to receive you." And then in a mirror of the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan reveal in TPM Leia pulls down her hood and we're off...

 

^ That would be awesome; not only would it hearken back to the dual roles of the old Jedi Order, it would also perfectly fit Leia's character as established in film canon while also building on the ending of RotJ and her conversation with Luke before he takes off to surrender himself to Vader and Palpatine.

 

Yeah, I can picture that. Two New Republic emissaries on a mission of peace.

 

Time has not been friendly to Carrie Fisher. It's hard to picture her pulling a Dooku

 

Hehe. Would have to giggle a bit to see fisher doing back flips. Hehe. If she is in the films she will def be trained in the Jedi arts.

 

I would donate both kidneys to see Carrie Fisher with a lightsaber making hissing noises and stupid faces. I would buy every action figure.

 

Should she be a Jedi? ABSOLUTELY! One of my biggest pet peeves about the post-ROTJ EU was the decision to throw her back into politics, especially after the final film set up that she was going to learn the ways of the force. Rather than take the chance to actually develop her character even further, authors took the easy route out and threw her behind a desk. Its just lazy and a huge step backwards for her character. I always pictured her story arc along these lines:

Pre-Original Trilogy: Senator
Padme 2.0. She's the senator of Alderaan following her mothers footsteps in politics. Lots of speeches about corruption, senatorial banquettes and poison tea adventures.

Original Trilogy: Rebel
She's branded a traitor, her homeworld is destroyed and the senate no longer exists. Her time in politics has come to an end. Now she's become a fugitive of the Empire. Always on the run and in the heart of danger, she fights alongside her new friends and leads the Rebel Alliance to victory.

Post-Original Trilogy: Jedi
The Empire is defeated, time to start a new chapter in her life. The Jedi Order needs rebuilding and who's better to start with than a powerful Skywalker ready to begin training? After all you don't waste a Skywalker in politics when any ordinary person can do that job - Mon Mothma anyone?

To me that is a much better way of handling her character than the mess the EU has made because she actually develops and goes on a journey as a character. Jedi Master Leia is the way to go for the Sequel Trilogy. It doesn't mean she needs to have epic lightsaber fights, in fact I always imagined she'd be like a female version of the younger Obi-Wan as a Jedi ambassador/negotiator. But she needs to be kept out of the senate. Leave her political years for the live action series or some other story that takes place in the Dark Times era, not the New Republic era.

 

she could just run the republic, i am tired of incompetent and corrupt republic in the EU

 

She had better be! At the end of ROTJ she was like pretty much the only other known force user in the galaxy and she's Luke's sister! Why wouldn't she be. Even in the EU she becomes a Jedi, a terrible one at first who can't even kill a demented twi'lek but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

 

No

 

She doesn't have to be a lightsaber twirling/back flip style Jedi. She could be a powerful force user though. Would love to see Leia do some force pushes

 

You've got to be a total tool to think Leia won't be trained in the Jedi arts on some level. Jedi Master? Doubtful. But trained as a Jedi. Hells yea.

 

I, too, thought that the next thing Luke would do after RotJ is start training Leia...with the force ghost guidance of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin. Then, the two of them, would rebuild the Jedi Order. All along, Yoda would tell Luke what the old jedi order did wrong...what led to their fall.

Looking back at 4-6, Leia starts out as a senator that is secretly working against the Empire. By the beginning of ESB she is a leader in the Rebel military. By RotJ she is a fighter...posing as a bounty hunter, takes out a Hutt crime lord, and then leads a military operation in the end. And, Yoda told Luke to pass on what he had learned, essentially telling him to rebuild the jedi order. So, yeah, I want her to be a jedi.

 

Jedi Emissary representing the Jedi on the governmental level? Totally. If push came to shove would she whip out her saber? Totally!

Look, I couldn't picture Ian Mcdairmid brandishing a saber...then he did, his match against Windu is my favorite saber battle. Leia could totally whip up.

As for Carrie Fischer and how she feels, at the last Celebration she said herself "Leia is Jedi. Jedi Master." The crowd went wild and sabers twirled in the air.

 

This would be an awesome link to the PT! It'd be even better if Leia is with her padawan...her or Luke's daughter.

 

This is how I've always seen it.

But the question is, barring the EU, does a ST Jedi Leia have kids? Did she stop or delay her Jedi training to become a mother? Lord knows that even OT Leia was the quintessential workaholic career woman. I think most of us want to see her with Han, in a more pro-relationship Jedi order. But how does that work in practice? How does one pursue building a family and a marriage, while committing to something as complicated as becoming a Jedi?

Princess Leia was an iconic character that was created during the apex of 70s feminism. If I were trying to pitch Carrie Fisher on returning to the role, I would point out that there's a lot of interesting second-wave feminist, baby boomer, working-mom kind of symbolism that she could play with. She would be the epitome of "You've Come a Long Way, Baby." For example, how does a 60-yr-old Leia not end up reflecting on the historical role of someone like Hillary Clinton (or Margaret Thatcher or Condi Rice for that matter)?

 

Given the quasi-diplomatic role that the original Jedi Order had, it makes an incredible amount of sense for Leia - the one existing character in the franchise who has both the political savvy of her mother Padme Amidala and the inherent Force potential of her father Anakin Skywalker - to become a Jedi insofar as the film canon is concerned. I'm not going to sit here and claim that the decisions made with regards to her character in the EU are wrong or that they ought to be discarded, but insofar as the film canon goes, it does make the most sense for the 'next step' for her to be one in which her political career and the Force-based lineage of her heritage intersect.

Regarding the question of how Leia might balance Jedi training with politics and pursing a marriage and family with Han, this becomes a much easier prospect if the Rebel Alliance quickly reclaims Coruscant, because Leia could work, live, and train at the Jedi Temple, giving her close access to the Senate building and the ability to be near Han and work with Luke on fully harnessing her inherent Force abilities.

 

By age 60 or so, both Luke and Leia should at the very least, have adult age kids and possibly even have grandchildren. The books showed that Leia wasn't necessarily the best parent. She and Han had babysitters for their kids most of the time while they were still "having adventures" and stuff. That does raise a good question though about working mothers. And think about the Old Republic Jedi...they, the order, raised the kids...and they were all jedi. So, I don't think being a jedi means you can't raise kids.

 

Leia should have negative events in her life that lead her down the dark path. She could blame Luke for Han's death, her childs death or another tragic event in her life she feels Luke should have been there to help with. Leia could gain the political control she craves and secretely be a Sith using Lukes early training then training by a not yet revealed Sith. She could be sold the line that Luke is too dangerous by a Sith trying to stop the Jedi revival. Leia feels her Jedi brother is to blame for her downfall and a possible disfiguring accident she feels Luke could have prevented. Her appearance would have to be horrific and mirror Anakins' disfigurement in some way. Leia could kill Luke in an epic heartbreaking duel after a surprise reveal. Luke's offspring can challange Leia with his force ghost as guidance. or she could just be a Jedi.

 

I'm hoping she has Force powers for politics (waves hand to persuade) or can sense stuff which helps the team be warned of something in advance. Maybe even a force push to help them but that's it.

 

The new Jedi Temple will be on Yavin me thinks...

 

^ Why would it be? There is absolutely nothing in film canon to suggest that a resurrection of the Republic and the Jedi Order would happen anywhere but on Coruscant, especially since we see that the Jedi Temple is still standing, structurally, when the Empire falls.

 

Maybe she should be. If they do it right then it would be nice to see her reprise her role. We all know though how Hollywood screws things up . I guess from a technical stand point she could still be involved in modern day Star Wars politics . She's also a jedi , though we have to be realistic about this. I don't see her reprising her role to become a jedi knight. There was a time for that but I think it has passed.

If she hits the gym and they pretty her up, only then she could be believable for her age. I still feel that she would look really stupid doing granny jedi flips.

If they want to acknowledge her force abilities they should give her a modest jedi role and simply expose the fact that she can do the force without making the scene ridiculous looking. The force doesn't know age, yoda for example was 900 something years old; Vader was an old man in a mechanical suit...

I have conflicted thoughts about all of this. I admit that I can some how see an old Mark Hamill tearing it apart as a Jedi Knight. Even if he doesn't loose the extra pounds he has put on I would some how believe in it.

I'm afraid to say that I think I'm being some what sexist but that the movie industry is some what sexist. We like seeing attractive women doing exciting things. We don't typically go to the movies to see old women doing flips in the air , it doesn't work as well as the old man action scenario.

Maybe I'm just being closed minded , I guess there's no reason to bring gender studies into this. Their both old however and I just have a easier time seeing Mark reprise his role as a Jedi than I would carrie fisher.

 

If she's a Jedi in the ST, does that still mean she can wear the gold bikini?

 

Wouldn't it be so much more chill on Yavin? When your all meditating and stuff and getting your Jedi on? Heh Would have to have a presence on Coruscant but I bet Luke will set up the corporate headquarters elsewhere this time.

That could be another thread. Where will the Jedi temple be? A moon if Yavin? Will they set up shop on Coruscant again?