A diplomatic mission to Alderaan...

Okay, so at the beginning of ANH, when the Tantive IV is captured, Leia claims she's on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. Granted, this line was written long before any starcharts of the GFFA were ever created (in which Alderann & Tatooine are on opposite sides of the galaxy), but has it ever been stated, in EU or interviews, where she was coming from? Especially since those starcharts (like the one pictured below) have been published?

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Star_Wars_Galaxy_Map_KOTOR_Quest.jpg]

 

Not the answer I was expecting but according to the EU she came from Kattada.



... TA-DA!

 

I thought it was Toprawa?

 

So did I.

 

Go check out the Essential Atlas; this is almost certainly in there, along with pages and pages of other neat stuff and beautiful art.

 

Katada is listed as having happened 1 BBY. It may have gone to Toprawa after that, but Toprawa was certainly it's last stop prior to Tatooine. As for the geography, the Tantive IV specifically went to Tatooine to seek out obi-wan and I'm not sure how/if she ever tried to explain why she was in that "part of town". Moot point though anyway as the Empire was well onto her.

 

Seems kind of silly to go all the way across the galaxy to Tatooine, when Toprawa and Yavin 4 are neighbors, galactically-speaking. Was Obi-Wan really that crucial to the war effort that Leia had to take such a roundabout journey to pick him up?

 

Apparently, as she did

 

Regarding galactic proximity, you can explain it easily enough from several points of view:

1. Reality - at the time the script was written, the specific details of the planets' locations in relation to each other was not something thought out. As far as GL was concerned, Leia was in a spaceship being chased by the Imperials, & her father's old friend Obi-Wan & the main character, Luke, needed to be brought into the story somehow. Done.

2. OT in-universe - A scene in the radio drama has Bail instructing Leia to go to Tatooine & recruit Obi-Wan Kenobi to help the Rebellion, she didn't just happen to be there & try to contact him in desperation. Besides, heading straight to Yavin IV with Darth Vader on their tail wouldn't have been a particularly bright thing to do.

3. Saga in-universe, post-PT - as above, except that Bail would have been even more motivated to bring Obi-Wan out of hiding, along with Anakin's other child, now that the civil war had reached critical mass, both for Obi-Wan's help & to protect the children more closely.

The very phrase 'diplomatic mission' hints at 'diplomatic immunity', which suggests that Leia says it as a way of telling Vader to mind his own business, that he has no jurisdiction over her.
It's still very much last-ditch bluster anyway - Vader knew exactly what she was up to, & she was 99% aware that he did. Nothing to lose, so still worth a shot.

 

Well, given the fact that the Empire had ships which could knock another ship out of hyperspace, flying in a straight line from point A to point B was probably the fastest way to get captured or killed. She probably took a bunch of detours, ran into the Imperial Navy, and got really sidetracked.

 

It's what she said, it didn't have to be true.
As evidenced by later lies told to the empire, Leia had no inclination to cooperate with Vader or reveal any actual information. She may have been on her way to Alderaan or she may have likely been on her way to Yavin (or whatever that planet is called where the rebels were hiding.)

It doesn't matter because she had no reason to tell the truth.

 

Well I am sure if you had a Imp Star Destroyer on you tail, the last thing you would do is go straight to a Rebel base...

 

Now that you mention it, if she was going to pick up Obi-Wan anyway, she might have gone to Alderaan immediately afterwards to get Bail so that he & Obi-Wan could confer before any of them headed off to the Rebel base.

"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars."

Unlikely that there wasn't any plan for Bail & Obi-Wan to speak at some point. At this stage of the civil war, Bail probably had his bags packed to go on the run anyway.

 

Well, he was crucial to the continuation of the film, anyway, so...yes. Ha.