CT An alternate hero?

Does it ever bother anyone how illogical it was for Luke Skywalker to be the hero? Leia was obviously the better choice, she was raised with the power and influence of a princess yet was actively involved in the rebellion.

This video goes into a bit more detail about what I'm talking about, but the synopsis is simple, Luke was the wrong hero. Luke and Leia were twins, she presumably had all the potential power that he had.

 

Leia is NOT 'obviously' anything. Personally I am *glad* Leia isn't the 'hero' of SW.

 

OK, maybe 'obviously' is a bit strong, but she was in a better position to become a Jedi Knight. Luke's uncle was holding him back for years, Leia could have started training at a much younger age and then used those powers to assist in the rebellion.

Why are you *glad* that she wasn't the 'hero'?

 

Luke doesn't look as good in a golden bikini!

 

Yeah? How do we know that?

 

You only have to picture it in your mind.

 

I like Leia's attitude and other traits. I wish we learned more about her in the films. I wish we had more in the EU about her period, especially in the later novels. Leia is definitely snarky, defiant, confident, beautiful, and marvelous.

 

That last option is just plain yuck.

 

Quite simply it's because to me Leia doesn't posses admirable traits and is ill-suited to being a 'hero'. I still think you are assuming that she was better positioned we see no proof in the films.

 

Leia is the more interesting character imo, and her struggle with the dark side would have been more convincing. In retrospect, she's a more interesting reflection of Anakin than Luke is, imo, and her acceptance of him would have greater ramifications for her character, imo.

 

Well, old tubby Mark Hammil, maybe not. But the young slim Mark... he could pull it off.

 

It would have given Leia a bit more meat to her character. Her equivalent of Han Coming Back.

 

Strongly agree with this point, they would have gone head-to-head several times in the past, to then hear Vader's 'big reveal' could have been even more devastating for her.

 

Hmm - well atleast in the EU at times Leia was able to help Luke and she is practically the closest kin he's got then putting aside their future descendants ... I mean Padme was dead and Anakin later dies of his injuries and how his time was done in ROTJ ... and how Leia did help Luke when in EU - in Dark Empires when he was immersed in the Dark Side ... and besides what about Endor? What about the Politics? What about other duties eh? I mean its not like Luke's the ONE ABOVE ALL SUPREMO who can be in 2000 worlds at once...

Besides Leia's got plenty of backbone herself - also choking out Jabba the Hutt (not saying Luke couldn't yet the fact Hutts are Force-Resistant...)

 

I've discussed this with others before and someone raised the concern that Vader and the emperor would be able to 'sense' Leia, but I don't really understand why he has never been able to do it before?

Vader was able to sense Luke in the first Death Star attack despite only using the Jedi power of good aim(?). Surely Leia would have been detected at some point as she was with/near Vader a lot more than Luke was and she was probably using her powers in ways that she didn't realise. just like how Anakin was using them in pod-racing without realising. Maybe she had a natural talent for hiding her connection to the Force, just like the Emperor was able to hide his from the Jedi Council? Maybe by hiding her alliance with the rebellion she was unconsciously hiding her connection to the Force.

If so then I would put that as a major ability that she has over Luke, and probably would have allowed her to maintain her position within the senate and rebellion.

 

The story works better with the hero being a farmboy, a commoner, a nobody stuck in a dead end job, which is something most of us can identify and sympathize with easily. How many of us can identify with royalty? While you could make the story work with a princess protagonist (Disney much?), I preferred watching an everyman turn into a superman. That adds an element of hope that any of us can rise above our circumstances and be the hero that the world needs.

 

With Leia, the story would have been slightly different, due to her personality. But it doesn't matter to me who the hero of the story was.

 

A hero does not have to be raised with power and influence. A hero is simply someone who is, at their core, a good person who will selflessly dedicate themselves to helping others with no thought of reward. No sense of self. No ego. Spider-Man is a hero and he is nothing more than nerd who comes from a middle class family, when he was bitten by a radioactive spider and become Spider-Man. Arthur Pendragon was a commoner boy who removed Excalibur and was declared King of the Britons.

Luke becomes active in the Rebellion once he receives the "Call to Adventure" and has gone through the "Refusal of the Call".

LUKE: "I want to come with you to Alderaan. There's nothing here for me now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

Once that happens, Luke begins the hero's journey. Luke becomes the hero that he was destined to be. As to Leia being a twin, Lucas did address it.

"At the center of the movie is a lot of exposition, it's a lot of explaining what has happened, and why things are the way they are. In this particular case, there is a whole issue of Luke's sister, and you know, the fact that they were twins. Which is an element that has to be revealed, which comes in later, in terms of who is the 'other' that was talked about in Empire Strikes Back. And how could that person become as powerful as Luke? Well obviously if they were twins, then if she were trained, then, she has the same abilities as Luke has. That becomes an important issue, especially in terms of resolving all the love triangles."

--George Lucas, ROTJ DVD Commentary.

It winds up becoming Luke because he is able to begin the journey with Obi-wan, whereas Leia was held captive by the Empire. The Jedi train Luke first and would then want him to train her. It winds up working out better with Luke since he has an emotional connection to Anakin, though he does not meet him until Cloud City. Luke has long looked up to his father and wanted to follow in his footsteps, as well as get to know him. Luke is able to bring his father back because deep down, he loved his father and believed in him. Leia does not have that kind of emotional connection to him. For Leia, it would be difficult to believe that he was a good man and to reconcile that the man that is before her now as Vader. In the old EU, Leia had to come to terms with the knowledge that her father was Darth Vader and had to let go of her fear, anger and hate towards him. Which became the subjects of her storylines in "The Truce At Bakura", "Tatooine Ghost" and "Planet Of Twilight".

Admirable traits? What, because she lied and mouthed off to Tarkin?

 

star wars is the story of many heroes and tbh I have never viewed luke as 'the' hero even if he's meant to be the central protagonist.

 

Apart from the part about Arthur being a commoner boy (he wasn't; he was fostered to Sir Ector, a landed knight), I agree with darth-sinister's post #20.

 

Is Luke or Leia really like that? One of the aspects that I like about "Star Wars" is that each character has both negative and positive traits that make them interesting.

 

I don't think I'd like SW very much if she was. Luke is the character I liked since I was little. I don't like Leia.

 

Luke states that he hates the Empire and has no love for them. He wants to go out and do some good. When he learns that his father was a Jedi and that he could be a Jedi as well, he states emphatically that he wants to be a Jedi like his father was. The negative trait in Luke is that he has to learn to let go of his attachments and use the Force in the same manner that Yoda and Obi-wan had. Leia was brought up to believe in the Republic as it was and in the cause of freedom. She has dedicated herself to fulfilling her mother and adopted father's desire to restore peace, justice, freedom and democracy to the galaxy. Her only flaw is that she is afraid to let herself love Han. To admit her feelings to him.