CT "I know. Somehow, I've always known..."

Watching the OT lately, I've had my own ideas on how Leia has "always known" about the force/luke/her father. But I want to know everyone else's ideas on how she knows and what exactly she has always known.That look she gave Darth Vader in episode V during the carbon freeze scene was very telling, but really curious what everyone else thinks...

 

I've never noticed. Are you sure she knew?

 

I'm just quoting what she said (2:12) in her conversation with Luke on Endor in ROTJ....what made her say that is my question...

 

Blatant real-world continuity gaffes aside, the simplest in-universe explanation I rationalize for Leia's statement is that she felt a "connection" to Luke rather quickly, and not simply because he happened to be one her (bumbling at the time) rescuers and then The Dude Who Blew Up the Death Star. As awful as the incestuous squickiness is, the truth is that, in rare real life cases, siblings who wind up separated at birth and accidentally cross paths again years later can feel an inexplicable bond that may mistakenly lead to romantic feelings...until they find out their relation. That sort of subconscious bond would only be heightened with twins who also happen to share the same supernatural power. They just weren't counting on the notion of being remotely related, having grown up clear across the galaxy from each other and being of vastly different backgrounds (not to mention looking nothing like one another). I'll admit, though, for my own personal head-canon I'd picture them being a lot more bothered and ashamed about that stuff than it all being hand-waved away in the film. Even if it wasn't their fault, that's just frankly messed up.

Right there in that scene above I can easily picture Leia flashing back on that moment in the Falcon when she hears Luke's call for help through the Force in TESB. That's actually the moment I consider the sibling bond being established between them, even though they're still clueless about it. None of this is overtly displayed or mentioned through the films, but from the way Luke and Leia act towards one another on board the medical frigate, it's plausible to see them coming to this wordless agreement about their relationship to one another: Leia is officially in love with Han, and Luke is totally okay with it. He's there to support her and do everything he can to get his friend and comrade back. Their love has already transformed into that of a brother and sister; they just haven't quite figured it out yet. When Luke makes his big reveal in ROTJ, all these instances and feelings could inspire her to say what she says as a means of expressing, "Well, this all makes a lot more sense now..."

Regarding the Force, perhaps at first Leia thought that Luke was strong or skilled enough to be able to project his thoughts toward anyone when he really wanted to, or at least someone he felt a close rapport with, enabling her to hear him reaching out to her at Bespin. I doubt at that point Leia would have suspected that meant she had Force abilities of her own. But again, once Luke tells her, she'd likely realize that she'd heard him back then because she really DOES "have that power too." Depending on how much she remembered of her torture on the first Death Star, maybe she'd even consider that this was the real reason she was able to resist the drugs and Vader's mind probes. A lot of puzzle pieces would fall into place for her.

Lastly, that look she gives Vader in the carbon chamber...I always believed it was just a look of controlled hatred and defiance, her pride and inner strength refusing to let her look weak in front of him even as Han was being led to what seemed to be his death. I never thought it had any other significance, or any indication that she knew anything about Vader other than as a sworn enemy.

So...that's a long-winded spiel just to say that, even though it still seems weird for Leia to say this line, I can see it making some sense; it just takes extra mental gymnastics. Which, of course, is the reason all of us nerds are blathering online...

 

Thank you ThreadSketch for the lengthy reply!! I loved reading your response.

You know, as much as most SW fans have a problem with this, it really doesn't bother or sicken me. Maybe it's my background as a nurse because I understand that attraction from a psychological, clinical point of view rather than an incestuous one. I think I read a scientific article one time about the attraction of relatives to one another. It said the attraction is a survival trait that goes back to our primitive ancestors. I see it as natural until the people involved actually know about their relations. I remember being attracted to my cousins when I was very young (2-4 years old) but after I got older and could understand what a relative was, I was no longer attracted. But I digress....lol

Yes, I agree, I could see her flashing back to that moment as well. But I also think that throughout her life (before ANH) she's probably had many of these telepathic moments like the one above before. "I've always known..." lends me to believe this about her past. I definitely think Leia has telepathic powers stronger than her brother, and we may see this play out in episode VII. At least, that is my hope.

Really? Because I definitely see a look of uncertainty. Almost like she's felt a connection to him, she doesn't know why, and she's a little frightened by it.... I think it's rather odd that after that look she's given him and Han is encased in carbonite, Darth Vader "alters the deal" and wants her and Chewy taken to his ship....

 

(0:50) She even walks back....the body language is undeniable.

 

I think this is the case of Lucas deciding Vader was Luke's father after ANH was written. Luke and Leia's sibling relationship had to be addressed in RotJ and it came across as incredibly awkward. Of course part of this is on purpose because of the romantic tension between them in ANH, but Luke and Leia's relationship was always second fiddle to Leia and Han. Honestly I feel like a lot of "tying up loose ends" were rushed and awkward in RotJ and Star Wars may have been better served with a fourth OT movie and more thought out ending.

 

Yeah anakinfansince1983 , I've always thought that she was talking about her "special powers" in the force more than her relationship with her brother/father. After Luke makes that announcement though, I think she puts all the pieces together and it finally makes sense. It's sort of like the moment when young Clark Kent, who's been incredulously tinkering around with his new powers for a couple of years, finally finds out about his parentage and it all makes sense. In this scene, Leia sort of has that same moment.

I hope that by time episode 7 rolls around Leia has dealt with her past and forgiven her father. But its normal to be angry at first, it definitely wouldn't surprise me if she was. That's part of the normal healing process.

 

No, she didn't suspect Vader was her father based on the way she says, "Your father?!" She did suspect something with Luke which would then explain why she never pursued anything with him and vice versa. With those scenes of Luke and Leia's romance dropped from TESB during the reshoots, the door was open to allow them to be siblings.

 

I think Lucas was toying around with the sibling idea before ESB. Otherwise, I don't think we'd get that look between Leia and Vader, the force connection between her and Luke at the end of the movie, and Yoda saying "No, there is another." when Luke runs off to Bespin. I mean that's a considerable amount of content.

 

The look on Leia's face in ESB is one of silent terror. Her eyes tear up and gloss over, her face seems to drop and lose color and she takes a step back, seeming to shrink a little, like a scared little girl. This is accentuated by her braided hair. She looks like she's seen the boogie man. No surprise there, Vader is the boogie man who tortured her and her friends.

Nice bit of acting by Carrie.

 

Totally agree. If it weren't for her spectacular acting in that scene, I would have thought of that look as completely irrelevant and unimportant. She has managed to get a SW fan like me to contemplate the meaning of that look for years. If that's not good acting, I don't know what is.

 

Lucas already had thought of the idea of a sibling, but he wasn't really interested in telling that story initially. The sibling was mostly an ethereal idea that evolved into the Other, which was mostly done to ramp up the feeling that Luke might not make it out in one piece. When Lucas came around to ROTJ, he realized that that needed to be addressed and kept thinking about how to make it tangential to the plot.

 

You beat me to this! But that's totally how I read her "look" too. And i found it especially poignant (is that the right word?) when you compare that look to how she was with Vader in the beginning of ANH--seemingly fearless, and a little haughty with him. You realize in the ESB moment, like "Wow, she's actually really scared of him now…." I mean, after being tortured by him, and now the callous way he was ordering Han into carbon-freeze like he's nothing more than a guinea pig--well, you can't blame her. She now knows he's capable of anything.

It's a cool moment, actually. I'm glad I'm not the only nerd who noticed it.

Also, yeah. I always thought the "I've always known…" was more directed at Luke being her brother, rather than Vader being her father. That probably stunned her a bit.

 

I was starting to think I was the only one....glad I'm not crazy. lol.

 

Well, Alderaan is like the deep south of the GFFA.

 

Leia ANH: "No, i'm not telling you were your plans are, you should be more careful with them"
Leia ESB: "DaaaaAAaaaDD, it's not fair, why do you have to be so nasty to my boyfiend?"

 

Very interesting.

 

I've got to admit, I never really noticed how great the acting was by both Ford and Fisher in that scene until I re-watched Empire a few weeks ago. As that platform is dropping into the carbon freeze, the emotions that you can see on Ford's face -- fear, love, attempted bravery, desperation -- are really a mini master class right there, and Fisher matches it look-for-look for the rest of the scene. One of those great acting scenes done with nearly no words.

 

Yeah, exactly!! And it's funny, because it was only a couple months ago that I noticed that Leia only says *three words* in that entire scene (I love you). It's just that she's so expressive in that scene, and really good at emoting, that you know what she's thinking the whole time. It doesn't *seem* like she's being quiet.

Harrison Ford gets a lot of credit for his performance in that scene (as he should), but Carrie is just as good. And I think that gets overlooked a lot.

 

I feel like a lot of the credit Ford gets from that scene is for the ad-lib of "I know" (and agree that he should get a TON of credit for that as it's TOTALLY in character) but what I realized last time I watched was that everything that comes AFTER that "I know" from both of them is even better.

 

^^^^ I agree with this to a certain extent, and the part you mentioned is the best moment for me too. But again, there's a lot of great moments in the build up as well. And for me, the "I know" is merely the tip of the iceberg when it come to Harrison's brilliant contributions to that scene.

 

I'll give George partial credit for having Han say everything but "I love you" for basically the entire movie, which allows Harrison's cool smooth guy line to not make Han seem like a total jackass. The entire movie is Han saying "I love you, please say you love me back" every way he knows how. If Han isn't trying to get Leia to admit her feelings the entire movie, and thereby implying his own feelings, Han would just come off as an arrogant jerk when he says "I know".

 

Exactly. I totally agree with this. One of the big reasons that this line works, is that it's already obvious that Han loves her back.