CT Leia's Infamous Line

That's interesting. I never thought of ESB as merely "tipping the scale" in Han's favor, but rather, I saw it as a resolution in itself. By the time Leia declares her love for him in the carbonite chamber (and arguably even before that), it's done. That's it. Han's officially "got the girl." Spike the football, poor the champagne, turn out the lights. This love triangle is now over.

Besides, I think giving Vader leverage for taunting Luke over to the Dark Side was the main reason for making Leia his sister. The "love triangle" was secondary. I mean, seriously, only Han was worried about it by ROTJ. Leia didn't seem conflicted. Neither did Luke (even before the revelation). Seriously, if they weren't going to make Luke her brother, I doubted they would've even bothered to make Han jealous at that point. It was just another way to drum up a little more faux dramatic conflict.

 

I don't even think there is a love triangle I think it's fan projection.

 

Making Leia the sister of Luke was a good decision in terms of the Expanded Universe. It provided more potential character development and opportunities for her offspring and descendants. But if we look at it strictly for the films, it is awkward. It's like Lucas wanted to make a justification for Leia winding up with Han. But Leia could have just wound up with Han and it wouldn't have bothered Luke without Leia being his sister. From the way Return of the Jedi was paced and structured, it would not have made sense for her not to end up choosing Han, anyway. Luke was more focused on other things.

 

I don't either. Luke clearly had a crush on Leia, but while she was fond of him, she did not reciprocate. I hate that "I've always known" line too -- it's stupid -- but when she kisses him in ESB it's to tick Han off, not because she's hot for Luke.

From what I understand, Lucas toyed with the idea of making them siblings at first, then changed his mind, then changed it back.

 

When he had the crush he also didn't know they were related. I don't care it was to tick Han off the ESB kiss should be removed.

 

The kiss is wacky and gross when viewed through a real life lens, but this is a series where family members lop each others' limbs off and the patriarch is awarded redemption and a heaven-like afterlife despite heinous crimes. Honestly I don't think the kiss would really stick out to me in an "OMG I'm shocked!!" manner even if it wasn't easily dismissible because of Lucas's patented changing of the mind mode of story development. Star Wars fans are constantly reminding everyone of how the series exists as the most prominent example of a modern myth, and a lot of myths have always been filled with distasteful, dysfunctional happenings.

 

There's some incest in one of Tolkien's stories. And Oedipus Rex.

 

I think others are right that Leia kissed Luke to make Han jealous - why else would Chewie laugh as much as he did?

Leia cares about Luke, but not in the way he or we expected (before Leia's line in Jedi.)

 

That's really my biggest problem with the PT - the inability to make them match what has already happened in the OT. He made Obi-Wan deceptive at best and a pathological liar at worst. Leia's history is completely wrong. Obi-Wan and Anikan are never really 'friends'. It just doesn't rhyme with the OT

 

Oh c'mon! Tell the people who say that to you to grow the hell up...she wasnt being literal, she was saying that she meant that she knew intuitively that there was a connection that between her and Luke...she didn't know rationally, she knew on a deeper level!

 

I don't see a love triangle in ESB. Leia was doing it to piss Han off. That said, that line is pretty darn curious.