CT Leia Organa's Personal Flaws

Of course, Leia didn't intend for Alderaan to get blown up -- that was Tarkin's doing. He let her believe that he'd spare Alderaan if she gave up the location of the Rebel base, but he never actually said so. (Shades of Mephistopheles.)

Meanwhile, Leia had a terrible choice to make -- should she let the Rebels' principal military headquarters be destroyed, with all its personnel; or condemn an innocent planet to death to save the Rebellion; or let the millions on her own densely-populated homeworld die? There's no really good answer to that question. It's like the Kobayashi Maru in Wrath of Kahn.

Tarkin's dismissal of Dantooine as "too remote" for its destruction to make good propaganda -- and his scouts' later description of the Rebel base there as deserted -- suggests that Dantooine was a relatively unpopulated world compared to Alderaan. (In fact, I'd venture it was an Outer Rim backwater in the vein of Tatooine.) Presumably Leia was trying to minimize the death toll from Tarkin's superweapons, while also keeping the Rebel base from harm's way.

Of course, Tarkin's sadism meant that he'd probably planned to blow up Alderaan all along, to give the other noble houses of the Empire a warning: "don't oppose us, or you'll end up vaporized like Bail Organa."

 

Given Tarkin's shock and outrage "She lied! She lied to us!" it seems pretty clear that he believed she was telling the truth about Dantooine.

And possibly also, expecting that he would check first (as he does) -- but that it would buy time before he finds out.

 

One must remember, in the laws of the galaxy, it is the Rebel scum, who are the wrong doers. They are all committing acts of treason and causing anarchy with their radicalised way of thinking. Tarkin was just trying to extract information regarding the whereabouts of their rebel base. And all Leia could do was lie and Tarkin knew it. I'm certain Tarkin didn't want to blow up Alderaan, Leia gave him no choice, with her lies and insubordination towards him. Look at how she antagonised Vader with the "holding his leash" remark. Then Tarkin's "foul stench" comment. Throughout the whole scene, Tarkin remained a true gentleman. He could have made a snide remark about the Princess' own 'foul stench' that probably occurred while her planet was blown up , instead he chose not to. Leia was so indoctrinated in her political ideals, she showed very little remorse as her home planet was destroyed - just a little noo and that was it. Tarkin wasn't the bad man people make him out to be. Think about it.... After Leia's non compliance leading to the destruction of her home planet, Tarkin should have executed her on the spot. There was nothing left for them to barter with, thus Proving he's a decent man who won't take a life without reason. Whereas Leia on the other hand will sacrifice a whole planet forher political gain.

 

You're not parodying Cushing's Admirer are you?

 

I just checked their profile... It's purely coincidental, our paths haven't crossed yet

 

It looks like Cushing's Admirer has disappeared.

 

Leia doesn't have an excuse for insulting two people she barely knows, because she's in a foul mood. I really don't see how that is an excuse. She simply struck me as being unnecessarily unpleasant and insulting.

 

Tarkin was going to destroy Alderaan no matter what she said or did.

TARKIN: "You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry. We will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough."

So even if she said, "They're on Yavin 4", he'd still destroy Alderaan simply because of it's location in approximation to Coruscant than Dantooine which is in the Outer Rim. As to Dantooine, as noted before by myself many times, Tarkin had to verify things first. Hence sending a ship out there to determine the validity of Leia's claims. When Cass reported back, he realized that he had been made a fool of by her.

TARKIN: "Yes."

CASS: "Our scout ships have reached Dantooine. They found the remains of a Rebel base, but they estimate that it has been deserted for some time. They are now conducting an extensive search of the surrounding systems."

TARKIN: "She lied! She lied to us!"

VADER: "I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion."

TARKIN: "Terminate her...immediately!"

You're going to sit there and tell me that after you see someone you love be killed in a brutal fashion, then told that you're going to die next and while being shot at, you're going to be all sunshine and roses?



Haven't you ever watched a war movie? An action film? People in a firefight don't act politely. Watch "Die Hard" and get back to me on that.

 

I'm just - aghast - at some of the posts here. Not that you can't disagree on Leia's actions or not, but the language used. (Yes, Tarkin did remain rather gentlemanly in manner, if not behavior, btw.)

Leia gave Tarkin "no choice." Really? Really!!! I don't think she said, "Push the button, boys." She had to think on her feet, after torture, what planet to risk and probably picked the least inhabited (to HER knowledge) and furthest distant (to buy time).

Since Tarkin didn't know she lied, from his POV she did give up the rebel base, and HE gave the order to blow up Alderaan anyway.

So once again, I must ask, in that kernel of time, what answer should she have given? Tarkin wanted both the answer AND a planet that would make a great deterrent (and Hoth was probably not a deterrent had she named it).

I mean, really.

 

Plus - she knew she couldn't give a planet that they had already checked out and found to be base-free. Since she didn't know very much about what planets they had checked - she had to choose one she knew they hadn't.

 

Not to mention she was assuming that Tarkin wouldn't use the Death Star laser on a planet until after he'd checked out the world she'd named. But Tarkin doesn't bother with such scruples -- making his gentlemanly demeanor all the more unsettling for its hollowness.

Besides, now that Vader has caught Leia in the act of participating in a Rebel covert op, Tarkin has every reason to suspect her father is also involved in the Rebellion. Remember, Bail was one of the most important Senators in the Empire, and Palpatine had just decided the time was come to dissolve the Senate for good and rule on his own at last.

Probably Tarkin is eager to wipe out Bail Organa, law or no law, by committing an atrocity so massive that the other great houses of the Imperium are cowed into submission, along with any others who might oppose the dissolution of the Senate. "Fear will keep the local systems in line" is the Tarkin Doctrine, after all.

 

But it's still not an excuse.

 

So - is it just females, or any person who really should be pleasant and polite under any and all circumstances - post-torture included?

(For the record, it wasn't the most courteous of things to say to Chewie, but funny how no one dumps on the male's insults or calls their characters into question.)

 

And she would have made a pretty terrible leader if she were meek. Meek people rarely accomplish much.
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totally got to disagree here.

 

successful leader who was Meek.

Jesus, Ghandi, Buddha

you asked...

 

not to get into a theological debate in a thread about how wonderfully sassy Leia was to most people, but from a Christian standpoint Jesus told his followers to be Meek, Jesus taught by example.

You can argue the other two just fine, (don't know too much about them) but Jesus was meek. Meekness does not equal weakness:

in fact I'm reminded of this old saying:

if you think meek is weak, try being meek for a week.

 

well we agree about Satine then at least

 

(When Jesus said "The meek shall inherit the Earth" he didn't mean weak-minded, brown-nosing, yes-men, Casper Milquetoast types. The Greek word translated into meek by King James scholars is better described as "disciplined" or "strength under control". We now return you to your regular topic.)

 

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I'm not talking about Leia's gender. I'm just pointing out that she was unnecessarily rude . . . especially to Chewbacca. After all, she had been resting a while before Luke appeared at her cell. I can write an essay on Han's rudeness. But I had started this thread, because hardly anyone talks about Leia's personal flaws. They either pretend she is perfect/ideal, or they tend to sweep her flaws under the rug with excuses. I just wanted to talk about a character's personal flaws, because it has rarely - if ever - been done before.