Saga Why was Leia encouraged to become an Imperial Senator if she was meant to be hidden from the Empire?

Multiple canon novels cite Leia Organa struggling as a young child to find interest in either the political work of her father or the regnal and social duties of her mother. On the other hand, she grew into a diligent princess who was honored to become Queen one day, a duty she could have performed just as Breha did by barely leaving Alderaan. Why wasn’t that side of Leia fostered more avidly? I know Leia was an unstoppable force, but it seems like she was intentionally steered into galactic politics.

The part that really gets me is a throwaway line in the first episode of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show that suggests nine-year-old Leia was already training to serve in the Senate like her father (and birth mother) before her—a highly public interplanetary official… Why?

Why was this “hidden” child not only permitted to galavant across the galaxy spreading peace and hope, but actively encouraged to essentially commit innumerable small treasons against the Empire? Mind you, this is before Leia was officially jumped into the Rebellion at 16 because she was too smart for her parents to keep their involvement a secret.

I deeply adore the Organas, but I also feel their otherwise robust and loving parenting could have easily led to their daughter being identified and thereby tortured and twisted into an agent of evil like Anakin and the Inquisitors. Leia becoming a senator seems just as dangerous as Luke retaining his father’s name and living with his aunt and uncle in their same freaking homestead. It kinda seems like a Force miracle the twins weren't identified until so late in the game.

So what do you think? Please share any relevant resources or interesting thoughts you have regarding young Leia’s canonical story.

Thank you!

 

Bail saw Leia being a senator as being more important because it would teach her to be a leader that will abdicate power when necessary and to respect the political process in a way that being queen of Alderaan cannot. It also has to do with her being willing to fight evil as part of the Alliance and because her mother was someone who believed in galactic political institutions as a necessity.

Bail saw that the experiences in the galaxy were vital to her development and knew that she could be discovered even in the relative safety of Alderaan. And since the Sith and the Inqusitors did not discover the Force within her, that she would be relatively safe.

 

IMO, both Leia and Luke's means of being "hidden" were dumb and short-sighted. They couldn't even remove the Skywalker name for the one living on Tatooine with Anakin's step-brother, (not to mention giving no consideration at all about Padmé's family taking one of them in, just straight to the harsh and lawless desert planet with you, Luke). Meanwhile Leia's being raised in luxury but also set to become an active part of the Rebellion against the Empire. Honestly it's kind of hard to say which kid was at risk the most.

 

I think Luke was safer, in spite of the name. I also think Yoda may have suggested Tatooine partly because an upbringing there was more likely to teach him humility.

 

Everyone seems to forget that this story was written by a man who's never come across a good retcon that he didn't like.

 

Beru chose to keep the Skywalker name alive in order to honor Shmi. It's apparently a fairly common name across the galaxy, but Luke was still living in exactly the first or second place anyone would look for him if they realized his mother had given birth before she died. That was a secret that was kept from everyone, even the Naberries.

I think Leia's peril skyrocketed when Bail adopted her. The guy had been openly opposing Palpatine before it was even cool.

Maybe the only answer to these questions is "so we could have a Skywalker Saga".

 

I mean, maybe it did, a tiny bit? That's at least reasoning, even if it's not super sound. Was Leia already such a boss as a newborn that Yoda knew her more Jedi-appropriate temperament would be able to survive the pampering of a princess?

 

Of course.

 

I find his retcons tend to make the saga even more tragic. I fully support this

 

Lame answer: because she was written to be a politician before she was written to be Force-sensitive and “hidden from the Emperor.”

 

A combination of the old adage hiding in plain sight and Imperial arrogance.

 

The Senate is the last place an Inquisitor would look for a hidden Jedi. Why is that? Cuz I said so.

 

Not to mention Palpatine is The Senate. No Jedi aspects seen there

 

"I find the answers in this thread vague and unconvincing"

 

They had one more thing that kept them hidden from the Empire: a death certificate.
Remember, officially, Padme died before giving birth. They made sure to make her look pregnant at her funeral. Why would the Empire waste precious time and resources looking for kids who were never born? Palpatine may have a tyrant's usual paranoia, but he's not about to look for unborn people who were buried along with their mother. He's got enough trouble dealing with actual, living Rebels.
Beyond that, Luke was protected by anonymity on a backwater world that nobody cared about outside of the Hutts, and they only saw it as a source of income. As for the Skywalker name, beyond somebody saying, "Hey, he's got the same name as that kid who won that race years ago. Wonder if he's related?," it wouldn't register around Anchorhead. And it certainly wouldn't get anywhere near the Imperial government, which isn't even officially in control of Tatooine. While Skywalker may not be as seemingly common a name as Antilles (the apparent GFFA equivalent of Smith), I seriously doubt there's only one family in the whole galaxy with the name Skywalker, and going all King Herod on anyone named Skywalker wouldn't be good PR. No, as long as Luke stays a farmboy and doesn't leave home, he's safe from anybody, official or unofficial, nosing around.
As for Leia, I'm sure they did a whole bunch of stuff to cover that she was adopted at all, let alone from which family. Plus, the politically powerful Organa family, and the major government of Alderaan, would have enough influence and bribe money to deflect any awkward questions. As for Vader not sensing her as a relative, why would he? She's not actively or consciously using the Force, so he wouldn't register her on that level. And, again, he has no idea he even has a child at all. I'm sure Bail would be worried about her being a prominent senator and a political firebrand, but her position and diplomatic immunity would be of some protection. In fact, it's only until the Death Star enters the picture that the Empire decides she needs to be taken care of, and then only as a political threat, not as the officially non-existent child of a Sith Lord who denies his pre-Sith life means anything to him.
I haven't seen the "Kenobi" series yet, so I'm not sure how this affects the matter. Based on what I've heard, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense on this subject.

 

A struggle doesn't always lead to defeat. Many kids drag their feet when their parents try to get them interested in a new topic or hobby. The events of Obi-Wan Kenobi are a revelation to Leia; that's her whole character arc in that show. She always agreed with her father's view of the galaxy anyway, and it would've looked real strange (and therefore suspicious) if the bright, intelligent daughter of the charismatic Senator Bail Organa didn't enter into politics herself someday. But it's clear that Leia's royal and political duties are merely trappings she sees as necessary cover for her real job. That's always been the case.

 

Plus, the other thing about this is that Leia actually isn't a Jedi. She is highly-Force sensitive, sure, but there is nothing at this time that would cause Leia to stand out and cause suspicion in terms of Force usage. As far as we've been shown, Leia doesn't really know much more about the Force than Luke does by the time of ANH - other than the simple fact that it exists perhaps, and that the Jedi were a thing. She even admits to Luke in ROTJ that she knows nothing about all that. This lack of knowledge/usage would presumably contribute to her not creating any ripples or tremors in the Force that Vader or the Emperor could detect.

So with all this in mind, it would make sense Leia could easily "hide in plain sight," as not only is she not educated in using the Force herself, but also dedicated her life to being a senator-so being a member of a royal Alderaanian family and active in the senate is a perfect distraction IMO. Indeed, that's the LAST place an inquisitor-or even Vader, who never liked senators anyway-would bother to look.

In some ways, I think Leia was actually better hidden even than Luke!

 

Because Leia was not Luke sister and Vader was not Luke real father

 

"The erodes"? What are those, and are they from Legends or Disney canon?

 

I like that! Yet another inverted mirror image identified

 

I think hiding them more surreptitiously could have actually backfired. Because putting them with some other family who isn't the Organas or the Cleggs, would put those families in a position to tattle, and would involve either Obi or Bail taking them somewhere. The other possibilities I can imagine in my head don't seem to add any protection and only really put them with a less trustworthy group, or possibly more importantly, with a less Clark Kent family style rearing.

 

IMO this actually doesn't require any work. I could be wrong, but don't "baby bumps" actually take a day or two to go down after a birth in real life?