How does Leia know about her mother?

There is something werid. Leia Remember her mother but not her actual father and Luke the opposite. Is it the will of the force thats making them not bind togther very well?

 

How hard could it have been for Lucas to have Padme going and dying on Alderaan? Like...slowly fading away until she dies....that could have taken like 2 minutes if that of screen time, then had the funeral on Naboo? its the only part of ROTS that just doesnt tie up

 

She thought her real mother was Bail's wife. There's your explanation.

I agree with this one. I think she truely believed that Bail's wife was her real mother and not Padme. If she knew she were adopted, she probably would've done this huge investigation about her real parents, and would've figured out the whole Vader being her real father thing (she's a very smart woman and it probably wouldn't have taken her much time or effort).

The real life explanation is probably that Lucas made a continuity error, but the Star Wars answer is that she thinks Bail's wife is her real mother and so she is describing her to Luke.

 

It is weak if she is talking about Bail's wife because Bail's wife is seen for 2 seconds only in the entire saga. Padme though is Leia's REAL mother and played a very important role in the PT.

PLUS, Luke specifically emphasizes "REAL MOTHER".

I know it might not be the best but I say she's talking about Padme and her feelings and images were sensed through the force.

Why doesnt Luke have the same connection though?

Perhaps there is more of a "mother/daughter" connection within the force.

And perhaps if Leia did look into her past she hit brick walls because info was erased or something. Think about it...Bail was QUICK to erase 3Po's memory, but why? So he doesn't blabber about all the terrible things to Leia. Stands to reason Bail would also block or erase info about Padme & Anakin as well if he could....Furthermore he'd likely discourage Leia from asking too many questions to begin with.

 

Wait! How can Anakin have memories of Padme dying if she hadn't died yet???
Unless... It's a Skywalker trait to, you know, have visions via the Force especially in their dreams!
Yoda even says as much in ESB. And we know Luke saw Dagobah in his dreams. So why can't the Force reach Leia? What? Takes away the fun of complaining?

 

It is weak if she is talking about Bail's wife because Bail's wife is seen for 2 seconds only in the entire saga. Padme though is Leia's REAL mother and played a very important role in the PT.

I really don't see how that is important. Because even though we only see Bail's wife for 2 seconds, she plays a very important role in Leia's life. Padme may be her REAL mother, yet she's only in her presense for like 2 minutes.

The theory suggested by That_Wascally_Droid about her channeling visions through the Force is actually a good thought though, but it makes you wonder why Luke doesn't have them.

Look, I know that the real life answer is: Lucas screwed up. He didn't think about the two scenes and how they contradict one another. But the Star Wars answer to this question is either: Leia really does have images and feelings of Padme and that's what she's telling Luke, or she's thinking of Bail's wife - the woman who raised her as a daughter - and that's who she's decribing to Luke.

Either way, I think we should just ignore this and enjoy the saga.

 

IMO Leia is not stupid she probably figures out Bail is not her real dad and his wife is not her real mom. So Bail tells her maybe shows her some images of Padme. She looks at the images and gets some feelings of her through the force I dunno. but thats what i'm staying with till George comes up with something different or if he even bothers too.

 

The real life explanation is probably that Lucas made a continuity error, but the Star Wars answer is that she thinks Bail's wife is her real mother and so she is describing her to Luke.

OK - once more - if Leia is describing Bail's wife then that scene has no emotional resonance. The whole point is that Luke and Leia are discussing their mother!

 

Exactly. It becomes a comical scene - Leia telling Luke about the Organas. The scene should have ended thus:

Luke: "Cool. shall we grab a coffee?"

 

I think she truly believe that Bail's wife in ROTS was her real mother. She might die in the TV series and Bail falls in love and marries another woman.

As an infant, she would have no way of knowing that it wasn't her real mother.

 

Evil_Otto Quoted:
Only 'cause he's been trained to do so, whilst Leia hasn't. At the time of ROTJ, Leia is at the very same point that Luke was at the very beginning of ANH.

Yes but Anakin showed signs of the force before he had any training. How else was the the only human who could pod race? Maybe the force is stronger with Leia than it is with Luke. Maybe that's just her gift. We know Lars was not found of the Jedi and their ways, perhaps Bail did not share his pesimistic veiw and encouraged his daughter to search her feelings. Who knows.

I'm just playing devils advocate. Personally I think it's a plot hole, but it very well could be explained away by the Force or by Leia not even having a clue that she was adopted at the time. Even if it is a plot hole it's not a very bog one. Who cares if Leia knew her for a month or a minute, it doesn't change the overall outcome of the story.

Mike

 

I dont think GL screwed up by mistake. He knew damn well what he had laid down as far as Leia remembering her mother and Luke not. Hell, even the Just The Facts section on this site had a canned answer for that question, something cryptic like nothing was inherently contradicted, but people will probably complain anyway or something like that. To me, that shows that he was aware of what he was doing.

GL is known to change something on a whim (Luke screaming anyone?) and then force a square explanation into a round question (does anyone really buy the crap about him not wanting Han to seem like a murderer?)

So this is what happened: For dramatic and pacing purposes, he wrote and shot ROTS with the ending we see now, and knows that he can always come up with some absurd band aid reason why it isnt an error (the "force memory" theory? Come on guys). I personally think this is the best way to end it, otherwise Padme just either drifts off out of the story or seems very weak. However, it begs the question, why did he have Leia remember her mother in the first place? Its not like it added anything to the story, its not like she had some great story to tell Luke to make him have good feelings about his mother.

Unless there is a better explanation out there, I like the idea that Bail had told her at some point that she was adopted, and Leia kinda had memory/imagination kinda thing going.

However, I think that GL was trying to tie this all up by even showing Bail's wife in ROTS at all. That scene was completely unnecessary. I think the band aid on this one will be that Leia is remembering Bail's wife.

 

This question always boggles my mind.

 

It is conceivable as well that since Bail served in the senate with Padme and was a close friend, that he may have had some holographic "Images" to show her. Padme was sad for a long time, from the time she was Queen and on. SHe may have sensed these feelings from the pictures, but Bail undoubtedly wouldn't have told her who exactly her mother was.

 

I don't think you have to look real deep to figure out she was talking about Bail's wife. How do we know she didn't die early in Leia's life? There is no plot at all.

 

How do we know she didn't die early in Leia's life?
How do we know she did?

 

Since Leia is offspring to Anakin Skywalker, she is just as attuned to the force as Luke is. Whatever recollections and inner abstractions she had of her mother probably stemmed from the force.

 

maybe she has memories of her mother because of the force?

 

I don't think you have to look real deep to figure out she was talking about Bail's wife. How do we know she didn't die early in Leia's life? There is no plot at all.

And you have thought that since you first saw ROTJ have you?

"REAL Mother"

She knew she was adopted - and if she didn't she would wonder why Luke was specifying REAL mother. Or did he mean "as opposed to the plastic one under the stairs".

The WHOLE point of the conversation is to reveal their relationship, with Luke probing to find out if she knows anything that he does not.

Really, do you think that a preoccupied Luke left the hut, followed by a conocerned Leia, sat down and enquired after the wife of Bail Organa?

Lucas has retroactively ****** up the story. Don't let him do the same to your mind.

 

"How does Leia know about her mother?"

Because Lucas doesn't give a crap about consistency, acting or writing.

All he cared about were the special effects.

 

Everyone knows that girls are way more sensitive than boys, perhaps that's why she was able to 'sense' padme...

 

Course the real reason is because originally and this is in the graphic novel from Dark Horse, Leia is born first and Padme touches her and not Luke.
That is how Leia remembers Padme, but somehow in the movie, Luke is born first.

 

I agree it's a plot hole.

I can't believe how rude it is for Luke to specify "your REAL mother." George Lucas has adopted sons himself, is that how he talks to them? I feel your pain, Kenny T!!

I'm confident Leia knows her history, How could she be a member of the Imperial Senate without knowing who Padme is, that she gave birth to twins, then died?

I went in to Episode III convinced it could have no surprises for me, but one of my assumptions was that Bail Organa would marry Padme, so that Leia would grow up with Bail Organa as a step father, and Pademe would live in to Leia's memorable childhood, but that for some reason just baby Luke would grow up with relatives. So I did walk out thinking, wait a minute, something doesn't add up here!

 

I can't believe how rude it is for Luke to specify "your REAL mother."

It's not rude what he's asking. He just means to ask what her biological mother was like, partly through curiosity 'cause he knows who Leia really is, and partly as a softening way of telling her what he knows.

 

This question plagued me since I read the Revenge of the Sith book, screaming at the end, WHAT???!!!

I, too, remember Leia and Luke's conversation on Endor. I also have the Return of the Jedi book and here is what it says:

"The question took her totally by surprise. She'd always felt so close to her adopted parents, it was as if they were her real parents. She almost never thought of her real mother-that was like a dream.

"Yet now Luke's question made her start. Flashes from her infancy assaulted her-distorted visions of funning.....a beautiful woman, hiding in a trunk. The fragments suddenly threatened to flood her with emotion.

"'Yes,' she said, pausing to regin her composure. 'Just a little bit, she died when I was very young.'"

So, she KNEW she was adopted, and she has memories of running with her mother. So, LUCAS screwed up, and I am such a big Star Wars fan that I will not rest until I get an answer from Lucas himself.

Also, I am a true enough fan to have loved all of the prequels (go Lucas for sayinig to hell with Hollywood, I am telling Anakin's story my way). Although, I will admit Phantom Menace was more for the children to enjoy then those of us who were alive when the first trilegy premired. Episode one is also my least favorite of the entire sage, but I loved Episode 3, expect for Padme's death, I loved it!