CT Leia Mega-Thread, formerly Why did Princess Leia criticize her "rescue" on the Death Star?

During Episode 4 - A New Hope, when Leia was being rescued on the Death Star, it appeared that Leia kept stressing that her rescue by Han and Luke was poorly planned such as in the dialogue. "This is some rescue. When you came in here didn't you have a plan of getting out?" But the fact is that Luke, Han and everyone else did not even plan to go to the Death Star. They were pulled in on the Millennium Falcon by the Death Star's tractor beam. Therefore, they were prisoners on the Death Star as well. Han and Luke did not even know Leia was there at first, but then made a decision to "try" rescue Leia as they were trying escape themselves. They never were there with the intention or had planned ahead to rescue Leia and should of not been criticized by Leia when her "rescue" didn't go smoothly.

anakinfan note added:

Thread title updated, and with the update comes a new pre-emptive warning:

All users should be aware of the site’s policy against hate speech and sexism. Misogynistic comments about either the actor or the character are not allowed, up to and including comments about her appearance.

The short version: if you are about to post a comment that you would never post about a character named Leon Organa or an actor named Carl Fisher...don’t post it.

@Bazinga'd @cubman987

 

Maybe Leia was expecting the rebels to rescue her. She probably though that Luke and Han were with them at first. When she finds out they're not well equipped to rescue she gets disapointed that the rebels aren't there to rescue her in a more professional manor.

 

a) How was she to know this wasn't a planned rescue? (she has no knowledge of the events leading up to them arriving)

b) She's a *****.

 

If you were held prisoner in an enemy's base and two bumbling idiots and their hairy sidekick randomly jumped in and executed what amounted to 'shoot everything between Point A and Point B', you'd be a little frustrated.

 

Because comedy. And a "damsel" taking over her own rescue is a nice inversion of the traditional "men to the rescue" trope.

 

I don't consider the 'rescue' incidental. Nor do I consider Leia's manner a positive one. I think she did it attempting and failing to show she was spirited.

 

I think she was more like, "These guys got me out of the cell but we're screwed if I just go with the flow."

 

Because it was a very poorly planned rescue. Doesn't matter if they were highly trained rebel commandoes who'd planned ahead or a smuggler and a farm hand winging it desperately - they'd got themselves pinned down and were clearly out of their depth. Being frustrated that you've been freed from your cell only to be deposited smack in the sights of a bunch of stormtroopers is pretty disappointing/aggravating. If the stormies weren't even more incompetent at preventing rescues than Han and Luke were at making them they'd have ALL been captured or killed pretty smartly.

 

She expected crack troops and not the Three Stooges.

 

"They let us go. It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape."

Though it's not clear if every encounter was "letting them go" or just a few of the encounters (the TIE Fighter one, for example).

 

Agreed. By most accounts Leia was trained in combat and for leadership roles by both the Alderaanian Court and the Alliance, and having a couple of yahoos free her without even a real exit plan would be frustrating. I assume this was an attempt by the writers to show she was tough and capable person in her own right instead of the damsel in distress, which is a nice twist.

She stated this several times from the moment she got out of the cell to discovered her would-be rescuers had no plan to get back out of the detention block. She took control of her own rescue and made sure the others were aware of it too. Although after the trash compactor, she did say she was grateful.. although she then told Han, Luke, and Chewbacca that she was now in charge, lol.

 

I am inclined to think that at least early on the attempts to recapture them must have been genuine as no-one realised who/what they were dealing with and that the Princess had even been rescued yet. Presumably once they found which prison cell had been blown up they went from there, it does depend on whether the plan had been 'let rebels rescue Leia, follow back to base' from the beginning or whether Tarkin/Vader realised what happened and changed the plan accordingly. Both seem in character, though Vader certainly had no intention of letting Obi-Wan off the Death Star at any point at all.

 

I think she just needed to vent her anger. She's been through a lot before Luke and Han came along, being taken prisoner, tortured and having seen her planet blown up. Anyone would be pretty distressed at that point. I also don't think she is a racist as she calls Chewie a walking carpet. That's just how she handles the stress, she charges forward. "Flucht nach vorne" we call it in German, meaning "flight forward", taking charge, because you know that if you stop and start to think you are going to break down.

 

Mod edit: Ah, no.

 

If I may, Cushy, I'd like to ask why this is your pov (that is, on the rescue not being incidental), as I feel the other way and would like to understand the other viewpoint

Sent from my C5155 using Tapatalk

 

I second @Seagoat's line of questioning, though open it to anyone who feels the same as Cushy. Unless I am having a serious lapse of memory they had a) no idea Leia was even captive on the DS to BE rescued, and b) hadn't had any intention of being tractor-beamed aboard themselves - so the rescue really has to be incidental, as they were pretty much making it up on the fly the entire way through.

I would also invite anyone who thinks that Leia was somehow being rude or ingrateful to suggest what they see as an appropriate response to two scruffy hopers half-arsing an improvised rescue scheme would actually have been. Should she have just accepted that they were about to be captured or killed again, but at least they tried? I don't think it really is the thought that counts when you've been interrogated and lined up for execution and your saviours turn out to have less of a clue than you do.

 

It's very simple for me guys: I don't look at it internally. I am looking at it as a writer. Them being on the DS is solely for two reasons: 1. Ben/Vader to make Luke a 'man' and 2. Rescue the girl to seem heroic.

To me the 'appropriate response' is to be grateful two fold: 1. Tarkin did NOT actually have her executed 2. That Han, Luke, and Ben risked their lives for her.

 

They tortured her (with Tarkin's permission or even at his suggestion) and blown up her planet (at his direct command) and it's more than possible they actually WOULD have killed her if the rescue hadn't come along - it's unclear whether the plan to follow them back to the real Rebel base was planned ahead or just quick thinking on the Imperial part once she was out, so I wouldn't exactly be too grateful to Tarkin in her position. Even IF he wasn't going to kill her (and that is one heck of an if) it was not out of any generosity on his part, it was so he could wipe out the Rebels as a viable force.

And whilst Luke and Han may have risked their lives for her (or in Han's case the money, not even altruistically) they made one heck of a bad job of it. They risked her life too by not having a clue how they were actually going to get her off alive and in one piece, if she hadn't taken charge they would have been captured again (as far as she knew). She did just as much to free herself as they did.

Quite apart from which, they weren't on the Death Star to make Luke a man, or to rescue the Princess. They were there because they got tractor beamed and captured, not exactly a shining example of heroism and derring-do. From the writer's perspective they were there for TWO reasons: to get the main three/four (Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie) together and secondly to dispose of Ben, plotwise and by extension give Vader more credibility as a villain.

 

Because of this

 

I think Leia was able to get a sense of Luke's intentions, but she was more willing to criticize Han because she knew how reckless and selfish he was before he said he only cared about himself. Plus, it's good banter. It's amusing, and it adds levity to the situation. And as the folks above said, they were not the most skillful at absconding with her from that battle station.

 

Mod edit: I think we can probably do without the gender stereotyping thanks.

 

TARKIN: The bumbling stupidity of your dashing heroes have lead to your capture once again, it seems. Good work Stormtrooper #1,138.

STORMTROOPER #1,138: Welcome.

LEIA ORGANA: Oh Tarkin, thank you ever so much for torturing me and forcing me to watch you coldly blow up my home planet where every single person I've grown up with, befriended, or loved lived on. All because you didn't actually kill me.

TARKIN: Any time, Princess. *smiles* Any time, now watch as I completely destroy the Rebel Base thus allowing our despotic Emperor free reign to do what he pleases to all the trillions of lifeforms who don't have a hope of defending themselves. All because I didn't kill you like I said I would.

LEIA ORGANA: Oh Tarkin, you're such a good man because you didn't kill me. *turns to Ben, Chewie, Han, and Luke who are in chains* And thank you all men for rescuing me despite the fact that you came here by accident and at least two of you were willing to let me die at Tarkin's hand and you've completely botched it up numerous times! I mean, what a hero, Han, for charging at a platoon of Stormtroopers in what was supposed to be a STEALTH mission to ESCAPE this base! Luke, what an amazing stunt that was, swinging over a bottomless chasm using a flimsy piece of string. Wow, such heroism! I am really grateful of that, truly I am.

DARTH VADER: *to the idiot heroes* Had you followed her lead, you might have had a chance. Now nothing can save you now. Obi-Wan, your failure is now truly complete.

TARKIN: If I also recall, you four weren't even trying to enter this station. You were sucked into here by accident. Yes, such heroism will be sung about for ages across the Galaxy. Take them to the viewing area, we will now proceed to destroy Yavin 4.

 

The sarcasm is strong in you, young DARTHLINK.