'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' leak reveals why Leia never became a Jedi
And it's totally heartbreaking.
While fans are busy speculating about Emperor Palpatine, what the late Carrie Fisher’s Leia Organa will be up to in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has remained a relative mystery. However, a massive new leak may reveal Leia’s plot in Episode IX and explain why she never followed in her brother’s footsteps to become a Jedi.
Warning! Possible spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker below.
How will Episode IX handle Carrie Fisher’s beloved character? Rumor has it the movie could open with a flashback showing Luke and Leia training together as the young versions of themselves we saw in the original trilogy. It’s also possible that Leia could help complete Rey’s Jedi training in the time jump between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. However, the latest info suggests that Leia never actually became a Jedi despite her strong Force sensitivity, and it has everything to do with Kylo Ren.
From the very first moment Leia appeared onscreen in A New Hope, she’s shown leadership skills and a passion for taking down the forces of evil. After discovering that she and Luke were siblings and that they both were Force-sensitive, it would have made sense for Leia to train with a Jedi Master in the same way Luke did in The Empire Strikes Back, right?
Tragically, fans never saw that onscreen, and her lack of training remained a mystery throughout the franchise. It seemed like a natural progression of Leia’s storyline that went unexplored and ignored. However, fans might finally get to see Leia training and understand why she had to cut her journey toward becoming a Jedi short.
Leia is also angry about the lack of Jedi training.
According to redditor u/JediPaxis (who’s been known to provide fairly reputable leaks to the Star Wars fan community), Leia had been training alongside Luke to become a Jedi. She even had her own lightsaber and everything! However, once Leia discovered she was pregnant with Ben Solo (aka Kylo Ren), her Jedi training abruptly and unfortunately came to an end.
Here’s the relevant bit of the leak:
Luke is training Leia as a Jedi. Lightsabers are involved. Leia reveals to Luke that she is pregnant and Leia makes the decision to end her Jedi training due to the impending birth of her son.
The idea that Leia gave up her training to raise Kylo is absolutely plausible. Of course, it sucks to think that she gave up being a badass Jedi to raise a man who would go on to murder his own father, but how could she have known that would happen? After all, women have historically had to give up on an individual goal to raise a family, so it’s not that much of a reach to think Leia might have done the same.
Leia training Rey explains why they're so close.
The information comes on the heels of a similar MakingStarWars video leak, which details Leia Organa training Rey in the ways of the Jedi at the very beginning of The Rise of Skywalker. The information appears to hold up, as the previous leak also suggests Leia has her own lightsaber (which could make its debut in Episode IX). JediPaxis’ info simply expands on the notion of Leia being a Jedi and validates the information about training Rey. Someone has to finish what Luke started, right?
Bringing Leia to the forefront and making her a Jedi master makes complete sense. It’s also the most logical next step in providing Rey with the resources she needs to eventually fight Kylo and take on Palpatine. The fact that it happens so early on in The Rise of Skywalker lays the groundwork for the first act of the film and provides fans with some long overdue character development for Leia at the same time. Plus, it also explains the scene in the D23 trailer of Rey catching her lightsaber midair and expands upon the closeness she and Leia seem to share.
Whether or not this actually makes it into the movie is unclear, but the idea of past and present Leia fighting with a lightsaber? Yeah, Episode IX can’t come soon enough.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20, 2019.
