by Chris Snelgrove
| Published
When the Star Wars prequels came out, fans were excited to learn more about the different characters and events that shaped their favorite galaxy far, far away. Unfortunately, the controversial Prequel Trilogy introduced some major plot holes, including the fact that Leia never had any memories of her mother (Padmé died after giving birth to her twins) as she claimed in Return of the Jedi. This apparent loophole in the Princess Leia plot has puzzled fans for nearly two decades, but one fan theory explains precisely what happened: In all likelihood, Leia unwittingly received photos of her mother through the Force.
Leah remembers her mother
when Return of the Jedi The film was released in 1983, and fans had no reason to doubt Leah's account of her mother. She told her secret brother Luke Skywalker She remembers her mother as “very beautiful” and “kind, but… sad.” But Princess Leia was suddenly in the middle of a plot hole when… Revenge of the Sith It was released in 2005 and we saw that Padmé died (apparently of a broken heart) right after giving birth to Luke and Leia. This led to the natural question: How would Leah remember what her mother looked like if she never got to see or know her?
According to fan theory about Princess LeiaThis isn't actually a plot hole. Instead, Leah was telling the truth from the only point of view she had. Growing up and even during the beginning of her conversation with Luke, she had no way of knowing that she was Force-sensitive (in fact, this is the conversation in which she found out). But she's had access to the Force her entire life, and given how often this mysterious energy field sends visions to would-be Jedi, it's entirely reasonable to assume that Leia got Force visions about her mother (either earlier or later in life) and thought she was… True memories of Padmé.
The fan theory makes perfect sense
Interestingly, the fan theory that resolves Princess Leia's plot hole becomes more plausible when she revisits her conversation with Luke in Return of the Jedi. When Luke asked what she remembered about her mother, Leia initially told him, “Just…images, really…feelings” before offering the aforementioned physical description. Taking it seriously, it seems that Leah may have actually squared this circle, subconsciously implying that what she received was a vision (because, let's face it, “images” and “feelings” are a weird and trite way to describe a cherished childhood memories).
For fans still angry about the Prequel Trilogy, resolving the Princess Leia plot issue may offer peace. Instead of a glaring misstep in storytelling, this theory provides a solution that ties neatly into the original trilogy. Unfortunately, this theory can't solve the prequels' many other problems, which range from terrible dialogue (who can forget that sandblasting?) and obnoxious new characters (“meesa Jar-Jar Binks!”) to the bizarre decision to get Padme. He dies of a broken heart. This plot point alone was almost ruined Revenge of the Sithwithout a doubt the best of the introduction.
After all, we all know that broken hearts cannot kill. If they could, the awful and heartbreaking Star Wars prequels would have been a movie Thanos A snap that caused half the fanbase to suddenly scream in terror before being suddenly silenced.
