By Chris Snellgrove | Published
When the Star Wars prequels came out, fans were excited to learn more about the different characters and events that made up their favorite galaxy far, far away. Unfortunately, the controversial Prequel Trilogy introduced major plot holes, including the fact that Leia would have had no memories of her mother (Padme died after giving birth to her twins), as she claimed in Return of the Jedi. This apparent plot hole in Princess Leia has vexed fans for nearly two decades, but one fan theory clearly explains what happened: In all likelihood, Leia unknowingly received images of her mother via the Force.
Leia remembers her mother
When Return of the Jedi released in 1983, fans had no reason to doubt Leia’s account of her mother. She told her secret brother Luke Skywalker that she remembered her mother as “very beautiful” and “kind, but…sad”. But Princess Leia suddenly found herself at the center of intrigue when Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005 and we saw that Padme died (apparently of a broken heart) right after giving birth to Luke and Leia. This led to the natural question: How on earth would Leia remember her mother’s appearance if she never really got to see or know her?
One fan theory about Princess Leia is that it’s not actually a conspiracy. Instead, Leia was telling the truth from the only perspective she had. Growing up and even at the beginning of her conversation with Luke, she had no way of knowing that she was Force sensitive (in fact, it is in this conversation that she finds out). But she’s had access to the Force her entire life, and given how often this mystical energy field sends visions to potential Jedi, it’s entirely reasonable to assume that Leia has had Force visions. of her mother (either earlier or later in her life) and believed these were real memories of Padmé.
The fan theory makes perfect sense
Interestingly, the fan theory resolving this Princess Leia plot hole makes even more sense when you revisit her conversation with Luke in Return of the Jedi. When Luke asks her what she remembers about her mother, Leia first tells him, “Just…images, really…feelings” before providing the aforementioned physical description. Taken literally, it seems that Leia has already squared the circle, unconsciously implying that what she had received was a vision (because, let’s face it, “images” and “feelings” are a strange and awkward way to describe his cherished childhood memories).
For fans who are still angry about the Prequel Trilogy, resolving this Princess Leia plot hole may bring peace. Instead of a glaring storytelling error, this theory offers a solution that elegantly harkens back to the original trilogy. Unfortunately, this theory can’t solve the prequels’ many other problems, which range from terrible dialogue (who can forget that sand talk?) and obnoxious new characters (“Meesa Jar-Jar Binks!”) to the bizarre decision to ‘have Padme. die of a broken heart. This plot point alone is almost in ruins Revenge of the Sithundoubtedly the best of the prequels.
After all, we all know that broken hearts can’t kill. If they could, the terrible Star Wars prequels would have been like a Thanos snap that made half the fandom scream in terror before suddenly being silenced.
