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[joysweeper]

Last time, I put up a couple of stories from Star Wars Tales #15 which centered on Luke Skywalker as a child. Now it's Leia's turn.

First is The Princess Leia Diaries, from Star Wars Tales #11. Four pages out of twelve.

Young Leia is a terror.

It's got a narrative device in the form of her diary. At ten years old, she complains that the line between how she wants to live and how she's expected to live is about as thin as a Hutt after a buffet. She doesn't like being a princess, she doesn't like her governess - "who for some reason thinks 'real ladies' can walk with books on their heads - and must eat as if it were a ceremony".

So she rebels. Constantly. At some kind of dance... hall thing for the nobility, she somehow gets to perform "The Dance of the... um - Twi'lek Slave girl. Oh dear."

At a banquet, she throws food into the face of a senator's son who is annoying her even as his father is annoying hers. "Of course, the boys I want to meet are those my father would never allow me to even talk to," she writes as she gives her friend Winter the wig and flies off with a rougish-looking boy in faux-Han Solo garb, sneaking out at night.

She loves Winter, who's like a sister. She knows her aunts love her, but sometimes she feels like an outsider in her own family. Sometimes she feels like part of her is missing - cue a panel of young Luke watching the suns set on Tatooine.

Leia meets Governer Tarkin - well, "meets". Pursued by her governess, she runs past him speaking to her father, and when caught and coming back he asked "Get a bit of a beating, did you?" Leia replied "This ain't nothin'! You should see the Wookiee!" and writes that when he looked at her it was like death was staring her in the eye.


Yep, that's a cameo by Ackbar, pre-Admiralty. Also, Daala, Tarkin's lover and not yet a horrific Villain Sue, is the redhead.

When she's thirteen she's at a high class banquet, all human with nonhuman servants, and is angry about the lavishness, when she knows that kind of money could be so helpful elsewhere. Then she splashes liquid on the dress of another girl who's being insulting to her servants. In her diary she worries that her father thinks her ways are unfitting, but we see that Bail watched the whole thing and was smiling.


A month before she turns seventeen, she writes that she knows what her father's preparing her for now. The Alliance to Restore the Republic. She spied on him talking to Mon Mothma about it and is shocked. Still, she resolves to make him proud. "My hatred for the Empire continues to grow. Their treatment of non-human species and women is atrocious and their desire to control every form of expression is appalling. I'm going to do whatever it takes to restore the freedoms the Empire is systematically taking away."

The day finally comes when her father steps down for Leia, the youngest elected member of the Imperial Senate. Bail is very surprised when she tells him that she knows about the Rebellion and wants to help - with her diplomatic immunity and a consular ship, she could run covert missions. He's a little worried by the idea, but wants her to know how proud he is.



"First Impressions", an eight-pager from Star Wars Tales #15, isn't as good, IMO, but it does have a very memorable bit. Two pages.

Basically what's happened here is that on her first visit to Imperial Center - which in the Republic era was called Coruscant - Leia saw a Caamasi being mistreated by stormtroopers and tried to stop them. The stormtroopers threatened to arrest her, and only her guards hauling her away helped. She told her father that she'd bring this up before the Emperor, and he told her to that the Emperor is neither reasonable nor flexible.


She says it's like he was pitch black inside. Bail comforts her, strengthening her resolve to take his place and make a difference. He's also managed to pull strings and get the Caamasi set free. Sometimes, he tells her, things can only be done surreptitiously.


...and okay, one not-really-related bonus which made me laugh. See, the "Tales" collections are always preceded by a page of the editors interacting with the characters somehow, and this is the one from #15.

Comments

[pyrotwilight]

"You have your fathers fire." *He said with Darth Vader hovering over him.*


Hah.

[drakyndra]

It's very obvious what they were trying to imply with that particular panel.

(And it's something of an implicit nod to that big fandom idea that, when you get down to it, despite the Luke and Anakin parallels, Leia is the one that's a lot more like young!Anakin, personality-wise. She just had a much healthier childhood.)

[joysweeper]

I really love that idea. Honestly, Luke is the forgiving one; Leia's always had more of a temper and a sense of authority.

Hell, The New Rebellion had a comment to that effect. A mechanic who'd bullshitted around with Luke was terrified of Leia, because she had none of Luke's "deceptive softness", and when she was angry you knew it.

[drakyndra]

I honestly think Leia would have been easier to push over to the Dark Side than Luke; she has that righteous fury thing going on that could be manipulated into going some bad places.

[joysweeper]

And yet the EU has never shown this in any capacity. Luke went full-on Dark Side once and spent years a little tainted by it, but the worst that's happened to Leia was a little worry that her actions were made in anger. For that matter, her daughter had a similar period of oooh-that's-a-little-iffy, but the son who didn't get killed off in his teens became a puppy-kicking Sith Lord.

Sometimes I love the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but it can be so horribly hidebound, too.

[drakyndra]

Thank you, Internets, for providing me fanfic before I had much exposure to the EU. For all the enormous piles of crap there are, fanfic seems a lot more willing to try some new ideas. Admittedly, that's because it allows for AUs and the like, instead of forcing everything to try and stick to the one continuity.

[joysweeper]

Though there is an Infinities comic where Leia becomes Vader's apprentice, it doesn't really get explored, because Infinities are basically What-Ifs.

I kind of like the massive continuity, but some writers are better at working with established stuff than others.

[bluefall]

Hence why I will go to my grave insisting that Revan was a girl.

[naela]

It took the EU ages to finally focus on Leia's force abilities too, but I admit that I did like the scene when she realized she could become an awesome Jedi Knight and goes for it. Of course she was what, in her late forties, early fifties by the time she made that career change?

[starwolf_oakley]

They played with that in another TALES story (don't remember the exact one, sorry) where Leia goes batshit on a would-be assassin, and realizes the Dark Side just seemed to overcome her almost immediately. That's why she went for years without really properly honing or advancing her training, until New Jedi Order IIRC.

[icon_uk]

Other than being naturally talented pilots I don't think I've ever noticed a particular Luke/Anakin parallel.

[joysweeper]

Luke also has some mechanical expertise, though not as much as his father. You know how he ended up with a prosthetic hand at the end of ESB? He once took it apart to use one of the batteries to wire to a door mechanism and make it work.

...Then again, that was written by Zahn, who likes writing everyone as being incredibly ingenious. Plenty of writers forget that.

[icon_uk]

True on the bionic arm bit, though I was thinking more in terms of actual personality traits.

[joysweeper]

Huh. They both can rush in without thinking, though Luke did learn restraint? They both whined, though Luke was ultimately dutiful and grew out of it anyway? Those are both kind of reaching...

Matt Stover wrote the Revenge of the Sith novelization and a story about Luke. He's a writer who uses a lot of the psychology of the individual, and really, Anakin and Luke are nothing alike. Even at the start of his novel, Anakin was intensely self-centered and unempathetic. He wants Obi-Wan, Palpatine, and Padme to live, but he doesn't give a damn about anyone else. Luke, acting as a General, does ultimately say that saving lives is swell but their objective is more important, but he cares hugely.

Anakin is angry about being on the Council without being a Master because it means they don't trust him, won't give him the respect he "deserves". Luke hates being the youngest General on his task force because the others, despite their experience, tend to assume he knows best just because he's a Jedi. So they're reluctant to criticize him or rein back his ideas.

There's a character who was mind-controlled by the big bad, who when released for a moment in a fight told Luke to kill him. Luke saved him. The character knew Anakin, and knows that he would have killed him.

[hero_of_lallor]

Its very interesting to watch Star Wars 1-6 in that order as well as clone wars. Its structured very well. In episodes 4 and 5 we see a Luke trying to emulate the father he hero worshipped and we can see the similarities, the looks, tatooine, his ability as a pilot, his mechanical skills etc...but after the 'I am your father' moment Luke changes completely. He becomes his mother's son and renounced his father, fearing becoming like him. In the clone wars movie they make a specific reference to this when Padme sends a holo to Jabba. Luke would rather reason his way out of a tight spot, Anakin would go in all lightsabres on. Luke is the diplomat but Leia is the senator. Clone Wars did an episode where Padme is tortured with electricity and all Anakin can do for a second is stand and watch, she tells him to take out the droids first next time. Replace droids with the emperor and you have ROTJ. It is only when Luke embraces his mother's personality that he can unconsciously recite her dying words which brings Anakin back. (Although I still maintain the lack of Surprise! Obi-Wan was a massive factor as well)

Leia is like Clone Wars/Episode 3 Anakin. They have really pointed that out spectifically. The echoes between 'General Grevious, you're shorter than I expected' and 'Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper' compare very clearly. In episode 5 she uses Chewie to choke Lando, is it any different from using the force? In Clone Wars: Volume Two they echo 'What a wonderful smell you've discovered' and Anakin/Leia's desire to act immediately rather than stand back and wait. They are giving his Padawan Ashoka Leia characteristics to show how they are alike too.

[joysweeper]

I was listening to the audio commentary for Empire Strikes Back, and Lucas and Kershner talked about how the morality in Star Wars is basically compassion, restraint, and taking the long view versus selfishness, impulsiveness, and the short view. Which doesn't hold solid for everything, but I did find it interesting.

[joysweeper]

In "Allegiance", Leia once prepares herself by "taking deep, steadying breaths the way her father had taught her". We know she meant Bail, but it's impossible to have mention of her father and breathing in the same sentence without thinking of Vader.

[espanolbot]

Creepy, creepy Palpatine.

[brilliantnova]

I use to reread this issue in particular to giggle at this Leai story

[skalja]

Gotta give credit to Chris - he wears it well.

[joysweeper]

Sticks to his guns, too - he did say anything.

[icon_uk]

Hmmm.. I don't care how much she's vamping it up for comedic effect, what kind of scenario would put a ten year old girl into the position of performing a "Dance of the Twi'lek Slave Girl" (Especially if its anything like the one we see in Jedi BY a Til'Lek slave girl).

Sounds a little too close to those grotesque kiddie beauty pageants.

[joysweeper]

She's doing something she picked herself. I don't think she understands why it would be objectionable, I think she just picked the one thing her guardians would be most horrified by for the sake of horrifying them.

[mcity]

I like the panel of Bail smiling-'cause he gets the joke-and everyone else just looks awkward and is clapping politely.

[icon_uk]

Well, yeah, but see it from THEIR point of view, a little girl is doing a WILDLY inappropriate sexy dance, and her father is grinning and clapping. I see what you mean of course, but in another light... creee-peeee.

[mcity]

Oh.

...Oh.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, sorry about that, it's not a thought that you can unthink either... trust me, I tried.

[mcity]

Oh, you have no idea the sort of things I can unthink, ignore, or deny.

[icon_uk]

Speaking of things I can't unsee, what IS your icon from?

[mcity]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ov1DDjHt8c
Would you believe both of the guys who made the video are Christians? With that dancing?

[icon_uk]

Well yes actually I can, the Devil would have MUCH better dancers for one thing...

[mcity]

It's pretty much rheetorical on the comm, but: A fellow Good Omens reader, I assume?

[icon_uk]

True, true... "The Devil has all the best music, but Heaven has all the best choreographers" :)

[pbalfredo]

I imagine it as Leia reenacting the conclusion to "Little Miss Sunshine"

[lieut_kettch]

My thoughts exactly.

[greenmask]

Princess diaries are almost always fun.

[eightleggedbeast]

I'm not the only one who thinks he's hotter in the slave outfit, right?

[icon_uk]

It's S_D, it's NEVER just you... :) (See post below)

[eightleggedbeast]

^5?

[icon_uk]

Sorry, don't understand that.

[eightleggedbeast]

High-five, sorry. Secretly, I am Billy Quizboy.

[meatwhichdreams]

^5! Couldn't leave you hanging their, Boy Geniuth! :D

[icon_uk]

God forgive me, but I have a sketchcard which might actually outdo that last scan...

I've always had a bit of a crush on Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and when I was getting another commission from Sonny Strait I thought, let's go for it. Let's imagine an alt-verse where Jabba got the OTHER Skywalker sibling at the start of Jedi... and asked Sonny to envisage the male equivalent of Leia's gear... I was expecting something a little... I dunno Zardoz-ish.. something 70's, shorts, a cute little waistcoat perhaps.. What I got was... well, see for yourself...



It's the smile that sells it somehow! And at some level you KNOW Mark Hamill would have done this for shits and giggles if the mood took him on set.... :D

[joysweeper]

Oh, my.

*laughs*

It is the smile! That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing!

[eightleggedbeast]

He is so much happier in that position than Leia was, wow.

WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAINT THE NAKED SLAVE OUTFIT JOKER WITH THOUGHTS OF ZARDOZ- oh, wait, I- oh god damn god argh.

[icon_uk]

Yeah, but Jabba looks a little... disconcerted! :)

Oh come on, Luke would look adorable in little gold trunks and and "Black Canary" style jacket in a gold lamé.. and not a lot else.

[eightleggedbeast]

As he should be.

You are entirely right. It's the idea of him being so and coming out with Joker lines that is disconcerting.