As a fantasy epic set in a galaxy far, far, away, it was inevitable that Star Wars would feature romance. The Star Wars universe has featured many romances in its expanded canon over the last four decades, and there have been just as many successful romances as there have been unsuccessful ones.
In the main saga, however, there were only three long-standing couples: Han Solo and Leia Organa, Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, and Kylo Ren and Rey. Though each of these couples ended poorly due to differing circumstances, they all shared profoundly emotional moments together, leading to some memorable romantic quotes.
"I Did Want To Take Your Hand. Ben's Hand."
At the start of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey and Kylo Ren were enemies again, despite how close they had become in The Last Jedi. They were at odds for the first half of the film, until a climactic battle in the Death Star. When Rey nearly killed Kylo, she healed his wounds and finally allowed herself to be vulnerable.
Although Kylo Ren and Ben Solo were one and the same, Rey admitted to him that she had wanted to accept his hand, and his proposal in turn, when he had been the Ben she had gotten to know. Rey never wanted power. She only ever wanted Ben, something that he struggled to believe as he sat in awed silence after her departure.
"You Like Me Because I'm A Scoundrel. There Aren't Enough Scoundrels In Your Life."
Han Solo had a tendency to come across as arrogant more often than not, and that continued to be the case even as he wooed Leia Organa in The Empire Strikes Back. But just because Han was full of himself didn't mean that he wasn't also perceptive of some hidden truths that Leia struggled with admitting.
After living a life in high society on Alderaan, Leia found herself working in a very different society as part of the Rebellion. Along the way, Han and Leia were drawn to each other as a result of their charged banter and their "opposites attract" dynamic. Leia did like Han because of his bad-boy nature, but there was more to Han than that too.
"You're Nothing. But Not To Me."
Rey and Kylo Ren's relationship walked the fine line between love and hate, which resulted in many Reylo scenes that could be read as either flirting or fighting. One of the pair's final scenes in The Last Jedi featured Kylo Ren making a desperate plea with Rey to join him in creating a new world order.
In the process of trying to convince her, however, Kylo Ren delivers a speech that many have compared to Mr. Darcy's botched proposal in Pride and Prejudice. In an attempt to win Rey over, he reminds her that while she "has no place in this story" and may mean nothing to most people, she means a great deal to him.
"You're Exactly The Way I Remember You In My Dreams."
There were many cheesy quotes in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and plenty of them came as a result of the poorly developed relationship between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala. Anakin in particular struggled with how to phrase his feelings, resulting in some incredibly cringeworthy dialogue. But even the most awkward Jedi had his moments.
After Anakin and Padme met when he was only a child, Anakin spent years thinking about the beautiful young woman he had met, a love that crossed over into his dreams as well. In one of his few romantic moments in the saga, he tells Padme upon reuniting with her that she looked exactly as he had remembered her.
"No Matter How Much We Fought, I Always Hated Watching You Leave."
It was hard for fans when The Force Awakens revealed that Han and Leia's marriage had fallen apart over the years that had passed since Return of the Jedi. Han and Leia's busy lives in smuggling and government continued to keep them in different worlds. After their son succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force, they were only drawn further apart.
But even though the couple may not have been as strong as they once were, their love and care for each other never faded. They both expressed a real sadness about not being in each other's lives regularly, no matter how chaotic times may have been when they were together.
"Hold Me. Like You Did By The Lake On Naboo, So Long Ago When There Was Nothing But Our Love. No Politics. No Plotting. No War."
There were many people that would have been better for Padme than Anakin. Even though the two carried on their secret romance until the bitter end, it was clear that everything in their world was conspiring to keep them apart. In a particularly stressed moment, Padme expressed an uncharacteristically naive longing for simpler times, when they were not part of society.
During their time in Naboo, their courtship was able to flourish because they were in hiding, and didn't have to deal with the "politics," "plotting," and "war" that would ultimately tear them apart. Padme wanted to be with Anakin more than anything else, and in the end, that would lead to her tragic death.
"I Truly, Deeply Love You. And Before We Die, I Want You To Know."
Anakin and Padme's courtship during Attack of the Clones may have been poorly written, but Padme still managed to get one of the saga's most romantic lines during the film. As they prepared to face what seemed to be certain death on Geonosis, Padme decided to finally stop denying the feelings that had been developing between them.
Just before they were led into the arena, Padme made herself vulnerable enough to admit that she was "truly, deeply" in love with Anakin. And of course, Anakin reciprocated those feelings, leading the two to share a tender kiss immediately after her confession.
"Who Are You?" "Someone Who Loves You."
Han and Leia's romance was known for many things, including the natural chemistry between actors Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. But the romance also excelled in breaking stereotypes and gender norms, particularly when Leia was the one to save a damsel-like Han from captivity at Jabba's Palace.
Under the guise of posing as the bounty hunter Boushh, Leia infiltrated Jabba's Palace on Tatooine and saved Han from the carbonite freeze. As Han was still blinded from the deep freeze, he didn't recognize the woman who had saved him, leading to this iconic exchange and the grand sweeping kiss that followed.
"You're Not Alone." "Neither Are You."
The development of Rey and Kylo Ren's relationship in The Last Jedi was one of the best things to come out of the highly divisive sequel trilogy. The second film in the trilogy allowed these two characters to connect in moments of surprising vulnerability, made possible by the Force bond they shared with each other.
While Rey was on Ahch To and Kylo Ren was in his quarters, Rey opened up about the profound loneliness she felt when she realized that her attempts at learning more about her lineage fell short. In turn, Kylo assured Rey that she wasn't alone at all, something Rey made sure he knew as well, resulting in one of the best Reylo scenes in Star Wars.
"I Love You." "I Know."
It's hard to deny that Han and Leia were Star Wars' most romantic couple. When the saga began, it would have been impossible to predict that these two would have ended up together. But in The Empire Strike Back, their love story became a major focus and built to a truly epic romantic conclusion.
When Han Solo was about to be put in the carbonite freeze, it was unclear whether he would survive, and even if he did, whether Leia would see him again. These dramatic circumstances led to Leia finally admitting that she loved him after all, something that Han (and the viewers themselves) already knew.