Alongside King Joffrey and the Red Queen, Princess Leia may be one of the most famous monarchs in popular culture. However, though fans know some basic things about her, such as the fact that she certainly is no damsel in distress and that her home planet is destroyed, she has many other secrets.
While she is one of the three leads in the Star Wars original trilogy, she is the least developed character.
Luke is a moisture farmer from Tatooine who discovers his place as someone who can bring balance to the Force. Han is the smarmy smuggler who gradually learns to work as part of a team to help the Rebels. Leia is descended from a royal family (maybe) and is reduced to a supporting character throughout the trilogy.
It is a shame that George Lucas rarely gave her anything interesting to do, but it's no surprise considering how little screen time he gives his female characters.
However, when looking at the comics and short stories that take place off screen, Leia’s role is expanded on greatly.
Through this extended universe material, we are treated to some surprising and fascinating facts about everyone’s favorite princess. Whether this be hints towards her Force powers or her skills as a leader for the rebellion, Leia is without doubt one of the most interesting characters of the franchise.
While it is a waste that little of this was revealed on screen, the sequel trilogy was a step in the right direction, as it allowed Leia the opportunity to show off how strong of a leader she really is.
With this in mind, here are the 21 Crazy Details About Princess Leia's Body.
18. Yoda wanted to teach her instead of Luke
While Yoda is the Jedi Master who taught Luke about the Force, Luke was not Yoda’s first choice of Padawan.
In Star Wars short story "There is Another", Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Yoda that he must train a young Skywalker soon.
Initially, Yoda is delighted, as he believes that this will be his chance to train Leia. However, when learning that Kenobi, means Luke he is reluctant to accept him.
Yoda notes that Luke does not have the correct disposition to be a successful Jedi, whereas Leia would be ready.
Had Obi-Wan Kenobi not been so insistent that Luke be trained instead of his younger twin sister, the original trilogy could have turned out very differently indeed.
17. She's better with a blaster than Luke or Han Solo
While the phrase “you shoot like a stormtrooper” has become an insult due to their famously bad accuracy, Leia’s accuracy was on the other end of the spectrum.
Throughout the original trilogy, out of the three main protagonists, Leia has the best hit ratio with her blaster.
One would think that everyone’s favorite scoundrel Han Solo would have the best accuracy of the three. His first scene sees him successfully take down Greedo with just one shot, but against stormtroopers, he has worse luck.
Obviously Leia’s early self-defense classes readied her more for the fight against the Empire than Solo’s days of smuggling.
It’s a shame that a complimentary phrase like “you shoot like Princess Leia” never took off…
She is thoroughly trained in self-defence
Despite being raised as a princess during her childhood, unsurprisingly, Leia rebelled against this privileged background.
While her aunts wanted her to focus on etiquette, she was busy learning self-defence, which she saw as more useful.
Embracing her royal image yet with a strong knowledge of defense proved to be extremely useful in her later life. Leia was able to use people’s assumptions about her status against them by surprising them with her physical strength.
She uses her etiquette and self-defence lessons in the original trilogy where, despite being one of only three named speaking female characters, she manages to remain both strong and elegant.
This is a hard task alongside the pressure of having to represent an entire gender on screen too
19. Her 'bagel bun' hairstyle was inspired by Mexico
Leia’s "bagel bun" hairstyle from A New Hope is still one of the most iconic hairstyles in movie history.
It’s as synonymous with the Star Wars franchise as lightsabers, R2-D2, or Ewoks. So it comes as a huge surprise that this seemingly unique and bizarre style has roots in real history.
George Lucas revealed to Time: “In the 1977 film, I was working very hard to create something different that wasn't fashion, so I went with a kind of Southwestern Pancho Villa woman revolutionary look, which is what that is. The buns are basically from turn-of-the-century Mexico.”
If only the Southwestern Pancho Villa women could see the impact that they had on popular culture today…
16. Her Force powers are hinted at early on
Across the original trilogy, there are hints Leia possesses the same natural affinity for the Force as her brother.
The subtle clues manifest themselves in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi most prominently.
In Empire, Leia suddenly realizes where Luke will be when searching for him in the Millennium Falcon on Cloud City. However, it is never explained how she knew he would be hanging underneath Cloud City or ever mentioned again.
Similarly, in Return, Leia mentions remembering her mother as “very beautiful, kind, but... sad.”
However, Padmé passed away after giving birth to her, so this makes no sense at all.
The only reasonable explanation is that Leia was able to use the Force to reach out to her family in both situations.
This, or Lucas inadvertently created two plot holes.
15. Rumors surrounded her pregnancy
Thirty years passed between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but little is said about Leia’s pregnancy. Despite Kylo Ren being a major player in the sequels trilogy, we know nothing about his birth in the movies.
In the Star Wars universe, there were rumors surrounding the child of Leia and Han Solo - from speculation that Leia went through an intense three day labor to another suggestion that it was a painless childbirth.
Much like a real royal pregnancy, there were many rumors but nothing was officially confirmed by the royal couple themselves.
Like the wedding ceremony between Leia and Han, which was supposedly a private affair with only a few attending, there is nothing officially confirmed.
14. Her scene in The Last Jedi was meant to be “emotionally impactful”
According to Syfy, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy requested a scene in The Last Jedi to prove that Leia could use the Force. This made sense to settle debates among fans that had raged on for 30 years concerning whether Leia is as powerful as her brother.
However, Kennedy wanted to make the moment “emotionally impactful,” which led to the infamous Mary Poppins scene. The scene of Leia floating through space managed to divide fans, as some believed that it was cheesy, while others found it empowering.
Whatever your thoughts on the divisive scene, in what will be known as the most divisive Star Wars movie, there is no denying its importance.
It managed to officially canonize Leia’s Force abilities which were only hinted at previously.
13. She could sense her unborn son through the Force
The relationship between Leia and Kylo Ren is an important part of The Last Jedi. The shot of Kylo pausing before attacking the ship that his mother was in is striking.
It's even more impactful when you consider the fact they don’t share any actual screen time throughout any of the movie.
This seemingly telepathic connection that they shared in The Last Jedi may have stemmed from their connection during Leia’s pregnancy.
In the canon novel Aftermath: Empire’s End, Leia notes that she is able to sense her unborn son through the Force.
She even compared him to a pulsing band of light, which adds weight to the idea that their strong mother and son connection was present when he was just a fetus.
12. Her bounty hunter disguise was taken from a fight
While many of Leia’s costumes have lived on in popular culture, whether it be the slave outfit or the white dress, the bounty hunter disguise may be her least glamorous.
This bounty hunter outfit was worn when she rescued Han Solo from Jabba’s palace at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
There is some backstory behind the costume, however.
It was stripped off the bounty hunter Boushh. Boushh made the mistake of starting a fight during a meeting between Leia and Maz Kanata, which the Rebels won.
After R2-D2 disabled Boushh with a crane, Leia decided to use the armour as a disguise to rescue Han. Sadly it doesn’t look like we’ll get to see this exciting tale translated on screen.
11. She has punched Han Solo
Although Leia and Han Solo had a very intense and temperamental relationship, we never actually saw them come to blows.
However, while this was the case for the movie, this did not apply to the Han Solo miniseries comics.
We know that Leia can give a good slap - you can ask Poe Dameron in The Last Jedi, as he feels her wrath upon his demotion. Han suffered this in full force, as he was punched by his wife in the aforementioned comic.
Ultimately, it is discovered that this is an elaborate scam to convince General Craken and the Rebels that Han is going rogue.
However, Leia must have felt some satisfaction in being able to punch the most famous scoundrel in the universe.
10. She cannot see Force Ghosts
One fact that cannot be explained regarding Leia’s Force abilities is why she cannot see Force Ghosts.
At the end of Return of the Jedi, as Luke smiles on at the Force Ghosts, Leia is oblivious. Despite Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda all being present in the middle of the celebrations, Luke is the only one acknowledging them.
Leia even looks at Luke as if to question what he is looking at.
This may be an oversight on Lucas’s behalf, as he may have forgotten the full potential of Leia’s powers.
While it would be 34 years after Return of the Jedi until Leia could demonstrate her knowledge of the Force, Lucas seems to have forgotten entirely in this scene.
She has used telekinetic powers already
While Leia explicitly uses her telekinetic powers in The Last Jedi, she had already previously used them earlier in canon.
As VS Battle Wiki notes: "Leia literally puts her mind over matter via the Force. She can use this ability to blast away enemies, shield herself, disarm enemies, hurl debris at enemies to distract or outright bombard them, etc. Its limits are only those of the imagination of the user."
While we never see any of this on screen before 2017, fans have witnessed this in the comics and short stories.
Rian Johnson, a long time fan of the franchise, made sure that he included this in his first movie so that those who had not read the material could witness it visually.
George Lucas had a different vision of Her originally
George Lucas’s original script for 1977’s Star Wars was extremely fluid, even until a few months before shooting. He famously toyed with changing the character of Luke Skywalker to a female and originally using the last name Starkiller.
However, he also considered casting a Japanese actress for Princess Leia’s part.
Such a casting decision for a major blockbuster would have been revolutionary for the time. It would eventually be Kelly Marie Tran in The Last Jedi who was the first main Asian character of the franchise.
Another idea that Lucas debated, was casting dwarves as the three main characters. Why he originally decided to do this and why he eventually did not is a mystery.
CGI was used to paste Carrie Fisher's face on to another body in Rogue One
Whereas Robert Downey Jr. was de-aged using CGI in Civil War, this was not the case for Carrie Fisher. Captain Marvel will see a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson for its entirety, but this technology was not viable for Fisher.
Another form of CGI had to be used for the brief Princess Leia shot at the end of Rogue One.
The Independent noted that Norwegian actress Ingvild Delia was cast to be the body of Leia. While she adopted Fisher's mannerisms, a copy of a young Leia’s face was pasted on to her.
Though it was unexplained why they could not de-age Carrie Fisher like they have done to others, Fisher herself was thrilled with the final product.
It was realistic that, according to Screencrush, she thought it was actual footage from A New Hope.
She has wielded a lightsaber
Of the three leads, Luke is the person we see repeatedly wield a lightsaber. However, this doesn’t mean the others haven’t.
In fact, Han used one to save Luke’s life, as he sliced open a tauntaun on Hoth before putting Luke into it.
Leia, however, has never been seen to wield one on screen so far. She has used one on several occasions in comic form, though.
Most notably, in the canon comic Star Wars #12, Leia is seen using a lightsaber for the first time.
While she looks relatively at ease using it, and no doubt harnessing the Force, she still goes back to her classic blaster afterwards.
It looks like we will never see the Skywalkers taking down the Empire both using a lightsaber - at least on screen.
She has noted how similar she looks to her mother (even though they never met)
Ignoring the fact that Natalie Portman and Carrie Fisher don't look much alike, Padmé and Leia apparently look identical.
They look so identical, in fact, that in Princess Leia #2, Leia commented that a picture of Padmé she found looked exactly like her.
This comic, which is the second part of five comics dedicated to the Princess, saw Leia make her way to Naboo.
On her mother’s planet, Leia and Rebel pilot Evaan Verlaine seek to find a small group of Alderaanians.
While Leia discovers more about her mother’s planet, she also discovers more about their similarities.
As well as their supposedly similar looks, Leia adopted her mother’s fighting spirit and rebellious attitude, which has spanned generations.
She hated her 'bagel bun' hair so much she cut it off
While the "bagel bun" hairstyle has becoming a defining feature of Leia, the woman herself was not fond of it.
In The Princess Leia Diaries, Leia is so sick of her hairstyle that she cuts her own hair.
While at the time this may have seemed like a good idea, she was then forced by her aunts, who were disgusted by such a vile gesture, to wear a wig.
As per usual, however, Leia had the last laugh, as she wittily claimed that she didn’t need to wear earmuffs in the summer.
Obviously she was forced to keep the hairstyle during her time as royalty, but, after the events of A New Hope, she decided to rebel against it as she had done the Empire.
She was forced to end a life in self-defense
One of the darker chapters of Leia’s life occurred when she was forced to end another person’s life in battle.
In the comic Star Wars: Empire: Princess…Warrior, Leia goes on a diplomatic mission to Ralltiir.
On the planet, she encounters the Moff Lord Tion, and after been given no other option, was forced to end his life in self-defence.
While she has previously shot at stormtroopers, the lack of seeing a face underneath the mask makes them seem almost non-human.
However, in this instance when she is given no other option, the decision seems to obviously hurt her.
Whether Leia ever fully recovered from this traumatic choice is up for debate, but it was a bold move regardless.
She was captured with the intention of being Queen of the Empire
Another unexplored yet equally dark moment for Leia was when she was captured by an embittered Jedi Knight who wanted her to join him in the dark side.
The events may have not taken place on screen, but they took place in the comic Queen of the Empire.
Kadann, a Jedi Knight who had embraced the dark side, planned to also turn Leia to the dark side too.
His ultimate goal was to make Leia Queen of the Empire, but Luke was ultimately able to rescue her.
Whereas this might have made an interesting on-screen tale, the subject matter might have been too dark for a children’s movie. However, film's loss is comic's gain.
She is a skilled tactician
According to Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, Leia was more than just a fighter, a princess, and a rebellion leader - she was also a skilled tactician who became useful in combat situations.
While we do not see much of this in the original trilogy, it is easy to identify Leia’s ability to command an army as General Leia in the sequels trilogy.
Her duties range from putting Poe Dameron in his place with a slap to commanding the remaining rebels in battle.
While many fans will always see Leia as a princess, she will be known by a younger generation as General Leia.
As a skilled tactician, she is able to prove herself as someone who is more than just a figurehead of a royal family after all these years.