Skip to main content

star wars - How does Leia have memories of her mother?


In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she has any memories of her real mother.




Luke: Leia, do you remember your mother, your real mother?


Leia: Just a little bit. She died when I was very young.


Luke: What do you remember?


Leia: Just images really, feelings.


Luke: Tell me.


Leia: She was, very beautiful, kind, but sad. Why are you asking me this?


Luke: I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her.



How is this possible? In Episode III, Padme dies soon after giving birth to Luke and Leia. Would this be considered a plot-hole?



Answer




I need to root around for a retcon explanation, but as-of-ROTJ explanation is this:



In the novelization of Return of the Jedi, written by James Kahn, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke that Anakin didn't know his lover was pregnant when he became Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan hid her away to protect her. After she gave birth, Obi-Wan took Luke to Tatooine and she took Leia to Alderaan. (source)



A further confirmation of the alternate backstory is in SW FAQ from IMDB:



The original script included an extended scene between Luke and Obi-Wan (which can be seen in the Jedi novelization by James Kahn), where Obi-Wan explains that both he and their mother wanted to protect them from the Emperor as long as possible; Obi-Wan therefore took Luke to the Lars family on Tatooine, while their mother took Leia to Alderaan (Obi-Wan also curiously refers to Owen Lars as his brother, an offhand comment which is never explained). It therefore can be implied that "Mrs. Skywalker" originally survived long enough for Leia to have a real, genuine memory of her.



That article clearly rejects the "Memories are NOT of Padme" theory:




However, Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays states that George Lucas intended for Leia to remember her real mother, and Leia's Star Wars Databank entry states that her memories are of Padmé.



In case further confirmation is needed, Luke asks Leia whether she remembers her "real mother".


The article further confirms that it was Padme from the canon:



Patricia C. Wrede's novelization of Episode III describes the newborn Leia as looking around her, intent to memorize every detail. Perhaps Leia's Force-sensitivity allowed her to form memories even at such a young age.



The exact quote from novelization is:



... stared intently in Padme's direction, as if she wanted to memorize her face...




Then the article goes into pure speculation, which I find plausible, if a bit far-fetched:



It's also possible that Leia gleaned images and impressions of her mother through the Force even after Padmé's death. As Yoda tells Luke in The Empire Strikes Back: "Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future...the past...old friends long gone." Even though Leia has no formal Jedi training until after Return of the Jedi, she could have learned about her mother through visions in the Force, which she then mistook for memories.



As an aside, other theories floated are "pre-birth Force feelings". NOT implausible as well.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more