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.
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