Palpatine Prevented Leia Becoming A Jedi: Star Wars Theory Explained

Palpatine himself could have prevented Leia becoming a Jedi until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The time between the original trilogy and the sequels is still something of a mystery, and Princess Leia’s journey in particular is relatively unexplored. It wasn’t until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that Lucasfilm answered even the most basic question of all – why Leia didn’t become a Jedi.

The film included a flashback that revealed Luke Skywalker did briefly train his sister after Return of the Jedi. Leia had developed sufficiently as a Jedi to create her own lightsaber, historically viewed as a key moment in a Jedi’s progression in mastery of the light side of the Force. Apparently Leia subsequently discontinued her training, however, after she sensed it would not end well. She seems to have received visions suggesting her son Ben Solo would die if she continued training and became a Jedi, and thus she chose to abandon that path. Instead, she became a high-profile politician.

It’s important to remember Leia’s decision not to become a Jedi did not mean she settled for second-best – but rather for another good. She was a force to be reckoned with in the New Republic, even running an unsuccessful campaign for Chief of State. As told in Claudia Gray’s novel Bloodline, Leia foresaw the rise of the First Order and – after her political career came to an abrupt end – she established a Resistance movement against the threats she sensed in the shadows. Had Leia not chosen this political path, it is possible the First Order would have gone unopposed. But was her life affected by Palpatine, the true mastermind behind the First Order, even more profoundly than she had realized?

The Emperor Feared The Return Of The Jedi

Palpatine had always known the Jedi were the greatest threat to the reign of the dark side. He engineered the destruction of the Jedi Order in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and it is notable he only allowed them to learn his true nature when there were only a handful of survivors left. When the dust settled from Order 66, Palpatine declared himself Emperor and transformed the Old Republic into the Empire. Jedi Holocrons were destroyed, temples were ransacked, and Darth Vader and his Inquisitors hunted down any surviving Jedi. A massive propaganda campaign erased historical records, and within just a couple of decades the Jedi were reduced to myth and legend. Even this was insufficient, of course, because Luke Skywalker was both able to learn from two surviving Jedi Masters and obtain records that had survived Palpatine’s best efforts to destroy them.

The Emperor seemed to fear the return of the Jedi. It’s notable that the First Order only stepped out of the shadows after the Palpatine had destroyed Luke’s Jedi Temple, and they went to remarkable lengths to prevent the Resistance discovering Luke Skywalker’s location. As far as Palpatine was concerned, the true battle was not because the Resistance and the First Order, but between the light and dark sides of the Force. He would do his best to ensure the light could not return.

Palpatine Knew The Potential Of Another Skywalker

The Emperor understood the sheer power of the Skywalker bloodline. He had cultivated a relationship with Anakin Skywalker from the moment the child first entered the Jedi Order in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, although it’s important to note Palpatine reinterpreted the Chosen One prophecy around himself. Like all Sith, the Emperor believed the balance of the Force should be equated with the dominance of the dark side, and in fact he considered the Chosen One to be the pawn he chose to establish this dominance. “But who chooses the Chosen One,” he taunted Darth Vader once, in Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco’s Star Wars #6, insisting he was superior to the Chosen One. Still, for all that is the case, Palpatine knew Anakin Skywalker possessed a power unlike any he had seen before.

The Emperor had learned the hard way that Anakin Skywalker’s children had inherited the power of the Chosen One. Luke Skywalker was the greatest of the Jedi, ruining Palpatine’s plans when he redeemed his father. This new Jedi Master was something of an unknown quantity, because his belief in redemption marked him as a very different kind of Jedi, one potentially without the flaws of his old masters. That meant Luke’s Jedi Order could be a truly dangerous prospect, because all the levers Palpatine had used to manipulate Jedi in the prequel era could well have failed. It was, therefore, in Palpatine’s best interests to slow Luke’s Jedi reformation down as much as possible – and certainly to prevent another Skywalker training as a Jedi.

Palpatine Could Have Manipulated Leia As He Did Anakin

The Emperor has always had the power to manipulate minds. Indeed, there’s significant evidence Palpatine was personally responsible for using the dark side to give Anakin visions of Padmé’s death, aware of Anakin’s attachment to Padmé made him vulnerable to the dark side. It’s quite possible he did the same with Leia as well, using the dark side to affect her mind and fill it with fears of the future. Bloodline makes it clear even the decision to have a child was difficult for Leia in the first place, because she remembered what her father Darth Vader had been and feared her son turning to the dark side. The dreams and visions she experienced of Ben’s death would spring from these pre-existing fears, and it’s difficult not to see the dark side in those fears.

Ironically, Palpatine had already fixed his covetous gaze on Ben Solo. Chuck Wendig’s “Aftermath” trilogy includes a chilling scene set shortly before Ben’s birth, in which Leia sensed a dark side presence already watching him; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker confirmed that was Palpatine, and that his presence shaped Ben throughout his childhood and into his teenage years. Leia could not know it, but her decision not to become a Jedi wouldn’t prevent Ben’s fall to the dark side at all.

The Emperor Failed To Prevent Leia Becoming A Jedi

If Palpatine was indeed the source of Leia’s visions, then there is a striking degree of irony to them; because, in the long term, the Emperor failed to prevent Leia becoming a Jedi. She chose to return to that path in the last year of her life, even training Rey as her apprentice. What’s more, just as Leia had believed, her decision to become a Jedi did indeed lead to Ben Solo’s death; not due to his falling to the dark side, but rather in an act of redemption. Palpatine was always obsessed with the future, but the visions he may well have personally cast into Leia’s mind ultimately signified his own downfall in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

About The Author

Thomas Bacon
(4937 Articles Published)

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

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A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

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