With Leia being a Skywalker, she was powerful with the Force. But just how strong was she in Star Wars, and could she have overtaken Luke?
While Leia has always been powerful, her lack of training limited her potential. However, within more recent Star Wars media, glimpses of her true power have finally been given. Not only was Leia incredibly strong-willed, but she also had the blood of the Chosen One coursing through her veins. This knowledge, paired with some more recent lore tidbits, suggests she was one of the most powerful Force-users to exist, perhaps even surpassing Luke.
With Leia sensing Luke’s cry for help in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, her first sign of a connection to the Force got revealed. But beyond that, the Original Trilogy didn’t have a chance to explore her true capabilities. It wasn’t until the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi that her powers finally showed themselves, as she performed her first on-screen Force pull in order to save herself from floating into space. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker also featured a scene of Luke training Leia, where she dueled her brother with her own lightsaber. In fact, she could hold her ground, but unfortunately, the training got halted, as she sensed it would eventually lead her son down a dark path.
If Leia had stuck with the training, there’s no doubt she would’ve become just as (if not more) powerful than Luke. And the novelization of The Rise of Skywalker backs up this idea as it delves much deeper into her Jedi training. As Luke has Leia performing acrobatics, he mocks her, saying that when he trained, he had to balance using one hand with Yoda on his foot. Luke says this to mess with her concentration until Leia completely zones-out. She floats into the air before tumbling down, which was incredibly impressive for an early lesson.
The moment even takes Luke by surprise, as “Leia looked up to find Luke staring at her, mouth open.” He then tells her that her “lightsaber craft is coming along, but… you do other things. Naturally.” That reveals that Luke isn’t just taken back by her training but by how naturally she connects to the Force with minimal teachings. And it also suggests she was getting better much faster than Luke, which isn’t surprising, as Luke had far less patience when he trained.
If Luke and Leia had trained for the same amount of time, it’s possible that she would’ve surpassed her brother. But by the time of the Sequel Trilogy, there was no way she could ever catch up to him. Because despite Luke choosing to cut himself off from the Force, he still proved to be the most powerful Force-user alive. He realistically projected himself across the galaxy, talked with Kylo and tricked everyone into believing he was there, all while still rusty with the Force.
Still, it’s a shame that Leia’s training never took the next step. Her kind-heartedness would’ve been perfect for a Jedi of the new Order. However, it wouldn’t be fair to say her potential got wasted, as she was able to train Rey and used her strength to help turn Ben Solo back to the light side.
Ben has taken a ‘Film Production & Cinematography’ university course, and recently completed a ‘Scriptwriting’ masters course, both completed at Bournemouth University. Throughout the courses, he has worked on a number of short films and documentaries. And found that his passion lays in scriptwriting, where he can combine his love of movies, writing, and storytelling.
With taking courses involving film, Ben has extensive knowledge of movies both new and old, and keeps up to date on all the latest goings-on in the film industry. Especially within his favourite franchises, such as Star Wars.
In his spare time, Ben is usually watching movies, playing games and running D&D games for friends (and hopes to one day actually be a player).
