Carrie Fisher may have left us, but her legendary performance as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" franchise has made her a sci-fi icon. Still, there are a couple of questions fans still have about her characters' family drama — like when she had her personal "Maury" moment.
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00:00Oh, your favorite intergalactic princess ain't too happy with her Sith papa.
00:05George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy is essentially the hero's journey.
00:09As Luke Skywalker leaves his homeworld in search of adventure, he ends up coming face-to-face
00:13with the man responsible for most of the galaxy's problems, Darth Vader.
00:16Of course, we eventually learn that Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, and that
00:20Luke actually had a twin sister, Princess Leia Organa.
00:23But how did Leia feel about this revelation?
00:26Well, most canon Star Wars projects don't get into too much detail about it — not
00:30until more recently, anyway.
00:31Can I help you find something?
00:33I need an I'm-sorry-to-daughter card.
00:37In Marvel Comics' recent Star Wars series, Star Wars Battle of Jakku, Insurgency Rising,
00:42we get some answers.
00:44Continuing the story after the Battle of Endor, the comic book follows Luke, Leia, and their
00:48friends as they continue to help establish the New Republic throughout the galaxy.
00:52This is our hero's journey into the unknown.
00:54Leia returns to the forest moon to bid her own farewell to her biological father.
00:58Leia returns to the funeral pyre where Luke burned their father's body.
01:02Since she never got to speak with him daughter-to-father in life, this was the only way she could express
01:06how she felt about the truth.
01:08Speaking to Vader's distorted helmet, she said,
01:10"'I'm not like Luke.
01:11Luke can forgive with the knees I strain for.'"
01:13Tossing the helmet aside, she expresses her anger with her biological father over all
01:17of those killed and maimed by him and his order.
01:20We know that Luke helped redeem Anakin, who returned at the end of the trilogy as a Force
01:23ghost alongside Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
01:26But while her brother found peace in Vader's redemption, Leia had a very different response.
01:30But when did Princess Leia learn that Darth Vader was her father?
01:33Well, at the same moment as she learned Luke Skywalker was actually her brother in Return
01:37of the Jedi.
01:38But while Leia is elated at the news that Luke is her brother, we don't get to see her
01:41process the fact that Darth Vader is their father.
01:44Luke discovers his parentage at the end of The Empire Strikes Back and reveals this to
01:47Leia after the fact, so when she does finally learn the truth, she's obviously shaken by
01:52the news.
01:53In the 2022 novel The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis, we learn a little more about
01:57Leia's internal monologue.
01:58Although she's grateful and quickly accepts that Luke is her brother, the news of Vader
02:02being her father is more than she can bear.
02:04From Leia's perspective, Revis writes,
02:06"'Perhaps it was merely that Luke had never been tortured by their biological father the
02:09way she had.'"
02:11Can you be more specific?
02:17I'd rather not.
02:19That's certainly a fair reaction, as is her struggle to make amends with her estranged
02:24parent.
02:25It's easy for fans to forget that Leia was actually tortured by Darth Vader in A New
02:28Hope, but the Princess likely never did.
02:31Not only was Leia abused by the Empire, but she watched in horror as her father messed
02:35with everything she fought for.
02:37More than that, Vader continually haunted Leia and her friends during the Galactic Civil
02:41War and took Han Solo from her the very moment she confessed her love.
02:44No wonder Leia never changed her name to Skywalker.
02:47Vader's ruthlessness, anger, and overall disregard for anyone who got in his way wasn't something
02:52Leia could ignore.
02:53And while Luke should be applauded for seeing the man behind the mask, it makes sense that
02:56Leia couldn't bear to do the same.
02:58Again, Leia eventually comes to terms with her father's true self, Anakin Skywalker.
03:02More to the point, she and Anakin are both heard alongside one another when Rey battles
03:06her own grandfather, Palpatine, at the end of the Skywalker Saga.
03:10From what we can tell, Leia eventually forgave her father.
03:12It just took her more time to get there.