Star Wars: Leia Was Supposed To Be Luke’s First Jedi Padawan

After the events of Return of the Jedi, Leia Organa found out she was a Skywalker and her brother Luke seemed poised to kickstart a new era in the Jedi Order. So why didn’t the former princess study the was of the Force?

A new guide adds more context to what happened after the Episode VI, revealing why Leia never trained to be a Jedi like her brother.

After the events of Return of the Jedi left a vacuum in government order across the galaxy, Leia helped form the New Republic and establish it in systems where the Empire used to rule. Her role in politics, not to mention her relationship with Han Solo and their newborn child Ben, left little time for concentrating on Jedi training, but that doesn’t mean Luke didn’t reach out to her.

In Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Visual Dictionary from writer Pablo Hidalgo, it establishes that Luke actually intended for Leia to be his first pupil in the new Jedi Academy.

“Skywalker’s first student was to be his sister, Leia. However, she ultimately decided that the best path for her to serve the galaxy left no room for the extended isolation of Jedi training. As Leia on her new family and senatorial politics, Luke began his travels, largely disappearing from galactic view. During his lengthy journey, Skywalker gathered disciples who would go on to become his first true students.”

Though Leia never truly trained under Luke as a Jedi, she did get some tips and learn to hone some of her abilities as a someone sensitive to the Force. In Claudia Gray’s novel Bloodline, Luke helps her establish certain meditation techniques that would come to serve her later in live.

Though she’s frequently been shown as sensitive to the Force, Star Wars: The Last Jedi revealed that she has certain latent instincts that prove she is powerful in ways that had yet to be shown on screen.

Of course, Leia’s dedication to the New Republic and the Resistance would eventually lead to the rise in power of the First Order, as Luke would go on to train her son Ben Solo, failing him, leading to the creation of Kylo Ren.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now in theaters.