Princess Leia's journey from an orphaned prisoner of the Empire into a kickass space general
has been nothing short of stellar to watch over the decades.
"Somebody has to save our skins.
Into the garbage chute, flyboy."
But the history behind the Star Wars character is a fascinating galaxy unto itself.
Here's the untold truth of Princess Leia.
A symbol of hope
Star Wars creator George Lucas developed many of the franchise characters' names based on
their phonetic pleasantry — how good they feel to say and to hear — and a determination
to steer clear from some of the more common sci-fi naming conventions.
But for Leia Organa, he took things a step further: Her name is a play on Princess Dejah
Thoris from Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars stories, combined with Lady Galadriel
from J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Dejah, Galadriel, Leia … sounds about right.
Meanwhile, Organa comes from a more obvious source, as it's meant to sound like the word
"organic," as a nod to the fact that Leia and her rebels represent a more natural, life-loving
side of things than the Death Star-wielding Empire.
The hairstyle
Few have ever been able to lay claim to a fashion moment as their own as much as Leia
and her cinnamon bun-style hairdo.
Interestingly enough, however — that hemispherical hair almost didn't make it into the movie
in the first place.
The original concept artwork for Leia had no such hairstyle drawn in, but Lucas landed
on the look as a tribute to 20th century Mexican revolutionary women.
He told Time Magazine that he wanted to capture "a kind of Southwestern Pancho Villa woman
revolutionary look … the buns are basically from turn-of-the-century Mexico."
Unfortunately, historians have since stepped forward to dispute his characterization of
that era, but there was reportedly an Arizonian tribe of women called the Hopi who wore their
hair in a similar fashion around the 1920s.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the cultural adoption of the Hopis' "squash blossom" style by non-tribal
women of the era was seen as an act of rebellion and feminism for splitting from the mainstream
style.
"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on you do as I tell you."
Decades later, Fisher's own daughter Billie Lourd wore earmuffs on Scream Queens as a
subtle tribute to her mom's iconic look.
The twins
Some Star Wars fans still have trouble watching the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Leia
plants a smooch on her secret brother Luke Skywalker.
Even though the two didn't know they were related until Return of the Jedi, it still
doesn't sit very well knowing what we know from later in the series, and Mark Hamill
himself has said it had a lasting impact on the character.
This has, naturally, drummed up some questions about whether the two were originally intended
to be sister and brother in the first place.
Rumor has it that in the original draft for Empire Strikes Back, Luke's sister was actually
named Nellith.
Ladies first
When Star Wars first debuted in 1977, Princess Leia was among the first film toys that kids
got to place on their shelves.
"Princess Leia, champion of the rebel cause."
The company that made the original action figures for the series released a set of four
figures: Luke, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and Princess Leia, who wielded her own blaster, too.
That meant that Leia figures predated both Han Solo and Darth Vader in collectability
and that she was recognized as more than just some damsel in distress from the get-go.
Costuming gripes
Carrie Fisher was undoubtedly the lifeblood that made Leia so special on-screen.
"It was me.
I don't want to brag or anything, you know."
So, it should come as little surprise that, like her counterpart, Fisher became known
as being a bit rebellious.
Her wit and resistance to being labeled as a sexpot was also a mainstay of her post-Star
Wars fame.
And she was particularly outspoken about the challenges of some of Leia's costumes.
For example, Fisher revealed in her comedic stand-up special-turned-memoir Wishful Drinking
that George Lucas instructed her not to wear a bra under her infamous white dress because,
to his mind, women in space wouldn't wear underwear...for fear that they'd be strangled
in zero gravity situations.
The infamous gold bikini Leia wore while imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt during Return of the Jedi
was also a subject of some discord with Fisher, who kindly advised The Force Awakens actress
Daisy Ridley to resist a similar fate.
However, Fisher ultimately made peace with the costume by creating her own backstory
for the look.
In response to a citizen movement to have "slave Leia" items removed from Star Wars
merchandise, she said, "To the father who flipped out about it, 'What am I going to
tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?'
Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and
then I killed him because I didn't like it.
And then I took it off.
Backstage."
Leia in real life
In Fisher's final memoir, The Princess Diarist, she revealed the intense love affair she and
Han Solo actor Harrison Ford engaged in during filming — and how it bled into the movie
itself.
She explained in 2016 that the pair had a wild night out with the cast of Monty Python
and the Rolling Stones that included a spirits concoction called the "Tunisian Death Drink"
and kept them up all night until their call time the next day for the Cloud City scene.
Their smiles were there for a reason.
Bonus spirit
Shortly after Fisher's unexpected passing in late 2016, a deleted scene from The Force
Awakens went viral due to its epic display of the character's grit and wit in the matter
of just a few sentences.
"Not all the senators think I'm insane, or maybe they do.
I don't care."
For many, the moment was a perfect example of Leia's growth and tenacity throughout the
series, bookending her unending willingness to fight for the Republic.
She's one with the Force?
There's another question that's long irked audiences of the Star Wars series.
Why didn't Leia, who was not only Force-sensitive but strong, ever become a Jedi herself?
According to The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, though, it was a mere matter of the
character's own "choice."
He explained that it was a topic of conversation between himself, Lucas, and Fisher during
the development of Episode 7 and that they all decided that while there was no age limit
at which a person could be trained as a Jedi Knight, "It was simply a choice [Leia] made,
that her decision to run the Rebellion, and ultimately this resistance, and consider herself
a General as opposed to a Jedi, was simply a choice that she took … she's still Force-strong.
And it's something that I think is an intrinsic piece of her character."
Making it her call all along certainly seems fitting for the Princess — nay, General.
"May the Force Be With You"
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