Was Princess Leia a Jedi & Sensitive to Force? Explained

One of the things that we know about the world of Star Wars is that the original trilogy was created with three main protagonists. While Luke Skywalker is often seen as the true protagonist of Star Wars, Princess Leia Organa was just as important as he was due to her leadership qualities and connection to Luke and their shared past. Then, in the sequel trilogy, she became important because she was Kylo Ren’s mother and was responsible for completing Rey’s Jedi training. So, does that mean that Princess Leia was a Jedi and was sensitive to the Force?

Leia Organa was sensitive to the Force because she was born the twin sister of Luke Skywalker. That means that she was born the daughter of Anakin Skywalker, who we know is the Chosen One. But while she was sensitive to the Force, Leia Organa never completed her Jedi training.

The fact that Leia didn’t complete her training was one of the subplots briefly explored in the storyline of the sequel trilogy. In that regard, she didn’t become a Jedi even though she was incredibly strong in the Force, just like her brother. So, with that said, let’s look at Leia Organa’s Jedi potential and sensitivity.

Both Luke and Leia had the same potential

Introduced in the first Star Wars movie, ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,’ Princess Leia Organa was one of the most popular characters in this fictional universe because she played a crucial role during the events of the original trilogy. After all, she was a leader among the Rebels due to her natural skills as a leader and her ability to inspire other people with her charisma.

Of course, one of the things that we eventually learned in the storyline of Star Wars was that Luke Skywalker was the son of Darth Vader. He discovered this shortly after he left Yoda and Dagobah to rescue his friends on Bespin. And when Luke left, the ghost of Obi-Wan said that he was their last hope, to which Yoda replied that there was another.

The hope that Yoda was talking about was Princess Leia, who could sense where Luke was when he was hanging from a difficult spot after he lost to Vader and learned that he was Anakin Skywalker the entire time. This was George Lucas’ way of teasing us that Leia was also strong in the Force.

Then, in ‘Star Wars Episode VI: The Empire Strikes Back,’ Luke and Leia learned that they were both siblings, as Leia said that a part of her always knew. Then, in the events of ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,’ it was revealed that they were both born the twin children of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala but were separated from birth to keep them both away from the Empire.

Of course, Luke’s status as Anakin’s son allowed him to have the potential to be one of the strongest Jedi of all time because his father was the Chosen One, who had the highest Midi-chlorian count of all time. While Luke didn’t have Anakin’s Midi-chlorian count, he was close to his level due to their relationship. And because Luke and Leia were born twins, Leia also had the same potential as Luke.

In short, Leia was always strong in the Force. Her powers, however, manifested in a different way and quite late compared to Luke. She was raised to be a politician instead of a Jedi. But Leia always had a way of reading people, which was attributed to her being born strong in the Force.

Was Leia actually a Jedi?

Of course, during the original trilogy, Leia wasn’t given a chance to work on her Jedi skills because she was busy leading the Rebellion as one of the top leaders of that alliance. But after the emperor’s death, Leia finally found the time to train as a Jedi, as Luke spent one year training his sister in the ways of the Force.

In fact, Leia progressed well when Luke was training her, as she became a skilled lightsaber duelist that could match her brother during their sparring sessions. That meant that she was always talented. And her Force powers were also quite strong, as she could use the Force to temporarily fly through space in ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’ when she was blown out of her ship.

Then, during the events of ‘Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker,’ Leia was responsible for completing Rey’s Jedi training by teaching her everything that Luke taught her. In that regard, it was clear that she was a strong Force wielder that knew a thing or two about using the Force. But while that may be true, Leia was never a Jedi because she didn’t complete her training.

Why did Leia not complete her Jedi training?

Leia did indeed train with Luke for about a year. This allowed her to learn how to use a lightsaber masterfully and use the Force incredibly well. But she never completed her training because she abandoned it quite early.

While training to be a Jedi, Leia had a vision about the possibility of her son dying if she continued down the path of a Jedi. She didn’t want anything to happen to her son, so she abandoned her training.

On top of that, Leia wasn’t exactly sure whether or not she could reject the temptation of the dark side. She understood what the dark side did to her father when he fell to its temptation due to his love and attachment to Padmé. Considering that she was attached to her son, Leia thought that she wouldn’t be able to reject the pull of the dark side if something happened to Ben.

In that regard, Leia abandoned her training as a Jedi because she felt this path would only lead to her son’s death and her fall to the dark side. And while she didn’t fall to the dark side, her son eventually did.

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