Let’s get this out of the way first: For those assuming that the reason she was not trained in the in the story was because George Lucas was not thinking of Leia as Anakin’s daughter when he wrote A New Hope, we need to correct that whole line of thinking right here. While Lucas did have many different ideas throughout this process, which is common with creative writing, the only thing that matters, at all, is what the author decided to make a reality in the story. Creative endeavors develop a momentum and direction of their own and it is the authors task to move and grow with the story. George Lucas is absolutely excellent at that. The Darth Vader-Luke-Leia familial relationship was a brilliant connection that made the entire saga deeper, more nuanced and fascinating. This is why he wrote it. To downplay any part of the story simply because of some musings during the process is to assume there is some “real’ version that was “changed”. That is wholly inaccurate. The story’s reality and continuity is that Leia was always Anakin’s daughter, from the time we first meet her. In the prequels we get to see more of that part of the story and get indicators as to the story between that and the original trilogy.
Now, with that out of the way, what does the story give us to answer the question: Why was Leia not trained? The partial answer: She was about to be. It is all in the end of Revenge of the Sith and the events of A New Hope…with a little bit of reasoning to tie these together. Leia, in addition to retrieving Obi-Wan, was about to begin being trained by the Jedi Master. That is, until the Death Star plans were beamed to her ship which, of course, resulted in her capture. Yes, she was told to go to Tatooine just to ask for Obi-Wan’s help, but that was only part of what was happening. How do we know this? Had she not been captured, she was about to be standing in Obi-Wan’s hut, instead of Luke, only a few feet from her father’s lightsaber. Leia and Obi-Wan would have set off for Alderaan, but before that, or possibly during the trip, Obi-Wan would have had a conversation with Leia much like the conversation he eventually had with Luke, instantly making the fight very personal for Leia. It is near-impossible that Obi-Wan would have insisted on Luke, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute. The important thing to think about here, is that verything was about to rest on Leia’s shoulders, and we we all know she would have eagerly agreed to anything Obi-Wan asked of her. Her “whatever it takes” personality is well established in A New Hope. She would have been a very willing and focused padawan…unlike her brother.
I know some might be thinking that Obi-Wan still would have tried to train Luke instead of Leia. Here is is why that is near-impossible: While we still do not know everything that happened during those many years that Luke was growing up, we do know that Obi-Wan either chose not to, or perhaps was prevented from, training Luke during those years. I will get into the specific reasons in part two of this post, but in that moment when Leia would have been standing in Obi-Wan’s hut, any of the reasons that Luke had not been trained would have still existed. In addition, Luke’s Force equal, Leia, who was already a focused, capable and dedicated Rebel, would have been, by far, the most expedient and best choice of the twins to be trained. Add to that, the desperation of the moment, with the impending destruction of the young rebellion by a new super weapon, and there is absolutely no way Obi-Wan does not go with Leia to Alderaan also absolutely no way Luke goes with them, short of them kidnapping Luke. Remember, there would have been no droids with Death Star plans wondering the Tatooine desert to eventually lead Luke to Obi-Wan nor any Stormtroopers there to slaughter Luke’s only ties to the planet. Luke was simply not going to be a part of this. Leia would be the only choice, at that point.
This is why the partial answer to why she was not trained is that she was captured right before being trained.
Why is this only the partial answer?
Because this does not explain why Leia not trained while growing up. For that part of the answer, we need to go back to the prequels. This detail ties into a common related question: “Why did Yoda need to remind Obi-Wan about the ‘Other’ hope in Empire Strikes Back?”
Let’s give all of this a space of it’s own. Click here to get there->
