'Star Wars' Theory: Luke Was To Deflect Attention Away From Leia, The True Secret Weapon Against The Emperor
“No. There is another.”
The revelation that Luke and Leia are siblings was one of the biggest plot twists in cinema history, and it is one that fans continue to talk and debate to this day. These revelations also proved that Luke was not, in fact, the last Jedi, and that Leia had an equal potential to become a Jedi master. Had Leia known about her heritage sooner, she might have been able to not only lead the Rebels against the Empire, but also fight against the Sith alongside her brother. A new theory suggests that perhaps this was the plan for Leia the entire time.
The theory, which was posted on Reddit by u/alteredbeef, postulates that Luke was intended to be a decoy for the Empire, and Leia was the one who was supposed to defeat the Emperor and Darth Vader. The theory points out that Vader and the Emperor most likely knew that Padme had a child, but they were probably not aware that she had twins. Assuming that the Empire would try to find the child of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan and Yoda decided that Luke was a prime candidate to be a lure for the Empire, and Leia would be the one trained to fight Vader and the Emperor. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, both children were placed into hiding. Leia was sent to Alderaan with Bail Organa, while Luke was taken by Obi-Wan to Anakin’s home planet Tatooine. Luke was also given to Anakin’s only remaining family with Obi-Wan living nearby to keep an eye on him. From this, it would appear that Luke was begging to be discovered by Vader. The theory even dips into a rather dark territory by suggesting that Obi-Wan stayed close by on Tatooine to make sure Luke would die by Vader’s hand (or Obi-Wan’s hand) before getting taken to be trained by the Sith.
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Meanwhile, Leia was raised on Alderaan under the care and tutelage of Bail Organa. With her knowledge of politics and leadership skills under her belt, she would then be ready to be instructed in the ways of the Force. Originally, she was to go to Tatooine and train with Obi-Wan. If Obi-Wan was unable to train her or was killed before he could do so, then Yoda would step in. The theory backs up this idea by adding that Leia was the one sent to Tatooine to recruit Obi-Wan. If things had gone according to plan, Leia would be trained both in the Force and in diplomacy. This two-pronged attack effectively made her the greatest secret weapon the Rebel Alliance had against the Empire.
Unfortunately, this did not happen as planned. The theory suggests that Obi-Wan probably had to change the plan when he saw the distress message and realized that Leia was captured. Due to the strong possibility of Leia’s demise, he made the decision to train Luke instead.
All in all, this is a really fascinating theory that can change our view of the original trilogy. Obviously, fans have now seen Leia’s Jedi training by Luke, and the results of that training in the sequel trilogy. However, it would have been interesting to see the roles reversed. One has to wonder how different things could have been. Even though she was not the one trained by Obi-Wan and Yoda that does not mean this was not the plan all along. This theory could have just touched upon a major twist that has been hinted at before. In some of the companion books that have been released, we learned that Leia was Yoda’s choice for a student of the Force, adding some credibility to this theory. Some have even suggested that this minor plot twist may be explored in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Regardless, it is a great and thought-provoking theory that is fun to think about.
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Source(s): Reddit