Marvel’s Star Wars comics have made Leia and Padmé‘s relationship even more tragic. Leia Organa never knew her mother, Padmé Amidala. She thought she could remember Padmé – describing her to her brother Luke as “kind but…sad.” But in truth Leia seems to have been confused, instead remembering Padmé’s former handmaiden (and doppelgänger) Sabé.
But Leia actually knew quite a lot about Padmé. She figured out her mother’s identity after Return of the Jedi, when she learned she was the daughter of Anakin Skywalker; it didn’t take Leia long to connect the dots between Anakin and the senator of Naboo he had spent so much time with during the Clone Wars, who died under mysterious circumstances on the day Leia and her twin brother Luke were born. Leia’s true family history remained a closely-guarded secret for years, with Leia well aware nobody would trust the daughter of Darth Vader. Marvel’s Poe Dameron comic series reveals that Leia actually went to Naboo to learn more about Padmé, trying to get to know her mother through her friends and confidants. No doubt she visited Padmé’s tomb herself.
The people of Naboo honor a person’s clothing, and indeed they tend to fashion wedding gowns out of fabric that has been passed down a woman’s family line. Padmé’s gowns found their way to her daughter, and Leia treasured them for years as a precious memento. “These matter to me, very much,” she observes in one powerful scene in Charles Soule and Angel Unzueta’s Poe Dameron #21. “I like to think of my grand-daughter wearing them,” Leia adds. “If I ever have one.“
The scene is a heartwrenching one, because it is set shortly before the sequel trilogy; Leia is no doubt reflecting on the gulf between her and her son, who has become Kylo Ren under the tutelage of Supreme Leader Snoke. It serves as a reminder of how desperate Leia is for reconciliation with her son, Ben Solo, who is trapped by the dark side of the Force; she longs to have her son back, and to know what it is to be a grandmother. Tragically, Leia’s wishes are never fulfilled.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ends with Ben Solo dead and the Skywalker bloodline coming to an end. Leia never has the grandchildren she hopes for. The closest she has is Rey, whom she trains as a Jedi and who claims the mantle of Skywalker at the end of the film. But it’s doubtful the desert scavenger from Jakku would ever wear dresses like Padmé‘s – if Rey ever learned how much they meant to Leia in the first place. It’s just one more tragic twist in the Star Wars story.
Key Release Dates
Rogue Squadron
Release Date:2023-12-22
