SPECULATION Who was Leia remembering in ROTJ? Breha or Padme?

In theory that was supposed to be Padmé. Luke even mentions specifically that he wanted to know about her true mother, meaning that Leia was aware of her being adopted. I know that stands against RotS but originally that was meant to be Anakin's wife, so Padmé.

 

Luke: What do you remember?
Princess Leia: Just... images really. Feelings.
Luke: Tell me.
Princess Leia: She was... very beautiful. Kind, but sad. Why are you asking me this?
Luke: I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her.

I bolded the important word. She feels her mother through the Force, giving her the memories she never had. I can't remember blast from when I was 2 or 1 or even 3, but I don't have the Force. Why didn't Luke remember her, I think is the bigger question.

 

Spot on. Why aren't all Star Wars fans so insightful?!

There's clearly a point as to why Luke asks her this specific question and a point as to why he admits to having no memory of his mother. And yet there are those who, since RoTS, have been far too quick to cry "Plot hole!" as opposed to engaging a bit of the old grey matter. The issue of why Luke has no memory is the sticking point, and one which should be debated amongst the fans.

 

Padme: She says something like, "do you remember your mother...I mean, your REAL mother??"

 

She was speaking of Padme. Leia claimed that her memories of Padme were mere images and feelings and nothing else. I noticed how Lucas kept Leia's memories of Padme rather vague.

 

You forgot about one important bit of dialogue in that exchange. Here's a full clip of it.

Leia tells Luke that her mother died when she was very young. While in theory this fits into RotS, both Luke and Leia were only couple of hours, if not minutes at that time, which means there's no way they can remember her. Clearly, the initial intention was for Padmé to live a few years on Alderaan with Leia, so that there can be at least some basis on which she can form these memories. Your first lifelong memories are formed when you're between 3 and 6, depending on how happy was your childhood. Since Leia's was most likely a good one, her early memories had formed very early.

 

You're right, if the novelisation is anything to go by. Twenty-two years after the event (or maybe earlier than that) George Lucas decided that it served his story best to have Padme die in childbirth. I have never had any problem with this and it also has a nice synchronicity with Qui Gon's death in that both characters play a huge part in Anakin's life and both of them speak of him in their dying breath.

I maintain that this does not ruin the film nor is it proof that George failed in marrying up the two trilogies (I notice that nobody else in cinema history has attempted to do what he did...and they probably never will). He is an accomplished and immensely talented storyteller. The idea that there are kids out there whose greatest achievement is getting a B+ on an English Lit paper and think they are in a position to hurl brickbats at someone such as he is quite laughable, really.

 

"Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future... the past. Old friends long gone."- Yoda.
I think this supports how Leia is able to have faint memories of her mother. Why Luke didn't have any memories of his mother is odd, but the Force works in mysterious ways.

 

Yes....and if you'd read my post you'll notice I wrote something to the tune of the Force is allowing Leia to have feelings that will let her think she sees what her mom looks like. We don't have the Force and the Star Wars universe never purported to actually stand by the rules of physics or physiology.

 

I would say she was thinking of Padme, she was a beautiful person, a queen of kindness to her people & suffered sadness at the fall of the galaxy & her husband she saw good in even till her last breath,

 

Wow, that's beautiful.

 

Ever heard of a little something called "the force"
?

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 8, 2017, Original Post Date: Apr 8, 2017 ---

Remember, leia remembers more feelings than how padme actually looks
.

 

One, chances are Leia's memories of Padme came from the Force. And two, the idea that Padme kept Leia and handed Luke over to Owen and Beru Lars makes no sense. I cannot see someone like Padme keeping one twin and handing over the other to a pair of in-laws she had last seen some three years ago and during a period of 48 hours or less. That makes no sense whatsoever. Why would anyone see nothing wrong with Padme keeping one twin and handing over the other to a couple she barely knows? This really does not make sense to me.

The only two ways this scenario makes sense to me is if Padme had survived giving birth, took the twins and hid some where within the far reaches of the galaxy or two; died after giving birth.

 

Debbie Reynolds

 

Well who says that wasn't the original intention when RoTJ was first written? There's nothing to suggest that there was ever a story where Padme kept one child and gave up the other. Who knows how Leia ended up on Alderaan and Luke wound up on Tatooine when RoTJ was being written? At the time, it wasn't something that George needed to go into in any depth so he might not have known the details either.

 

At the moment itself, Luke and Leia are talking about two different things. At this point it is also impossible to know for Leia that Padmé is her mother. The mother she is actively remembering, and who -in canon- died when Leia was still a toddler, is Breha Organa. Of course, in retrospect, we are filling in Padmé, that's who we want that person to be. But narratively, it makes no sense.

 

I always theorized that baby Leia focused on Padme (who was indeed beautiful and sad), while baby Luke was focusing on Yoda's Force signal. Although this is admittedly pure speculation, it would explain both why Leia remembers Padme and why "there's something familiar about" Dagobah.

 

The way I look at it, force users have different strengths. At the time they were born, Luke and Leia were equally gifted, yet untrained in the force. Perhaps Leia was a little stronger in the way she could feel her mother's presence (and the ability to remember it) compared to Luke.