Introduced in the original Star Wars film in 1977, Leia is princess of the planetAlderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate and an agent of the Rebel Alliance. She thwarts the sinister Sith lord Darth Vader and helps bring about the destruction of the Empire's cataclysmic superweapon, the Death Star. In The EmpireStrikes Back (1980), Leia commands a Rebel base and evades Vader as she falls in love with the smuggler Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi (1983), Leia helps in the operation to rescue Han from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt and is revealed to be Vader's daughterand the twin sister of Luke Skywalker.
The prequel film Revenge of the Sith (2005) establishes that the twins' mother is Senator (and former queen) Padme Amidala of Naboo, who dies after childbirth, while their father is none other than former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, whowould become Darth Vader. Leia is adopted by Senator Bail and Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan. In the sequel trilogy, Leia is the founder and General of the Resistance against the First Order. She and Han have a son named Ben Solo, who adopted the name Kylo Ren after turning to the dark sideof the Force and became the lead enforcer for the First Order. In The Rise of Skywalker (2019), it is revealed that Leia was briefly trained as a Jedi by her brother sometime after Return of the Jedi. In the film, Leia is the mentor of Rey, the last remainingJedi. Leia dies towards the end of the film but returns in the epilogue scene as a Force ghost alongside Luke.
One of the more popular Star Wars characters, Leia has been called a 1980s icon, a feminist hero and model for other adventure heroines.
