Star Wars: 15 of the best character introductions
By Callum Gunn
Photo Credit: Lucasfilm
8. Princess Leia – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Just before we get into why Princess Leia was so awesome and her introduction in Star Wars was so noteworthy. Let’s just take a quick moment to remember Carrie Fisher. Star Wars will not be the same without her, and she will certainly be missed, and whenever we re-watch any of the Star Wars movies we will think of her fondly.
Princess Leia was the perfect example of a female badass. She was certainly not the stereotypical princess that needed saving every couple of minutes. Yes okay, she did get rescued in a New Hope, but once rescued she gave as good, even better in fact, and put Han and Luke in their place pretty quickly.
And she didn’t actually get saved in Return of the Jedi, she escaped herself and killed Jabba the Hutt along the way.
Basically, she kicked butt and didn’t back down. And that was clear from her introduction in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
More: Carrie Fisher: Honoring the beloved Princess Leia
The Empire had just boarded her ship, massacred pretty much everyone, Darth Vader was among the boarding party so you know you’re in deep water and Leia is just standing her ground like; “Nope, wasn’t me, what plans? No idea what you are talking about. You can try to be as scary and intimidating as you want but I ain’t telling you anything.”
And that badass theme continued afterwards. She was always the headstrong one, always ready to stand her ground and never give up.
There is a lot about having female role models to look up to right now, and rightfully so, I’ve got two daughters and I want them to see that a woman can be strong and not need a man to help her out every couple of minutes.
But while a lot of people refer to Wonder Woman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. I would say look at Princess Leia as well; don’t ever forget about her. She didn’t let anyone push her around, including Darth Vader, one of the biggest villains known to the world.