Leia Organa on Hoth
- Thread starter LJones41
- Start date
That made my damn day. Thank you. I needed it today.
I'm talking about STAR WARS fandom. But I suspect that you know.
The fandom has changed quite a lot over the years, with the aging of the original fans and the multitudes of new ones arriving with each new addition to the franchise, creating entirely new discussions and ideas. I suspect you know that also.
That always bugged me too, he seemed to be a pretty important in ANH, but then he was never even mentioned again after that.
Well each of the original trilogy have an entirely different set of rebel leaders. None of those guys from Yavin like Dodanna or Willard show up again, neither does Rieekan show up after tESB (or indeed even after fighting breaks out on Hoth.) Ackbar, Madine & Mon Mothma all essentially come out of nowhere in RotJ.
Indeed, aside from the main cast I'm pretty sure Wedge is the only rebel to appear more than once.
Leia was there because Kasdan had to find the perfect setting where Carrie could hide her coke.
"Carrie, is there something wrong with that wall?"
"No, snff, no, just checking the detail. Snnff, amazing"
Hugo - Empire isn't logically perfect, but emotionally it's magnificent
"Carrie, is there something wrong with that wall?"
"No, snff, no, just checking the detail. Snnff, amazing"
Hugo - Empire isn't logically perfect, but emotionally it's magnificent
One does have to ask why Mon Mothma is the leader of the Alliance in ROTJ.
One does have to ask why Mon Mothma is the leader of the Alliance in ROTJ.
Going by both the rough draft and the 2nd draft of the script it seems like the idea was to show that the Alliance was a lot bigger and more diverse than we'd seen up to that point. Hence the inclusion of the Mon Calamari, the Sullustans and the Dressellian commandos in the briefing room. Those weren't just random rebels, they were all supposed to be leaders in their own right. Ignoring what we know in canon for a second, there's nothing in the scripts of movie on why Mon specifically is the leader of the Alliance as a whole, she just is.
Interestingly though, there is a mention in the second draft (in a very long winded version of Ben's account of Luke's family history) of Leia specifically being the leader of her Alliance cell. So that idea dates about at least that far.
Yes, but clearly Mon Mothma is just a political leader and not a military leader to coordinate the attack.
I do like the increase diversity in ROTJ, as well as in Rogue One, and even TFA. It gives a much different feel to the Rebel ranks.
Yes, but clearly Mon Mothma is just a political leader and not a military leader to coordinate the attack.
Well that's what Ackbar and Madine are there for: fleet and ground operations respectively. And she's not personally coordinating the mission, she's briefing the senior Alliance Commanders and Generals on the Bothan spy data. Since she never shows up again in the movie, it's possible she never even went to Endor with the rest of the fleet, but given her character I doubt it. I suspect she'd want to be there if only for the sake of solidarity.
So, does that answer the question about Leia in a retrospective sort of way? I agree with the arguments that Leia is the senior civilian leader of the Rebel forces on Hoth. My thought experiment here is the idea that even if it isn't explicitly stated in ESB, Mon Mothma's presence in ROTJ offers an insight in to the Rebel Alliance. Mon Mothma is setting the stage and tone for the meeting, and has implied authority over the meeting.
RO would expand upon this further but the foundation is already there in the OT.
Indeed, in that she took on a life of her own from ROTS (if cut) to RO and Rebels. But, Star Wars has always had minor characters take on huge importance outside of the films (Boba Fett, Aurra Sing, etc).
I was also a little surprised that she just kind of popped up out of nowhere.One does have to ask why Mon Mothma is the leader of the Alliance in ROTJ.
I wish we could have gotten more of a recurring supporting cast in the OT, with characters like Dodonna, Rieeken, Mon Mothma, and Ackbar appearing in more of the movies.
Didn't they have at least one or two Imperial Officers under Darth Vader who appeared in both ESB and RotJ?
Between Mon & Ackbar, the rebel leadership in RotJ were certainly more memorable than any of their predecessors. Though in Mon's case at least part of that may simply be a "holy shit, there's another woman in this movie!" reaction. Even so, the line about Bothans made way more of an impression than it had any right to. The credit for which certainly goes to the performance.
In the sense that everyone in that room was a senior Alliance leader, yeah. Though the fact that an early draft of the script has Kenobi explicitly saying she led her own should clinch it, at least in regards to what the intent was behind the scenes.
Williams didn't hurt there either.
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