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Switched at birth

Jedi Marso

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
The premise:

Leia goes with Obi-wan to Tatooine and is raised by Owen and Beru. She is Leia Skywalker.
Luke goes with Bail Organa and becomes his adopted son and future Imperial senator, Luke Organa.

What twists and turns in the saga result from this? I'll post some ideas later.

Ready...set...GO!
 
Luke and Biggs grew up best friends.

How would Leia and Biggs have grown up? Han and Lando might have found themselves left out in the cold...
 
And then there was their buddy 'Tank'.

Who knows, maybe there was a love triangle there, setting up Biggs as a Rebel squared off against Tank as an Imperial, with Leia Skywalker caught between them...
 
Leia would have been best friends with Cammie instead of Biggs (not even getting into the notion of men and women just being friends, which leads onto When Harry Met Sally which of course stars one Carrie Fisher!)
 
Leia would have been best friends with Cammie instead of Biggs (not even getting into the notion of men and women just being friends, which leads onto When Harry Met Sally which of course stars one Carrie Fisher!)

The adventures of Carrie Fisher and Koo Stark. Things that make you go 'hmmm..." :eek:
 
Would Luke have still sent R2 with the plans to get Obi-wan Kenobi once Darth Vader could up with him over Tatooine. And how would Leia react to the message?
While they trade places, do they also trade skill sets, or is Luke still a good pilot (maybe trained with Hera on Yavin between diplomatic missions), and what does Leia learn while being a farmer on a desert planet?
 
Well, the idea is that you develop your own notions on that.

But for the sake of argument, let's give Leia the same abilities as a 'Bush pilot' as Luke- her Force sensitivity would factor in there. Or maybe she's super empathic and a natural diplomat, still?

I see Luke as being sort of a junior Bail: Idealistic, soft spoken, an 'act behind the scenes' guy with average abilities as a warrior and pilot, enhanced by his Force sensitivity.

I also see a real possibility that instead of hiding aboard Tantive IV, Luke 'leads from the front' and is severely mauled or killed by Vader during the boarding action. Perhaps it is here that Vader senses his strength in the Force, and Luke's journey towards the dark side happens a whole lot sooner. Imagine the destruction of Alderaan being used as a catalyst to turn him!
 
Just giving Luke and Leia each other's skillsets is the boring option, since all you end up doing is gender flipping two characters, which isn't the same thing as trading characters. Even if they were identical twins (which they're obviously not) they'd still be distinctly people and would react uniquely to identical stimuli.

So the fundamental question here is really: who are Luke and Leia once you strip away all of the history and baggage and up bringing. What are each of them at their core? What traits to they share? What traits do they not share? Once you have all of that you can apply that to the new situation and extrapolate from there.

So here goes with a quick & dirty outline; Luke is impatient, while Leia is calculating. Leia is empathetic and naturally selfless, while Luke seems predisposed to think of himself first and had to actually work on his empathy. Leia is brash and reckless, while Luke is often more risk averse when he's outside of his comfort zone. Luke is a dreamer, while Leia is grounded. Leia seems to be the more intelligent of the two but sometimes struggles to process her feelings, while Luke is more closely in touch with his emotions (for better or worse.) Luke's innate preternatural force talent is the same as Anakin's; precognition, while Leia's is like Ahsoka's & Yoda's; truth sense. The ability to intuit the truth of a person, both intent, and the truth they don't admit to themselves (just ask Niano Organa.)
They're both fundamentally courageous, have a clear sense of right and wrong, and will never flee from responsibility when it truly matters.

So to begin with Leia Skywalker (Lars?), since I think that's the more interesting though line: She never had the same natural affinity for flying as Luke, but she's as competent as any desert bush farmer needs to be. She's studied every old tech manual she can find, and can take apart almost anything and put it all back together, from the condensers to the family Landspeeder, and keeps her X-34 in perfect running order. Eschewing the kind of hot rodding Tank, Biggs & Fixer go in for in favour of proper by the book maintenance.
She's still part of that friend circle, but is more the loner of the group, much less willing than Luke to slack off and waste time when there's chores that need doing. Though when she was younger, she did have a tendency to wander off into the Jundland Canyons, or the rough streets of Anchorhead in search of a little excitement from time to time.
Never seeing eye-to-eye with Cammie, having no patience with Bigg's constant flirting, and being essentially invisible to Fixer. Tank is a bit of a blank slate, so there's any number of possible approaches from big brother figure, to potential crush, to the creep of the group. Dealers choice on that one since it hardly matters once he leaves for the Academy with Biggs, but never comes back.
Her affinity for people makes her an excellent haggler and deal-maker, and winds up brokering much better rates with the water sellers than the standard. By the time she's 16, she's the one running the farm's books, not Owen and Beru. As a result the farm does much better; Owen can afforded to hire extra hands out of Anchorhead in the peak seasons, and expand the farms holdings, even buying up some of old man Ulbreck's outer ranges.

That's all I got for now. I'll have to think more about Luke's path before I can decide how their stories might intersect.
 
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Both Luke and Leia seem to care about droids, or Luke would still be relatively on at least polite terms with C-3P0 and R2-D2. When Bail's not using them for missions.

Speaking of missions, how would Luke interact with Ezra and Kanan when he delivers some ships to the Rebels on Lothal? Would Luke be able to talk him way in and out via use of Bail's Imperial Senatorial position and Alderaan's usually humanitarian aid missions? Would he be able to take Lt Lyste's transport twice?
 
Just giving Luke and Leia each other's skillsets is the boring option, since all you end up doing is gender flipping two characters, which isn't the same thing as trading characters. Even if they were identical twins (which they're obviously not) they'd still be distinctly people and would react uniquely to identical stimuli.

So the fundamental question here is really: who are Luke and Leia once you strip away all of the history and baggage and up bringing. What are each of them at their core? What traits to they share? What traits do they not share? Once you have all of that you can apply that to the new situation and extrapolate from there.

So here goes with a quick & dirty outline; Luke is impatient, while Leia is calculating. Leia is empathetic and naturally selfless, while Luke seems predisposed to think of himself first and had to actually work on his empathy. Leia is brash and reckless, while Luke is often more risk averse when he's outside of his comfort zone. Luke is a dreamer, while Leia is grounded. Leia seems to be the more intelligent of the two but sometimes struggles to process her feelings, while Luke is more closely in touch with his emotions (for better or worse.) Luke's innate preternatural force talent is the same as Anakin's; precognition, while Leia's is like Ahsoka's & Yoda's; truth sense. The ability to intuit the truth of a person, both intent, and the truth they don't admit to themselves (just ask Niano Organa.)
They're both fundamentally courageous, have a clear sense of right and wrong, and will never flee from responsibility when it truly matters.

So to begin with Leia Skywalker (Lars?), since I think that's the more interesting though line: She never had the same natural affinity for flying as Luke, but she's as competent as any desert bush farmer needs to be. She's studied every tech old manual she can find, and can take apart almost anything and put it all back together, from the condensers to the family Landspeeder, and keeps her X-34 in perfect running order. Eschewing the kind of hot rodding Tank, Biggs & Fixer go in for in favour of proper by the book maintenance.
She's still part of that friend circle, but is more the loner of the group, much less willing than Luke to slack off and waste time when there's chores that need doing. Though when she was younger, she did have a tendency to wander off into the Jundland Canyons, or the rough streets of Anchorhead in search of a little excitement from time to time.
Never seeing eye-to-eye with Cammie, having no patience with Bigg's constant flirting, and being essentially invisible to Fixer. Tank is a bit of a blank slate, so there's any number of possible approaches from big brother figure, to potential crush, to the creep of the group. Dealers choice on that one since it hardly matters once he leaves for the Academy with Biggs, but never comes back.
Her affinity for people makes her an excellent haggler and deal-maker, and winds up brokering much better rates with the water sellers than the standard. By the time she's 16, she's the one running the farm's books, not Owen and Beru. As a result the farm does much better; Owen can afforded to hire extra hands out of Anchorhead in the peak seasons, and expand the farms holdings, even buying up some of old man Ulbreck's outer ranges.

That's all I got for now. I'll have to think more about Luke's path before I can decide how their stories might intersect.
I love this!!!
 
Some further thoughts on Leia Lars: In a switch around, it's Beru that's been urging Leia to transmit her application to the Academy (they can just about afford it without a scholarship, and the farm is buoyant enough do fine without her), while she herself is reticent to leave behind her Aunt & Uncle on the farm. Owen is torn because on the one hand he knows she would stay there her whole life if she thought that's what he wanted, but she'll never be truly happy and once they're gone, she'll be all alone in a world that never really fit her comfortably (she REALLY hates sand.) But on the other hand, going out into the galaxy is inherently dangerous because of who she is. He wants her to stay, but he feels guilty that he's knowingly holding her back.

Now for Prince Luke Organa: Luke of course had a full palace education, but didn't do very well in the junior legislator program; essentially flunking out. While not a terrible student, he could never truly focus on his academic studies. Politics never appealed to him. Growing up in a life of privilege has given Luke more of a maverick attitude; He's always restless for something greater but can never pin down what exactly, so he often winds up getting himself into trouble looking for adventure in the wrong places.
Starting at just 9; Breha had to have him "escorted" back to the Palace on more than one occasion for participating in some very illegal underground swoop races (posing as a Snivvian in a flightsuit & helmet, plus spoofed black market chaincode that they still can't figure out where he got it from.) After the whole "kidnapped by the Inquisitorius" incident. Bail suggested that they help him divert his energy into something more suited to his interests, so they send him to the Royal Academy to train as a pilot for the Alderaan Guard. Which he takes to like a Gungan to water quickly becoming their top pilot, and instilling him with a firmer sense of discipline, purpose and camaraderie; not least because of what was instilled in him during his time on the run with Ben.
His adoptive parents both still try to keep their ties to the Rebellion concealed from him, but he soon figures it out and wants to sign-up, insisting that because he can fight, he has to for those who cannot. So Bail assigns him to his personal Guard detail, which gives him cover to be Bail's covert operative. By age 15 Luke has essentially become the main link between Alderaan and Fulcrum's network of cells and operatives; indeed being one of the few to have knowingly met her in person. All this under the cover of being a mere Junior Guardsman, and rumoured family disgrace -- a rumour Luke himself devised, playing off of and exaggerating his youthful "excursions" -- thought to only be kept in place to keep him within Bail's sight and out of further trouble. As such, he's beneath the notice of the ISB who are instead over suspicious of Bail who continues on as Senator, essentially as a decoy while Luke can operate with almost total impunity.

I might have some more tomorrow once I've thought some more about how to approach Rebels, Rogue One & the opening of ANH.
 
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Some further thoughts on Leia Lars: In a switch around, it's Beru that's been urging Leia to transmit her application to the Academy (they can just about afford it without a scholarship, and the farm would do fine without her), while she herself is reticent to leave behind her Aunt & Uncle on the farm. Owen is torn because on the one hand he knows she would stay there her whole life if she thought that's what he wanted, but she'll never be truly happy and once they're gone, she'll be all alone in a world that never really fit her comfortably (she REALLY hates sand.) But on the other hand, going out into the galaxy is inherently dangerous because of who she is. He wants her to stay, but he feels guilty that he's knowingly holding her back.

Now for Prince Luke Organa: Luke of course had a full palace education, but didn't do very well in the junior legislator program; essentially flunking out. While not a terrible student, he could never truly focus on his academic studies. Growing up in a life of privilege has given Luke more of a maverick attitude; He's always restless for something greater but can never pin down what exactly, so he often winds up getting himself into trouble looking for adventure in the wrong places.
Starting at just 9; Breha had to have him "escorted" back to the Palace on more than one occasion for participating in some very illegal underground swoop races (posing as a Snivvian in a flightsuit & helmet, plus spoofed black market chaincode that they still can't figure out where he got it from.) After the whole "kidnapped by the Inquisitorius" incident. Bail suggested that they help him divert his energy into something more suited to his interests, so they send him to the Royal Academy to train as a pilot for the Alderaan Guard. Which he takes to like a Gungan to water quickly becoming their top pilot, and instilling him with a firmer sense of discipline, purpose and camaraderie; not least because of what was instilled in him during his time on the run with Ben.
His adoptive parents both still try to keep their ties to the Rebellion concealed from him, but he soon figures it out and wants to sign-up, insisting that because he can fight, he has to for those who cannot. So Bail assigns him to his personal Guard detail, which gives him cover to be Bail's covert operative. By age 15 Luke has essentially become the main link between Alderaan and Fulcrum's network of cells and operatives; indeed being one of the few to have knowingly met her in person. All this under the cover of being a mere Junior Guardsman, and rumoured family disgrace -- a rumour Luke himself devised, playing off of and exaggerating his youthful "excursions" -- thought to only be kept in place to keep him within Bail's sight and out of further trouble. As such, he's beneath the notice of the ISB who are instead over suspicious of Bail who continues on as Senator, essentially as a decoy while Luke can operate with almost total impunity.

I might have some more tomorrow once I've thought some more about how to approach Rebels, Rogue One & the opening of ANH.
Looks like Leia may end up rescuing the Prince this time... :angel::beer:
 
Her affinity for people makes her an excellent haggler and deal-maker, and winds up brokering much better rates with the water sellers than the standard. By the time she's 16, she's the one running the farm's books, not Owen and Beru. As a result the farm does much better; Owen can afforded to hire extra hands out of Anchorhead in the peak seasons, and expand the farms holdings, even buying up some of old man Ulbreck's outer ranges.
I like this idea. It's an interesting concept to look at her strengths and how they would come out in a different environment.
 
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