Did Leia use a Force choke to kill Jabba?

[Ithekro]

I would say that the Organa family suddenly having a child would seem odd without the queen ever seeming pregnant, though Padme was trying really hard to hide her pregnancy. Though I don't think it was fully effective...only her choice of mate would have been hidden (I wonder who people assumed the father was before, and after her death). We know from the Clone Wars that Padme was kind of popular or at least well known in the Republic. Enough to get nose art from a unit of clones on their shuttle (Anakin was not amused).

I wonder if they will make Winter canon? Sort of Leia's body double. Sort of like what her real mother had, just only one. Plus Winter could act more like a proper princess than Leia ever could.

 

[Reverend]

It's hard to say just how well known or liked Padme was since even with the TV show our perspective was fairly narrow. The Republic was pretty big with thousands of Senators and Padme only represented one mid-rim sector. It just so happens that her political clique ended up forming the core of the Alliance and those are the ones we're most familiar with.
It's possible a lot of Senators died around that time. Either caught up in the final throws of the war, quietly eliminated by Palpatine or the usual Senatorial intrigues and power plays. It's possible that with everything going on, her death and unexplained pregnancy went largely unnoticed by the galaxy at large.

As for her pregnancy, I'm not so sure she kept it all that quiet. It's hard enough to disguise a single pregnancy, but twins? That's pushing it. She's quite obviously pregnant in her funeral scene (open casket no less) an in the recent Vader comics there's a plot point about how her mortician specifically made sure it looked like she died while still with child.
Makes you wonder who's idea it was to include the japor snippet necklace. Who else but her even knew what it meant to her or where she kept it?

If there was any speculation as to the father, either Clovis or Typho would probably be the likely focus of any gossip. Logically, by the end of the TV show she should have already been pregnant, given that they were about to cross over with RotS and Clovis's last episode could have been within the 9 month time frame.

It's also possible that simply nobody cared. In a galaxy of thousands of species, many of whom probably don't even reproduce sexually or even restricted to only two genders, I can see how the circumstances of a female human becoming pregnant are of no more interest to anyone than her hairstyle or taste in shoes.

 

[The Wormhole]

Although one wonders, how public was it that Padme was married? After all, at the end of AOTC her and Anakin are married by a Naboo official obviously qualified to officiate weddings, their version of a Justice of the Peace or an official in a Naboo church/religion. Being the planet's senator and former queen, the record of her wedding would likely be picked up by tabloids so would likely become public knowledge, at least on Naboo where anyone who cared the most would be located. But I'm guessing they had to keep Anakin's identity a secret, after all if Yoda or Mace Windu were to somehow find a Naboo tabloid rag that would pretty much end in his dismissal from the Jedi Order. Somehow, I can't imagine Anakin agreeing to get married under an alias, though.

 

[Ithekro]

I looks like she got married on her private estate with the only witnesses being the two droids. Since she's been seen with a bodyguard before, no one probably noticed the local officiate stopping by to visit her as another other than a visit with a local officiate. Who was likely someone Padme trusted completely. I don't even know if her family knew she got married, and they'd be the most keen on it, and probably the most supportive, having seen her and Anakin together.

One wonders how well known Padme was compared to her secret husband, Anakin Skywalker. Just how well known was this Jedi Knight and assumed general in the Grand Army of the Republic? If the old Revenge of the Sith novel has anything to say about it, very well known. The poster children of the Republic's victories: Skywalker-Kenobi.

 

[Reverend]

My assumption was that while it was a traditional marriage ceremony, it stopped short of being a legal union. For the most part, the whole point of legal registration is to protect and officially recognise the union. With a secret marriage that's hardly a concern. As far as they were concerned, they were married, but as far as the official records were concerned, no such union existed.

I do however wonder how much Padme's family knew about all this. They seem to have been forgotten about thus far.
I do recall the EU did a story of Leia finding out about Padme and realising she already knew one of her Naberrie cousins from her days in the senate. But that's all afaik. No mention in any of the new comics or books that I'm aware of.

 

[JD]

I just checked Padme's Legends entry on Wookiepedia, and it said the guy who married her and Anakin was a member of a Naboo religious order and that the only evidence of their marriage was a scroll he recorded their names on that was kept by the order.
I just skimmed it, but I didn't see anything obvious about how she dealt with her pregnancy.
When you guys were talking about Leia's Force sensitivity you forgot about her feeling

Spoiler: the big event

Kylo killing Han

in TFA.

 

[Reverend]

^Did we now?

...Sensing Luke's call on Bespin. Sensing the truth of Luke's admission on Endor. Sensing that he survived the second Death Star's destruction. Even in the recent post ANH comics there's a beat where she feels the echo of both Padme and Maul while on Naboo. And of course there's her reaction in TFA.

I couldn't be bothered with spoiler tags and assumed anyone who's seen the movie would get the allusion.

As for how Padme dealt with the pregnancy; from her wardrobe choices it looks like she's trying not to make it too obvious, but I wouldn't go so far as to say she's determined to hide it entirely. Honestly I think too many big things were going on at that point for anyone to really notice or care.
Also note that when Kenobi asked if Anakin was the father, there was no question as to her being pregnant in the first place. It was a given.

 

[Jedi_Master]

To the OP - I get where you are going, but the problem is that we don't know how strong the Hutts really are. The EU was kind of all over the place with them, focusing on their meglomania, their hermaphroditic nature, their thick skin, but their abilities were never cleared outlined. On the one hand they were extremely slow, but apparently when they are juveniles they can move quickly. Heck, there was even a comic where Hutt ATE a live human.
The simplest explanation is usually the best - Leia was a tough joker and she strangled him with her own slave chain.
I imagine Lucas must have gotten a space-boner filming that scene.

 

[The Wormhole]

I imagine Lucas must have gotten a space-boner filming that scene.

Well, Lucas himself wouldn't have actually filmed the scene. But I guess he could have been on set when it was filmed.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Well, Lucas himself wouldn't have actually filmed the scene. But I guess he could have been on set when it was filmed.

I imagine he was, and besides cheap jokes don't hold up well to semantic tests.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Also see the scene in ROTJ when Luke reveals that he and Leia are brother and sister, and she says, "I know. Somehow I've always known."

...which makes that sloppy kiss in ESB even more wrong.

I still don't get why people are bothered by this so much. It was after all just a kiss, and it was exaggerated for show to make Han jealous. Not that sexual attraction between siblings who don't grow up together isn't a known phenomenon. Revulsion toward the idea of incest is a conditioned response, not an innate one. Innately, absent that conditioning you're actually more likely to be attracted to someone with similar rather than dissimilar genetics, in fact.

And really, I think when she says she's somehow "always known" what she means is that she's always felt an odd connection there without being able to place what specifically it was, and that in retrospect it now makes sense to her. All of which could still have at least something to do with her force sensitivity.

 

[Reverend]

Well obviously the "I've always known" bit is a retcon to account for what was at the time clearly non-platonic attraction.
People forget how fluid the plots were in the early days. Indeed, before Lucas was sure ANH would even be a hit, he plotted out a much cheaper, more manageable sequel that ended up being 'Splinter of the Minds Eye', the first EU novel. In which there's a clear intent to move Luke & Leia's relationship in a decidedly romantic direction.

Not that even that was set in stone from the off. I've read accounts of story meeting with Alan Dean Foster where Lucas it quite open to the possibility of killing off Leia and/or Vader in the second movie and bringing in new characters.

IIRC when they filmed TESB, the "there is another" wasn't supposed to refer to Leia, but another character who theoretically would have been the star of the next trilogy. Making them siblings was something that was invented during the pre-production of RotJ. Similarly I'm pretty sure Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker being the same person wasn't thought up until they came to write tESB.

The "I've always known" retcon *just barely* works as a handwave to sidestep the potential 'Flowers in the Attic' implications, though it's best not to dwell on it too much. Honestly, considering how late in the game this came, it's impressive how relatively well it lined up with some subtle beats in the precious movies. One in particular is a look Guinness gives Hamill after they've watched Leia's message. In retrospect it works great as him checking if Luke has any reaction to seeing his sister, even though that was clearly not the intent at the time.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Well obviously the "I've always known" bit is a retcon to account for what was at the time clearly non-platonic attraction.

Of course, but it's clearly not a retcon that is actually intended to imply that she literally and consciously knew he was her brother when she snogged him in ESB, is what I was saying with that last bit.

 

[Set Harth]

This has always kind of mystified me. Exactly how was Leia able to kill Jabba in ROTJ?

I mean, sure, Leia is no weakling, she has a healthy amount of physical strength. So normally it wouldn't be an issue for her to wrap a chain around somebody's neck and kill them. But Jabba is a Hutt - his entire body is MASSIVE. How could any human being possibly be strong enough to kill him?

The only explanation I can think of is that Leia used a Force choke on Jabba. She is Force sensitive, isn't she?

Leia was no doubt angry enough at Jabba, due to her enslavement, that she could have Force choked him out of sheer rage. (Meaning, she thought she was strangling Jabba with the chain, but she was 'subconciously' Force choking him without even knowing what she's doing.)

From James Kahn's ROTJ novelization:

Yet Leia's hold was not merely physical. She closed her eyes, closed out the pain in her hands, focused all of her life-force - and all it was able to channel - into squeezing the breath from the horrid creature.

 

[Reverend]

From James Kahn's ROTJ novelization:

Yet Leia's hold was not merely physical. She closed her eyes, closed out the pain in her hands, focused all of her life-force - and all it was able to channel - into squeezing the breath from the horrid creature.

From the script: -

36 INT SAIL BARGE
Leia turns from the spectacle outside, leaps onto Jabba's throne, and
throws the chain that enslaves her over his head around his bulbous
neck. Then she dives off the other side of the throne, pulling the
chain violently in her grasp. Jabba's flaccid neck contracts beneath
the tightening chain. His huge eyes bulge from their sockets and his
scum-coated tongue flops out. The Exalted Hutt's huge tail spasms
through its death throes and then slams down into final stillness. Leia
struggles to free herself of her bondage.


I think it's safe to say Kahn was just throwing in a little foreshadowing off his own bat, not something that was intended in the scene. Neither in the script nor on the screen. I can still get behind the concept though, just so long as we all agree there's a difference between drawing on the force for strength to choke someone with a chain and literally force choking someone. Even then it's open to interpretation.

 

[Set Harth]

Given that Anakin had been using the Force without knowing it by the time we caught up with him in TPM, I think it's fair to have Leia using the Force without knowing it.

 

[Marc]

I would say that the Organa family suddenly having a child would seem odd without the queen ever seeming pregnant, though Padme was trying really hard to hide her pregnancy. Though I don't think it was fully effective...only her choice of mate would have been hidden (I wonder who people assumed the father was before, and after her death). We know from the Clone Wars that Padme was kind of popular or at least well known in the Republic. Enough to get nose art from a unit of clones on their shuttle (Anakin was not amused).

I wonder if they will make Winter canon? Sort of Leia's body double. Sort of like what her real mother had, just only one. Plus Winter could act more like a proper princess than Leia ever could.

Think it was the ROTS novelisation that gives an explanation (or might of the The Rise Of Darth Vader) that the Organias had tried for kids and failed so it wouldn't have been a surprise if another attempt was keep secret.

Or they could have simply said she was adopted in secret.

 

[JD]

In RoTJ Leia knew she was adopted, so she obviously was aware of it at some point before that movie, but I don't know if it was common knowledge.

 

[Reverend]

In RoTJ Leia knew she was adopted, so she obviously was aware of it at some point before that movie, but I don't know if it was common knowledge.

According to the new 'Bloodline' novel, yes it was common knowledge and also not a hindrance to her inheriting adoptive mother's title. Officially, she was a war orphan, which is technically true, for a certain point of view...