6 Ways Leia Remembered Padme Revealed In Rogue One
Rogue One was presented as the first entry in the Star Wars Story Saga. It was formerly known as the Star Wars: Anthology but Pablo Hidalgo said Disney was afraid their fan base wouldn’t know what the word meant. The following will detail how a proposed “stand alone” film went to incredible lengths to include details from the Prequels and Original trilogy and cleared up the greatest mystery in Star Wars! It all began based on the long-ignored fact that:
1. Women are the Rebels in Rogue One and Star Wars: Rebels on Disney!
Star Wars Rebels has aired on Disney XD since 2014 and has featured a strong cast in the welcome addition to the Star Wars galaxy. It is possible after Palpatine's progressively hardened state on the Civil Rights of women led females of all species to collectively throw their metal bikinis in a Sarlacc Pit. In a galaxy far, far away the women are the real rebels!
A teenage Leia had met the main cast in her first guest role. One particular rebel was a Mando female a few years older than her. This was the highly-accomplished and brilliant Sabine Wren. Fans have recognized her armor as Mandalorian-make like Bobba and Jango Fett.
Sabine dropped out of space college and became a terrorist. Just like all the good role models in the Star Wars galaxy!
Just a few short years later, Leia did not have to wonder what happened to the cool, older, girl with the Armor that made her Dad so nervous. Leia and Sabine were probably best friends by the time ANH came around because:
2. A Helmet Paint Job Put Sabine in Rogue One
There is a connection with Sabine to A New Hope through the checkerboard pattern on her armor shoulder. It is identical to the checkerboard pattern painted on Big Darklighter’s Helmet at the Battle of Yavin.
Though not officially in a canonical work this innocuous piece of art on Biggs' helmet was put there by Sabine before he perished at the Death Star. Pablo and Company said that was their intention in choosing the design for Sabine's armor. The plan was for her to eventually work with the Rebellion and pilots like Biggs. Which she did when she liberated Wedge Antilles and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian from the Imperial Tie Pilot Academy in Star Wars Rebels! Sabine was vital to the rebellion and she would not have sat out during the events of Rogue One.
And I spotted her in RO with the same pattern on the helmet of a female Y-Wing pilot! In Rogue One's space battle, a female Y-Wing pilot with the checkerboard pattern helmet shouted to bomb the Star Destroyer orbiting the shield generator on Scarif.
The RO pilot of the Y Wing calling for a torpedo run must be Sabine calling for the torpedo strike of the Star Destroyers in the Scarif Battle.
The same checkerboard design appeared on both sides of the pilot's helmet. Aside from the trademark art the pilot was a bomber. Bombing is a perfect fit for Sabin'e background from Rebels in demolitions.
Sabine's inclusion in RO enhanced Leia's character and her role in the Rebellion before she got caught taking out the white corvette by her father who probably did not approve of her explosive friend in armor.
Leia, of course, would have reminded her Dad his best friend dressed exactly the same way too! Leia however did not need the example to rebel when she met the crew on Lothal. She had been rebelling a long time because....
3. Leia was a Terrorist Leader at 14!
The Star Wars Rebels production crew had a unique opportunity when Leia was CGI-penciled into the show. This episode proved to be the first chronological appearance of Leia on-screen since the end of Episode III. Princess Leia is an iconic character in Star Wars as well as pop culture so this episode was a chance to make her coming out party on Disney memorable.
Instead Leia's appearance on Star Wars Rebels initially looked like a bust. The pop-culture icon was merely delivering cargo to the rebel group on Lothal. The mundane activity seemed like a weak premise for a SW: Holiday Special sequel.
However Leia's weekend delivery job was just a cover. In reality, Leia was a teenage smuggler of military-grade starships to a terrorist cell. With such accomplished parents it was no wonder little Bennie Solo felt such a desire to set himself apart from his family.
In that Rebels episode Leia was the same age as her sad, beautiful, and kind mother had been in Episode I. She arrived with the differently-beautiful "Hammerhead" class ships for the rebellion against the Empire.
The ships she delivered appeared very familiar to Rogue One viewers who saw that:
4. Leia Delivered the Hammerhead in the Battle of Scarif!
The space battle of RO occurred within five years of this episode. The Hammerhead that won the battle of Scarif could only have been one of her deliveries as the Rebellion was financially strapped in Rebels and Rogue One. If they survived the shark-inspired starships would certainly still be in service for the Alliance in RO. A ship's longevity in the SW galaxy is much longer especially judging by how long Luke kept the same X-Wing, Bail the Tantive, and especially Han the Falcon.
A Hammerhead in RO saved the day while dredging up memories of 9-11. Akbar's dark-scaled cousin from another sea, Admiral Raddus, plunged the hammerhead into the side of a Star Destroyer. The smaller craft forced one gray monolith into another identical (twin) tower of the stars. Earlier in the movie the Rebels also hijacked planes in order to plant IEDs in secret locations.
It is highly unlikely the Rebels had a surplus of the Hammerhead ships. The Rebellion in RO already seemed desperate and were living in an old Sith Temple on a jungle moon. Bail looks weary in RO probably from years spent funding the movement. With the ships in service for no more than five years, the one to win the battle must have arrived by way of Leia in the same Rebels episode.
Bail may also have been a conflicted parent for putting Leia in danger. He knew she was not his child but he made a promise to adopt her. He also promised Obi-Wan and Yoda that he would keep the girl safe.
Instead he sends her alone at age 14 to arm terrorists. It really puts into perspective how tough the galaxy was under the Empire. Especially compared to Padme at 14.
She had a shiny palace and still looked like she played with her mother's makeup. The worst thing that happened to her at that age was her car broke down on a boring planet and Frog men with Russian accents wanted to make her sign some paperwork.
Leia and her adopted father Bail both appeared in Rebels and RO. When taken together with Episode III that may clear up the most glaring and tragic plot hole of them all.
5. Threepeio Cameo's Big Implications
The prequel appreances of Artoo and Threepio in the prequels were less than positively received. No one could top the dislike when we saw that Anakin Skywalker actually built C3P0 at age nine.
At first glance their appearance in RO seemed forced as well. It is a short moment with a single line by Threepio and seemed corny and gratuitous. They appear only a moment in the hangar of Yavin IV and Threepio says:
* "Why does no one tell me anything?"
The reason he seemed distraught is he suffers from the mind wipe from the end of Episode III. He believes that he was kept in the dark because there is a lifetime of memories and experiences he lost just before he met Princess Leia.
Episode III revealed that only Threepio’s mind only was wiped. Artoo maintained his memories. Now Threepio travels with his friend of many years with no idea how they came to be where they were or what happened before. That would be the same if you the reader lost all your memories and then were just expected to function normally.
You would be just as confused, annoying, and terrified as Threepio.
But Bail was willing to make that great sacrifice to the golden droid because....
6. Artoo Gave Leia Memories of Padme!
After Episode III Bail wiped only Threepio's mind but left Artoo intact. Memory wipes for protocol droids were standard procedure in dealing with sensitive information. Going too long without a memory wipe is considered a security risk in the Star Wars Galaxy like not changing your password often enough. Artoo was a repeat offender of this policy when Anakin did not wipe his mind either!
Bail also disobeyed the edict to mindwipe Artoo for the same reason I would suggest Anakin kept his wedding video on Artoo's hard drive in the Clone Wars.
Despite the sensitive information inside, both men refused to wipe Artoo because he had recorded every instance of Padme's life since childhood on Naboo.
Which leads to the conclusion that the droids constant appearances in the saga resulted in Leia gaining memories of her mother that Luke had no other access to. Bail saw no other options in order to provide his adopted daughter memories of her biological mother.
Bail would have aroused the Empire's suspicions by looking for records of Padme. It was probably in his best interest to destroy those already available publicly. If he wanted Leia's identity to stay hidden he would have to remove many traces of her birth and the fate of her mother.
Bail had the problem of living under the thumb of the Empire and wanting to provide Leia with a record of her birth mother. He couldn't search the archives himself for fear of being discovered.
It would especially be awkward when Vader walked in his office one day to ask why he had to many searches on his computer for: "Queen Amidala, Kind, Beautiful, but Sad"
So he took a big risk with decades of kepeing Artoo's memory intact and available for any slicer. He couldn't even back up Artoo's memory to the cloud in case the Empire hacked him. It would be like storing a hard drive of precious information off-site in an external hard drive. Instead of storing Artoo, he needs him nearby to actively show these life-like holos so Leia can know the truth.
He never lets the droids leave his sight which gives them a more legitimate reason to be in Rogue One than any other movie taking place before the original trilogy.
Bail also faced every adopted father's anxiety of when his little girl asked about her birth father. He may have struggled to decide if Artoo should show her Anakin Skywalker too. Bail and Leia worked closely with a violent Rebel group to fight back to topple the Empire.
I believe Artoo’s first assignment after Episode III was Leia’s night light and projected life-like holos of images and video of her mother's life for her daughter born into one harder than she ever experienced.
Leia thrived in her life as a revolutionary against a violent dictatorship and Carrie's memory will overcome her adversity as well.
May the Force be with you Carrie!
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