Princess Leia Can Definitely Use The Force, And Does So In A New ‘Star Wars’ Novel

The in-canon Star Wars novel Aftermath: Life Debt was released today, and author Chuck Wendig has now gone from someone I follow on Twitter to someone I should probably send a promotional kitten basket to, because he just keeps bringing us awesome things with this book. First, we were getting new details about evil space ginger General Hux, then we learned why Chewbacca owes a life debt to Han Solo in the new canon, and now Wendig just made me yell “YAAASSSS QUEEN” because Princess — oops, General — Leia can use the force, and does.

Although there were examples of Leia using the force in the Expanded Universe, that’s no longer canon. Evidence of her having force sensitivity in the current canon was more vague. In the official novelization for Return Of The Jedi, there’s a passage where she “reached out” to “reassure Luke she was all right” which could have been the force or just those magic powers twins have. (Twins have magic powers, right? Ha ha, science.) In Empire Strikes Back, she senses Luke needs help in Cloud City. In the novelizations of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoilers), she seems to sense both the destruction of the Hosnian system and the death of her husband.

J.J. Abrams has said she could use the force and just chooses not to. But in Aftermath: Life Debt, a situation arises where she makes that choice. As a deleted scene with Maz Kanata showed, you don’t have to join the Jedi Knights to use the force. Screen Rant explains:

During a dogfight sequence toward the end (when Leia is flying the Falcon against an Imperial attack), author Chuck Wendig writes, “There are even moments when she can feel the battle unfolding around her in space – invisibly, as if all of it is a warm stream in which she has dipped her hand.” Leia may never have followed the footsteps of her brother, but she is using her abilities in ways that benefit her, letting the Force flow through her when it’s absolutely necessary.

The book also reveals that Leia received some training from Luke (which was also part of the Expanded Universe). She also uses the Force to detect she’s pregnant with a son (the future Kylo Ren) and to communicate with the unborn child. We bet he asked her to play some Dashboard Confessional and smoke cloves.

She would have been better off getting a dog instead.

https://twitter.com/Gary_TheDog/status/673021190068416512

(Via Screen Rant)