Leia"s Star Wars Legends Story Makes The Sequel Trilogy Look Tame

Summary

• Leia's story in Star Wars Legends is intense and differs greatly from her portrayal in the movies.
• Leia had a successful political career in Legends, but it strained her family life with Han and the kids.
• Leia experienced great loss in Legends, including the death of her sons and the responsibility of raising her granddaughter. She also became a Jedi Knight.

Princess Leia Organa Solo Skywalker is a long name and title, and Leia's story in Star Wars Legends absolutely reflects its intensity when compared to the Star Wars movies. The Star Wars Legends continuity, as it is now known, was the Star Wars timeline including non-movie materials such as books and comics before 2014. Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm led to the decision to remove the non-movie stories from canon, but these stories are still very interesting to look at, especially for central characters such as Princess Leia.
Beginning in the underrated 1977 Marvel Star Wars comic series, Leia is integral to the development of the New Republic government in Legends, at first under the name "Alliance of Free Planets." From there, she becomes Minister of State, is kidnapped many times (even once by Han Solo), and has three children named Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. She pursues Jedi training twice, and even becomes a full-fledged Knight in Luke's New Jedi Order, but also experiences great loss. Canon and Legends Leia have two very different lives after Return of the Jedi, and the latter is much more intense.