In the Star Wars galaxy, Princess Leia Organa was an extremely capable and formidable leader within the Rebel Alliance and general of the Resistance years later. While Organa no doubt led quite the extraordinary journey, her adventures in the weeks just after Return of the Jedi might not be known by some, as they were only told in the Shattered Empire miniseries from writer Greg Rucka and Marvel Comics. During this time, Leia once faced the dark spirit that belonged to none other than Darth Maul, one of the main Sith antagonists from the Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars, and beyond.
After the Rebel Alliance's victory at Endor with the defeat of the Emperor, Darth Vader, and the destruction of the second Death Star, the Rebels garnered more support from the galaxy at large and the Rebellion began its formation into the New Republic. As such, Leia was already hard at work, doing her part to help restore the Galactic Senate and a new democratic government. Traveling to the planet of Naboo, Leia gains an audience with Queen Soruna at the planet's capital of Theed, seeking Naboo's assistance and support. However, while Naboo was the homeworld of Leia's birth mother (Queen Padmé Amidala), it was also the homeworld of Palpatine, the evil and now recently deceased Emperor.
Even from the grave, the Emperor's tyranny continued to overshadow the Rebellion's victory. Thanks to his Great Contingency, Operation Cinder, the Imperials that remained were delivered posthumous orders from the Emperor himself to be carried out in the event of his death. One such order was for Naboo to be scoured off the face of the galaxy, with the Empire using an array of orbital satellites to cause devastating weather patterns across the planet's surface which caused fires, flooding, and massive typhoons. As a result, Leia and her pilot Shara Bey decided to take action, but to do so they needed ships.
While the Emperor had demilitarized Naboo years prior, Queen Soruna takes Leia and Shara to a sealed-off hangar that no one had stepped foot in for nearly twenty years after the Trade Federation's occupation of Naboo in The Phantom Menace. This was in fact the very same hangar where Darth Maul began his duel with the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Having her own connection to the Force, Leia stops in her tracks at the hangar's opening, feeling the lingering dark presence of Darth Maul himself.
While no one else seems to be bothered by Maul's spirt, Leia can feel his presence through the Force, which makes complete sense. After all, the entire trajectory of the galaxy was decided by the fated duel that began here. Seeing as how Leia is the daughter of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and the brother of Luke Skywalker, it's no wonder Leia is so attuned to the darkness that apparently still remains, even after Darth Maul had since been slain by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the years before A New Hope.
In any case, seeing the visual and visceral connection Leia feels in this issue with Darth Maul is pretty significant. Not only is it a tie between two characters across eras of the Star Wars galaxy, but it's also quite important for Leia personally: the results of the duel that occurred here in the past ignited the series of events that would lead to her birth and major role in the galaxy as an agent for the light side. While the end of the issue sees Leia, Shara, and the Queen herself hopping in starfighters to hold off the Imperial forces until the arrival of the Rebel Fleet, this intimate and haunting moment for Princess Leia definitely stole the show for the Star Wars issue overall.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3mXf1AZ
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