Triay - Leia as a Goddess/Temptress

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Princess Leia serves a duel role as both Joseph Campbell's Goddess and Temptress. One could argue that there are two heros in the Trilogy, Luke and Han; however, there is only one heroine, Leia. Leia as a Goddess has unconditional love from the hero. This is demonstrated in A New Hope by Luke's compelling desire to seek out Leia and help her after receiving her distress call. She becomes Luke's initial goal in Episode IV, to save the damsel in distress. This unconditional love for our hero changes over the next two films. It is revealed that Leia is Luke's sister. The Campbell idea of unconditional love shifts to an unconditional sibling love, binding the two together.


Leia is also seen as a temptress, particularly in regards to Han Solo. Leia understands the necessity of having Han Solo on the rebel's side. She engages in a cat and mouse, "playing hard to get" game with Han. As a temptress, she inspires Han to stick around and stay on the Rebel side. However, they begin to truly fall for each other, developing yet another Campbell sort of "unconditional love."

Michael Kuebler - Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi

As my classmates before me state, Leia of course plays both the roles as Goddess and Temptress in Return of the Jedi. Along with this it seems that in certain roles she can also play the part of the hero. This character is very complex and could more than likely have a story specifically revolving around her trials before, during and after the saga.

Leia, as the Goddess, is the reason why Han and Luke both remain in the mission. She is a beacon of hope when all else seems to be lost to the Empire. She gives Han strength and teaches him how to grow from smuggler and scoundrel into a decent man and a General in the Rebel Alliance. Her first words with her own voice are "Some one who loves you." Her role as Goddess and protector are obvious and seem to strike Han in a way that makes him rethink his selfish ways.

As the Temptress in the movie Leia distracts Luke and Han throughout the movie in multiple ways. She is a temptress not only to the characters but also the audience when she is captured by Jabba. Luke is once again running to the rescue of his friends and avoiding his training which eventually is the reason the he will inevitably turn to the dark side. She causes Han to be distracted from the mission because he wants to call her his own but he feels that she is in love with Luke. Even when Han tells her that he loves Leia, the response he receives is his own before he is frozen.

She returns to her status as Goddess among the Ewoks and saves the party from being eaten as an offering. Then at the very end when she tells Han that Luke and her are twins. Han is then filled with joy and once again sees her as the Goddess that she has become and always was throughout the saga.

Koeferl- Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi

Leia plays the role of a goddess in this film; she is strong, but also kind. She is capable enough to make her way into Jabba's palace and "rescue" Han from the carbonite. After they are both found by Jabba, Leia reverts to the role of a temptress; she wears a skimpy bikini for Jabba's entertainment and just kind of lays there. Amidst all the chaos of Luke and the gang fighting over the Sarlacc pit, Leia strangles Jabba. In the first act of this film, Leia fights off some of Jabba's goons to get near him, and then threatens to blow everyone up with a thermal detonator. Later on, she single-handedly kills the gang lord. This takes some guts, and clearly shows that Leia is a civic hero. It's not too often that we see female supporting characters doing the kinds of things that she does in this film. In this way she is like a goddess.

The next important thing that Leia does is chase down those imperial scouts on the swoop bike; this scene reinforces the fact that she's more than just a pretty face. When she has a problem, she deals with it, showing the audience that she is a civic hero much like Han. Han came to Luke's rescue at the end of A New Hope, and again at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back, and now Leia comes to his rescue at the beginning of Return of the Jedi (Although ultimately they all play a part in the escape).

Leia appears again as a goddess in the eyes of the Ewoks. She befriends one of them, then goes to their village; they braid her hair, and give her new clothes. When Luke tells her that he must confront his father, she tries to persuade him to run away and take the safe way out. In other words, she tries to "tempt" him to save himself. Leia is a civic hero, but she also has the potential to become a Jedi (the contemplative hero), according to Luke.

Morris - Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi

In Return of the Jedi, we first see Leia disguised as a bounty hunter. She uses Chewey as a ploy to gain access to Jabba the Hutt's lair so she can rescue Han Solo. Leia is both goddess and temptress in the Star Wars trilogy.

In this movie, she plays the goddess to Han, giving him a reason to be a hero. She is the female that Han wishes to impress and in this aspect, it is because of her that he is a better person.

For Luke, Leia plays the temptress. When Luke is leaving to go after Darth Vader, Leia tries to get him to run away. She tells him that it is too dangerous and wonders why he must confront Vader. This is a test of how dedicated to his journey Luke is; Leia gives him the opportunity to run from his mission, but he proves that he is worthy by refusing to back down. Also, while Luke is refusing to fight Vader, Vader threatens to try to turn Leia to the Dark Side since Luke is refusing. Luke's anger gets the best of him, going against the Force and he attacks. Leia is acting as the temptress here because his love for her as his sister overwhelms him and he allows himself to use his anger which is a trait of the Dark Side. Luke catches himself in this mistake, and returns to the path of his journey.

Leia is very heroic in this movie. She goes to Jabba's to rescue Han, chokes Jabba to death with the chain he had around her neck, rides a hover bike, and kills storm troopers. She is a strong female character instead of the damsel in distress. When she is being a fighter, she has her hair up in braids, but when she is being more of the goddess figure, she has her hair down to appear more masculine and feminine respectively.

Leia's role in Return of the Jedi is complex and extremely important for the plot's progression.

McCay A New Hope Blog Post

Choose a scene in Act II that reveals an obstacle that the trio of Leia, Luke, and Han must overcome on their Journey to help the Rebels. Discuss how each character is changed by the encounter with the obstacle.