'Star Wars' Fan Finds Poignant Connection Between 'A New Hope' And 'The Last Jedi'

Jenna Amatulli
Updated

An observation made by one eagle-eyed Twitter user has “Star Wars” fans taking note of a heartbreaking connection between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

Luke’s story in “Episode IV: A New Hope” kicks off with a projection of Leia desperately asking for help. He embarks on a mission to do so with Obi-Wan Kenobi, setting in motion the sci-fi saga as know it today.

(Warning: “Last Jedi” spoilers ahead.)

Forty years later, “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” ends with Luke using a force projection to help Leia and ultimately sacrifice his life.

Talk about full circle.

For more context, those who haven’t seen “A New Hope” in a while might not remember that Leia sends a projection of herself to Obi-Wan Kenobi begging him to take the Death Star plans, which she’s stolen, and bring them back to her home planet of Alderaan for her father to analyze. The projection and the stolen plans were stored in R2-D2, an astromech droid, who then fled and ended up on the planet of Tatooine.

While on Tatooine, he is found by Luke. When R2-D2 goes missing, Luke looks for him and finds Obi-Wan.

In “The Last Jedi”, Luke uses an astral projection in an effort to fool Kylo Ren into thinking he’s actually on Crait instead of the planet Ach-To. When Ren and Skywalker engage in a lightsaber duel, Skywalker’s projection is struck. An exhausted Skywalker, actually on Ach-To, then dies ― all in an effort to help Leia and the Resistance.

The tweet from user @jmmcnabagain pointing out this comparison has gone viral, with many remarking on how good of a catch it was:

If this observation wasn’t emotional enough (because R.I.P., Luke Skywalker), then it only gets worse when you consider that Carrie Fisher’s Leia will never get to come back and rise up with the Resistance as she planned.

Fisher passed away in December 2016 after suffering a heart attack, just after finishing principal photography on “The Last Jedi.”

Carrie Fisher in October 2016. (Photo: CJ Rivera via Getty Images)
Carrie Fisher in October 2016. (Photo: CJ Rivera via Getty Images)

Had she lived, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy said, the next part of the saga ― “Episode IX” ― would have been “her movie.”

“She was having a blast,” said Kennedy in an interview with Vanity Fair last year.

“The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of “IX”!’ Because Harrison [Ford] was front and center on ‘VII,’ and Mark [Hamill] is front and center on ‘VIII.’ She thought ‘IX’ would be her movie. And it would have been.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated that “The Last Jedi” was Episode VII of Star Wars instead of Episode VIII.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

Also on HuffPost

&ldquo;I am Princess Leia, no matter what. If I were trying to get a good table, I wouldn&rsquo;t say I wrote <i>Postcards</i> [<i>From the Edge</i>, her best-selling first novel]. Or, if I&rsquo;m trying to get someone to take my check and I don&rsquo;t have ID, I wouldn&rsquo;t say: &lsquo;Have you seen <i>Harry Met Sally</i>?&rsquo; <a href="http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/questions-for-carrie-fisher?page=2" target="_blank">Princess Leia will be on my tombstone.&rdquo;</a>
&ldquo;People want me to say that I&rsquo;m sick of playing Leia and that it ruined my life. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/carrie-fisher-in-quotes/" target="_blank">If my life was that easy to ruin,</a> it deserved to be ruined.&rdquo;
&ldquo;People are still asking me <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/carrie-fishers-life-in-pictures-and-memorable-quotes-w457714/a-jokster-w457718" target="_blank">if I knew 'Star Wars'<i> </i>was going to be that big of a hit.</a> Yes, we all knew. The only one who didn&rsquo;t know was George [Lucas].&rdquo;
When Vanity Fair asked Fisher <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/11/wayne_carriefisher200611?currentPage=2" target="_blank">how she was originally cast in "Star Wars,"</a>&nbsp;she responded: "I slept with some nerd. I hope it was George [Lucas]. ... I took too many drugs to remember.&rdquo;
Fisher once told Stephen Colbert why she had to wear the infamous slave bikini, but <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2016/12/27/carrie-fisher-flashed-her-witty-side-with-these-quotes.html" target="_blank">never got to use a light saber:</a> &ldquo;Even in space, there&rsquo;s a double standard.&rdquo;
Fisher told Time magazine in 2015 that appearing in the "Star Wars" sequels wasn't a difficult decision: "No, I&rsquo;m a female and in Hollywood<a href="http://time.com/4124142/princess-leia-age/?xid=time_socialflow_twitter" target="_blank"> it&rsquo;s difficult to get work after 30</a> -- maybe it&rsquo;s getting to be 40 now. I long ago accepted that I am Princess Leia. I have that as a large part of the association with my identity. There wasn&rsquo;t a lot of hesitation."
"There's no way to prepare for seeing yourself <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/carrie-fishers-memorable-quotes/story?id=44374867" target="_blank">rendered as a 12-inch plastic doll."</a>
"There's no way to prepare for seeing yourself rendered as a 12-inch plastic doll."

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.