From her relentless bravery and her razor-sharp tongue to her iconic cinnamon bun hairdo and metal bikini, Princess Leia is one of the most beloved characters from the Star Wars universe. Played by the great Carrie Fisher, Leia Organa/Skywalker/maybe Solo is one of the franchise's most important heroes and a real-world feminist icon.
In the Star Wars timeline, Leia made her first appearance — albeit briefly — as a newborn alongside her twin brother, Luke, in the closing scenes of Revenge of the Sith. From there, she went into hiding as the adopted daughter of the royal Organa family on Alderaan, where she was raised to be a diplomat. Leia was plunged into war when she was captured by Darth Vader, then subsequently rescued by Luke and Han Solo. After the defeat of the Empire, she married Han, and the two of them bore a son, Ben, who later became Kylo Ren. Around this time she also trained as a Jedi under Luke. Later, with the rise of the First Order, she assumed the role of general, leading the fight and becoming something of a mentor to Rey. And then she died for ... reasons?
Leia was consistently at the forefront of the fight, saving the day numerous times. It was she who loaded the Death Star plans into R2-D2 and then fired him off to Tatooine. After Luke was defeated by Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, she heard Luke's Force call and ordered Lando to turn back and rescue him. She was instrumental in saving Han from his carbonite imprisonment by Jabba the Hutt, the latter of whom she strangled to death with a chain. And of course, she took charge of getting the crew out of the Death Star detention block, firing her way into the chute that, yes, led into a garbage compactor, but at least they escaped the stormtroopers, and everything worked out in the end.
