It is arguably one of the darkest days for
Leia Organa as an individual and a leader.
Her son — or rather the persona he inhabits in Kylo Ren — and the First Order have just annihilated the Resistance fleet and its base on D’Qar, chased the last survivors across the galaxy, and bombarded the freedom fighters even as they ran for cover in an abandoned Rebel Alliance fortress. In rapid succession, Leia sees the Resistance numbers cut down to a handful of fighters aboard a lone ship, the
Millennium Falcon, and her brother gone, passing on to become one with the Force after a heroic last stand to save her life and keep the movement alive.
It would be understandable if, in this moment, Leia simply gave up. No one could fault her for it after spending her life fighting against first the Empire and then the First Order, enduring the losses of her adoptive parents, her planet, her husband, and now her brother among so many other friends, allies, and individuals. Surely, she must be exhausted. How much can one person take before they crack?
Yet Leia doesn’t break down.
She may have lost the battle, but she still intends to win the war. And despite the fact that no one answered her distress call from Crait, seeming to signal that hope is running out in the galaxy at large, Leia does not crumble. She surveys the damages like the war-time general she is, the wounded and the exhausted pilots and fighters in her care. At the center is Rey, mourning the loss of her Jedi Master, Luke, and holding the broken pieces of the lightsaber that was once owned by his father, Anakin.
Even though Leia has begun to hand off command to the next generation, allowing Poe Dameron to lead the way to their escape, she’s still the highest ranking Resistance fighter among them and the defacto leader. Rey’s question is simple: “How do we build a rebellion from this?”
Instead of hopelessness, what Leia sees around her are the ingredients for a new Rebellion, in much the same way that her parents before her built the Rebel Alliance from the seeds of a few senators and diplomats who opposed the Empire’s rule. Leia knows better than anyone what can be accomplished through hard work, willpower, and the willingness to keep believing. To someone on the outside looking in, the Resistance may appear to be defeated, reduced to a handful of rebels on a single ship. Among them, a singular Jedi with no lightsaber and incomplete training. And that’s enough.
“We have everything we need,” Leia says confidently. And that ability to soldier on, the face of the Resistance refusing to show weakness or sadness or defeat, rallying the few individuals that remain so that they might continue to fight, is what makes this Leia’s greatest moment.