Due to some very good comments, I admit I can’t claim Princess Leia was defecting to Darth and in love with Luke at the same time–they do seem to contradict each other. (NOTE: This is solely about Episode V: the empire strikes back)
I discovered a revealing interview where it seems Kershner wanted as he called it a “subtle romance” and “no lots of kissing and stuff” and idealism where the audience could see “something powerful going on in Luke’s soul” and basically Kershner got stuck in a compromise between the producer and scriptwriters.(I was going to link the interview, but I couldn’t stand Producer Gary Kurtz’s annoying outtakes of more Han/Leia junk–“We decided to be more subtle”)
As my fellow conspirator admitted the deleted scenes undermine our conspiracy:
“You know….the deleted scenes do undermine the standard narrative of the film….but these scenes also undermine our conspiracy theory. Our theory hinged on the fact that Leia is brooding/compromised/angsty from the beginning of the film….she has already made her self-sacrificial, ends-justify-means choice.
And on our leia-defecting-vader conspiracy theory:
Luke is kind of nothing to her at that point—that is, he is the painful reminder of the idealistic, too inno
cent and ineffectual, rebellion. She alone must make the hard decisions, while he is just a dreamer. There is no romance going on—-with neither han nor luke. It is about her and her ideals, and yes she loves luke–as a symbol of the rebellion which she must now betray for its own good. So he isn’t her true love—the rebellion is, and her own convoluted sense of duty.… Which is why at the end of the film, when she says “Luke!” and goes back for him, it isn’t about romance either. It is about going back to uncompromised ideals, to innocence, the slick college department head going back for the fundamentalists from his hometown.
And contrasted with the deleted scenes & trailer:
“Anyways…..the deleted scenes, Leia is bold, strong, confident—still herself as she was in Episode IV. So it destroys our conspiracy theory. And these scenes make it obvious that she IS in love with Luke, and not at all with Han (attracted perhaps a little, but not a whit in love). I still think our conspiracy theory hold water….but these deleted scenes would not be a part of it.
and Concluding the battle of the 3 theories:
“So then our JDEP theory has just expanded from 2 possible narratives to 3: first, the official narrative of the love triangle where leia is falling for han but feels bad about it, Second, the deleted scenes narrative, where Leia is in love with Luke, but rejected by him and gets depressed and Han goes after her–and she feels bad when he is getting frozen, and then tells him she loves him (out of pity and guilt), Third, our conspiracy theory—which fits pretty well with the released version, but not with the deleted scenes.”
So due to the deleted scenes and interviews, Ockham’s razor tells us that tension between the scripts was probably more sour grapes of the director and actress than a giant conspiracy– a “fine! If I don’t have my way, I’m gonna turn you all in” kind of an attitude.
It’s obvious that Lucas preferred Harrison in the Indiana Jones films, and according to Harrison Han should have died but “Lucas would have no use with dead Han toys.” (Carrie Fischer also commented that she would offer Lucas her services as a script doctor just to spare the actors’ some pain in saying their lines.)
So it looks more like Irvin Kershner and Carrie Fischer decided to give you Leia-limbo where from the beginning of the movie she doesn’t seem to care for either Han or Luke, only appears that she wants to get captured by Darth, compromised and suspicious, as if she’s turning in Han–but really this is the director’s and actors’ feelings showing through.
At least we get to see Kershner’s vision of “Luke’s soul”, who doesn’t listen to cynical buddhist instructors, or stick around the selfish materialism of cloud city like Han, or compromise self for political victory like Leia. He fights for the morals of his own youth, he fights even when it looks all lost, he resists the desires of darkness in his own soul, even when there is no escape but to finally let go, to let go of all self-dreams for greatness. Thank you Kershner.
Jubilation 