The original Star Wars trilogy has it’s share of twists and turns throughout the plot. Most of them are based around the revelations of exactly who is a member of the Skywalker family. But amongst all the shocking revelations, there’s one moment J.J. Abrams feels, that in retrospect, is downright disturbing. And it’s probably not the moment you’re thinking of.
The realization in The Return of the Jedi that Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are brother and sister has given numerous fans the heebie-jeebies on every ensuing viewing of The Empire Strikes Back. In that scene, Leia gives Luke a kiss that is decidedly not the sort of affection that siblings normally show each other outside of Game of Thrones. This is not that moment. Rather, J.J. Abrams spoke to Entertainment Weekly about a scene in the very first film and something absolutely terrible that another member of the Skywalker family does to one of his children.
The most jaw-dropping-est thing to me, in retrospect, is that moment in Episode IV when Leia is being held and Vader goes in to torture her for information... When you think of it later, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, that’s his daughter.’ He’s going to torture his own daughter. At the time, it’s just scary. Then it gets just really creepy when you think about it. Oh my god, that's the worst. It’s horrible.
Much like the much-maligned kiss scene, the familial relationship between Darth Vader and Princess Leia is not known by either of the characters or the audience, at the time. Instead, it’s only after the fact that you realize that it was dear old dad who put Leia through that ordeal. We have to admit, it does add an entirely new level of awfulness to the sequence. While the entire torture scene takes place off screen, that ominous black floating droid with the terrifying needle is a scene that anybody who first watched Star Wars as a young child likely remembers. It may very well be giving you chills just reading about it. Just me? We also saw the kind of interrogation that they put Han Solo through in The Empire Strikes Back so we can make some assumptions about what the Empire is willing to do to get information.
What are the scenes that make your jaw drop for the previous Star Wars movies? Abrams is a director who likes to try and create those sorts of moments himself, and the secrets he’s keeping tell us that The Force Awakens will be no exception. Do you think you’ll be suitably shocked by the master of the mystery box?
