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Leia, Poe, and the power of
looking beyond yourself
Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron, Issue 14
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Angel Unzueta
Colorist: Arif Prianto
“Sooner than we’d like, I’ll be luminous.”
Those were the moving, haunting words from General Leia to Poe Dameron. It was a moment in which the real world leaped out of the fantasy world of Star Wars and looked us all straight in the face. Poe Dameron was getting his first big lesson in leadership from General Leia Organa, but we were all facing a sad truth just months after the passing of Carrie Fisher. Death and loss. Purpose beyond yourself. The harsh realities of real life. All of these big Star Wars themes are front and center while Poe and his Resistance mates deal with the death of veteran pilot L’ulo L’ampar. The pages of the fourteenth issue of Marvel’s Star Wars: Poe Dameron comic book are some of the most arresting moments in the Star Wars saga.
L’ulo L’ampar was a popular character in the Poe comic and was a mentor and father figure to our favorite hotshot Resistance pilot. His death was one of action. Fast and loud, another casualty of war. L’ulo went out on his proverbial shield. As the rest of the Resistance gathers to remember him, every one of them can’t help but think this is how it will be for all of them. One minute you’re here, the next minute you’re gone. Just “atoms drifting through the universe” as Poe says. It is tough to draw inspiration from this, but Leia calls on Poe to address everyone and he finds the way, unknowingly taking his first step toward becoming his true self.
Poe himself says he’s not ready for the task of saying goodbye, but he delivers a moving speech echoing the words Leia herself once told him. Words she heard from her brother Luke after he had heard them from Yoda. Words that connect to the core of the Star Wars story. We are not just flesh and bones, crude matter. We are luminous beings. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, a death Leia witnessed and did not then fully understand, we all may vanish, but that doesn’t mean we’re gone. At that moment, we see the Poe Dameron Leia sees. He is a leader.
Poe doesn’t yet see that, though. He views himself as a mere pilot. One weapon in a war full of weapons. An important weapon, yes, but just a small cog in this big machine. It’s a familiar feeling for a lot of us. In this life, the tendency to play small often takes center stage. Even if you’re like Poe Dameron, confident and bold with the coolest collection of jackets around, you still might struggle with seeing beyond your own limitations. We all need to learn our true worth. So, Poe, the cocksure ace pilot with the devil-may-care attitude, is us at that moment. He thinks he’s just a pilot. Leia, though, knows better.
Leia grounds him and tasks him with trying to understand why she would ground one of her best while the specter of war looms. Poe eventually starts to see it. It’s a lesson he won’t finally grasp until the events of The Last Jedi. (His interpretation of leadership still needs a final edit.) He returns to Leia with the knowledge that this isn’t his fight. The Resistance against the First Order isn’t just about him. There are others here. All trying to do right. All working toward a goal beyond them. Poe’s looking at the small picture, his own self, is taking him away from the big picture.
As Poe stands before Leia, she talks about how long the Resistance might actually have to resist. The Rebellion was a long-simmering battle that lasted decades with many losses in leadership along the way. That is when Leia says those words, directly and poignantly. “And I’m sorry to say, probably sooner than we’d like…I’ll be luminous.” And it is at that moment that the pages of this comic book address the real world. The words “…I’ll be luminous” are on a panel with art by Angel Unzueta and color by Arif Prianto. It is only of the face of General Leia, close and in detail. However, it is no longer a fictional character we see. It is Carrie Fisher looking at us. Released only months after her tragic passing, the panel, this issue, this story is about comforting her legion of fans and why we must think beyond our own self as a fan.
Carrie Fisher was Leia. Leia was Carrie Fisher. Everything that Carrie Fisher was in life, her very public struggles with mental health issues and drug addiction, her bold outspoken and vivacious personality that refused to stop fighting those issues, was even more valuable to the fandom than the self-rescuing princess she infused life into. You can see that on the faces of every generation of young fans, particularly, without question, the women and young girls, as they walk into conventions dressed like her and wear T-shirts with her face on them. You hear it in the words they say about her and to her.
In August 2015, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with Carrie Fisher at a Wizard World comic convention in Chicago. Three thousand fans packed into the biggest convention center ballroom there to listen to their princess. She told fun stories, made everyone laugh, and, along with her trusty dog Gary, let us celebrate her character along with her. However, it was when the panel opened up for audience questions that the full scope of what this character means emerged. The first audience member to step forward to ask a question didn’t ask about the character or even the franchise, she talked about how Carrie’s open and honest struggle with being bi-polar helped her own struggle with it. Another young girl, not more than ten years old, asked how she could be strong like Princess Leia. The final question was from a young teenage girl that had an emotional support dog just like Carrie. The dog, named Leia, was there dressed up in a classic Leia costume, hair buns included. Carrie stopped the panel on that note and brought the girl up for an emotional private moment. As fans filed out and I went backstage, none of us could escape the full weight of the moment. Years ago, this woman had unknowingly stepped into a role she would never be able to leave. A fandom had embraced her as a princess and a Rebel leader, but it didn’t stop there. Though many of us saw Carrie that day and immediately thought of her running around the Death Star, trading barbs with Han, and liberating a fictitious galaxy, many more saw a beacon of hope in this world and their lives. True inspiration. Important inspiration. Just a few months later, Carrie Fisher passed away.
What we can learn from that day, and countless others like it, is echoed in the pages of this issue. Just like Poe Dameron has to realize that this fight isn’t just his, we, too, have to realize that Star Wars isn’t just for us. It is for everyone. What you love about it. What your expectations are for the franchise. Even what inspirations you take from it are yours, but the power of Star Wars must always expand to ensure that all will be able to find themselves in it. You have to look outside yourself as a fan. We have to help grow this fandom, encourage the generations behind you and celebrate Star Wars for those around us that love it and those that one day will. Find your purpose as a fan outside of your own desires. Find your true worth as a fan. Leia Organa—Carrie Fisher—would want it that way.