10 Saddest Deaths In Star Wars

With the devastating passing of Carrie Fisher in 2016, the writers for The Rise of Skywalker were incredibly limited in how they could use Princess Leia, with them eventually deciding on reusing some of Leia's deleted scenes from The Force Awakens.

Although these scenes are clunky, they do a good job in reinforcing Leia's stake in the story; that being saving her son, Ben Solo, from delving too deep into the dark side. So, when Leia reaches out to her son, just before he kills Rey on the Death Star's ruins, she is giving her life for her son's soul, mirroring her brother's efforts on Crait in The Last Jedi.

Given how restricted the film's writers were in giving Leia a dignified and satisfying end, The Rise of Skywalker thankfully made the right decision in keeping the character in the story, rather than writing her out of the film entirely. With her death, Leia points Ben in the right direction and is ultimately responsible for his return to the light side. The scene is also deeply saddening for the audience, since it meant that the final member of the legacy trio had passed away, with only Chewbacca, Lando, R2-D2 and C-3P0 left to continue the fight.