10 Star Wars Theories That Make Appalling Sense

Princess Leia’s mission at the very start of the original trilogy is to deliver the Death Star plans, with its details on the fatal thermal exhaust port flaw, to the Rebel Alliance. The battle station's blueprints made it possible for the Rebel Alliance to destroy the Death Star, and this theory suggests that Leia went further than anyone realised to make that happen.

For the Rebel Alliance to destroy the Death Star, it needed more than just the plans. It needed to get the Death Star to a time and place where the Rebel fleet could attack it. Leia knew the only such place was Yavin IV, the location of the hidden Rebel base.

Not only would the Rebels have ships available to attack the thermal exhaust vent, but the Rebel command would be forced to do so because their entire command structure was threatened by the superweapon. According to this theory, Leia engineered the Empire’s discovery of Yavin IV, using the rebel base and all its leaders as bait for the Death Star.

Leia did not tell Vader the base’s location, knowing he would be suspicious if she gave up the information too easily. Instead, she made sure the Empire has attached a tracker to the Millennium Falcon (perhaps even placing it herself). When she asked Han if the Falcon could be tracked it was not to stop the Empire from doing so, but to make sure Han doesn’t think it’s possible.

Then she led the Empire straight to Yavin IV, because as a daughter of Alderaan she would risk anything to see the Death Star destroyed - even the survival of the Rebellion itself.