With all the controversy around only one new female character being cast so far in the new Star Wars film, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Star Wars thought exercises.

What if Luke lost to Vader? What if Leia really was the last hope for the Jedi?

I believe Dark Horse did a mini-series around this idea several years ago, but here's my interpretation of Leia Skywalker, Jedi Knight. Her costume is a mash-up of her slave costume and Luke's Jedi costume. It has the skirt and ponytail, yet still fits like priest garb.

I gave her Luke's (Anakin's) original lightsaber. Maybe Lando retrieved it for her? I have her pictured training on Dagobah. Maybe she's about ready to go rescue Han? Boy would that go differently!

As far as the controversy goes, I'm sure there will be more female characters in the entire trilogy. This is only just the first movie. All I care about is that the one female character (who possibly may be a Solo kid) is written well and is not strictly defined by a romantic relationship. We saw how badly that went with her grandmother...