Princess Leia Organa wasn’t trained as a Jedi until much later in her life, but she was still extremely powerful and had access to a wide variety of Force powers in both canon and Legends. Throughout the entirety of Star Wars, Leia has been one of the most important figures in the entire galaxy. She was hugely powerful as a Senator both during the Empire’s reign and in the New Republic era, and she also lent her military abilities to both the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance.
Though she has a legendary history within the Star Wars movies, there were also many stories of Leia’s power beyond the movies. One of the biggest aspects of Leia’s story left out of the movies was her experience as an extremely powerful Jedi. In both Star Wars canon and Legends, Leia had access to a huge array of Force powers, which made her a truly formidable Force user. Understanding the huge scope of her powers, and the incredible nature of her abilities, shows just how strong with the Force Leia truly was.
Almost every known Jedi to date has been able to call upon the Force and use it to detect the presence of others, and Leia was no different. What was unique about her, though, is that she seemed to be especially powerful with this skill in both Legends and canon. In Legends, Leia was even able to distinguish individual people’s presence through areas like Tenupe, a planet that made that task difficult due to having a strong connection to the Force.
The best canon example of Leia’s ability to sense other people came at the end of Return of the Jedi. After the Second Death Star had been destroyed, Han worriedly assured her that Luke wasn’t on the station when it exploded. Leia already knew that he wasn’t, though, thanks to her connection to the Force, and she told Han that she could feel he had survived.
Leia was also capable of a Force power known as battle meditation. In Legends, battle meditation was an ability that allowed a Jedi to enhance the strength, skill, and stamina of their allies while simultaneously weakening their foes. It was an incredibly high-level skill for any Force user, but Leia was able to use it on several occasions.
One of the best examples of Leia’s use of battle meditation was in a fight against Palpatine. In Legends, Palpatine returned from the grave in 10 ABY, and he engaged both Luke and Leia in battle. At that time, Leia still hadn’t undergone much Jedi training, so her lightsaber skills were not strong enough to face a Sith Lord. Instead, she helped Luke by performing battle meditation, which gave him the extra strength he needed to defeat the dark lord once and for all.
After Luke and Leia defeated Palpatine in 10 ABY, he wasn’t fully gone yet. His spirit still remained, and, much like Project Necromancer in canon, had been transferred into an imperfect clone body. After Han Solo shot him in the back and destroyed his body, Palpatine tried to possess Leia’s recently born son, Anakin. Using a technique given to her by Vima-Da-Boda, Leia was able to shield her son from Palpatine’s attempt, foiling his resurrection plot.
Leia’s entire life was fraught with danger at every turn, but she luckily had her Force powers to rely on. Her ability to shield Anakin from Palpatine was possibly one of the most important skills she ever displayed in Legends, and it protected not only her and her son, but the entire galaxy. Palpatine was the strongest Sith Lord ever, so her ability to completely shut down his spirit was yet another sign of Leia’s incredible power.
While Leia was one of the most powerful Jedi of all time, not all of her abilities were wildly impressive. In both canon and Legends, Leia was capable of performing acts of telekinesis like pushing, pulling, and lifting objects around her. Telekinesis was a standard Force power for almost every Jedi ever, and it was one of the first abilities many Force-sensitives learned to control.
Leia also had varying levels of success with her telekinetic powers. She was exceptional at actions like pushing and pulling through the Force, though holding something in place gave her a bit of trouble. Levitating objects and people required too much attention for her to do it at the same time as something else, which is not a problem many other Jedi have run into.
One of Leia’s abilities, a Force meld, was very similar to battle meditation. Force melds differed slightly from battle meditation, as they were essentially a way for several Jedi to link to each other in the Force and enhance each others’ powers. Battle meditation, on the other hand, was more general, and it affected everyone in the area, helping both Jedi and non-Force-sensitives while harming any opponents. It wasn’t as impressive of a power as battle meditation was, but it was still a sign of Leia’s strength.
While Leia was only capable of this power in Legends, Force melds have been brought over into canon, in a way. In the High Republic novel “Light of the Jedi,” several Jedi connected to each other through the Force to help them during the Emergences. Their combined Force powers made it possible to track and destroy pieces of a ship that was traveling at near lightspeed, a feat that would have been impossible on their own.
Another of the skills Leia was particularly gifted at in both Legends and canon was telepathy, being able to communicate with people across far distances. One of the best examples of her exercising this power was at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke called out to her and she found him hanging off the bottom of Cloud City. While that was impressive, it was likely due to the special bond Leia shared with her brother, though she did have ample opportunity to prove how powerful she was beyond that instance.
In Legends, Leia was able to use her power of telepathy to communicate with the Killiks during the Swarm War. Killiks mostly communicated non-verbally through their hive mind, so normally it was impossible for a human to communicate with them. Leia was able to use her telepathy to establish a connection to one and scare it while she was being interrogated, which was a very impressive feat to accomplish while under duress.
One of the skills Leia was most naturally gifted in was her ability to perform Jedi mind tricks in both Legends and canon. In canon, Leia had actually been using Jedi long before she even met Luke. Obi-Wan Kenobi once noted that her style of speaking was so perfectly trained and energetic that it reminded him of Anakin Skywalker’s fighting style. He even went on to suggest that Leia used Jedi mind tricks as a senator without even knowing what they were.
Leia was so skilled with Jedi mind tricks in Legends that she could use them in the heat of battle. She once did exactly that during a lightsaber duel with the dark Jedi Alema Rar. In that instance, Leia was able to force Alema to give up her lightsaber, a feat made even more impressive by the fact that Alema was a fully trained Jedi Knight, as Jedi mind tricks usually only work on the weak-minded. The two were extremely familiar with each other and had fought before, so Alema should have been even more resistant to Leia’s power.
Not all of Leia’s Force powers in Legends were specifically useful in battle, though. The Jedi of Legends were capable of a power known as a Force flash, which had two separate purposes. One purpose created a large flash of light that could blind enemies, thus allowing the Jedi to pass by them relatively undetected. The other affected technology more than beings, and it created static on security holocams.
Leia used Force flashes on at least one occasion, though it didn’t seem to be a particularly frequently used one of her powers. Once, when Leia and Han were interviewing a prisoner, they would only be allowed to speak to her on camera. Since their conversation was sensitive, Leia used it to disable the cameras in the cell. Force flashes weren’t the most impressive skill in a Jedi’s arsenal, but Leia still demonstrated that she knew how to use it at the perfect moment.
Although they have similar names, Leia’s power to create a golden flash was nothing like a regular Force flash. Golden flashes were manifestations of pure golden Force energy, and they were extremely powerful. Since they were so powerful, the only time Leia ever used one required her to truly become one with the light side of the Force.
Golden flashes were an extremely powerful Force ability, but they were also extremely dangerous. When Leia used them in a fight against the Qreph brothers and combined hers with Luke’s, it completely disintegrated them and left nothing but ashes in their wake. In that same fight, Leia momentarily thought she had killed Luke and Han along with the brothers. While they eventually came back, it was a scary moment, and it likely influenced the fact that she only used the power once.