I'm just Leia.
you know what this makes me unwell bc it is my favourite thing about hanleia and I’ll tell you why. han is one of four (4) people we know of who have truly ever seen leia as a person and not a princess, and two of those are her parents. leia as a kid is already desperate to have a life and an identity beyond the princess role calved out for her. she wants people to see her as leia, not princess, but at this point in kenobi she’s just sad, not exhausted and angry and resigned. by esb she’s had 19 years of this, only exacerbated by the fact they’re in a war and people desperately need to see her as just a princess - as an idolised figure of hope. then she loses two of the only people who see her as leia. her home is gone, her whole world becomes a rebellion place where her identity beyond The Princess is swept away
han from the very get go doesn’t give a fuck she’s a princess. he thinks she’s annoying and scary and brave and interesting and so works hard to get to know her as a person, and eventually he does. so most of the time he mocks her princess-ness as a way to tease her about how silly and irrelevant he finds it, a way for reinforce the bond they have that’s about who she is as leia. but at this moment in the circuitry bay she’s so scared and alone and full of adrenaline and guilt and doubt that she can’t even tolerate a joke about it, because she doesn’t have an ounce of energy left to be the princess. she just needs to be herself, for 5 goddamn minutes, and she needs him to let her be that
so when she yells at him she’s not yelling about her name, she’s saying you know you’re the only person who lets me be just leia and I need you to fucking do that right now because I’m terrified. and han does, instantly. he looks right through her and sees that she’s terrified and puts into words what she can’t so for one second she’s finally, finally able to be vulnerable. to be just leia. and to been seen and comfortable and adored as just leia. I don’t think there’s many more things in her life she’s wanted than that
















