Over the weekend, there was yet another "Star Wars" rumor making its way around the Twitter 'sphere. This rumor stated that Princess turned General Leia had earned her PhD at 19 while also secretly fighting The Empire. Remember, in the 'Star Wars' universe, not very many people outside of her close circle knew what she was doing likely until she got caught by Darth Vader. For all her people and The Empire knew, she was still on the latter's side.
Sadly, as with the last rumor, this one too turned out to be false.
What did the rumor say?
According to the rumor begun by Dr. Becca Harrison (a very well respected and trusted source) on Twitter, among the many titles that Leia held- princess, senator and rebel spy among them- another that not very many people knew about was that of Doctor. Apparently while secretly fighting on the side of the rebels, she had also managed to earn her PhD at the young age of 19. When one considers that she grew up as a royal, it would not be too much of a stretch for her parents Breha and Bail Organa to see her potential and push her to get it.
As good parents, they would only want the best for her. If getting her PhD kept her away from the dangers of the war against The Empire, then all the better. As with all parents, their number one priority was to protect their daughter.
Following this post, it quickly went viral gaining the attention of sources such as BuzzFeed, Nerdist, and io9 just to name a few. Everyone on Twitter was suddenly reporting and saying the same thing, "Princess Leia managed to get her PhD at only 19, how amazing." Even in our world, there are not very many people who can say that they accomplished this same feat at the same age. The only problem with this is that it's completely false...at least where the current canon is concerned.
While it may have been true once, before Disney bought Lucasfilm back in 2012, it is no longer.
The truth
In an article posted on Mashable, they went straight to the source in order to get a clear answer to this burning question.
For background, Claudia Gray is the author of the beloved novel "Bloodlines" that came out around the middle of last year. While this story followed Leia in her later years after the events of "Return of the Jedi" and prior to "The Force Awakens," if anyone were to know anything about this character, it would be her. This is especially so when one remembers that she also wrote the upcoming novel "Leia: Princess of Alderaan," which is set to follow her teen years and rise into the young woman we ultimately see in "A New Hope." In other words, one of the utmost authorities on Leia is debunking this theory and sadly, as current cannon stands, it is false.
It may have been true once, but sadly no longer is.
The book is set to be released on September 1 of this year as part of their Force Friday along with one on Captain Phasma, simply titled "Phasma." Both fall into "The Journey to The Last Jedi" collection and contains many more books.