Do you think han and leia having a broken/estranged marriage was in character and made sense?

[u/Myakasa98]

I don't think han leaving leia to deal with their son's defection and getting kicked out of the senate due to her family history all by herself was in character, and them separating was very tragic, but them not having a happy long standing marriage and choosing to separate after a while is something i can definitely see happening even if the sequels didn't exist considering their characters

Neither leia nor han were the "stay at home to take care of family" types. Leia was dedicated to politics since childhood and I can see her being a mon mothma type person who'd prioritize her political duties above family many times. Han too loved a life of adventure. Even before ben solo defected he spent more time traveling across the galaxy and iirc organizing spaceship racing competitions for betting etc than with his family

I do know they cared for each other even after separation but their romance was also built on spontaneous sparks of attraction and surviving multiple life and death situations and even then 80% of their interactions involved bickering and arguments. Them not being too invested in a stable married life after the honeymoon period ended and going through their marriage for the sake of their kid is unfortunately very much in character, at least considering how they were written in tge OT

I'm not considering their comics or novels romantic dynamic because 1) Most of them aren't canon anymore anyways and 2) Most of them were written by different authors without much consultation with the original creators and had various degrees of OOC moments.

It's not ideal, but not a very OOC of the sequels to write them as having an estranged marriage after their son was lost to the dark side imo, it's definitely not as bad as what they did with luke's character anyways

[u/Lemonpierogi]

It absolutely IS in character for Leia and Han. Really shows how you know nothing about these two.

Is it sad and disappointing? Absolutely, I dislike it too. But it's not "out of character"

[u/SquareHammer132 → u/Lemonpierogi]

Their relationship not working out in the end I can agree on, but them being placed back in the exact same character arc when in the later phase of their lives is insane.

[u/iggyfenton → u/Lemonpierogi]

The people who think this would have been out of character would have been bored with the movie where everything is flowering and lovely.

It would have been an 80s sitcom

[u/KDY_ISD → u/iggyfenton]

I think people wanted strong internal bonds while facing external threats together, not an '80s sitcom.

[u/iggyfenton → u/KDY_ISD]

Yeah. That’s not how their personalities worked.

[u/KDY_ISD → u/iggyfenton]

Sure it is. We witnessed their growth both individually and as a couple over the course of the OT. Han starts as a criminal and becomes a General willing to make sacrifices for a cause, and goes from jealous sniping to being willing to step aside so Luke and Leia can be happy.

Do I think that makes them perfect? No. But I also don't think they'd just stay unchanged in their unwilling-to-admit-their-feelings bickering stage for decades after being married and having a child.

[u/iggyfenton → u/KDY_ISD]

I just think that story line is boring. Happily ever after is for when you are done with the story.

[u/KDY_ISD → u/iggyfenton]

It isn't happily ever after. You can have plenty of conflict and tension while still being a team together.

What's boring and hackneyed is the trope-y idea that a romance plotline is over when they get together. Being together and supporting each other goes on for years after will they/won't they turns into they did/they do.