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We know from The Force Awakens opening crawl that Leia is “desperately” looking for Luke - hence the mission to find the map.

Once the pieces come together, why doesn’t Leia accompany Rey in the journey to persuade Luke to come out of hiding? From the preceding events, in addition to the danger involved in getting the complete map in the first place, one would think Leia would be eager to see her brother. She was so desperate to find him in the first place - now that the path to him is clear, why does she trust a girl she just met to go to him alone with Chewie and R2-D2 and bring him back?

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    @JakeGould - makes sense to edit title but not sure why the spoliers were made un-spoilers here.
    – cashnwho
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 4:23
  • 1
    Okay - I defer to y'all's judgement here - was trying to be extra sensitive to spoilers since the movie is so new, but I guess I overdid it.
    – cashnwho
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 4:29
  • Please see the answer update. Seems it's a lot less speculative now.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 2, 2016 at 14:11
  • Will accept the answer, at least until there's ever something to contradict it like a scene in the next movie where Luke says, "why didn't Leia come for me?" ;)
    – cashnwho
    Commented Jan 2, 2016 at 14:15
  • @cashenhu - please don't give THEM any ideas!!! :) They already said Episode VIII will be "weird".
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 2, 2016 at 14:18

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I'm not aware of an explicit canon answer (from the film or the novelization), so subjective guesses will have to suffice till more canon becomes available:

Practical in-universe considerations

  • It isn't spelled out in canon, but one can imagine that, since New Republic just got wiped out (including its military), Leia as the head of Resistance and former head of Rebellion is pretty much the only leader worth anything left to pick up the pieces.

  • Presumably, if Luke would have come back for Leia, he'd have done so already. Which means that sending a new, bright shiny Force-hope may be a better move than sending Kylo Ren's mommy who'll stir up bad memories.

Storyline considerations

The WGA script confirms that this move is meant basically the official "passing over the guard to the new generation" - Leia has no place on this adventure:

Leia, with Poe, BB-8, and C-3PO (with his proper arm replaced), watches the next generation of Jedi begin her journey.

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