Tantive IV/Legends

"Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!"

- Darth Vader

Tantive IV was a CR90 corvette owned by the Royal House of Alderaan. The ship was a central player in the events following the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of the Galactic Civil War.

It was originally named Star of Alderaan, but was renamed in honor of diplomats from Tantive IV whom visited Alderaan. The ship sported twin turbolaser turrets and a massive drive block of eleven ion turbine engines.

The blockade runner also held eight tiny escape pods that could seat up to three people and four laser-mounted ones that could hold 12 passengers.

Design


The hallways of the Tantive IV had mostly bright white walls and grey metal floors. The hallways formed a loosely circular path around the central conference room. The ship also housed living quarters, formal dining rooms, other conference rooms, and an engine room.

Princess Leia Organa also had a luxurious stateroom on the highest level of the ship. It was filled with art and expensive furniture. The stateroom contained many rooms, including a living room with a small round coffee table and two large red sofas.

History
"This is a consular ship&hellip;we're on a diplomatic mission&hellip;" "If this is a consular ship, where is the Ambassador?"

- Raymus Antilles and Darth Vader

The Tantive IV was built by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, sometime before the end of the Clone Wars. Originally called the Star of Alderaan, it was renamed to honor the Tantive system's diplomats. During the time of the Clone Wars, the ship was the consular vessel of Alderaan's Senator in the Galactic Republic, Bail Organa. After witnessing first hand the betrayal of the Jedi, Senator Organa departed Coruscant in an attempt to rescue as many of the few survivors of the Jedi Purge he could. Using a stolen Jedi Beacon, Organa was able to contact and rescue the last two surviving members of the Jedi Council, Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Later, after the death of their mother, it was onboard the Tantive IV the fates of Leia and Luke Skywalker were decided. Accompanying Organa on this fateful journey were Raymus Antilles and Captain Colton. The droids R2-D2 and C-3PO were assigned to the ship at this point.

It was during an exercise testing the launch of escape pods that Tantive IV was attacked by a pirate gang from the Karthakk system. The Corvette successfully evaded the attack, though lost its jettisoned escape pods in the process. It was soon discovered that R2-D2 and C-3PO were aboard one of the pods. Chief Petty Officer Corla Metonae, supervisor of the exercise, was blamed for the loss of the droids. Bail Organa placed high importance on retrieving the droids, and eventually succeeded in returning them to Tantive IV.

During the days of the Empire, Princess Leia used the ship and her position in the Imperial Senate to help the struggling Rebel Alliance, often undertaking secret missions under the guise of humanitarian work. The vessel's final voyage was during Operation Skyhook: a secret mission to the planet Toprawa to obtain the schematics for the Empire's new battle station, the Death Star.

While the plans from Toprawa were by far the largest part of the plans, two other supplemental sets were also beamed to Tantive IV from AX-235&mdash;one set acquired from Danuta and another set stolen during the Death Star Uprising. The original plan was to deliver them to the Star Cruiser Liberty, but the sudden appearance of the Star Destroyer Immortal, halted the transfer, and Tantive IV was forced to flee to Tatooine.

The second part of the mission was to reach the planet Tatooine, find Obi-Wan Kenobi and escort him to Alderaan, along with the plans for the Death Star. However, the ship was intercepted by the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator while in orbit over the planet. Tantive IV was quickly disabled and captured.

Despite the valiant efforts of the Alderaanian soldiers on board, the stormtroopers of the 501st Legion quickly overran the ship. In a critical move, Princess Leia was able to pass the Death Star plans to R2-D2 and instruct him to make contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi on the surface of Tatooine, before being captured herself.

Unable to find the plans on board Tantive IV, Darth Vader ordered a team of stormtroopers to sweep the planet below to find them. Imperial propaganda would later proclaim that Tantive IV was destroyed in an accident.

Behind the scenes
Tantive IV was originally portrayed using a plastic model for the filming of A New Hope. However, a CG model was used in Revenge of the Sith. The two models have differences in appearance, which led some fans to believe that the corvettes were two distinct vessels.

A quote from Rob Coleman, who was the animation director on Revenge of the Sith, suggests this was one idea for the vessel in the third prequel:


 * "One of the most fun things about this show was linking the first trilogy to this one, introducing designs that make more of an appearance in A New Hope." The cruiser flown by Bail Organa, for example, is a predecessor to the rebel blockade runner featured in the first shot of the original Star Wars. "It looks a little bit different, but you can tell it comes from the same factory." - Cinefex #102 pg. 68

However, at the official Star Wars website,, the Tantive IV is specifically shown to appear in Episode III, Episode IV, and Episode VI. Many sources support this, including The Art of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, which states:


 * " . . . Lucas reveals that [the] first ship seen in the 1977 Star Wars -- the Rebel blockade runner (aka the Tantive IV) -- will reappear in Revenge of the Sith. Within the ship, in addition to reconstructing the familiar corridor through which Darth Vader strides, Lucas requests a new meeting room.  He also approves of an idea whereby the ship could be reverse-engineered from its Episode IV Rebel version to an earlier peacetime version of itself." - AoSW:RoTS pg. 104

The most probable reason would then be that over the two decades between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the ship was extensively modified and refitted.

The creators of the original Tantive IV model placed a miniature pin-up girl poster in the cockpit as a joke. It is not visible in the final film. It can be seen here.

The entire interior of the ship can be explored in Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Appearances

 * Bailed Out
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars Empire: Darklighter
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Trooper