Leia Organa Solo

"No. There is another."

- Yoda

Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan (born Leia Amidala Skywalker) was the daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, adopted daughter of Bail Organa and Queen Breha of Alderaan, and younger twin sister of Luke Skywalker. Later she married Han Solo and became the mother of their three children, Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo.

One of the most important figures in the Galactic Civil War and the New Republic, she could have been simply another galactic denizen like her brother had she not been adopted by Bail Organa. Politician, fighter, and spy was the fate that awaited her instead. She had a forceful personality and bright intellect, having accomplished much in her youth: she was a strong proponent for the Rebel Alliance, the youngest Senator ever of the Galactic Empire at eighteen standard years of age, and a member of the Royal Family of Alderaan.

Though raised in the privileged surroundings of a peaceful planet that had banished weapons from its culture, the times were dark and this fiery diplomat received martial training in order to defend herself, both with a blaster and just her bare hands. This training would serve her well in the war that shook the Galaxy. Many years later, she would be elected Chief of State of the New Republic and serve twice in that office.

Due to her powerful Force heritage, Leia, following her family's legacy, became a Jedi Knight in the New Jedi Order.

Early life (19 BBY to 0 BBY)
"Its a girl. LEIA."

- Padmé Amidala



Born Leia Amidala Skywalker to Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker in 19 BBY, she is the younger twin sister of Luke Skywalker. Her real mother died shortly after her birth. Leia gained a faint memory of her during this time. 23 years later Leia recalled her real mother from infancy to her unknown twin brother. Leia told him "She was very beautiful, kind but sad." Leia also told him that her birth mother died when she was still very young. Ironically enough, one of Leia's trademark symbols–her signature "bun" coiffure–was inherited from her mother's homeworld of Naboo, although she would never know it.

The orphaned Leia was adopted and raised by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and his wife, Queen Breha Organa, with assistance from Silya Shessaun. She followed in the footsteps of her adoptive father and her late birth mother (who was, of course, unknown to her) into the office of Senator, a position which she held until the dissolution of the Senate in 1 BBY.

At the age of 18, she was the youngest member of that body. During her time in the Senate, Organa worked with Pooja Naberrie of Naboo, her maternal cousin, although the two were never informed of their biological relationship.

Early Galactic Civil War (0 BBY to 4 ABY)
"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

- Leia Organa

In 0 BBY, Organa was captured along with her ship, the Tantive IV, by Darth Vader. The Sith lord sought to recover the plans for the Death Star I, which Imperial Intelligence suggested had been stolen by Rebel spy Kyle Katarn.

Unknown to Vader, the young senator had hidden the plans inside an R2 unit, R2-D2, and sent the droid to find the legendary Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet of Tatooine.

Vader brought her to the Death Star I, where he personally interrogated and tortured her, seeking the location of the plans and the hidden Rebel base from which the Empire suspected the Alliance was striking. Remarkably, she managed to keep silent, despite Vader's Sith powers and the use of an interrogation droid.

Grand Moff Tarkin threatened Organa with the destruction of her homeworld, Alderaan, if she did not reveal the location of the Rebel base. She lied, giving them instead the location of a long-since abandoned base on Dantooine. Tarkin proceeded with the destruction of Alderaan regardless, one of the most infamous acts of the Empire and a shocking example of the Tarkin doctrine of rule by terror. Leia was then placed in a holding cell and scheduled to be executed, while the Imperial Navy deployed scout craft to investigate Dantooine.

Princess Organa's message had reached Obi-Wan Kenobi by this time, and he set out from Tatooine with Luke Skywalker, intending to bring R2-D2 to Leia on Alderaan. Kenobi had hired Han Solo as a pilot. Arriving in the Alderaan system shortly after the world's destruction, the Millennium Falcon was captured by the Death Star's tractor beam.



Surprisingly, this small group managed to avoid immediate capture. Finding that Organa was on the station, they set out to rescue her. Tarkin had by this point discovered that Dantooine was indeed abandoned. In order to find the true location of the hidden base, he ordered his soldiers to allow the small band to escape with Leia, after planting a tracking device on the Falcon. Darth Vader, meanwhile, set out to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom he later killed in a duel.

Organa realized that her escape must have been deliberately permitted by the Empire, and surmised that the ship was being tracked. However, she nonetheless decided to return to the base on Yavin 4.

Presumably, she would have been arrested immediately had she tried to land on any inhabited Imperial world, and finding another place to trade ships would have been complicated and dangerous. (Locating the tracking device would have been virtually impossible, given how small such a device could be.) This was a risk, of course: if no weakness could be found, or if the discovered weakness could only be exploited by, for instance, a saboteur on board the Death Star, it would be necessary to stage a massive evacuation.

Returning to Yavin IV, Princess Organa found that her gamble had paid off, as the plans did in fact reveal a weakness that starfighters could potentially exploit. At the Battle of Yavin, the Death Star was destroyed by Organa's brother, Luke Skywalker. This marked a turning point for the Rebellion.



With Organa now exposed as a Rebel, she took over the Alliance's diplomatic efforts. At the Conference of Uncommitted Worlds on Kabal, she won the Alliance the support of Silver Fyre and her Aquaris Freeholders. She secured funding from the Circarpous IV business underground after revealing an illegal Imperial mine on Mimban. She also encouraged sedition on any number of worlds from Metalorn to M'haeli to the planets of the distant Minos Cluster.

In 3 ABY, Organa helped coordinate the evacuation of the rebel base on Hoth, an icy-rock planet. Despite the ongoing battle, she remained vigilant and issued commands from the crumbling base. Luckily, she was able to escape any danger and flee with C-3PO, Han Solo and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon. Pursued by Imperial fighters, and hobbled by a non-functional hyperdrive, they escaped by flying into an asteroid field.

Princess Organa's initially adversarial relationship with Han Solo around this time evolved into a love affair. Not long after their escape from Hoth, Solo was captured on Cloud City, and used as a test subject for the carbonite-freezing process which Darth Vader intended for Luke Skywalker (Solo survived the freezing process, and was taken to Jabba the Hutt by Boba Fett.) Before he was frozen, her parting words were "I love you," to which Solo responded "I know."

Leia displayed latent telepathy, despite having never been trained in the use of the Force, when she sensed Luke's distress as he hung from a weather vane after being defeated by Darth Vader. She led the Falcon back to rescue him, and together they departed for a secret rendezvous point where the Rebel fleet was hiding.

In the months that followed, Leia divided her time between missions for the Alliance and the search for Han. At one point, she sought assistance from Prince Xizor of the Black Sun criminal syndicate, nearly falling prey to the Falleen's nefarious plans.



Organa participated in the rescue of Han by posing as the bounty hunter Boushh, allowing herself and Chewbacca to infiltrate Jabba's Palace. During the night she freed Solo from carbonite but was captured moments later by Jabba. She was then forced into replacing Oola as Jabba's favorite slave girl. During this time she was forced to wear a skimpy metal bikini costume of one of Jabba's slave girls and endure the shame and humiliation of being at the mercy of the Hutt's lust. Her spirits rose when Luke arrived to rescue everyone but were temporerily dashed when Jabba tried to kill Luke. Soon afterwards she killed him with the very chain that held her captive. She joined the gathered Rebel fleet near Sullust, and accompanied General Crix Madine's commando force to the forest moon of Endor where the Death Star II's shield generator was located.

The night before the battle, Organa received news that forever changed her life. Her long-time "friend," Luke Skywalker, revealed to her that they were brother and sister, and that the fallen Jedi, Darth Vader, was their father. During the conversation, Leia revealed to have memories of her real mother, but they were only "images" and "feelings". She recalled her mother as being "very beautiful, kind, but sad".

When Luke told Leia that he had to confront Darth Vader, she tried to convince him to just "run far away" instead, but Luke had already made up his mind and left her deeply shocked.

Leia fought alongside Han in the battle that followed, though she was injured with a blaster wound to her upper arm during the fighting. Even with this injury, Leia was able to shoot dead two stormtroopers who attempted to capture her and Han at the shield bunker. The mission to Endor was eventually a success, and the Death Star II was destroyed in the epochal Battle of Endor when Lando Calrissian and Nien Nunb, piloting the Millennium Falcon, flew into the station's core and destroyed it from the inside. Following the battle, Leia informed Han of her familial relationship with Luke, and the two shared a kiss as the explosion of the Death Star lit the skies above.

The End of the Galactic Civil War and the Founding of the New Republic (4 ABY to 25 ABY)
Immediately after the Battle of Endor, The Rebel Alliance answered a distress call from Bakura, which was under invasion by the Ssi-ruuk. The remaining Imperial forces also gathered at Bakura, and the result was a truce between the Imperials and the Rebels. It was during this time that the spirit of Anakin Skywalker appeared to Leia to beg for her forgiveness, which she would not or could not grant at that time.

Princess Organa was a founding member of the New Republic, which was formally promulgated in 5 ABY. Her first New Republic position was Minister of State. She went on to succeed Mon Mothma as its Chief of State, and later filled other offices, such as Minister of Defense, and various diplomatic posts. Although most of her life was devoted to such matters of state, she engaged in limited study of the Jedi arts, with her twin brother Luke Skywalker as her teacher. Notably, she wielded a blue lightsaber that she built herself, and then Luke gave her a red (not Sith issue) lightsaber to complement the weapon she had constructed earlier.



After a near-disastrous courtship, Organa married Han Solo in 8 ABY. At first, she did not want to have children, as she feared they would turn out like Darth Vader. While on a mission to Tatooine to retrieve Killik Twilight and the Shadowcast key hidden within it, Leia had discovered her grandmother Shmi's diary and, with the help of her father's childhood friends Kitster and Wald, discovered her father hadn't been born or raised as the evil monster she had known, and decided that there was nothing inherently evil in the Skywalker bloodline. Soon afterwards, she became pregnant with twins.

"They're up to something, Han—I can feel it. Something big; something dangerous. But I can't figure out what it could be."

- Leia to Han Solo

A year later during the Thrawn Crisis, Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered Noghri commandos to kidnap the pregnant Organa Solo. To avoid capture she hid on the planet Kashyyyk, but her would-be kidnappers tracked her. She later learned that the Darth Vader once landed on the Noghri homeplanet Honoghr and tricked the Noghri into serving the Empire by promising to help their planet recover from the ecological disaster that it suffered during the Clone Wars. Because of this, they were fiercely loyal to Vader. Organa Solo was able to use her biological relationship to Vader to go to Honoghr and convince the Noghri of the Empire’s deception. They left the service of the Empire and became allies of New Republic. Organa Solo was known as the Lady Vader among the Noghri and both she and her family became revered figures in their society. Also during the Thrawn Crisis, Organa Solo gave birth to the twins Jaina and Jacen on Coruscant.



In 10 ABY, she discovered to her horror that Palpatine was alive and that her brother had turned to the dark side. With her help, Luke managed to return to the light and together, they subdued Palpatine on his flagship Eclipse. Later her second son was born on Nespis VIII and was named Anakin after his grandfather (see House of Solo). With the reborn Palpatine's clone body rapidly deteriorating, she was forced to flee to Onderon to hide Anakin Solo from him. The Emperor did eventually find her, but he was shot in the back and a sacrifice from Empatojayos Brand, saved them from Palpatine's spirit.

Although her sibling relationship to Luke Skywalker (and their relationship to Darth Vader) became public knowledge, she remained known as the heir to Bail Organa, and thus a member of the Royal House of Alderaan. She played an important role for those Alderaanians who still lived, having been offworld at the time of the planet's destruction. She founded New Alderaan, over which the Royal House of Alderaan, in the person of Leia Organa Solo and her children, continued to hold sovereignty. The government on New Alderaan also administered their former Alderaan system.

"You will be our leader, Leia"

- Mon Mothma

Mon Mothma's health began to decline in 11 ABY. No one could discover the source of her illness until Terpfen, Admiral Ackbar's chief mechanic, told her that the Caridan Ambassador Furgan had poisoned her. With that knowledge, the Jedi healer Cilghal healed her by removing the poison drop by drop.

Chief of State Organa Solo guided the New Republic through a number of dangerous external crises from post-Imperial warlords. As the threat of Imperial warlords shrank and the New Republic's growth accelerated rapidly, she also faced a number of internal political conflicts in the Third Electoral. These two forces came to a head during the Black Fleet crisis in 16 ABY, in which she invoked Article Five of the Common Charter to forestall a recall vote against her office and declare war against the Yevetha. Cracks in the widespread popularity of Organa Solo began to show during this period, cracks that would accelerate with the political ascendance of Borsk Fey'lya.

Organa Solo and family returned Han Solo's home planet of Corellia in 18 ABY. There they ended the First Corellian Insurrection.

Later she would take a leave of absence from her Chief of State duties to spend more time on her Jedi training. She served as a Counselor on the New Republic's High Counsel during the leave. During this time she became involved in the Caamas Document crisis in 19 ABY. Organa Solo began talks with Admiral Pellaeon that led to Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty and an end to the Galactic Civil War.

All three of her children were trained as Jedi at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum from 22 ABY, and would defend the galaxy from the Yuuzhan Vong War as part of the New Jedi Order.

The Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY to 30 ABY)
"The New Republic? Are you blind? There is no New Republic! It died before the Yuuzhan Vong came."

- Leia Organa Solo

After serving a second term, Leia resigned as Chief of State, and was replaced by Borsk Fey'lya. After the death of Chewbacca on Sernpidal in 25 ABY, Leia went before the Senate to bring attention to the fact that the approaching Yuuzhan Vong were a threat to the galaxy. Her pleas went unheeded, and the invasion continued full force. Leia contributed to the war effort by aiding in the evactuations of Dubrillion and Dantooine, finally getting help from the Advisory Council via Admiral Traest Kre'fey's threat to place her into power via launching a military coup d'etat. Soon after she joined SELCORE, a movement that aided refugees.

Organa Solo and her husband suffered a brief period of estrangement some months after the death of Chewbacca; her husband was still struggling with his grief and rage over the death of his longtime friend. Leia buried herself in her work with Selcore, hoping that her husband would one day come back and mend the severed ties with their family. They patched things up after Leia was gravely wounded by Tsavong Lah at the Battle of Duro.



The Solo family enjoyed small blessings early during the war, beginning with the reconciliation of Han and Anakin, who Han originally had blamed in no small part for Chewbacca's death. Shortly afterwards, Organa Solo's nephew Ben Skywalker was born, whom she adored and called "Skycrawler". Perhaps the greatest tragedy the Solos would face during the war came shortly afterwards, when on a doomed mission to Myrkr, Anakin died while leading a Jedi team tasked with the destruction of the Jedi-hunting Vong creations, the voxyn. Almost concurrently, the Yuuzhan Vong launched a massive attack that overwhelmed Coruscant. Still struggling with the overwhelming grief of her son's death, Organa Solo -- at the urging of Fey'lya -- managed to make a passioned plea to all New Republic forces to fight and and resist at all costs. After Coruscant's fall, Han and Leia went to Hapes for Anakin's funeral, then went on several missions to restore HoloNet communications to the Unknown Regions, and foiled a second attempt of the Ssi-ruuk to invade Bakura in the process.

When Zonama Sekot made its existence known near Coruscant in 30 ABY, Han and Leia traveled there to be reunited with the rest of their family. While there, they met Harrar, a Yuuzhan Vong priest. Leia and Han worked with Harrar to get inside the Well of the World Brain on Coruscant.

After the destruction of Shimrra and Onimi, Leia was among those gathered on Zonama Sekot. She had forsaken politics to become Han's copilot, a position she would hold for 5 years.

The Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY to 36 ABY)
"You're too old to start being a real Jedi now." "I think I need to teach you some manners."

- Alema Rar and Leia Organa Solo

In 35 ABY, Han and Leia followed several AWOL Jedi into the Unknown Regions and discovered that Raynar Thul was alive, and had been taken in by a nest of Killiks. To avoid a war with the Chiss, Leia suggested to UnuThul (as Raynar was now known) that the Killik nest be moved to a new planet, but made him think it was his idea. Afterwards, Leia decided to begin formal training as a Jedi Knight, and asked Saba Sebatyne to train her. Leia stated that Saba could challenge her in "new and unexpected ways." Amongst the ways she was tested was to rely more on the Force than on technology, and also to learn to appreciate the authority of the Masters' Council (more uncomfortable for the Masters than Leia, since a few had spent their adult lives taking orders from her).

Around this same time, R2-D2 had a malfunction where he had shown Luke a holoclip of the mother he had never known. Before Luke could get more out info out of Artoo, Artoo had a meltdown, claiming he was protecting Luke. Frustrated, Luke contacted master slicer Zakarisz Ghent, who managed to recover one other holo featuring Padmé and Anakin Skywalker, which was displayed to both Luke and Leia.

Leia did not approve when Luke took complete control of the Jedi Order. During the Jedi convocation at Ossus, she and Han discovered that Tenel Ka had recently given birth to a daughter Allana, whom she did not know was her granddaughter through her son Jacen, though she did suspect Jacen knew the father. She later went off with Han to search for their daughter Jaina in the Unknown Regions. They were detained many times, but eventually got to their destination.

On Tenupe, during the Swarm War, Leia dueled for the third time with Dark Jedi Alema Rar. Saba spectated at this duel, and was very approving when Leia finally defeated Alema. In truth, the Dark Jedi was dragged off by a huge creature, one that Leia soon knocked off a cliff. The Chiss were less than happy with this explanation, however.

Leia then had her lightsaber taken by Saba, who told her that it didn't reflect her skills anymore (she had built this one 20 years before), and that it was time that she build a new lightsaber, a saber fit for a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.

Second Corellian Crisis
"He's fine, Han shot first."

- Leia on Han

In 40 ABY, when tensions with Corellia rose, she remained officially a member of the Alliance. However, she was secretly aiding the Corellian independence movement. She was present at the Battle of Tralus; although she was a member of the Alliance fleet, she helped the Corellians win their victory. However, after the battle, Leia didn't realize that her son, Jacen had turned to the dark side (ironically, this is the reason she didn't want to have children in the first place, as she believed that any children she bore would turn to the dark side as her father did).

As the war raged on Leia and Han find themselves banned from Corelllia after Thracken Sal-Solo placed a bounty on th entire Solo family. Getting useful information from Dur Gejjen, Han sets out to destroy Thracken with the help of Boba Fett and Mirta Gev. Meanwhile Leia sees that Jacen is being distant and slowly becoming a stranger to the whole family.

Leia later openly sided with the Corellians, infuriating the rest of the Solo-Skywalker family. However, she and Han broke with the Corellians after they learned that the Corellians had marked Tenel Ka and Allana for death.

Portrayal
Leia was played most notably by actress Carrie Fisher in the Original Trilogy and The Star Wars Holiday Special. All subsequent images of her likeness were based off Fisher's appearance. She was also played by Aiden Barton as an infant in Revenge of the Sith. Leia's voice has been portrayed by Ann Sachs in the Star Wars radio drama and in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Lisa Fuson.

Name

 * The name "Leia" has a number of potential origins. It may have been derived from "Leah" which in Hebrew means "weary". Alternatively it might mean "mistress" or "ruler" in Assyrian. Additionally, a Talmudic source cites "Leila" as the "Angel of Night". A third origin could be the Greek word "basileia", meaning "reign". It could also have been adopted from the Hawaiian "Leia", which means "child of heaven".
 * In the Italian version of the films, "Leia Organa" was renamed to "Leila Organa".
 * In June 2005, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway admitted in an interview that the first name of her youngest daughter, Leah Isadora Behn, was inspired by Princess Leia.

Costumes
The costume designer for the films had a "no lingerie in space" policy, which prevented Fisher from wearing a brassiere. To maintain decorum, adhesive tape was used in place of the banned garment. Despite the ban on some undergarments, Leia's metallic bikini scenes were voted by Empire magazine as among the most memorable in movie history.

Her real mother
George Lucas stated that he wanted one of the Skywalker twins to recall their mother, hence Leia describing her as "very beautiful, kind but sad".

When Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith came out, many people didn't understand how it was possible that Leia claims to remember her real mother although she had known her for barely a minute.

There has been some debate since about if Leia was discussing her real mother, Padmé Amidala, or her foster mother. However, the official Star Wars website in its "Q & A" section explicitly states that Leia is remembering Padmé.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi