Bail Prestor Organa

"We will never betray the legacy of the Jedi. I will never surrender the Republic to the Sith."

- Bail Organa

Bail Prestor Organa was Princess Leia Organa's adoptive father and a friend of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was married to Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan and was, as Prince Consort, head of the royal house and ruler of Alderaan. He was formally styled as His Serene Highness, Prince Bail Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan. In the Rebel Alliance and its successor states, the New Republic and Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, he was respected as a martyr who died for his cause.

Early life
Bail Organa was the only son of his parents, and he had three sisters: Rouge, Celly, and Tia. Like most of the scions of the Organa family, Bail was trained to eventually take up Alderaan's Senate seat. It was the actions of civic-minded statesmen such as Finis Valorum that finally convinced Bail that he could do good in the Senate.

Long before his ascension to Viceroy, Alderaan was wracked by the Alderaanian Ascendancy Contention, a bitter feud between House Organa and House Antilles over which family had the proper claim to the throne. Jedi Watchman Jorus C'baoth solved the conflict peacefully, the families joining together in marriage at the Jedi's behest.

Senator of the Galactic Republic


Bail Organa served the Galactic Republic as a senator during its final days, having succeeded Senator Bail Antilles, his relative by marriage. Though a new senator, he quickly gained the ear of Chancellor Palpatine, agreeing with his view on bureaucratic stagnation. He also established political relationships with other like minded senators, including Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, Padmé Amidala of Naboo, Doman Beruss of Illodia, and Mon Mothma of Chandrila, with whom he had a very good personal friendship. His residence on Coruscant during his time as a senator was called Cantham House, although he had an apartment in 500 Republica as well. Organa also became close friends with former Chancellor Valorum.



During the Separatist Crisis, Organa pushed to have Alderaan loosen its immigration restrictions to allow refugee resettlement, and was appointed to the Loyalist Committee. Though not a militarist, it was expected he would vote in favor of creating an army. When it became clear that the Separatists had no interest in negotiations, Organa advocated quick action but realized that the Senate would not approve using the Clone Army found on Kamino. Organa thus voted for granting Palpatine emergency powers.

As the Clone Wars dragged on, he became concerned about Palpatine's growing powers. He started cultivating a friendly relationship with the Jedi High Council, which was also concerned, and began seeking out similarly wary Senators. As a diplomat, Organa was often on the front lines of the war; he was engaged in actual fighting during both the Battle of Boz Pity and the Battle of Coruscant, although he fought involuntarily in the latter. He also visited Qalydon and Metalorn, and served with and befriended Giles Durane, saving the man's life on more than one occasion.

After his vessel was attacked by pirates, the Senate was going to vote an Enforcement Act. Finis Valorum soon infiltrated Organa's 500 Republica apartment, tired of watching on the sidelines. Valorum believed that Palpatine was power hungry and would not give up his power once the war was over, destroying everything in his way. Unfortunately, Palpatine had cameras in many droids, having recorded their conversations. Bail tried bringing up the subject in the Senate, but a bombing on Valorum's transport issued the Senate to go through with the act anyway.



During the Great Jedi Purge, after witnessing clone troopers gun down Padawan Zett Jukassa, he was determined to intercept any surviving Jedi before they "walked into this catastrophe." Organa managed to locate and rescue Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. When he took them back to Coruscant, he sat with Padmé Amidala as Palpatine declared himself Galactic Emperor. Despite his revulsion at the concept, Amidala told him to vote in favor of Palpatine, both being outnumbered and realizing the added benefits that time and access to Imperial knowledge would have on a resistance movement.

After Yoda's failed attempted to kill Palpatine at the Grand Convocation Chamber of the Senate Building, Organa managed to rescue the Jedi Master before security could find him. They then fled Coruscant to the planetoid Polis Massa and contacted Kenobi on the planet Mustafar. Kenobi, having barely defeated his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker who had fallen to the dark side of the Force, arrived with the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 and a pregnant Padmé, who was in a critical condition. The medical team who tried to save her discovered that she was dying, having apparently lost the will to live. However, before her death Padmé managed to give birth to healthy twins, Luke and Leia Skywalker.



Arriving on Naboo, Bail and the Jedi discussed the fate of the twins. Organa offered to take Leia as his own, having for a long time discussed adopting a baby girl with his wife Breha; they had had many difficulties in producing a heir, and doctors had informed them that another attempt to conceive a child would probably kill Breha.

Organa also took the droids into his service (and ordered C-3PO's memory wiped), placing them in the care of Tantive IV's captain Raymus Antilles. Along with Mon Mothma, Organa attended Padmé's funeral on Naboo. He continued to serve in the Senate well into the days of the Galactic Empire, where he remained a representative for Alderaan until his adopted daughter Leia took over one year before the Battle of Yavin. Bail was one of the few people in the galaxy who were aware that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, presumably having been informed of this by Yoda. In this time, he was known for wearing clothing in the style of the Republic Classic era.

Father of the Rebellion
"What's going on here?''" "There's been a rebellion, sir. Don't worry. The situation is under control. I'm sorry, sir. It's time for you to leave." "''And so it is."

- Bail Organa and clone commander Appo



Bail Organa was instrumental to the creation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, together with Senators Mothma and Bel Iblis.

Several months after the foundation of the Empire, Organa met with the crew of the Banshee on Alderaan, to discuss resistance to the new regime. In the Grand Hall of the Royal Palace of Alderaan, Organa received the rebel agents, and sent them on a mission to Felucia to rescue the disillusioned Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth from the detention facility on that planet.

Small, covert operations like this were typical during the first decades of the Empire. Organized resistance did not come until later. A significant event that spurred Organa and his allies to discuss open rebellion was the Ghorman Massacre in circa 18 BBY: during a protest against Imperial taxation on the planet Ghorman in the Sern Sector, Wilhuff Tarkin landed his ship right on the protestors, injuring and killing hundreds. This horrified many, but the Emperor was pleased and gave Tarkin a promotion. In secret, Organa and Mothma, sometimes accompanied by Bel Iblis, began having regular meetings in Organa's Coruscant residence to discuss organized resistance.



Despite these ties to the Rebellion, Organa was outwardly one of the most loyal of Imperial Senators, and greatly respected by many. This could be why Emperor Palpatine never attempted to kill him, while showing no such restraint with his fellow Alliance co-founders.

Secretly, Organa was preparing for the day when his war against the Empire would turn public, and set about recruiting surviving Jedi to join his cause&mdash;one such Jedi was Ylenic It'kla, who served as Trustant of the Alderaanian Caamasi Remnant and as an advisor to Organa himself. Senator Silya Shessaun also worked behind the scenes with Organa, aiding him in forming the Rebellion and also helping raise his adopted daughter, Leia.

At some time, Bail went to Felucia to try to talk Jedi Master Shaak Ti into helping with the resistance. But when he arrived, he found that Shaak Ti was dead. Furthermore, he was captured by Shaak Ti's old apprentice, Maris Brood. He was held prisoner until Galen Marek arrived. Marek defeated Maris and let her go. After his rescue, Bail said that armed resistance against the Empire needed to be proven as a possibility before he and the other Senators took action. Marek, in response, attacked and destroyed a Star Destroyer shipyard orbiting Raxus Prime. This act proved to Bail that the Empire could be defeated in battle.

A historical moment for the Rebellion was the signing of the Corellian Treaty in circa 2 BBY. Signed by Organa, Mothma, and Bel Iblis, the document formalized the relationship between the Corellian, Alderaanian and Chandrilan resistance forces, respectively, from a loose coalition to an organized rebellion&mdash;the Alliance to Restore the Republic. However, Darth Vader arrived moments later and his stormtroopers arrested Bail and everyone else. Marek was really Vader's secret apprentice, and had lured the senators willing to rebel against Palpatine into the open. Bail and the other senators were taken to the under construction Death Star, and it seemed that the Rebellion was doomed before it even began.

Marek, however, had turned to the light side of the Force, and journeyed to the Death Star. There, Marek defeated Vader and held Palpatine off long enough for Bail and the other rebels to escape. Marek died in the escape. After meeting on Kashyyyk, the rebel leaders found Marek's family crest, and Leia suggested honoring Marek by using it as the symbol for the Rebel Alliance. The other rebels agreed.

Mothma and Bel Iblis often clashed on strategy and policy, and it was usually Organa that kept the new Alliance from splitting apart.

In 0 BBY, after discovering Imperial plans to the Death Star, Organa sent his daughter Leia on a mission to recruit Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi for the Rebel cause. However, Leia and Obi-Wan never made it to Alderaan, and Bail Organa perished when Wilhuff Tarkin, now a Grand Moff, ordered the destruction of Alderaan using the Death Star's superlaser.

Portrayal
In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa was played by Jimmy Smits, who also provided the voice of Bail Organa in the The Force Unleashed video game. He was voiced in the radio dramatization of A New Hope by Stephen Elliott.

Marriage
According to What's The Story? author Aidan Hennessy, his Pello Scrambas entry was supposed to indicate that Bail and Breha's marriage was arranged by Jorus C'baoth to end the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention.

The Bail Antilles controversy


Many fans have noticed that in The Phantom Menace, Captain Panaka mentioned a Bail Antilles as the representative from Alderaan, thus raising confusion among fans as to whether or not this is supposed to be the same character as Bail Organa.

The official site clarifies this issue somewhat, stating that Bail Antilles and Bail Organa were both slated to appear in Episode I, but Organa's footage was excised. In the screenplay, Bail Organa seconds the motion of no confidence in Valorum's leadership, and Bail Antilles is nominated to succeed him as Supreme Chancellor. Both were intended as two separate characters. Nevertheless, because his scene was cut, Bail Organa was recast for Episode II, portrayed by Jimmy Smits in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

The Expanded Universe briefly used the appearance of the actor who played Organa in the deleted scene, Adrian Dunbar, to represent Bail Antilles in the novel Cloak of Deception, thus perpetuating the confusion between the characters in the eyes of many fans. Once Smits was cast for Episode II, his Expanded Universe counterpart quickly took on the proper appearance and Dunbar's character became solidified as Bail Antilles.

The Bail Antilles controversy is in fact older than the prequel trilogy, dating back to the early drafts of A New Hope. In one draft Princess Leia is the daughter of Bail Antilles from the peaceful world of Organa Major, until the names were turned around so that Leia Organa came instead from Alderaan. Possibly because of this, the Marvel comic Star Wars 2: Six Against the Galaxy from the year 1977 mentions Leia's father as "Bail Antillies."