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 (formally styled as His Serene Highness, Prince Bail Organa, First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan) was the First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan, who served as the Senator of the Alderaan Sector of the Galactic Senate from 32 BBY to 19 BBY. Subsequently, he was Senator of the Alderaan Sector of the Imperial Senate from 19 BBY to 1 BBY. He was Princess Leia Organa's adoptive father and a friend of Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Rahm Kota. He was married to Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan and was, as Prince Consort, head of the royal house and ruler 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 well in the Senate.

Long before his ascension to Viceroy, Alderaan was wracked by the Alderaan 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.

Christophsis
Shortly before the Battle of Christophsis, Organa led a relief force to the planet to aid the beleaguered troops and was soon hemmed in by a Separatist blockade led by famed Admiral Trench. Trapped on Christophsis' surface, Organa and his relief effort soon began to run out of food and water. When Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi led an assault against Trench's fleet in an attempt to break through and aid Organa, the Admiral responded with a withering attack, forcing the Jedi to retreat behind a nearby moon. Trench staged several devastating attack runs against Organa's on-planet camp to draw Skywalker and Kenobi out from behind the moon, but he and his blockade were finally broken by a stealth ship manned by Skywalker and Admiral Wullf Yularen.

Journey to Zigoola
A few months into the Clone Wars, Bail was given coordinates to the Sith planet Zigoola by his secret informant, Alinta. Having heard Senator Amidala mention the Sith in a conversation, he asked her to contact the Jedi so that he could confide in them the location of the planet. Obi-Wan Kenobi was dispatched to the Senator's apartment to learn of this threat. Refusing to reveal his contact, and demanding to accompany the Jedi to the Sith world, Kenobi and Organa proceeded on a journey to Wild Space. Throughout the trip, Organa and Kenobi argued and harassed each other; Kenobi attempted to kill the Senator several times after losing control of himself to the Sith spirits of the world. By the end of the trip however, the duo managed to come to a mutual respect, and even a friendship, after surviving together on the barren world. While investigating the planet, they discovered that the source of all the Sith attacks was from a Sith holocron located inside a Sith Temple. After destroying the holocron, and the temple in the process, Organa and Obi-Wan were rescued by Senetor Amadala and team of Clone troopers.



Hostage
During the Senate hostage crisis, Organa, along with other Senators, was taken hostage by bounty hunter Cad Bane, who wanted to exchange their freedom for the release of Ziro Desilijic Tiure. When the Hutt crime lord was freed, Cad Bane and his team set the charges in the room the Senators were held in and left the building. Once safely away, Bane detonated the charges, but Bail Organa and the other Senators were saved by the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who managed to get them to the safe distance right before the explosion.

The Murder of Onaconda Farr
Later in the war, Organa worked closely with Senators Padmé Amidala, Mon Mothma, and Onaconda Farr in their effort to reduce and eventually halt the production of clone troopers and end the fighting. Shortly after a monumental speech by Amidala urging the Senate to vote for such a movement, Farr became ill during a celebratory meeting, dying soon after. Organa, along with his allies, attended the funeral, and was present in Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office afterwards when Lieutenant Tan Divo reported that Farr's death was in fact a murder. When Organa and Amidala, along with Mothma and the late Farr's aide Lolo Purs expressed a discontent in Divo's investigation methods, the two set out to find the murderer themselves. Speaking with two of Farr's greatest political enemies, Senators Mee Deechi and Halle Burtoni, they discovered that Farr had held several secretive meetings within Coruscant's docking area. After setting out to the locale only to be shot at, lose their attacker, and be thoroughly reprimanded by Lt. Divo, Organa and Amidala returned to Deechi's office under the suspicion that he set them up, only to discover the Umbaran dead, stabbed through the heart. Divo quickly shut them in his heavily guarded office with Mothma and Purs for protection, although Farr's former aide expressed an immediate discontent with the situation and stormed out. She returned soon after, claiming to have been attacked by Senator Burtoni, who was soon arrested and charged for murder. As the Kaminoan was being led out in handcuffs, Amidala had one last memory, that Farr was killed by a poison specifically engineered towards Rodians and Lolo Purs had not partaken in any refreshments that day. Caught at last, Purs held Amidala captive for a short while before the Senator was able to escape and knock her unconscious, allowing Divo to arrest the culprit and release the innocent Burtoni.

Concerned


As the Clone Wars dragged on, Organa became concerned about Palpatine's growing powers. Because of his new found relationship with Kenobi, Bail 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.

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

- Bail Organa and clone commander Appo



During the Great Jedi Purge, after witnessing clone troopers gun down Padawan Zett Jukassa, Organa 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 attempt 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 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 an 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 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


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 decade 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 protesters, 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.

During the rise of the Empire Organa used his political position to covertly aid resistance groups, particularly those in the Core Worlds. Using a network of diplomatic operatives, he quietly leaked useful imformation to the planetary rulers, dissidents in hiding and insurgent fighters who might employ that information against the Emperor.



After failing to convince Jedi Master Rahm Kota to rescue his adopted daughter Leia, who was arrested by Imperials and held prisoner on Kashyyyk, he attempted to do the same with another Jedi Master, Shaak Ti, who was hiding on Felucia. 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, who was advised by Kota to rescue him so his soon to be formed rebellion would receive support from a politician, arrived. Marek defeated Maris and let her go. Marek had also rescued Leia just before coming to Felucia because it would help him to gain support from Organa. 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, with Marek and Kota also present, 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. Bail ordered the holodroid PROXY to cut off Leia's transmission so that Vader would not know she was involved. 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 I, and it seemed that the Rebellion was doomed before it even began.

Marek, however, had turned to the light side of the Force after being betrayed by Vader, who in fact deceived him by telling Marek that they would use the rebellion to overthrow Emperor Palpatine, 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 selflessly sacrificed himself to give the others time to escape.

Along with Kota and Juno Eclipse, Marek's pilot, Bail returned to Corellia to salvage PROXY to help fill in the gaps of the Birth of the Alliance, starting with the history of Marek. 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.

Death
In 0 BBY, after acquiring 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.

Origins
"I am Bail Antilles... I serve THE FORCE OF OTHERS...We are agents of the Starkiller... He has been expecting you..."

- An early incarnation of Bail Organa, in a rough draft of Star Wars

The origins of the character of Bail Organa can be found in the early drafts of the original Star Wars film. George Lucas's 132-page rough draft of "The Star Wars", completed in May 1974, includes a character named Bail Antilles who is a galactic trader and a confederate of the Aquillian Ranger Clieg Whitsun. In 1975's Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, Antilles is himself an Aquillian Ranger and an agent of the Starkiller; later drafts cemented the character as the father of Princess Leia of Ogana Major. When Ogana Major was renamed Alderaan, the word "Ogana" became Leia's last name, albeit slightly respelled. Bail Antilles was accordingly renamed Bail Organa, and went on to be mentioned by name in both the script and novelization of the original Star Wars film, although he was referred to simply as Leia's father in the film itself. An issue of the film's comic book adaptation erroneously calls Leia's father Bail Antilles. Organa first appeared in 1981's Star Wars radio drama, where he was called "Prestor" in the closing credits. Taking the cue that "Bail" might be a title, Ann C. Crispin named the character "Bail Prestor Organa" in her 1997 novel The Paradise Snare.

Organa was slated to appear in 1999's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and was written into the screenplay as the seconder of Queen Amidala's call for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership. Actor Adrian Dunbar was cast in the role and filmed the scenes, although they were ultimately cut from the film's final product. In his 2001 novel Cloak of Deception, author James Luceno described Dunbar's appearance when writing the character of Bail Antilles, a character mentioned briefly in Episode I who had been intended to be a separate character from Organa, despite both being senators from Alderaan named Bail. When Jimmy Smits was cast as Organa for 2002's Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Star Wars Expanded Universe visually solidified Dunbar's character as Antilles, and Smits's as Organa. Although the issue has been clarified, it is noteworthy that some official materials related to Episode I went to print in 1999 identifying Dunbar's character as Bail Organa.

Portrayal
"I'd thought of Jimmy for the role before George Lucas had even confirmed the character's appearance. Then completely independently, his agents let me know that he would love to be involved in a Star Wars project. It worked out great."

- Episode II Casting Director Robin Gurland

Stephen Elliott voiced Organa in the Star Wars radio dramatization. Adrian Dunbar played the character in scenes from Star Wars Episode I that were ultimately excised from the film, and Jimmy Smits took over the role in Episodes II and III. Smits's likeness has since been used to represent the character. Episode II Casting Director Robin Gurland was considering Smits for the role of Organa when his agents contacted her and informed her that he was interested in becoming involved with Star Wars. Smits later returned to the role by voicing Organa in 2008's video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Phil LaMarr is providing vocal talents in the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

In Star Wars media
In addition to appearing in Episodes II and III of the primary Star Wars saga, Organa has appeared in a number of works of the Expanded Universe. Prior to the Star Wars prequel trilogy, he was featured in the Star Wars radio drama and the novel The Paradise Snare. More recently, he has appeared in a number of materials related to the Clone Wars, both in the original multimedia project  and the more recent one.

Non-canon appearances
Aidan Hennessy, author of the Starwars.com Databank What's The Story? entry on Pello Scrambas, has stated that Scrambas's entry was originally written as indicating that Organa's marriage to Queen Breha was arranged by Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth in order to end the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention. The idea was omitted from the published entry, however. A non-canon dark side ending of The Force Unleashed sees Organa die aboard the Death Star after being shot by Imperial stormtroopers.