Bail Antilles/Legends

"Bail Antilles remains the front-runner. Ironically, the crisis at Naboo has drawn the Core Worlds into a tighter circle. Where Antilles has always been in danger of being dismissed as the candidate most likely to follow in Valorum's footsteps, he is suddenly the darling of those advocating for strong, central authority."

- Darth Plagueis

Bail Antilles was a Human male from Alderaan. He was born a prince in the influential House of Antilles. During the years that led to the Invasion of Naboo, he served as the Senator of the Alderaan sector. Campaigning to combat corruption in the Galactic Senate, Antilles ascended to the position of chairman of the Internal Activities Committee. He was also leader of one of the two main factions of the Senate in his time, the Core faction, being mostly opposed by the Rim faction led by his colleague Ainlee Teem of Malastare.

In 33 BBY, during the debates on the taxation of trade routes, Antilles argued the Senate should not allow the Trade Federation to increase the number of its droid defenses. One year later, Queen Amidala of Naboo moved for a Vote of No Confidence in the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum. Along with his colleagues Palpatine of Naboo and Ainlee Teem, Antilles was nominated to succeed the Chancelor.

Following Palpatine's election at the helm of the state, Senator Antilles retired from office, making way for his compatriot and partial namesake Bail Organa, whom he was related to by marriage. Once he was retired, Prince Bail Antilles still made a few public appearances, notably attending Horox Ryyder's farewell party shortly before the break of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY.

Early life and career
"There, all but in Valorum's lap, sit Senators Antilles, Horox Ryyder, Tendau Bendon... Any of them, more than worthy of a bow."

- Senator Orn Free Taa

A Human male, Bail Antilles was born on the planet Alderaan, a shining star of the Galactic Republic. He was a prominent member of the House of Antilles, one of the planet's most influential noble families. On his homeworld, Bail Antilles was a Prince by birth. Following the Alderaanian law, Antilles came of age at seventeen. He joined galactic-wide politics by succeeding Agrippa Aldrete as Senator of the Alderaan sector to the Galactic Senate. Apart from his politic career, Antilles had started a family by marrying a woman, with whom he lived on Coruscant during his senatorial service.

During the last years of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's administration, Senator Antilles was a known supporter of the Chancellor. At that time, the Senate was mostly divided in two factions: the Core faction, led by Antilles and traditionally supporting Valorum, and the Rim faction, opposed to Valorum's measures and using Senator Ainlee Teem of Malastare as spokesbeing. Both Teem and Antilles were considered plausible successors to Valorum by many, including the Chancellor himself.

Corruption was rampant in the Senate during this time, but Antilles joined a reduced group of Senators&mdash;also including Horox Ryyder of Gravlex Med, Yarua of Kashyyyk and nominally Palpatine of Naboo&mdash;who took public measures to end corruption. As such, Antilles was the chairman of the Internal Activities Committee of the Senate for several years. During the last days of his service, Antilles was assisted by two senatorial aides: the former Senator Aldrete and Liana Merian, a female diplomat also indigenous to Alderaan.

The Eriadu Crisis
"Supreme Chancellor, I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of raw tidings on a day that should be devoted to celebration, but this document constitutes official notification that you are hereby requested to appear before the Supreme Court to answer allegations of corruption and illegal enrichment."

- Bail Antilles to Chancellor Valorum

In 33 BBY, the Trade Federation, a shipping interest that monopolized the trade routes Outer Rim Territories, suffered the attacks of the Nebula Front in several sectors and asked the Galactic Republic for help. The Chancellor proposed a taxation of the previously Free Trade Zone, a solution that the Federation disapproved. The Federation representative in the Senate, Lott Dod, suggested that alternatively the Trade Federation could increase their own security expenses, thus not needing the protection of the Republic. Dod's idea was supported by Ainlee Teem, but Antilles protested, as it could endanger the stability of the already dangerous Outer Rim. Antilles suggested instead that the Trade Federation simply avoid the dangerous areas; this was not to the liking of representatives of the planets there. As the problem was considered tricky, a summit was arranged to discuss it later. Antilles, along with Ryyder, still attempted to meet privately with the Chancellor before that moment.

Soon afterward, the Nebula Front attempted to assassinate Valorum and injured him. Antilles obtained proofs of the Front's involvement and, along with Senator Com Fordox of Corellia, paid the recovering politician a social visit. Later, a recovered Valorum thanked Antilles for his interest by consulting him&mdash;along with other aides, Ryyder and Palpatine&mdash;about a hostage situation.

While working on a diplomatic crisis among Alderaan and its neighbor planet Delaya, Antilles was approached by Senator Orn Free Taa of Ryloth. As a member of several Committees, Taa had discovered that a shipping corporation, owned by relatives of Finis Valorum and with interests in the trade routes that Valorum wanted to tax, had received an important investment and would profit from the new laws Valorum was trying to pass&mdash;something that suggested corruption. Taa had tried to find the origin of the money, but he lacked the proper authorization. Taa asked Palpatine about this, and Palpatine had suggested Taa to turn to Antilles. Antilles accepted to investigate the situation, discovering a false venture capital consortium and, hidden under it, a false banking account from Coruscant that moved an amount of aurodium ingots apparently linked to the Trade Federation. This suggested that the Federation had given Valorum the ingots to seal a secret pact. Antilles reported his discoveries to Taa, who in turn revealed them to Palpatine discreetly.

Once the taxing routes had been approved, Antilles, in his role as Internal Activities chairman, informed Valorum of charges of corruption filed against him and represented the prosecution in the subsequent Supreme Court inquiry. Valorum's reputation was in stake and his second mandate drew to a close, so both Antilles and Teem started campaigning to replace him.

The Invasion of Naboo and the Chancery election
"Who else has been nominated?''" "''Bail Antilles of Alderaan and Ainlee Teem of Malastare."

- Queen Amidala of Naboo and Captain Panaka

Unbeknownst to the Senate, the Trade Federation had contracted a secret alliance with the Sith Lord Darth Sidious&mdash;who was in fact none other than the seemingly unassuming Senator Palpatine. In 32 BBY, Sidious ordered his lackeys to use their battleships and besiege Naboo in protest against the taxation of the Free Trade Zone. Facing the current head of state's impotence to act quickly and interrump the blockade, Queen Padmé Amidala, the recently elected ruler of Naboo, called for a Vote of No Confidence in the Chancellor.

After Valorum was removed from office, Bail Antilles, Ainlee Teem and Palpatine were nominated to succeed Valorum in the following election. During the campaign, Antilles organized a political meeting aboard the Perlemian Orbital Facility. The Prince had obtained the support of several Core World Senators and businessbeings, as well as that of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, who had been tasked with settling a dispute among some of Alderaan's noble houses. Since Antilles had gained popularity following the Eriadu Crisis, he was considered the top candidate for the chancellorship by both the holomedia and his fellow senators. However, thanks to the groundswell of sympathy for the blockaded planet Naboo, Palpatine won the election. Also, Antilles' fierce corruption fighting had gained him a reputation of overzealous reformer. Bail Antilles resigned from the Senate shortly afterward. He was succeeded by his compatriot Bail Prestor Organa, who had married Queen Breha, a woman of Antilles blood.

A retired senator
"Among the politicians present at the gathering were Senator Bail Organa and former Senator Bail Antilles of Alderaan."

- A HoloNet News headline

Prince Antilles held no grudge against Palpatine for being elected. In fact, he assumed that the former Senator of Naboo had been chosen because he projected an image of both rigidness and sincerity. However, Antilles would later reveal to Bail Organa that, at that time, the Galactic Senate only wanted to remove Valorum from his seat.

In 22 BBY, Bail Antilles also accompanied Bail Organa to Ozlyn Gox, the capital of Gravlex Med, to attend the retirement ceremony of Horox Ryyder. The celebration was an informal gathering of old friends, but Ryyder had been careful to invite his former political allies, including Antilles. The two Alderaanians presented their retiring colleague with the Royal Chalcedony Shield, a prestigious award that made him an honorary son of Alderaan.

Two months later, the Clone Wars broke out, with the Republic and the Jedi fighting the Confederacy of Independent Systems. At some point following the First Battle of Geonosis, Prince Bail Antilles was once again featured featured on the HoloNet news, along with Sei Taria, the former Staff Aide of Chancellor Valorum, and a red-plated protocol droid.

Legacy
"Name?''" "''Bail Antilles."

- Imperial Lieutenant Ein Truminn and a Rebel agent

After his death, Antilles would be remembered in the following centuries. During the Galactic Civil War, a pan-galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, a Rebel agent went by the alias of "Bail Antilles". More than a hundred years later, by the time of the Sith–Imperial War, one of the members of the Galactic Alliance Triumvirate was also named Bail Antilles.

Personality and traits
"Senator Antilles thinks only of the Core Worlds. Doubtless he would advocate a policy of nonintervention."

- Finis Valorum

Bail Antilles was a tall, dark-haired Human male with fair skin, a proud nose and blue eyes, whose physical features were considered attractive by other members of his species. One of his senatorial outfits was a white tunic with a high collar and an elaborate gold braiding flowing down from the shoulders. By wearing pure white uniforms, Antilles followed a tradition of Alderaanian ambassadors.

Although hard-working, dedicated and efficient in no little measure, Antilles was considered short-sighted: as the representative of one of the Core Worlds, Antilles gave preference to the problems of the Core Worlds, paying little attention to the Outer Rim Territories&mdash;or so it was said.

During his time in Coruscant, Antilles visited the Coruscant Opera House, like many other politicians of the time. Antilles was known to have assisted to a representation of The Brief Reign of Future Wraiths, performed by a Bith company. The Senator also enjoyed drinking Gizer ale, and one of his favorite restaurants was located near the Courts Building of Coruscant.

Antilles disliked Senator Orn Free Taa of Ryloth, suspecting he was a corrupt being. However, the Alderaanian always did his best to hide his apprehension when meeting with Taa, listened to his words and checked the truth about them later.

Portrayal
"Alderaan seconds the motion for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum."

- Adrian Dunbar as "Bail Organa" in a deleted scene from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

In 1999, the British actor Adrian Dunbar was cast as Bail Organa and was set to appear in the Senate sequences of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In his original scene, Dunbar's Organa seconded Queen Amidala's Vote of No Confidence that toppled Valorum's Chancellorship. However, the footage containing Dunbar was ultimately excised out of the final film. When Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was released in 2002, Jimmy Smits was re-cast as Bail Organa. Meanwhile, in 2001, Star Wars author James Luceno had used Adrian Dunbar's likeness in his novel Cloak of Deception to portray Bail Antilles, a separate politician who was briefly mentioned in Episode I as a nominee to succeed Chancellor Valorum.

The character portrayed by Dunbar wes definitely associated with Bail Antilles in the March 21 issue of the HoloNet News, a in-universe news website that was launched as a prelude to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. In Senator Horox Ryyder Retires, an article from that HoloNet News issue, both Antilles and Organa were mentioned, with a picture of both together. The illustrated rendering of Bail Antilles was evidently based on the only published picture of Dunbar in costume.

Character origins
"Whitsun walks into the glass and chrome splendor of one of the famous nightclubs of Alderaan. He moves to the long mirrored bar, and sits next to a rough-looking man, BAIL ANTILLES, dressed in the distinctive gold and furs of the Galactic traders."

- Extract from "The Star Wars: Rough Draft"

The name "Bail Antilles" first appeared in the 132-page rough draft to the film that would become A New Hope. He was an confederate of the Aquillian Ranger Clieg Whitsun and a galactic trader. One year later, in the Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode I: The Star Wars, Antilles became an Aquillian Ranger himself and the co-pilot of Luke Starkiller. Later story developments established the character as the father of Princess Leia from the planet Ogana Major. When Princess Leia's homeworld was renamed Alderaan, the name "Ogana" was slightly respelled and attributed the royal family. 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 only referred to simply as Princess Leia's father in the movie itself. In Star Wars 2: Six Against the Galaxy, the second issue of the movie's comic book adaptation by Marvel, Leia's father was erroneously referred to as "Bail Antillies."

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Labyrinth of Evil