- "I believe in the Rebel Alliance. I believe in its mission. I believe we will succeed. The Empire will be defeated, and freedom will return to this galaxy. I will not stop until we win, and then I will fight to make sure nothing like the Empire ever returns."
- ―Leia Organa
Leia Skywalker Organa Solo was a Force-sensitive human Alderaanian female politician, Jedi, and military leader who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Imperial Era and the New Republic and Resistance in the subsequent New Republic Era. Shortly after birth, she was adopted into the House of Organa—the Alderaanian royal family—and was raised as Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, a planet in the Core Worlds known for its dedication to pacifism. The princess was raised as the daughter of Senator Bail Prestor Organa and his wife, Queen Breha Organa, making her the heir to the Alderaanian monarchy. Instilled with the values of her adopted homeworld, Organa devoted her life to the restoration of democracy by opposing authoritarian regimes, such as the Galactic Empire and the First Order.
Born in 19 BBY as Leia Amidala Skywalker, she was the daughter of the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo. Her birth occurred in the aftermath of the Clone Wars, which saw the Jedi Order purged and the Galactic Republic reorganized into the Galactic Empire. With her mother's death in childbirth and her father's fall to the dark side of the Force, Leia and her twin brother, Luke, were separated to keep them hidden from the hands of the Emperor. As the adopted daughter of a politician, Leia Organa grew up peacefully—albeit secluded—on Alderaan until she was kidnapped by Vect Nokru—under the orders of the Third Sister, a member of the Inquisitorius—in 9 BBY. Since he had fought alongside her adoptive father in the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi went to Leia's rescue on Daiyu, and, after evading the Empire's hand on Mapuzo and Jabiim, Leia was brought back to Alderaan. Years later, Leia succeeded Bail by representing their homeworld in the Imperial Senate, though secretly she supported the Rebellion. During the Galactic Civil War, however, Alderaan was destroyed along with its inhabitants and the royal family by the Empire's DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station, causing Organa to openly fight the New Order as a leader of the Rebel Alliance.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, Organa married the Corellian smuggler Han Solo and learned the Jedi arts as her brother's apprentice until giving birth to her son, Ben Solo, on the day of the Empire's capitulation in 5 ABY. Her personal and political life suffered in the years that followed, with Ben turning to the dark side like his grandfather before him, adopting the persona of Kylo Ren, and the Galactic Senate sidelining Organa's career. Adopting the military rank of general, she led the Resistance during the Cold War and sought to make amends with Ben. Despite her efforts, the First Order succeeded in destroying the New Republic, and Organa's husband died at the hand of their estranged son in 34 ABY. Organa continued to lead the Resistance during the war against the First Order, all the while training Rey—a Force-sensitive scavenger from Jakku—as a Jedi.
As her health declined, Organa used her remaining strength to reach her son, calling him back to the light side of the Force. Following her death on Ajan Kloss in 35 ABY, the Resistance defeated the forces of the reborn Darth Sidious's Sith Eternal on Exegol and inspired an uprising against the First Order across the galaxy. The heir to three inheritances, Leia Skywalker Organa Solo's legacy passed on to the Jedi Rey Skywalker, the military leader Poe Dameron of the Resistance, and Ben Solo, her only son, who ultimately returned to the light and sacrificed himself for Rey.
Biography[]
Pre-birth[]
- "There is another…Skywalker."
- ―Serenity
Towards the end of the Clone Wars,[25] a galactic conflict fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems that was engineered by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious,[13] Jedi Master Yoda set out on a journey to discover the secrets of immortality. His journey took him to Moraband, the ancient Sith homeworld, where he faced visions of the future. At the end of his journey, the Force Priestess, Serenity, who had guided his journey, told him that there was another Skywalker, and Yoda heard his voice from the future say so as well.[25] These events not only alluded to the potential he would sense in Leia,[26] but to what Yoda would tell her twin brother, Luke, about Leia in his last words, before his death.[11]
Early life[]
Birth[]
- "It's a girl."
"Leia." - ―Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala
Leia Amidala Skywalker[27] was born on the asteroid of Polis Massa[13] two days after the end of the Clone Wars and the newly established Galactic Empire's purge of the Jedi Order.[2] She and her twin brother, Luke, who was born shortly before her, were the children of Republic Senator Padmé Amidala, who died shortly after the births, and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who had recently fallen to the dark side of the Force.[13] She was left with a lasting impression of images and feelings of her mother that her brother did not: that their mother was "very beautiful, kind, but sad."[11] Though Leia was unsure if she had really seen her mother or if she had just invented the memories to fill the hole in her life.[28]
Of the two Skywalker children, Yoda felt that Leia was more suited to be a Jedi, owing to her natural strength, will, and clarity (as opposed to her brother, who was impetuous, headstrong, unruly, and inattentive), wanting very much to train her.[26] However, to protect the children from the Empire, Darth Sidious, who ruled the Empire as Galactic Emperor Palpatine, and the now–Sith Lord Darth Vader, Senator Bail Prestor Organa agreed to adopt the infant Leia together with his wife, Queen Breha of Alderaan, while Obi-Wan Kenobi personally watched over Luke, who would live with their father's stepbrother Owen Lars and his wife Beru, on the planet Tatooine.[13]
Princess of Alderaan[]
- "My wife and I will take the girl. We've always talked of adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us."
- ―Bail Organa
Through adoption, Leia Amidala Skywalker became Leia Organa, formally becoming heiress of the Royal Family of Alderaan[27] through the Name Day ceremony.[14] Although it was common knowledge that she was adopted,[29] and everyone assumed that she was just another of the many, many children left orphaned by the Clone Wars,[28] she remained unaware of her biological parents' fates.[13] When Leia was an infant, she was mesmerized by the fish in an aquarium while her adoptive father read secret files concerning the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano's presence on the agrarian moon of Raada. Bail later carried her after reading the files.[30] On one occasion when Leia was a toddler she escaped from her bath and ran wet and naked into the formal dining room interrupting a diplomatic dinner and causing WA-2V to chase after her.[14]
Leia was eventually told that her birth father had died during one of the last battles of the Clone Wars and that her birth mother had been injured and only lived long enough to give birth to her. However, Leia had no interest in her birth parents seeing her adoptive parents as the only family she ever needed. Often when Leia went to sleep her parents would tell her that they had waited a long time for a child, as part of the story about when her father had come home from some "mysterious mission" to surprise her mother with a baby girl in her arms.[14]
As a small child, Leia believed that the glowing coming from inside her mother's chest was a bouquet of blooming candlewick flowers. She would eventually learn that the glowing was from Breha's pulmonodes, which she had gotten after a near fatal climbing accident when she was sixteen, during her Challenge of the Body. She told Leia that she had chosen not to cover them up with skin through bacta sessions, as they were proof that she had survived. Leia would eventually go on to meet other people with the same cybernetics.[14]
Sometime after her fourth birthday, Leia received her "big girl bed," which made her realize that she was too old to sleep in her parent's bed. Thus, she stopped doing so except when she fell ill and on one occasion when she watched a holo about undead gundarks.[14] During her childhood, Leia was taught by her father to appreciate the effort of Alderaan's workers, but also the importance of her duties as the planet's eventual queen[31] and by her mother, that the life of royalty could be a very lonely and isolated one.[14] She would often stand alongside her parents, waiting through Alderaan's endless royal ceremonies, knowing that she could let no emotion show on her face.[17]
Leia considered her adoption by the Organas to be a privilege accompanied by duty and sacrifice. Ruling Alderaan would require giving up her freedom, her dignity, and even her private self in the service of a larger whole, but she worked hard to fulfill her parents' dreams for her and to be worthy of someday ruling her planet.[32] Leia was also reared by several aunts, who gave her etiquette lessons to turn her into a proper patrician,[33] and lectured her about maintaining her appearance and the company she kept[17] and schooled her in diplomacy-the skill of handling delicate relations.[34] Although Leia genuinely loved them, she refused to let them mold her into a simpering princess whose only aim in life was to find a suitable husband.[33] She once complained to one of her aunts that "being a princess had to be about more than silently doing one's duty," but her aunt replied with a sad smile that she had just described most of a princess's job.[17]
Leia also had educational droids for standard academic subjects and a dozen tutors in subjects such as pathfinding, diplomacy, piloting, navigation, and hand-to-hand-combat.[14] Leia also studied galactic politics, manners and rhetoric and took part in composition classes and diplomacy workshops.[34] Leia also attempted to get the hang of basic accounting during her childhood as her mother, as Alderaan's queen, had of the royal books and had to personally oversee the funding of all public works on the planet. Leia did well enough at it but hated every moment and within a week Breha released her with "a hug and a laugh." When Leia had tried protesting that she would need to learn if she was going to be queen Breha jokingly responded that all she needed to do was fall in love with someone who liked bookkeeping as then she could make her viceroy do it.[14]
Continued childhood[]
On one occasion when Leia was young, Bail, while he and Leia sat by the hearth in the royal family's private library, explained to her that the people of Alderaan loved and were loyal to the royal family as they showed them love and loyalty in return and that if they ever ceased to appreciate those around them, "from the highest lord to the humblest labourer," not only would they lose that loyalty, they would deserve to lose it. On another occasion Bail cradled Leia in his lap and pointed her towards the famous Alderaanian mountain Appenza Peak and told Leia about how her mother had had to climb the mountain "all by herself" to become crown princess, something that greatly shocked the young Leia who couldn't even climb into her high bed without 2V's help.[14]
Breha would also chase Leia around the palace with her hair down and her dressing gown flowing behind her and with Leia trusting her mother to be no more than a few steps behind.[14] At one point, Leia escaped from the care of her nanny droid and ran through the gardens of the royal palace before finding her adoptive mother, Breha, reading in front of a statue of Leia's biological mother, Padmé Amidala. Staring up at the statue, Breha began to explain Amidala's long history, mesmerizing Leia. Breha began by explaining her start as an Apprentice Legislator in the Royal House of Naboo and the beginning of her long and arduous political career from a very young age. She went on to explain the hardships she had faced while serving the government of Naboo, including her election as queen and the Invasion of Naboo[35] in 32 BBY.
Calmly passing through her time as queen, Breha continued by explaining that Amidala may have been a capable fighter on the battlefield, but the most important battles she ever fought were in the Senate, using her words as her weapon as opposed to her blaster, and that she would continue to fight in the Senate until lasting peace was brought to the galaxy. Finally, Breha explained that Amidala had been a beacon of hope for the entire galaxy and that even though she had passed on, her symbol, her spark, remained. Ending her speech, Breha finally came to the point of what she had wished to say to Leia, explaining that the spark of hope that Amidala had left upon the galaxy continued to live inside Leia, a spark that would one day reignite hope within the galaxy.[35]
During her childhood, Leia didn't have many friends her own age as, despite how egalitarian the Alderaanian monarchy was, there was always a dividing line between those who lived in the palace and those who lived outside its walls. Leia would gambol around on the rolling ground with some of the cooks' children but for the most part Leia's companions had been her parents.[14] At one point during her childhood, the princess met her first member of the Wookiee race, who was a guest of her father's at a state dinner. That guest made a strong impression on her and, eventually, Bail Organa gifted her daughter a Wookiee doll, which she came to regard as some sort of guardian, watching over her in her room.[36] By the time she was six, Leia had met a king for the first time.[14]
In 10 BBY,[37] a week before her ninth Name Day Leia had hidden behind the screens in the palace's banquet hall when her parents had been dining alone. Being 'young and self-centred' Leia assumed they'd probably be discussing her presents. Instead, they'd been laughing and flirting, and Leia had ended up scurrying out red faced in time to avoid an unwelcome lesson in what spouses did together in their private hours. This event had caused Leia to not venture behind the screens again[14] till 3 BBY.[38] In 10 BBY,[3] the nine-year-old princess ran away from the royal palace for the first time. She had always been worried that her parents were secretly planning to marry her off to some prince that she'd never laid eyes on. Leia hid in the woods for a week where she learned to hunt and survive in the woods until her parents' guards finally tracked her down. She later remembered that incident as the "best week of her life."[39]
Abducted on Alderaan[]
- "I'm not even a real Organa."
"Don't ever say that. You are our child. You are an Organa in every way." - ―Leia and her father
Before a visit by her aunt's family[40] in 9 BBY,[41] Organa had her alien friend impersonate her to prank her mother. Instead of dressing up for the occasion, Organa spent time in the nearby woods, watching starships depart together with her toy droid, L0-LA59 "Lola." After getting picked up from the forest by her mother and two Alderaanian guards, Organa was present at the landing dock with her family to receive the guests—aunt Celly, uncle Kayo, and cousin Niano Organa.[40]
During the ensuing reception, Organa engaged Niano, who berated her for being polite to a droid and called her out for being adopted and thus not a "real Organa." The princess retorted by calling out Niano for being insecure. Later, she was told by her mother to apologize to Niano, and her father reassured her that she was an Organa in every way. Agreeing to apologize to her cousin, Organa instead ran into the nearby woods with Lola.[40]
Unbeknown to the Organa family, the Third Sister, an Inquisitor seeking to lure out the fugitive Jedi Master Kenobi, had hired Vect Nokru to kidnap Leia, hoping that her father would contact his old friend Kenobi. As Leia ran in the forest, she was ambushed by Nokru and his two associates, who pursued the princess, shooting an Alderaanian guard in the process. Departing for the planet Daiyu, where the Third Sister planned to ambush Kenobi, the criminals tied Organa in a room aboard the starship. While attempting to free herself with the help of Lola, Nokru entered the room and took the toy droid, tossing it onto the floor.[40]
Danger on Daiyu[]
On Daiyu, Organa was taken to The Den, a spice laboratory where she was imprisoned in a backroom. The Third Sister's suspicions were correct, as the princess' father indeed reached out to Kenobi and managed to convince him to embark on a mission to rescue Organa. Following Bail Organa's lead to the planet, Kenobi eventually infiltrated The Den after advice from con artist Haja Estree. After overpowering Nokru and his crew, Kenobi found the room where Organa was being held and managed to convince her that he was there to rescue her on her father's behalf. The Third Sister, however, learning of Nokru's failure, placed a bounty on Kenobi; now chased by bounty hunters and criminals, Organa and Kenobi switched clothes to avoid attracting attention.[42]
As the two traversed Daiyu City to the Daiyu spaceport, Organa was unconvinced that Kenobi was a real Jedi, asking him multiple times to prove it. The two were attacked by a bounty hunter, whom Kenobi dispatched, with Organa correctly deducing that she was being used as bait after she saw a hologram of Kenobi. No longer believing Kenobi to be sent by her father, the princess fled through the city streets with Kenobi in pursuit. Their chase attracted the attention of bounty hunters, however, with several targeting Kenobi as he pursued the fleeing Organa across rooftops. Reaching the end of a roof, Organa attempted to make the jump to another building but fell short; as she was falling to her demise, Kenobi used the Force to levitate her safely to the ground, and Organa finally believed that Kenobi was a Jedi.[42]
Arriving at the spaceport, Organa and Kenobi witnessed Imperial forces—including stormtroopers and Inquisitors—locking down the facility to prevent all travel. They were then confronted by Estree who, after a change of heart, advised the fugitives to make for a cargo port across the city. Before Organa and Kenobi could enter a cargo transport, however, the Third Sister arrived in the hangar and prepared for a confrontation with Kenobi. While Kenobi prepared for a showdown, Organa ran to the transport, where she watched as the Third Sister taunted Kenobi. Before a confrontation between the two could occur, however, the Third Sister's superior, the Grand Inquisitor, arrived at the hangar and told her to stand down. Unwilling to let the Grand Inquisitor take credit for the capture of Kenobi, the Third Sister stabbed her superior in the abdomen, allowing Organa and Kenobi to escape aboard the cargo transport, bound for the planet Mapuzo.[42]
Peril on Mapuzo[]
- "I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't mean to run away. I used to do it all the time. I just…It was just for fun."
- ―Leia Organa to Obi-Wan Kenobi
As the shuttle traveled to its destination, Leia asked Kenobi if they were almost there and if he could use the Force to make it get them there faster. He told her that the Force didn't work that way, which prompted her to ask how it worked and what it felt like. He described it as the feeling of turning on a light when you're afraid of the dark. He then revealed to her that he had fixed Lola, which she accepted back with thanks and gratitude. The cargo shuttle soon after landed on Mapuzo, which was under the control of the Galactic Empire. Kenobi told Leia to pretend to be his daughter and that they were farmers from Tawl, asking her to use a fake name and to not talk to anyone.[43]
The two eventually reached the rendezvous point, but Haja Estree's contact was nowhere to be found. Leia waved down a nearby vehicle and convinced the driver, a man named Freck, to drive them to the nearest space port. Freck agreed, and they climbed on the back. Along the way, Freck revealed that he was a staunch supporter of the Empire, which "Luma" and "Orden" agreed to avoid suspicion. Soon after, Freck stopped and offered a ride to a squad of traveling stormtroopers. Leia told the troopers that the reason that they came to Mapuzo was because it was her mother's homeworld. Trying to corroborate, Kenobi accidentally referred to Leia by her real name, which caught the attention of the troopers. Kenobi quickly covered the mistake by claiming that "Luma" simply reminded him of her deceased mother "Leia." Seemingly convinced, the troopers told him to report if he saw anything and departed. Because of the story he gave, Leia questioned if Kenobi knew her "real" mother, believing that he had been lying and hiding something from her the entire time. She even asked if he was her birth father, which he denied. Leia shared with Obi-Wan that she frequently thinks of what her birth family looked like, with which Kenobi empathized.[43]
The transport eventually arrived at an Imperial checkpoint, where stormtroopers had a Viper probe droid scan Kenobi, but he shot the droid with a blaster and started a fight between him and the troopers. One trooper held Leia and put a blaster to her head, ordering Kenobi to put his blaster down or he would shoot her. Kenobi pretended to put his blaster down before shooting the trooper. They were confronted by more troopers as they tried to escape, but Tala Durith, under the guise of an Imperial officer shot them down. She revealed that she was Estree's contact. She brought Leia and Kenobi to a nearby settlement and stated that they needed to lay low for a few hours until one of her pilots could take them off-world. While they waited for Tala, Leia clutched Lola and expressed regret for running away, saying that she didn't mean for all of this to happen and that she wanted to go home. Kenobi assured her that it wasn't her fault. The two took shelter in Durith's workshop, where she introduced Leia to her loader droid, NED-B, who Leia then introduced to Lola. Tala revealed that she secretly works to help Jedi and other Force-sensitives, which Leia was intrigued by. When night fell, the trio departed for the spaceport, but Kenobi sensed a disturbance in the Force as Darth Vader arrived with inquisitors and Imperial forces, terrorizing civilians, and killing at random to draw Kenobi out. Kenobi told Tala to get Leia to Alderaan while he distracted Vader. As Durith and Leia headed to the spaceport, Leia convinced Durith to return and help Kenobi, and that she could reach the ship by herself. Durith reluctantly agreed and left Leia alone to go back and help Kenobi. However, as Leia headed to the ship, she ran into the Third Sister, who had arrived first and killed the pilot. The inquisitor tried to win Leia's trust, but Leia, sensing danger, instead turned and ran,[43] though the inquisitor eventually caught her and took her prisoner.[44]
Prisoner of Fortress Inquisitorius[]
- "You can't keep me here. My father is Bail Organa, he's a senator. I am a princess of Alderaan!"
- ―Leia Organa to her captors in the Fortress Inquisitorius
Leia was taken to and held in the Fortress Inquisitorius on the ocean moon of Nur. At one point, she defiantly told her stormtrooper captors that she was the daughter of a senator and a Princess of Alderaan, and thus could not keep her there. The Third Sister Reva then entered the interrogation room, stating that the Empire didn't tolerate Jedi sympathizers. She also claimed that Kenobi was dead and that nobody was coming for Leia. She then told Leia that the Inquisitors intercepted a transmission on Balnab the previous year, which exposed a secret network known as the Path and later uncovered another safehouse in two systems. She asked Leia for her help in locating other members of the Path. When Leia asked how Kenobi died, Reva claimed that he was burned to death on Mapuzo. She further claimed that the other members of the Path abandoned Kenobi and then offered to let Leia return to her family if she revealed where the Path was. Leia replied that she didn't know anything about the Path, prompting the Inquisitor to reiterate her demand.[44]
Reva performed a mind probe of Leia, who remained defiant, leaving Reva unable to breach her mind and extract any information. While Reva was distracted, Leia released L0-LA59 from her pocket, but Reva caught the droid before it could do anything. She revealed to Leia that she had a droid when she was younger but that it was taken from her. Reva attempted to secure Leia's cooperation by claiming that the people she was trying to protect were not coming for her and that she alone could save herself from pain before reiterating her question. Leia pretended to cooperate but asked Reva to promise that nobody will get hurt and if she could speak to her father. With Leia unwilling to cooperate, Reva ordered the stormtrooper guards to prepare Leia for torture. Leia remained defiant and vowed not to tell her captors anything. The stormtroopers fastened Leia into a torture harness while Leia cried for help. Reva became determined to extract the information that she believed Leia possessed through torture. As the machine lit up, the Third Sister gave Leia a final chance, but she refused to cooperate.[45]
However, Kenobi had not really died on Mapuzo, he and Durith had traveled to Jabiim and met up with the rest of the Path. Kenobi devised a plan to rescue Leia and asked the Path leader Kawlan Roken to help him accomplish it. He was reluctant but eventually agreed and helped Durith sneak into the Fortress disguised as an Imperial Officer, who then allowed Kenobi to swim in through the underside of the Fortress by opening it from the inside. As two needles approached Leia on the torture machine, Kenobi sensed that she was in danger and asked Durith to create a distraction. She sent an officer into the interrogation chamber saying she had a message, which successfully pulled the Third Sister away from Leia. Kenobi then shut down the lights in the interrogation chamber, took out both stormtrooper sentries with his lightsaber, and freed Leia from the torture harness. Leia was relieved that Kenobi was alive and told him that she did not tell the Empire anything.[44]
Leia and Kenobi were pursued by a seeker droid through the Fortress, just as the Fortress's alarms began to ring. Kenobi took out the pursuing seeker droid and stormtroopers with his lightsaber in the fortress' corridors, allowing him and Leia to flee into a tunnel. As Reva, a Purge Trooper, and stormtrooper reinforcements closed in on them, Kenobi deflected their blasts, sealing the blast door on their end of the tunnel. While Kenobi used the Force to delay a cracking window, Tala reunited with Leia. The Purge trooper and stormtroopers forced their way through the door and Kenobi released the broken window, causing the tunnel to flood and allowing the trio escape onto the other side of the tunnel after sealing the blast door. The three reached the main hangar, Kenobi hiding Leia under an Imperial greatcoat he decided to don.[44]
But before Leia, Tala, and Kenobi could escape, Reva and several Purge troopers and stormtroopers caught up with them, Reva motioning for the assembled Imperial soldiers to shoot them. Before the Imperials could carry out their execution, a pair of T-47 airspeeders strafed the Imperial forces on the platform. Leia, Tala, and Kenobi took advantage of the chaos to flee. Path member Sully Stark landed her airspeeder and evacuated Leia, Tala, and Kenobi. On the ride back to Jabiim, Kenobi sat beside Leia, who extended a hand to her rescuer. But Leia's droid Lola beeped and glowed red, the Third Sister having put a tracker in it.[44]
Jabiim and escape[]
- "I'm going to need a ladder."
- ―Leia Organa, to Roken
Upon arrival to Jabiim, after being greeted by the relived refugees, Leia and Kenobi ran into Haja Estree. Kenobi quickly sent Leia off to Tala while he spoke with Roken about getting the princess back to Alderaan. Roken explained that he would help however he could, but only after he'd gotten his people to safety; they'd already held off on getting them to safety in order to rescue Leia. Kenobi agreed, promising they'd do anything they could to help.
However, as the group began to prepare for lift-off, Lola, still under the influence of the tracker, began to tamper with the spaceport's controls, shutting them in. Upon overhearing Roken and Kenobi discussing the impossibility of their crawling in the vents to find the source of the problem due to their size, Leia volunteered her assistance. Roken initially dismissed her, but Kenobi convinced him to give her a chance to help, instructing Estree to watch over her.
As the Empire closed in on them, Leia worked to find the source of the shutdown. Upon finding it, the corrupted Lola lunged at the stunned princess, who quickly caught the droid and removed the restraining bolt that had been affixed to and corrupted the droid. Afterwards, Leia quickly located the source of the issue and fixed it, leaving the ship free to escape.
Understanding that Vader would allow his personal hate to overpower military logic, Kenobi decided to draw away the pursuing Imperials by leaving the freighter to catch Vader's attention. Although Organa was outraged that Kenobi was not keeping his word that they would stay together, the Jedi asked Haja Estree to bring her to Alderaan so he could confront Vader. Before Kenobi's departure, he met with her again to give her Tala's holster, but he did not give her the blaster due to her young age, which Organa quickly noticed. She also hid her droid Lola in the Jedi Master's robe to comfort him. Indeed, comforted upon noticing the droid after landing on a nearby barren moon, Kenobi then confronted Vader and drew on his memories of Organa and her secret twin to triumph over his former apprentice, whom he left beaten before returning to Tatooine in time to witness the redemption of Reva.[45]
Returning home[]
- "Princess Leia Organa, you are wise, discerning, kindhearted. These are qualities that came from your mother. But you are also passionate and fearless, forthright. And these are gifts from your father. Both were exceptional people who bore an exceptional daughter."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Leia
At the same time, Organa was returned home to Alderaan. Despite missing Lola, Organa dressed herself the following day and included Tala's holster in her outfit, which her mother quickly noticed but approved of. Walking out to the landing pad on the impression they would be welcoming another family visit, she asked her father, who noticed her new outfit, whether they could change the way their rules operated, which Bail agreed to. To her joy, it was Kenobi and Lola who then stepped out onto the landing pad, returning Lola to Organa's care. After Leia suggested the Jedi get rest, Kenobi admitted to the girl that he had known her birth parents and promised her they had passed down their gifts to her. Asking her to keep their friendship a secret to protect them both, Kenobi and Organa shared a hug and bid farewell.[45]
The young Organa's adventure with Kenobi was her first experience dealing with the true realities of galactic life in the Imperial Era:[47] whereas she had been told the Empire existed to protect the galaxy,[43] she had witnessed the day-to-day struggle of average citizens, the troubles brought on by piracy and corruption, and the crushing level of inhumanity displayed by Imperial agents. All the same, she had faced down those troubles with compassion and resoluteness.[47]
Teenage years[]
Learning skills[]
Once warned to stay away from Wilhuff Tarkin by her father, the Grand Moff made an official visit to Alderaan when she was thirteen. Leia crept along the halls of the palace behind the two men, listening to their cold, tense conversation. During the occasion, she realized he was nothing more than a merciless murderer and slaver.[33]
Leia followed her adoptive father's footsteps into politics, becoming a junior legislator by the age of fourteen.[12] On Leia's first trip to Coruscant[14] in 5 BBY,[48] to serve as an aide to her father, she had flown with her father there on the royal yacht Polestar where Bail pointed out landmarks making legendary places become real to her at last. Despite having grown up in palaces, Leia, like nearly everyone else, was overwhelmed by seeing the bustle and brilliance of Coruscant for the first time and Bail had laughed at her wide eyes.[14]
In Leia's teenage years, she learned to shoot with a Drearian Defense Conglomerate Defender sporting blaster pistol, one often used by aristocrats of her social standing.[49] Once she turned sixteen, Leia was allowed to receive some martial training with a personal instructor—her family had deemed necessary for her to learn the basics of self-defense, given her royal status and risk of abduction. She thoroughly enjoyed that training, which not only made her feel physically strong, but also allowed her to be released from the tension of her etiquette lessons. Thanks to her instructor, Leia learned to keep her mind clear and focused on the moment.[33] She was also taught how to ride, even becoming an Alderaanian junior champion in steeplechase.[17]
On one occasion, Leia was sparring against one of her family's servants outside the city, instead of being in language study, when her father picked her up. During their trip, she expressed her lack of enthusiasm in the politics her mother had to deal with, when the Viceroy explained to her what Alderaan meant, and what she would have to do one day as its queen—to carry on the legacy of Alderaan's harmonic culture with pride, even at the expense of what she wanted.[31] Bail also told her tales of the Jedi, defenders of the old Republic; the young princess also overheard him talking of Darth Vader's powers.[33]
Day of Demand[]
- "It is I, Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan. I come before you to hear you acknowledge that on this day it is known I have reached my sixteenth year."
- ―Leia Organa
Prior to her daughter's Day of Demand Breha had an in-depth discussion with Leia about love and duty, bringing the Rhindon Sword with her which she placed on Leia's bed. Breha explained the significance of the Rhindon Sword, such as how she would attach it to Leia's waist on her wedding day, and reassured Leia that when the time came, she would get to choose her own spouse.[50]
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday and on the sixteenth anniversary of her original Name Day, it was Leia's Day of Demand, which marked the day that the heir to the throne of House Organa would claim their right to it, hosted in the palace throne room. Leia wore a white dress with a cape, a silver headband with a pearl charm and had her hair done in the complicated traditional style. The outfit had been a compromise with a simple white dress for Leia and bold silver jewellery for 2V. As she held the Rhindon Sword, Leia presented Bail and Breha with her challenges to test her body, heart, and mind and prove her worthy to become queen of Alderaan. Leia was to climb the Appenza Peak, represent Alderaan in the Apprentice Legislature, and undertake missions of charity and mercy to needy planets paying all cost from her share of the royal purse. Several senators were in attendance including Mon Mothma of Chandrila. When the ceremony finished Leia curtsied towards her parents who beamed proudly before the guests started to crowd them Bail and Breha turned to greet them rather than congratulate Leia. Although Leia's distant cousin Lord Mellowyn of Birren told Leia that she was wonderful, Leia was still upset as she took this as confirmation of what she had suspected of the past six months, that her parents no longer cared and were ignoring her as they had begun ebbing away from her.[14]
Later that night, after 2V had left Leia's room as she was worried it put the princess in danger, Leia watched the thunderstorm outside, which she had recently discovered that she loved as she liked the wildness, the unpredictability and even the distant danger and she treasured it because it was one of the few things that she hadn't shared with her parents yet and belonged to her, from her window as she promised herself that the next day she would take up her next challenge and prove herself, doing something too great for her parents to ignored.[14]
Shortly after the Day of Demand ceremony, and three weeks before the next session of the Apprentice Legislature began, Leia undertook her first mission, where she traveled to Wobani to assist the population that was still suffering from the effects of the Commodities Enhancement Program. Captain Raymus Antilles accompanied her onboard the CR90 corvette Tantive IV. After distributing supplies to the starving population, Leia decided to take as many refugees as she could back to Alderaan with them. She and Lieutenant Ress Batten spoke with Imperial Major Tedam, who told her that she was not allowed to help the refugees. Undeterred, Leia hired around one hundred refugees and transported them back to Alderaan.[14]
On their way back to Alderaan, the Tantive IV passed through the Bryx sector. Leia saw the damaged Calderos Station, but before she could figure out who attacked it, TIE fighters ordered them to leave the sector. Little did she know, rebel forces working for her father had attacked the outpost. When she returned to Alderaan, Breha welcomed the refugees, bringing an entourage along to assist them, but demanded that Leia return with her to the palace.[14]
The two went to the royal family's private library where Breha lectured Leia on her actions on Wobani and not telling her parents about it. Breha told Leia that her actions ruined the work of Bail, Mothma and their allies in the senate to negotiate the relocation of the Wobani population. When Leia asked her about Calderos, she was warned not to go near dangerous places.[14]
Serving in the Apprentice Legislature and discovering a rebellion[]
- "For my Challenge of the Mind, I will no longer merely assist my father in the Imperial Senate but will also represent our world in the Apprentice Legislature."
- ―Leia Organa
Leia joined the Chandrilan Pathfinding Corps class led by Chief Pangie to train for her ascent of Appenza Peak. Her classmates were other Apprentice Legislators Chassellon Stevis, Harp Allor, Sssamm Ashsssen, Amilyn Holdo, and Kier Domadi, who also represented Alderaan. The class was organised by her mother who claimed it was to allow Leia to better get to know her fellow Apprentice Legislators, but Leia suspected that it was so that she didn't have to feel guilty about not spending time with her. As the class had been organised by Alderaan's queen the first lesson took place on Alderaan. Five hours later, the group came to a clearing where Pangie left the group on her hoversled telling them that she would send help to anyone not back at the chalet by nightfall but that they would be kicked out of the class. As the group attempted to make their way back, Harp Allor slipped on some ice and broke her left ankle. This caused the group to break into two with Leia being amongst those who chose to stay with Harp though Chassellon Stevis claimed that Leia only did so because her reputation would be ruined if it got out that she had left Harp. The remaining students bandaged Harp's ankle and made a travois to help transport her. Holdo, with the help of Ashsssen, managed to make a toboggan out of a tent which allowed them to travel down the mountain. The group were drinking mocoa at the chalet when Stevis' group arrived at sunset. The class would later practice on the Rivoche Ranges on the planet Eriadu before traveling to Coruscant to participate in government matters.[14]
At the opening of the Apprentice Legislature, where Leia wore a high collar purple dress, the guest speaker was the recently promoted Wilhuff Tarkin who made a speech before the Apprentice Legislature speaking about the interest the then Senator Palpatine had taken in him when he was a student and the importance of the Apprentice Legislature in the wider Empire. Though Leia privately disapproved of his views of the Apprentice Legislature she still clapped along with the others as Tarkin stepped down from the dais.[14]
Later the Apprentice Legislature attended the reception that celebrated Tarkin's promotion to Grand Moff where Leia gravitated towards the people she'd met in her pathfinding class. When Leia realised that Harp's sponsor, Winmey Lenz, was in attendance she felt sadness at her father not being there. Tarkin greeted several of the Apprentice Legislators and was intrigued by Leia, noting her violation of Imperial rules on Wobani, and wondered if she would become a similar senator to her father.[14]
At the first proper session of the Apprentice Legislature Leia watched as the others introduced themselves and learnt that Stevis had an interest in buying and refurbishing antique speeders, Holdo had an interest in astrology and Domadi had taken part in Clone Wars reenactments. Leia introduced herself as well, mentioning her status as princess, but couldn't think of something personal to add like everyone else had so simply told everyone that she liked storms. Later, during a debate over the location of a new Imperial Academy, Leia successfully argued for the planet Arreyel claiming that it was the planet that would best benefit from it.[14]
After making connections between hyperspace routes between Calderos Station and multiple nearby planets, and Arkanis, Leia attempted to discover the means of the attack on Calderos by investigating the mining world of Crait. She and Batten traveled to the planet in the Polestar. Upon their arrival, Leia was immediately detained by a group of what appeared to be insurgents, but once they learned she was the Princess of Alderaan, they brought her to their campsite, where Leia discovered Bail was operating a rebel base. Leia was shocked to learn that her father was operating an underground rebel group and was responsible for the attack on Calderos Station. Bail was equally shocked that despite the erased data, his daughter was able to track him. Bail and his personal diplomatic cruiser Tantive III escorted the Polestar home, and Leia erased the data upon Bail's request. He and Breha, who also helped run their operation, forbid Leia to talk about or become involved with their anti-Imperial efforts as they believed not getting her involved was the best way to protect her.[14]
Humanitarian missions and meeting Panaka[]
- "No other Imperial authority will be able to seize control very soon. For a few days, or even a few weeks, maybe the queen of Naboo can be a true queen again."
- ―Leia Organa, to Dalné after the assassination of Quarsh Panaka
Continuing her humanitarian work, Leia and Batten traveled to Onoam, one of Naboo's moons. While the Polestar hung in orbit Leia felt an unexpected pang as she looked at Naboo. Leia met with Queen Dalné at the secondary royal palace, who welcomed the opportunity for Leia to try to fix the massive strikes by the local workers who toiled in the Onoam mines. Leia met with Brel Ti Vorne, a representative for the miners, to whom Leia gifted five hundred sets of supplies, each consisting of safety belts, atmosphere masks, portable force fields that can purify air, and other safety gear. However, Ti Vorne told Leia that they could not accept the gifts because their Imperial overseers had been confiscating their equipment and selling it for profit.[14]
An outraged Leia arranged to meet with Moff Quarsh Panaka, who invited her and Queen Dalné to his chalet to discuss the issue over tea. After changing into the Naboo jubilation dress that was typically worn at times of rejoicing and for meeting officials for the first time. Once inside, Panaka greeted the pair but when his eyes turned to Leia they grew wide in shock and the tea from Panaka's cup began to splash onto the floor. The dress was worn previously by Amidala to celebrate the liberation of Naboo from the Trade Federation. Panaka noticed Leia looked like the late Queen Padmé Amidala, whom Panaka had been very close with.[14]
Panaka vowed to find the Imperial officials responsible, and then began to question Leia about her birth mother and father. When Leia revealed that she was almost exactly sixteen and adopted, knowing almost nothing about her birth parents, Panaka realized that she could be the Queen's daughter. Leia was confused, and a little uncomfortable, with Panaka's questions and left shortly after with Dalné but after a few steps outside the chalet a massive explosion destroyed the office, killing Panaka and throwing Leia and Dalné to the ground. Leia witnessed a miner in a breathing mask fleeing the scene. Stormtroopers secured the area and treated Leia and Dalné for minor injuries.[14]
Upon her return to Alderaan, Leia attempted to find out if her parents were involved in Panaka's death, an accusation that greatly angered her father, but Breha explained that the bombing was the work of an extremist group known as the Partisans led by a man called Saw Gerrera. Breha also explained to Leia that Bail was reluctant to accept that the rebellion needed to be on a large scale to be successful, due to his experiences in the Clone Wars.[14]
Soon after, Leia undertook another diplomatic mission to the sickened world of Chal Hudda. As diseases ravaged the swampy planet, Leia delivered vaccines to the ailing population. The Chalhuddan leader, Occo Quentto, at first refused the vaccines, but then agreed to take them by making a deal with Leia, wanting help not from 'saviors' but from equals. He agreed to do Leia a favor soon.[14]
Upon her return to Coruscant the next day, Leia would learn of the fate of Arreyel, the planet she lobbied to receive the next Imperial Academy. Imperial engineers had discovered a radiation source within the mantle of the planet, and Emperor Palpatine had given the population six weeks to evacuate without compensation so the energy could be used to power planet-wide Imperial factories. Compounding Leia's frustration, the Apprentice Legislatures received a special commendation for recommending Arreyel. A few days later Leia snuck into the passageways surrounding the palace's banquet hall, for the first time in years, where she overheard her parents and their allies discussing Panaka's death and weather to implore further violence into their plans.[14]
Then, Leia and the astromech droid R2-D2 brought relief to the planet Chasmeene, which was suffering after being punished for failing to meet Imperial quotas. They brought food, seeds, and agricultural equipment to help restart the economy. Leia went a step further by collecting evidence to prove the Empire had committed crimes against the people of Chasmeene.[14]
Leia brought the information to Mon Mothma in her office, but Mothma explained that it did very little as most of the galaxy already knew that the Empire was evil. Mothma did reassure her however that once the Empire was defeated this type of evidence would be important and that she should pay attention to what was going on around her.[14]
First actions as a rebel[]
- "You're learning the most powerful lesson of all, my daughter. You're learning how to fall."
- ―Breha Organa, to Leia, while climbing Appenza Peak
Leia would soon discover her parents were building a fleet over the planet Paucris Major. Bail forced Leia to swear an oath of secrecy before she accompanied him to Coruscant to serve as his senatorial aide. During her duties, she once again ran into Grand Moff Tarkin, who had called her into his office. Tarkin pretended to show concern for her and bragged to Leia about Imperial security forces, including noting the Empire was trying to achieve peace in the Paucris System. Realizing Tarkin was telling her that they had discovered rebel forces in the system, Leia raced to warn her father, but when she was unable to contact him, she contacted Breha and Mon Mothma. After telling them, Mothma told Leia to go to Paucris Major and warn them of an impending attack. However, the Polestar was on Alderaan, so Mothma gave Leia credits to hire a ship.[14]
Leia ran into Stevis and Holdo at the spaceport trying to hire the Mighty Oak Apocalypse to take Stevis to a speeder auction on Arkanis and Holdo to Gatalenta to participate in a meditative retreat. Holdo, who knew of Leia's rebel connections, convinced Stevis to stay behind and allowed Leia to hire the Mighty Oak Apocalypse to travel to the planet Pamarthe. Leia explained her mission to Holdo, who understood the importance of helping her friend and joined her. However, once they arrived on Pamarthe, they learned that a storm was preventing all ships from leaving the planet. Thinking fast, Leia found a Chalhuddan ship. She told them to contact Occo Quentto, who told his men to bring them to Paucris Major to repay his debt to her.[14]
They arrived in the Paucris System and Leia broadcast a message to the rebels, telling them that Tarkin had discovered them. The rebels began to evacuate their base and initiated self-destruct protocols on the orbital landers to destroy all evidence. As the ships began to jump away, Leia and Holdo were the only ones left to witness a concerned Domadi arriving in the system in a starcutter civilian transport. Unfortunately, he landed at the platform, unaware that it was about to self-destruct. He was mortally wounded when the platforms exploded. Leia flew their ship over to save him, but it was too late. He died in Leia's arms, asking her to turn over the information he had gathered on the rebellion to the Empire, to put the needs of Alderaan above the rest of the galaxy. Then, an Imperial ship arrived, and Holdo pretended they were an astrological survey group, convincing the Imperials to let them go. Domadi was brought back to Alderaan, where his family was told that he died saving Leia from a small-craft accident in Alderaan's atmosphere. Leia swore to help her parents with their rebellion moving forward.[14]
Shortly after, Leia was officially invested as crown princess of Alderaan. The night before, Leia gave her keepsake chest to her father to show that she had outgrown her use for it. Mon Mothma was present at the ceremony along with Batten, Holdo, and Stevis. Her father placed the Heir's Crown on her head and, as she looked at Alderaan through the stain glass windows of the throne room, she thought of how her friends, her parents and her world were things that the Empire could never take away from her.[14]
Relief mission to Lothal[]
- "But you're a Princess; you don't have to risk your life doing this!"
"I feel like because I can fight, I have to, for those who cannot. And I think you might be the same way." - ―Leia Organa and Ezra Bridger
In 3 BBY,[3] Organa, while serving as her father's aide in the Imperial Senate, devised a plan to give the rebels three Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes, ostensibly by going on a relief mission on Lothal, where the rebels would apparently steal the ships. She was greeted by Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, who were respectively disguised as a stormtrooper and an Imperial cadet, as well as Lieutenant Yogar Lyste, who knew that Organa often had a large majority of her ships become "stolen" by rebel agents. Consequently, Lyste implemented stricter security measures against what he assumed was another "meddling delegation from Alderaan," ultimately complicating her plan to transfer the cruisers to the rebels by placing gravity locks on the ships, along with ordering two AT-ATs to guard them.[51]
Organa then requested she use Lyste's shuttle, and she flew with Jarrus and Bridger to former Governor Ryder Azadi's hideout. Upon arrival, they found stormtroopers had apprehended Ryder. The Ghost appeared and opened fire: Jarrus, Bridger, and Organa feigned being taken hostage by Ryder and the crew. On board, Organa bonded with Bridger after learning he had recently lost his parents, assuaging his fears the rebellion might not be worth fighting. They then resolved to find a way to steal the corvettes.[51]
Still disguised, Jarrus and Bridger used the Phantom to escort Organa back to the depot, distracting a surprised Lyste while Ryder, Sabine Wren, and C1-10P disabled the gravity locks and commandeered the ships. During the ensuing firefight, she saw Jarrus use his lightsaber to down an AT-AT, and Bridger use telekinesis to disarm a pair of stormtroopers, which gave her the opportunity to grab one of the rifles and use it against the troopers. When Bridger boarded the last corvette, she ordered him to make it appear they were struggling and stun her. When Lyste came to her aid, she berated him for his failure, and requested a shuttle home, taunting Lyste for having lost his own.[51]
After her mission to Lothal, Organa sent a classified communique to Mon Mothma, agreeing with General Jan Dodonna's assessment that the nascent Alliance to Restore the Republic's strongest starfighter assets would be the X-wing starfighters, A-wings, UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support crafts, and A/SF-01 B-wing starfighters. She then informed Mothma of a potential manufacturer that would allow them to manufacture X-wings in secret, asserting that it would not be enough to steal ships for the Rebel Alliance Navy.[52]
Bounty of trouble[]
- "Leia, you keep fighting on the inside. I'll keep fighting on the outside."
"I hope one day we can fight together." - ―Sabine Wren and Leia Organa
Sometime after the mission on Lothal,[54] Organa was escorted by two stormtroopers in Garel City on the planet Garel. As the group passed a doorway, the Mandalorian rebel Sabine Wren distracted the troopers with a yellow paint bomb and kidnapped the princess via a lasso. Before the stormtroopers realized what had happened, Wren shut the gate. Inside the gate, Sabine introduced herself to Leia and told her that she had been sent to "capture" her and collect a data tape valuable to the rebellion. Organa told Wren that she had hidden the data tape from the Empire to prevent the government from learning she was working with the rebellion.[53]
Meanwhile, the stormtroopers were using an arc welder to cut through the door. With their time running out, Organa and Wren retrieved the data tape from an interface unit, with Leia telling Sabine that the tape would provide the rebellion with the locations of several Imperial bases. Before they were allowed to escape, the droid bounty hunter IG-88 cornered them with a blaster. Wren detonated a second paint bomb and confused the bounty hunter. The duo returned to the blaster, with Wren hiding in a corner away from the stormtroopers. When the troopers managed to get through the door, Organa told them to defend her from IG-88. While the troopers and the droid bounty hunter exchanged fire, Leia and Sabine snuck outside. Organa handed Wren the data tape. Sabine thanked Leia before the princess headed back to the building, hoping that one day they could fight together.[53]
Imperial senator[]
- "It will be nice to have such a pretty face in the Senate."
- ―Emperor Palpatine to Leia Organa
Leia eventually took her father's place in the Imperial Senate, becoming the youngest senator elected. Her aunts protested and argued that she'd be better off finding a prince for husband, whereas the press claimed she was a "princess playing dress-up" and not a real diplomat and politician. Spending the days leading up to her election listing out her grievances, intent on addressing the Emperor directly and bluntly, Leia was presented by her father to Emperor Palpatine on Coruscant, with all the newly elected officials. However, when she met the Imperial ruler, she was frightened by his disturbing aura of evil that she was left speechless and dropped into a half-curtsy. At some point, Organa met the Emperor's apprentice and enforcer, Darth Vader (both unaware that they were biological father and daughter) and dealt with him.[33] In her early days at the Senate, Organa discovered that betrayal always came from those who acted the friendliest.[55]
Despite her sincere desire for real change and reform, Organa soon realized that no other senator seemed to share her ideals,[33] as the Senate had become a mere ceremonial institution that sycophantically validated Palpatine's every decree,[56] and no delegate ever dared test the Emperor's patience. Unable to understand how the other senators could ignore the Empire's crimes in the Outer Rim Territories, Organa devoted herself to aid the suffering across the galaxy. On one occasion, she rescued an orphaned baby Wookiee from the ruins of a village destroyed by Imperial forces. Yet, to her annoyance, the first question she was asked was who she was wearing, and the media continued to reduce her to the label of princess, paying no attention to her humanitarian work.[33]
Eventually, Leia's leadership and diplomatic skills made the public come to care about her, enough that any whisper of mistreatment would "set the HoloNet on fire."[33] During her tenure as an Imperial senator, Organa had to deal with the Givin, a mathematically inclined species. At the time, she memorized a few equations that proved useful when she dealt with Givin and their custom of greeting maths.[55] At some point, she argued in favor of a bill that would tighten the labor rights of refugees, therefore keeping them safe from exploitation. The bill passed and cost chief operating officer for one of Coruscant's biggest manufacturing plats billions, eventually resulting in the COO putting a bounty out on Organa and fellow bill supporter Mon Mothma.[50]
Eventually, Leia would join the Alliance to Restore the Republic, seeing it as her chance to help the galaxy, shortly before her mission to Tatooine.[33] Weeks before the mission, Organa attended a reception and ball at the Imperial Palace, like many other members of the Imperial Senate. This was just a few days after she delivered a speech in the Senate about increasing Alderaan's mercy missions to outlying systems the Empire had forgotten or neglected. Despite her popularity, her speech received mixed criticisms, as many in the Core Worlds believed that the Empire was already providing the necessary aid and that Alderaan's "meddling" was becoming too important. During the ball, Organa danced with Imperial cadet Thane Kyrell; he, however, noticed she was paying little attention to him, likely because she was distracted and had a lot on her mind.[57]
Galactic Civil War[]
A diplomatic mission[]
- "Your Highness. The transmission we received. What is it they've sent us?"
"Hope." - ―Raymus Antilles and Leia Organa
During the Galactic Civil War, after the transference of the Alliance's headquarters from Dantooine to Yavin 4, and a battle for the technical readout of the Death Star,[58] Organa volunteered for the mission to transport the plans, against the wishes of her father. He reluctantly allowed her to go but requested that she seek General Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine after intercepting the plans.[33]
Originally Admiral Raddus was intended to escort Organa to Tatooine to meet with Kenobi. Raddus's ship,[59] the Profundity,[60] however, was diverted to Scarif once the fighting began.[59] A squadron of Rebels calling themselves "Rogue One" managed to obtain the plans and beam them to Raddus' ship. The plans were copied onto a datacard by a squadron of Rebel soldiers still on the Profundity, which had been disabled by the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Devastator. Darth Vader led a boarding party onto the ship and massacred the entire squadron, but not before a fleet trooper handed the disc off to another man, Toshma Jefkin. He barely escaped Vader and got aboard the Tantive IV, which promptly detached from the Profundity and fled from the battle, setting a course for Tatooine with the plans for the superweapon. Vader, however, had spotted the Rebel ship and began tracking it to Tatooine,[58] later issuing an arrest-on-sight decree for the capture of Organa.[61]
Before jumping to lightspeed, Captain Antilles personally handed Senator Organa the datacard carrying the plans and asked her what they had been sent by the Rogue One squad; smiling, she replied with a simple enigmatic word: "hope." Minutes later, Leia learned from the ship's senior officers that the Tantive IV's impaired hyperdrive was causing it to leave a residual energy signature which could allow the Empire to track the ship. To make matters worse, she also learned that the ship's weapons and shields were barely functional because of the attack on the Profundity, whose feedback had affected the Tantive IV. The bosun then informed Leia that the Empire had issued a priority red directive to stop all ships matching the description of a CR-90 corvette.[62]
The crew of the Tantive looked to the princess for guidance,[62] believing that she would be able to lead them out of the tangled net they found themselves in.[33] After a brief exchange with Jefkin, a man visibly shaken by what he had seen aboard the Profundity, Organa and Captain Antilles shared a grim realization that Darth Vader himself was after them as well. At a quarter of a parsec from their destination, the motivator on the ship finally gave out, forcing them to rely on sublight speed for the rest of the journey to Tatooine. Before they could reach the planet, however, their ship was hit by a Star Destroyer.[62]
Captured by the Empire[]
- "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan."
"You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!" - ―Leia Organa and Darth Vader
As Organa and her ship approached Tatooine, Captain Antilles ordered the crew to fire back at the Star Destroyer, but their efforts were of little use;[62] the Devastator, the ship that had hunted them from Scarif,[63] had caught them in a tractor beam right above the planet. As stormtroopers led by Darth Vader boarded the Tantive IV, Organa ran through the access hallways of the ship with the datacard in hand, desperate to find a way to deliver them to safety. Amid the shadowy corridors, she encountered R2-D2 and realized that the astromech could conceal the tapes.[33]
Before she could instruct the droid of her plans, she was met by Antilles, who urgently requested that the senator flee in an escape pod. Organa, however, had other ideas and, after sharing a bittersweet goodbye with her old friend, ordered the captain to save as many members of the crew as he could.[62] Alone with R2, she recorded a message for General Kenobi, begging him to return from exile to deliver the plans to her father on Alderaan. After finishing her message, the princess inserted the data card into the astromech and instructed him to take his own escape pod to Tatooine below. She then parted ways with R2 as his counterpart, the protocol droid C-3PO, approached. Watching the droids as they scampered away, Organa drew her blaster and prepared to find her own way off the captured vessel.[33]
In another part of the ship, Antilles was captured and killed by Vader, who commanded his soldiers to hunt Organa down and bring her to him alive.[9] Retreating further into the access hallways, the princess found herself cornered by a squad of stormtroopers led by TK-9091, who spotted the visage of Organa's pale white dress within the dark corridor. Hoping to buy time for R2 to escape, the senator blasted the trooper and attempted to run in the opposite direction,[33] but she was rendered unconscious by a stun blast from TK-4601 and collapsed to the floor. While she lay on the ground, the trooper, whose birth name was Tarvyn Lareka, pondered how a beautiful individual like the princess could coldly kill his Imperial comrades. As Organa came to, she attempted to resist against the stormtroopers, but Lareka forced her into a pair of stuncuffs and threatened to blast her again. Before she was escorted to Vader, Lareka spontaneously removed his helmet and locked eyes with Organa, reminding her that the troopers she fought were flesh and blood. However, this act also reminded Lareka of this fact as well.[63]
The other soldiers shoved her back through the main corridors and past the lifeless bodies of the rebels who had died defending the princess, including Antilles.[33] She was brought before Vader, who had witnessed the Tantive's escape from Scarif.[58] Even still, Organa defiantly feigned ignorance of the Sith Lord's accusations, refusing to acknowledge that she had any part in the theft of the plans. Growing angry with the fiery senator, Vader ordered her to be taken aboard the Devastator and commanded his subordinate Daine Jir to inform the Senate that Organa and the other passengers had mysteriously died.[9]
Once aboard the Star Destroyer, Leia managed to incapacitate her stormtrooper escorts and make her way to a hangar, hoping to take a shuttle and flee to Tatooine. Vader, however, had anticipated Organa's moves and met her in the landing bay. After stunning the princess by informing her that the Imperial Senate had been dissolved, the Sith Lord brought her to the ship's command bridge. As the Destroyer exited hyperspace, Organa was able to see the Death Star in person for the first time as Vader promised that she would be its first "guest."[33] Organa's presence aboard the Death Star was kept a secret to all except for those who needed to know.[64]
Princess of dust[]
- "I grow tired of asking this, so it will be the last time. Where is the rebel base?"
"Dantooine. They're on Dantooine."
"There. […] Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready." - ―Wilhuff Tarkin and Leia Organa
The captive princess was transported to the Death Star and escorted to Detention Block AA-23. Her presence as a prisoner aboard the station was questioned by the officers who recognized her as an Imperial Senator, a designation that should have granted her diplomatic immunity. Nevertheless, Organa was locked away in Cell 2187, a small room that she unsuccessfully attempted to find an escape from. Although he technically had no proof that the princess was affiliated with the Rebel Alliance, Vader was more than certain of her deception and returned to her cell with an IT-O Interrogation Unit, an interrogator droid equipped with a powerful mind probe. Organa was submitted to the droid's truth serum, a drug that painfully altered her senses to coerce her into revealing the location of the Rebel base. Despite the persuasive hallucinations elicited by the serum, however, Leia resisted and refused to give up the information.[33]
Following her interrogation, Organa's life was scheduled to be terminated by the man she had met years ago, Grand Moff Tarkin, though the governor had one more tool to make her talk: Alderaan.[33] Within the overbridge of the Death Star, Organa was brought before Tarkin,[9] whom she mocked by imitating his accent.[12] To Organa's horror, he then gave her an ultimatum, threatening to use the station to destroy her homeworld unless she disclosed the base's location. Hoping to save both her people and her Alliance, the princess falsely confessed that the base was still on Dantooine.[33] Both Tarkin and Vader believed her deception, although one of the Navy Troopers present on the bridge sensed that Organa was lying. That individual, however, chose not to speak up after sympathizing with the pain the princess had endured under the interrogator droid.[65]
With the weapon already in position within the Alderaan system, Tarkin unveiled his own deception and fired upon the planet.[65] Praying that the Death Star would somehow have a failure,[66] Leia was forced by Vader to remain still and watch as her entire civilization was annihilated in one swift stroke,[65] her father[67]—whom she silently apologized to as the Death Star's ray hit Alderaan[66]—and mother included. Bail and Breha died without knowing Leia[67] was on the station above them,[9] although they assured each other she was alive directly before the explosion reached their palace.[67]
After Admiral Conan Antonio Motti confirmed the entire world had been destroyed, Tarkin ordered Organa be taken back to her cell, ignoring her protests. Escorted by stormtroopers, Navy troopers, and Vader himself, Organa left the room silently[68] but felt emotionally wrecked and utterly alone. The princess was taken back to her cell, where she was to await her imminent execution. Recalling her father's voice, Leia mustered what strength she could, her only hope of justice resting within the memory banks of a droid she had sent to Tatooine.[33]
Fateful meeting and daring escape[]
- "What the hell are you doing?"
"Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy." - ―Han Solo and Leia Organa, as the latter blasts a hole in the trash grate
While Organa was detained by the Empire, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO had come under the possession of her twin brother, Luke Skywalker, on Tatooine. Equally as unaware of his parentage as Leia, Skywalker discovered his sister's message and delivered the astromech to Obi-Wan Kenobi, now going by the name of "Ben." The group hired the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca for passage to Alderaan aboard the Millennium Falcon but were stunned to learn that the planet had been blown away. During this discovery, the Falcon was captured by the Empire and taken aboard the Death Star, forcing the fugitives to infiltrate the base, split up, and plan an escape. Upon learning that the princess was held within the station, however, Skywalker convinced the party to lead a rescue mission for her.[9]
Disguising themselves as stormtroopers and pretending to take Chewbacca as their prisoner, Skywalker and Solo marched into the Detention Level and freed Organa, who was underwhelmed by the duo's efforts until she learned that Kenobi had accompanied them. Cut off from the cell bay's exit by Imperial soldiers, Leia took matters into her own hands; grabbing hold of Skywalker's blaster rifle, she shot out the cover of a trash chute[9] she had noticed when she was first brought aboard[33] and led her would-be rescuers down into a garbage pit. After surviving an encounter with a dianoga and narrowly avoiding being crushed by the trash compactor, Organa came at odds with Captain Solo's rough nature and informed the trio that they would do as she told them in the future. The rebels were nearly able to regroup aboard the Falcon—a ship that failed to impress the princess—when Leia and Luke were separated from the group by stormtroopers during their escape.[9]
Pursued by Vader's troops, the twins found themselves at a dead end, coming to a stop over a chasm within the battle station. With stormtroopers firing upon them and no way to extend the bridge, Leia gave Luke a kiss on the cheek for luck as he used a grappling hook to swing themselves across the gap. The two met up again with Solo and Chewbacca and made their way to the Falcon. As the group boarded the freighter, Kenobi engaged Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel and gave his life to allow for the princess and the others to escape.[9]
The old Jedi's death devastated Luke, prompting Leia—who had herself experienced terrible loss— to comfort him as Solo piloted the ship away from the Death Star. After fending off the station's sentry fighters, the ship made the jump to hyperspace mostly undamaged. Organa correctly assumed that the Empire had planted a homing beacon on the vessel to discover the rebel base. Nevertheless, the group continued to Yavin 4, finally delivering the Death Star plans within R2 to the Alliance.[9]
Battle of Yavin[]
- "You're safe. When we heard about Alderaan, we feared the worst."
"We've no time for our sorrows, Commander. You must use the information in this R2 unit to help plan the attack. It's our only hope." - ―General Vanden Willard and Leia Organa
Arriving at the Yavin moon, Organa oversaw R2's transfer to General Vanden Willard at the Great Temple, the Alliance's base of operations. While Willard was quick to express his joy that the princess had escaped tragedy on Alderaan, Organa allowed no time for sorrow and quickly moved to have the data within the astromech droid analyzed. Utilizing the beacon attached to the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star entered the Yavin system and began preparations to fire on the moon.[9] Rumors made their way through the Rebel flight crews that Organa had returned with vital intelligence on the station, but morale remained low; pilots like Dex Tiree felt that the Rebellion's meager troopers were greatly outmatched, even with the plans the princess had secured.[69] Short on manpower, Organa commended Skywalker for his skills, prompting Willard to arrange a flight simulator test for the farm boy and allowing him to join the Alliance's Starfighter Corps.[33]
After analyzing R2's schematics, the Alliance discovered a flaw in the Death Star's design[9] deliberately created by the turncoat scientist Galen Erso.[58] General Jan Dodonna briefed Organa and the rest of the Rebellion, explaining that a direct hit on one of the station's thermal exhaust ports would destroy the entire base. With this information, the rebel pilots prepared to attack the Death Star in X-wing starfighters, small snub-fighters that could evade the station's larger defenses. During the preparations, Organa arranged for Solo to be paid the reward he demanded for her rescue and allowed the smuggler to leave, despite Skywalker's protests. Organa remained in the Alliance's command center as Red, Gold,[9] and Green Squadrons engaged the Death Star in the Battle of Yavin.[69]
Organa watched as the Alliance pilots were picked off one by one, obliterated by TIE fighters. Darth Vader himself would have destroyed Skywalker had it not been for Solo, who returned to aid the Rebellion aboard the Falcon and blasted Vader's fighter away from the battle. With no obstacles in his way, Skywalker successfully destroyed the Death Star just as it began its firing sequence,[9] sending the personnel on Yavin 4 into celebration. In the moments after their victory, Alliance chief mechanic Nera Kase witnessed the princess mouth words up to the sky before rushing out to greet the returning pilots.[70]
Aftermath of the Disaster[]
- "The mourning is endless: my father, my mother, my friends, my city, my world. Every time I fail, I fail them. And no victory is great enough to bring them back."
- ―Leia decades later writing her thoughts about the Disaster after she received the Rebel Files
After the surviving Rebel pilots returned from successfully turning the Empire's greatest weapon into nothing but a layer of dust orbiting Yavin,[72] the personnel of the Yavin 4 base honored the heroes by orchestrating an award ceremony for them.[9] As Organa waited for them to enter the hall, she felt entirely alone, even with other Alderaanians present that shared her loss of their world. With Alderaan destroyed and her parents with it, she would never become the queen her parents had prepared her to be. She was already prepared for a long war as ruling a planet and running a rebellion had much in common. She would not let her grief stop her, and she would celebrate their victory. When she saw the Heroes of the Rebellion enter the hall, she did not feel so alone.[32] Organa, wearing an Alderaanian gown,[73] handed out the medals to newcomers Skywalker and Solo.[9]
The time for celebration would soon be over. Painfully aware of the loss of Alderaan, she asked the Rebels to take a moment of silence to honor and remember all those who had died when her homeworld was destroyed. It was brief, for Dodonna announced their need to evacuate Yavin 4 since the Empire now knew of their location. Organa then shared a moment of banter with Solo and a moment of rapport with Skywalker before they parted ways. Left alone, Organa noticed a lone female pilot paying respects to the memorial statue of her parents, Bail and Breha.[74]
Hunted by the Empire[]
- "I am sorry my Queen."
"Don't address me that w—"
"It must be, my test will come soon. As we speak the Imperial are hunting down all surviving Alderaanians."
"All? How do you know?"
"Word travels through the Rebel forces too much to be simply rumor." - ―Evaan Verlaine and Leia Organa
Afterwards, Organa changed into a less luxurious outfit and asked Admiral Gial Ackbar to have an audience with Dodonna. The Mon Calamari pointed her in the right direction, and she approached Dodonna, who was busy searching for a location for the new Rebel base. She informed him that she yearned to assist, to scout for a new base location, but the General disagreed by telling her that the best thing for her to do at the time was to grieve her recent loss, given that the Empire had placed a 10,000,000 credit bounty on her just hours before, he stated the Princess would not leave Yavin "under anything less than a full military escort" and dismissed her.[74]
Defeated, she left and again briefly ran into Ackbar, but they quickly parted ways.[74] She continued to assist in the evacuation, but then she received word from Lieutenant Caluan Ematt, leader of the Shrikes—who was alone after the death of his team, and on the run from the Imperial Security Bureau. Organa then asked Solo to run an errand for the Rebellion, and rescue Ematt from Cyrkon. Ultimately, Solo accepted the mission, and he and Chewbacca rescued Ematt with the Falcon.[75]
Organa then focused on the evacuation effort once again, when she met the Rebel pilot from earlier, Evaan Verlaine, who revealed that the Empire was rumored to be hunting all surviving Alderaanians throughout the galaxy. Now aware of her people's situation, she enlisted both Verlaine and R2-D2's help for a self-imposed mission to save the survivors of Alderaan. With the astromech, she recorded a decoy hologram of herself, and sent it to Dodonna's quarters during the night, to apologize for disobeying his orders. Meanwhile, the trio made their escape from Yavin on a T-1 shuttle, but as they departed, they were pursued by Skywalker and Wedge Antilles on their X-wing starfighters.[74]
Nevertheless, Verlaine outsmarted them and made the jump to Naboo,[74] and landed on its capital, Theed. Posing as Imperial auditors, they came across a mural of the late Padmé Amidala (who unbeknownst to her, was her biological mother), and Organa momentarily saw the images' head turn to look at her, in what she dismissed as an illusion. They were soon approached by Lord Junn, her old friend, who invited them to his villa. Organa requested that Junn arrange their meeting with Mul Sanaka, owner of Club Deeja in Keren, and employer of the Melodic Order—the cloister of Alderaanian musicians they were looking for. When he did so, Organa, Verlaine, and R2-D2 made their way to the club and met Sanaka, with whom they tried to negotiate over the Alderaanians.[31]
However, Sanaka and his Besalisk guards tried to capture them, already aware of her identity. As Organa and her companions resisted, Sanaka attempted to kill her, foiled only by the intervention of Uwa Pareece, the Melodic Order's leader, who had been discreetly following the princess. Organa then had her lead them to the Order, whom she invited to follow her on her crusade. Once they agreed, Organa returned to Junn's palace, and made him explain why he had betrayed them to Sanaka. Finally, Organa demanded a luxury yacht with enough capacity to relocate the Melodic Order, and he agreed to give her the Lord Junn. Soon thereafter, the gathered Alderaanians departed for Sullust in the Outer Rim.[31]
Alderaan's survival[]
- "We're not our enemy. We are Alderaan. We answer rage with wisdom. We answer fear with imagination. We answer war with hope. If one life with a single drop of Alderaanian blood survives, Alderaan survives. If one life with passion for Alderaanian creativity survives, Alderaan survives. And we are, each of us, important. And whatever happens, I bow to all of you, and to our future."
- ―Leia Organa
The two starships soon arrived in the Sullust system, where Organa, Verlaine, and R2-D2 engaged the Sullustan Tivvy, who led them to the Alderaan Enclave. During the journey, an Alderaanian rifle squad tried to apprehend them, but Organa and her companions quickly disarmed them, and requested to see their leader, Preserver Jora Astane, who refused to submit to Organa's authority. She suspected her to be a traitor—particularly so after the replay of one of her ships' transmissions: Tace's innocent disclosing of their location to her sister, Tula, an Imperial under the watchful eye of Commander Dreed.[77]
Learning that Dreed's Imperial cruiser had entered Sullust's orbit, Astane ordered her men to kill Organa and Verlaine, forcing the two to escape into a polluted waterway beneath the Eyewell. From there, they herded rockrenders to attack stormtroopers in the battle against the Alderaanians in the Enclave above. Once the skirmish was over, and the Imperials had been defeated, Astane finally accepted Organa as their sovereign.[77]
On her request, Nien Nunb successfully led the Alderaanian survivors off Sullust, and Organa awarded him chalcedony waves from her late mother, only for Astane and Covis to bring Tace before her. Organa discussed the problem with Tace over some tea; knowing her to be innocent, Organa decided to draw her sister out. She then appointed Pareece and Astane to negotiate with the Alderaanians living in Espirion and had Tace ask Tula about her location. The plan backfired when Dreed threatened to kill Tula because of the inquiry, prompting Organa to trade herself for Tula on Skaradosh, where she met Dreed as she placed herself back in Imperial custody.[78] The Imperials were soon attacked by a group of her followers, including Verlaine and Nunb, before she could board Dreed's shuttle. On his Mellcrawler, Nunb smuggled them out of the system, outrunning Dreed's Star Destroyer on its way to destroy the Alderaanians on Espirion.[76]
Although surprised to see Espirion's orbit filled with starships of Alderaanian survivors who had gotten her message, Organa told the fleet to take battle stations. She also witnessed Tace and Tula's reunion, just before meeting with Pareece and Astane to talk about their failed mission to the planet below. This angered Organa, as she had been counting on Espirion's military support against the incoming Star Destroyer, but after Verlaine's encouraging words, Organa sent an inspiring message to her fleet—which R2-D2 retransmitted to the Alderaanians below, prompting Beon Beonel to send the Espirion Multi to destroy Dreed's cruiser.[76]
After a celebration held among the surviving Alderaanians, Organa told Verlaine of her return to the Alliance, given she had never intended to abandon it forever, for their people would never be safe while the Emperor was in control. Verlaine claimed they needed their princess, but Organa suggested that she should elect one then, appointing Verlaine as her would-be successor. Ultimately, Organa and R2-D2 returned to Yavin 4, where she reunited with Skywalker, Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO.[76]
Mission to Tibrin[]
Organa and Skywalker undertook a mission to Tibrin with Jaahn Liddle and Tadd. Posing as diplomats from Naboo's House Berenko, they were allowed to land in the capital of Tibrin. They were greeted by Mariod Govi, and they discussed the possibility of the Ishi Tib and Rebel Alliance working together. Suddenly, a squadron of stormtroopers attacked, and the Rebels tried to hold off the Imperials. A grenade knocked out Skywalker, and Organa fell from a platform but managed to hold on to the ledge. Organa could only watch as the stormtroopers dragged Skywalker onto their shuttle and flew away.[79]
Disguised as an Imperial officer transferred from the Malevolence to the Stormbringer, Organa snuck aboard the ship on which Skywalker was held captive. Using an explosion in the hangar, she took the clearance card of a stormtrooper and used it to find out where Skywalker was being held. She then crawled through ventilation shafts to come to Skywalker's position. Just before he was going to get tortured, Organa appeared and stunned the Imperials holding him. When they escaped, they had no place to run as there were Imperials everywhere. Skywalker convinced Organa to trust him, and together they got into an escape pod which they launched towards Tibrin. Just as the Stormbringer was about to fire on the pod, Marsheem-class heavy cruisers appeared from Tibrin's moon and attacked the Stormbringer, destroying it completely. Later, they said goodbye to the Ishi Tib and thanked them for their help.[80]
Aboard the Promise[]
- "When you get betrayed, it's never by someone who looks like Vader. Betrayal always comes wrapped up in a friendly cloak. It's one of the first things I learned in the Senate."
- ―Leia Organa to Luke Skywalker
With the Alliance Fleet hiding in the Sujimis sector over Orto Plutonia, Organa helped coordinate the Rebel efforts with the rest of the Alliance High Command, and in the company of C-3PO. During her stay on the Redemption, Organa suggested to Ackbar and Chancellor Mon Mothma that they sent someone to open a secret supply of weapons for the Alliance with the Chekkoo clan of Rodia, a mission for which Skywalker volunteered.[55]
Following his return from Rodia, Organa and Ackbar met with Skywalker as soon as he landed the Desert Jewel on the Promise to talk about his encounter over Llanic, during which he had saved a Kupohan ship from Imperial attack. Though he apologized for it, Organa revealed he had done the right thing, as the ship carried vital intelligence about a Givin cryptologist from Denon, Drusil Bephorin, willing to help the Alliance, if the Rebels were able to safely transport her and her family to Omereth. Organa and Ackbar assigned Skywalker, Nakari Kelen and the Desert Jewel to the mission, though Organa warned Skywalker not to trust blindly on Kelen. After their return from an errand for Kelen's father and the Jewel's modifications, Organa and Ackbar further debriefed Skywalker and Kelen, and she specifically instructed them to greet Bephorin with maths to earn her trust.[55]
The Dragon Void Run[]
- "Don't give up hope just yet. If there's one thing I'm sure of... Han Solo is a survivor. And he'll survive this."
- ―Leia Organa to Airen Cracken
Sometime after the outpost was established on Reamma, Organa sent rebel operatives Adame and Selentia after Solo and Chewbacca with a specific mission in mind for the smugglers. Leia sent a holographic message to Solo, telling him that the Alliance needed his ship and that there would be a reward.[82]
Rejecting the idea, Han confronted Leia on a rebel frigate. The two argued about the fact that she wanted to use his ship. As the duo continued to argue as they made their way through a hallway, General Airen Cracken, the head of Security and Intelligence for the Rebel Alliance, intercepted them. Cracken was unsure about Solo and the mission in general. Organa, however, vouched for him, even telling the general that he could do the mission himself. Although Cracken was hesitant, he agreed with Leia. They informed Solo of the mission, which was to find rebel informants, find a mole within the ranks, and prevent them from being murdered. They told him of the legendary Dragon Void Run, a dangerous race that made its way to three planets, each of which had a rebel informant on it. Due to the race's legendary status, Solo agreed. To make his reason for leaving convincing, Leia punched Han in the face, telling him to never come back. Solo and his co-pilot left the Alliance frigate and made their way to the race.[82]
When Solo and Chewbacca arrived on the first planet, Solo was promptly arrested by Imperial authorities. Organa and Cracken watched this on a viewscreen. Although Cracken thought the mission was compromised, Leia called Han a "survivor," knowing that he could get out of this situation. Chewbacca, however, found the first informant, a Duros named Bot. However, Solo was let go by the Imperials, and the race continued.[81]
Solo and Chewbacca continued the race and met another informant, Dorae, on the second planet. After making their way to the third planet, the duo found the final informant, an Elomin by the name of Aran, and his bodyguard, a Falleen named U'Il. When they left the third planet, everyone but the Elomin made their way to the cockpit. As Solo continued to race, the group found Aran murdered.[83] Through deduction, Han realized that it was Bot who had committed to crime under the influence of brainwashing. The Duros was subdued, and the race was finished. Solo and Chewbacca brought the remaining informants back to the Alliance. It was revealed that the bodyguard U'Il was the informant carrying a master list with names the rebellion needed to keep safe. She gave the list to Organa. She and Solo talked about him staying with the rebellion longer than he initially thought he would.[84]
Attack on Cymoon 1[]
- "Remind me never to attack another weapons factory."
- ―Leia Organa
Alongside Skywalker, Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO,[86] Organa led[16] a mission on the Imperial factory world of Cymoon 1, where they would infiltrate and destroy Weapons Factory Alpha. After capturing a shuttle whose passenger was an emissary of Jabba the Hutt sent to negotiate with the Empire on shipping raw materials from Hutt-controlled space to Imperial facilities, Organa and Skywalker disguised themselves as bodyguards to escort Solo (who, they agreed, would pose as the envoy) with R2-D2 into the factory. Greeted by Overseer Aggadeen, they entered the facility only to reveal themselves as rebels and incapacitate Aggadeen's stormtroopers, with the Overseer revealing the power core's location before Organa knocked him out as well.[86]
Once the four made their way to the central power station, Organa, Solo, and R2-D2 rigged the power core. As they awaited Skywalker's return, Organa thanked the Corellian smuggler for taking such a risk for the Alliance yet questioned Solo about whether he had an ulterior motive for doing so. Their conversation was interrupted by Skywalker's arrival with Imperial slaves. Though Organa was unsure of Skywalker's decision and determination to have the slaves escape with them, Solo accepted it and prompted them to escape the facility as soon as possible.[86]
When they were alerted by Chewbacca of Vader's arrival, Organa ordered the Wookiee to kill the Dark Lord of the Sith even at the expense of them, blaming him for Alderaan's destruction. However, Vader sensed danger and protected himself from Chewbacca's shot, putting the entire moon on alert of their presence. Completely surrounded and having lost contact with Chewbacca, they came across a hangar, and, though Organa noticed Skywalker's absence, she and Solo procured an All Terrain Armored Transport walker for themselves, just as Skywalker engaged Vader in combat.[86]
Organa, Solo, R2-D2, and several slaves boarded the AT-AT. Solo piloted it through the factory before stepping on a subterranean corridor, almost crushing Skywalker and Vader. Once Solo almost stepped on a Twi'lek slave, Organa called him out on it, but he claimed only wanting to get them out of there, while R2-D2 and a pair of Jawas worked to have its cannons operational. Though the Sith Lord almost tore the walker apart with the Force, the astromech droid informed them that the cannons were ready, and Organa hit the button to fire. They not only temporarily incapacitated Vader, but also blasted their way out of the facility.[16]
Once outside, their walker only received more blaster fire; Organa, then, realized the Imperials had stopped the reactor's meltdown, and Vader caught up with them and destroyed the walker's legs with his lightsaber, throwing it off. From the rubble, Organa carried Solo and led the slaves to safety, when Skywalker met with her and told her he would finish their mission. Disobeying Organa's orders, Skywalker used his stolen speeder bike to destroy the power core. Soon enough, they made their way to the Millennium Falcon and barely escaped with their lives. On the ship, she thanked Skywalker for completing the mission, trying to encourage him, but his morale was at rock bottom.[85] Before long, the Falcon rendezvoused with the Rebel fleet.[87]
An estranged wife[]
- "And here I thought one Solo was bad. Now I get to listen to two of them. Lucky me."
- ―Leia Organa
Organa met with the rest of the Alliance High Command and expressed her desire to continue the offensive against the Empire; however, Ackbar and Mothma dissuaded Organa from her course of action since they believed she was overtaxing her team. The princess next met with Skywalker, who asked her to let him (and R2-D2) go to Tatooine in search of Kenobi's home.[87] Later, Solo inquired about several parts needed to repair his ship, but Organa told him that he needed to work to obtain what he wanted—offering him a mission to be her copilot while they scouted for possible locations for the new Alliance base. Aboard a stolen Lambda-class shuttle, the Invictus, they had a run-in with a pair of TIE fighters, and Solo piloted the Invictus to an unnamed planet near the Monsua Nebula.[89]
Upon landing, Organa followed Solo to one of his smuggling dens, where he offered the princess some Corellian wine to celebrate their survival. Organa, however, misinterpreted his gesture and refused to drink the wine, stormily leaving the den at once. As Solo followed suit, claiming he would rather seduce a gundark, the Volt Cobra arrived; Sana Starros disembarked and revealed herself to be Solo's estranged wife, much to Organa's shock.[90] Though Solo tried to explain, Starros recognized Organa (and the bounty on her head) and had the Invictus destroyed with her ship's voice-activated weaponry.[91]
Holding the two at gunpoint, Starros contacted the Star Destroyer above them to negotiate Organa's bounty, while Solo tried to convince her to let them go. However, Organa had other plans—pushing Solo against Starros, taking her by surprise, she drew a concealed EC-17 blaster from her clothes to aim it at both "Solos." With the TIE fighters and TIE/sa bombers already above them,[91] and Imperial pilots closing in to arrest her, Organa resisted, whereas Solo confessed he was also a Rebel (and so, bound to be captured), prompting Starros to take the two to her ship to escape the planet.[92] While in hyperspace, Organa contacted the Alliance, and was informed of Skywalker's captivity on Nar Shaddaa. She convinced Starros to transport them to the moon, by agreeing to let her recover her "husband" once they reached the "Smuggler's Moon."[88] Solo disliked the deal and confronted Organa about it, but she refused to listen to his explanation.[93]
Upon arrival at Nar Shaddaa, they located C-3PO and Chewbacca, who had engaged the bounty hunter Dengar after refusing to reveal Solo's location. Outgunned by Organa and Solo,[93] Dengar was defeated when Chewbacca threw him off the roof; thus, they carried on with their original objective: to free Skywalker from Grakkus the Hutt. Organa, Solo, Chewbacca, and Starros made their way to Grakkus' palace arena, and realized their blasters had been disabled by an EMP charge, Imperials were swarming the place and a beast was wreaking havoc. Separated from Starros, they instead found R2-D2, who provided them with lightsabers; they promptly used the weapons to reach Skywalker at the center of the arena. However, instead of reuniting with him, Organa sought Starros and rescued her from under a pile of rubble. Starros then explained she was not Solo's real wife, and the two women reached an understanding before escaping Nar Shadda.[94]
Eneb Ray's infiltration[]
- "If this fails, we'll have no agents left on Coruscant. This is an enormous risk."
"So was Yavin." - ―Leia Organa and Eneb Ray
Sometime after the Battle of Yavin, Organa sent rebel spy Eneb Ray to Coruscant to infiltrate the Imperial Senate, pretending to be the senator Tharius Demo. After he uploaded shipping and procurement data for the Core sectors to the rebellion, he contacted Leia via hologram. She gave him the mission to extract Nadea Tural and other rebel-sympathetic senators from Arrth-Eno Prison Complex and prevent them from being executed. After the conversation ended, Ray made his way to the prison complex on Coruscant. After breaking in, Eneb found the prisoners, who informed him that the Emperor would be coming to the complex.[95]
Ray discovered another spy within the complex, who helped him to formulate a plan to assassinate the Emperor. The two contacted Organa, who called the plan "an enormous risk." However, Ray and several other operatives attacked the Emperor, but the Sith Lord escaped. Eneb went after him and killed him. However, the real Emperor revealed that the person that Ray had killed was a mere decoy. Ray turned around and watched as the prison complex exploded, killing all inside. Palpatine proceeded to electrocute Ray, leaving him unable to complete any mission he had left.[95]
War intensifies[]
Battle of Vrogas Vas[]
- "You can kill me, but you can't kill what I stand for... and you won't stop justice."
- ―Leia Organa, to Darth Vader
When news reached the Alliance Fleet that Darth Vader had made his appearance over Vrogas Vas and his ship had been forced to crash-land by Skywalker, Dodonna deployed a battalion to back the company of the Rebel Refueling Base. When Organa heard this, she immediately set out to assist them, as did Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO, on the Falcon.[97] Soon after they arrived, Organa and Solo were told that Skywalker had brought Vader down at the cost of crashing his X-wing as well, but despite her worry about him, she would not spare any speeders. As a Commander, she coordinated the effort and deployed Cyan Squadron, of which another ship was taken down by Vader.[98]
Subsequently, Organa decided to go to where he was spotted last, along with a platoon of other Rebel soldiers. Amidst the thick layer of mist, she and other troopers advanced until Vader Force choked her two companions and confronted her.[99] After a tense moment, however, Vader apparently sensed an ambush, allowing Organa to escape and tell her friends where she was (and thus, lure Skywalker to him). She escaped and found C-3PO, who handed her a comlink; she used it to order all surviving rebel pilots to come to her position and hit it with everything they had at her signal. Organa then ordered C-3PO to return to Skywalker, and waited for Vader to appear before her again, and signaled all fighters to bombard their location.[96]
However, Imperial enforcer Karbin arrived with a fleet and destroyed the Amber Wing.[96] Karbin himself went to the encounter of Organa and Vader and proceeded to duel each other. Organa used the opportunity to escape from their reach into the Jedi Temple and waited to get a clear shot.[100] However, C-3PO called her through the comlink and informed her that Solo, Chewbacca, and Skywalker were in trouble. Confronted with their loss, she left Vader and Karbin to their devices. Instead, Organa located the Millennium Falcon and found Solo, Skywalker, the droids, and Chewbacca cornered by Vader's ally, Dr. Aphra. As she had implemented a minefield of micro-mines to trap them, Organa snuck up to her and knocked her out with a punch. With Aphra captured, Organa ordered all remaining Rebel forces to evacuate the planet; then, they boarded the Falcon and escaped.[101]
Defending Sunspot Prison[]
- "I want you to know... I won't give up on you. I'll get you help you need, Eneb. Whether you want it or not."
- ―Leia Organa to Eneb Ray
After weeks of interrogation and four escape attempts, Organa and Starros brought Doctor Aphra to the Sunspot Prison, a Rebel Alliance penitentiary. Organa, Starros, and the prison's warden debated about how to interrogate the new prisoner. Meanwhile, a team led by former rebel spy Eneb Ray made their way into the prison, attacking the guards. This was reported to the warden, as well as Leia and Sana.[103]
Organa and Starros engaged the invading droid forces, destroying many of them. Leia contacted the control room, wanting to know if they were given an all clear. However, instead of a response from the warden, Eneb Ray responded. He had taken over the control room and was holding the warden hostage. He proceeded to send IG-RM droids to execute prisoners. Organa disabled them, but not before they opened fire. Afterwards, Ray released other prisoners, forcing Organa and Starros to engage them. After fighting many of the prisoners, Leia placed them in a single cell. Ray deactivated the sun shields in that cell, incinerating all the prisoners within it. Ray continued to make threats. Because of this, Organa freed Doctor Aphra, needing her to help retake the prison.[104]
Soon after being freed, Aphra began to reprogram one of the enforcer droids while it was attacking Starros. Organa disabled it before it could kill the smuggler. After a brief argument, the three continued to make their way through the cell blocks. Meanwhile, Ray was personally going to cells and killing the inmates, revealing the truth about Emperor Palpatine to one inmate. Aphra, Sana, and Leia finally reached the control room and engaged the droids defending it. The trio, as well as the enforcer droid that Doctor Aphra reprogrammed, managed to retake the control room. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker arrived on the base in the Millennium Falcon, only to be captured by Ray.[105]
Sana, Aphra, and Leia managed to find Ray with the captured Skywalker and Solo. Ray had wrapped the duo in thermal detonators and threatened to kill them unless Leia shot Doctor Aphra. He then proceeded to reveal his identity, which had been previously hidden. Having thought him dead, Leia was surprised. Organa had R2-D2 activate an ion pulse, which took out the prison's gravity, as well as the trigger to the thermal detonators. Ray and Organa began fighting in midair. Through the combined efforts of Leia, Aphra, and Sana, Ray was defeated and arrested.[102]
Afterwards, the remaining staff and prisoners were evacuated. However, Doctor Aphra escaped, thanks to the indifference of Organa and Starros. As Ray was escorted in binders, Leia told him that she hadn't given up on him. However, Ray was so broken mentally that he told her that the rebels had no chance of winning, and that she would eventually wish she had listened to him.[102]
Temporary outpost[]
- "It's absolute chaos in here, Luke. We're still trying to get on our feet here and one of our cargo vessels is still missing."
- ―Leia Organa to Luke Skywalker
Sometime later the Rebel Alliance established a temporary outpost by the name of LX-Robynsun V on the Outer Rim planet Reamma. The Alliance was still adjusting to the new outpost when a cargo vessel went missing. Leia assigned Skywalker to double back and search for it, as it was carrying vital medical supplies and other cargo. However, as Skywalker and R2-D2 prepared the search, the cargo vessel arrived, cancelling the mission.[106]
Hijacking of the Harbinger[]
Organa and Skywalker attended a meeting with Jan Dodonna, Gial Ackbar, and Mon Mothma aboard a medical frigate. Ackbar reported that the planet of Tureen VII was under siege from the Empire. The planet had been providing aid to the rebellion secretly, and it was considered time for the Alliance to repay their debts to Tureen VII. The high-ranking members noted that the planet had come under a blockade, with the people of the world starving. After three attempts to break through the Imperial blockade failed, Skywalker and Organa came up with the idea to steal a Star Destroyer to infiltrate the blockade and provide relief to the people of Tureen VII. Although General Dodonna was initially hesitant, due to the large crew needed for operating such a vehicle, Leia asked for as much crew as could be spared. Due to the high rank of Organa and Skywalker, they were given permission to go through with this mission.[107]
After the meeting, Leia took the Millennium Falcon, along with Han Solo, Chewbacca, Sana Starros, R2-D2, and C-3PO to attack the Star Destroyer known as the Harbinger. Luke took the pilots of Red Squadron to also engage in the assault. The Falcon was used to fire proton bombs at an area near the Destroyer's main engine reactor. Red Three, Wedge Antilles, also fired torpedoes towards the main engine reactor. Although the shots hit their mark, the reactor did not overload. Skywalker then flew into the main engine reactor causing it to overload. The Imperial crew of the Star Destroyer abandoned the ship, giving the crew of the Millennium Falcon the opportunity to capture it. The ship flew into the Destroyer's hangar, with the crew of the Falcon attacking the ship from the inside. Meanwhile, Skywalker secured the reactor room as the sentients made their way there. As a space battle raged outside, an explosion came from the Harbinger, making the Empire think it had been destroyed.[108]
A week afterwards, a patrol of two TIE fighters briefly spotted the stolen Star Destroyer but were quickly destroyed. Skywalker noted that the Empire may have known their location. However, Organa stated that if the government had known, there would have been more ships sent. At the time, the Destroyer was running on its secondary reactor and had no captain. Solo and Organa argued about who was to be the captain. Skywalker attempted to calm the duo by telling them of the situation at hand, noting that it would most likely be the last flight of the Harbinger.[108]
Days later, a reactor overload was becoming more and more likely. Luke, R2-D2, and Chewbacca were attempting to fix the issue as quickly as possible. However, an explosion occurred, and the astromech droid jettisoned the reactor, allowing the Star Destroyer to go to hyperspace. Han noted that the group had officially stolen their own Star Destroyer, with Leia responding that the hard part was yet to come.[107]
After the Harbinger got out of hyperspace, the engines died. Chewbacca attempted to fix the backup reactor trying to get the Destroyer to Tureen VII. Solo attempted to order the crew to change course to the Monsua Nebula to give the crew more time to fix it. However, Organa ordered the crew to belay that order, knowing that the people of Tureen VII were dying and there was not enough time to stop and make repairs. The duo continued to argue about the merits of their ideas and who should be temporary captain of the ship. Solo proposed a race to the bridge of the Destroyer to determine who was to be the captain. Although Leia seemed to think that was a bad idea, she kicked Solo in the shin to give herself a head start.[107]
As the two made their way through a hangar, Solo rode a speeder bike trying to get ahead of Organa. After being hit by the bike, Leia asked a member of the crew where the spacesuits were kept. She later donned one of the spacesuits and made her way to the bridge, getting there before Solo and declaring herself captain. As she was doing that, a rebel shuttle with the dead Admiral Verette tied to the front appeared at the rendezvous point. Sana Starros destroyed the ship, thinking it was a trap. Meanwhile, an Imperial shuttle carrying Task Force 99 managed to sneak onto the Star Destroyer and board it.[107]
Afterwards, Solo noted that the Star Destroyer's hyperdrive, backup reactor, shields, and ion cannons were all malfunctioning in some form, calling the Harbinger "the worst Star Destroyer in the entire galaxy." Organa wanted to know the status of the ion cannons, asking the Destroyer's maintenance team what the status was. Because the team had gone missing, a group led by Luke and Sana went to check it out. Han still wanted the Harbinger to stop for repairs, but considering all the options, Leia pressed on. Noting that the situation was ludicrous, Organa told Solo that she wanted him as the Destroyer's helmsman, calling him "the craziest pilot in the galaxy."[109]
As this conversation took place, Starros and Skywalker found Task Force 99 in the hallways of the ship. The squadron proceeded to attack Skywalker's group. Luke engaged the leader, Sergeant Kreel, while Starros and the other members of the group dealt with other members of the squadron. Organa and Solo, meanwhile, were defending the bridge from the members Aero, Misty, and Mic. Solo steered the Harbinger towards Tureen VII, ramming it into the planet's base security Star Destroyers. As a result, the Destroyer's front shields and an engine were lost. The Rebel Alliance sent Blue Squadron to defend the Star Destroyer, and as they engaged the base's TIE fighters, Darth Vader arrived in his own personal TIE fighter, destroying many of the Alliance X-wings.[109]
Organa ordered Red Squadron to defend the Harbinger to give the Star Destroyer more time to release the supplies to the surface of Tureen VII. Solo attempted to get the Destroyer's ion cannons online. Han and Leia attempted to hold the bridge, to no avail. Meanwhile, Skywalker engaged Sergeant Kreel, eventually using the Force to disable him. Later, the reactors came back to full power when Chewbacca tossed Task Force 99 member Zuke into the reactor. Although the reactor power was restored, the controls specifically were disabled. R2-D2 was flying the ship remotely and operating the ion cannons because of that. Meanwhile, Starros and Chewbacca made their way to the Millennium Falcon, and Skywalker made his way to an X-wing to defend the Harbinger. C-3PO, on the other hand, was accidentally left behind, allowing himself to be captured by Task Force 99.[110]
As the invading members of the task force made their way through the bridge, Solo detonated a thermal detonator on the bridge, allowing him and Organa to escape. The duo grabbed breath masks to give them oxygen in the vacuum of space. The two began to argue about their survival when the Millennium Falcon arrived to pick them up. Meanwhile, R2-D2 made his way to an escape pod and saved himself. The Harbinger finally was destroyed by the constant barrage of Imperial fire. Red and Blue Squadron, as well as the Falcon, jumped to hyperspace before any more destruction could take place.[110]
Escape from Skorii-Lei[]
- "Rebellion is an idea bigger than any of us, it has to be to inspire. It is alive. Only as strong as its weakest link. What matters is that it survives us, that is grows beyond us."
- ―Leia Organa to Pash Davane
During the Galactic Civil War, Organa ended up injured and unconscious on the aquatic planet of Skorii-Lei. The engineer-turned-janitor Pash Davane took in the wounded princess and considered what to do with her. After returning from her area's fish market, Davane was attacked by Leia with her droid Bruce's arm. Leia threatened Pavane with a deactivated blaster to determine why she was there. The janitor revealed that she stitched up some of Organa's wounds, and in turn Leia revealed that she was transporting information vital to the Alliance. Although the two disagreed on ideological grounds, Pavane agreed to help Organa escape through the planet's oceans.[111]
Sometime later, the two had put on wetsuits and prepared to leave when stormtrooper's arrived at Pash's house. Pash distracted and knocked out the soldiers and the duo escaped into the city. Hiding in a random house, Leia collapsed from her wounds. There, she and Pash discussed what motivated the former to fight the Empire despite all the loss she endured. Although ready to give Pash the data tape with vital Alliance information, Davane convinced her to continue into the water. Pursued by security forces underwater, the duo managed to escape and rendezvous with Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca. Leia was able to recover on the Millennium Falcon and managed to convince Pash to join the rebellion.[111]
The matter of C-3PO's capture[]
After C-3PO was captured by SCAR Squadron, Solo, Skywalker, and Leia regrouped with the rebel fleet and decided not to go after him because he was a droid and SCAR Squadron was too dangerous. However, R2-D2 rebelled against this and went on a solo mission of his own to rescue his old friend.[112]
The Screaming Citadel[]
- "Hey, don't make it about her and her freakshow. We saved the day. We freed people. We're together. That's something. That's everything."
- ―Leia Organa on Sana Starros' and Chelli Lona Aphra's relationship
Sometime after the hijacking of the Harbinger, the rebellion established a temporary outpost on the Outer Rim world of Horox III. After Skywalker again encountered the rogue archaeologist Aphra in a cantina, she offered to give him a meeting with a Jedi Master if he went with her to the forest planet of Ktath'atn. Unbeknownst to Organa and the rest of the alliance, Aphra brought Skywalker to meet the Queen of Ktath'atn, who planned on feasting on the Jedi-in-training. Because she was unaware of his whereabouts, Organa questioned Skywalker's temporary astromech droid S4. However, the droid refused to give up the information. Starros, who had received a message from Aphra, used a loophole in the droid's programming to force it to reveal that Skywalker had gone with Aphra in secret. Organa believed that Aphra had kidnapped Skywalker, so Organa, Starros, and Solo hatched a plan to rescue him.[114]
As the group prepared to depart, Starros informed them of the Queen of Ktath'atn's yearly meetings with visitors to exchange organic oddities. After realizing what may become of Skywalker, the trio began the journey to Ktath'atn in the Millennium Falcon. However, upon arriving, they were immediately captured by Aphra's droid associates 0-0-0 and BT-1.[115]
However, the droids spared the rebels, and they reluctantly gave Solo permission to pilot Aphra's ship, the Ark Angel II, to Aphra and Skywalker's location. When they arrived, the archaeologist and the Padawan were fleeing from mutated creatures. Starros attempted to shoot Aphra, but Organa and Skywalker prevented her from doing so. Organa threatened Skywalker with a court-martial if he disobeyed orders again. She then asked the group which way to go, to which Solo responded, "Any direction away from them!" The rebel group held off the Queen's hive and entered a room filled with what Aphra identified as Abersyn symbiotes. Aphra found some blueprints for the Citadel and asked Skywalker to follow her. However, the rogue archaeologist led Skywalker, and the rest of the rebels, into a trap for the Queen and her hive. The Queen took mental control of Skywalker and Solo, while Aphra allowed the rest of the group to escape.[116]
Organa immediately began formulating a plan to rescue them, asking Aphra's droid associates to assist her. 0-0-0 came up with the idea to transport an Abersyn symbiote in the dome of Skywalker's droid S4. Leia reluctantly agreed to his plan. BT-1 used explosive missiles to blow a hole in the room they were in, and the group made their escape. They encountered Bombinax, the Queen's lieutenant, beating Aphra's Wookiee associate Krrsantan. Organa shot at Bombinax to distract him and "save" Krrsantan. The group made their way inside the citadel and sealed the door. 0-0-0 immediately began performing a surgery on Krrsantan to transplant the symbiote into his body, much to Leia's chagrin. By the time Bombinax broke through the sealed door, the symbiote had made its way into Krrsantan's consciousness and easily dispatched him.[116]
0-0-0 managed to convince the feral Wookiee not to kill them, and instead to attack other Citadel personnel. With a new path forged in blood for them, the group made their way to rescue Luke and Han. However, by the time they arrived in the Queen's facility, Solo had been enthralled by the monarch. Reluctant to shoot him, she was temporarily captured by the Queen's guard. Before being infected, Sana was able to disable Han. As all of this was going on, Luke was able to use the Queen of Ktath'atn's parasites against her.[117]
Through the power of her words, Leia was able to break the spell that Han was under. Still having the power of the Queen's thrall, Solo was able to control the other troops and force them to lower their weapons. Meanwhile, Luke struck down the Queen of Ktath'atn, disabling all under her control. With the control of her hive now ceded to Solo, the smuggler decided to release all who were under her control. Leia ordered 0-0-0 to remove the parasite from Han. The rebels and the rogue archaeologists parted ways afterwards, having freed the people of Ktath'atn.[113]
Surviving in the wild[]
- "We've got more than enough life left in us to land. I'm taking us down onto this planet."
- ―Luke Skywalker, to Leia Organa
During a mission with Skywalker, he had to pilot into a nebula to get away from TIEs hunting them. The nebula disabled the ship, forcing them to crash on an ocean planet. There they had to survive in the wild on an island. Skywalker's experience with machinery such as moisture vaporators helped keep them alive. But they had to use the dedlanite from their blasters for the moisture vaporators and thus couldn't use their blasters for hunting. One night, Organa and Skywalker lay on the ground looking up to the sky full of stars. Alderaan was still visible, as the light from the explosion hadn't reached this part of the galaxy. Later, there was an explosion in the ocean, and up to the beach came a native species of the planet. They followed the creatures back into the water and saw that the Empire were destroying their underwater worlds in search of Organa and Skywalker. So, they lit a great fire on the beach to attract the Empire's attention. Up from the waters came an AT-AT and shoretroopers. Organa and Skywalker managed to fight them off and take over their AT-AT. After disabling the AT-AT, they repaired the shuttle and returned to the Rebel Fleet.[39]
Potential Odona Base[]
- "You don't owe me anything, Han. In the Alliance, we don't keep a tally of debts! And we don't blame others when our choices turn out poorly. We make the best of it--together."
- ―Leia Organa to Han Solo
Sometime later, Han Solo led Leia to the remote world of Odona while searching for a new location for a rebel base. However, as their mission went on, the duo found themselves lost in the caves of the hostile planet, chased by a six-legged creature. Solo saved the duo by shooting the ceiling of the cave, separating them from the creature. Organa was disappointed by Solo's lack of knowledge of the planet he purported to know so much about. As the duo bickered in their usual way, a trio of bounty hunters began shooting at them, wanting to collect Solo's bounty. The duo became separated, with an injured Han ending up back in the caves while Leia returned to the Millennium Falcon. The hunters, led by Frax, a Nikto with a vendetta against Solo, pursued him into the caves.[118]
Meanwhile, Organa armed herself and searched for Solo in the caves. After rescuing Solo, an angry and wounded Frax killed his two partners for wanting to leave Solo alone. All made their way out to the snowy landscape. Leia decided to seal the other entrance of the cave and in response, Frax shot her, causing her to pass out. Sometime afterwards, Chewbacca and Alliance soldiers rescued her and Solo; Frax had frozen to death. As they recovered in a medical frigate, Solo told Organa that he intended to repay the life debt that he owed her for saving his life on the mission, to which she said that he didn't owe her anything.[118]
Return to Horox III[]
- "This is war."
- ―Leia Organa to Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Sana Starros
Organa, Skywalker, Solo, Starros, Threepio, and Artoo returned to the rebel outpost on Horox III just to find it all burned down with no survivors. On a wall, "Greetings from SCAR Squadron. Long live the Empire" in Aurebesh was written.[119]
The ashes of Jedha[]
On Jedha, Organa and the Millennium Falcon rescued Skywalker and a few Partisans and traveled to NaJedha, where they took shelter. There, Organa discussed with Ubin Des, former member of the Rebellion, about assisting the Partisans in stopping the Empire from mining the rest of the kyber crystals from Jedha.[120]
Organa, Skywalker, and Solo were brought before the Tognath named Benthic, once Saw Gerrera's second in command and now the leader of the Partisans. They all had to wear bags over their heads so they wouldn't know where the Partisans' base was located. Organa proposed that the Rebellion would help the Partisans defend Jedha by giving them supplies. After much hesitation, Benthic stated that they needed the Rebels' support and agreed.[121]
They then participated in a mission to blow up the newly deployed mining machine set up by the Empire. After Benthic and his team had sabotaged it from the inside, Organa and Solo arrived and blew the machine up. When they came back to the base, Skywalker was going to follow the pilgrim Chulco Gi to a Force temple. Leia, furious over Skywalker leaving at such an important time, called him irresponsible, but he left anyway.[122]
After the Partisans had successfully blown up the Empire's machine, they had enlisted the help of Shu-Torun Queen Trios. She deployed the Leviathan, a mining vehicle as big as a city, to the surface of Jedha. The Partisans tried to attack it, but it had no effect. Organa then had Chewbacca bring schematics of the Leviathan from Shu-Torun to the Partisans.[123]
Organa organized a briefing, detailing how they would attack the Leviathan. A small team would infiltrate the core security system, power down its anti-air weapons, and seal off the bridge of the crawler. Then a larger team would join, and together they would control the vehicle into the blast crate from the Death Star. Organa, together with Skywalker, Threepio, and Artoo snuck into the Leviathan as the smaller team. When they found the control nexus, Skywalker left to help the other team fight Imperials since he was no longer needed to shut down the crawler. Organa with the help of Threepio and Artoo shut down the weapons and allowed the Millennium Falcon, with the larger team, to land without getting shot down. Even though she heard there were fights going on close by, she had to stay and protect the control nexus. Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. She turned around and standing there was Queen Trios of Shu-Torun with a blaster pointed at Organa.[124]
Instead of shooting Organa, she told Organa to punch her. Organa did so and blasted the surveillance camera, realizing that Trios had helped them. She then asked why Trios had leaked the plans for the crawler to them. Trios then told her how Darth Vader had assassinated her father and given her the throne. Vader gave her a piece of Alderaan to teach her a lesson. And he did, but not in the way he had intended. She decided that would never allow that to happen to Shu-Torun. Though she couldn't oppose them openly, she was sabotaging them in secret. Trios explained how she was willing to sacrifice the Leviathan to raise her above suspicion. Organa asked her if she were offering to be an inside contact for the Rebellion. Trios answered that she would be willing to do even more and offered Organa Shu-Torun's hidden resources. They shook hands, and Organa left with Skywalker who had arrived, to help the remaining Rebels. Trios then stayed behind so that she could open the passages for the Imperials late enough so that the Rebels could escape but early enough to remove suspicion from her. Skywalker then asked Organa who that was, and she answered, just what she was looking for, a little more hope. They met up with the rest and left the Leviathan on the Millennium Falcon just as it fell into the blast crate of the Death Star. Trios narrowly escaped in a shuttle as well. The Rebels regrouped on NaJedha and wished good luck to Benthic and his Partisans. Organa, Skywalker, Solo, Threepio, and Artoo then left the planet and flew off with the Millennium Falcon.[125]
Baraan-Fa and Crait[]
During the Empire's attack on the Rebel fleet, Organa worked with Mothma to find a viable location for a new base. She and Mothma agreed on Baraan-Fa and ordered the fleet there. Once there, Organa and Mothma continued to search for a new location for their base. Organa suggested Sabanash's wetlands or the Moon of Ooloponi. She asked Mothma for a squadron to see if Crait would be suitable for a base. Mothma was skeptical about Crait's status as a dead planet, but Organa told her that Trusk Berinato assured her and her father that Crait's mines would be ideal for the Rebels. Mothma agreed to Organa's request.[126]
Organa took her team, Red Squadron, and the Millennium Falcon to Crait with equipment. Upon their arrival, Organa met with Berinato and was given a tour of the mines. Following the tour, Organa had a drink with Berinato and told him that it was premature to believe the Rebels would use the mines as a base. She knew Berinato had dealings with the Empire and had stormtroopers on standby. She tried to convince Berinato to do the right thing, but he refused. Organa, Solo, and Red Squadron used V-4X-D ski speeders against SCAR squadron. After dealing with SCAR squadron, Organ was confronted by Berinato, who attempted to capture Organa, but she was able to shoot his blaster out of his hand. She and the others left Crait[126] and some of their equipment.[127] Organa informed Mothma of this.[126]
Mutiny on Mon Cala[]
Organa, her team, and Admiral Ackbar to Mon Cala to meet with Grand Admiral Dors Urtya, Mon Cala's regent and commander of its Mercantile Fleet. They landed on an island in a nature preservation zone, but their meeting was interrupted by stormtrooper patrol and an Imperial gunship. Despite that, Organa and the others were able to lose the stormtroopers and rendezvous at a boat. Organa asked Urtya to give the Alliance their fleet to defeat the Empire. However, Urtya refused to let the fleet join the Alliance due to the Empire's continuing occupation of Mon Cala.[128]
Organa, her team, and Ackbar left Mon Cala on the Millennium Falcon and went to the Mako-Ta Space Docks. There, Organa contacted Trios and asked her for information on the Imperial prison system to rescue King Lee-Char.[128] She then prepared a report and attended a meeting of the Rebel High Council, where she informed them of Urtya's refusal to support the Alliance. However, Organa suggested rescuing King Lee-Char. Despite concerns from Mothma and General Davits Draven, Organa convinced them to agree to her mission.[129]
Organa and her team went to the Dex Acquisitions Depot on the planet Meor Ain, which she got inside by posing as a prisoner of Chewbacca, who was pretending to be a bounty hunter named "Violent Bok." There, they searched for the Clawdite actor Tunga Arpagion. When they entered his cell to free him, Organa was stunned to see him impersonating her father.[129] Knowing it was Arpagion, Organa punched the Clawdite in the face for his trick. They stunned Arpagion and brought him aboard the Millennium Falcon, where Organa convinced Arpagion to aid them in their mission by impersonating Moff Tan Hubi, whose bio-signature would allow them access to the prison to free the captive King. Then, Organa explained her plan, which was to attend an opera on Mon Cala where Hubi would be attending, where they would kidnap Hubi and have Arpagion double the Moff at the party while they took the real Moff to free Lee-Char.[130]
Organa sent R2 and C-3PO in as server droids to give Hubi a drug in his favorite drink, a grabd accelerator. She then watched Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca as they snuck through the ventilation and kidnapped Moff Hubi from the refresher at the Moncaladrome. After Arpagion took the Moff's place, Organa and her team left the Moncaladrome and went to the planet Strokill Prime.[130]
Organa, the captive Hubi, and her crew traveled in a submersible to the Imperial base. Avoiding sea monsters, they arrived at the facility and infiltrated it using codes from Trios but found King Lee-Char imprisoned and on life support.[131] Organa talked with Lee-Char, regretfully informing him of Raddus' death and pleading him to pledge to them the Mon Cala Mercantile Fleet to support the Rebellion. Lee-Char was eager to help but admitted he could not move because of all the machines he was hooked up to. Skywalker hunted down a camera droid where Lee-Char's message to his people will be recorded. However, Hubi clicked a button on the wall that alerted Imperial forces that the Moff Hubi on Mon Cala was an impostor. Stormtroopers stormed into the cell, killing Lee-Char as he finished his message and accidentally killing Moff Hubi. Organa led the crew back to their ship, barely escaping the planet.[132]
Meanwhile, Arpagion was exposed as an impostor, but was saved by the recently arrived rebels. Urtya, with a change of heart, played Lee-Char's recording and the Mercantile Fleet attempted to push through the Imperial blockade over the planet.[132] With the aid of Organa, Ackbar, and the rebel fleet, part of the fleet escaped to join the rebellion.[133]
Mako-Ta Space Docks[]
With twelve new Mon-Calamari cruisers, the rebels grouped their forces on the Mako-Ta Space Docks and finished outfitting their ships with hyperdrives courtesy of Queen Trios. Organa and the rest of High Command decided to throw a party for the troops before their forces dispersed. After a speech from Mothma prepared Ackbar's Alpha Group, General Dodanna's Beta Group, General Hera Syndulla's Gamma Group, and General Vanden Willard's Delta Group to depart, they discovered that their hyperdrives had all been sabotaged and that Trios had gone missing. Organa helplessly watched as the cruisers saw their hangar doors, comm systems, artillery batteries, hyperspace systems, and propulsion engines be shut down and the Empire's Death Squadron led by Darth Vader and his command ship, the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor arrive in the system.[134]
Vader quickly destroyed Willard's flagship Yavin's Hope. Trios fled back to her ship and ordered her men to launch, but a rebel strike team led by Organa and Colonel Bandwin Cor boarded her ship, killing her men. Trios managed to get to an escape pod and told Organa to forgive her, saying she would do anything to ensure that Shu-Torun would not become the next Alderaan before escaping.[135]
Organa watched as ships commanded by Lajaie and Bob Hudsol were destroyed. Eventually, the rebels found an override to the closed bay doors and Organa again looked on as Skywalker led the newly minted Rogue Squadron to combat the enemy. Then, a rebel technician broke into Trios' files and discovered an override code that would make all their systems operational again. However, the codes were only on the Executor. Organa devised a plan, in which she and Draven would lead a squad of Special Forces commandos to the Executor, in Trios' shuttle for disguise, to steal the codes and return to the ship.[136]
As the group gets clearance to land on the Executor, Vader returns to the ship to meet with Trios. In the hangar, the rebels killed the Imperial officer who greeted them, but are soon faced by Vader. The rebels fled and attempted to access a computer inside, where they obtained the codes while the rearguard was caught by Vader. Organa led their remaining forces to the hangar to find a ship to escape, but they found only a lone TIE fighter. Draven then told Organa that he and the special forces would stay behind to let her escape with the codes. She flew back in the stolen TIE, but Skywalker got on her tail and tried to shoot her down. Unable to communicate with them because she did not have a TIE pilot helmet, Organa demonstrated her loyalties by shooting down another TIE. Skywalker deduced it was a friendly and ordered Rogue Squadron to form up on him and protect the TIE. They landed[137] on the MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser Republic.[138] Organa alerted the commander of the ship, General Dodonna of the codes she obtained, and their ship escaped the system.[137]
Organa and Skywalker were both shocked to hear Dodonna tell them that they could not risk their ship to go back and attempt to rescue their remaining forces. They eventually convinced him to go help, with the Republic serving as a distraction to allow Organa to lead a group of shuttles to rescue forces off the Space Docks. With the losses sustained by the Alliance leadership, Motham contacted Organa to promote her to the rank of general.[138]
Saponza's Gang[]
Organa was responsible for recruiting Saponza's Gang to the Alliance. Working with Solo, Mothma, Jennica Pierce, and the criminal underworld, the gang successfully rescued former Senator Johhar Kessen from Imperial custody. They also disrupted Kosh's contraband smuggling operation, and liberated Tatooine from Imperial control. Following the gang's final victory at Fort Ironhand, Organa sent the gang a congratulatory holo message.[139]
Lotho Minor investigation[]
- "I think I'm ready to give up on this planet now."
- ―Leia Organa
At some point, Leia, Han, Luke, Chewbacca, C-3PO were sent by the Alliance to Restore the Republic to investigate the planet Lotho Minor for a new base. When they arrived, Solo disparaged the planet and teased Organa, to which she retorted that the Millenium Falcon fit in on the garbage planet. Refusing to give up on the planet and ignoring Solo's complaints about strategy, they continued investigating until they ran into native droids and a male Duros named Akar Duel. Duel, wanting to take the Falcon, had the droids pull their blasters on Organa and the others. After the droids turned on Duel once they learned from C-3PO that they could be independent, they boarded the Falcon to leave the planet, Organa concluding that Lotho Minor was not a good location for a rebel base.[140]
Bogano[]
At some point, Leia visited Bogano, a grassy planet in the Outer Rim Territories, to find out if the world could host a rebel base. Upon arrival, Leia found her friend and fellow rebel Luke Skywalker. Although Skywalker was supposed to be checking out other worlds, he said the Force took him to Bogano. Leia and Luke then found a small animal and decided to follow it. The pair ended up arriving at the Bogano Vault, where Leia and Luke expressed their opinions about the planet. Leia turned out to be wrong about building a rebel base there, as the little animal led them to some stormtroopers who were dealing with several animals of the same species, showing that the Empire knew of the planet's existence.[141] Along with Luke, Leia defeated the stormtroopers, who intended to sell the animals on the black market, and then left the planet to continue her quest of find a location for a rebel base.[142]
End of the Emperor's reign[]
A new base[]
- "Listen, I know we've all been spread pretty thin, but we've made it through. It's okay to feel tired. It's okay to feel weak. It doesn't erase the hero I see in each and every one of you. While we wait for better days, remember, you're not alone. The day we forget we have each other…is the day we lose."
- ―Princess Leia Organa
Roughly three years after the Battle of Yavin,[3] Organa helped oversee the construction of the Rebellion's recently established Echo Base on the ice planet of Hoth. When Kes Dameron and Shara Bey became trapped while carving out an ice tunnel for with an A-Wing laser cannon, Organa spoke to them after their rescue by Heroes of Yavin Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca, reaffirming their value as fellow Rebels.[144] Present at the base was also a new rebel recruit named Vulaada Klam,[145] who helped herd tauntauns[146]—which the rebels had begun using as mounts[143]—with her pet Qaberworm Gurtyl. Captain Magna Tolvan ordered the Qaberworm be killed at one point, but Organa noticed how skilled Klam and Gurtyl were in herding.[146] Additionally, Gurtyl was incredibly important to Klam.[147] In the end, Organa overruled Tolvan's order and allowed Klam to continue working with her pet, which Tolvan learned from a fellow rebel after returning to Echo Base after a mission.[146]
At some point during her time on Echo Base, the reactor in the base failed due to cold temperatures causing the heaters to become non-functional. Due to this, Rebel personnel had to be moved onto ships. Organa moved tauntauns onto the Millennium Falcon, despite Solo's complaints. She received transmissions from the repair crew through the Falcon's cockpit. They informed her of the reactor being that of a YT-2600, and that it would explode and irradiate the base in a matter of ten minutes. Solo and Chewbacca volunteer to replace the dissipator, with a spare they stored on the Falcon. Minutes later, Solo informed Organa that they needed to evacuate the base immediately without telling her what they had done. Despite wanting Solo to return to the ship, Organa ordered the base to be evacuated without Solo. A few minutes later, Solo tells Organa that the reactor had been stabilized and that they were able to enter the base once again.[148]
With the hard working conditions and low temperatures weighing on Organa's mind, she made a speech to others at Echo Base about perseverance. Two days later, while on a tauntaun patrol with Han Solo and Hera Syndulla, Organa learned how to properly exercise control over the riding beast.[143]
After Chewbacca went missing, Organa and R2-D2 searched for him in the corridors of Echo Base. The two soon found a door which appeared to have been severely damaged. Organa entered and found Chewbacca in the arms of a sleeping wampa. Organa woke the wampa accidentally. As Chewbacca and R2-D2 tried to repair the door, Organa distracted the wampa. She ran out into the corridor. The wampa followed, but with the help of R2, the door closed in on the wampa cave.[149]
Battle of Hoth[]
- "Han, we need you!"
"We need?"
"Yes."
"Well, what about you need me?"
"I need? I don't know what you're talking about."
"You probably don't." - ―Leia Organa and Han Solo
Following a run-in with one of Jabba's bounty hunters in Ord Mantell, Solo bade farewell to General Carlist Rieekan and Organa, but her lack of honesty about her feelings angered him. However, when no one could find Skywalker after his patrol, Solo set out[150] on the Tauntaun Murra[151] to find his friend during the night, worrying Organa.[150] While they were missing, Rogue Two Zev Senesca—the squadron leader of Skywalker's Rogue Squadron during his absence—erased their current betting pool concerning how soon Organa would tire of Solo's attempts at impressing her, replacing it with a pool concerning which of them would find Skywalker first. Though several of the pilots wrote their names, Rogue Four Derek Klivian objected to the pool, feeling it was a morbid game over their commander's life. Before Senesca could respond, Organa revealed she was standing at the doorway by stating the pool was not morbid. She walked in and explained that, by betting in the pool, the pilots were certain Skywalker was alive. Taking the marker from Senesca, she bet on every pilot, explaining it was what she and the other Rebel leaders did every day. Certain that Rogue Squadron would find Skywalker and Solo, and as everyone watched her, she gave the marker back and bid the Force be with them. After she left, every remaining pilot added their name to the pool.[152]
The following morning, Senesca located Skywalker and Solo, and Organa was relieved when they returned to the base. However, as an Imperial probe droid had alerted Vader and the Imperial fleet of their location, arriving soon on Hoth, Organa helped coordinate the ensuing evacuation, giving instructions to pilots,[150] and signaled the ships to leave the planet.[153] Once the base was overrun by Imperial ground forces, Organa and C-3PO were forced to escape Hoth aboard the Millennium Falcon with Solo and Chewbacca.[150]
Escaping the Empire[]
- "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."
- ―Han Solo
With a damaged hyperdrive, the Falcon was unable to leave the system and escape the Imperial blockade, which prompted Solo to pilot the ship into a nearby asteroid field, hoping that the Imperials would be unwilling to follow them, to repair the ship in the cave of an asteroid of great size. Using a fusioncutter, Organa helped in repairing the ship, when Solo appeared, drawing closer to her before both ended up in a passionate kiss that lasted until C-3PO's arrival. Organa withdrew and walked away, conflicted. Afterwards, Organa would reflect upon what happened in the cockpit when the ship was attacked by mynocks.[150]
Rushing to shoo them away, Organa, Solo, and Chewbacca exited the ship, but Solo quickly realized that they were inside something other than a cave. Narrowly escaping the "cave," which was really the inside of an exogorth[150] named Sy-O, who wanted them to stay as beloved parts of its internal ecosystem,[154] and the asteroid Sy-O resided in, the Millennium Falcon was once again pursued by Imperial forces. Unable to make the jump to hyperspace due to unfinished repairs, Solo decided to land on the back of the command bridge of the Avenger, shutting down all systems to avoid detection. The plan worked; as the Imperial fleet prepared to exit the Anoat system, Solo detached the ship from the hull. With a faulty hyperdrive, the group decided to go to the Bespin system, where an old acquaintance of Solo, Lando Calrissian, owned a mining colony. However, they were unaware that they were being tracked by Boba Fett, one of the mercenaries hired by Vader to locate them.[150]
Escaping to Cloud City and Rendezvous Point Delta-Three[]
- "But this isn't your ship. With Han gone, I'm commandeering it for the Rebel fleet, which means you don't get a say in where it goes. And, of course, you betrayed us to the Empire. No one here is likely to forget that anytime soon."
- ―Leia Organa speaking to Lando Calrissian after the escape from Bespin
Arriving on Bespin, Organa and the others were greeted by Calrissian, whom Organa was immediately skeptical of. He agreed to repair the hyperdrive of the Millennium Falcon, and in the meantime, Organa and the others stayed at Cloud City. However, unbeknownst to them, Calrissian had made a deal with Vader to hand over the rebels in exchange for non-interference from the Empire. Captured by Vader, where the Dark Lord waited for Skywalker's arrival, Leia and the others were taken to a carbon-freezing facility, where Solo was to be frozen in carbonite to test if the chambers were suitable for trapping Skywalker. As the smuggler was lowered into the freezing pit, Organa's parting words were "I love you," to which Solo responded that he knew. (Listen ).[150]
On their way to Vader's ship, Organa caught sight of a recently arrived Luke Skywalker and tried to warn him, but she, Chewbacca, and C-3PO were taken away by Imperial forces. Before long, Calrissian betrayed Vader by disarming the stormtroopers with the help of his men, setting the Rebels free. Though Chewbacca almost strangled Calrissian, Organa let him live when he told them of Solo's location at the East Platform. With R2-D2 joining them, they attempted to save the frozen Solo from being taken away by Fett, but they were too late—the bounty hunter had already left on the Slave I with Solo. All the while, Skywalker dueled Vader until he lost his right hand, lightsaber, and learned that the Dark Lord was his father.[150]
Jumping down a shaft, Skywalker eventually ended up hanging on a weather scanner vane below Cloud City and called Organa out of instinct. The princess, who was escaping aboard the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Calrissian, sensed Skywalker's presence through the Force, and they turned around to retrieve Skywalker at her insistence. Once they rescued Skywalker, the ship was chased by TIE/ln starfighters into orbit and confronted by the Executor. Thanks to the astromech droid, the hyperdrive worked, and the Falcon escaped the Imperial threat.[150] Aboard the Falcon, Organa was still angry at Calrissian for making his deal with the Empire and introduced him to Skywalker. She then comforted her friend, who chose not to tell her that Vader was his father, instead revealing to her that Obi-Wan Kenobi had not responded when he reached out. Organa was certain the Jedi Master would answer and that, if he did not, Skywalker was strong enough to find his own path. Knowing they could not save Solo but that they could help the rebellion, Organa ignored Calrissian's concerns about the Empire and chose to return to the Rebel fleet, commandeering the Falcon for the Alliance. She also reminded Calrissian that he had betrayed them to the Imperials, which was something she felt they would not move past for some time, though the Cloud City administrator felt he deserved credit for getting the team off Bespin.[155]
They arrived in the Mid Rim to meet with the Fourth Division at Rendezvous Point Delta-Three. There, they assisted in helping the Division's and Green Squadron's ships in escaping Commander Ellian Zahra's Hunter Fleet's blockade. Organa then all of Zahra's TIEs chase after the Falcon. Organa and Skywalker manned the turrets as Calrissian and Chewbacca flew the Falcon into an attack run. Organa, the Falcon, the 4th division were able to escape. Though her other forces had destroyed the Eighth Division, Zahra was forced to report her failure to Vader, who was aware of her hatred for Organa. Seeking to keep Skywalker alive, Vader allowed her to kill the Rebel princess if she could but informed her that the Falcon was off limits. Having escaped to Backup Rendezvous Point Gamma-Nine, Organa then went to meet with Commander Grek aboard his ship. They discussed how the Empire found them and the Eighth Division at Malastare, and Organa realized that the Empire had broken their codes. Thus, the rebels knew if any cell contacted another, both groups could be found and destroyed. Organa and the others were unable to warn the other scattered rebels because of this, and Calrissian even feared they could be all that remained of the Rebel Alliance.[155]
A short time afterward, Calrissian promised he would head to Tatooine to learn if Fett had delivered Solo to Jabba yet. If not, he intended to look for leads on the bounty hunter. Organa elected to stay behind to help the Rebel fleet, though she had Chewbacca go with their new ally to make sure he went to the desert world and then right back. Organa then spoke with Skywalker about getting a prosthetic hand, though the young Jedi was still questioning himself after learning Vader was his father.[156] Organa, 3PO, and R2 accompanied Skywalker when he received the new hand and watched as Calrissian and Chewbacca left to find Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon.[150] Organa then spoke to Commander Grek's crew, pilots, and the Pathfinders about the Empire's continuing hunt for the Alliance. She proposed to find and contact the other cells without using their codes. Organa agreed to use Grek's Operation Starlight.[156]
Return to Cloud City[]
Organa, along with Calrissian, Skywalker, and R2 returned to Cloud City to assist Skywalker in recovering his lightsaber. After landing in Cloud City, she went to the carbon-freezing chamber. There, Organa studied how to work the decarbonization sequence. She was then found by a stormtrooper and stunned. Organa was frozen in carbonite.[157]
Organa and other prisoners were then freed from the carbonite by Skywalker. Organa led the prisoners in fighting the Imperial Garrison's stormtroopers and escaping aboard a Sentinel-class landing shuttle.[158]
Aboard a Nebulon-B frigate, Organa greeted Skywalker after his mission to Tempes. Relieved at his return, she asked him to show the Alliance officers onboard his newly acquired lightsaber, to give her and them hope.[159]
Encounter with Zahra[]
Commander Grek received a transmission from the Seventh Division. Organa gave the orders to respond to the transmission, despite knowing that it would compromise their position. Organa, along with the Fourth Division joined the Seventh shortly after the Hunter Fleet began their assault on the division.[160] During the battle, Organa's ship is boarded by Commander Zahra. She deactivated the safety controls on the ship's main reactor, and asked for Organa specifically. Knowing that the ship would explode if the reactor's limiters aren't reactivated, Organa agreed and entered the engine room with Grek's blaster.
As she entered, Zahra explained that she blamed Organa for the deaths of Tarkin and of her family. Before she can fully enact revenge, she is ordered to board her flagship, the Tarkin's Will, before the ship flees the battle. Skywalker comes to Organa's rescue and Zahra flees. Organa mentioned to Skywalker how much hatred she could see in her eyes, and how she felt this enemy was different.[161]
Operation Starlight[]
After the battle, Organa began Operation Starlight by discussing a plan to reunite the scattered Rebel divisions without using communication the Empire could intercept them with. She let C-3PO discuss their plan to steal a linguistic droid that could speak Trawak, an extinct language. Organa sent Calrissian to use the Millennium Falcon for the mission.[162]
After the mission was a success and the droid was reactivated, Organa discussed with it the terms of his service and how he would translate messages for the Rebel Alliance. She then sent Starlight Squadron on a mission to check rendezvous points for Rebel cells and given them the new Trawak codes if found.[163] When Starlight Squadron is ambushed and Lobot started to die from being interfaced with the linguistic droid, Organa decided to have the droid contact the squadron, despite the possibility of Lobot dying. A fight broke out between Calrissian and Kes Dameron due to this, where Organa ordered Calrissian to be imprisoned for the time being. After C-3PO reconstructed the Trawak language and turned the linguistic droid off, Organa checked to see if Lobot was still alive, and had him taken to the medical bay where she realized he was. When Starlight Squadron was able to recontact the group aboard the frigate, they informed Organa and Dameron that Shara Bey had to be left behind on the Tarkin's Will. Organa reassured Dameron that his wife would be safe.[164]
Aboard the Redemption, Organa and Dameron talked about the people they loved, Poe Dameron, Shara Bey, and Han Solo. They exchanged stories about them, before being informed of a signal from Lieutenant Bey. Organa let Dameron speak to her first, after which he informed Organa of intelligence Bey had gathered during her stay on the Tarkin's Will.[148]
Auction for Han Solo[]
Organa received a message from Amilyn Holdo which indicated that Solo was to be put on auction by Crimson Dawn. She showed Skywalker, Chewbacca, and C-3PO the holomessage aboard the Millennium Falcon. Translated by C-3PO, Chewbacca told Organa and Skywalker about his past encounters with Crimson Dawn, and that he suggested enlisting Calrissian's help in dealing with them. She sent Chewbacca to talk to him. Skywalker talked with Organa, concerned over the mission and for her wellbeing. She reassured him that both would be okay.[165]
In the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, Organa and Calrissian discussed about their approach to getting Han Solo back. Once they exited hyperspace, they noticed that multiple capital ships from multiple crime syndicates had arrived to bet on Han Solo. They tried to fly to the far side of the planet to avoid detection, but a Black Sun ship exited hyperspace right in front of them. The Millennium Falcon was able to escape oncoming Black Sun fighters, and crash land on the Jekara's surface.[165]
Operation Yellow Moon[]
- "You make the Alliance proud every day. By representing our cause—and by doing your duty. But duty won't give you comfort, Leia—and you need that. We all do. The comfort of friends—and of love. You were Bail and Breha's greatest joy, Leia—the love you shared was what sustained them through the dark years. Don't deny yourself another chance at love because of what the Empire did to them. Don't give Palpatine that victory, too."
- ―Mon Mothma, encouraging Organa not to give up her love for Solo
Following Mothma and the Rebel leadership's order to scatter the fleet, Organa and C-3PO were on Captain Volk Aymeric's Nebulon-B frigate, the Remembrance, when the ship and the rest of the convoy were attacked by TIE fighters; despite the Ranolfo's critical condition, Aymeric was forced to abandon them to protect Organa. She was then informed that she had to rendezvous with the rest of the Alliance leadership on Zastiga, her transport pilots being Nien Nunb and Lieutenant Ematt. On the Mellcrawler, they reached the planet, wherein Organa was greeted by R2-D2 and Skywalker, who told her that Calrissian was attempting to infiltrate Jabba's Palace to acquire more information on Solo's location, just before escorting her to the top-clearance meeting.[17]
During the gathering, Organa and the Generals were informed of the construction of the second Death Star, located over Endor—which, they knew, had to be destroyed before it became operational. After swearing to secrecy, Organa was escorted by Skywalker to her quarters, where she devised a strategy to present at the meeting the day after—Operation Yellow Moon—to divert the Imperial attention to her, instead of the upcoming mission to Endor. After a confidential exchange with Mothma, Organa was allowed to take part in the mission, her crew consisting of Nien Nunb, Kidi Aleri, Antrot, and Major Lokmarcha.[17]
While in hyperspace Leia read up on intel for their mission. A fight broke out between Kidi and Lokmarcha. Kidi was discussing her former colleagues in the Imperial Intel Agency and how she wished for them to be given amnesty after the war. The Dressellian said that they would face prison or a firing squad if he was in charge. Leia settled the fight and told them that they would face that issue after every single General, Admiral, and Moff had surrendered, and the Imperial Starfleet and Stormtrooper Corps had been defeated.[17]
They soon reached Basteel's capital, Eladro City, where she met with Bon Yoth to know where to place the first hyper-transceiver—in the cave system above his house. They had to climb one Kilometer up to the surface. During this, some sort of night feeders attacked her. She quickly got up to the surface where they ran from the light. The temperature began to drop as the sun set, but Nein Numb arrived in the Mellcrawler just as the sun finally set. They were Successful in their ordeal, but now tailed by Khione and her Shieldmaiden. They continued onto the Sesid system, where they placed another transceiver in a volcanic island on Sesid. They were soon chased by Imperials until the intervention of Aurelant and his Draedan pirates on the Daggadol. At first, they thought the Draedans would sell them off, but thanks to his maneuver to get them off-planet on Sesid's special escape pods they made their way to Jaresh, where they met with Nyessa, placed the last transceiver, and took part of the Riot on Jaresh, after which the Shieldmaiden tried and failed catch the Mellcrawler.[17]
After briefing her team about the true mission Organa decided to change the operation, warning any incoming Rebel ships to abandon the place. Once in the rendezvous point on Galaan's orbit, they warned the Sapphire Rogue and other ships before being caught in the Shieldmaiden's tractor beam. They were taken aboard the star destroyer and taken to interrogation rooms. Khione went into Leia's cell and brought Lokmarcha inside. The commando had hidden an ion bomb inside of his clothing and sacrificed himself. Leia took the captain's uniform and Antrot, Nein, and Kidi pretended to be her prisoners. When stormtroopers realized the ploy, Antrot ran as a distraction and was shot as Nein launched off in the shuttle Tydirium. All the ships they had warned, returned, and destroyed the Shieldmaiden.[17]
With Aleri's help, Organa then contacted Skywalker, who informed her that most of the fleet was nearly assembled, and that Solo was still frozen in carbonite in Jabba's palace. They arranged a rendezvous on Kothlis, where he would inform her of his plan to rescue Solo.[17] Although Mothma tried to talk Organa out of the dangerous plan,[28] they nevertheless carried on with it.[11]
Visit to Ord Mantell[]
Carrying out the rescue of Han Solo, Leia required an adequate disguise to fool Jabba the Hutt. Because of this, Organa, Chewbacca, and the droid R2-D2 traveled to Ord Mantell to meet Maz Kanata, who was the one to provide her with the disguise. Leia proceeded to ask Kanata how she would provide them with a cover story for Jabba, with Maz cautioning patience. At that moment, the bounty hunter Boushh fired shots at the group. While hiding behind crates, Kanata explained to Leia that the bounty hunter would be the source of her disguise. Chewbacca and Organa engaged the bounty hunter while R2-D2 operated a crane. Leia managed to shoot the blaster out of Boushh's hand, leading to the bounty hunter charging the princess with a lance. After fighting Boushh for a bit, Leia ducked out of the fight to let R2-D2 disable the bounty hunter with a crane. Afterwards, Organa used Boushh's armor as her disguise. She thanked Kanata for her help in getting her an outfit, and then left aboard the Millennium Falcon.[166]
Detour to Arkanis[]
En route from Ord Mantell to Tatooine, Leia was contacted by Evaan Verlaine. Rebel Alliance command received word from Lando Calrissian that his ship had been shot down by bounty hunters on Arkanis, and he was on the run. Leia contacted Lando to tell him they were coming for him. In a clearing, Lando ran into Leia in Boushh's outfit, believing her to be the bounty hunter. He tried to fight but Leia knocked him down before revealing herself. She led him back toward the Falcon, finally giving him an earful about Han's predicament. Everything at Cloud City was a "beautiful double cross" that had relied on Han surviving in his usual ways, Lando explained, but he hadn't anticipated the carbonite freezing. Leia chastised him for relying on schemes, and Lando countered that scoundrels try to make things work as best as they can. They heard Chewbacca captured by bounty hunters in the distance, who dragged him to a cantina to meet with their boss, Bossk. Lando suggested she call in the Rebels to help, but she worried the Empire had too much of a presence in the area and that such an attack might have alerted Jabba and ruined any rescue plans.
Leia entered the cantina, disguised as Boushh to congratulate Bossk and question him about Calrissian. The Trandoshan said he could get to the smuggler later as Jabba's price on the Wookiee was substantial. "Boushh" left saying he would see Bossk on Tatooine. Suspicious, Bossk sent his crew after their associate, and they found "him" at a campfire with Calrissian tied up. The trap sprung, they fired on a decoy as Leia stunned them from behind with a bolo-gun. But Bossk jumped down from his ship above. The two exchanged gunfire while Lando begged to be set free to fight. Leia hit some rocks that knocked Bossk down and jammed his blaster. As she tried to negotiate a swap for Chewbacca, Bossk's crew came to and fired at her. She shot both, wounding instead of killing them. As Lando got free, she knocked him to the ground and shot him in the chest. Believing Calrissian was dead, Bossk agreed to the swap, and the bounty hunters left. Lando sat up unharmed and impressed, remarking that Leia had "a little scoundrel in her."[167]
Solo's rescue[]
- "We have powerful friends. You're gonna regret this."
- ―Leia Organa, to Jabba the Hutt
Following Calrissian, R2-D2, and C-3PO's infiltration at Jabba's Palace to rescue Solo, Organa arrived with Chewbacca as her "prisoner" to collect part of the bounty Jabba had put on Solo's head.[11] Unknown to Organa, Fett had tipped off the crime lord, and as such, Jabba already knew that whoever was under Boushh's helmet wasn't him, but he was still willing to pay the impostor, who he believed was a short lowlife smuggler.[28] Jabba offered 25,000 credits for Chewie, but Leia demanded 50,000 and no less. This angered Jabba, who knocked C-3PO to the ground. When Jabba asked her why he needed to pay 50,000, Leia took out a thermal detonator and threatened the crime lord, alarming his guests. Jabba laughed and offered 35,000 for the Wookiee, an offer Organa accepted, and Chewie was taken by two Gamorrean guards to be imprisoned.[11]
Later that night, Organa released Solo from his carbonite coffin. After revealing her identity, the two kissed. However, they were immediately caught by Jabba and his court,[11] prompting Organa to use her armor to signal Skywalker and Calrissian that she had been captured.[28] Solo was sent to the dungeons and placed in the same cell as Chewbacca, while Jabba demanded that Organa be brought to him. Despite Organa's attempt to threaten the Hutt, he replied sarcastically and licked her face.[11] Jabba then sent two of his servants, Jess and Damaris, to clean her up and dress her in a dancing-girl costume. After being chained to Jabba's throne, Organa was kept beside the gangster as his new favorite slave. Throughout the night, Organa resisted Jabba's attempts to draw her closer, though eventually they both grew tired and fell asleep.[168]
The following morning, Jabba and Organa were awoken by Skywalker's arrival at the palace.[169] He was presented before them by Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, who was mind-tricked into granting Skywalker's entry. Organa watched in silence as Skywalker tried to convince Jabba to release his friends. Jabba refused to bargain with the Jedi and dropped him into a pit with a rancor. While Skywalker managed to kill the beast, Jabba was enraged and punished Organa by strangling her. Jabba declared that Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca were to be taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon and eaten alive by the sarlacc.[11]
Though she was spared from execution, Organa was forced to accompany Jabba on his sail barge, the Khetanna, while her friends were transported on a smaller skiff. During the ride, she was allowed to leave her master's side momentarily to watch her friends from a window, but Jabba eventually forced her to return to him on his throne. Jabba then informed Organa that she would soon learn to appreciate him. The crime lord celebrated his plans by making Organa share a drink with him.[11]
When they finally reached their destination, Organa patiently waited until Skywalker started attacking with his new lightsaber. She destroyed the barge's controls to throw the vessel into darkness and jumped over Jabba's tail. Grabbing the slack of the very chain with which Jabba had enslaved her, Organa threw its length around the crime lord's huge neck.[11] Fueled by her hatred for Jabba, Organa unknowingly drew upon the dark side of the Force in order to gain strength while she strangled him to death.[12] R2-D2 then broke her chain, and they headed for the top surface of the sail barge, where the astromech droid and C-3PO jumped off the vehicle's edge and Organa met with Skywalker. Pointing the deck cannon toward the heart of the vehicle, the two initiated the barge's destruction and swung to the skiff where Calrissian, Chewbacca, and Solo awaited them. Picking up the two droids, they drove the skiff off just as the Khetanna exploded.[11]
Organa later briefed the Rebel chronicler Dora Mar about the rescue mission. Organa told Mar about Jess, though she was unsure about whether or not she had survived. As Jess had previously told her about Jabba's favorite slave before her, Oola, the princess also had Mar make a record of her. Though Mar pointed out that neither of them were part of the Rebellion, Organa insisted they be added to their records because they were part of the story and wanted them to be remembered.[170]
Battle of Endor[]
- "Luke, don't talk that way. You have a power that I don't understand and can never have."
"You're wrong, Leia. You have that power, too. In time, you will learn to use it as I have. The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And… my sister has it. Yes. It's you, Leia." - ―Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker
Upon leaving Tatooine, Organa departed for Sullust with the rest of the crew (except for Skywalker and R2-D2) aboard the Millennium Falcon to reunite with the rest of the Rebel Alliance's fleet, assembling for its greatest operation yet—the assault on the second Death Star, located in the Endor system.[11] During the briefing, she volunteered for Solo's ground assault to deactivate the deflector shield protecting the space station, as did Chewbacca and Skywalker (and his droids).[11] Before the mission, Mothma tried to talk some sense into Organa on behalf of her deceased parents, even though she knew that Organa would refuse to listen to her advice.[28]
Aboard the Tydirium, the team landed on the moon, as willed by Vader, aware of his son's presence on the shuttle. Making their way through the forest, they came across Imperial scout troopers, whom Organa and Skywalker pursued on a stolen speeder bike. Though they took care of the troopers, the two were separated as she was thrown off her speeder and knocked unconscious. An Ewok, Wicket, woke her up, and Organa quickly befriended him. Though they were discovered by two other scouts, Organa and Wicket managed to get rid of them.[11] While on their way to Wicket's home, Bright Tree Village, they came across two other Ewoks who had been stopped by two stormtroopers. Wicket climbed a nearby tree and, with help from Organa, trapped the stormtroopers in a vine. When Organa, Wicket, and the two other Ewoks arrived at Bright Tree Village, they presented her with a dress as a gift for helping them escape the stormtroopers.[171]
After a few hours, she realized that her friends were to become a banquet in C-3PO's honor, whom the Ewoks thought to be their god. She tried to intervene, but they threatened her with spears. They were only freed after Skywalker used the Force to levitate the protocol droid as a proof of his deific "magic" to the tribe. Later that night, Organa listened as C-3PO told the Ewoks their story, prompting Chief Chirpa to proclaim them a part of the tribe.[11]
It was then that Skywalker decided the time had come for him to leave his friends and face Vader, and Organa followed him out of the tribal gathering and asked him what was troubling him. Skywalker then revealed that not only was Vader his father but hers as well, and that he was her brother, something she had somehow always known; he then left the village to face the Sith Lord in combat alone. Solo then appeared to question Organa, and became jealous of Skywalker, but soon apologized and comforted her.[11]
The next day, Organa fought alongside the rest of the team in the battle that followed their initial infiltration at the shield generator and subsequent capture by Imperial reinforcements. While the Ewoks provided a distraction long enough for them to take hold of their position at the doors, only for Solo's efforts to hotwire the machinery to fail, she was injured by a blaster shot[11] fired by stormtrooper GR-792—who missed a killing shot because fellow trooper RZ-440 accidentally kicked his leg[172]—that hit her shoulder. Seemingly cornered by the two approaching stormtroopers, Organa hid her blaster from sight as they approached and listened as Solo confessed his love, after which she blasted both stormtroopers,[11] killing GR-792 and knocking out RZ-440.[172] With Chewbacca's stolen All Terrain Scout Transport, they tricked the officers into letting them enter and destroy the shield generator, which in turn allowed Calrissian and Nunb, along with Antilles, to fly into the Death Star's core and destroy it from the inside.[11]
Victory and marriage[]
- "Han?"
"I want you."
"Me? For what?"
"Forever. Marry me." - ―Han's proposal to Leia
In the aftermath, Solo reassured Organa that Skywalker had surely survived, but she already knew it, as she felt her brother's presence through the Force. Solo told her he would not interfere in their relationship, but she informed Solo that Skywalker was her brother, and they shared a kiss. Afterwards, they arranged for the Alliance to join them at Bright Tree Village, where they celebrated their victory, and where Skywalker ultimately reunited with them. Organa and her friends took the chance to stand together after everything they had been through, smiling together at their victory.[11]
During the celebrations on Endor, Organa tried to discourage their Ewok allies from eating captured stormtroopers, and so she sent for Solo and Chewbacca to meet with General Hera Syndulla to gather food rations from her. Syndulla agreed but Solo had to admit that the Ghost was a better ship than the Millennium Falcon, and Solo reluctantly agreed. When Solo and Chewbacca returned with the food portions, Organa eased Solo by stating that the Millennium Falcon was the better ship and distributed the food portions to the Ewoks.[173]
After the battle, Leia told Skywalker that the battle would have gone very differently if it weren't for the Ewoks. Two troubled Ewoks, Wicket and Kneesaa, approached them and told them they needed help resetting the traps used in the Battle of Endor. After agreeing to help, they encountered a giant Gorax and fled from it.[174]
It cornered them at the edge of the forest, overlooking a swamp. There was a log trap—an improvised battering ram held by ropes—nearby, however, and Wicket and Kneesaa had already reached it. As Skywalker distracted the Gorax, Leia helped the Ewoks. While Skywalker used his Force powers to distract the giant, Leia struggled to cut through the ropes holding up the battering ram. Skywalker lent Leia his lightsaber to cut the ropes, and the Gorax was pushed into the swamp by the log trap.[174]
Two days after the Battle of Endor, Solo suddenly proposed to Organa shortly after discovering an Imperial outpost.[50] Leia and Han had a small wedding ceremony[175] in the Ewok village Temple, where Leia wore a meadow green dress,[50] that was only attended by those they trusted.[175] This included Mothma, Calrissian, Chewbacca and Logray. The wedding was officiated by Skywalker and much of it was translated by C-3PO. During the ceremony Skywalker asked for a moment of silence for those who were not there to join them. Leia thought of her parents and felt as though her mother was attaching the Rhindon Sword to her waist and her father was pressing a kiss to her forehead.[50]
Though they did not keep the ceremony a secret, Han and Leia did not make it publicly known.[175] After their wedding, the couple left Endor to have their honeymoon aboard the Halcyon at the urging of Mon Mothma, only for their time aboard the luxury Star Cruiser to involve a battle with Imperial forces. Organa began to unlock her Force powers during the battle.[50]
Naboo[]
- "Welcome to the New Republic."
- ―Leia Organa
Twenty days after the Battle of Endor, following the Beltire Liberation and the Battle of Cawa City, in the company of Lieutenant Shara Bey, Organa was tasked by Mothma to conduct a diplomatic mission to Naboo—to recruit the assistance of the old Republic member in restoring the Senate and founding the New Republic. Her first return to Naboo in years, they were greeted by Governor Donta Gesset on behalf of Queen Sosha Soruna. Led into the Theed Royal Palace, the Queen eagerly accepted Organa's invitation. It was then that a planet-wide blackout, with all orbital sensors jammed, was caused by Imperial climate disruption arrays, as part of Operation: Cinder, spearheaded by Lerr Duvat.[177]
Alerted by Captain Korro, Bey and Organa correctly surmised that it was the work of the Imperial remnant and asked for pilots and ships. The demilitarization of Naboo years before, however, forced them to use N-1 starfighters left in the palace that dated back to the Invasion of Naboo thirty-six years before, and to manually pilot the ships without the assistance of astromech droids. Momentarily sensing a dark presence, this being Darth Maul, Organa volunteered for the mission, while the Security Forces evacuated the city. Alongside Soruna and Bey, she set out to destroy the Imperial satellites, with Bey acting as a distraction for the incoming TIE/ln fighters.[178]
During the battle, she saved Bey. They were, in turn, saved from a new wave of TIE fighters by Calrissian and Nunb on the Mellcrawler II and by other ships of the Rebel Fleet, which had been alerted of Operation: Cinder after an assault on a ISB black site. Just as Soruna destroyed the last of the satellites, the fleet destroyed Duvat's Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Torment, saving Naboo and letting Organa and Bey reunite with Solo and Kes Dameron, respectively.[178]
However, the surviving Imperials were still intent on carrying out Operation: Cinder and the rebels were forced to protect the city of Theed from them. Leia devised a plan to vanquish the Imperials by triggering an ion pulse from a security system installed years prior, which would deactivate all weapons and vehicles outside the Theed Royal Palace. However, the power relays necessary to activate it had been damaged and needed repairing. Joined by Danger Leader Shriv Suurgav and recent Imperial defectors Iden Versio and Del Meeko, Leia took Del and together the two teams managed to restore power. Leia then took up a position on the front lines and ordered all rebel forces to fall back to the palace as the pulse was detonated, rendering all Imperial tech useless and saving the day. After the battle, Leia revealed that she knew both Iden and Del were members of Inferno Squad, a unit which had caused more than a bit of trouble for the rebellion in the past. However, she surmised that fighting the Empire meant something to both and formally welcomed them into the New Republic after they expressed a desire to fight for the right side.[176]
Jedi training[]
- "I treasured each moment I spent with my brother. The things he taught me [....] I use them every day. Once you touch the Force, it's part of you always. Over the years, I continued to learn, to grow. There were times on the Senate floor when the meditations I'd practiced with Luke were the only thing that kept me from causing a galactic incident."
- ―Leia, to Rey
Training on Ajan Kloss[]
After the Battle of Endor, Organa began training in the ways of the Jedi under the tutelage of her brother. At Skywalker's suggestion the two of them trained on Ajan Kloss.[7] She went on to construct her own lightsaber that produced a blue-colored blade, and she would train in lightsaber combat becoming skilled enough to fight on par with Skywalker and even best him in a sparring match on occasion.[22] She also practiced meditation with Skywalker,[179] and learned enough about the basics of the Force to levitate herself and sense other sentient beings.[180] Luke offered her guidance about how the Force worked and helped her understand, from his personal experience, that the Force offered visions of the future, past, and even of the departed. Leia believed this helped explain the visions of their mother she retained after her death. In her training, she demonstrated an ability to learn and adapt quickly, as noted by Skywalker that she was a fast study.[7]
Discovering a holocron[]
Sometime during her training with her brother, Organa and Skywalker discovered[181] a holocron that contained the story of Qi'ra and her attempts to destroy the Sith. Organa was confused by the sight of it because it didn't look like other holocrons they'd seen, but Skywalker assured her it was one and activated it for her, promising it would answer her questions. It contained recollections by "The Archivist".[182] As the Archivist described Qi'ra's goals to kill Vader and Palpatine, Skywalker lamented that she never came to them for help. Organa suggested that this was because Qi'ra only relied on herself, saying she hadn't seemed like the trusting type.[183] The Archivist suggested that the Rebel Alliance had perhaps been engineered by Palpatine, which Skywalker said was wrong, but Organa pointed out that while he didn't create it, he definitely used it.[184] When the Archivist described the presence of Darth Vader as feeling like you were in the presence of an animal eating its own young, both Organa and Skywalker latched onto that idea and contemplated it more.[185]
At the end of the story, the Archivist said that Qi'ra had failed to take down the Sith and saw her hidden empire of Crimson Dawn destroyed, even theorizing that Qi'ra had been killed by the Empire or its remnants as she had never seen her again. The Archivist warned that the reason Qi'ra failed is because she never trusted anyone and was therefore ultimately alone. Organa was shocked by the contents of the story. She and Skywalker both agreed that the Archivist was wrong in saying Qi'ra failed, Organa pointing out that Qi'ra's Syndicate War kept Palpatine occupied long enough for the Alliance to regroup. Organa expressed her wishes that Qi'ra had come to come to the Alliance, and wished that Qi'ra had been alive to see them win against the Empire, unaware that Qi'ra was actually still alive.[181]
End of her path[]
Organa, however, had visions of serving the galaxy in different ways and had another life calling to her rather than the life of a Jedi. But the catalyst of her choice to end her training was on the last night she was with Skywalker. While to dress together, Organa had a vision and sensed the death of her unborn son if she were to complete her Jedi path. While Skywalker hoped that his sister would resume her training later, Organa gave him her lightsaber to convince him otherwise, asking to pass it on to a promising student someday. However, Skywalker hadn't yet done this, and Organa didn't know where he had stored her lightsaber.[179]
While she ended her training, Organa treasured every moment she spent with Skywalker. She also went on to use what Skywalker taught her in her everyday life as well as into her career in the Galactic Senate of the New Republic and continued to learn over her years.[179]
New Republic[]
Return to Politics[]
- "Be patient. Be strong. Fight back where you can. The Imperial war machine falls apart one gear, one gun, one stormtrooper at a time. The New Republic is coming. And we want your help to finish the fight."
- ―Leia Organa's holovid
After ending her Jedi training, Organa returned to the political arena.[5] At some point, shortly before an Imperial emergency summit on Akiva, Organa recorded a propaganda holovid to announce the destruction of the second Death Star, the death of Emperor Palpatine, and the birth of the New Republic to the whole galaxy, encouraging people to contribute to the defeat of the Empire.[19]
Following the rebellion on Akiva, Leia served as the senator[175] for the Alderaan sector[186] in the reconstituted Galactic Senate in Chandrila's Hanna City. As Senator, she arranged for the wrecked pieces of the second Death Star to be diverted to the Alderaan Flotilla, which used them to build a space station that became their new home.[175] While a senator, Captain Lina Graf approached Organa and Chancellor Mothma for a ship to take her to Mustafar to find her brother Milo Graf, explaining that she believed he was there because of a dream she had. Mothma refused to send a ship based on a dream, but Organa, recognizing that she would still go, gave her the name of a a bar on Emita where she could find the pilot and smuggler Jaxxon T. Tumperakki, explaining that he was crazy enough to take her. Graf then went there to ask Tumperakki for help, giving him Organa's name, though he initially said that his days of dealing with Organa and her friends were over.[187]
Balancing family and service[]
Knowing that her husband and his co-pilot Chewbacca had undertaken a campaign to liberate Kashyyyk, Leia tried unsuccessfully to marshal support in the Galactic Senate for troops and ships to free the planet. However, the New Republic was too preoccupied with fighting the Empire and holding on to liberated worlds.[175]
While her husband Solo had received information from the smuggler Imra that the Empire had reduced their military presence on Kashyyyk, Leia warned that Imra could not be trusted. Leia's warning proved correct when Han and Chewbacca stumbled onto a trap on Kashyyyk. While Han managed to escape, Chewbacca was captured and locked inside the automated prison of Ashmead's Lock. Han later contacted Leia while traveling on the edge of Wild Space. Their conversation was interrupted when Han came under attack from Imperial forces.[175]
Despite the family crisis with Han, Leia accompanied Chancellor Mon Mothma on a secret meeting with the Imperial Grand Vizier Mas Amedda on the ocean planet of Velusia. When a dejected Amedda offered to surrender, Chancellor Mothma and Princess Leia rejected his offer and ordered him to find a way to secure the Galactic Empire's surrender. After returning to Chandrila, Leia requested an audience with the New Republic starfighter pilot Norra Wexley. When the New Republic Defense Force refused to help her find Solo, Norra resigned from the Navy and embarked on a mission to find Han with her son Temmin Wexley, his B1-series battle droid Mister Bones, the former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus, Zabrak bounty hunter Jas Emari, and the New Republic soldier Jom Barell.[175]
Princess Leia later attended a high-level New Republic meeting with Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma, and the advisers Hostis Ij and Auxi Kray Korbin to discuss the war effort. Though Leia was frustrated with the endless bickering within the New Republic leadership, she regarded it as a lesser evil to the dictatorial rule of the late Darth Sidious. While meditating with a potted plant from Endor, Leia receives a revelation that her unborn child would be a boy, a fighter, and an angel.[175]
Following the successful New Republic capture of the planet Kuat and the vital Kuat Drive Yards, Princess Leia contacted Admiral Ackbar by hologram to congratulate his victory. They were then joined by Chancellor Mothma, who informed them that she had been contacted by Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, the leader of the Galactic Empire. With the Empire facing defeat, Grand Admiral Sloane agreed to participate in bilateral peace talks on Chandrila. While Leia was skeptical that Sloane was the mysterious Operator, she reluctantly joined her comrades in accepting Sloane's offer.[175]
Searching for Han Solo[]
- "Senator Organa. It's been a while."
"Building a republic is busy work."
"So is chasing after an Imperial Fleet."
"It's about to get busier, Commander. I need a favor. One of our Generals has gone missing. I tracked him to Takodana, but he isn't answering his comm. I need you to find Han Solo." - ―Leia Organa, to Iden Versio
Sometime later, Senator Organa lost contact with her husband, Han Solo. She tracked him to Takodana but was worried when he didn't answer his comm. She sent Commander Versio and the newly reformed Inferno Squad with finding and locating Solo.[176]
Liberation of Kashyyyk[]
Later, Leia and Chancellor Mon Mothma received the liberated rebel prisoners from Ashmead's Lock, who had been freed by Norra and her team. While at Hanna City Spaceport, Leia asked Norra about her husband. Norra reassured the Princess that Solo and Chewbacca were safe but that they had stayed behind on Kashyyyk to free the Wookiees. Unknown to Leia and Mothma, the prisoners were part of Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax's plot to assassinate the New Republic military and political leadership on Chandrila. Rax, who was the Operator, had secretly fitted the prisoners with inorganic bio-chips that would allow him to remotely control their actions.[175]
A month later, the Galactic Senate accepted Rae Sloane's offer for bilateral peace talks between the Republic and the Empire. Chancellor Mothma timed the peace talks to take place after Liberation Day, a public holiday held to celebrate the rescue of the Ashmead's Lock prisoners. Sympathetic to the plight of the enslaved Wookiees, Leia tried to lobby the Chancellor into sending military forces to liberate Kashyyyk. However, Mon Mothma refused to launch an official incursion to avoid jeopardizing the upcoming peace talks. When Mothma offered to negotiate the liberation of Kashyyyk with Sloane, Leia insisted that the freedom and dignity of the Wookiees was non-negotiable.[175]
Prior to the Liberation Day celebrations, Leia received news from the New Republic slicer Conder Kyl that a New Republic probe droid in the Kashyyyk system had intercepted of the Imperial Grand Moff of Kashyyyk Lozen Tolruck ordering the Star Destroyers orbiting Kashyyyk to bombard the planet after the Wookiees had revolted en masse. Wanting to rescue her husband and Chewie, Leia convinced Evaan Verlaine to fly as her co-pilot aboard the Millennium Falcon to Kashyyyk. This timely decision saved her from being assassinated by Rax's unwilling agents.[175]
Leia later contacted Captain Wedge Antilles via hologram to request the help of his squadron on Kashyyyk. Upon arriving in Kashyyyk, Leia's ship the Millennium Falcon and Phantom Squadron flew rings around the Imperial Star Destroyers Dominion, Vitiator, and Neutralizer. Their starships were soon reinforced by Admiral Ackbar's flagship Home One. Solo and his team managed to hijack the Dominion and use it to destroy the Vitiator. As a result, the Neutralizer surrendered to the New Republic, ending Imperial rule on Kashyyyk.[175]
Leia had an emotional reunion with her husband aboard the Dominion's hangar bay. After exchanging jokes about rescuing each other, the couple reaffirmed their love for each other. When Solo asked about naming their baby, Leia insisted that their child was not a bandit and called him an angel. The couple then kissed. Later on Kashyyyk, Leia and Han bid farewell to their friend Chewbacca, who stayed behind on his homeworld to reunite with his family. After learning of the recent attack on Chandrila, the couple returned to the capital with Wedge in tow.[175]
Later, Princess Leia gave Norra and her team her personal and financial backing during their hunt for Grand Admiral Sloane, who they believed was responsible for the attack on Chandrila. Due to her actions at Kashyyyk, Leia had become a political pariah with the New Republic establishment. While the New Republic was no longer offering bounties for Imperial fugitives, she still vowed to do everything that was necessary to help her newfound friends.[175]
Tidings from Jakku[]
Several months later, Leia was heavily pregnant. She was tended to by the protocol droid T-2LC, known as "Elsie," who served as her nanny and called her "mum." At the advice of Doctor Harter Kalonia, Han bought his wife jogan fruits. While talking with her husband about political developments in the wider galaxy, the two received news via hologram from Norra Wexley that the Imperial fugitive Grand Admiral Sloane had fled to the barren Inner Rim world of Jakku. Leia encouraged Norra to continue her investigation but to be careful.[186]
Norra and her team traveled to Jakku, where they discovered that most of the Galactic Empire had relocated there. While Norra, Jas Emari, and Mister Bones infiltrated Jakku, Sinjir and Temmin returned to Chandrila with news about the Imperial presence. After receiving Sinjir and Temmin, Leia contacted Chancellor Mothma and told her to come to her domicile. After Mothma had questioned Temmin and Sinjir, Leia defended their mission. Chancellor Mothma responded that the New Republic was responsible for hunting Sloane, not Princess Leia and her friends. However, Mothma praised Leia for her efforts to liberate Jakku.[186]
Leia opined that the New Republic had the chance to end the war now that the Empire was gathered on Jakku. Chancellor Mothma agreed to raise the matter with the Galactic Senate but decided to send a fact-finding mission first. Unknown to Leia, Mothma's political rival, Senator Tolwar Wartol, had installed a listening device inside T-2LC. Seeking to discredit Chancellor Mothma, Wartol leaked information about the Imperial presence on Jakku to the media. Later, Leia and Han allowed Temmin and Sinjir to borrow the Millennium Falcon and travel to Jakku. However, Wartol sent guards to stop them from leaving to sow discord among Mothma's allies.[186]
War's end[]
While watching the morning news with her husband, Leia and Han saw Senator Wartol informing the media about the Imperial presence on Jakku. After meeting with Sinjir and reassuring him that they had not double-crossed him and Temmin, Leia shared Sinjir's assessment that there was a listening device inside her domicile. Sinjir enlisted the services of his lover Conder, who was a slicer who had previously helped Leia. Conder found a listening device inside T-2LC, and Solo removed it. Leia and Solo promptly informed Chancellor Mothma, who went to confront Senator Wartol.[186]
Leia and her unborn child stayed behind on Chandrila while Han, Sinjir, Temmin, Conder, and Jom Barell undertook an undercover mission on Nakadia, the new capital of the New Republic. The five investigated five senators who had opposed Chancellor Mothma's resolution to send New Republic forces to Jakku. They subsequently uncovered a conspiracy by the Black Sun and Red Key crime syndicates to prolong the Galactic Civil War by bribing and coercing the senators. Han and his team foiled the conspiracy by rescuing Senator Nim Tar's child. Sinjir then posed as an adviser to the Chancellor and offered them pardons and political favors if they changed their votes. This ploy worked and the New Republic dispatched military forces to Jakku, beginning the final battle of the Galactic Civil War.[186]
While awaiting her husband's return, Leia found that she could sense her unborn son through the Force. She likened his presence to a pulsing living band of light. Sometimes that light dimmed, and other times it was thrust through a vein of darkness. Leia also found that her son could sense her emotions. After Solo returned from Nakadia, the couple talked about the Battle of Jakku. When Solo remarked that it felt weird staying back, Leia reassured him that they had their own adventure and were seeing the start of a new era. Leia then felt her baby turn inside her again, troubled by something she could not feel and understand.[186]
In the final days of her pregnancy, Leia asked both Lando Calrissian and Chancellor Mothma to get gifts for the baby, even guilting Mothma, who had considered delegating the task to her secretary Auxi, for not picking up the gift herself. However, Mothma eventually choosing to comply with Leia's demands would lead to the saving of her life, as Senator Wortal had planted a bomb to go off in Mothma's office. Leia ran to the Senate tower, terrified that her mentor was dead. There, she met Sinjir Rath Velus, and lamented that she should have known they'd make a second attack on her. Upon seeing Mothma alive and well, Leia ran to her old friend, only stopping to help Sinjir, physically removing a sparking baton from a guard's hand to help him through the crowd. Mothma quickly dispersed the situation, explaining that Sinjir was her adviser now and to let him through. The two women embraced each other, thankful that Mon was still alive.[186]
With the Battle of Jakku turning in the New Republic's favor, Chancellor Mothma received a peace overture from Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. Leia along with Chancellor Mothma and her new advisers attended the surrender ceremony which took place at the crystal cave north of Hanna City, under an ancient tintolive tree. Leia watched as the Chancellor and Grand Vizier signed the Imperial Instruments of Surrender and the Galactic Concordance, which formally ended the Galactic Civil War and facilitated the Empire's surrender. During the signing, Leia entered the third hour of her labor. However, she only told Han after the ceremony. They then rushed off to the birthing chamber at the heart of Hanna City.[186]
Motherhood[]
- "I just never should have sent him away. That's when I lost him. That's when I lost you both."
- ―Leia Organa to Han Solo, on their son, Ben
Leia gave birth to her son Ben Solo on the day the Empire surrendered to the New Republic. The two were visited by several friends and families. There were rumors that her brother Luke visited before departing on an untold mission. Others claimed that his absence was conspicuous. Stories of Ben's birth circulated within the public sphere. One story claimed that the Princess underwent three entire days of labor. Another tale claimed that it was a fast and painless birth, with Leia merely needing to calm herself and meditate to make the moment as untroubled as a mountain lake. Other stories claimed that her son was born with a full shock of black hair and a full set of teeth.[186]
Soon after Ben's birth, Han Solo stood in the nursery looking at his son when Ben began to cry. Leia entered the room when Han called for her, asking her to use the Force to quell his sobs. Leia told her husband instead to pick him up, and upon doing so, Ben burped and stopped crying, snuggling into his father. When Han lamented that he'd never have what Leia had with him due to her connection to the Force, Leia simply told her husband that what he had was different because he was his father and that he didn't need the Force at all.[186]
After Ben's birth, Han and Leia decided to remain on Chandrila, although Sinjir Rath Velus noted that Leia was eager to go out and help liberate worlds still in the thrall of Imperial Remnants.[186]
Leia found Ben to be a normal baby who went through the normal range of emotions.[186] Leia developed many memories with her son, being present for his first steps and word. As well as when he harnessed the force through a toddler rage throwing a toy across a room.[179]
In 7 ABY,[188] Han and Leia were paid a visit by their longtime friend Lando Calrissian, who recruited Han to help him save Cloud City. Leia gave Han her blessings as he joined Calrissian's crew. Later, Leia helped them by ordering New Republic Captain Krull to allow the group of "New Republic agents" to pass through their blockade and leave Substation Grimdock, and later revealed to them that the pilot they hired, Taka Jamoreesa, was an undercover New Republic bodyguard. Upon Han's return, Leia was pleased by her husband's vow to spend more time together.[20]
As Ben grew, he shared his mother's Force sensitivity. However, he struggled with the dark side. Organa sent her son to train under her brother in 15 ABY,[189] as Skywalker had begun to rebuild the Jedi Order, in the hope that he would learn to control his obsession.[10]
New Republic senator[]
Assisting Syndulla[]
- "The honorable Senator Organa has become aware of an unfortunate situation and wishes to present this data transcript, which she hopes may resolve the matter."
- ―C-3PO to the court
In 9 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire planned to return to the galaxy, having previously been taken to Peridea due to the actions of Organa's old ally, Commander Ezra Bridger.[190] Around this time, Leia's name was included on a list of heroes on the gauntlet of Baylan Skoll, a former Jedi Knight and an ally to the effort to find Grand Admiral.[191]
After being informed of rumors regarding Thrawn's return, General Hera Syndulla spoke with Mon Mothma and other senators, requesting resources to aid in searching for the missing Jedi and the Grand Admiral, though the request was soon declined.[191] In response, Syndulla took a small squadron of X-wings and decided to continue with the search regardless. Organa was soon informed of this, though supported Syndulla's actions and decided to cover for her. The New Republic were quick to respond to this however, and Organa soon contacted Captain Carson Teva and told him that she could only cover for them for so long. Teva passed the message down to Syndulla, who searched for her friends Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano. Tano was eventually found and pursued the hunt for Thrawn and Bridger, whilst Syndulla was left to deal with the consequences from the New Republic.[192]
During the prosecution of Syndulla by Senator Hamato Xiono for disobeying direct orders, Organa sent C-3PO to represent her in the trial and defend her friend. Before claiming that Organa had only recently become aware of the situation, the protocol droid presented a data transcript on the senator's behalf to prove that Organa had personally authorized Syndulla's reconnaissance mission to Seatos while she was unaware of Xiono's vote against it. C-3PO also added that Organa was willing to overlook the alleged mistake, with the request that further concerns be addressed directly to her. As Xiono reluctantly claimed to be satisfied, Mothma dismissed the case despite knowing that Organa did not authorize the mission beforehand as claimed.[21]
Late New Republic Era[]
An unlikely ally[]
- "I don't have time for a conversation about galactic politics with someone so profoundly ignorant of their greater implications."
"Nor do I have time to discuss these matters with someone so intolerant of other points of view." - ―Leia and Casterfo exchanging views about the Galactic Empire
Twenty-three years after the Battle of Jakku, Organa was still a senator in the Galactic Senate of the New Republic on Hosnian Prime, as part of the Populists, a powerful, yet unofficial, political faction. The Populists believed that individual member planets should retain their full sovereignty, while the Centrists favored a stronger galactic government and a larger military. After Mothma, former chancellor, left the office, the tension between the two factions threatened to cripple the Senate.[12]
During this period, Organa attended a dedication ceremony of a new statue of her father, Bail Organa, on Hosnian Prime. At this ceremony, Organa addressed the Senate and attempted to inspire the senators to stop bickering and begin to act. However, her efforts proved unsuccessful, further demonstrating that the Senate was no longer effective. Losing faith that the government could function any longer, Organa resolved to resign as senator at the end of her term.[12]
Following the ceremony, Organa met privately with the Centrist senator Lady Carise Sindian, who informed her that Lord Mellowyn, the Supreme governor of Birren had died without leaving any heirs. Since Mellowyn was a distant kinsman of her adoptive father Bail Organa, Leia was his next in line to inherit the position per the rules of the Elder Houses. While Organa was not interested in matters relating to royalty, Sindian wanted to preserve that tradition. Organa reassured Sindian that she would have her staff investigate the matter immediately.[12]
Later during a session of the Senate, Organa was present when Yendor, a Twi'lek emissary from the planet Ryloth, appeared before the Senate to ask for help in investigating a Nikto cartel that was threatening his home planet. The cartel was run by a Kajain'sa'Nikto known as Rinnrivin Di, who operated from the planet Bastatha. After Yendor's request was made, the Senate debated whether Yendor's accusations were true and whether the Senate should act upon them. Feeling partially responsible that she was part of the government that allowed this to happen, Senator Organa volunteered to personally investigate Rinnrivin Di's cartel on Bastatha. She was pleased to think that she would see some action again before she retired, until Senator Ransolm Casterfo, the junior senator from the Centrist planet Riosa, suggested that the investigation to be bipartisan and volunteered to accompany Organa.[12]
Soon after the session of the Senate ended, Organa went to visit Casterfo in his office—contrary to senatorial protocol, where he would be expected to visit her in the morning. Upon her visit, Casterfo welcomed Organa into his office, which she discovered to be full of Imperial memorabilia. Disgusted by his infatuation with the Empire, Organa and Casterfo entered a heated debate where Casterfo showed his support not for Palpatine, but the dream of the Empire, and that he wished that the Empire had been reformed under better leadership. Organa began to argue that Palpatine was not the only problem with the Empire, and that he had only been a child while she was fighting in the war. Organa then left Casterfo's office, the two of them agreeing that C-3PO and the rest of Organa's staff would plan for their trip to Bastatha at another time.[12]
Mission to Bastatha[]
- "Rinnrivin Di, I presume?"
"Princess Leia Organa. I apologize for your unorthodox journey here. However, I thought you unlikely to accept a straightforward invitation" - ―Leia's first meeting with Rinnrivin Di
A few days later, Organa and Casterfo, along with Leia's chief of staff Greer Sonnel, 16-year-old office intern Korr Sella, X-wing pilot Joph Seastriker, and C-3PO, began to prepare their trip to Bastatha. The trip on board Organa's personal ship the Mirrorbright was an awkward one, as Casterfo and Organa attempted to avoid each other after their confrontation in Casterfo's office earlier. However, by the time they reached the planet, Casterfo apologized for being insensitive to Organa's personal experiences in the war, and they agreed to leave the past in the past so that they could do what they came to do.[12]
Organa and Casterfo remained civil with each other as they exited the Mirrorbright to greet the local authorities, and they were welcomed to Bastatha by Nikto Magistrates Tosta and Xun. The senators and their staff were all welcomed to dinner, and they were taken to a luxurious casino. The group was offered a splendid meal, but Organa insisted on playing her hand in a game of Sabacc. The Niktos believed that she would likely lose some money in the challenging game, but Organa, having learned the game from the best, intended to impress her hosts with her cunning rather than her decorum.[12]
While Leia's actions won the favor of her Nikto hosts, Ransolm was uncomfortable with his colleague for fraternizing with what he regarded as "lowlives." During their time at the casino, Leia noticed a party of visitors from the planet Daxam IV. One of the party was an elderly woman who appeared to be watching her while trying to remain unnoticed. After exiting the casino, Organa and Casterfo argued about her style of fraternizing with constituents and the alleged "terrorist" activities of the Rebel Alliance. Later, Leia received news from Greer that a "business delegation" was coming to meet her.[12]
This "business delegation" turned out to be a party of kidnappers sent by Rinnrivin. Without firing shots, Rinnrivin's underlings spirited Organa away on a hoversled for a private audience with Rinnrivin at his underground headquarters. The crime lord attempted to ingratiate himself with the New Republic senator by serving vintage Toniray wine from Alderaan and presenting a holocube of her killing Jabba, an act which had won her the respect of the Nikto species, who called her "Huttslayer." However, Leia rebuffed Rinnrivin's attempts to bribe her into persuading the New Republic to ease its ban on the sale of illegal spice.[12]
Organa's meeting with Rinnrivin was interrupted by Casterfo, who had tracked her down using a tracking device he had planted in her cloak. Following a brief scuffle with Rinnrivin's guards, the two senators escaped on a hoversled and alerted the Bastatha authorities. Rinnrivin and his henchmen escaped before the Bastatha security forces could secure his underground lair. However, Leia and her team managed to find information about Rinnrivin's operations including his funnelling of funds to shadow corporations in the Outer Rim. They suspected that Rinnrivin was part of a larger criminal network.[12]
First Senator and the Napkin Bombing[]
Following their return from Bastatha, Organa and Casterfo addressed the Galactic Senate and called for further investigations into Rinnrivin's cartel. Their speeches were greeted by partisan infighting with the Populists accusing Casterfo of endangering Leia's life and the Centrists accusing Leia of withholding critical information. Later, Lady Carise took the floor to advocate the creation of "First Senator," a powerful position that would wield considerable power over the economy and military. While many senators distrusted Lady Carise's motives, Casterfo managed to sway the Senate into adopting the motion by pointing to the endemic deadlock in the New Republic. As a result, the Populist attempt to block the motion was defeated.[12]
While Organa and her Populist colleagues Tai-Lin Garr and Varish Vicly were dismayed by the results, they decided to change tactics by nominating a Populist for First Senator to prevent a Centrist from holding that position. Since Organa was considered a powerful and charismatic senator, Tai-Lin and Varish convinced her to run for First Senator. Despite her reluctance, Organa agreed to form an exploratory committee to consider the possibility at the urging of her staff including C-3PO, her aide Korrie, and her pilot Sonnel. Leia later contacted her husband, Han, by hologram to discuss the recent developments. Though Han expressed disappointment, he understood her devotion to keeping the New Republic in one piece.[12]
The following day, Leia met with Lady Carise to conclude their discussion on the Supreme governorship of Birren. During the meeting, Leia revealed that she had been adopted by Bail and Breha Organa. Since Leia and her son Ben had little interest in inheriting the governorship, Leia agreed to support Lady Carise's claim to the title in return for keeping her parentage a secret. While conversing with Lady Carise, Organa admitted that the position of First Senator might not be such a bad idea. In addition, Leia dispatched Greer and the starfighter pilot Seastriker to the watery planet Pamarthe to investigate whether Rinnrivin was hiring pilots from there. Instead, the two Republic pilots learned that Rinnrivin was hiring a shadowy militia group known as the Amaxine warriors, who operated from a base in the Centrist world Daxam IV.[12]
Greer and Joph discussed their findings with Leia and noted that the Amaxines tended to operate in predominantly Centrist worlds. Suspecting that several Centrist senators were colluding with Rinnrivin's cartel, Organa decided to turn to Casterfo for help since she regarded him as the only Centrist she could trust. During a private dinner at Hosnian Prime's hanging gardens, Organa discussed her concerns about the connection between the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel with Casterfo and convinced the senator to visit Daxam IV. During the dinner, Casterfo confided in Leia and told her about his harsh childhood on Riosa, which had led him to hate Darth Vader and the Emperor. In return, Leia told him about her torture at the hands of Vader but omitted the fact that the late Sith Lord was her father. Because of this meeting, the two became unlikely friends.[12]
The following day, Leia and Tai-Lin met in the New Republic senatorial complex's banquet hall to discuss her planned nomination for First Senator. There, Leia discovered a hand-scribbled note with the word "RUN." Acting quickly, Leia managed to evacuate the senatorial complex's conference hall moments before a bomb destroyed half of the building. While nobody was killed due to Leia's quick thinking, several senators and staff were wounded by the blast. Leia survived the bombing unscathed apart from some concussion. After receiving treatment for concussion, Leia transmitted a voice message for again to assure him that she was safe.[12]
Missions to Ryloth and Harloff Minor[]
The Populists and Centrists accused each other of staging the bombing for political capital. Despite this bickering, Organa and Casterfo resolved to continue their investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxines. After seeing news footage showing an alleged Twi'lek bomber, Leia decided to travel to Ryloth to search the planet's archives with C-3PO, Korrie, and Joph for information about Rinnrivin's cartel. Meanwhile, Casterfo and Greer would travel to Daxam IV to investigate the Amaxine presence there under the pretext of purchasing an old Imperial artifact from a local dealer.[12]
On Ryloth, Leia and her entourage were greeted by Emissary Yendor, a veteran of the Galactic Civil War who was familiar with the former rebel leader. In the Ryloth archives, Leia and her team discovered that Rinnrivin had been a lowly spice dealer who had risen to power under unusual circumstances in the past seven years. Leia and Korrie pondered whether Rinnrivin's sudden fortunes were connected to the Centrists. Later, Senator Organa attended a private dinner hosted by Yendor. In her absence, C-3PO, Joph, and Korrie contacted Casterfo, who informed them about Rinnrivin's secret satellites above Ryloth. C-3PO sliced into one of the satellites and discovered that Rinnrivin was hiding on the Expansion Region planet of Sibensko. While Leia was annoyed with Joph for acting without consulting her, she was pleased that he had pinned down Rinnrivin's location.[12]
After departing Ryloth, Leia and her team discovered that Rinnrivin was visiting the upmarket planet of Harloff Minor, which lay near the former galactic capital Coruscant. Seeking to question him, Leia delayed her return to Hosnian Prime and took the Mirrorbright to Harloff Minor. Organa and Rinnrivin met at a comfortable restaurant. Rinnrivin denied any role in the "Napkin Bombing" and condemned the incident as a terrorist act. While Leia accepted Rinnrivin's compliment that she would make a worthy candidate for First Senator, she rebuffed his second attempt at bribery and took the opportunity to return her "Huttslayer" holocube on the grounds that she did not need to be reminded of the past. However, Leia had secretly fitted the holocube with a transmitter to keep an eye on Rinnrivin's movements.[12]
Upon returning to Hosnian Prime, Organa learned that her colleague Varish was recovering from her injuries. She also received a hologram recording from her husband, who informed her that he was heading to the fourth stage of the Five Sabers race. After listening to news reports of the Populist and Centrist media blaming each other for the Napkin Bombing, Leia chatted with her aide Korrie, who feared the collapse of the New Republic. Addressing Korrie and Joph, she theorized that the current infighting in the Senate could lead to a schism. In private, Leia feared that another war was imminent.[12]
After Casterfo returned to Hosnian Prime later that night, the Senator briefed her about the Amaxine warriors he had encountered on Daxam IV. Casterfo explained that he had gained the trust of the Amaxines and convinced them that he was an Imperial sympathizer. He revealed that the Amaxine warriors had amassed considerable forces and starfighters in preparation for a war. Having determined that the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel were connected, the two decided to investigate whether the Amaxine warriors were responsible for the Napkin Bombing. Rinnrivin also informed her that the Amaxines' main base was located on Sibensko, which was also Rinnrivin's hideout. Leia agreed to steer the official investigation into the Napkin Bombing in the "right direction" while Rinnrivin agreed to investigate whether his fellow Centrists were colluding with the Amaxines.[12]
Secret revealed[]
With Leia's approval, Joph and Greer traveled to the seedy space station of Chrome Citadel to arrange a smuggling "cover job" to Sibensko, which had a reputation as a seedy place. Since Leia's nomination as the Populist candidate for First Senator was scheduled to take place within a few weeks, Organa began to prepare for her trip to Sibensko. She discussed her travel plans with Senator Casterfo, who advised her that New Republic law prohibited them from using New Republic pilots and ships for illegal work such as traveling to a known criminal hub like Sibensko. Leia invited Casterfo to accompany her on this trip to give their mission more credibility in the eyes of the divided Galactic Senate.[12]
While Leia's friendship with Casterfo blossomed during this time, a major crisis emerged from an unexpected quarter. While visiting Birren, Lady Carise had uncovered a keepsake chest and a music box which revealed Leia's true parentage as the daughter of Darth Vader. As a clandestine agent of the First Order and a leading Centrist politician, Lady Carise saw an opportunity to both create a wedge between Casterfo and Leia and to destroy Organa's political credibility. Knowing Casterfo's hatred for Darth Vader, she informed Casterfo about Leia's parentage.[12]
Feeling betrayed by Leia, Ransolm upstaged the Senate hearing on Organa's nomination for First Senator by revealing her true parentage as Darth Vader's daughter. After Casterfo presented her keepsake chest and music box as evidence, Leia confirmed that she was indeed Darth Vader's daughter. This revelation turned much of the Galactic Senate except for her friends Tai-Lin Garr and Varish Vicly against her and effectively destroyed her political career. After barricading herself and her staff in her senate office, Leia consoled herself by watching a holographic recording of her late adopted father Bail Organa. She then penned a message to her son to comfort him about the recent revelations concerning their family's ancestry.[12]
While Korrie stormed off in outrage at Leia's perceived indiscretion, C-3PO along with Joph and Greer remained loyal to her. Leia and her remaining team resolved to stop Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxine warriors. The following day, Leia marched into Casterfo's office and confronted her former friend. Casterfo responded that he had been a fool for sharing his most personal and painful life stories with Leia, never guessing that she was Vader's daughter. When Leia revealed that she had not shared her true parentage with her son, Casterfo pointed out that Ben was no longer a child but a man. After destroying one of Casterfo's glass display cases and knocking a noodle carton out of a servant droid's hands, Leia stormed out of Casterfo's office.[12]
After regaining her composure, Leia addressed the Galactic Senate to formally withdraw her nomination for First Senator and to seek permission for leave. She also took the opportunity to clarify her and her brother Luke Skywalker's origins as the offspring of the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the man who had become Darth Vader. Organa also identified her birth mother as the late Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala. Following her speech, Lady Carise took the opportunity to cast doubt on Luke Skywalker's integrity since the Jedi Master had kept a low profile for many years. In response, Leia pointed out her brother's services for the Rebellion and the New Republic including his role in destroying the first Death Star.[12]
Fortunately for Leia, Tai-Lin Garr spoke in Luke's defense and reiterated that the New Republic did not blame children for the sins of their parents. While accepting the withdrawal of Leia's candidacy, he defended Leia's past record and stressed that she retained his personal friendship and support. The Senate then discussed her request to obtain a brief leave of absence from her duties. After some deliberation, the Senate reluctantly approved her request. Guilt-stricken over his actions, Ransolm did not oppose her request and remained silent throughout the deliberations. Leia and her team then prepared to depart on a junker ship for Sibensko. Despite Greer succumbing to a bloodburn attack, the team proceeded with their mission.[12]
Mission to Sibensko[]
For their mission to Sibensko, Leia disguised herself as an indentured servant who wore a heavy robe and veil. Greer and Joph posed as a Mandalorian and Ubese bounty hunter respectively, while C-3PO pretended to be Leia's minder. The New Republic team docked their junker ship in an underwater city in Sibensko's southern axis. Using a tracker, Leia detected that Rinnrivin was somewhere in the underwater city. Upon landing, Leia and team discovered that they were transporting a cargo of detonators to Hosnian Prime. While Greer and Joph loaded the cargo, Leia and C-3PO headed into the city.[12]
The two accessed a computer terminal in a cantina. C-3PO downloaded banking records proving that the Amaxine warriors had transferred billions of credits in start-up capital to Rinnrivin Di's cartel over the past seven years. In addition, C-3PO found that Rinnrivin was linked to nameless sources on Centrist worlds. Leia feared that the Amaxine warriors were planning a major military buildup or that a coalition of Centrist worlds was preparing for war. In addition, C-3PO uncovered information about a large Centrist base within the underwater city.[12]
Leia contacted Joph and informed him about the Amaxine military presence on Sibensko. She decided to send C-3PO back with his data to rendezvous with the pilots while she went to spy on the Amaxine military base. Since Joph and Greer were scheduled to depart in an hour, Organa planned to stay longer to spy on the Amaxines. C-3PO reluctantly left to return to the freighter. Before Leia could proceed further, she was cornered by Rinnrivin and two of his bodyguards, who had detected Leia's tracking device on his holocube. Since Leia had accessed classified information regarding his operations, the crime lord intended to kill the intruders.[12]
However, Leia shot one of the Nikto henchmen with her blaster and then targeted the central strut supporting the hydraulic tunnel above Rinnrivin, crushing the crime lord and his remaining bodyguard to death. Leia then reiterated her orders for Joph and Greer to leave with C-3PO. Unknown to Leia, the Sibensko base served as the Amaxine warriors' headquarters and contained their entire army. Leia then took a lift down to the Amaxine base and discovered that it housed a squadron of starfighters. She then encountered six Amaxine warriors, who attempted to apprehend her. However, Organa fled up a landing platform that took her to the surface of the ocean.[12]
Shortly thereafter, Leia was attacked by a Y-wing and B-wing starfighter. Before the Amaxine starfighters could finish her off, Han arrived in a modified racer and shot down the Y-wing. After boarding Han's racer, the wife and husband shot down the remaining B-wing fighter, which crashed into the underwater city's ammunition depot. This triggered a massive explosion that wiped out the entire Amaxine base and eliminated the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel as threats to the New Republic. However, the explosion also destroyed much of the hard evidence on the two factions' financial records, which concealed their link to several Centrist senators and the First Order.[12]
Warning the New Republic[]
After returning to Hosnian Prime, Leia confided about the political fallout resulting from the revelations of her parentage to her husband, Han Solo. While many of her former Populist allies had abandoned her for being Darth Vader's daughter, she expressed relief that Tai-Lin, Varish, and her former rebel comrades Ackbar, Nien Nunb, Lando, and Mon Mothma had stood by her. Leia also discussed her mixed feelings about Ransolm Casterfo's motives for betraying her. Solo advised his wife to resign from the Senate once her term was up and to join him traveling around the galaxy for a change. Leia then informed Han that she planned to address the Senate about her investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxines but that she needed to obtain a quorum.[12]
Due to the political fallout resulting from the revelations of her parentage, Leia struggled to obtain a quorum to address the Senate. However, Casterfo cast a deciding vote in her favor. Leia related this turn in fortunes to her husband, who was preparing to depart for the hyperspace championship round of the Five Sabers which had been postponed due to family commitments. After Han had left, Leia discussed her plan to address the Senate with her remaining friends Tai-Lin and Varish, who expressed suspicion about Ransolm's motives for voting in her favor. Tai-Lin then informed Leia that he was planning to stand as the Populist nominee for First Senator.[12]
The following day, Senator Organa briefed the Galactic Senate about her investigation into Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxine warriors. She revealed that Rinnrivin had been funding the Amaxine warriors, who were responsible for the Napkin Bombing. To back her testimony, Organa's chief of staff supplied each senator with an extensive data packet. Leia's testimony evoked finger-blaming between the Populists and Centrists. In addition, Organa submitted visual logs from her Sibensko mission and reported that Amaxine base had been destroyed during the firefight with the Amaxine fighters. When a senator accused her of justifying murder like her father, Leia warned the Senate that her investigation had foiled a conspiracy by the Amaxine warriors to wage war on the Republic. She warned that the Amaxine warriors were not the only threat to the New Republic and urged her colleagues to end their political bickering and not to let their views of her cloud the evidence.[12]
Leia's former friend Senator Casterfo then addressed the Senate to support her findings. He vouched for Senator Organa's integrity and then offered visual logs from his trip to Daxam IV, which showed the Amaxines' training facilities and some measure of their military might. He also testified that the Amaxine warriors advocated war and admired the "Old Empire." Casterfo's testimony vindicated Leia's findings and aroused several senators. Due to Casterfo's courage and selflessness, Casterfo regained Leia's respect. However, Casterfo's action earned the ire of Lady Carise, who was covertly working with the First Order to undermine the New Republic.[12]
Tying up loose ends[]
- "The sun is setting on the New Republic. It's time for the Resistance to rise."
- ―Leia Organa
The day after Senator Organa's final address to the Senate, Casterfo visited his former friend. The two reconciled with Casterfo praising her for her good work in the Sibensko mission. Ransolm then announced his intention to support further investigations into the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel. While Leia did not thank him for supporting her testimony, she praised the junior senator for putting the greater good ahead of his own political faction and ambitions. She told Casterfo that he was the kind of politician that the galaxy needed. With Leia's political career at an end, she counselled Casterfo to work with other like-minded senators to prevent a war, even if it meant leaving the Centrists. Casterfo agreed to do his best to protect the Republic before departing.[12]
Ten days following her final speech to the Galactic Senate, Leia accompanied Tai-Lin Garr on his first campaign rally for the position of First Senator. While visiting one of Hosnian Prime's parks, Leia encountered her former aide Korr Sella, who apologized to the Senator for abandoning her. She offered to serve Organa again, a request which Leia accepted. While Tai-Lin was mingling with the crowd, Leia spotted Arliz Hadrassian, the woman she had earlier encountered on Bastatha and witnessed in Ransolm's holos of Daxam IV. Before Leia could react, Hadrassian assassinated Tai-Lin with a blaster. Before turning the blaster on herself, Hadrassian told the Senator that she was lucky that Hadrassian was thinking strategically.[12]
Following Tai-Lin Garr's assassination, the Galactic Senate unanimously declared an official period of mourning. Based on the data from Sibensko, both Populist and Centrist senators believed that Hadrassian was the mastermind behind the Napkin Bombing, Rinnrivin's rise, and the Amaxines. While most senators believed that Hadrassian's suicide ended the danger to the Republic, Leia disagreed and urged the authorities to investigate the source of Hadrassian's money, pointing out that a former Imperial soldier and small-time businesswoman could not bankroll an entire militia. During Tai-Lin Garr's memorial service, she raised the matter. However, her friend Varish was more concerned with mourning Tai-Lin Garr's loss.[12]
Two days after Tai-Lin Garr's assassination, Leia heard a news report that her friend Casterfo had been arrested for aiding Hadrassian and the Amaxine warriors. After consulting Greer, Organa ascertained that the Centrists had framed Casterfo by planting fake footage of him shaking hands with Hadrassian. Before Casterfo was deported to face imprisonment, trial, and sentencing on his homeworld Riosa, Leia spoke to him and offered to help her former friend. While Casterfo was pessimistic that her help would succeed, he apologized for breaching Leia's trust. In return, Leia apologized for initially assuming that he was an Imperial loyalist. Based on her final conversation with Casterfo, Leia determined that the Centrists were behind the recent crisis and were eliminating dissenters among their ranks.[12]
Before resigning as Senator, Leia took the opportunity to settle scores with Lady Carise for revealing her parentage and conspiring against Casterfo. Claiming Lady Carise had violated her oath to secrecy as Supreme Governor of Birren, Organa convinced the Elder Houses to strip the Lady of all her royal titles permanently. A smug Leia personally delivered the news to a distraught Carise and chastised the younger woman for her obsession with royalty and privilege. Later that evening, Leia organized a private meeting in the Senatorial complex hangar bay that was attended by several New Republic military personnel including Joph, Greer, Nunb, Ematt, Ackbar, Kalonia, Snap Wexley, and Zari Bangel. With the Galactic Senate too preoccupied with petty squabbles to defend the New Republic, Leia announced the formation of a new paramilitary organization called the Resistance.[12]
Resistance[]
The new rebellion[]
- "You are a symbol of the Resistance and an inspiration to all soldiers who follow our cause and do their duty in hard times."
- ―PZ-4CO, to Leia Organa
Following the formation of the Resistance, Leia Organa became its leader and began to be addressed as General rather than Princess.[193] All of the Resistance leadership was made up of people who had a personal connection to the General, including Ackbar, Idrosen Gawat, and Amilyn Holdo.[49] In the wake of the revelations about Leia and Luke's true parentage,[12] her son Ben became obsessed with carrying on the legacy of Darth Vader, all the while under the influence of Snoke, Supreme Leader of the First Order.[10] Ben destroyed Skywalker's Jedi temple and his fellow students, turned to the dark side, and became a Knight of Ren.[180] Abandoning his former identity, the renamed Kylo Ren assumed a high-ranking position in the First Order, a remnant of the Old Empire. Han Solo and Organa each blamed themselves and separated, whereas Skywalker went into exile, though Organa and Solo suspected he had gone to the first Jedi Temple. While General Organa continued leading the Resistance, Solo and Chewbacca resumed their smuggling operations.[10]
Sometime during the Cold War Leia approached and recruited two new Resistance members: Rose and Paige Tico. They were fleeing the genocide on Hays Minor.[194] During the rise of the First Order, numerous Twi'leks feared another occupation of their independent homeworld, Ryloth, and so pledged their allegiance to Organa and the Resistance.[176] Meanwhile, First Order stormtrooper LB-1033 came to develop a series of conspiracy theories about where Organa was born and what her relation to Alderaan was.[195]
Prelude to Jakku[]
- "The problem with a reputation is that it can become a legend. Don't be deceived, Poe. I'm not a legend."
"You're not sitting where I'm sitting, General." - ―Leia Organa and Poe Dameron
As the brewing conflict against the First Order advanced, Organa was informed of the Rapier Squadron's involvement in a dogfight against First Order vessels over Suraz 4, trying to protect the Yissira Zyde, which ultimately was captured by the First Order. Interested in any information about the Order, Organa traveled to the squadron's base of operations to meet the squadron's leader, Poe Dameron—who had gone to investigate the whereabouts of the NK-Witell-class freighter by himself and had ultimately located it at a First Order staging point in OR-Kappa-2722.[196]
When Dameron finished talking about the encounter, Organa noted that he had been very foolish, but his need to do what was right (partly to find adventure) and his piloting skills reminded Organa of her brother, and so, she offered Dameron the chance to join the Resistance. He accepted immediately, and in the following months, as he carried out missions for the Resistance,[196] Dameron became one of Organa's most-trusted operatives.[197] Eventually because of his skills and determination, Organa recruited him for Operation: Sabre Strike so that he would steal the Hevurion Grace (and its navicomputer data) from its owner, Hevurion senator and First Order sympathizer Erudo Ro-Kiintor.[196]
Attera Campaign[]
While on a reconnaissance mission in the Atterra system, the bomber crew of the Cobalt Hammer met Reeve Panzoro and his grandmother Casca Panzoro. They were then brought to D'Qar where they told General Leia about how the First Order was destroying their planet. They were members of a local resistance group called Bravo Rising. Reeve told them about the supplies they needed most, and Leia authorized the mission. The campaign would ultimately be successful, but at the loss of 3 MG-100 StarFortress SF-17s bombers.[194]
Search for Lor San Tekka[]
After he, Karé Kun and Iolo Arana completed the mission despite the odds, Organa assigned C-3PO to see what he could get from the flight computers while she congratulated Dameron. Afterwards, as he rested, Organa analyzed the information obtained from the Hevurion Grace. The following morning, she summoned Dameron to her office, and asked what he felt about the dilemma, when he remembered the hopelessness of the Imperial Era that his parents had told him about. Thanks to him, she resolved to find her brother and restore hope to the galaxy. Organa then resolved to find Lor San Tekka, who Organa believed held a clue to her brother's location.[196]
Following Operation: Sabre Strike, General Organa dispatched Poe Dameron on a quest to find the explorer Lor San Tekka. When Poe assured her that he knew what was at stake, she explained that he had grown up in a galaxy where the Empire had already been defeated and that he had only learned about the Empire from others. When Poe recounted his previous encounter with the First Order, the two agreed that the faction was not yet as powerful as the Old Empire. During the briefing, Organa praised Poe for intercepting information from the Hevurion Grace before it could reach Supreme Leader Snoke. She told Poe that they could not allow the First Order to find her brother, Luke Skywalker, at any cost.[198]
Leia told Poe that Tekka held the key to finding Skywalker and that she trusted him to accomplish the quest. For the quest, Leia allowed Poe to select a small squadron consisting of four more pilots and a technician. Leia believed that Poe would not run into trouble due to D'Qar's remote location. When Poe reassured her that he would pick good people, Leia warned him to be careful since she knew that missions could fall apart easily. For the quest, Poe handpicked his fellow Black Squadron pilots Temmin Wexley, Kun, L'ulo L'ampar, Jessika Pava, and the technician Oddy Muva.[198]
For their first mission, Poe and his comrades traveled to the rocky planet Ovanis where Tekka had visited the Crèche cult years earlier. However, Poe was followed by the First Order Security Bureau Agent Terex.[199] With Leia's help, Poe and his comrades bribed their way into Megalox prison on the high-gravity world of Megalox Beta. Poe wanted to question Grakkus, who had encountered Lor San Tekka years ago. However, Terex followed them there as well.[200]
After helping Grakkus escape offworld, Poe discussed the information that Grakkus had shared with General Organa. After reading the information on her datapad, Leia opined that the information was legitimate. When Poe asked if he wanted her to take Black Squadron to visit the worlds that Lor San Tekka had traveled to, Leia confided that she suspected that a spy had been leaking Black Squadron's movements to the First Order.[201]
Spy games[]
Poe Dameron later embarked on a solo mission to obtain information about the First Order's illegal rearmament efforts in violation of the Galactic Concordance from the Galaxy Beacon journalist Suralinda Javos. Javos wanted to use the story to boost her own career. However, Javos and Poe were ambushed and captured by the First Order agent Lieutenant Weel. After escaping Weel, Javos returned with Poe to the Resistance base. General Organa met with Javos, who apologized for exploiting Poe. Experiencing a change of heart, Javos decided to join the Resistance and provide whatever information she had about the First Order.[202]
Later, one of the Resistance's droid spies on the Outer Rim world of Kaddak obtained a trove of intelligence about the First Order including the location of Snoke. General Organa dispatched her spymaster C-3PO, Poe, and the technician Muva to Kaddak to recover the droid.[203] On Kaddak, they discovered the spy was the BX-series droid commando N1-ZX, who insisted that he could disclose the information once he had been delivered back to the Resistance base.[204] Poe soon realized that this was disinformation planted by Terex to uncover the Resistance base and that Oddy Muva was a spy.[205] Black Squadron and Terex's Ranc Gang proxies were subsequently involved in a battle over a desert planet.[206]
Starling in the Unknown Regions[]
- "When the galaxy is on the line, I have a way of skipping past the formalities of my youth."
- ―Leia Organa to Vi Moradi
During the cold war with the First Order, Organa Solo worked with spy Vi Moradi, codenamed Starling, to gain information about the Order's movements throughout the Unknown Regions. After jumping out of hyperspace, Moradi provided vital information to Organa on an encoded comm frequency. The general provided one more set of coordinates for Vi to investigate. However, the First Order Star Destroyer Absolution promptly captured her, but after a lengthy interrogation, Moradi managed to escape with the First Order Captain Cardinal.[207]
Map to Skywalker[]
- "I saw him. Leia, I saw our son. He was here."
- ―Han Solo to Leia Organa
Thirty years after the Battle of Endor,[208] with the two factions on the brink of war,[10] Lor San Tekka finally contacted the Resistance, informing them that he had the map to Luke Skywalker and was on the desert world of Jakku. Believing that her brother would solve their crisis, Organa thought the planet was a perfect location, surmising that the First Order would be defeated on the same world as the Empire. Meeting with Dameron, she informed the pilot that he was being tasked with retrieving the map, but she also stated he would go without the help of Black Squadron, fearing that four X-wing fighters arriving on the planet would spread word of their sensitive mission. Though she believed the mission to Jakku could be their only chance to get an advantage over the First Order,[209] their enemy also arrived and attacked the town of Tuanul. Seeing this, Dameron gave his astromech droid, BB-8, the map fragment. Additionally, the First Order[10] attack squadron[210] had been led by none other than Organa's son, who was still using the name "Kylo Ren." As he spoke with Tekka, the old explorer told Ren that he could not deny his heritage as the son of Organa and Solo, but the dark side warrior murdered Tekka, took Dameron captive, and had the village massacred.[10]
Organa, who had been asked to record her memoirs by PZ-4CO, as prepared by Major Ematt, and had rejected all seven of her requests in forty-four days, agreed to pass on a lesson about duty as regards to Operation Yellow Moon. When she was finished, Ematt interrupted them, for she was awaited in the D'Qar command center.[17] Around the same time, the First Order took over the refueling station Colossus. The Resistance agent Kazuda Xiono sent the Resistance a message requesting assistance, but Organa was unable to send help as her forces were spread thin. But she did give Kazuda the coordinates to the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar. The she wished that the Force be with Xiono in her reply.[211] As they waited for news, Organa conversed quietly with Captain Snap Wexley and an attendant droid, until Lieutenant Taslin Brance handed her a readout that informed her that Tuanul had been wiped out, Tekka had died, and Dameron's X-wing fighter had been destroyed, which would have likely killed him as well. However, she suspected BB-8 had survived and told C-3PO to use the tracking system to locate the spherical droid. Afterwards, she met with her personal envoy, Commander Korr Sella, and sent her to the Senate to try and convince them to act against the First Order.[210]
Elsewhere, Dameron and BB-8 had indeed survived, with the former having escaped Ren's command ship, a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer named the Finalizer, with the help of a treasonous stormtrooper, who he gave the name Finn. The two were separated, but Finn met up with BB-8 and a scavenger named Rey in Niima Outpost. They escaped the First Order aboard a ship very familiar to Organa, the Millennium Falcon itself, leading to them being found by none other than Chewbacca and Organa's husband, Han Solo. Because the two smugglers took the trio to Maz Kanata's castle on the planet of Takodana,[10] C-3PO located BB-8 within the castle thanks to his droid network. Alerted to the finding, Organa prepared to recover the droid until news reached her[210] that the First Order had used its superweapon, Starkiller Base, to destroy the Hosnian system,[10] then-current seat of the New Republic.[193] Dameron managed to return to D'Qar aboard the Beloved Bophine but dreaded reporting his failure to Organa. When he met with her, Dameron reported what had happened, including that he had escaped imprisonment with the help of a treasonous stormtrooper. Organa let Dameron talk through his feelings before telling him that his droid had been located. Understanding that there was a bounty on the droid and knowing the type of clientele Kanata's castle attracted, Organa told him that the First Order likely knew BB-8's location as well, meaning they needed to launch their operation fast.[209]
After Organa felt a disturbance in the Force, she deployed a Resistance squadron to Kanata's castle, with the recently returned Dameron as its leader.[210] In the aftermath of the Battle of Takodana, Organa, C-3PO, and a team of Resistance troops arrived at the ruins of Kanata's Castle in a transport ship, and she saw Chewbacca and Solo upon exiting the craft. Though their meeting was briefly interrupted by C-3PO, the protocol droid quickly left after realizing she and Solo wanted to speak, giving Organa and her husband the chance to reunite[10] for the first time in years.[210] The two briefly flirted about their appearances before Chewbacca greeted her, and Solo then told his wife that he had seen their son, Kylo Ren, during the battle.[10] He also told her about Finn, who was the very stormtrooper who had helped Dameron escape, and Rey, who had tried to take BB-8 back to the Resistance, but that the latter had been abducted by Ren on Takodana. At some point he also warned her that they would be unable to find her brother with the map BB-8 had recovered,[210] as Solo had already seen that it was an incomplete fragment. After traveling back to D'Qar, Dameron, now reunited with Finn, brought the former stormtrooper to see Organa as she was speaking with several other Resistance members. She complimented him on deserting the First Order and saving Dameron, but, when he mentioned that Rey had been taken captive, she revealed that Solo had told her about the young woman and apologized for what had happened.[10]
Desperate for any information about Starkiller Base, which was the very location Rey had been taken, Organa promised Finn that she would do everything she could to help her, though she noted he first needed to tell them everything he could about the superweapon.[10] Afterwards, Organa conversed with other senior Resistance officers, and using Finn's information about Starkiller, they planned an attack on the superweapon,[210] the location of which they learned by tracking the trajectory of the shots that destroyed the Hosnian system. Organa had tasked Wexley, Karé Kun, and Jessika Pava with putting together a reconnaissance run on Starkiller Base. During the flight, as Wexley's recon pod failed, Kun recalled that Organa had once stated every heist needed luck, telling Wexley that he was not out of it yet. Shortly afterward, Wexley would manage to pilot his pod back to her X-wing.[212] Elsewhere, at the Resistance base, while Organa and the others waited for Wexley[210] and Kun[212] to return from the flight,[210] C-3PO informed her that the map BB-8 was carrying was only a fragment and that it matched no system on record. Organa thought she had been foolish to think she could find her brother, but she tried to avoid Solo after he started speaking to her. Shortly after, however, they finally talked about their son, with Organa expressing that she wanted him back. She told her husband that he could succeed where Skywalker had failed, as her brother was only a Jedi, while he was Ren's father. Afterward, at a Resistance briefing discussing Wexley's recon mission, Organa was informed that the First Order was charging their superweapon to target their system. Thus, she agreed with Solo's idea to "blow up" the weapon, prompting the Resistance attack plan to destroy the base's thermal oscillator in Precinct 47. Solo also agreed to take Finn to the planet to disable its defensive shields, though he refused to tell Organa how he planned on getting the Falcon onto the base, citing that she would not like the strategy.[10]
As the Resistance prepared for its starfighter attack run, Solo was about to depart to Starkiller Base with Chewbacca and Finn when Organa approached him. They both recognized they still loved each other even after everything that happened; Organa asked him to try and bring Ben back home if he saw him. Thus, Solo departed to Starkiller Base and successfully arrived using the strategy he had not wanted to tell her: making their landing approach at lightspeed to get through the shield's fractional refresh rate. Yet during the next phases of the battle, as she oversaw the operation, she felt Solo's death at the hands of their son through the Force and collapsed into a chair in grief as curious and concerned Resistance personnel watched. However, Solo's actions had allowed the starfighter attack, led by Dameron, to destroy the oscillator and, with it, Starkiller Base.[10] As Dameron and his squadron flew away from the oscillator, Poe contacted Leia, telling her of the target's destruction. Leia, reeling from the loss of Han, ordered Poe and his squadron to head back immediately, citing the fact that the loss of Black Squadron would take away the Resistance's ability to fight at all. Despite her protests, however, Poe and the squadron continued with rescue efforts for the Resistance's ground team.[210]
When those who had been involved at Starkiller Base arrived back at the Resistance base, Organa gave Rey, who had witnessed Han's death, a sympathetic hug. Upon their return, it was revealed that R2-D2 had the rest of BB-8's missing part of the map that would reveal Skywalker's location. Organa looked on with fellow members of the Resistance as the two hologram maps fit together, revealing the location of her brother. Sometime after, Organa wished Rey luck by telling her "May the Force be with you" before she departed D'Qar. Organa and the rest of the resistance bid Rey, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 goodbye as they set off in search of Skywalker.[10]
At some point following the Battle of Starkiller Base Organa wrote an entry in the Smuggler's Guide, a logbook that had passed through the hands of many criminal figures before ending up in Solo's possession for the third time. In the Guide, Organa reflected on her and Han's relationship, and wrote that she was putting the logbook back in the Millennium Falcon.[213]
Evacuation of D'Qar[]
In the wake of the destruction of Starkiller Base, the Resistance was forced to abandon their base on D'Qar, fearing a counterattack from the First Order. Organa commanded the Resistance fleet from the cruiser Raddus, while Dameron was intended to distract First Order forces long enough for the Resistance transports to escape. The escape was interrupted by the arrival of a First Order fleet consisting of several Resurgent-class Star Destroyers and one Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought, the latter of whose defense systems were neutralized by Dameron shortly after the base had been completely evacuated.[180]
Though the fleet was able to jump to hyperspace, Dameron disobeyed Organa's direct order not to continue with any further attacks on the dreadnought, resulting in casualties that reduced Resistance forces to 400 personnel aboard four ships. Furious at the losses, Organa demoted Dameron to Captain, slapping him. Shortly after, the fleet was attacked by a First Order armada led by Snoke's ship, the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy, and Organa realized that they had somehow been tracked through lightspeed. During the attack on the Raddus, the ship's bridge was targeted by a squadron of TIE fighters led by Kylo Ren. Sensing his mother aboard the ship, Ren hesitated to fire, as Leia also sensed his presence. However, Ren's escorts took the shot instead, and Leia closed her eyes as the torpedoes obliterated the bridge, killing Ackbar and many of the other Resistance leaders and blowing Leia out into the vacuum of space.[180]
Despite having been ejected into the lethal vacuum without an EVA suit, Leia managed to survive by using the Force to protect her body.[180] Floating in space, Organa questioned whether this was the end of her freedom-fighting lifetime even though Luke had taught her that the future was always in motion and difficult to see. However, she recalled that every time she used the Force to see a glimpse of her own future, it never seemed clear, concluding that there would not be a good ending for her anyway.[214] Knowing she still needed to return a beacon to the Raddus so that Rey could find the Resistance and bring Luke back with her,[215] Leia propelled herself back to the ship to use the short corridor leading to the bridge as an airlock and was let back in by Finn, Dameron, and Kaydel Ko Connix. The exposure left her critically injured and hospitalized, leaving her old friend Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in command of the remaining Resistance forces. Of everyone on the bridge when the torpedoes hit, Organa was the only survivor.[180]
Battle of Crait[]
- "I held out hope for so long, but… I know my son is gone."
"No one's ever really gone." - ―Leia and Luke Skywalker regarding her son, Ben Solo
Though incapacitated, Leia shared brief mental contact with Luke, who had reopened his previously closed connection to the Force, and she said her brother's name. Shortly thereafter, Leia awakened, seemingly recovered, but having previously been exposed to the hazards of outer space, she suffered from a lack of oxygen to her tissue and solar radiation.[216] After discovering that Dameron and some of the other crew members had revolted against Holdo and were holding her hostage in disapproval of her leadership, Organa neutralized Poe and joined the remainder of the Resistance forces, who were evacuating the Raddus as there was no chance to destroy the Supremacy. Holdo offered to stay behind, eventually sacrificing herself to ram the Raddus into the Supremacy at lightspeed, cleaving it in half and destroying much of its escort fleet instantly.[180]
The remaining Resistance forces escaped to an old Rebel Alliance base on the planet Crait, which was subsequently attacked by the First Order after Resistance fighters Finn and Rose Tico were betrayed by a slicer named DJ. During the battle, the Resistance broadcasted a distress signal to their allies, but received no response, with Leia lamenting that the galaxy had lost hope.[180]
In that moment, she was reunited with her brother Luke via Force projection, during which she was comforted and given Han Solo's dice from the Millennium Falcon. Her brother reassured her that "no one's ever really gone" before engaging in combat with Kylo Ren, thus allowing Leia and the others to escape, leaving the dice on the floor of the base. Collapsing from the mental toil required to sustain such a lifelike illusion, Luke died on Ahch-To, becoming one with the Force. However, he died contented and at peace, which Leia sensed.[180]
Rebuilding the Resistance[]
Aboard the Falcon[]
- "How do we build a rebellion from this?"
"We have everything we need." - ―Rey and Leia Organa shortly after the Battle of Crait
Meanwhile, Organa and the others escaped on the Falcon. Rey, reunited at last with Organa, expressed her doubts about what was left of the Resistance. Organa, however, reassured Rey that the rebellion had everything necessary to rise again.[180] Shortly afterward, she turned to Chewbacca and noted that, with her brother and husband dead, it was just them now.[216]
Now safe from the First Order, Leia and Chewbacca sat in the cockpit while the Falcon traveled through hyperspace. Sitting in the co-pilot's seat, Leia remembered her husband sitting in the captain's seat, leading her to tell Chewbacca that it was just echoes that she was seeing. Then, Nunb arrived, and Leia asked him to take her seat as she left the cockpit, saying that he had as much right to sit in the co-pilot's seat. Arriving at the room where Poe, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 were reunited, she heard Poe saying that the Force wasn't with him, leading her to reveal that the Force was with all of them, defining it as "life's music, the song they made," making Finn realize that he would never understand how the Force worked. She then stated that it was good that they were meeting each other and that she needed to rest due to her condition not being a hundred percent, asking Dameron to meet her afterward to talk with him.[212]
Searching for old allies[]
After the Resistance's devastating losses of their leadership, Organa decided that the Resistance needed to begin rebuilding by recruiting new leadership. She dispatched Poe and Black Squadron to search for potential allies.[217]
After hearing messages from his teammates of Black Squadron, who went to the planet Ikkrukk to search for more allies and got involved in a fight against First Order forces commanded by Colonel Barrut, Dameron went to talk with Organa, begging her to let him go to Ikkrukk to save his friends. Leia refused, however, acknowledging that the First Order military was immense despite damaging them a little, knowing that every passing moment strengthened their hold on the galaxy, assuring Dameron that her decision was perfect and that if she committed another mistake, it would be all over. To convince Dameron that she did care for the pilots, Organa assured him that his friends had been crucial for several missions and that they were her friends too in addition to being soldiers, but that they knew the risks.[217]
Subsequently, Organa pondered whether it was worth taking the Millennium Falcon to Ikkrukk and risking other members, not knowing if they needed them despite her wishes to have them. As Poe reminded her that they said that no one was left behind, Organa responded that for a third time, she was an old woman who was to rally a galaxy against impossible odds, leading Dameron to tell her that the message they needed to show the galaxy was that if they joined the Resistance, no one would be left behind. Realizing that Poe was right, Leia promoted him back to Commander and gave him the authorization to go to rescue his friends, wishing the Force to accompany him, but didn't allow him to take the Falcon. On Ikkrukk, Black Squadron defeated a small First Order force, but did not gain it as an ally, as many of the planet's leaders were afraid of the First Order.[217]
Upon the discovery that many former rebels and other potential allies had disappeared without explanation, Organa sent Temmin Wexley and Karé Kun to recruit Wedge Antilles and Norra Wexley to join them while she and her allies turned to Ryloth for a temporary base. On Ryloth, Leia convinced her old friend Yendor, a former rebel pilot and the head of the Ryloth Defense Authority, to temporarily hide them on Ryloth. Organa was offered a lavish room within the RDA's headquarters by Yendor's son Charth Brethen, but she declined the offer to be closer to her people.[217]
After more Resistance recruits arrived during the Twi'lek holiday Longest Night, Organa sent a team, including Dameron, the Wexleys, and Antilles, to Corellia to recover a stolen First Order list of potential Resistance sympathizers from the Correllian Collective. While on Corellia, the team liberated a group of prisoners, including Organa's former friend and fellow New Republic Senator Ransolm Casterfo. Organa had also tasked a Resistance team under the command of Shriv Suurgav to steal starfighters from the planet of Bracca.[217]
Although the Ryloth government did not oppose the Resistance, they did not support their temporary refuge on Ryloth. The Ryloth Defense Authority was not officially controlled or connected to the government and permitted the Resistance to remain without needing the approval of the planetary government. However, eventually, the First Order was tipped off that the Ryloth Defense Authority was hiding the Resistance at their secret base. The Authority and remaining Resistance troops planned a defense and retreat of the base. During the retreat, Yendor's daughter, Hahnee Brethen, was killed assisting Organa's escape. Organa told Yendor over comlink about the death of his daughter, as she felt she owed it to him to be the one to tell him. Organa, Rey, Yendor, and the other Resistance members escaped Ryloth, traveling to a location supplied by the Collective. They reunited with the Corellia and Bracca teams, and Organa was able to reunite with Casterfo.[217]
Mission to Mon Cala[]
- "Instead of just waiting around, I think it's time for me to do something I should have done a while ago. Chewie, prepare the Falcon."
- ―Leia Organa, after the destruction of Tah'Nuhna
Eventually, the Resistance set up a camp on the garbage planet of Anoat. Leia remained there until she got the news from Lieutenant Connix that the planet of Tah'Nuhna had been destroyed by the First Order. After hearing this, the general knew what she had to do. She told Chewbacca and Rose to prepare the Falcon, which she boarded. She went and picked up Rey, who'd provoked a fight with a massive Anoatian pit beast, and then she went to Mon Cala to see if they would assist her cause.[218] After a brief scuffle there, she met with Admiral Ackbar's son Aftab Ackbar and visited the Mourning Shrines with him.[219]
Meeting on Garel[]
Not long after, Leia undertook an undercover mission to Garel alongside Dameron, C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 to meet with a weapons supplier. Upon landing in the Garel City Spaceport, C-3PO began to explain their odds of a successful meeting with the weapons supplier as Dameron attempted to cut him off, which prompted Leia to explain to Dameron that the protocol droid just wanted to assist. After a snarky remark from Dameron in response, Leia exited their stolen First Order transport with Dameron in tow, but not before ordering the droids to remain on the ship to stay out of trouble. However, this order would soon be ignored, as BB-8 and R2-D2 received a distress call from what they thought was a local militia opposed to the First Order. However, they soon discovered that it was a little Duros girl named Likana[220] who would go on to assist them in sabotaging a First Order communications tower to stop the test of a new communications system.[221]
After returning to their stolen transport, C-3PO informed Leia and Dameron of their story. Understanding that C-3PO was unable to lie, she was able to believe his wild story. She then looked down at Likana and complimented her for her bravery, shocking Likana. Even so, however, Leia advised her not to make a habit of putting herself at risk like she had before turning to Dameron and referencing his reckless actions aboard the Raddus. After Dameron scolded C-3PO for the droid's own reckless actions, the protocol droid instead offered up a counterargument in that they were all part of the Resistance as Leia smiled.[221] Later in 34 ABY,[222] the droids of Lotho Minor recounted the story of Organa and her friends liberating them from Akar Duel to bounty hunter Bazine Netal.[140]
Training Rey[]
- "I'm starting to think it isn't possible…to hear the voices of the Jedi who came before."
"Nothing's impossible."
"Nothing's impossible. I'm gonna run the training course." - ―Rey and Leia Organa
Sometime after the Resistance's escape from Crait, Organa took Rey as her apprentice, teaching her in the ways of the Force. Organa knew that Rey was the biological granddaughter of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and trained her despite her knowledge of this fact, knowing from her own experience that some things were stronger than blood.[22] She trained Rey to the best of her ability, knowing she was no Jedi Master, but had still learned from the best, her brother Luke, and had even heard the voices of Obi-Wan and Yoda over the years of her life.[223]
Palpatine's return[]
- "So, Palpatine's been out there all this time. Pulling the strings."
"Always. In the shadows. From the very beginning." - ―Poe Dameron and Leia Organa
Upon a mysterious broadcast from the presumably dead Darth Sidious promising revenge, General Organa sent agents to gather intelligence on the broadcast. The Resistance learned from Armitage Hux that the Emperor had indeed returned from the dead and was allied with the First Order. They discovered that Sidious and the Sith Eternal's fleet, the Final Order, were located on Exegol. General Organa allowed Rey and her team to go in search of the mysterious planet.[22]
Saving Ben[]
- "Ben."
- ―Leia Skywalker Organa Solo, calling out to her son before passing away
Rey's search for Exegol took her to the wreckage of the second Death Star on the ocean moon of Kef Bir, where she engaged in a duel with Kylo Ren. During the fight, Organa sensed the confrontation and realized what she must do to save her son, Ben Solo. Prior to that moment, Leia had kept a secret: unknown to anyone but herself, Leia's attempt to save herself from the vacuum of space during the attack on the Raddus had taken a heavy toll on her. In the intervening months her health had continually deteriorated, and she would constantly hear her brother's urging to let go and be one with the Force, an action she consistently resisted as she did not wish to leave Rey nor the rest of the Resistance without first preparing them adequately. Upon sensing the confrontation, however, Organa knew that it was time.[179]
After being led to her quarters by Lieutenant Connix, Organa used the last of her strength to reach out with the Force and call out Kylo's birth name to him. Before doing so, she let the voices and faces of her family surround her, even seeing the face of Anakin Skywalker. In that moment, she accepted her father's apology and returned his love, finally reconciling with him for the first time.[224] Upon calling for Ben through the Force, Organa collapsed and died, the last of her strength spent. The only witness to her death was R2-D2, who proved true loyalty to her at that moment, as he had also been present at her birth. Organa's final act helped to redeem her son.[22]
Legacy[]
- "It's too late. She's gone."
"Your mother's gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for…that's not gone." - ―Ben Solo and his memory of Han Solo
As the heir to three notable families, Leia Skywalker Organa Solo chose to pass on her inheritances to three heirs: Rey, her Jedi apprentice; Poe Dameron, her military protégé; and ultimately Ben Solo, her only son. The Skywalker legacy was given to Rey, while Dameron would carry on the Organa legacy as the new leader of the Resistance, and for Ben she wanted her son to reclaim his legacy as a Solo.[179]
Rey fled to Ahch-To after she decided to give up her mission and live in exile. Luke Skywalker then appeared as a Force ghost and told her that he had been wrong for exiling himself there and that she must confront her grandfather, Darth Sidious. Skywalker then revealed Leia's lightsaber to Rey and told her that she should take both weapons to Exegol.[22]
Upon learning of Leia's death, Poe Dameron and Chewbacca were struck by her loss. Chewbacca was hugely affected, crying out in grief. A shadow of doubt began to hover around Poe as they considered whether they could still achieve the mission without her guidance. Lando Calrissian approached Poe and offered advice on how they had once defeated an Empire with nothing.[22]
After his redemption, Ben Solo traveled to Exegol to confront Darth Sidious with Rey. Together, they were overpowered by Sidious, who drained the life force from the pair. However, Rey eventually stood up to and destroyed Sidious, by using both Anakin and Leia's lightsabers to reflect Force lightning back on him. Rey was empowered by generations of Jedi that had passed into the Force that resided within her, Organa's voice one of those that encouraged her to act. This act took all of Rey's strength, however, and left her body lifeless. Ben Solo was able to heal and revive Rey, albeit at the cost of his own life force. When Ben Solo's body disappeared, Organa's body back on Ajan Kloss became one with the Force simultaneously as Maz Kanata looked on.[22]
Later, Rey took both Skywalker's and Organa's lightsabers to Tatooine and buried them at the Lars moisture farm, and then ignited her own lightsaber. When asked her name by an elder, the Force ghosts of Skywalker and Organa appeared in the distance, giving her their approval that she was family to them. Finally acknowledging where she belonged, she replied that her name was Rey Skywalker.[22]
One century after the Battle of Hoth, the Exogorth Sy-O, which Organa and her friends had briefly hid from the Empire inside of in the Hoth asteroid belt, remained confident it would meet them again, believing the atoms that had once made up their bodies were no different from the people themselves. It remembered feeling the Force in Organa, although Sy-O did not know the word to describe the energy field and believed it would find them again through the Force, confident they would laugh together at their past griefs and that they would come to know each other.[154]
Personality and traits[]
- "I would rather be a monster that believes in something, that would sacrifice everything to make the galaxy better, than be someone who sits on the sidelines and watches as if it has no consequences to them."
- ―Princess Leia Organa
Ten-year-old Leia Organa was highly skilled at social perception: When her older cousin Niano insulted her, she retaliated by accurately describing his own deeply rooted insecurities to him.[40] She demonstrated the same skills when she first met Obi-Wan Kenobi, correctly sensing that he was hiding something and that he thought that the less he said, the less he would give away, while the exact opposite was true. Kenobi noted that like her birth mother, Leia was fearless and stubborn.[42] He also described her as wise, discerning, kindhearted, like her birth mother and passionate, fearless, and forthright, like her biological father.[45]
Of commanding presence[33] and remarkable leadership, adult Organa was a brave and sharp-witted diplomat who was unafraid to speak her mind, even when confronted by powerful figures like Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin.[9] Organa was also able to keep her composure even in humiliating situations to perform daring feats, like diving into a garbage chute or strangling the infamous Jabba the Hutt.[9][11] However, she was also capable of quieter acts. Growing up in the early days of the rebellion, she became skilled at keeping secrets, a trait beneficial to the greater good but detrimental to those around her.[49] Her close friend Raymus Antilles recognized her as an ever-enigmatic individual, never revealing more than was necessary to her allies to ensure their protection.[62]
Smart, fierce, and headstrong, Organa would accomplish whatever task she imposed on herself, for she would put duty before her personal needs—likely because of her upbringing.[31][17] She only "gave as good as she got," which was one of the reasons Han Solo had taken a liking to her.[75] In spite of her self-discipline, Organa had a fiery temper she often struggled to control and was eager to prove herself, to be recognized for what she could do instead of for her title of nobility.[33] Certain individuals of the Rebel Alliance gossiped about Organa's perceived coldness, with some even describing her as an "ice princess." Rebels such as Miara Larte, however, recognized the great burdens Leia faced in service to the Alliance and felt no need to judge how the princess carried herself.[225]
Despite her commitment to Alderaan's values of pacifism, Organa believed in self-defense and in fiercely fighting for the galaxy's freedom.[76] She never cared much for being royalty, for her priority was to help those who needed her, and not wealth nor recognition.[76] A woman of action, eager to get things done and making positive differences in the galaxy, Leia was impatient, a trait she shared with her brother, Luke.[17] He believed that Leia's strength of will, which allowed her to continue despite events such as the destruction of Alderaan and the loss of her son, was a manifestation of her power in the Force.[193] However, she also admitted to herself that some of her strength was fueled by desperation and even hatred at times.[12] She truly hated her birth father for everything he had done and refused to remember Darth Vader as her father, seeing Bail Organa as the individual who deserved that name. While she did fear that she could become like Vader if she learned the secrets of the Force, she resolved to never become like the Sith Lord. Even though she did experience a hunger to grow in her Force power after using it on Madurs, which concerned her, she knew she had unlocked her powers out of a desire to help others.[50]
Leia immensely regretted that her actions on the first Death Star indirectly led to the destruction of her homeworld. She was conscious of the fact that she alienated many people because of that. Constantly questioning whether she did the right thing, she came to the realization that she would willingly sacrifice those innocent lives again if it meant stopping the Empire. In her eyes, the cause was greater than any one person.[111] She stated to Ellian Zahra that she didn't kill to settle scores, control people, or make them afraid, but only when she had no choice and always in the name of justice.[226] As Leia grew older, however, she placed more value in protecting lives than destroying her enemies; "jumping in an X-wing and blowing something up" could not be a winning strategy against forces like the First Order if there were no people to fight for the cause. She had the wisdom to realize that the Resistance having a leader with this foresight was better than having a hero who took unnecessary risks.[180] Aware of how others looked to her for leadership, she looked to other members of the Resistance like Poe Dameron to take on these responsibilities when she was gone.[49]
Powers and abilities[]
- "I'm sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew."
"He wasn't. I can feel it." - ―Han Solo and Leia Organa after seeing the Death Star II explode
Force powers[]
As the biological daughter of the Chosen One, Leia, like her twin brother, Luke Skywalker, was immensely strong in the Force.[153] After the Battle of Endor, Organa believed she did not have anything akin to her brother's power in the Force and felt she could not be like him, but Solo assuaged her fears by telling her she did not have to be like her brother. During the skirmish on Madurs, after all of her attempts to control the Force had failed, she simply allowed herself to exist within it as defeat seemed inevitable, which allowed her to call out for help and summon an edont. Afterward, Organa understood she had been able to use the Force because she felt it inside herself, instead of looking for it outside, and resolved to speak to her brother about learning its secrets.[50]
Leia possessed a strong Force sense. At a young age, she unknowingly used the Force to sense others' feelings and thoughts, showing wisdom and insight beyond her years.[40][42][43] She was also able to resist interrogation by both Reva Sevander[44] and many years later, (unknowingly) by her father, Darth Vader.[9] Luke believed that her strong "gut feelings" were another manifestation of her abilities;[193] after her birth, she was left with a lasting impression of images and feelings of her birth mother, that she was "very beautiful, kind, but sad."[11] After Skywalker revealed on Endor that they were siblings, she was shocked but deep down, she had always known this to be true.[29] She sensed the lingering dark presence of Darth Maul in the Theed Royal Palace, dating back to the former Sith's duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn during the Battle of Naboo.[178] Many years later, Leia's power remained strong; she felt a disturbance in the Force when the Hosnian System was destroyed by Starkiller Base.[210] Through the Force, she later sensed Han Solo's death on Starkiller Base at the hands of their son while she was on D'Qar.[10] When her brother died, she sensed it as well, and sensed that he died at peace.[180]
Leia actively demonstrated the ability to sense her brother's presence through the Force. When Luke failed to contact Kenobi while hanging underneath Bespin's Cloud City, weak and helpless, he called out to Leia with the Force, apparently out of instinct. She sensed him, and thus asked to direct the Millennium Falcon to his location.[150] After the second Death Star blew up, she assured Solo that Skywalker had not been on it at the time.[11]
Though not formally trained at this time, Leia could use her Force abilities in other ways; she could use a lightsaber with enough skill to fight in the battle of Nar Shaddaa. She unconsciously drew upon the dark side to gain the strength to compress the neck of Jabba the Hutt with a chain to the point of asphyxiation.[12]
After being blown into space, Leia used the power of the Force to both remain alive in the vacuum of space and fly back to the safety of her vessel, where she was able to press the button to enter her ship. The exposure and effort left her in vital need of medical attention.[180]
Despite not completing her Jedi training, Leia was able to preserve her consciousness after death much like her brother, likely being taught by him how to do it.[22]
Despite her short time training, Leia became skilled enough in lightsaber combat to briefly get the better of her brother, although according to Luke, she wasn't as naturally talented in lightsaber combat as he was.[223] She first demonstrated lightsaber skills while rescuing Luke from Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi, where she used one to fight off the stormtroopers Kreel had brought in.[94] On the last night of her training, Leia was able to fight on par against her brother, and even best him in one duel when they were practicing together.[22]
Other abilities[]
Renowned for her leadership and diplomatic skills, Organa was a capable mediator[177] and had training in public speaking. She felt very comfortable leading dangerous missions. Often, Organa used her strategic and quick thinking to carry out carefully laid plans of infiltration or trick enemies.
Thanks to her aunts' insistent lessons, Organa was proficient in self-defense as well, including how to resist interrogation.[33] As competent with weaponry as she was with words, Organa had great accuracy when using blaster pistols, rarely missing her shots.[9][150][11] She could use blasters of all shapes and sizes, shooting several stormtroopers during her escape from the Death Star and destroying a TIE fighter with an AT-AT's heavy laser cannon during the Attack on Cymoon 1.[85]
Organa had years of flight training;[33] indeed, she could pilot a Lambda-class shuttle,[91] and the Millennium Falcon,[85] even admirably by evading TIE/ln starfighters while Solo and Chewbacca hastily tried to repair its hyperdrive during their escape from Hoth.[153] Much like seasoned Rebel pilot Shara Bey, Organa could manually pilot a Naboo N-1 starfighter through Naboo's planet-wide storms without an astromech droid and destroy several climate-disruption arrays before saving Bey from a TIE fighter.[178] She rarely used such skills, though, as she was usually provided with, or resorted to, help from pilots to get to her destinations.[9][74][177][17]
During her youth on Alderaan, Organa learned how to ride, becoming an Alderaanian junior champion in steeplechase.[17] Leia also knew how to plant and care for orchids as her adoptive mother, Breha planted Malastarian orchids. Leia also learnt and studied dance and would practice with her father until her feet were sore.[14]
Equipment[]
Leia wielded a Defender sporting blaster pistol,[9] which was called "Satine's Lament,"[227] which she used to defend herself from Imperial stormtroopers,[9] used it again during the Battle of Theed,[178] and to stun Poe Dameron aboard the Raddus.[10]
While rescuing Luke Skywalker from Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi, Organa used a lightsaber to fight off stormtrooper, with her commenting that she had always wanted to use one.[94]
During her Jedi training, under her brother, Organa wielded her own lightsaber which had a blue blade.[22] The lightsaber hilt was coloured silver and copper with mother-of-pearl inlays. It had an elegant symmetry with silver and gold hues that referenced her upbringing on Alderaan.[228]
At the award ceremony on Yavin 4, Organa wore a simple flowing white dress with hanging sleeves, designed by Delva Racine[229]. Her snow gear on Hoth included a Rebel-issue all weather vest and gray military snow boots with bindings. While on Bespin, Calrissian provided Organa with a refined leisure suit, consisting of a burgundy tunic and a delicate blue cloak.[230]
For her wedding to Han Solo, Organa wore a green dress, embroidered with flowers, with the sides open, giving Organa room to move her leg. Organa carried a bouquet of wildflowers and had her hair hung loose except for two braids framing her face with lacing run through them which were the same as the lacing that tied her bouquet together.[50]
Behind the scenes[]
Overview and Carrie Fisher[]
- "I didn't stop being Leia. […] I have stayed in character for the last thirty-five years."
- ―Carrie Fisher in a 2015 interview
Leia Organa was portrayed by Carrie Fisher in the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Director George Lucas oversaw the auditioning process, and the runner-up for the role behind Fisher was Terri Nunn, who became the lead singer of the band Berlin.[232]
In Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the infant Leia was played by Aidan Barton (the son of editor Roger Barton), who also played her brother, Luke. Julie Dolan voices her in the video game Star Wars: Uprising, the animated series Star Wars Rebels, and the LEGO series LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. Carolyn Hennesy voices her in the animated series Star Wars Resistance.[233] In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Leia was played by Ingvild Deila.[234] In the animated microseries Star Wars Forces of Destiny, Leia was voiced by Shelby Young.[235] Voice actress Misty Lee voiced Leia in the video game Star Wars Battlefront II, with Rachel Butera voicing Organa in the Resurrection DLC.[236] In the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, a 10-year-old Leia is portrayed by Vivien Lyra Blair.[237]
Following Fisher's death in December 2016, Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson confirmed that Fisher had completed shooting all her scenes the previous July and that Leia would appear in Episode VIII.[238] On January 6, 2017, it was reported that Disney was "scrambling" in the wake of Fisher's death and that Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker director Colin Trevorrow would soon meet with Kathleen Kennedy and other executives to determine how to adjust the story of Episode IX, which, in turn, could possibly affect Episode VIII.[239] Soon after that meeting, Lucasfilm announced that they had ruled out recreating Fisher's character digitally for any future films.[240] On March 24, 2017, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that Fisher's role in The Last Jedi has not been altered following her death, and that her performance remains as was planned.[241] On April 7, 2017, Carrie Fisher's brother Todd Fisher revealed that Leia Organa would appear in Star Wars: Episode IX via already recorded footage.[242] However, Kennedy soon confirmed that Fisher would not be in the film,[243] and that the team had "pretty much started over" on it considering her passing.[244] The casting announcement for Episode IX later revealed that Fisher would appear in the film after all using unseen footage from The Force Awakens.[245]
On October 29, 2014, for a Halloween-themed update, a costume of Leia was added to The Sims 4 for playable Sims to wear in-game. The costume is purely cosmetic and offers no gameplay changes.[246]
Character development[]
In George Lucas's rough draft of the original film, Leia was a fourteen-year-old princess (the same age as Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace), the spoiled daughter of King Kayos and Queen Breha of Aquilae. In that draft, she had two brothers, Biggs and Windy, whose identities were substantially revised into their current form by the fourth draft (though they did not appear in intervening versions). The third draft established her as Leia Organa, Princess of the peaceful world of Organa Major. In the fourth draft, Organa Major was renamed Alderaan.[247] Interestingly, when George Lucas was writing background material for licensees in 1977, he wrote that she had several brothers, and that she was unaware whether her parents had escaped the destruction of her homeworld. No one from the House of Organa, however, had reached the Rebels yet.[247]
According to producer Gary Kurtz, Luke and Leia were not supposed to be siblings originally; Luke's sister was originally going to be a different person on the other side of the galaxy, who was going to show up in a later episode that never came to be. Leia being Luke's sister was added to Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi "to wrap up everything neatly".[248]
Make-up and costumes[]
Organa's "cinnamon bun"[249] or "donut" hairstyle came after a long design process that considered various styles. One drawing by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie saw Organa with what Star Wars Insider described as "unkempt contemporary looks." Other ideas included pulled back locks and austere hair. Fisher herself would recall being made to try out at least thirty hair styles. In the end, the iconic donut style came at the suggestion of hairdresser Patricia McDermott, who thought up the style and tried it on Fisher during costume fittings shortly before filming on A New Hope began.[250] George Lucas commented on Leia's "cinnamon bun" hairstyle in Time magazine: "In the 1977 film, I was working very hard to create something different that wasn't fashion, so I went with a kind of Southwestern Pancho Villa woman revolutionary look, which is what that is. The buns are basically from turn-of-the-century Mexico."[249] Fisher herself, however, stated Lucas approved of the hairstyle by simply saying "That's okay."[250] In 2017, the traveling Smithsonian exhibition "Star Wars and the Power of Costume" included a photo of Mexican revolutionary colonel Clara de la Rocha as one of the inspirations for the style, alongside photos of Native American Hopi tribe women with a similar "squash blossom" hairstyle.[251]
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.[252]
Obi-Wan Kenobi television series[]
- "The [goal] was to craft [Leia Organa] in such way that honored what Carrie Fisher had done. But also you got to play a little bit of the nature/nurture question, where you see she's the best of her mother and her father, but you also get to get to see her adopted parents and how they have formed who she becomes too. She's very much a byproduct of all those people. And we're getting to see the untold story of how Obi-Wan was a part of her growing up too."
- ―Joby Harold
During production of Obi-Wan Kenobi, writer Joby Harold tried to think of something that would be seismic enough to make Obi-Wan Kenobi leave Tatooine, which led to him writing young Leia Organa as a call to action for Kenobi.[253] She was meant to bring out a maternal sense in Kenobi that told him life is not just about living by the book. She was also meant to bring out a human side to Kenobi and help him learn to trust people.[254] Harold was excited about filling in the gaps in Organa's story that were alluded to in her message to Kenobi in A New Hope,[255] such as why she asked Kenobi for help.[256] Harold also wanted Organa to be as important as Luke Skywalker was. The goal was to craft Organa in a way that honored Carrie Fisher's portrayal[253] in the original trilogy[9] and showed that she has the best of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. Harold also wanted to show how Organa's adoptive parents formed who she becomes.[253] Harold found it challenging to write her in a way that come across as her being spirited and not just an adult writing for a child.[256] He looked at the films Paper Moon and Midnight Run for influence on Organa and Kenobi's relationship after the former's rescue on Daiyu.[253] A code name was used to keep Organa's appearance a secret.[256]
Director Deborah Chow offered the role to young actress Vivien Lyra Blair and she spent a summer filming for the series.[257] In a chemistry test between Blair and Ewan McGregor, the actor who played Kenobi in the series, they recited the lines for one of their conversations on Daiyu. Chow felt that Blair had the essence of Organa and Carrie Fisher. McGregor said that Blair had all the wit and cheek of Fisher's portrayal of Organa. The two actors got to know each other better during shooting, which went hand in hand with Organa and Kenobi's relationship in the series.[254]
Feminist icon[]
In January 2017, images of Leia, both as a princess and a general, were prominently featured during the Women's March not only in the United States, but also overseas. According to feminist writer Anne Thériault, Princess Leia was the most empowering feminist character of all, one who "keeps fighting when things seem impossible."[258]
Her biological mother[]
- "The part that I never really developed is the death of Luke and Leia's mother. I had a backstory for her in earlier drafts, but it basically didn't survive. When I got to Jedi, I wanted one of the kids to have some kind of memory of her because she will be a key figure in the new episodes I'm writing. But I really debated on whether or not Leia should remember her."
- ―George Lucas
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" in Return of the Jedi.[259]
When Revenge of the Sith came out, many people did not understand how it was possible that Leia claims to remember her mother when she had known her for barely a minute. There has been some debate about whether Leia is discussing her biological mother Padmé Amidala or her foster mother Breha Organa. StarWars.com, the official Star Wars website, stated in a Q & A section that Leia is remembering Padmé, but this may no longer be canonical.[260]
In an interview in the November 2005 edition from the UK magazine Total Film, producer Rick McCallum was asked about this incongruence, to which McCallum teased that the ultimately-unrealized Star Wars: Underworld television series could have answered that.[261]
Continuity[]
Dark Droids 1 has Leia Organa already aware of the Death Star II.[262] However Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, in which Leia is informed of the Death Star II, takes place after Dark Droids.[17]