House of Organa

The House of Organa was the royal house of Alderaan, an influential planet located in the Core Worlds. As one of the galaxy's royal families, collectively known as the Elder Houses, the rule of Alderaan was a hereditary right that passed from one generation to the next. During the last years of the Galactic Republic, Breha Organa reigned as Queen of the Alderaanians.

Raised in the Royal Palace of Alderaan, which was located in Aldera, the capital city of Alderaan, Breha was the heir apparent to the throne. As such, she was introduced to Alderaanian pacifist ideals by her mother, Breha cherished peace and from a young age she became involved in politics. At one point prior to her reign, she assisted the previous queen in negotiating a treaty. As part of Alderaanian tradition, Breha had to participate in the Day of Demand ceremony before she could claim her right to the throne of her homeworld. In the process she sustained injuries to her heart and lungs, which had to be replaced by pulmonodes. Although she survived her ordeal, Breha chose to consider adoption instead of attempting to conceive a child with her consort, Viceroy Bail Prestor Organa.

Bail was an idealistic statesman who represented Alderaan as a senator in the Galactic Senate. During his political career, Bail served as head of the committee for transportation of construction materials, and through his work transporting materials to the Mid Rim Territories, he became acquainted with fellow senators Mon Mothma of Chandrila, Onaconda Farr of Rodia, and Padmé Amidala of Naboo.

The House of Organa had an extended family consisting of fellow statesmen and nobles, such as Breha's sister, Duchess Celly Organa and her husband, Duke Kayo Organa. Celly and Kayo had a son, Niano Organa, by the time of the Imperial Era. Bail Antilles was a relative of Queen Breha and once represented Alderaan as its senator at the time of the Naboo Crisis. Lord Mellowyn, the supreme governor of Birren, was a distant kinsman to Bail Organa and was, therefore, related to the Royal Family of Alderaan through marriage.

Alderaan maintained its reputation as a peaceful world throughout Queen Breha's reign, while Bail earned respect on the galactic capital of Coruscant for his honesty and commitment to justice. An idealist at heart, he served on the Loyalist Committee during the administration of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine in hopes of finding a diplomatic solution to the Separatist Crisis. He retained his loyalist principles throughout the Clone Wars and, driven by his humanitarian instincts, supported the Republic by aiding relief efforts and helping refugees. Chancellor Palpatine's accumulation of wartime powers, however, conflicted with Bail's politics. While Bail represented their interests on Coruscant, Breha remained on Alderaan where the queen took on additional responsibilities as Minister of Education.

During the early days of the conflict, Bail led a relief mission on Christophsis to help the native population while their planet was besieged by Separatist forces. In addition to his relief efforts, Bail represented the Republic Senate in diplomacy and trade. At the request of the Jedi High Council, he assisted the Gungan representative Jar Jar Binks in negotiating an agreement with the Toydarians, allowing the Republic to secure its supply lines in the region and provide aid to the Twi'leks of Ryloth. Bail also worked alongside his political ally, Senator Amidala, to better help the displaced citizens of the Clone Wars. On one occasion, Bail and Amidala hosted the Alderaan Refugee Conference on the former's homeworld.

Bail also remained involved in political issues on Coruscant, and asked Amidala to accompany him to the meeting about the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. However, they were taken hostage by the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who threatened the lives of Bail, Amidala, and their colleagues in order to coerce Chancellor Palpatine into releasing Ziro Desilijic Tiure from prison.

In the waning days of the war, Bail joined the Delegation of 2,000 in drafting a petition that called on the chancellor to relinquish his emergency powers and end the conflict with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Instead of a restoration of democracy, Bail was horrified to witness Palpatine's declaration of the Galactic Empire, and began fomenting a rebellion against the Emperor.

The newborn Princess Leia Organa joined the House of Organa as the adopted daughter of Bail and Breha shortly after the Republic's transformation into the Empire. Having discussed adoption in lieu of a natural heir to the throne, Bail and Breha adopted Leia and raised her as their own child. Knowing that Leia's biological parents were the late Amidala and the fallen Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Bail kept his daughter's origins secret in order to protect her from the Sith.

Before Leia was even involved in her adoptive parents' rebellious activities, she was groomed as heir apparent to the throne of Alderaan. As a child, she had learned about the history of Amidala as told to her by Breha, although she remained unaware of her biological connection to the late senator of Naboo.

By the age of ten, Leia was largely uninterested in her duties as a member of the Royal Family, nor did she seek to take her father's place in the Imperial Senate. She also tried to avoid public events and family gatherings, believing her presence was purely ceremonial. Nevertheless, Bail and Breha strove to impress upon Leia the need to prepare for her responsibilities as a princess and future senator.

Bail and Breha had promised that Leia would be loved in their care, and they regarded her as their child in every way. However, Leia's adoptive cousin, Niano Organa, did not believe that she was part of the Organa family due to her background as an adopted child.

Leia had a number of adoptive aunts, one of which was Breha's sister, Duchess Celly Organa. These aunts doted on Leia, but treated her as if she was simply a simpering princess. On one occasion, the young Leia complained to one of her aunts that being a princess had to be about more than silently doing one's duty, but her older relative simply replied, with a sad smile, that it aptly described most of a princess's job.

The princess loved her aunts, even though she found their etiquette lessons frustrating and tiresome. Leia's aunts did not approve of her joining the Imperial Senate and daydreamed of her marrying a prince. In time, Leia did come to appreciate her aunts' lessons in public speaking, which built her confidence. Despite her aunts' antiquated views of what it meant to be a princess, they approved of Leia being trained in self-defense.

When, during a to Sesid, Princess Leia was forced to crawl up a volcanic chimney, she amusingly thought that her aunts would probably chide her about her appearance if they could see her filthy, half-frozen, and covered with bites.

In 9 BBY, Celly Organa visited the Royal Palace of Alderaan with her entire family, which consisted of husband, Kayo Organa, and her son, Niano Organa. Breha oversaw preparations for the meeting before her sister's arrival at the palace, although Leia tried to avoid her extended family by trading places with her handmaiden Agira, convincing the Imroosian that her mother would be amused. Leia was found hiding in the forest by Breha, who compelled the princess to attend the function.

While their parents discussed politics, Leia and her cousin Niano argued over the former's politeness toward droids, which Niano viewed as "lower life forms." He also expressed his view of Leia as an interloper, regarding her as neither a true royal nor a true Organa. Leia in turn reproached her cousin for his attitude as well as his insecurity as the son of Duke Kayo. When Leia admitted that she did not consider herself a true Organa, Bail comforted her by saying that Leia was "an Organa in every way."

Following the altercation between Leia and Niano, the princess was abducted by the mercenary Vect Nokru. Nokru's employer, an Inquisitor known as the Third Sister, had discovered that during the Clone Wars Bail worked alongside Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, a high-value target who survived the destruction of the Jedi Order. While the abduction of an Imperial senator's daughter was unsanctioned by the head of the Inquisitorius, the Grand Inquisitor, the Third Sister surmised that Kenobi would attempt to rescue Bail's daughter.

Fearful of drawing the Empire's attention to their adopted daughter, Breha and Bail kept Leia's abduction a secret from the public. They contacted Kenobi for help, but the Jedi fugitive was reluctant to resurface, having spent a decade in exile on Tatooine where he watched over Leia's twin brother, Luke Skywalker. Bail therefore visited Kenobi in person, convincing the Jedi to rescue his daughter who had been taken to Daiyu. Leia was subsequently found by Kenobi, and together, they escaped on a transport. Before leaving the planet, Kenobi learned from the Third Sister that his fallen apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who adopted the persona of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, had survived their battle on Mustafar.

During the Imperial Era, the House of Organa experienced a divide between members who supported the Empire and those who opposed it. Unlike Bail and Breha, who secretly rejected Imperial rule, Kayo Organa praised the New Order, noting that the Empire was more financially profitable than the Republic that it replaced. Bail did not dispute his kinsman's statement, but remained concerned about issues that persisted in the galaxy, such as slavery or the taxation of the Outer Rim Territories. The duke did not share the senator's concerns, however.

Breha's reign continued for almost two decades during the Imperial Era. She mentored students personally on Alderaan, including the X-wing starfighter pilot Evaan Verlaine. As a protégé of the queen, Verlaine learned much about the culture and heritage of her homeworld. Having developed a great deal of respect for the House of Organa, Verlaine was a committed royalist and a supporter of the cause of liberty. Under Breha's rule, Alderaan was one of the earliest supporters of rebellion against the Empire, although the planetary government was cautious about openly defying the Emperor.

Though outwardly loyal to the New Order, Bail continued to support the cause of freedom and secretly led a resistance movement against the Empire. Raymus Antilles and former Padawan Ahsoka Tano were among the first recruits to join Bail's clandestine movement. As the Empire consolidated its reign over the galaxy, Bail's operation expanded to include other resistance cells, including Hera Syndulla's Spectres. It was through Bail that the Spectres discovered the existence of a wider rebellion consisting of numerous smaller cells dispersed across the galaxy.

As with Breha, Leia was required to undergo the Day of Demand ceremony before she could be considered worthy of the throne. The ceremony was divided into three challenges: the body, the mind, and the heart. As such, Leia would have to climb the Appenza Peak, represent Alderaan in the Apprentice Legislature, and undertake charity missions to impoverished worlds.

Leia, having sensed a distance grow between herself and her parents, aspired to win their approval by achieving something truly great. Requesting to use the Alderaanian diplomatic cruiser Tantive IV on her first relief mission, Leia traveled to Wobani which had been economically ruined by the Commodities Enhancement Program. Appalled by the sight of so many people stricken by poverty and starvation, Leia brought a hundred refugees to Alderaan. While Breha welcomed the displaced civilians to her world, she reprimanded Leia and confined her to the palace, displeased that her daughter undertook a dangerous mission without informing her parents. Though sympathetic to the plight of others, Breha felt Alderaan could not afford to be associated with actions considered dissident by the Empire.

Unknown to Leia, her father and his allies in the Senate had been conducting secret negotiations to facilitate the resettlement of the people of Wobani. Their plans were destroyed, however, due to Leia's interference. Breha hoped that Leia would learn from the experience and choose her missions with more wisdom in the future. Shortly afterward, Leia attended her first pathfinding class where she met Amilyn Holdo of Gatalenta and a fellow Alderaanian named Kier Domadi, who observed that Leia held herself to a higher standard than others because of her royal status.

As his daughter continued to grow, Bail made Leia his aide and entrusted her with missions to help the growing rebellion. At one point, Leia was sent by her father to Lothal where she helped the Spectres procure three Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes. With the rebels becoming more organized, Bail and Senator Mothma officially created the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Leia, having been groomed for leadership, succeeded her father both in the Imperial Senate and the Alliance. Jan Dodonna, a general in the Alliance, was considered a close friend by both Breha and Bail.

Despite his retirement in favor of Leia's advancement, Bail was still involved with the Alliance and its growing conflict with the Empire. By now, Bail had lost all faith in the Imperial Senate, viewing the body as little more than a façade hiding the dictatorship of Emperor Palpatine. However, Mothma felt that a diplomatic solution was still preferable to open war while the semblance of a Senate remained intact. A member of Alliance High Command, Bail was among the Rebel leaders whom Jyn Erso informed about the existence of the DS-1 Death Star Mobile Battle Station and its power to kill a planet. With open war imminent, Bail returned to his homeworld and dispatched his daughter to recruit the services of an old ally from the Clone Wars, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In the end, neither Bail nor Breha lived to see the Alliance's victory over the Empire. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, Imperial forces intercepted the Tantive IV and Leia was taken prisoner by the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who suspected that the princess had been involved in the theft of the Death Star plans. While Vader had Leia in his custody, the plans continued to elude him as the princess hid them within her personal astromech droid R2-D2. Seeking to make an example of Alderaan's defiance to the rest of the galaxy, the battle station's commanding officer, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, decided to test the superlaser's full power on Leia's homeworld, incinerating the entire planet along with billions of Alderaanians and the Royal Family.

Despite the deaths of Queen Breha and her husband and billions of their people during the Disaster, the cause of freedom that they championed endured through their adopted daughter, who kept her parents' memory alive which, in turn, served as propaganda and galvanized support for the Rebellion.

Though anguished over the loss of her family, Leia's grief did not break her resolve to fulfill Bail and Breha's dream of a galaxy restored under democratic rule. Even so, the memory of her homeworld's destruction remained with Leia for the remainder of her life, and at times she tried to imagine their final moments prior to the attack that destroyed Alderaan. In the aftermath of the Empire's downfall, Leia used her influence as a member of the New Republic Senate to honor the memory of her adoptive parents, their homeworld, and its people through speeches and events to ensure that Alderaan's destruction would never be forgotten. During the New Republic Era, Bail and Breha were remembered for their commitment to peace and charity, and were considered martyrs in the cause of liberty.

After the Galactic Civil War, Leia resumed her political career under the New Republic, hoping to lead the galaxy into a new era of liberty after decades of Imperial rule. Over the years, her personal life conflicted with her responsibilities as a public official. Leia had married the Corellian smuggler Han Solo and gave birth to a son, Ben Solo. As the son of an Alderaanian princess, Solo would have inherited the title Prince of Alderaan had his mother's adopted homeworld and its ruling family not been annihilated before his birth. As members of the House of Organa, Leia and her son were both recognized by the Elder Houses as entitled to the hereditary rights of the royal house to which they belonged through adoption.

Solo, in addition to being the biological grandson of Anakin Skywalker, was the adoptive grandson of Bail Organa. He was very similar in personality to his mother, even after turning to the dark side of the Force as Kylo Ren. During his childhood, Solo was neglected by his mother and father, both of whom were preoccupied with their professional lives, causing Solo to develop feelings of solitude and abandonment.

In 28 ABY, Lord Mellowyn died without an heir to his role as the figurehead supreme governor of Birren. As the late governor's closest living relatives, albeit through adoption, Leia Organa and Ben Solo were next in the line of succession. Neither Leia nor her son was in a position to accept the office, however. At the time, Leia was still a senator while Solo trained with the resurgent Jedi Order under his uncle and mentor, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. As a result, Lady Carise Sindian claimed the ceremonial governorship by default.

Ultimately, Leia's political career was effectively destroyed by the revelation of her true family. Before his death, Bail left behind a secret recording that revealed the identities of Leia's real mother and father—that of the late Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo and her secret husband, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Furthermore, Bail confessed that Anakin had, in fact, fallen to the dark side of the Force, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Senator Sindian found Bail's message and passed it to her colleague, Senator Ransolm Casterfo, who displayed to the entire Galactic Senate. Leia's connection to the most hated man in the galaxy shattered her reputation in the Senate and caused irreparable damage to her campaign to become First Senator.

Despite his potential as the archetype of a new generation of Jedi, Ben Solo was seduced by the dark side of the Force like his grandfather before him. Embracing the teachings of Supreme Leader Snoke, he adopted the persona of Kylo Ren, thereby severing all ties to the Jedi and his family. Though a servant of the dark side, the master of the Knights of Ren struggled to resist the pull to the light side of the Force. Ren's efforts to reinvent himself extended to the use of a combat helmet that was reminiscent of the mask worn by Vader, but beneath the helmet's theatrics the young warrior was still Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. Solo's fall to the dark side tore his family apart, as Han Solo and Leia went their separate ways to cope with their grief.

During the rise of the First Order, General Armitage Hux used Ren's heritage to gain the trust of Bylsma while stranded on an unknown planet. Having served the royal family as a palace guard prior to the destruction of Alderaan, Bylsma knew Ren's mother and adoptive grandfather, and wondered if he was anything like Leia. Hux admitted that Ren did, in fact, have much in common with his mother, even if he would have denied it. The resemblance between Leia and Ren confirmed the latter's royal lineage, and the Alderaanian soldier helped Hux to contact his allies in the First Order.

The hunt for Leia's brother, Skywalker, brought Leia and Han Solo back together after years of separation. In their time apart, Leia had founded the Resistance in hopes of keeping the First Order in check, while Han returned to a life of smuggling which he considered to be the only profession he was ever truly good at. After the Hosnian Cataclysm, Leia and her forces engaged the First Order on Takodana, where Han informed the general that he had seen their son during the battle. Contrary to Han's belief that his presence reminded Leia of Ben, Leia never wanted to forget about him. She wanted their son back. She agreed with Han that Ben was too much like his grandfather, Darth Vader, which was why Leia wanted him to learn the Jedi ways from Skywalker. She regretted sending Ben away, however, believing it was a mistake that caused her to lose him as well as her husband.

Although Han believed that Ben was lost, Leia refused to give up on him and insisted that together they could break Snoke's influence over their son. Han was skeptical, not knowing how or if he could save Ben when Luke could not. Leia reassured him that while Luke was a Jedi, Han was Ben's father. Certain that there was still light within her son, Leia beseeched her husband to bring Ben home. It was the last time she saw him before his death. While infiltrating Ilum in hopes of destroying the First Order's superweapon, Han tried to carry out Leia's wish by confronting Kylo Ren. The dark warrior struggled with indecision, but ultimately chose to kill his own father, believing the sacrifice would end his inner conflict. Leia sensed Han die through the Force, and contrary to what Ren thought would happen, the act of patricide weakened him.

Recovering from the defeat on Starkiller Base, Ren redoubled his efforts to crush the Resistance in order to prove his worth to Supreme Leader Snoke. Yet he hesitated when the opportunity to eliminate Leia presented itself, having sensed her fear and concern for him. However, his resolve strengthened by the time he killed Snoke, and as the new Supreme Leader, Ren deployed the First Order Army to Crait with orders to exterminate the remnants of his mother's movement. Determined to win the First Order-Resistance War, Ren was not inclined to give quarter to his enemies, and therefore, ordered his forces to kill every remaining member of the Resistance during the Battle of Crait. The First Order was unable to carry out his orders, however, due to the projected arrival of Luke Skywalker, who sacrificed his life to ensure the survival of his sister and her movement.

In spite of the Resistance's survival, Ren succeeded in consolidating his rule over the First Order. During his reign, the First Order expanded across the galaxy, using its forces to conquer a large amount of territory. Leia sought to rebuild the Resistance by recruiting new allies, such as the Mon Calamari, which her son tried to prevent by adopting a policy of zero toleration toward sympathizers of the Resistance. Believing that the dark side was in his nature, Ren was convinced that it was impossible for him to return to his mother as Ben Solo.

The war between the First Order and the Resistance was interrupted by a galaxy-wide broadcast from the late Emperor, Darth Sidious, who revealed his resurrection years after the Empire was defeated at the Battle of Endor. Leia and Ren both sought to confirm the message's authenticity, with the latter succeeding first by locating the hidden Sith bastion of Exegol. Sidious convinced Ren to form an alliance between the First Order and the Sith Eternal; and in return, he offered Ren a fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers—the Final Order—all of which were armed with axial superlasers capable of destroying entire planets. As a condition, however, Sidious asked Ren to purge the last trace of the Jedi Order by killing the scavenger Rey, who aspired to become a true Jedi through Leia's guidance. In addition to the Sith Armada, Sidious offered Ren his title of Emperor as an incentive to fulfill his mandate as heir to the Sith legacy.

Frustrated with Ren's management of the war, General Hux became a spy for the Resistance in order to undermine the Supreme Leader. He supplied information to the Resistance about Ren's discovery of Exegol, confirming the Emperor's return and the existence of his new fleet. Seeking the path to Exegol as well, the Jedi apprentice Rey embarked on a journey to acquire a Sith wayfinder while her mentor Leia remained on Ajan Kloss overseeing the Resistance. A battle eventually ensued between the son and the apprentice of Leia, respectively, in the Death Star ruins on Kef Bir. Assisted by her advisor, Maz Kanata, the Resistance general devoted her remaining strength in a final concentrated effort to reach her son through the Force.

Her sacrifice was a success; across the galaxy, Ren felt his mother die, causing him to lose focus during the lightsaber duel. Although Rey capitalized on the Supreme Leader's distraction to wound him, she healed Ren after also sensing Leia's death. As Ren contemplated on what had transpired, he found himself confronted by his memory of Han Solo. At first, Ren believed it truly was too late to change his ways, as his mother was dead, but Han told him that while Leia was gone, the cause she devoted her life to was not yet lost. Ultimately, the son of Han and Leia reclaimed his identity as Ben Solo, destroying the side of him that was Kylo Ren. In accordance with Leia's wishes, the title of acting general was granted to Commander Poe Dameron, to whom Leia had symbolically passed her legacy as an Organa by entrusting the Resistance pilot with the organization's future.

Solo returned to Exegol while General Dameron led the Resistance and their allies in an attack on the forces of the Sith Eternal, determined to prevent Sidious' Final Order from conquering the galaxy. While Leia's successor led the Resistance to victory over the Sith Star Destroyers, her son prevented Rey from succumbing to the temptations of the dark side which, in turn, resulted in the reborn Emperor's destruction by the hand of his granddaughter. The effort cost Rey her life, however, leading Solo to sacrifice himself in hopes of saving her. The effort resulted in Solo's death, yet succeeded in reviving Rey—his other half in the Force—who kissed him shortly after coming back to life.

Leia Organa and Ben Solo were the last members in the royal line of Senator Bail Organa and Queen Breha Organa, as well as the Skywalker and Solo families. By the end of her life, Leia had divided her various inheritances as a Skywalker, an Organa, and a Solo between the individuals whom she considered the heirs to her combined legacy. She left the Organa legacy to Dameron by making him the new leader of the Resistance; the Solo legacy passed to her son after Leia's final effort to bring Ben back to the light succeeded; and the Skywalker legacy was left to her apprentice Rey. Though sired from the Emperor's bloodline, Rey had renounced her lineage and assumed the Skywalker name to honor the legacy of Leia's biological family.

Organa Ranch was a large farm that the royal family owned on Alderaan. Its emerald grapes were used to produce high quality emerald wine, which was favored by Imperial officers such as Agent Alexsandr Kallus and Captain Hiram Zataire. The monarchy tended to dress modestly in simple designs and muted colors.

The ship prefix RHA, standing for "Royal House of Alderaan," preceded the names of certain vessels affiliated with House Organa.

Leia Organa's aunts, then named Rouge, Celly, and Tia, were first mentioned in Children of the Jedi, a 1995 novel written by Barbara Hambly and published by Bantam Spectra. In that book, they were introduced as the main caretakers of a teenaged Leia Organa. However, that story is part of the Star Wars Legends continuity, formerly known as the "Expanded Universe," and is therefore not official canon. In 2015, the idea that Princess Leia had several aunts was canonized in A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy, a retelling of the classic Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope story written by Alexandra Bracken. Contrary to their Legends counterparts, the canon aunts were not named, and their number went unmentioned.

In Obi-Wan Kenobi television series, Celly Organa is portrayed by actress Roberta Sparta where she is presented as being the sister of Breha Organa, unlike her Legends counterpart, who was the sister of Bail Organa. In Legends, Breha's sister was called Deara Antilles and was later banished from Alderaan, when it was discovered that she was a spy for Darth Vader.