The accident

"That incident," as it was commonly called by those from Alderaan, occurred when Alderaan's Princess Breha Organa took a tumble while descending Appenza Peak, a prominent mountain on Alderaan, after finishing her Challenge of the Body. The injuries Organa sustained were almost fatal, but the guards, who were observing from a distance, acted swiftly to save her.

Although Organa survived, she required replacement heart and lungs with pulmonodes; however, unlike the majority, she opted against undergoing the bacta treatments needed for tissue regeneration around the implants, choosing instead to retain them as a visible reminder of her survival, a decision some considered "ostentatious".

Despite her fall from the mountain, Organa was still considered to have successfully completed her Challenge of the Body, since she had reached the summit, and was therefore formally invested as crown princess and later took the throne from her mother to become the queen of Alderaan.

This incident, along with the physical toll it took on the queen, factored into Organa and her husband Bail's subsequent choice to adopt rather than have biological children.

Years afterward, the people of Alderaan still spoke quietly about the accident, and in 3 BBY, Organa accompanied her adopted daughter, Leia Organa, as she ascended Appenza Peak for her own Challenge of the Body, briefly discussing the incident with her. While on the moon of Madurs during her honeymoon with Han Solo in 4 ABY, Leia reflected on her mother's accident, observing that while people enjoyed a love story, they enjoyed a fallen hero even more. She realized that the more she was celebrated, the more people would seek out her flaws to exploit and use them to destroy her image. This reminded Leia of her mother and her fall as Leia realized that every moment of joy was only raising her higher, so that when she inevitably fell, it would be harder.