Bail Organa's History
Bail Prestor Organa, also known as “the Father of the Rebellion,” was an Alderaanian politician and revolutionary leader who championed democratic and progressively-minded causes during the waning years of the Galactic Republic and into the reign of the Republic’s successor state, the Galactic Empire. Born Bail Prestor of Alderaan, the adventurous Bail wed Breha Organa—his homeworld’s monarch—forsaking his familial legacy to be with her. The two fought to keep Alderaan strong, and while Breha ruled domestically, Bail was elected to represent Alderaan in the Galactic Senate following the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. There, he built a reputation for himself through his commitment to honesty and justice, and he formed ties with numerous individuals and organizations, such as senators
Mon Mothma of Chandrila, Onaconda Farr of Rodia, and
Padmé Amidala of Naboo, as well as the Jedi Order, becoming the latter's best ally in the Senate. Organa and his faction worked tirelessly to keep the Republic's democratic values and loyalty to the government alive amid the burgeoning Separatist Crisis.
Despite Organa's efforts to alleviate the crisis, the Republic entered into the Clone Wars against its splinter state, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, in 22 BBY. In addition to his senatorial duties, Organa involved himself in humanitarian causes during the war, including leading relief efforts for the embattled peoples of Christophsis and Ryloth and organizing the Alderaan Refugee Conference to address the growing number of refugees displaced by the war. Organa and his allies were vehemently opposed to the war and often led efforts to de-escalate the conflict and bring about a diplomatic solution, though they faced opposition from militarist senators and corporate entities. Bail's faction's peace initiatives and anti-war legislation often saw failure and pushback, such as the murder of Senator Farr during controversy over a bid to overturn a military funding increase. As the war drew to a close in 19 BBY, Organa,
Mothma, and
Amidala petitioned the increasingly authoritarian
Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine to rescind his executive wartime powers at the conclusion of the war. To their horror, however,
Palpatine—secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious—instead declared the Jedi Order guilty of treason and announced that he would transform the Republic into an Empire.
In the chaotic days following the war's end, Bail aided the fugitive
Grand Master Yoda and
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi escape the Empire and go into hiding, and witnessed
Amidala, the secret wife of
Anakin Skywalker, die in childbirth. In the aftermath of her death, Organa adopted one of the late
Amidala's twin children,
Leia, as their father had become the Sith Lord
Darth Vader. Under the new regime, Organa continued to serve in the now-Imperial Senate. Though it no longer had the same power it had under the Republic, Bail and his allies did what they could in the Senate to oppose
Palpatine's reign, but they also became involved in underground resistance. Using Alderaan's wealth and their positions of power to their advantage, Bail and his wife organized clandestine operations to help planets subjugated by the Empire and searched the galaxy for insurgent groups that could lay the groundwork for a revolution. After an encounter with the Jedi-hunting Inquisitorius, Organa recruited former Jedi Padawan
Ahsoka Tano to his cause and, with her help, started coordinating the growing number of rebel cells. Over the years, Organa and his allies began secretly crafting a unified rebellion from the vast network of people and resources at their disposal, all the while fulfilling his oath to keep
Amidala's children safe from the Sith and Inquisitorius.
As the Empire made increasing attempts to crack down on the various rebel cells, Organa continued with his struggle but found his influence diminishing and chances for peaceful settlement gone. When
Mothma publicly denounced the Empire and resigned from the Senate in 2 BBY, their resistance was formally unified as the Alliance to Restore the Republic. While the fugitive
Mothma began working directly with the Alliance, Organa stayed a member of the Senate, but his disillusionment led him to become a part-time member and eventually give his seat to
Leia, who discovered her father's rebellion and proudly joined in his fight. As the conflict between the Alliance and the Empire grew, large-scale warfare became inevitable. On the eve of the Battle of Scarif in 1 BBY, Organa dispatched
Leia out to Tatooine to bring
Kenobi out of exile while he returned to Alderaan to warn his people that there would be no peace. Though the Alliance won its first major victory of the Galactic Civil War at Scarif, Organa and his wife were killed when the Death Star, an Imperial planet-killing superweapon, destroyed Alderaan just days later. Though they did not live to see the Empire's defeat, Organa and his wife were remembered as heroes and martyrs of the Galactic Civil War.
