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Bail Organa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Wars character | |
| Bail Organa | |
|---|---|
Senator Organa |
|
| Position | Senator of Alderaan |
| Homeworld | Alderaan |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Galactic Republic Delegation of 2000 Galactic Senate Rebel Alliance |
| Portrayed by | Jimmy Smits (films) Stephen Elliott (radio) |
Bail Organa is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe, played by Jimmy Smits. Stephen Elliott provided the voice of Bail Organa in the 1980s radio dramas of the radio version of Episode IV: A New Hope.
Bail Prestor Organa is the Viceroy and Prince of the planet Alderaan, the husband of Queen Breha Organa, and a noted statesman of the late Republic and early Imperial eras. He is Princess Leia Organa's adoptive father.
Organa is mentioned in the Expanded Universe many times. In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace a scene involving him was scripted but cut from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace).
Contents |
Organa is a powerful member of the Galactic Senate in the waning days of the Old Republic. A member of the Loyalist Committee, Bail Organa was deeply concerned with the stability of the Republic during the Separatist crisis. He realized that drastic measures were required if the Separatists continued to push the galaxy to the brink of war.
While he recognized the need for the Senate to take ownership of the newly discovered Kamino clone army, he knew it was a political impossibility. Though it was not his recommendation, he stood by and watched as Palpatine was granted emergency powers to save the Republic from this dire threat. It was with great dismay that he watched the Republic transform during the war years.
Bail Organa is one of the first senators to suspect that Chancellor Palpatine has designs on seizing total control of the galaxy. When Palpatine remakes the Republic into the totalitarian Galactic Empire, Organa cofounds a secret resistance organization that would evolve into the Rebel Alliance.
In the aforementioned film, he witnesses the slaughter of a young Jedi Padawan by clone troopers outside the Jedi Temple at the start of the Great Jedi Purge. After that, he immediately begins searching for surviving Jedi. He rescues Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the meantime, his ship (the Tantive IV) has received a message from the Jedi Temple, which orders all Jedi to return to the planet Coruscant, as the Clone Wars are over.
He is also a close friend of Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo, Leia's birth mother. After Padmé's death, he adopts Leia to protect her from her father, Anakin Skywalker, who has become the Sith lord Darth Vader and had helped Palpatine exterminate the Jedi. Bail and his wife had been looking to adopt a child, and he came to raise and love young Leia Organa as his own child.
Leia followed in Bail's political footsteps, becoming the youngest member of the Imperial Senate. Leia also decided to support the Alliance, using her diplomatic immunity to smuggle supplies and information to Rebels. Together, the Organas uncovered crucial technical information about the Empire's greatest weapon, the Death Star.
Bail sent Leia on a mission to locate Obi-Wan Kenobi and recruit him into the Alliance to help face the Death Star challenge, however Darth Vader captured her onboard the ship Tantive IV.
Later, Darth Vader has her tortured, but she resists telling him anything. Still believing she could be useful, the Death Star's Commander, Grand Moff Tarkin, threatens to destroy her homeworld of Alderaan with the superweapon unless she reveals the location of the hidden Rebel base. She still does not give in and lies to them, as Tarkin orders Alderaan to be destroyed anyway, killing Bail Organa and the entire population. Leia was eventually picked up by Luke Skywalker.
In Episode I, Captain Panaka mentions a Bail Antilles as the representative from Alderaan, thus raising confusion as to whether or not this is supposed to be the same character.
The official site clarifies this issue somewhat, stating that Bail Antilles and Bail Organa were both slated to appear in The Phantom Menace, but Organa's footage was excised. In the screenplay, Bail Organa seconds the motion of no confidence in Chancellor Finis Valorum's leadership, and Bail Antilles is nominated to succeed as Chancellor. Both were intended as two separate characters. Nevertheless, because his scene was cut, Bail Organa was recast for Attack of the Clones.
The Expanded Universe used the appearance of the actor who played Organa in the cut scene, Adrian Dunbar, to represent Bail Antilles.
- Bail Organa in the Star Wars Databank
- Bail Organa on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
- Holonet News - Bail Organa and Bail Antilles attend the retirement of fellow Senator Horox Ryyder