FALL OF THE REPUBLIC

Padmé Amidala, secret wife of Anakin Skywalker, became pregnant with twins toward the end of the Clone Wars. Shortly after Anakin’s turn to the dark side and a violent attack on Padmé, the Naboo Senator went into labor, but something was wrong: according to medical droids, she had lost the will to live. She gave birth to twins -- Luke and Leia -- before dying. Leia was taken in by Senator Bail Organa, a friend of Padmé’s and an ally of the Jedi, and raised as his daughter on Alderaan.

THE DARK TIMES

At an early age, much was expected of Princess Leia Organa. She’d have much rather escaped into the wooded palace grounds to watch incoming starships than sit through ceremony, however. As a member of the Royal House of Alderaan, she became a fixture at royal receptions until kidnappers absconded with the young girl. Acting on a call for help from her parents, Ben Kenobi rescued Leia, first from the streets of Daiyu, and later from a harrowing torture chamber in the heart of the Fortress Inquisitorius. Although she would long remember their eventful adventure, the future rebel hero carefully guarded knowledge of Kenobi’s location and his very existence until her most desperate hour.

In her teens, Leia led a secret mission on behalf of her father: delivering three cruisers to the Phoenix Squadron rebels. She brought the ships to Lothal under the Senate-approved guise of a relief mission for the citizenry, but instead worked with the Ghost crew's Kanan and Ezra to stage a theft of the craft. While there were some hiccups, the Princess showed a strong sense of leadership and fearlessness, and the operation proved a success.

GALACTIC CIVIL WAR

Leia continued secretly working to undermine the Empire. When the Rebellion became aware of the Death Star, a small band absconded to Scarif where they daringly stole schematics of the battle station. The data tapes were beamed to a rebel ship and barely passed to the Tantive IV, where Organa received them. When asked what the transmission was, Organa simply replied: "Hope."

Aboard her ambassadorial vessel, Tantive IV, Princess Leia Organa was custodian of stolen plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon. While Leia was a member of the Imperial Senate, she was also one of the Rebel Alliance’s most dedicated leaders. Her ship was boarded by Darth Vader and Imperial forces, but she managed to hide the schematics and a message in the droid R2-D2, who escaped alongside his counterpart C-3PO. Leia, however, was captured by stormtroopers and confronted by Vader, who didn’t believe her claim that the ship was on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.

Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, one of the Empire’s highest ranking officers, held Leia prisoner on the Death Star. They sought to recover the stolen data tapes and uncover the location of the hidden Rebel base, though they knew Leia would never give up its location voluntarily. As such, Vader used an interrogation droid to try and extract the information, but Leia was able to resist. Tarkin, however, found another form of persuasion: he would threaten to destroy her home planet of Alderaan unless she divulged the whereabouts of the base. Reluctantly, Leia confessed that it was Dantooine; Tarkin nefariously continued with the attack, looking to display the Death Star’s might. The Princess protested, but Tarkin and Vader would not listen. Alderaan was destroyed. But the Rebels still had time -- the Dantooine base had been abandoned long ago, which Leia knew, and the Alliance really resided on Yavin 4.

Her situation seemingly dire, events would soon unfold that would change Leia’s fate and that of the galaxy. As it turns out, the message she hid inside R2-D2 was delivered on Tatooine to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master and a general in the Clone Wars who knew her father. Obi-Wan arrived on the Death Star with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the two droids to rescue her. Luke reached Leia’s cell first, dressed in disguise as one of the Empire’s foot soldiers. “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” she asked. Taking off his helmet, Luke introduced himself and the two quickly left. But by this time, stormtroopers had found the ragtag group, and Han, Chewie, Luke, and Leia were forced to jump into a trash compactor to hide. Han and Leia immediately clashed, with the Princess having little patience for his bravado. When the walls of the compactor began to close in, all seemed lost until R2-D2 was able to remotely shut them down. The group made their way back to Han’s ship, the Millennium Falcon, though Obi-Wan Kenobi fell in battle to Darth Vader. They escaped, but little did they know that Vader had placed a tracking device on their ship.

Leia and her rescuers rendezvoused with the Alliance on Yavin 4, where she delivered the Death Star plans. As the Rebels prepped their attack on the space station, Han and Chewie collected their reward for saving the Princess and were readying to leave. Luke and Leia were disappointed in Han’s decision, but carried on. Meanwhile, having successfully tracked the Falcon to Yavin 4, the Death Star closed in. The attack began, with Luke piloting an X-wing, Leia monitoring in the command center, and Han long gone. As the Death Star readied to destroy to Yavin 4 and the Rebel Alliance with it, Han saved Luke by blasting the TIE fighters trailing his X-wing; Luke fired a proton torpedo into the Death Star’s exhaust port, destroying the planet-sized terror. Han, Chewie, and Luke returned to the base where Leia warmly greeted them, and later presented them medals for their bravery.

After the destruction of the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance relocated to Hoth, a remote ice world. Leia remained a key figure in the fight for freedom, and her feelings for Han had developed -- though he could still drive her crazy. “You stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!” she called him in a heated exchange. After the Empire discovered their location, Leia oversaw the Alliance’s evacuation and was forced to leave with Han aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and C-3PO evaded the Empire by heading into an asteroid field -- a dangerous move that only the daring captain of the Millennium Falcon would attempt. It worked, and Han docked his ship inside a cave within one of the larger rock masses. In a quiet moment, the smuggler and the Princess finally kissed -- only to be interrupted by C-3PO, who was excited to inform them that he’d isolated the ship’s reverse power flux coupling. The group later headed to Cloud City, home of Han’s old friend Lando Calrissian, for sanctuary.

Upon arrival, Leia was skeptical of Lando -- he seemed a little too friendly. Her misgivings would prove true, as Lando handed his new guests over to Darth Vader and Boba Fett, claiming they arrived just before the Falcon. Han was tortured by Vader and Leia was held prisoner, all part of a trap to lure Luke Skywalker. The Sith Lord planned to carbon-freeze Luke, but would test the dangerous procedure on Han. Before being lowered into the freezing chamber, Leia told Han that she loved him. “I know,” he replied, and was then frozen into a carbonite slab. He survived the process, and Vader demanded Leia and Chewbacca be taken to his ship. While en route, Lando took a risk and had his security forces disarm their stormtrooper escort, and led Leia, Chewie, and C-3PO in a last ditch attempt to save Han. They were too late, but managed to flee in the Falcon. Luke, who came to face Vader, was severely injured and only survived by reaching out through the Force to Leia. The Princess commanded they return to rescue him; while the heroes were defeated, they survived to fight another day.

With Han frozen in carbonite and held in Jabba's Palace on Tatooine, the Princess and her friends planned a rescue mission. Leia, disguised as bounty hunter Boushh, brought a captive Chewbacca before Jabba. She collected a bounty of 35,000 credits, and later that evening snuck quietly to Han’s carbonite slab. She unfroze the smuggler and revealed her identity to him as “someone who loves you.” They kissed and were ready to make their escape, but were interrupted by an ominous laugh; Jabba knew it was Leia the whole time. He threw Han in a cell with Chewbacca, and forced Leia to wear a slave girl outfit and remain by his side. But all was not lost. Luke appeared, and in Jabba’s botched execution of the Rebels above the Sarlacc pit, decimated the crime lord’s forces. In the ensuing chaos, Leia used the chain tethering her to Jabba to choke the giant gangster. He died in a pitiful slump, and Leia and her friends left Tatooine and headed for the stars.

The Princess and the others rendezvoused with the Rebel fleet and helped organize a plan to destroy the Empire’s new Death Star: they would head to Endor and knock out the space station’s shield generator, while fighters would enter the super structure and take down the main reactor. Using a stolen Imperial shuttle, Leia and friends landed on the forest moon but quickly encountered Imperial scout troopers. Luke and Leia commandeered speeder bikes and defeated the troopers in a deadly chase and battle, but were separated. The Princess, alone, encountered a strange, furry being -- an Ewok named Wicket. He took her to his village, where she would remain until Han, Luke, Chewie, and Artoo showed up as captives (Threepio was mistaken for a god by the primitive species).

After being freed, she and Luke had a private discussion away from the others where he made a startling revelation: they were actually brother and sister. Instead of shock, Leia seemed at peace. “I know,” she said. “Somehow, I’ve always known.” Luke went off to face Darth Vader, and Han and Leia led the ground assault on the shield generator. Always brave, Leia more than held her own, blasting stormtroopers left and right. While she was wounded, her injury wasn’t serious; and with help from their new furry friends, the Rebels defeated the Imperial legion of troops. The shield was destroyed, as was the Death Star and the Emperor. Luke turned Vader back to the light side and reunited with Leia, Han, and their friends on Endor -- together again with the battle for freedom finally over.

After the Battle of Endor, Leia trained as a Jedi with Luke, but left the Jedi path after sensing it would result in the death of her son. She returned to the political arena, where the New Republic had reached an uneasy peace with the remnants of the Galactic Empire. Believing the Empire was no longer a threat, the New Republic reduced its military capabilities, despite Leia’s warning that the Imperial remnants could not be trusted. When her concerns were dismissed as paranoid warmongering, Leia formed the Resistance, a secret military force that would keep watch on the restive First Order.

THE FIRST ORDER

After the Battle of Endor, the New Republic reached an uneasy peace with the remnants of the Galactic Empire. Believing the Empire was no longer a threat, the New Republic reduced its military capabilities, despite Leia’s warning that the Imperial remnants could not be trusted. When her concerns were dismissed as paranoid warmongering, Leia formed the Resistance, a secret military force that keeps watch on the restive First Order.

In the early days of the rise of the First Order, General Leia and Poe Dameron tasked a young spy, Kazuda Xiono, with an important mission aboard the Colossus platform. Kaz proved himself to be a valuable investigator, helping Poe collect information on an abandoned First Order dedlanite mine. Unfortunately, after the attack on Hosnian Prime, the Resistance forces were stretched thin and Leia was unable to send reinforcements to aid Kaz's quest to free the Colossus from First Order control despite his desperate pleas for help.

After the First Order decapitated the New Republic by destroying the Hosnian system, Leia’s forces struck back, blowing up the Starkiller superweapon. But the First Order then drove the Resistance from its hidden base, leaving Leia’s organization in danger of extinction.

Leia was nearly killed when Kylo Ren led an attack on her flagship, the Raddus, drawing herself back to safety through the Force. She sought refuge on Crait with the surviving Resistance members – and faced a showdown with her vengeful son. 

Leia had been badly injured while exposed to space, but she summoned her reserves of strength to rebuild the Resistance and mentor the new generation of leaders she knew it would soon need. She also took up where Luke had left off, tutoring Rey in the ways of the Force.

Sensing her son was at a crisis point, Leia reached out to him through the Force – a gesture of love that would help Ben Solo remember his true self and return to the light. But doing so required all her strength. The great freedom fighter died on Ajan Kloss and passed into the Force.