Leia Organa Solo was the former Princess of Alderaan, the youngest-ever elected Senator of the Galactic Senate, leader of the Rebel Alliance and, later, the Chief of State of the New Republic. She was the daughter of former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala, and the twin sister of Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker. She was the adopted daughter of Bail Organa and Queen Breha of Alderaan, making her the Princess of Alderaan. An accomplished Senator, Leia was famous for her strong leadership during the First Galactic Civil War and other subsequent galactic conflicts, making her one of the galaxy's greatest heroes. Later she married Han Solo and mothered three children: Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin Solo.
Biography[]
Birth and Adoption into the House of Organa[]
It's a girl."
"Leia.
—Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala

Leia shortly after birth
Leia Organa Solo was born on Polis Massa in 19 ABY, shortly after the foundation of the Galactic Empire. Her mother died mere seconds after giving birth, effectively orphaning Leia and her older twin brother Luke.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Senator Bail Organa, all present at the twins' birth, knew that the children, because of their strong connection to the Force, needed to be protected from Emperor Palpatine. The two Jedi Masters agreed to send Luke to live with his father's stepbrother and his wife on Tatooine; Leia was adopted and raised by Organa and his wife, Queen Breha, on Alderaan. The twins were never told about the other's existence and would not see each other again for nineteen years.
Leia was raised the heir of House Organa, as the couple could not bear children. Bail and Breha did adopt another orphaned girl who was two years older than Leia: Winter, the daughter of one of their former aides. Winter became Leia's best friend and companion. With natural grace and poise, Winter was often mistaken for the Princess of Alderaan while Leia was regarded as a domestic girl. Although Leia was intelligent, there was little evidence of her Force sensitivity - much to Bail Organa's relief. Wanting to expose her to as many experiences as possible, Bail often took his daughter along to trips to other worlds, such as Ithor, where he attended the Time of the Meeting as the representative of the Imperial Senate. About six years old at the time, the Meeting was an unforgettable experience for Leia. She also visited Alderaan's secret Caamasi colony in her childhood.
Leia unknowingly followed in both her adoptive father's and her birth mother's footsteps in her decision to enter politics at an early age and become a Senator. At the age of eighteen, Leia became the youngest Imperial Senator ever elected, and Bail Organa formally presented her to Palpatine shortly before she assumed her Senatorial post. Shortly after becoming a Senator, and throughout her years in the Alliance, Leia was taken by Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila as her political protégé. Over the years, Leia's hatred of the Empire grew; she found their treatment of non-Humans and women despicable. She eventually shared these feelings with Bail, and ended up being present on Kashyyyk for the meeting that officially established the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
After the meeting, Bail Organa - now a known enemy of the Empire - stepped down as Senator of Alderaan and Leia took his place. Knowing that her diplomatic immunity would be perfect for running covert missions for the Alliance, Leia began a double life as a Senator and a Rebel. Leia inherited her father's diplomatic cruiser, the Tantive IV, and her uncle - Raymus Antilles - was the captain while her cousin was a member of the vessel's crew. Winter, now also a Rebel operative, was aware of Leia's involvement with the Rebellion.
After a disastrous Battle of Kattada, with the plans for the new Imperial battlestation called the Death Star, Leia was contacted by her father, giving her an important mission: to track down the legendary Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who could be found on Tatooine, and bring him to Alderaan.
Early Galactic Civil War[]
Death Star I campain[]
General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.
—Leia Organa

Distress call sent by holo from Leia Organa to Obi-Wan Kenobi
On her way to Tatooine, Darth Vader - the Emperor's right-hand Sith Lord - captured the Tantive IV, seeking to recover the plans for the Death Star I. Before Vader's party boarded her Corellian corvette, Leia hid the plans inside R2-D2 and sent him to find Kenobi. Stunned after shooting a stormtrooper with her sporting blaster, Leia was brought before Vader, who accused her of treason. Leia denied any connection with the Alliance.
Vader brought her aboard the Death Star I, where he personally interrogated and tortured her, seeking the location of the plans and the hidden Rebel base. She endured and kept her silence. Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin threated Leia with the destruction of Alderaan should she not reveal the location of the base; pretending to give in, Leia revealed the location of an abandoned base on Dantooine. Tarkin, believing Leia, proceeded to destroy Alderaan. Leia was then placed in a holding cell and scheduled to be executed.

Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo escape from the Death Star I.
Leia was rescued from her holding cell by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca - a group who had come with Obi-Wan: Luke as the Jedi Master's apprentice, and Han and Chewbacca as the crew hired to transport them to Alderaan. The group had been captured by the Death Star I's tractor beam shortly after the planet's destruction. Finding that Leia was on the station, they set out to rescue her while Obi-Wan went to disable the tractor beam so that they could escape from the space station. During the group's escape, Obi-Wan dueled with Darth Vader - his former apprentice - and was killed. As the Millennium Falcon made its way to the true Rebel base on Yavin IV, the Death Star I pursued by following the tracking device Tarkin had placed on the ship after learning the truth about the base on Dantooine.
At the Battle of Yavin, the Death Star I was destroyed by Luke Skywalker. Following the Rebel victory, Leia held a public ceremony, rewarding Luke Skywalker and Han Solo for their accomplishments and heroism during the battle. She gave Han the rank of Captain and Luke the rank of Commander.
Leia continued her work with the Rebel Alliance; now that she was exposed as a Rebel, and did not have her responsibilities either on Alderaan or the Imperial Senate left, Leia took over the Alliance's diplomatic efforts, gaining much support and capital greatly needed for the Rebel war effort.
When Darth Vader and the Empire discovered the new Rebel base on Hoth in 3 ABY, Leia helped coordinate the evacuation of base. Continuing to issue commands from the crumbling base, Leia nearly escaped Imperial capture with the help of Han and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon. Pursued by Imperial fighters, stuck with a non-functional hyperdrive, they escaped by flying into an asteroid field.
Crisis at Cloud City[]
I love you."
"I know.
—Leia Organa and Han Solo
After the Imperials dropped their pursuit, Han, Chewbacca, Leia and C-3PO made their way to Cloud City, then owned by Han's old friend, Lando Calrissian, to get help repairing the Falcon. At this time, Leia's initially adversial relationship with Han evolved into a more romantic one.

Han and Leia's first kiss, aboard the Falcon
Soon after they landed, Lando betrayed them by bringing them to Darth Vader, who had already predicted the group's next move and was waiting for them. Han was tortured, Leia and Chewbacca thrown into the dungeon. Lando soon made his way into the dungeon, informing them that he did what he had to do and that Vader was using them as bait to capture Luke Skywalker. Han was used as a test subject for the carbonite-freezing process that Vader intended to use to capture Luke Skywalker. Before the test, Leia told Han that she loved him. After the freezing process, which Han survived, he was taken by Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt; Luke soon arrived on Cloud City and Leia unsuccessfully warned Luke of the trap before being taken as a prisoner. Lando managed to rescue Leia, Chewbacca, and Threepio from their Imperial captors. During the group's escape on the Millennium Falcon, Leia heard Luke's telepathic call for help to her despite having never been trained in the use of the Force. She led the Falcon back to rescue him; they then departed for the rendezvous point where the Rebel fleet was hiding.
Rescue of Han Solo[]
Upon learning of Han's location in Jabba the Hutt's palace, Leia posed as Boushh - her second time posing as the bounty hunter; her first being to meet the Black Sun's Falleen crimelord Prince Xizor - pretending to be Chewbacca's captor. To convince Jabba, Leia held an armed thermal detonator ticking down its time until Jabba agreed to pay her a higher bounty for the Wookiee's capture.
The night she freed Han from carbonite but the pair were caught by Jabba. Han was thrown in Chewbacca's cell while Jabba forced Leia to become his slave girl. She was required to wear a skimpy metal bikini and was kept on a metal leash, perpetually kept by Jabba's side.

Leia choking Jabba on the very chain that held her captive.
Upon Luke's arrival to rescue everybody, Jabba refused and planned to throw them all - except Leia - into the sarlacc pit. During Luke's escape from the sarlacc pit - assisted by Lando, who had been posing as one of Jabba's guards, Chewbacca and the temporarily-blinded Han - Leia used the chaos to choke Jabba to death with her leash. R2-D2, now Luke's astromech droid, cut her chains and she soon left with the rest of the group after the destruction of Jabba's sail barge.
Endor and a Shocking Revelation[]
Luke, don't talk that way. You have a power that I don't understand and can never have."
"You're wrong, Leia. You have that power, too. In time, you will learn to use it as I have. The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And…my sister has it. Yes. It's you, Leia.
—Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker
After leaving Tatooine, Leia joined the gathered Rebel fleet near Sullust, and accompanied Luke and Han to Endor, where the Death Star II's shield generator was located. On Endor, Leia and Luke confronted stormtroopers and chased them on speeder bikes throughout Endor's dense forests, trying to stop them before they alerted the other Imperials to the commando force's presence. Leia and Luke were separated and after Leia was able to shoot down one stormtrooper she was shot down herself and collapsed. She was found by an Ewok and was taken to his village. After Han, Luke, Chewbacca, and the two droids were also captured by Ewoks during their search for Leia, the Ewoks accepted them as part of their tribe.
The night before the Battle of Endor, Leia was informed by Luke Skywalker that they were twins, and that Darth Vader was their father. Leia was deeply shocked, and was even more so when Luke told her that he had to confront Vader. She tried to convince him to just "run far away" but Luke had already made up his mind.
Fighting alongside Han the next day, Leia took a blaster shot to her upper arm. Even with this injury, Leia was able to quickly shoot dead two stormtroopers who attempted to capture the couple at the shield bunker. The mission to Ender was a success, and the Death Star II was destroyed when Lando and Nien Nunb, piloting the Millennium Falcon, flew into the station's core and destroyed it from the inside. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were both dead by the end of the battle, and with them the Empire. Following the battle, Leia informed Han of her familial relationship with Luke.
Founding the New Republic[]
Truce at Bakura[]
Maybe Vader had died heroically, but ten minutes of contrition did not make up for years of atrocities.
—Leia, after her first and only visitation from the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker
Immediately after the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance answered a distress call from Bakura, which was under invasion by the Ssi-Ruuk. Leia and Han Solo also struggled to find some time together and hash out their newly-formed relationship. On Bakura, while meeting with sympathetic Bakuran Senate officials, Leia was arrested for sedition by the Imperial governor Wilek Nereus and was imprisoned in an out-of-the-way complex. She was rescued by Han, and returning to orbit in the Falcon, they helped the Alliance forces beat back the Ssi-Ruuk. Nereus betrayed them but Luke was able to convince Imperial fleet commander Pter Thanas to surrender. Leia then aided the short, swift Bakuran overthrow of the government and was present at the surrender of Nereus. While on Bakura, the spirit of Anakin Skywalker appeared to Leia to beg for her forgiveness, which she could not grant at that time. Shortly afterwards the Alliance of Free Planets was formed.
Leader of the New Republic[]
Leia Organa was a founding member of the New Republic, which was formally promulgated in 5 ABY. Her first New Republic position was Minister of State, which she served as during the taking of Coruscant by the New Republc. She served as Councilor during the Thrawn crisis. She succeeded Mon Mothma as the Chief of State. Despite most of her time being devoted to matters of state, Leia agreed to be trained as a Jedi by her twin brother Luke Skywalker. She wielded a blue lightsaber that she built herself, and then Luke gave her a ruby-red lightsaber.
Choosing Between Love and Duty[]
Leia, busy with her Minister of State duties, and Han, away for a few months fighting Warlord Zsinj, started drifted apart. At the time of Han's return, Leia, who had been conducting negotiations with the Hapes Consortium, was visited by the Hapes delegation. They presented Leia with a total of 63 expensive gifts - one from each Hapan world - the last gift being the proposition of the Hapes Cluster's Prince's wife, which would make Leia the future monarch of the Hapes Consortium. Leia took the proposal seriously, as the marriage would benefit both the New Republic and the Alderaanian exiles, and Isolder was handsome and well-mannered.
Jealous, Han kidnapped a furious Leia and took her to Dathomir. Han promised to return Leia after one week and accept whatever punishment was deserved for his actions if she did not love him again by the end. The Millennium Falcon was shot down on Dathomir - which was revealed to be in Zsinj's territory, and encountered the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri witches. After meeting up with Luke and Isolder, who had come to rescue Leia but were also shot down, Han and Isolder constantly argued. Because the Nightsisters had a plan to capture the Falcon and get off the planet, Leia focused all her energy on getting off Dathomir instead of thinking about which man she wanted to marry; by the end of the ensuing battle that resulted in the destruction of Zsinj and his army, Leia realized that she still loved Han. Isolder, on the other hand, decided to marry Dathomiri witch Teneniel Djo, granddaughter of Augwynne Djo, who Han had handed over the deed to the planet in exchange for repairing the Falcon.
Leia and Han were married by Mon Mothma in 8 ABY. At first, Leia did not want to have children, as she feared they would turn out like her father. However, soon after the wedding, Leia and Han went on an important mission to Tatooine to retrieve Killik Twilight and the Shadowcast key hidden within it. Here, Leia met her father's childhood friend and discovered her grandmother's diary. Leia realized that her father hadn't been born or raised as the evil monster she had known, and decided that there was nothing inherently evil in the Skywalker bloodline. Soon after the completion of the mission, Leia became pregnant with twins.
Second Galactic Civil War (30 ABY)[]
Despite her plans for the contrary, Leia Organa Solo accepted her continuous re-elections as Chief of State, feeling that as long as the people wanted her, she'd be there for them. With her children grown and entering into various forms of duty themselves, Leia and Han got used to living alone again although their children - and the Skywalkers who lived nearby - visited often.