CT What was Bail Organa doing during A New Hope?

We found out in Rogue One that Bail went to the Alderaan informs his people that there would be no peace. More what he did when he learned that his daughter was killed in Tantive IV, when the Empire informed the Senate that everyone on the ship had been killed?

 

Not taking their word for it - and sending ships to look for escape pods in the vicinity. The story in question is Eclipse, in the From A Certain Point of View anthology - though it's more Breha's POV than Bail's.

 

Claudia Gray's recent book Leia Princess of Alderaan looks at Leia's life prior to ANH - it's pretty good even though it's geared toward younger readers. Both Bail and Breha figure in it.

 

In a similar vein, is the Ahsoka novel (Leia's appearance here is more of a cameo since she's only a toddler) - in this case "Bail during the first year or so after ROTS" is the focus (Ahsoka's still the main character though).

The Princess Leia comic also has a bit showing Leia & Bail interacting - but it's only a snippet, and most of the comic is immediately after ANH.

 

I think Leia is around sixteen or so in the Gray novel. She also interacts with Tarkin in it.

 

Yup.

For (roughly) 1 year later - Leia-centric - there is A Princess on Lothal (Rebels Season 2 episode)

For 1 year earlier - what Bail was doing - there's Droids in Distress (Season 1) but we only get a few moments of Bail.

 

Getting ready for a show down. A squadron of Alderaan pilots were on Yavin and participated in the Battle of Yavin IV after the destruction of the planet and Organa's Kingdom. The Empire suspected that Alderaan was aiding the Rebels therefore we can gather that he was coordinating moves to facilitate a counter attack against the Empire of some kind.

 

I'm sure he was awfully busy.

I believe RO depicts Bail accurately. He was tired and had aged prematurely during the Dark Times. He spent so much time in preparation for the coming battle. Mon Mothma was taxed by the long civil war (according to the old EU) and also by the politics of setting up a new government. This goes to show how exhausting revolutions can be. Take that statement for what you will, if you're anti-Imperial or pro-Imperial.

 

In an alternate universe (in my headcanon anyways), Bail trusts Ahsoka with the secret of Anakin's turn and Leia's heritage and when Leia reaches her teens, Ahsoka teaches her the ways of the Force and together they redeem Darth Vader. Alderaan is spared, Sidious is destroyed and everyone lives happily ever after. Because Obi-Wan and his sexist "the male child of Anakin is our only hope" is complete and utter poodoo.

 

That would make a great story. I'd love to read it.

 

I think the OP means what he was doing BEFORE he went ka-blooie.

 

Apart from exploding into a million pieces, you mean?

 

I think there is a story about that in From A Certain Point of View. It follows Bail from when he arrives back on Alderaaan, to its destruction.

 

Setting up all his specialists on Alderaan to stand by to receive the Death Star plans for analysis. According to the 1977 Lucas Notes Alderaan was the Alliance's 'brain' or center of intelligence, so the Death Star plans would end up there for in-depth analysis.

 

Lets see, he probably knows about the capture of his daughter and assumed that she had been tortured and more then likely executed, her mission to bring back Kenobi had failed. He knew that the Empire had a functional death star, and the plans were more then likely back in the hands of the Empire and the Rebels were probably doomed.

I'd say he was probably a third of the way through his 5th bottle of Ewok extract whiskey and looked up to see the death star arrive and said "I just don't care anymore"

 

Leia lied, Bail died.

 

Well, perhaps considering the ages of the actors there could be some more stories to tell that bridges Rebels, Rogue One and the OT... A MI-type spy ops thriller set in Star Wars featuring Cassian Andor on assignments for Bail Organa.

(And how come the Princess from the peaceful planet without any weapons is such a bad ass-fighter in combat?)

With the top brass (Mon Mothma, Dodonna, General Dryden...) as already established characters we might get some more of the miltary strategical and political drama that GL tried to show us in the PT.

So on an end note one could follow the different destinies of Organa and Mothma - actually see them rally their people/planets for the cause.

 

I’m being dense now — did the Empire ever release a statement that they captured a leader of the Rebellion?

 

did the Empire publicly acknowedge there was a rebellion?

 

Probably not?

 

They released a statement to the Senate that the Tantive IV had been caught in a meteor shower, and all aboard were killed. Bail would have been able to read between the lines.

 

Bail would have been concerned about Leia. But he also knew she was a forced to be reckoned with. As Palpatine once said, "You have your father's fire." Vader may be Leia's biological father, but if she's anybody's child, she's Bail's. We saw that Bail could be a man of action and forethought in ROTS. He would have been an asset to the Rebels had he lived.

 

Doubt it, but it’s kind of hard to pretend things are just fine when Imperial property are mysteriously blowing up.