yeah but like
…..most of alderaan probably thought leia was a jedi anyway.
I mean, one minute the viceroy is a lauded senator and alderaan’s queen is childless, and the jedi are heroes, fighting a noble war against the separatists. Then suddenly the
chancelloremperor is declaring that the jedi had to be cleansed, and senator organa slinks back to alderaan in unexplained semi-disgrace, and the queen has an infant daughter who is just Way Too Pale to be either bail or breha’s natural-born child“an orphan,” the queen and viceroy of alderaan tell absolutely everyone.
“a jedi orphan,” absolutely everyone replies. “saved from the destruction of the jedi temple. where the jedi lived.”
“no no, just a regular normal orphan with nothing force-sensitive about her! what a silly idea, our daughter being a powerful jedi. are we even sure jedi really existed? emperor palpatine makes some good points, about them never having existed.“
“we literally have 700 hours of holonews footage that’s just viceroy organa hanging out on the warfront with a bunch of jedi.”
“I don’t recall that,” bail says cheerfully. “and neither does my daughter, who is force-sensitive as a box of bricks.”
(leia is eight when she dreams of her father in the war. he is holding a sword of fire, and he breathes too loudly, harsh in her ears—she is scared, and so she reaches for him, seeking comfort,and suddenly he turns on her. he is shadow and death and that awful sword of fire, not her father at all, and he says in a breath of smoke, who—?
she wakes up to her father’s arms, real and warm, cradling her to his chest. it was only a nightmare, bail says, as she cries. shh, it wasn’t real.)
”on alderaan, they say she was an orphan rescued from the destruction of the jedi temple,” general tarkin says. “that she is a jedi too.” the footage is grainy, but tarkin can make out the shape of her well enough, the princess throwing herself against the cell door. such dramatics.
“impossible,” darth vader says from beside tarkin. “I killed every child that breathed.”
(well. he isn’t wrong.)
breha organa
in another universe, beru whitesun lars and queen breha organa of alderaan meet in the belly of the millennium falcon.
my aunt, luke skywalker says, and beru’s hand flutters self-consciously to the bruises, still ugly yellow-purple at her jaw, her cheek, where the raiders left her for dead.
my mother, princess leia says, and breha draws herself up in an attempt to look as though she has not recently been manhandled into a cell whose door she battered herself against, screaming for her daughter.
but beru hears ‘her majesty’ and stumbles into a curtsy (unlike her mother-in-law, maysherestinthelight, beru had never learned this; her family was seven generations free and she’d never knelt to anyone.) but breha catches her by the wrists, draws her up and into an embrace.
I am so glad to meet you, breha says. my husband told me there was another child, but I feared—I am so glad.
oh, beru says, her gaze flicking over breha’s shoulder to her nephew, to the princess with her dark hair and eyes that remind beru of shmi’s. oh, she breathes. I am glad too.
middle aged ladies being friends,middle aged ladies fighting for the rebellion!!!!,han solo being generally terrified of both of them,families who don’t share any blood ties whatsoever but all love each other and want to be around and protect and help and fight,beru whitesun lars and breha order queen of alderaan (even if alderaan doesn’t exist any longer) and mon mothma,tactician and once-senator of the republic,form a triumvirate that win the goddamn war so there I said so,and no skywalkers are harmed in the making of this victory,the end,roll credits,star wars,the warry stars
I love this post.
Queen Breha was very smart, and understood the value of diplomacy. She ruled Alderaan with a kind and even hand. The citizens of the planet loved her for her fairness, but Breha wasn’t always quiet and gentle. When there was a crisis, she was quick to respond. She was the perfect queen for one of the most important planets in the galaxy.
STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH 3D ARTIST RETURNS
“Dearest Leia” and “Dearest Luke”
Individual pieces depicting the ending of Revenge of the Sith, with Padme & Anakin’s children in the arms of their respective adoptive parents.
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Original pieces available at my Artfire Store
Anakin-and-Padme-raise-the-twins AUs are great but
- please don’t forget about Bail and Breha and Owen and Beru
- they’re the ones who taught Luke and Leia about bravery and kindness and generosity and heroism
- they’re the ones who bandaged their skinned knees, helped them with their homework, punished them, and worried about them
- both sets of caregivers had to deal with pre-teen brattiness (I dare you to picture 12-year-old Leia sneering at you and thinking you’re uncool – now imagine seeing that EVERY DAY and tell me Breha didn’t deserve a medal)
- they’re the ones who gave them the “we’re not your biological parents” talk, and both talks must have been so difficult for each family for their own reasons
- if you’re a Legends fan and consider B&B’s infertility and miscarriage issues, jfc, can you imagine how extra precious Leia must have been to them?
- how long had they been planning on adopting a baby girl? were they waiting for the war to end? or had they just decided on adoption, but never imagined they’d get a daughter this quickly?
- if Owen and Beru never wanted children, can you imagine how much they must have loved Luke to take him in?
- (OWEN’S ENTIRE MOTIVATION IN ANH IS TO PROTECT LUKE AND KEEP HIM AWAY FROM IMPERIAL INFLUENCES AND THAT WAS HIS /BOY/ and if you think Owen was “too mean” or ever resented Luke, please come and fight me)
- (because haha okay yeah what kind of world is this where fic writers interpret “please Luke don’t move out even though we’re poor farmers and you’re an adult and you’re not our son and feeding you is probably very expensive” as “Owen Lars is an abusive asshole”)
- all four of them are so ignored when it comes to Luke and Leia’s characterizations
- Bail has a good amount of spotlight, but he’s always a Senator and we’ve only seen him as a parent for three seconds
- please remember them and what they did
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