The Tragedy of Bail Organa: A Character Analysis
Bail Organa is, by all rights, a moral and righteous man. Throughout the course of the Prequel Trilogy, we see him again and again making good and moral choices, even if they are not the easy choice. When looking at the Jedi Temple burning, Bail Organa flies toward it himself to see what is happening; when Bail Organa realizes that the Jedi are being slaughtered, he risks his own life to save those he can. (And yes, he did risk his own life–if Palpatine had realized that Bail had helped Yoda and Obi-Wan, do you think that Bail would have lived long?) Without prompting, Bail steps forward and offers to take one of Padme and Anakin’s children–even though he knows that to do so will put himself and his wife (and even his world) in danger, because he knows that he can give that child a better life than she would have had anywhere else they might have hidden her. (“She will be loved,” he said. “She will be loved.” And that was that.)
Yet, especially in light of the events in Rogue One, we cannot say that Bail Organa is a good man.
Over and over again, throughout the course of the many years separating Revenge of the Sith from A New Hope we see Bail Organa make morally grey–and even morally black–choices. When confronted with the reality that the High Council will not authorize the fleet to go steal the Death Star plans, Bail circumvents them and ensures that the fleet is sent anyway. Even though to do so will place Leia–and the entire galaxy, if she is discovered by Vader or Palpatine–in great danger, Bail a) makes her Crown Princess of Alderaan (an incredibly public and visible position, though presumably that also afforded her a measure of protection as Palpatine should have thought twice about moving on the Crown Princess of Alderaan); b) cedes his Senate seat to her, likely for political and Rebellion-related reasons, placing her in close proximity to both Palpatine and presumably Vader for extended periods of time. We have also seen him authorize a handful of dubious actions in Star Wars Rebels, though ultimately all of those choices ended positively.
Was he right to make those choices? Yes. We, as the audience, can see that the choices that Bail makes are the correct choices to make. He was right to ensure that the fleet went to aid those stealing the Death Star plans. Leia would not have been nearly as effective of a leader, politically and publicly, if she had not had the Senate seat, etc. All of his choices, as shown in Rebels, end well.
Furthermore, did he make the choices he made for the right reasons? Yes. He makes every single one of the choices he makes throughout the series to undermine and defeat Palpatine and his tyranny.
But were those choices good choices? No. No they were not. They were manipulative, dangerous, and often even in direct contrast to the ideals for which he fought.
And that is the tragedy of Bail Organa.
Because Bail Organa is a moral and righteous man–but he is a moral and righteous man who is forced to break and even, in a fashion, become corrupt for the sake of what he believes in.
Bail Organa is forced to become–or, at least, to make choices that mirror–the very thing he has sold his life to defeat: a powerful, manipulative, scheming leader with absolute (or unchecked) power.
But you know what? I think Bail knows this. He knows what he has done. He knows what he is becoming.
And that is the greatest tragedy of all.
Because we have a moral and righteous man who, because he is moral and righteous, is willing to sell his soul to defeat evil.
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