It was common knowledge throughout the court that Leia was adopted into the Royal Family. What wasn't common knowledge was that Leia was born to Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi pupil who succumbed to the dark side and became Darth Vader. She was one of a set of twins, born in secrecy and protected from Vader and the Emperor. The Jedi hero and general, Obi-Wan Kenobi, saw to it that Leia was secretly transported to the planet Alderaan, where she was to be raised by Kenobi's friend Bail Organa. The boy, Luke, was taken to the distant world of Tatooine. Leia has few memories of her true mother, Padmé Amidala. All that Leia can recall is that she was beautiful, but sad.

Leia followed in her adoptive father's footsteps, and entered politics. She became the youngest senator ever in the Imperial Senate, representing Alderaan. As a senator, Princess Leia ran a number of "diplomatic aid missions" that were fronts for Rebel resupply missions. She used her diplomatic immunity and her consular ship to gain access to restricted areas.

One such mission saw Leia's ship intercepting vital Imperial plans stolen by Rebel spies. These plans, the complete technical readouts of the Death Star battle station, could be exploited by the Alliance to secure a sizable victory over the Empire. Armed with the Death Star plans, Leia was given a mission by her father to find one of the Republic's greatest heroes and recruit him into the Alliance. En route to the planet Tatooine to find General Obi-Wan Kenobi, Leia's ship was attacked by Imperial forces, and she was taken prisoner by Lord Darth Vader. She barely had time to hide the stolen plans into the memory systems of an R2 unit, and ordered it to find Obi-Wan on Tatooine.

As a prisoner of Vader, Leia underwent terrible torture aboard the Death Star. In addition to the mind probes, the Imperials forced her to witness the destruction of her home planet of Alderaan. Despite this, she refused to reveal the location of the hidden Rebel base, or the whereabouts of the stolen plans. Shortly thereafter, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo rescued her from the battle station and carried her and the stolen plans to the Rebel base on Yavin's fourth moon. Due to Leia's efforts, and the help of her companions, the Death Star was eventually destroyed.

Three years later, the Alliance had set up a new base on the frozen world of Hoth. Princess Leia was one of the commanding members of Echo Base. When the Imperials attacked Hoth, Leia took the initiative, and acted in a number of command roles, ordering the evacuation of the base. Leia's access to her own escape transport was cut off, but she managed to escape in Han Solo's Millennium Falcon.

Evading Imperial pursuit, the Falcon landed in an asteroid field so that its crew could repair the vessel. It was during these quiet moments that Princess Leia Organa fell in love with Han Solo. The two voiced their love on Cloud City of Bespin, where the Imperial forces tracked them. Darth Vader captured Han Solo, and Leia was forced to watch as the Dark Lord froze him in carbonite, and then handed him over to the bounty hunter, Boba Fett. Leia escaped Cloud City with the aid of its administrator, Lando Calrissian.

The Rebels eventually tracked down Boba Fett as the bounty hunter delivered Han's carbon-frozen form to Jabba the Hutt. Leia participated in Luke's plan to free the captured Solo from the clutches of the vile gangster. She posed as Boushh, an Ubese bounty hunter and infiltrated the palace, freeing Solo from his carbonite imprisonment. Her identity was revealed, and for a time, she had to endure the humiliation of being made one of Jabba's slaves. She repaid the gangster, however, by strangling the Hutt with the very chain that bound her.

Leia rejoined Alliance High Command in time to accompany General Han Solo's strike team on the moon of Endor. Their mission was to destroy the shield generator protecting the second Death Star. While on Endor, Leia became separated from the strike team, and befriended an Ewok tribe. Her diplomatic skills aided in convincing the Ewoks to help the Rebel force. It was shortly thereafter that Luke revealed their true lineage to her. For a time, Luke and Leia kept their true relation and their parentage a secret from all but their most trusted friends.

During the ground battle at the Imperial complex, Leia sustained a slight blaster wound. After the victory at Endor, Leia continued to demonstrate some ability in the Force, being able to sense her brother's presence.

Leia is a driven, dedicated individual. She has a forceful, some would say abrasive, personality. She is professional in all respects, but occasionally relaxes her guard to let her strong compassion and quirky sense of humor show. Leia is a petite, fair-skinned human female with brown eyes, and long brown hair that she often wears in an elaborate fashion.