History Literature / LeiaPrincessOfAlderaan

* JumpedAtTheCall: Leia's eager to help the fledgeling Rebel Alliance the moment she finds out that her parents are involved in it. Bail and Breha try to keep her ignorant, but without ever ignoring their specific requests and orders Leia pushes and keeps getting herself increasingly entangled.

* DebtDetester: The Chalhuddans refuse to take vaccines from Leia unless she admits that they'll owe her a favor in future. [[spoiler:That favor turns out to be aiding the Rebellion.]]

* DaddyDidntShow: Bail doesn't show up for Leia' first day in the apprentice legislature. She feels hurt but tells herself he probably wasn't on the planet at the time. The next day she walks in on him having breakfast in their Coruscant apartment and, surprised, he asks what she's doing there before remembering that her first day was yesterday. He's been so busy that he forgot.

** Leia inadvertently almost makes things ''far'' worse on Onom [[spoiler: by meeting with Moff Panaka, who had served Padmé when she was Leia's age, while wearing a borrowed royal Naboo gown. He instantly sees the resemblance, asks after her heritage, and tells her he'll remember her to the Emperor. At the absolute best this would have put Imperial scrutiny on her and it probably would have been much worse, if Saw's Partisans hadn't planted a bomb and killed Panaka as Leia was leaving.]] Later she notes her father seems to be most angry that she went to the Naboo system at all.

* ContinuityDrift: The ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' series came out some years after this novel. While there aren't a lot of direct contradictions, and Leia's reaction when Kenobi's name is brought up in passing can neatly be interpreted as fondness for him personally, the younger Leia in said series is not as [[FriendlessBackground isolated]], has human attendants, is a lot ''weirder'' and more insightful thanks to her Force abilities, and has a toy-like droid companion. Breha is also less of a presence in that series than in this book, where she's the ruler of Alderaan and on equal standing with Bail.

* ShipperOnBoard: Amilyn is quite happy to try and nudge Leia and Kier closer together, especially in the manga where it's her cleared throat and pointed comment that has Leia realize he's trying to spend more time with her. Bail and Breha also approve of him and invite him to a banquet so Leia won't be lonely when they go off to discuss Rebel business.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: On her mercy mission to Wobani, Leia tries to evacuate some of the refugees, but the governor refuses her and says she can only leave with her crew. She hires a hundred people, as many as can fit on her ship, getting around the restriction. She gets home and learns that her father and others in the Senate have been negotiating the evacuation of the refugees for months, and Leia's actions destroyed the negotiations - the Imperial official in charge of the planet feels humiliated and retaliatory.

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Bail and Breha want to try to recruit Moff Panaka, but he's killed by Saw's faction before they can find out if he's amenable. Then again, they don't know if he would have doomed Leia.]]

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Parents]]: The Organas think that leaving Leia out of the Rebellion and later ''actively preventing her from helping it'' will keep her safe from possible reprisals by the Empire. Breha comes around before Bail does but reluctantly. When Leia points out that the Empire is not reasonable or proportional in its responses and will come down on her regardless of innocence, Bail says she's probably right but if there's the slightest hope, he will cling to that.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Almost the moment Leia finds out about action against the Empire she's torn, knowing that it means people getting killed, both in direct combat and in Imperial reprisals. She wrestles with the morality of this through the whole book, also considering that doing ''nothing'' is BetrayalByInaction. When she reveals things to Kier, he certainly shares her awareness that the Empire is evil and 'someone' should do something but says that major action against the Empire invites extreme consequences, and he considers it irresponsible for high ranking Alderaanians to engage in such things, as not just them but all the citizens of their world would be punished. Eventually Leia does settle on a broader perspective, thinking that Alderaanian ideals mean being willing to take that risk for others. A reader's knowledge of ''Film/ANewHope'' and what happens when Leia is captured on Rebel business proves that Kiers is if anything underestimating the consequences.[[spoiler: But he's wrong to think that ratting out Bail and Breha to the Emperor would have saved everyone else. The Empire isn't fair or reasonable. He's also incorrect that the Empire is too big and any resistance is doomed to failure.]]
* BusinessTripAdultery: When Tarkin crashes a dinner party attended by the Organas and various Rebel-leaning allies, Breha puts him off the scent by feigning drunkenness and accusing Bail of spending all his off-world time on Chandrilla and particularly with Mon Mothma. He and Mon Mothma catch on immediately and play along. Leia knows it's all a lie but finds the situation distressing enough that she wants to burst into tears - and then does, knowing it will help sell the act to the increasingly disgusted Tarkin.

** [[TheGhost Saw Gerrera and his partisans]] are mentioned as causing the usual trouble, further causing more JurisdictionFriction between them and the rebel leaders. [[spoiler:And then one of their bombings get Panaka killed, costing the rebels a possible ally.]]

** The book closes with Leia being comforted with the idea that [[DoomedHometown her home, her people, and her family can never be taken away from her]].

* EveryoneKnewAlready: It's an open secret that Leia was adopted. [[spoiler:Panaka takes interest when he sees her uncanny resemblance to Padmé.]]

* GRatedSex: Taking down one's braids on Alderaan is considered very intimate. Kier takes down Leia's braids when they're alone on Coruscant right before the DidTheyOrDidntThey moment.

** For Panaka, after meeting Leia, [[spoiler:he realizes that Padmé's baby is alive. He had known about the secret marriage between Anakin and Padmé, and had told Palpatine about it. We can assume that he mourned Padmé, who was once his queen, when she passed, but it seems that a part of Amidala survived. Then before he can tell anyone, either the Emperor or the rebels, he gets killed and the secret dies with him.]]
** When the Rebels by sheer luck find one of the few Imperial Officers who is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, they hope they can get him to switch sides. [[spoiler:He then gets assassinated.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: If you are an Imperial official and you care at all about people, you will need to do this a lot. Mon Mothma admits to being rather good at it already, and Leia quickly learns to do the same. Leia's first effort, rescuing a hundred Wobani by hiring them, does technically work. She just couldn't have known how badly she stepped on a larger scale effort in the process.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: On her mercy mission to Wobani, Leia tries to evacuate some of the refugees, but the governor refuses her. She hires a hundred people on as crew, getting around the restriction. She gets home and learns that her father and others in the Senate have been negotiating the evacuation of the refugees for months, and Leia's actions destroyed the negotiations.

** Breha after Leia tells her about [[spoiler:how Panaka was surprised to see her, as she realizes he's recognized Leia as Padmé's child]]. She doubles over in horror and flings her arms around her daughter, shaking.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Parents]]: The Organas think that leaving Leia out of the Rebellion and later ''actively preventing her from helping it'' will keep her safe from possible reprisals by the Empire. It takes a long while for them to come around.

** When she returns [[spoiler: having survived the assassination of Moff Panaka]] she demands to know if they knew about it ahead of time. Bail is furious, equating this to [[spoiler: her accusing them of being murderers]], which makes ''Leia'' angry because [[spoiler: attacking the Empire has to mean killing people sooner or later]]. Breha agrees with Leia, having already come to that conclusion.

** [[spoiler:According to Queen Dalné, Panaka is not corrupt, just willingly blind to corruption under his watch. When he recognizes Leia as Padmé's daughter, she asks him to establish oversight that would rein in the corruption and he agrees immediately, acting ''so'' reasonable that his Queen is startled. Too bad he gets killed mere minutes after taking that decision.]]

* SadisticChoice: Leia quickly learns that many of the bills sent to the Apprentice Legislature feel like this to her, mirroring how the adult Rebel senators feel about the actual legislature. This leads to her learning to become good at LoopholeAbuse.

* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:[[TheReveal Panaka learns Leia is Padmé's daughter]], but he is killed in an assassination by the Partisans before anyone can do anything about it. It is unknown if Panaka would have told Palpatine about this, and even if he didn't, it's unknown if he would've taken up the Rebellion's offer to serve as a spy for them, especially since the Alliance High Council is made up of his former queen's friends.]]

* CryIntoChest: Leia, discovering ''why'' her parents have [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou become so distant]] and seeing how tearfully upset they are at the thought of her facing the wrath of the Empire for their actions, breaks down and is embraced.

* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Leia starts the story with the sense that her parents no longer want to spend time with her; she still sees them regularly, but they turn her away and don't even look at her for long, even on a day that's all about her declaration to take the Trials and become her mother's heir. Of course, they're neck-deep in the Rebel Alliance and want her to be as ignorant of what they're doing as possible, hoping innocence will protect her if they're caught.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Downplayed. The instructor for Leia's pathfinding class, Chief Pangie, is more on the harsh but fair side and at worst is maliciously cheerful or shouts at her students when they make dangerous errors. Chassellon Stevis certainly sees her as this, though.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: A conflict late in the book is that while Kier is well aware that the Empire is evil, he thinks that if anyone prominent from Alderaan took major action against it - say, by participating in a rumored violent rebellion, as Leia's parents are doing and which she's eager to join herself - the consequences to their people would be catastrophic. Leia herself, earlier in the book, mused that fighting the Empire would cause suffering, trying to work ''with'' the system allows suffering, and she doesn't know which is right, but it's a ForegoneConclusion where she ends up. The narrative is naturally more sympathetic to Leia's broader perspective and desire to help others, but a reader's knowledge of ''Film/ANewHope'' and what happens when Leia is captured on Rebel business proves that Kiers has surmised correctly.[[spoiler: But he's wrong to think that ratting out Bail and Breha to the Emperor will save everyone else. The Empire isn't fair or reasonable. He's also incorrect that the Empire is too big and any resistance is doomed to failure.]]

* ClimbSlipHangClimb: After discovering her parents' role in the Rebellion Leia loses focus while climbing a cliff and is dramatically caught [[FallingIntoHisArms by Kier]], who she's roped to.

** [[spoiler:According to Queen Dalné, Panaka is not corrupt, just willingly blind to corruption under his watch. The moment he recognizes Leia as Padmé's daughter, he decides to finally step in and rein in the corruption as a favor to her. Too bad he gets killed mere minutes after taking that decision.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: A conflict late in the book is that while Kier is well aware that the Empire is evil, he thinks that if anyone prominent from Alderaan took major action against it - say, by participating in a rumored violent rebellion, as Leia's parents are doing and which she's eager to join herself - the consequences to their people would be catastrophic. The narrative is naturally more sympathetic to Leia's broader perspective and desire to help others, but a reader's knowledge of ''Film/ANewHope'' and what happens when Leia is captured on Rebel business proves that Kiers has surmised correctly.[[spoiler: But he's wrong to think that ratting out Bail and Breha to the Emperor will save everyone else. The Empire isn't fair or reasonable. He's also incorrect that the Empire is too big and any resistance is doomed to failure.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Moff Panaka is killed before we can find out if the Rebellion could have recruited him, or whether he would have doomed Leia.]]

* NonHumanNonBinary: Chalhuddans have five genders and change them according to an elaborate set of customs and individual preference, with [=3PO=] saying their native pronouns involve two or three past genders and possibly their future gender as well as the gender they currently are. For the sake of convenience with "drylanders", they all go by the gender-neutral "they".

** Breha after Leia tells her about [[spoiler:how Panaka was surprised to see her, as she realizes he's recognized Leia as Padmé's child.]]

* OrphansOrdeal: Sort of. All of Alderaan already knows Leia is adopted (as TheHighQueen was having problems having bearing children) and she hardly ever saw it as a big deal, having always seen Bail and Breha as her [[GoodParents loving parents]]. She's a little weirded out by Panaka asking about it.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: A conflict late in the book is that while Kier is well aware that the Empire is evil, he thinks that if anyone prominent from Alderaan took major action against it - say, by participating in a rumored violent rebellion, as Leia's parents are doing and which she's eager to join herself - the consequences to their people would be catastrophic. The narrative is naturally more sympathetic to Leia's broader perspective and desire to help others, but a reader's knowledge of ''Film/ANewHope'' and what happens when Leia is captured on Rebel business proves that Kiers has surmised correctly.[[spoiler: But he's wrong to think that ratting out Bail and Breha to the Emperor will save everyone else. The Empire isn't fair or reasonable.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Moff Panaka is killed before we can find out if the Rebellion could have recruited him or whether he would have doomed Leia.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: If you are an Imperial official and you care at all about people, you will need to do this a lot. Mon Mothma admits to being rather good at it already, and Leia quickly learns to do he same.