Daughter to Bail Antilles. The new expanded universe has taken up that mantle and surpassed its predecessor in ways I never could have imagined (A.C. Crispin’s Han Solo novels are much whiter and fridge-heavy than I remembered). The crown princess of Alderaan isn’t known for traipsing across random valleys, especially after her accident, or so he’s heard. Their portrayals of disability fed into internalized ableism I’m still struggling to overcome. Daniel José Older’s novel Last Shot features a nonbinary character, Taka Jamoreesa, as a hotshot pilot who lost their family on Alderaan and teams up with Han and Lando while working as an agent for Leia Organa. But the slate of authors is already far more diverse than it was twenty years ago, and one hopes that they continue to hire writers who reflect the diversity they’ve committed to within their fictional universe. It was also the first time I could remember a woman of color as a lead character in a Star Wars novel, rather than filling a supporting role. Breha Organa (Hasbro - The Legacy Collection BD 27) - JediTempleArchives.com. Disability within Star Wars is an example of the importance of pushing for more and better representation, of calling attention to the ways in which the expanded universe still falls short even as we celebrate the great strides it has taken within the past few years. Wedge still becomes romantically involved with a woman in the new canon, but thankfully, other minor characters are heavily implied or stated outright to be queer. All three of the human main characters of Rebels are people of color, although only one of the three voice actors is a person of color (Indian American actress Tiya Sircar voices Sabine Wren). I watched, Jude Watson penned Queen Amidala’s journal, Princess Leia’s journal, and more than two dozen other middle-grade, Then, in 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded all expanded universe books as “Legends” and declared them noncanonical. She is killed in the destruction of Alderaan. Like the, Growing up, Legends drew me in with its wide array of nuanced, capable female characters. Pulmonodes were mechanized replacements for the heart and lungs. Through their TV series, novels, and comic books, the new expanded universe gives fans a chance to see themselves. I was convinced that nothing could match my love for the stories of Legends, that they would ruin everything I’d loved about Star Wars. He stares, befuddled, until the glow resolves itself into a woman striding purposefully through the grass. I have always wondered if I’d have come out to myself sooner had I had more examples of queer people, particularly queer women, in the fiction I read as an adolescent. The lack of characters of color in Legends and the Star Wars films is particularly jarring given their unfortunate habit of using non-human species as stand-ins for real-world racial oppression, while their human casts and crew remain overwhelmingly white. Like showing off her pulmonodes (her … The special editions were re-released in theaters the year I turned seven; though I did not see them then, my sister had plenty of action figures and toy lightsabers that I promptly stole for my own purposes. Feeling clumsy and unworthy, not just of him but of the position of … Click EDIT to update a … The characters who intrigued me the most were either killed off or shunted to the side (all women and/or people of color). Tahl, especially, meant everything to me. The original Star Wars trilogy similarly focuses on characters with an All-American vibe, whether it’s Luke Skywalker’s boyish enthusiasm or Han’s fully developed bad boy persona. Organa Labs certified oil is infused into a variety of products & brands that meet an array of consumption method needs. Your thoughts are very similar to mine on the Expanded Universe and the Legends. Thank you for a great article. When he dies at the end of the show, his sight is somehow restored, thus “curing” him before his death. Ciena is one of several WOC protagonists who appear in the post-2014 Star Wars books: Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy stars Rae Sloane, an admiral struggling to take control of the Imperial Navy following the events of Return of the Jedi; one of the most popular comic series, Dr. Aphra, follows a scientist recruited by Darth Vader before she strikes out on her own; Leia’s adoptive mother, Breha, features prominently in Leia: Princess of Alderaan; and Justina Ireland’s middle-grade novel Lando’s Luck features a princess named Rinetta who proves to be more than a match for Lando Calrissian. Breha Organa is an example of disability I never thought I’d see in Star Wars, and I want to see more characters like her. In, While drafting this essay, I finally watched, In some ways, this shouldn’t have surprised me. While a nine-year-old girl watching Solo might be as ambivalent as I was about Star Wars twenty years ago, the new expanded universe opens more doors for her than ever before. It’s weeks before Breha can get out of bed, stumble to the fresher on her own, or drink a bowl of soup without dribbling half of it down her nightgown. She understood the unspoken request, letting out a brief … It was after the accident that Breha’s heart and lungs had been replaced by the pulmonodes that still glowed faintly in her chest. Several of the memories Rey saw took place in the family's private library and each time Rey's attention … I am fourteen years old. O.penVAPE is on a mission to normalize and change perceptions of cannabis by … Breha Organa was a human female who served as Queen of the planet Alderaan during the Clone Wars and the early days of the Galactic Civil War. Although his relationship with another man is not the main focus of the novels, his openness about his sexuality is light-years ahead of the Legends I grew up with (and was enough for a bunch of right-wing trolls to get Chuck Wendig fired from Marvel). But the overwhelmingly negative emotions associated with her disability left little room for me to interrogate my own internalized ableism. It shows them that they matter in a universe far more vast and varied than our own. Bail Organa/Breha Organa; Bail Organa; Breha Organa; Leia Organa; spoilers for Leia: Princess of Alderaan; references to that book abound; pulmonodes; Backstory; Summary. This fall takes her heart and her lungs, and her dignity besides. Breha felt herself flush, her pulmonodes pumping a protest at the extra work it required to send blood to her flaming cheeks. We’ll never know, but the compulsory heterosexuality of both the films and the Legends novels is fairly damning in hindsight, with even such minor characters as Wedge Antilles getting paired off in straight relationships prior to 2014. Like the Star Wars films themselves, their casts were overwhelmingly white and completely heterosexual. Speaking of recontextualizing canon, Breha Organa. I could write an entire essay about Claudia Gray’s portrayal of Breha Organa, Leia’s adoptive mother, who is never given a single line of dialogue in Legends. "Breha doesn't travel well, especially with our daughter being so active. Even as I grew up and the expanded universe timeline went increasingly off the rails (let’s not talk about the Yuuzhan Vong), those favorite books stayed on my shelves through college and my early twenties. More explicitly, Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy features Sinjir Rath Velus as the first openly queer POV character. Princess Leia's adopted mother Breha Organa has had a popularity explosion on Tumblr with the release of Leia: Princess of Alderaan,with many comparing her cybernetic pulmonodes to superheroes like Iron … Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Breha … The most Breha families were found in the USA in 1920. The television series Clone Wars and Rebels improved on this somewhat: Clone Wars frequently featured two of my other favorite WOC Jedi from Legends, Barriss Offee and Luminara Unduli, as well as Mace Windu and Bail Organa. But after three years of finally, fully seeing myself in Star Wars, whether through Rey and Rose in the films or Ciena and Breha in the expanded universe, a return to the old status quo was a huge disappointment. And at the library, I discovered that I could. … California had the highest population of Breha families in 1880. It’s a disappointment, though sadly not an unexpected one, but unlike twenty years ago, the expanded universe has tasked itself with providing queer representation that, prior to 2014, was unheard of in, Looking back, the complete absence of queerness in Legends is glaring: of the dozens of novels published between 1992 and 2014, I cannot think of a single LGBTQ character. Jude Watson penned Queen Amidala’s journal, Princess Leia’s journal, and more than two dozen other middle-grade Star Wars novels that I eagerly consumed over the next three years. I am not sure if it counts as it is not as extensive as a suit but there is Breha Organa's pulmonodes. Besides Organa… Breha is also featured … “I am Amidala, Queen of Naboo. I am so happy that I gave the new expanded universe a chance, because it has gone above and beyond in ways that Legends never did. The following year, The Phantom Menace came out, and this time, something was different. Through them, I learned of Padmé Amidala’s friendships and insecurities; I felt the grief and horror inflicted upon Leia during her captivity on the Death Star and Alderaan’s destruction. Queerness, as usual, was completely absent. And it was due to the accident that her parents had elected to adopt a child rather than strain Breha’s body further. The sequel trilogy has improved on the original films regarding race and representation: in casting John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, the sequel trilogy created a much more diverse core trio than Han, Luke, and Leia. That being said, I was also viscerally turned off by Rebels when one of the first episodes in 2014 featured the death of Luminara Unduli in a very intense, disrespectful sequence zeroing in on her dead body. It reminded me that it was Legends, far more than the original films, that truly cemented my love of Star Wars and made it such an important part of my life. Click EDIT to update a biography. tip: lex m/m (mature OR explicit). She is co-creator of the Hugo-nominated graphic novel Mooncakes (Oni Press/Lion Forge) with artist Wendy Xu. The original. I watched Return of the Jedi at a sleepover when I was eight, but it failed to make a lasting impression (the only part I paid any attention to was Leia strangling Jabba the Hutt). Queer characters are taking center stage, and perhaps just as important, are showing up as background characters, painting a picture of a more diverse galaxy where queerness is openly accepted as the norm. You can find her posting pictures of her cat and chronicling her longsword adventures on Twitter: @suzusaur. She was considered Queen of Alderaan after her marriage to Prince Bail Organa. ORGANA PROMISE :When you order our products, be assured that you are receiving the purest materials, made to the highest industry standards.We research and procure the purest raw materials available. Unsurprisingly, my favorites were two women of color in Jude Watson’s Jedi Apprentice series: the Jedi Masters Tahl and Adi Gallia. Lung Organoids. In Leia: Princess of Alderaan, Amilyn Holdo, the Vice Admiral who clashes with Poe in The Last Jedi, implies she’s attracted to both men and women of multiple species. Now, click EDIT to start adding more details! Perhaps it was the magic of the theater, but I fell in love with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and especially Queen Amidala. Leia was still not sure if she would be able to talk to the real Breha Organa, the loving kind and funny woman who loved … Breha Organa is a Character in the Star Wars universe. Such portrayals of disability continue in the new expanded universe: rogue Jedi Kanan Jarrus is blinded in Rebels, and relies on the Force as an ability ex machina to compensate for his disability a la Daredevil in Marvel comics. It threw me off the show and made me reluctant to go on, despite knowing how prominently Ezra, Kanan, and Sabine would feature. Summary. In 1880 there was 1 Breha family living in California. They cured the Star Wars universe of its Smurfette syndrome and gave me a whole slew of female characters to love and admire, from Jedi to smugglers to ruthless politicians. Then, in 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded all expanded universe books as “Legends” and declared them noncanonical. They replaced her heart and lungs after an accident during her Challenge of the Body, and in Leia: Princess … I loved Ciena the way I loved Luminara and Tahl from Legends, and latched on to her fierce sense of loyalty and determination. And the unexpected, positive consequences of her disability are explicitly laid out in the text: “It was after the accident that Breha’s heart and lungs had been replaced by the pulmonodes that still glowed faintly in her chest. After having so long been sidelined to barely an appendage to Leia’s history, Breha finally gets to shine as the badass, strong, intelligent queen she is. The development of Han’s wannabe bad boy persona was fine, but not nearly as compelling as Lando Calrissian’s roguish charm. It really is beautiful. Breha deliberately chooses to have her prosthetic heart and lungs on display, rather than hidden. One Response to ““We Are What They Grow Beyond”. And it was due to the accident that her parents had elected to adopt a child rather than strain Breha’s body further. Contrary to popular assumption, it’s Breha who first decides to let Leia play a part in the Rebellion. - Breha had an accident when she was Leia’s age that nearly killed her. Description. Former adoptive mother to Leia. Moments in which Breha and Leia were the lights of Bail Organa's life. In this way, the new canon is providing even more points of entry into a fandom that, until recently, was entirely heterosexual. It isn’t until he sees her hair, done up in a braid crown to keep it out of her way, that he realizes who she is. It’s a disappointment, though sadly not an unexpected one, but unlike twenty years ago, the expanded universe has tasked itself with providing queer representation that, prior to 2014, was unheard of in Star Wars. Leia: Princess of Alderaan is a true coming-of-age novel about one of the franchise’s most iconic characters, and seeing a sixteen-year-old … As previously stated, I have a complicated relationship with the disabled characters of Legends. Traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture models have had a profound impact on both basic and clinical research in the pulmonary field. This tag has not been marked common and can't be filtered on (yet). I’ve been perusing both lately and I’m liking the Expanded Universe more so far. It’s equally important in this context to push for representation behind the scenes and for Star Wars to hire marginalized writers to tell the stories of POC, queer, and disabled characters. Ultimately, I felt let down by a Star Wars story that was, at its core, not made for me. I met Leia and Han’s children and grew up with them at the Jedi Academy, and I saw Leia’s efforts to build a new government then tried (and failed) to copy her diplomatic skills in debate club. Princess Breha Organa didn't need to make an appointment for an audience with her mother, the queen. I could write an entire essay about Claudia Gray’s portrayal of Breha Organa, Leia’s adoptive mother, who is never given a single line of dialogue in Legends. At the end of the Clone Wars, she and her husband, … Stranded and injured in the aftermath of the Battle of Exegol, Hux wasn’t supposed to be alive, but he would do anything to survive, even wake up the clone of Kylo Ren he finds in Palpatine’s secret lab. Once again, the death of a woman of color in Star Wars kept me from feeling valued or seen within the universe. Adult Fear : Following the Battle of Scarif, she … Furthermore, nearly all disabled characters from Legends were also Jedi or Force-users, meaning they had multiple ways to compensate for their disability. Please consider turning it on! Ton Phanan from the X-Wing novels is the sole exception, but even he sees his cyborg state all too often as negative (and he dies tragically. …. But they are there, in the pages of novels and comics, and they prove to us that we can be heroes in a galaxy far, far away. Of course). This article contains some plot spoilers after the intro. And the unexpected, positive consequences of her disability are explicitly laid out in the text: “It was after the accident that Breha’s heart and lungs … I will always love Legends for what it gave to me as a child and teenager, but there were limits to its forms of representation. She survives until the end of the novel, and though her future looks rather grim, Gray makes sure to infuse her storyline with hope and the promise a stark reminder of just how much had been missing from books of the past. I did not get to be Queen by being intimidated.”. Most people who received pulmonodes kept them visible temporarily, until they went through the bacta sessions necessary to … Like her husband, Breha played a key role in creating the Rebel Alliance. Character » Breha Organa appears in 1 issues. In Leia: Princess of Alderaan, Breha takes an active role in her daughter’s life and in the formation of the Rebellion, giving us a positive mother-daughter relationship that is rarely seen in SF/F and is unheard of in Star Wars. Bail and Breha Organa … Furthermore, prosthetics are still portrayed poorly; the novel A New Dawn features an Imperial villain whose numerous prosthetics are coded negatively. Breha Antilles Organa war die Ehefrau von Bail Organa und die Königin von Alderaan. Looking back, the complete absence of queerness in Legends is glaring: of the dozens of novels published between 1992 and 2014, I cannot think of a single LGBTQ character. Apparently those rumors were wrong, as they often are. There's even references in this book to things spoken of in Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray--Breha's pulmonodes that keep her alive and Appenza peak where Leia must carry out one of her trials before becoming the true heir of the Alderaanian throne. (7) When Padmé died after giving birth to the two, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Beru Organa decided to keep the children safe, because they were sure that Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader would consider them a threat. Bail watches her move, her simple pants and tunic taking nothing away from the dignity of her posture. Sie war ein Mitglied der einflussreichen und königlichen Familie Antilles. Former and possibly final Queen of Alderaan. Breha … Through these characters, readers—especially young readers—can see themselves in a way that the films are only just starting to provide. The novels filled in gaps that the films never could, providing an emotional depth that, with a few exceptions, the original trilogy always lacked. Of course I grew to love the films of the original trilogy (Return of the Jedi, ironically, would become my favorite), but the tie-in books—commonly known to fans as the extended universe—became my whole world. I was delighted to discover that Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars, a young adult novel following two childhood friends on opposite sides of the Galactic Civil War, features a black woman, Ciena Ree, as one of the two main characters. I fell in love with Star Wars at the library. Unsurprisingly, my favorites were two women of color in Jude Watson’s, The lack of characters of color in Legends and the, Ciena is one of several WOC protagonists who appear in the post-2014, Although the new films are improving regarding racial representation, queer representation still lags behind. The films had been at the edge of my consciousness for most of my childhood—how could I avoid them? Although the new films are improving regarding racial representation, queer representation still lags behind. The pulmonodes throb … You can register here. In some ways, this shouldn’t have surprised me. 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