Escape from Coruscant (Mon Mothma)

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"In fact, when ‘Emperor’ Palpatine decided to arrest me for treason, one of his lapdog Senators informed Bail beforehand. Bail, while pretending to gloat with the swine, sent one of his men to warn me. I got off-planet about two minutes ahead of the ISB agents."
―Mon Mothma[2]

In approximately 2 BBY, Senator Mon Mothma escaped the planet Coruscant to avoid being arrested by the Galactic Empire. Mothma had been working in secret to develop an organised resistance against the Empire, which was discovered by the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). Emperor Palpatine ordered Mothma's arrest, and another senator informed Senator Bail Organa, unaware that he was Mothma's ally.

Organa sent an informant to warn Mothma, and with the help of a bodyguard she escaped Coruscant minutes ahead of ISB agents. She subsequently travelled across the galaxy to further the Rebel cause, although she was briefly captured by the Empire and escaped. Mothma continued leading the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War and ultimately returned to Coruscant as Chief Councilor of the New Republic in 7 ABY.

Prelude

Senator Mon Mothma's work to build the resistance against the Empire made her an enemy of the state.

Senator Mon Mothma's work to build the resistance against the Empire made her an enemy of the state.

Senator Mon Mothma of the planet Chandrila was an outspoken critic of the Galactic Empire, which had replaced the Republic in 19 BBY.[1] In the Cantham House Meetings on Coruscant, she began secretly discussing the topic of revolution to restore the Republic with Senators Garm Bel Iblis of the planet Corellia and Bail Prestor Organa of the planet Alderaan. Organa was believed to be Mothma's opponent in the Senate and initially rejected the idea of rebellion, based on the belief that legal reforms could work, but was swayed following the perpetration of the Ghorman Massacre by the Empire. He began supporting Mothma's growing resistance movement with funds, weapons, and information while avoiding suspicion.[2] Mothma also worked to establish independent rebel cells which were unaware of each other's existence.[6]

Eventually, the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) discovered Mothma's rebel activities,[7] and she was named an enemy of the state.[8] Around this time, Emperor Palpatine launched a crackdown against dissidents, arresting and murdering many.[9] In approximately 2 BBY,[3] having lost patience with the Mothma,[5] Palpatine decided to have her arrested for treason,[2] which carried a death sentence.[10] Rumours of the intended arrest spread[11] and a loyalist senator informed Organa that it was to occur, to which the Alderaanian pretended to gloat.[2]

The escape

"Following Ghorman, Bail Organa secretly helped me to divert weapons and funds, and even more importantly, information, to the growing Resistance effort. However, I was eventually discovered, and fled the capital only moments before the ISB came to arrest me."
―Mon Mothma, in a speech to the Agamarian Resistance[12]

Organa sent a man to warn Mothma while agents of the ISB were sent for to arrest her.[2] A bodyguard escorted Mothma to safety[5] and she escaped the galactic capital planet Coruscant[4] ahead of the arrival of the agents by roughly two minutes according to her estimation.[2]

Aftermath

Consequences and reactions

In hiding, Mon Mothma continued developing the Alliance to Restore the Republic (symbol pictured).

In hiding, Mon Mothma continued developing the Alliance to Restore the Republic (symbol pictured).

On the run[13] but no longer beholden to the need for loyalty to the Empire, Mothma began to work openly towards building the Alliance to Restore the Republic using the frameworks she and Organa had discussed to help unite a variety of diverse groups.[2] Going underground,[1] she travelled across star systems[2] to various oppressed planets and spoke to rebel groups[1] to convince them to work together.[14] Her fame occasionally served as a hindrance, as some suspected that her public opposition to the Emperor was a ruse to allow their groups to be infiltrated. The former senator had many brushes with death from both Imperial forces and guerilla agents.[2]

Following Mothma's escape, Organa chose to remain within the Senate, hoping to use the rule of law to restore freedom,[8] although his movements were watched by Imperial spies. The escape made Bel Iblis realise that his own time was running short, and he later narrowly escaped an explosion designed to kill him that claimed the lives of his family. Bel Iblis, Mothma, and Organa continued to meet secretly in discrete locations across the galaxy.[15] Mothma's disappearance from public life prompted Ghorman senator Gebnerret Vibrion to go underground; he later led his own resistance group.[11] The Chandrilan senator was succeeded in the Senate by the Chandrilan Canna Omonda, who appeared to some to have not learned from Mothma's fate, as she also criticized Palpatine publicly, which resulted in her execution.[16]

In 2 BBY,[14] months after Mothma's escape,[4] she returned to Coruscant for a highly risky meeting at Cantham House with Organa and Bel Iblis, where they decided to formally create the Alliance.[14] They next met on the planet Corellia[1] in a meeting facilitated by Galen Marek, the secret apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Marek was working to unite the various rebel groups in order to overthrow the Emperor, in what was secretly a ploy by Vader and Palpatine to root out their enemies.[17] The senators signed the Corellian Treaty, unifying their resistance groups into the Rebel Alliance,[1] but were afterwards captured by Vader and taken to Palpatine aboard the Death Star for execution. However, they were rescued by Marek.[17] The Alliance then became embroiled in the Galactic Civil War against the Empire.[1] Mothma was elected the first Chief of State of the Alliance and continued travelling across the galaxy to further the Rebel cause.[10]

Media and legacy

"Mothma, a long-time political enemy of Emperor Palpatine, has never disguised her Rebel sympathies, and resigned her post as representative of Chandrila several years ago, ostensibly to enter a voluntary exile. Instead she disappeared."
―An Imperial HoloVision report in 0 ABY that omitted Mothma's escape from Coruscant[18]
Mon Mothma eventually returned to Coruscant (pictured) as the leader of the New Republic.

Mon Mothma eventually returned to Coruscant (pictured) as the leader of the New Republic.

At one point, Mothma visited the Resistance on the planet Agamar, where she gave a speech that mentioned her escape.[12] Following the Rebel victory[1] at the Battle of Yavin[18] in 0 ABY,[19] Mothma appeared on the Imperial Enforcement DataCore, a list of the galaxy's most wanted criminals published by the Imperial Office of Criminal Investigations. A report on the Imperial HoloVision stated that Mothma had previously resigned her Senate post and entered voluntary exile,[18] rather than the truth of her escape from Coruscant.[2] Following the death of Palpatine at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, Mothma became Chief Councilor of the New Republic Ruling Council and eventually returned to Coruscant to govern from there[4] after it was liberated by the New Republic in 7 ABY.[1]

Mothma's escape was mentioned in The Essential Chronology, a chronicle of galactic history compiled in 25 ABY by the New Republic Historical Council,[20] and in its updated version published in 36 ABY.[1]

Behind the scenes

The first reference to Mon Mothma going underground to resist the Empire was made in James Kahn's novelization of the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi,[6] published on May 12, 1983 prior to the film's premiere on May 25.[21] Mothma's experience was later contextualised as an escape in The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook written by Paul Murphy and published for use with West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game in 1990. The sourcebook did not explicitly state which planet Mothma escaped from.[2] The 1993 novella "The Farlander Papers" by Rusel DeMaria established that Mothma escaped from the Imperial capital,[12] which was identified as Coruscant by the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.[22] The 2002 reference book The New Essential Guide to Characters later explicitly confirmed that Mothma fled from Coruscant.[4]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 The New Essential Chronology
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The New Essential Guide to Characters places the escape months before the signing of the Corellian Treaty, which The New Essential Chronology places in 2 BBY.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The New Essential Guide to Characters
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi novelization
  7. ↑ Star Wars Annual 1999
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
  9. ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Official Star Wars Fact File 36 MOT 1-4: Mon Mothma
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 SWAJsmall "Do No Harm" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 10 (reprinted in Tales from the Empire and Hyperspace: The Official Star Wars Fan Club)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "The Farlander Papers" — Star Wars: X-Wing
  13. ↑ Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook
  15. ↑ The Essential Guide to Warfare
  16. ↑ Coruscant and the Core Worlds
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 SWAJsmall "Galaxywide NewsNets" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 4
  19. ↑ The Imperial HoloVision report in SWAJsmall "Galaxywide NewsNets" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 4 states that it takes place on 35:9:1 of the Great ReSynchronization calendar, which corresponds to 0 ABY per the reasoning here.
  20. ↑ The Essential Chronology
  21. ↑ Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition
  22. ↑ Heir to the Empire
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