JACEN SOLO

'Jacen Solo' is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' Expanded Universe. He is a major character in several ''Star Wars'' novels, particularly the ''Jedi Academy'' and ''Legacy of the Force'' series.
He is the eldest son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, the younger twin of Jaina and the older brother of Anakin. Even before he and his sister were born, their uncle Luke Skywalker could sense their strong presence in the Force. Jacen shares an almost inseparable bond with his twin sister, as well as close bonds with sentients and animals alike. He is trained in the Force by his uncle, and becomes an exceptionally strong Jedi Knight. Though he has not been formally declared a Jedi Master, Jacen has assumed the training of his young cousin, Ben. Some years after the Yuhzhan Vong war, Jacen encounters the Dark Lady of the Sith, Lumiya. Shortly after, Jacen Solo chooses to become a Dark Lord of the Sith and willingly accepts the dark side of the force. In his quest to become a Sith, he has killed a young Jedi, tortured and killed the daughter of Boba Fett, seized control of the Galactic Alliance, and killed his aunt Mara Jade Skywalker, the wife of Luke Skywalker. After this "sacrifice", Jacen ascended fully to the dark side to assume the mantle of the new Dark Lord of the Sith. He has now taken the name of 'Darth Caedus'.

Contents

History

Childhood

Jedi Academy Years (21-22 ABY – 24 ABY)

Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY – 30 ABY)

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY – 36 ABY)

External links

History

Childhood

''"I'm more sure than ever that Jacen has a special destiny."'' —Luke Skywalker

Jacen Solo is born near the end of the ''Thrawn Trilogy'' on Coruscant, five minutes after his sister Jaina. The twins, and eventually their younger brother Anakin, are sent to live at various safe havens for their first few years, under the protection of Leia's handmaiden, Winter. A majority of their time is spent on New Alderaan and Anoth.
In the ''"Jedi Academy"'' series, the twins return to Coruscant at age three and have many an adventure there. They once get lost in the underworld of Imperial City with C-3PO, but are quickly rescued and return to their mother, the Chief of State of the New Republic.
Jacen's aptitude for the Force is apparent at a young age. As a toddler, he defends his unconscious uncle from the dark spirit of Exar Kun. Jacen uses the Force to defend his uncle and future mentor with his uncle's lightsaber.
Unlike his siblings, who inherit their father's mechanical aptitude and taste for adventure, Jacen has an affinity for living beings and a preference for meditation. This perplexes Han.
In ''The Crystal Star'', all three children are abducted, together with many other children with Force abilities, by a Dark Force user who tries to brainwash them into becoming Dark Jedi in order to bring about the rebirth of the Galactic Empire. The children defeat their captor.

Jedi Academy Years (21-22 ABY – 24 ABY)

In the ''"Young Jedi Knights"'' series, Jacen travels to Yavin 4 with his sister to begin his Jedi training. Jacen discovers a strong connection to the Living Force and can communicate with and calm many of the jungle creatures near the Academy. He even keeps a small menagerie of animals in his room in the Great Massassi Temple. He and his sister befriend the Wookie Lowbacca (nicknamed Lowie by his friends) and the warrior princess Tenel Ka. Jacen also has developed a habit for saying bad jokes in order to try to amuse her.
In ''The Shadow Academy'', Jacen and Jaina discover a crashed TIE fighter from the Battle of Yavin. Jaina installs a hyperdrive in the downed starfighter and begins fixing it to fly again. Jacen, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka help her to practice their Force skills until all are held captive by the TIE's original pilot, Qorl, who had been living in the jungle for two decades. They eventually escape, but so does Qorl, leaving the jungle moon behind and searching for any remnants of the Galactic Empire. Qorl discovers the Shadow Academy, a training ground for Dark Jedi commanded by one of Luke Skywalker's fallen students, Brakiss, along with the remains of the Dathomiri Nightsisters. These elements of the so-called 'Second Imperium' kidnap Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca, but they resist the dark side and are rescued by Luke Skywalker and Tenel Ka.
Jacen learns a valuable lesson at the Shadow Academy. In a training exercise that pits an unknowing brother and sister against each other, Jacen realizes that he is not as powerful in the Force as he had thought. The young Jedi had wished to construct a lightsaber, but discovers how dangerous they are and how much knowledge and maturity are required to wield one.
The friends return to Coruscant for a short vacation, and are reunited with the twins' childhood friend Zekk. They are forced to fight Jacen and Jaina several times, and the twins and their friends finally progress far enough to be tasked with building their first lightsabers. Jacen uses a corusca gem he had gained earlier for his focusing crystal.
Jacen's hard-learned lesson hits home once again when Tenel Ka rushes to complete her lightsaber to keep up with her friends. She uses an imperfect crystal and her blade shorts out in a sparring match with Jacen. His lightsaber passes through thin air where her weapon had been seconds before and severs the young woman's arm. Though the girl bears him no ill will, Jacen is wracked with guilt.
Not long after, the Jedi trainees and the Shadow Academy have their final confrontation on Yavin 4. The twins, with help from Luke and Zekk, bring down the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium forever.
Jacen and Jaina continue their training at Yavin 4, meeting new friends like Raynar Thul. They cannot convince Zekk to stay at the Academy with them, but Jacen and Jaina remain friends with him. With his and Raynar's help, they discover a threat to the New Republic: the Diversity Alliance, an alien, anti-human group. The Alliance is building up massive support among peoples that had been oppressed by the Empire. They are led by a Twi'lek Nolaa Tarkona, the sister of Oola, who was murdered by Jabba the Hutt in ''Return of the Jedi''.
Jacen, Jaina, and their friends are briefly held captive on Ryloth and have to escape to its harsh surface, all in an attempt to rescue Lowbacca, who had misguidedly gone to join the Diversity Alliance.
They finally get to the bottom of a plot they had suspected all along, and catch up with Raynar's father, Bornan Thul, to race the Diversity Alliance fleet to an Imperial storehouse hidden in the deep core. There is hidden a supply of deadly diseases created by General Evir Derricote almost two decades before. Tarkona wishes to unleash a plague against humans and wipe them all out, but the Jedi and Alliance dissidents defeat her. She succumbs to one of the diseases herself on a faraway planet. Bornan Thul dies from one of the plagues right before his son's eyes.
As Jacen and Jaina get older and become more experienced Jedi, they go on a trip with their father to Ord Mantell to watch a race. There, they run into Czethros, a bounty hunter who once hunted Han Solo. They are ambushed by Black Sun agents, but are helped by Anja Gallandro, a young woman who wields a lightsaber, though she is not a Jedi. Although attracted to Tenel Ka, Jacen becomes infatuated with the older woman. Anja had blamed Han Solo for killing her father, but Solo reveals that her father died in a trap while finding treasure.
When Lando Calrissian invites the twins and their friends to Cloud City, they discover Czethros is a leader of Black Sun, and is trying to gather enough power to overcome the New Republic. Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca are ambushed by several Black Sun mercenaries, and Jacen is almost killed.
On another adventure, Jaina attempts to help Kessel and capture Czetheros while Jacen rushes to help Anja with her spice addiction and help her with Black Sun. With help, Anja beats her addiction and accepts her father's death. Jacen thinks Anja has Jedi potential, but it turns out she didn't. He gets over his infatuation with Anja when she goes to work for Lando.

Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY – 30 ABY)

In the ''The New Jedi Order'' series, Luke takes Jacen as his Jedi apprentice. Jacen learns much from Luke, though they disagree on many philosophical issues. Jacen believes in the Force not only as a tool, but as part of something greater. He tells his brother that the Force is a guide to find one's place in destiny.
When the Yuuzhan Vong attack the Galactic Alliance in '', Jacen comes to believe that many Jedi are handling the threat too aggressively. He abandons his powers temporarily to contemplate the Force and butts heads with his father over the morality of 'pirate' attacks on Peace Brigade vessels. Only his love for his endangered mother beings Jacen back into the front lines of the battle. Eventually, Han and Jacen make their peace, the former declaring that while he doesn't always understand his son, he is proud of him.
In ''Star by Star'' Jacen joins a daring mission to Myrkr. A Jedi strike force, led by Anakin, is to infiltrate a Yuuzhan Vong cloning facility where the invaders craft deadly Jedi-hunting beasts called Voxyn. The mission is a disaster, ending with Anakin's death, in which Jaina reacts by touching the dark side of the Force. Forced into the leadership position, Jacen uses the Force Meld to bind the team together into a cohesive fighting unit. After destroying the voxyn queen, Jacen is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong army under the command of Vergere and Nom Anor.
Jacen disappears, along with his presence in the Force. Vergere strips him of his ability to use the Force, and thus takes away his connection with Jaina. Jedi and even untrained Force-sensitives throughout the galaxy feel Jacen's presence die in the Force, and only his mother trusts that he is still alive.
Jacen awakes to find himself in the Embrace of Pain, a rack-like torture device favored by the Yuuzhan Vong. His captor puzzles him with queries and riddles as Jacen drowns in his agony and sorrow. Yet his inner strength of character staves off total collapse as he learns to become sustained by pain. He remains under the care and tutelage of the avian Vergere, who he learns had once been a Jedi of the Old Republic, and who had even met his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker.
Jacen is put to work at the Nursery in a Yuuzahan Vong seedship. His natural empathy for living creatures forges a strong bond with the dhuryam, a sort of larval form of a World Brain.He also uses a number of herbs in the area to heal slaves and get the dhuryam to trust him. Using the implanted slave seed beneath his flesh as a conduit, Jacen communicates with the living instruments of Yuuzhan Vong technology. He uses this connection to stage a daring escape from captivity, commanding Yuuzhan Vong amphistaffs to surround him like living armor. The dhuryam, protective of Jacen, helps him escape, but Vergere foils his larger plans to destroy the seedship and all aboard.
Jacen and Vergere flee to Coruscant. The planet's entire surface is undergoing a radical transformation. Yuuzhan Vong organic growths cover the once gleaming metropolis, remaking the planet into a Yuuzhan Vong paradise. The world is to be their new capital, a recreation of the planet that had spawned them, Yuuzhan'tar.
Vergere removes the slave seed from Jacen, but he can still sense the Yuuzhan Vong. Jacen is later surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong warriors whom Vergere had led to him. Wanting revenge, Jacen channels his hatred for Vergere into Force lightning; he is frightened by this connection to the dark side, however, and runs away. Vergere finds him in his destroyed home and gives him back full use of the Force. He is once again surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong captors; left with no choice, he surrenders and agrees to join their cause. He becomes the "khattazz al'Yun," or Avatar of God. Nom Anor intends to use Jacen to sacrifice Jaina, thus fulfilling an ancient Yuuzhan Vong prophecy.
Jacen's true allegiance is his own, however. During a test of Jacen's faith, the Yuuzhan Vong orders him to sacrifice captured Jedi Ganner Rhysode. Instead, the two Jedi turn against their captors. As Ganner holds off the Yuuzhan Vong, Jacen confronts the World Brain. The malevolent entity remembers the bond that Jacen had forged earlier, and Jacen suggests to it to work against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Ganner dies that day, though Jacen escapes with Vergere. He returns to the dwindling New Republic territories a different man: haggard, thin and hardened. He goes on a much needed vacation, but returns to frontline combat aboard the cruiser ''Ralroost''. His ability to start the Jedi Meld is a large asset to Admiral Kre'fey, and Jacen joined the Alliance Fleet with elements of Garm Bel Iblis's forces in a large-scale deception at Ebaq 9. The battle ends in a victory, but results in Vergere's death. Her spectral form appears to him soon after.
As the newly formed Galactic Alliance emerged, Jacen accompanied his uncle Luke Skywalker into the Unknown Regions to seek a solution to the Yuuzhan Vong menace. Jacen would be instrumental in the search for Zonama Sekot and in the efforts to convince the living planet to join the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong. Jacen kills Supreme Overlord Onimi, who had been using Shimrra as a puppet, in a spectacular confrontation where he becomes one with the Force without dying. After the grueling final confrontation and the war's end, Jacen tells Luke that he had decided to travel the galaxy to learn more about the Force.

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY – 36 ABY)

After spending much time with different Force-based societies and religions around the galaxy in an attempt to find answers to his questions about the Force, Jacen felt an urge through the Force and followed his sister to the Unknown Regions to help the insectiod Killik against an invading Chiss force. He returned to Republic space after his parents, resulting in his uncle and aunt to come for him, Jaina, and the other Jedi that had been called to the Unknown Regions. He then travelled to the Hapes Cluster to ask his old friend and love interest Tenel Ka to assist with the Chiss/Killik conflict, believing that the fleet could act as a buffer between the Killiks/Chiss, which could buy them time to come up with a better solution. She obliged and sent a fleet of Hapan Battle Dragons to protect the Killiks. However, Raynar Thul admitted to Jaina that Jacen had grown more powerful then even he or the Killik collective mind could control, so it is doubtful that Jacen was under any kind of mind control when he made the request. One of the many abilities he has learned from his time spent with other Force-based societies is the "flow walk" ability which allows him to manipulate time and the destinies of people both past and future. This has impressed and concerned the Jedi Masters, who believe that the power to control destiny is too dangerous for anyone to wield. It was during this time when Tenel Ka gave birth to his daughter Allana, who was then attacked by the Gorog. Jacen successfully repelled the attack and kept his daughter safe, for now. Possessed with a strong fear of his daughter or Tenel Ka being harmed, Jacen used the Force to send Tenel Ka's grandmother (the person behind the attack) into a comatose state. Immediately after, he sees a vision of a neverending war that will destroy the galaxy, with the Killiks at the heart of it. Determined to save his daughter and the galaxy from his vision, he sets out to provoke the Chiss into destroying the Killiks. But by provoking a war, some believe he has helped his vision come true. Jacen later revealed that he never knew who started the war in his vision, supporting the theory that Jacen began the never-ending war.
Jacen's rationale for the preemptive strike was to keep the Chiss forces from starting a war on their own terms; and it succeeded to a point. His actions prevented a genocidal attempt by the Chiss to wipe out the Killiks. He was able to disrupt their ability to fully develop and deploy the biogenetic weapon against the Killiks. But, despite young Solo's efforts, the war eventually did spread to the Galactic Alliance when Killik forces tried to dominate the Alliance's insectoid species. Under Jacen's advice however, the Jedi managed to prevent all of the strikes except one attack which targeted the Alliance's bacta supplies.
Luke Skywalker came to respect Jacen almost as much as a senior master, much to the dismay of Jacen's peers. He took his advice so many times that he even listened when Jacen told him that he was not ready to face Lomi Plo, the Dark Queen of the Gorog. Jacen, Mara and Luke knew that doubt and fear would make Lomi Plo invisible to her enemy. Jacen, along with R2-D2, helped Luke conquer some of his fears about Mara's involvement with the death of his R2 unit's creator, and then accompanied him to face Lomi Plo.
During the fight with Lomi Plo, Jacen's concern was realized when Luke faltered for a moment when Mara was injured and allowed doubt to enter his mind. This enabled Lomi Plo to hold him in place, unable to move. In that instant, Jacen was critically wounded by Lomi Plo while saving Mara Skywalker's life. A well-placed shot from Mara blasted Lomi Plo away, after which Mara tended to Jacen's wounds. While he and Mara recovered in a medical bay Jacen taught Luke not to run away from his pain and fear, but to accept and embrace it. It was through this knowledge that Luke was eventually able to eliminate his doubt and defeat the Dark Queen. This, in conjunction with the capture of Raynar Thul, ended the Killik threat.
During the Dark Nest crisis, Jacen joined his uncle in watching holovideos of Anakin and Padme, and saw his grandmother's death and his grandfather's fall to the dark side. Jacen actually sympathizes with Anakin's desire to protect his wife (while disagreeing with the manner in which he did it) and reminds Luke that Anakin had only been a fallible human being. In the end, Jacen was left wondering what caused Anakin to succumb to the dark side.
===Legacy of the Force (40 ABY+)===
Jacen continued to serve as a Jedi, training his young cousin Ben Skywalker in the ways of the Force. After a successful mission to Adumar that ended in a life threatening attack, they returned for a dinner party at his parents, Han and Leia's, new home. There Han voiced his concern over Corellia trying to gain independence. A while later, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker ordered Jacen and Ben to go to disable the essential Centerpoint Station, an ancient artifact that Corellian leader (and Han's cousin) Thrackan Sal-Solo is trying to use to his advantage. Ben disables the station while Jacen keeps Thrackan busy, ensuring the Galactic Alliance's partial victory as another fleet built in secret spoils the main attack.
After the skirmish, a mission to Kuat is organised, where several Jedi go along with Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon to meet the Corellian Prime Minister Aidel Saxan. There, Saxan is assassinated by troops sent by Thrackan Sal-Solo. A tassel is found in the ensuing investigation, one that contains several similarities to the Sith Code. Jacen and Ben go to the planet Lorrd, to follow up on this lead.
There, they meet fellow Jedi Nelani Dinn. Several suicides take place while they are on the planet, and Jacen and Nelani miss the threat of one while they are arguing. Ben spots the deception and warns everyone off. Jacen knows that some couldn't be saved, and two people die as a result of one of his decisions. Eventually they meet a woman called Brisha Syo. She leads them to an asteroid near Bimmiel, where they are to fight a Sith Lord. It is all a ruse, however.
While travelling to the subterranean base, Ben and Nelani are forced out of a mining car. Then Syo creates a dark side phantom of Luke Skywalker, who attacks and very nearly kills Jacen. Eventually, Brisha stops the projections and takes Jacen to an office, where Darth Vectivus, the supposed Sith Lord they are hunting, lives. After fighting Force projections with Ben, Nelani catches up with them.
Brisha is revealed to be Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith. She reveals that Vergere is a Sith apprentice, and that Jacen has already received Sith training. Jacen's resilience starts to falter, and Nelani worries that he is going to turn to the dark side. Lumiya says that Jacen is going to become the next Sith Lord. Unsure of his next move, Jacen uses the force to create visions of the future. It showed in each case where Lumiya is arrested, the galaxy being consumed in an endless war that would eventually place Jacen against Luke. In the vision, Jacen kills his uncle.
Horrified by the vision, Jacen spares Lumiya. Nelani then tries to arrest the Sith but fails when Jacen intervenes. Jacen realizes that Nelani will, if allowed to survive, possibly fulfill the dark vision he had seen. He pursues Nelani, but she escapes. He catches up with her and defeats her. He has her at his mercy, and apologizes to her before killing her. He agrees to think over what Lumiya had said and leaves the asteroid with an unconscious Ben. Jacen then erases Ben's memories of Lumiya and tells him that both she and Nelani had been killed by dark side phantoms. They then returns to Coruscant. However, after Jacen departs, Lumiya says that she had won.
Fully pledged to Lumiya, Jacen began to engage in much more morally questionable behavior. As the standoff with Corellia continued, Jacen became head of the GFFA's newly-formed secret police, the Galactic Alliance Guard. With Ben at his side, he began rounding up Corellians for internment and deportation. During an interrogation of a suspected assassin (who turned out to be Ailyn Vel, Boba Fett's daughter), Jacen tried to use the Force to extract information from her and killed her in the process.
Jacen also took command of Rogue Squadron while it participated in the blockade of Corellia. He shot down a civilian freighter that was attempting to to run the blockade, then relieved his sister from duty because she had refused to do it. He also used the Galactic Alliance Star Destroyer ''Anakin Solo'' to fire upon the Millennium Falcon while both his sister and his parents were onboard. He believed his parents to have been involved in a failed attempt to assassinate Queen Mother Tenel Ka of the Hapes Cluster. The Solos had been set up by Prime Minister of Corellia Dur Gejjen. Lumiya said she was pleased by his progress, but instructed him that to truly become Sith he would have to undergo the Trial of Sacrifice: to kill that which he loved most. After much painful struggle Jacen decided there was only one way to fulfill this last obstacle; he would have to kill Tenel Ka and their daughter Allana, though he later decided that his parents could make a better sacrifice.
Jacen's family and relatives have each reacted differently to his changed personality. Prior to her death at Jacen's hands via a slow moving poison, Mara Jade Skywalker was grateful that he helped open Ben to the Force, and partially out of fear of alienating Ben, continued to defend Jacen almost to her end. Though he does not want to acknowledge it, Luke realizes that Jacen is moving towards the dark side, but is extremely conflicted about how to face him. After learning what happened to Ailyn, Han told Jacen that he was no longer his son.
Interestingly, Boba Fett is the most clear-eyed about the affair. As he was personally acquainted with Darth Vader, he immediately recognizes that Jacen is following a Sith philosophy. Rather than share this information with the Solos and Skywalkers, Fett decides that letting Jacen run loose with his new power will be the best way to punish the galaxy for Ailyn's death. Complicating matters even more is a faction within the Jedi Order that recognize Jacen's ever-increasing Force powers and wish to grant him greater status in the Order feeling that this may bring him more compliance with the Order's ideals. However, Jacen lost his support amongst the Jedi when a bloodless coup placed him in joint control of the Galactic Alliance alongside Mon Calamari Admiral Cha Niathal.
After Jacen's loss of Lumiya as a Sith guide Jacen embraced the true power of a Sith Lord and now possessed the ability to see larger strategic military conflicts in ways only hardened battle masters could, much like how Emperor Palpatine controlled entire fleets with subtle impressions of Dark Side energy. With the completion of his sacrifice and his earning of the name Darth Caedus, Jacen feels alone and isolated and remains completely unaware that Ben Skywalker knows about his Sith treachery and that their destinies are inextricably entwined.

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