Jaina Solo

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Star Wars character
Jaina Solo
Portrayed by Not applicable
Position Jedi Knight
Homeworld Coruscant
Species Human
Gender Female
Affiliation Jedi, New Republic, Rogue Squadron, Twin Suns Squadron, Galactic Alliance, The Colony

Jaina Solo is a fictional character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the eldest child of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo. She is also the elder twin of Jacen by five minutes and the sister of Anakin. She has appeared in various novels and the Champions of the Force set for the Star Wars Miniatures Game.[1]

Contents

[edit] Creation and development

The characters of Jaina Solo and her twin brother Jacen were created by author Timothy Zahn for the novel The Last Command, which was published in 1994. The young twins played a small role in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy, and a larger supporting role in Vonda McIntyre's The Crystal Star. Not until the Young Jedi Knights series in 1995 that Jaina Solo and her friends became major characters in their own right.[2]

Elaine Cunningham, author of Dark Journey, commented that the story is a personal one focussing on a difficult time in Jaina's life.[3]

Walter Jon Williams, author of Destiny's Way, commented that the plot concerning Jaina Solo's love-life caused some frantic rewrites.[4]

[edit] Plot details

[edit] Pre-birth

Even before she and her brother are born, their uncle Luke Skywalker can sense their strong presence in the Force and the two share an almost inseparable bond. Jaina is characterised as a brilliant pilot and mechanic with a fiery personality.

[edit] Childhood

The older Solo twin is born five minutes before her brother Jacen in The Thrawn Trilogy. She is named after Han's mother. The twins, and eventually their younger brother, 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 Young Jedi Knights series, the twins return to Coruscant and have many (mis)adventures there. They once get lost in the underworld of Imperial City with C-3PO but are quickly rescued and returned to their mother, by now the Chief of State of the New Republic. In Dark Apprentice, Jaina helps her brother defend their unconscious uncle from the spirit of Sith Lord Exar Kun. In The Crystal Star, Jaina is kidnapped by Lord Hethrir, the Imperial Procurator of Justice, and used along with her siblings in a plot to take advantage of their Force powers. Their parents and uncle eventually arrive to rescue them. Not long afterward, Jaina is again kidnapped, this time by Corellian insurrectionist Thrackan Sal-Solo, her father's cousin. Jaina leads the escape this time, freeing herself and her siblings from their cells before Thracken can barter with his hostages.

[edit] Jedi Academy Years (21-22 ABY – 24 ABY)

In the Jedi Academy series, Jaina travels to Yavin 4 with her brother to begin her Jedi training. Jaina is an exceptional pilot and enjoys building things, especially working on ships. She and her brother befriend Lowbacca the Wookiee and the warrior princess Tenel Ka, learning Jedi techniques quickly and going through many trials.

In Heirs of the Force, Jacen and Jaina discover a crashed TIE Fighter from the Battle of Yavin. Jaina fixes the ship and installs a hyperdrive which had been given to her as a gift by her father. She begins working on the damaged fighter with help from Jacen, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka. The TIE's original pilot, Qorl, is still alive, however, and had lived the last 23 years in Yavin 4's jungles. Qorl kidnaps the twins and forces them to finish repairing his ship so he can escape his exile. The twins 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 under the command of one of Luke Skywalker's fallen students, Brakiss, and the remains of the Dathomiri Nightsisters. These elements of the so-called Second Imperium kidnap Jaina, but she, Jacen, and Lowbacca prove resistant to the temptations of the dark side. They are rescued by Luke Skywalker and Tenel Ka.

The friends return to Coruscant for a short vacation, and are reunited with the twins' childhood friend, Zekk. They are happy to see Zekk, but the boy is soon recruited by the Shadow Academy, who discover before the twins that the boy has Force potential. They force Zekk to fight Jacen and Jaina several times; this is especially troubling for Jaina, who harbors romantic feelings for him. She tries to bring Zekk to the light side, to no avail. Jaina and her friends finally progress far enough to be tasked with building their first lightsabers.

Not long afterward, the Jedi trainees and the Shadow Academy have their final confrontation on Yavin 4. Jaina and Jacen bring down the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium forever.

Throughout the series, Jacen and Jaina continue their Jedi training on Yavin 4, meeting new friends like Raynar Thul. They cannot convince Zekk to stay at the academy with them, but they remain his friends. With his and Raynar's help, they run into their first discovery of a new threat to the New Republic, the Diversity Alliance, an alien anti-human group that 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.

When Lowbacca misguidedly joins the Diversity Alliance, Jaina is kidnapped and held captive along with her friends on the planet Ryloth. They all eventually escape to its harsh surface, however.

The Jedi padawans catch up with Raynar's father, Bornan, to race the Diversity Alliance fleet to an Imperial storehouse hidden in the Deep Core. There is hidden a supply of diseases created by General Evir Derricote almost two decades before. Tarkona wishes to unleash a plague against humans and wipe them all out, but Jaina stops him with help from her fellow Jedi, as well as traitorous members of the Diversity Alliance. In the end, the plague is destroyed, and Tarkona herself succumbs to one of the diseases on a faraway planet.

[edit] Yuuzhan Vong War (25 ABY – 29 ABY)

Throughout the New Jedi Order series, Jaina begins to have a separate life from her twin brother, and becomes her aunt Mara Jade Skywalker's apprentice. Jaina grows very close to Mara, and sometimes even makes her mother wish that they had spent more time together while Jaina was a child. Jaina progresses quickly as a Jedi and a pilot, travelling on missions with her aunt and even being given opportunities to fly Mara's beloved starship, Jade Sabre.

Her skills behind the controls of an X-wing earn her a position in Rogue Squadron during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Flying as Rogue Eleven, Jaina goes by the nickname "Sticks." While at Ithor, Jaina meets a fellow pilot named Jagged Fel, an ally of the New Republic flying with the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force. She develops feelings for him, struck by his piloting skill and icy cool demeanor.

Though Jaina does not always agree with her twin, she tends to be the balance between Jacen and their younger brother, Anakin. Their mother considers Jaina the most pragmatic of her children, not being crippled with indecision like Jacen or plunging rashly into action like Anakin. This serves her well during the Yuuzhan Vong War, helping her survive and escape the Jedi strike team mission to Myrkr in Star by Star. Her brothers are not so fortunate: Anakin is killed and Jacen is captured.

Jaina briefly turns to the Dark Side after the disastrous Myrkr mission and becomes the apprentice of fallen Jedi Kyp Durron. Though she is attracted to the older Jedi Master, she does not agree with his methods and leaves his tutelage to return to the Jedi. She and Kyp nevertheless remain very close friends.

In Dark Journey, Jaina steals a Yuuzhan Vong vessel, the Ksstarr. With Coruscant conquered by the Yuuzhan Vong, she leads the remnants of the Jedi strike force to the Hapes Cluster. On Hapes, Jaina is embroiled in court intrigue, as the scheming former Queen Mother Ta'a Chume tries to orchestrate a marriage between her son, Prince Isolder, and Jaina, in a failed bid to replace the current Queen Mother Teneniel Djo. Jaina is pleased with the outcome of the situation, however, when her friend Tenel Ka becomes the new Queen Mother.

By closely examining the Ksstarr, Jaina realizes a fundamental underpinning of Yuuzhan Vong spacefaring technology: bodies in space are recognized by their unique gravitic signature. She explores plans to use that knowledge against the Yuuzhan Vong. Her risky tests prove successful, and her deceptive tactics wreak havoc with the Yuuzhan Vong's ability to identify friends and foes, prompting her to rename the vessel Trickster. Jaina gains a reputation as a ruthless warrior thanks to crafty disinformation spread by New Republic agents. The Yuuzhan Vong associate Jaina with their trickster goddess, something New Republic commanders wholeheartedly encourage by referring to her as "Goddess," "Great One," and similar mockingly grandiose nicknames.

Jaina fights tirelessly through campaigns at Borleias, Obroa-skai and Ebaq 9, flying alongside Jag Fel. The two tentatively explore their feelings for one another, risking love against a backdrop of war. She achieves the rank of lieutenant colonel, and is assigned flying escort for her parents' mission of reuniting the fragments of the former New Republic under the new banner of the Galactic Alliance.

While her uncle, aunt, and brother mount a search for the legendary living planet of Zonama Sekot, Jaina travels with her parents to various regions of the galaxy that had lost contact with the Core as a result of the war. She is present on Bakura during the surprise resurgence of the Ssi-ruuk Imperium, where she is kidnapped by the treacherous Bakuran Deputy Prime Minister Blaine Harris. She eventually escapes, and was instrumental in foiling Ssi-ruuk's attempt to conquer the planet.

Jaina later flies under the command of Wedge Antilles during his disastrous campaign to retake the Bilbringi shipyards from the Yuuzhan Vong. During the battle, Jaina's squadron discovers a cloaked battle station manned by pirates who survived the Yuuzhan Vong's initial assault on the system. The pirates kidnap Jaina and hold her hostage as they plan their escape, but she uses the Force to trick them into fleeing in the wrong direction: into the thick of the battle itself. Jaina is eventually rescued when Han Solo boards the station and frees her.

Jaina also plays a key role during the final battle of the Yuuzhan Vong War as the Galactic Alliance fights to retake Coruscant. She, Jacen, and Luke besiege the Supreme Overlord Shimrra's citadel, breaching its defense and cutting their way through the legions of Yuuzhan Vong warriors in their way. Though Jaina finds herself outmatched by Shimrra's elite "slayers" when she and her fellow Jedi reach the Supreme Overlord's throne room, she realizes the hidden threat posed by Onimi, Shimrra's unassuming court jester. As her brother and uncle battle Shimrra and his guards, she pursues the crippled clown, only to find herself paralyzed and kidnapped as Onimi turns the tables on her and reveals himself to be the true Supreme Overlord. Holding Jaina hostage in the citadel's escape ship, Supreme Overlord Onimi is on the verge of fleeing when Jacen appears and, using the power of the Force in a way no one had before him, defeats Onimi and rescues his sister. After the deaths of Onimi and Shimrra, the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong force at Coruscant surrenders to the Galactic Alliance, bringing the war to an end.

Despite Jag's admission of his love for her, Jaina decides that it is not yet time for her to settle down. She tells Jag that she has to ensure that the galaxy becomes a better place for future generations, especially her own children. They share one final, passionate kiss before going their separate ways.

[edit] Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY – 36 ABY)

In The Joiner King, she, along with her brother and a group of Jedi, return to the Unknown Regions after being called by the Force. There they discover that Raynar Thul had survived, and had been joined to a Killik hive. Jaina and Zekk also join the Killiks and become Joiners — non-Killiks absorbed into the Killik hive mind. Their actions during the Battle of Qoribu get them expelled from the Taat nest.

In The Swarm War, Jaina and Zekk — still Joined with each other — are tricked by Jacen into attacking a Chiss base to provoke a war between the Chiss and the Killiks. Jaina is furious, and vows that she would never fly with Jacen again.

By the end of the series, she and Zekk are partially un-Joined.

[edit] Legacy of the Force 40 ABY+

Jaina appears in the beginning of the Legacy of the Force series at Corellia. In Tempest, Jaina ends Zekk's hopes of a potential relationship. Around the same time, Jagged Fel, her old flame, reappears. Jaina fights on Corellia with several other Jedi, trying to capture Thrackan Sal-Solo and Aidel Saxan. The attempt fails, and Jaina later fights in the Battle of Tralus, where she is pitted against her father, who retreats without her knowledge.

A few days thereafter, her brother Jacen is given command of her wing during the blockade of Corellia. He orders her to fire on a transport that had tried to break the blockade and had fired upon them. Jaina refuses to destroy the frigate, saying that the vessel was crippled and no longer poses a threat while her brother continues to order her to finish the job to make an example for the Corellians. She refuses again and Jacen destroys the vessel himself, stripping Jaina of her rank and having her thrown out of the Galactic Alliance Navy.

After this incident, she confides in her father that she can feel a growing darkness in Jacen through their Force bond and feels that Jacen will hurt her deeply in the future.

In Exile, she is 'reunited' with Jag Fel, who is embittered at her because she had shot him down and was indirectly involved with his expulsion from the Academy. Luke agrees to help Jag try to reclaim his honor by reigning in Alema Rar. Luke assigns Jaina and Zekk to help Jag. A love triangle develops as Jag and Zekk compete for Jaina. After the death of her aunt, Mara Jade Skywalker in Sacrifice, she travels to the Jedi academy on Ossus with Jagged Fel and Zekk in search for Alema Rar. The academy is guarded by Jacen Solo soldiers, which causes them to rebel.

During the Yuuhzon Vong War, upon being Knighted, Jaina was declared the "Sword of the Jedi" by Grand Master Luke Skywalker, based upon a vision he had. Many considered her role in the War to be the reason for this vision; as it would turn out, the Force had a different plan. When her brother Jacen Solo became Darth Caedus, the new Dark Lord of the Sith, she realized that it would be her duty to stop him; with the twin bond that they shared, she would be the only one who could do it out of the love for what he was, and not hatred for what he has become.

Grand Master Skywalker also saw this to be true. Every future he glimpsed at through the Force, regardless of who won the final dual between himself and Caedus, revealed the galaxy in a greater darkness then even when it was under the rule of Palpatine/Darth Sidious. Luke realized that due to his vengeance killing of Lumiya (wrongfully as she was not even the murderer of his wife Mara, but rather Caedus was) he was tainted by the Dark Side. There would be no way for him to take out Caedus without falling to the Dark side himself, and simply replacing Caedus. This is when he realized that his "Sword of the Jedi" vision held much more meaning than he originally believed.

But Caedus was too powerful. Jaina knew that there would be no way to beat him with her current skills. Only Luke was powerful enough to stop Caedus fighting as a Jedi. If she came at him fighting as Jedi do, he would be prepared and ready, using what he knows against her. She needed to go at him with skills he would not be prepared for and would not expect from his twin sister.

It was Jagged Fel who showed her that fighting as a Jedi would not work against Caedus. Jaina decided that there was only one person who could train her to be something completely new, and alter her fighting style to something different. That man was the Manda'lor, Boba Fett. He agreed to train her as a tool of his own vengence, since Caedus killed his daughter while interrogating her. Fett, with the help of his fellow Mandalorians, trained Jaina in assassination and other combat skills, constantly letting her know (in often painful lessons) when she was acting like a Jedi again. She would always be a Jedi, but she learned to turn off those compassions that make the Jedi who they are, and learned how to give herself completely to the fight so that nothing else matters but winning, which she realized would be the only way stop Caedus. One hesitation on her part and she was dead. She could not allow herself to be fooled into thinking he wouldn't kill her the moment he had the chance. Eventually Fett told her that he had taught her all that he was going to. Jaina was no longer just a Jedi Knight. She was a Jedi Knight who fought with the power and focus of a Jedi, and the tenacity and brutality of a Mandalorian warrior.

Jaina returned to the Jedi Council and requested permission to be the one to go after Caedus, but not to capture or arrest. To destroy for the good of the Galaxy. To her surprise the counsel had already decided that she would be the one to send, but only under the condition that it was a Jedi mission, and not her off on her own. Unfortunately for Jacen, the other Jedi now viewed him exclusively as Caedus. Caedus' meditations were disrupted by Luke Skywalker, in an attempt to hide Jaina's attack from Caedus.

On Nickle One, the Verpine homeworld, Jaina, accompanied by several Mandalorian commandos confronted Caedus. Caedus quickly dispatched the Mandalorians, while Jaina acted as a sniper. When she finally ran out of ammunition, Caedus was attacked by Jaina. During the grueling battle, Luke was using the Force to impose his image upon Jaina, making Caedus believe he was fighting the Grand Master of the Jedi. Both managed to wound each other several times and Jaina realized that he was using the pain of his wounds to fuel his power in the Force and was only becoming stronger with each injury. Jaina suddenly seized a beskad Mandalorian saber off of one of the dead Mandalorians and brought it down hard removing Caedus' arm in one bloody cut. He responded by hurling her across the room. The impact left her with broken ribs and in much pain leaving her open for him to finish her off. At this point he realized that it was Jaina wounded and not Luke, but to him this just seemed that both Jaina and Luke were after him. Stormtroopers soon arrived and were about to finish her off but to her surprise Jacen ordered them to find Skywalker and ignore her because he did not see her as a threat. Due to Luke's tricks he still thought Luke was there. Jaina was then ordered to retreat.

At the book's climax, Caedus and Jaina face off again in a final lightsaber duel. The battle is bloody and both twins are seriously injured, but Caedus is distracted and during a pause in the battle tells Jaina that he has to save Tenel Ka and Allana. Jaina could not allow herself to fall for Sith treachery and does not hesitate to continue the attack, as she goes in for her next strike his saber cuts her abdomen deep enough that she actually feels her insides uncoiling to fill the gaps in the severed muscle tissue, but she counters by severing the tendons in his heel leaving him unable to walk or stand properly. Jaina goes in for the kill, sacrificing defense for one suicidal attack that would kill them both and realized that he had stopped trying and his last act was not one of vengeance but one of love... Jaina stabs him in the heart, just as Jacen reaches out to his former lover and child through the Force, warning them to flee from an approaching bio-warfare attack designed by his allies - the Imperial Remnant - to kill them. In this act of selflessness, Jaina sees the remnants of the good man her brother had once been. Jaina spends the next few moments cradling her twin brother's head in her lap until her friends arrive and take her away.

[edit] See also

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Sterling Hershey and Gary M. Sarli, "Champions of the Force Preview 7: Solo Twins and Jedi Sentinel," Wizards of the Coast (Thursday, June 8, 2006).
  2. ^ Jaina Solo Behind the Scenes on Star Wars: Databank
  3. ^ Shared Worlds
  4. ^ [1]

[edit] External links