Darth Caedus

"Don't worry about Jacen. He might seem fragile at times, but he's a survivor."

- Leia Organa Solo

Jacen Solo (9 ABY&mdash;) was the eldest son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, and the younger twin of Jaina Solo. Even before he and his sister were born, their uncle Luke Skywalker could sense their strong presence in the Force and the two shared an inseparable mental bond. Jacen had always been an empathetic person, forming close bonds with humans and animals alike

Childhood
Besides his older sister, Jaina, Jacen had a younger brother, Anakin Solo. Jacen lived a happy, adventure-filled childhood of privilege, being the son of the Chief of State of the New Republic. He was born to Leia Organa and Han Solo on Coruscant during the end of the Thrawn Crisis. Grand Admiral Thrawn had promised the twins to Joruus C'Baoth in return for his help.

During the earlier years of his life, Jacen was sequestered with his sister on safe worlds, to protect them from the Empire, including New Alderaan during the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine. Ultimately, Han and Leia decided it would be safest to keep the family together. He and his sister were safeguarded and babysat by Chewbacca, C-3PO and their nanny, Winter. When the twins were a year-and-a-half old, they were joined by a younger brother, Anakin, also strong in the Force. Even before the tender age of three, Jacen and his sister managed to toddle into adventure. Sneaking away from C-3PO, the duo took a decommissioned turbolift into the scary depths of Coruscant. Luckily, they were rescued before any harm befell them.

A short time later, Jacen came to the defense of his uncle Luke Skywalker who had been rendered unconscious by the actions of the dark spirit of Exar Kun. None of Luke's students could see the disembodied spirit of their Master, but the young Jacen could. Luke guided Jacen to defend his uncle's body from attacking predators, and the two-year old even wielded Luke's lightsaber.

Jedi training
At the age of 13, Jacen went with his sister to begin their Jedi training at his uncle Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. He eventually developed an affinity and sensitivity towards nature and the Living Force. He could instinctively communicate with animals, and kept a large menagerie of small critters in his quarters in the Massassi temple. He and his sister befriended Lowbacca, Chewbacca's nephew, and the Dathomiri warrior princess Tenel Ka, learning Jedi techniques quickly and going through many trials even as young teenagers. They would be joined a few months later by their younger brother Anakin.

Second Imperium
"But I know I could learn to use a lightsaber. I'm old enough, and I'm tall enough, and I've been practicing in my room with a piece of pipe I got from Jaina&mdash;I'm sure I could do it."

- Jacen to Luke Skywalker when the latter warned him that a lightsaber should not be taken lightly and that he was not old enough to use one

In their exploration of the surrounding jungle, Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka and Lowbacca discovered a crashed TIE fighter from the Battle of Yavin. Jaina decided to install a hyperdrive in the downed starfighter and begin fixing it to fly again. Jacen, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka would help her to practice their Force skills. Unfortunately, Jacen and Jaina were captured by TIE's original pilot, Qorl, who had been living in the jungle for 19 years. However, Tenel Ka and Lowie managed to escape to the Jedi Praxeum. Meanwhile, Qorl got his captives to repair his vehicle. During this time, he learned what had happened during those long years. Qorl later escaped into hyperspace where he began searching for any remnants of the Empire.

Qorl would discover the Shadow Academy, a training ground for Dark Jedi under the command of one of Luke Skywalker's fallen students, the Imperial agent Brakiss and the remains of the Nightsister Tamith Kai. The Shadow Academy was aligned with an Imperial insurgency group known as the Second Imperium which refused to acknowledge the peace treaty signed between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic. Eventually, they managed to kidnap Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca during a raid on Lando Calrissian's GemDiver Station in Yavin. The three young Jedi trainees were brought to the Shadow Academy though they resisted efforts by Brakiss and Tamith Kai to indoctrinate them into Dark Jedi. There, all three captives were each imprisoned in tiny cells.

During his imprisonment at the Shadow Academy, Jacen learned a valuable lesson. In a training exercise that pitted an unknowing brother and sister against each other, Jacen realized that he was not as powerful in the Force or as wise as he had thought. The young Jedi had wished to construct a lightsaber, but discovered how dangerous they were and how much knowledge and maturity were required to wield one. Later, Jacen managed to free himself from his cell through the use of a Corusca gem from Calrissian's GemDiver Station. He then proceeded to free his sister and Lowbacca. Exploiting Lowbacca's computer expertise, they sabotaged the Shadow Academy's security systems and attempted to flee just as Luke Skywalker and Tamith Kai arrived. However, they were blocked by Brakiss and Tamith Kai. During a confrontation, Luke defeated his former student while Tenel Ka injured Tamith Kai's knee, defeating her temporarily. They then escaped the Academy in a stolen Imperial ship. However, the Academy managed to escape into hyperspace.

The Solo twins, Lowbacca and Tenel Ka then returned to Coruscant for a short vacation, and were reunited with the twins' childhood friend Zekk. They were happy to see the young man, but the boy was soon recruited by the Shadow Academy, who discovered before the twins that the boy had Force potential. Zekk eventually became their Darkest Knight would be forced to fight Jacen and Jaina several times, and the twins and their friends finally progressed far enough to be tasked with building their first lightsabers.

Jacen's hard-learned lesson became hit home once again when Tenel Ka rushed to complete her lightsaber to keep up with her friends. She used an imperfect crystal and her blade shorted out in a sparring match with Jacen. His lightsaber passed through thin air where her weapon had been seconds before and severed the young woman's left arm. Though the girl bore him no ill will, Jacen took it hard, and it became another event that would help shape him into the Jedi he was becoming.

Following that, Tenel Ka returned to her homeworld of Hapes to recover. She refused to be fitted with a prosthetic arm. Later on Hapes, Tenel Ka and her companions help defeat a revolution to overthrow Tenel Ka's grandmother Ta'a Chume.

Later, the Jedi companions travelled to Kashyyyk, the homeworld of Lowbacca where his younger sister Sirrakuk was about to undergo a Wookiee ritual. Since the ritual was dangerous, Lowie wanted to assist his sibbling. Unfortunately, a Second Imperium strike force led by Zekk himself attacked the city of Thikkiiana, a major exporter of computer technology. The four Jedi trainees defeated most of the Imperium soldiers. During the confrontation, his sister Jaina confronted their former friend Zekk in the dangerous lower levels of the world-spanning jungle. However, Zekk did not have it in him to harm his former friends and instead warned them to stay away from the Imperium's next target: the Jedi Praxeum itself!

In response, the four Jedi raced back to the Jedi Praxeum and alerted the Jedi there. Sure enough, the Shadow Academy and a fleet of reclaimed Imperial warships appeared. Legions of Stormtroopers and Dark Jedi were then unleashed, thus starting the battle. The twins, with the help of their peers at the Jedi Academy, Luke, and Zekk would bring down the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium forever.

Diversity Alliance
Following the defeat of the Second Imperium, the Solo twins helped rebuilt the Academy and also continued their Jedi training. While the reformed Zekk recovered from his injuries, he was harassed by nightmares as a result of his involvement with the Dark Jedi. As a result, Zekk refused to use the Force again and left the Academy on Peckhum's freighter Lightning Rod to become a bounty hunter.

However, trouble would soon come when Raynar Thul received word that his father Bornan Thul - a wealthy merchant and shipping baron - had disappeared while en route to an important trade conference with Nolaa Tarkona, the Twi'lek leader of the Diversity Alliance, a fanatical all-alien group which sought to punish Humans for the cruelty inflicted by the humanocentric Galactic Empire. Noola Tarkona was the sister of Oola, Jabba the Hutt's murdered dancer slave. Since she was a Twi'lek, the organization was based on the species's homeworld of Ryloth. When Nolaa learnt that Bornan had disappeared, she placed a huge bounty on him, and not to forget the mysterious cargo he was hiding.

Jacen and Jaina also traveled to the Alderaan system to search through the asteroid field that had once been Alderaan. The twins landed on a barren asteroid and secured a shard from what used to be the plane's core. However, they were ambushed by Ailyn Vel, disguised as the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Luckily for them, Zekk came to the rescue and drove the Fett impersonator away. Despite having rescued them, Zekk refused to return with them to the Academy though he decided to search for Bornan Thul later.

During their hunt for Bornan Thul, the Solo twins would be joined by Raynar Thul, Tenel Ka and Lowbacca. They searched his last known locations stretching ancient ruined worlds to the droid foundry world of Mechis III. Meanwhile, Nolaa Tarkona went on a crusade to whip up support among the alien species of the galaxy particularly the Chromans of Chroma Zed. Things when bad for the Jedi when Lowbacca misguidedly joined the Diversity Alliance under the influence of fellow Wookiee Raaba and travelled to their headquarters on Ryloth to learn more about them.

Meanwhile, Zekk rescued Bornan from bounty hunters and learnt the reason he had disappeared. Bornan had stumbled upon the location of a top-secret Imperial plague warehouse on an uncharted asteroid in the Deep Core. There was hidden a supply of deadly diseases created by General Evir Derricote almost two decades ago. Though the Galactic Empire had been defeated, this plague warehouse still remained with its supplies of deadly diseases. Bornan also revealed that Boba Fett (actually Ailyn Vel) had sliced into his ship's navicomputer and gotten ahold of the coordinates of the plague warehouse. Having learnt about it, Nolaa Tarkona wished to unleash a plague against all Humans.

Feeling that Lowbacca only knew the public face of the Diversity Alliance, the Solo twins along with Raynar and Tenel Ka travelled to Ryloth only to get arrested by the local authorities and put to work in the dangerous ryll mines of Ryloth. However, Lowbacca soon learnt what had befallen of his Human companions through Raaba. The enraged Wookiee turned against the Diversity Alliance and helped them escape the harsh terrain of the planet and zealous Diversity Alliance troops. The Jedi also discovered that the Diversity Alliance was stockpiling weapons for its war against Humans. They were also rescued by Zekk, Luke Skywalker and Lusa.

Back at the New Republic Senate on Coruscant, Luke requested that an inspection team be sent to Ryloth to investigate reports of Diversity Alliance aggression. After recording an encrypted message to his wife explaining their plan, Bornan, Raynar, Zekk, Jacen and Jaina Solo, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca gathered up some explosives and went to the warehouse with the intent to destroy it. They were almost finished wiring when Diversity Alliance ships showed up. In the ensuing confrontation with Tarkona in the warehouse, some of the plague canisters were busted open, including the Human killing one. Bornan sacrificed himself so the plague would not spread, and told Raynar to get himself and his friends off the asteroid.

Meanwhile in space, a New Republic fleet under Han Solo defeated the Diversity Alliance fleet. However, Nolaa Tarkona managed to escape though she would later die on a distant asteroid from a Twi'lek -specific disease. Meanwhile on Ryloth, fighting took place when the New Republic inspection team discovered stockpiles of weapons. However, the fighting was stopped by the Twi'lek Kur whom convinced the Alliance soldiers that they had been misguided and that both Humans and Aliens should work together.

This ended the Diversity Alliance, thus removing a threat to the New Jedi Order and the New Republic. Following that, Zekk also joined the Jedi Praxeum.

Black Sun
Following that, Jacen and Jaina went on a trip with their father Han and Zekk to Ord Mantell to watch the Blockade Runners Derby. Zekk later won the race. However, they encountered Czethros, a bounty hunter who had hunted Han Solo years ago though he now claimed to be an honest businessman. Later at a hangar bay, they were ambushed by several Chameleon creatures though they were rescued by Anja Gallandro, a young woman who wielded a lightsaber but was not a Jedi. Instead, Anja relied on doses of spice to enhance her senses.

Although attracted to Tenel Ka, Jacen found a small infatuation growing for the older woman, and this probably led to the cooling of Jacen and Tenel Ka's relationship. Anja had blamed Han Solo for killing her father, but Solo denied it because her father died in a trap while finding treasure. However, Anja was actually an undercover agent for Czethros, whom actually was a leader of Black Sun. The galactic-wide crime syndicate had been keeping a low profile for years ever since the death of Prince Xizor during a skirmish on Coruscant in 3 ABY. However, they had been attempting to gain power by planting cells in positions ofpower throughout the New Republic including political, economical and military. Czethros also controlled Anja by keeping her addicted to spice.

Han managed to convince Anja that he was good by stopping a 25 year-long civil war on her backwater homeworld of Anobis. There, Solo met with the two rival factions and brokered a truce between them. This made Anja wonder whether her hatred for Solo had been misplaced and she agreed to join the Solo twins and their companions at the Jedi Praxeum to discover her abilities.

Later, Lando Calrissian invited the twins and their friends to Cloud City where he wanted them to be the first try out the new SkyCenter Galleria amusement park which he had invested in through the use of repurchased interests from the spice mining world of Kessel and shares from a mining operation on Varn. However, things went bad when a business associate of Calrissian named Cojahn was found dead. Worse, the Jedi discovered whom Czethros actually was and his plot for galactic domination. Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie were also ambushed by several Ugnaught Black Sun mercenaries in the lower levels of Cloud City and Jacen was almost killed.

As a result, Czethros was targeted by the New Republic and arrests for him were issued on many worlds. However, he had managed to evade capture and went underground. Unfortunately for Anja, she had realized that without Czethros that there would be no supplier for the spice that fueled her addiction. Anja then stole Zekk's ship Lightning Rod and travelled to the ocean world of Dac where she hoped to retrieve a hidden stash of spice beneath the planet's frozen ice cap.

Meanwhile on Kessel, Calrissian's longtime Sullustan mate Nien Nunb had been nearly killed during a suspicious accident in the carbon-freezing sections of the processing facility. Black Sun had planted cells even there and the Sullustan knew he was in danger. Worse for him, his workers were turning agaisnt him. Jacen, Tenel Ka and Zekk pursued Anja to Dac while Jaina and Lowbacca went to Kessel to help protect Nieun Nunb. On Dac, at the resort city of Crystal Reef, Jacen confronted Anja while she tried to lease a mini-sub to hunt for the hidden spice stash. He managed to help Anja confront her spice addiction and and she accepted her father's real fate. They also succeeded in destroying Czethros's stash of spice on Dac. Jacen thought Anja had Jedi potential, but it turned out she didn't, and his infatuation disappeared when Anja went to work for Lando.

Back on Kessel, Czethros and an army of Black Sun mercenaries took control of the planet and captured Nien Nunb though Jaina and Lowbacca managed to escape. They also discovered that Black Sun had been planting cells in positions of power throughout the New Republic. From Kessel, Czethros hoped to send a signal that would activate these cells. However, Jaina and Lowbacca sabotaged his operations by destroying the transmitter before Czethros could broadcast his signal. They also freed the prisoners and helped defeat the Black Sun mercenaries. Rather than allow himself to be captured, Czethros threw himself into a vat of carbonite and was flash-frozen instantly. However, he was retrieved and placed in New Republic custody. The Chief of State Leia Organa Solo would supervise his unthawing and interrogation. As a result, the names of Black Sun moles in strategic positions of power were discovered, defeating the crime syndicate.

Following this ordeal, he along with several other trainees including his sister Jaina, his younger brother Anakin, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca and Zekk were promoted to Jedi Knights during a ceremony at the Jedi Praxeum. While Jacen learned much from these experiences, they could hardly prepare him for the carnage that would follow shortly thereafter.

The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion
Luke took on Jacen and Anakin as his apprentices. While Jacen disagreed with Luke on several aspects of the Force, the differences between Anakin and Jacen were far greater.

While Jacen was just as grief stricken at the death of Chewbacca as the rest of the Solo family, it did not haunt him as much as it did his siblings. Jacen joined the effort against the Yuuzhan Vong, but he still held doubts about the Jedi's role in the war. After the disastrous Battle of Fondor, Jacen tried to stop fighting all together. That all changed as the Battle of Duro. Leia was captured by Tsavong Lah, the Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong, who intended to sacrifice her in a ceremony. Lah was unconcerened when Jacen appeared, for he considered Jacen a coward for being pacifistic. Jacen, however, attacked with unprecedented ferocity, and knocked Lah out a window, which crushed his foot. The act brought Jacen back to the front lines of the War&mdash;and prompted Tsavong Lah to call for the heads of the Jedi.

Jacen was part of the Myrkr Strike Team that attempted to destroy the Voxyn. The team consisted of his old friends Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Zekk, and others. The mission was one disaster after another, which resulted in the deaths of a number of the force, including Anakin. Jacen managed to kill the voxyn queen, but the team was forced to leave him behind. They then felt a surge through the Force, believing Jacen had been killed.

Only Leia was convinced her son was still alive.

Vergere
In truth, Jacen was alive, but death would have been preferable. Vergere, a Jedi of the Old Republic who had lived with the Yuuzhan Vong for over fifty years, tortured him, challenged his very beliefs, and severed his connection to the Force, which was the surge the others had felt. Jacen was placed with a group of slaves that were taking orders from a dhuryam, which was a more adavnced form of a yammosk. A set of dhuryams was being tested on which would be the World Brain of Yuuzhan'tar, which the Yuuzhan Vong had renamed Coruscant. Jacen helped the slaves in his detail, which helped the dhuryam. Jacen soon learned that he could sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. And he used that to escape onto Coruscant. Vergere foiled his plans at escaping the planet, and Jacen finally succumbed to the months of torture. He lashed out at Vergere and the Yuuzhan Vong, throwing Force-lightning at the Fosh, then fled. After conversing with what may have been Anakin's ghost, Vergere confronted Jacen in the Solo's apartment, and asked him if he had fallen to the dark side, or if he was still a Jedi. Nom Anor confronted Jacen, and offered him Anakin's lightsaber, if he would convert to the Yuuzhan Vong religion. Jacen agreed&mdash;and he was lying. Ganner Rhysode, who was part of the team at Myrkr, came to Coruscant after hearing that Jacen was alive. Ganner was killed while giving Jacen enough time to convince the World Brain to sabotage the Vongforming of Yuuzhan'tar. Vergere then helped Jacen flee from Coruscant, telling Anor that Jacen was the most dangerous of the Jedi, and was vitally linked to the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Jacen and Vergere returned to Mon Calamari, where Jacen was reunited with his family. After a long earned vacation, Jacen joined Jaina in Admiral Traest Kre'fey's battle group. Jacen became Kre'fey's link to the Jedi pilots in his fleet, and Jacen was able to prediect where new elements were needed when they were needed. At the Battle of Ebaq 9, Jacen rushed to Jaina's aid, but soon needed help himself. Vergere sacrificed herself to save Jacen and killed the Yuuzhan Vong Warriors on the moon.

The War's End
As the newly formed Galactic Federation of Free Alliance emerged, Jacen accompanied his uncle Luke Skywalker into the Unknown Regions to seek a solution to the Yuuzhan Vong menace. There he help thwart a Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Imperial Remnant, visited Csilla (homeworld of the Chiss Ascendancy), and discovered the living planet Zonama Sekot.

In last months of the war, Jacen helped recapture Coruscant, where he killed Onimi, the real Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong, in a battle of strength in the Force. During the battle, Jacen reached a higher level of the Force than ever before, causing him to age physically and dissolve Onimi. After the war, Jacen decided to travel the Galaxy and spend time among other Force-users.

The Swarm War
"You think you know him, and then he tries to start a war."

- Han Solo

Five years later, Jacen Solo, along with his sister and a group of Jedi returned to the Unknown Regions after being called by the Force. There they discovered that Raynar Thul had survived, and had been joined to a Killik hive. The Killiks were having a border dispute with the Chiss (the race of Thrawn) and there was no way the Killiks could defend themselves. Jacen convinced Tenel Ka to send a fleet to protect the Killiks. As a result, Tenel Ka and Jacen's relationship once again began to blossom, with Tenel Ka becoming pregnant. She gave birth to their daughter Allana in 36 ABY, though the girl was not publicly revealed, as Hapan nobles would try to assassinate the girl, and probably Jacen and Tenel as well.

The fear proved well founded when the Dark Nest immediately attempted to assassinate the child at the request of Ta'a Chume, Tenel's grandmother. Tenel and the baby were saved, and Jacen, to protect Tenel and his daughter, caused a hemorrhage in Ta'a Chume's brain, rendering her comatose. Jacen then had a vision of endless war, and concluded that there was only one way to preserve his new found family&mdash;wipe out the Killiks. In order to do this, Jacen tricked Lowie, Tesar Sebatyne, a still Joined Jaina and Zekk, and some other Jedi into instigating a war between the Chiss and the Killiks. Jaina was furious with her twin, and vowed never to fly with him again. When Luke called all of the Jedi to the Temple, Jacen went. He was asked by Han and Leia who was the father of Tenel Ka's baby, but Jacen wouldn't answer. In a saber duel with Lomi Plo, Jacen was stabbed in the gut, puncturing three organs and preventing him from aiding Luke in his the showdown against Lomi Plo and Raynar Thul. Jacen was responsible for preventing a coup made by the Swarm, and showed Luke how to accept his anger, fear, and doubts to defeat the Swarm's Queen.

Legacy of the Jedi
40 years after the Battle of Yavin, Jacen and his cousin Ben Skywalker were sent on a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar. The mission ended in a violent ambush, from which the Jedi narrowly escaped with their lives. The incident sparked political unrest that threatened to ignite into total rebellion that could shatter the young Galactic Alliance. In a desperate attempt to avoid such a fate, the Alliance readied a preemptive display of military might in a bid to bring the rogue worlds to heel. In a display of poor decision-making, Corellia, the Solo homeplanet, was chosen as target of this excercise.

Torn between his two families, the Jedi and his genetic one, Jacen chose to stand with his uncle, Luke Skywalker, on the side of the Galactic Alliance. But when the Corellians launched a counterstrike, armed conflict was ignited. With a dark shadow looming over everything and the Alliance starting to resemble the Empire in the eyes of galactic denizens, Jacen decided to find the light at the end of this dark tunnel and followed a trail of cryptic clues to a dark rendezvous with the most shocking of revelations...

Appearances

 * The Last Command
 * Dark Empire
 * Jedi Academy Trilogy
 * The Crystal Star
 * Star Wars: Union
 * Young Jedi Knights
 * New Jedi Order
 * Dark Nest Trilogy
 * Betrayal