Cem Fel

"I'll see if I can get Father to let me take Starflare, our family yacht. I'm licensed to fly her, you know&mdash;not that I get much of a chance because Cem's always taking her out!"

- Wynssa Fel

Cem Fel was the youngest son of the Fel family, the least-well-known member of the family to the Galaxy at large.

Biography
In the later years of the Yuuzhan Vong War, it can be inferred that he was still living with his parents among the alien Chiss in the Unknown Regions, but even this information is extrapolated from just one direct reference to him: when a group of Jedi, including Jacen Solo, visited the Chiss capital world of Csilla in 29 ABY, the Fel daughter Wynssa bemoaned the fact that Cem liked to fly the family space-yacht, the Starflare, preventing her from taking the controls as often as she would have liked.

Wyn's mention of Cem puzzled the Jedi, as they believed Soontir and Syal Antilles Fel had five children, all of whom were either dead or already known to them: Davin and Cherith, Jag and Chak and Wyn. They were not even sure if Cem was a boy or a girl.

Years later, in 35 ABY, when Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker were discussing the Fel family with Aristocra Formbi, the Chiss professed no knowledge of a Cem Fel. He seemed certain that "Cem" was a boy's name, however, and suggested that Cem was the Fels' shadow child: under Chiss custom, a child's identity was often kept secret, in order to prevent the assassination of an entire Ruling Family.

If correct, the identification of Cem as a shadow child would certainly explain the discrepancy in the number of Fel children, and it would also carry the interesting implication that the Fels had acquired at least some of the trappings of a Ruling Family among the Chiss; but it is not certain whether any of the information Formbi divulged in this meeting can be trusted: his reference to the Third Vagaari War, in particular, is highly suspect. Moreover, while Wyn Fel was evidently well-acquainted with Cem, Jag apparently knew nothing of any such brother, as he thought of himself as his parents' only surviving son.

Behind the scenes

 * Another possible interpretation of Formbi's words in Dark Nest I: The Joiner King is that Cem was a Chiss shadow child from one of the Ruling Families, being fostered in the Fel household. This would explain why Formbi immediately recognized Cem as "a son's name" when Luke and Mara did not. Admittedly, the Aristocra does not directly correct the Skywalkers' assumption that Cem was a human child of the Fel family, but this could be read as deliberate misdirection.

Appearances

 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King