Tenel Ka Djo

"You will give birth to a daughter first, and she will be strong and virtuous, like you."

- Luke Skywalker to Teneniel Djo, 8 ABY

Tenel Ka Djo was a Human Jedi Knight and the daughter of Prince Isolder, Chume'da of the Hapes Consortium, and the Dathomiri witch Teneniel Djo. Although she was the heir of the Hapes Consortium, she preferred the traditions and customs of her mother's people over those of her father's, which angered some Hapans, and preferred not to be addressed by her full name, Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo.

After the poisoning death of her mother during the Yuuzhan Vong War, she became Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium over her own personal wishes. In 36 ABY, she gave birth to Jacen Solo's daughter Allana and resigned from the New Jedi Order. Around 40 ABY, Tenel Ka and Allana were marked for death by their own people. Tenel Ka and Allana were also being hunted by Jacen Solo himself.

Jedi student (up to 28 ABY)


Tenel Ka was raised in the traditions of both of her parents, learning the ways of politics on Hapes and physical training and the ways of the Force on Dathomir. When she was old enough, Tenel Ka went to Yavin 4 to train at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum. She became fast friends with Jacen and Jaina Solo, and later the Wookiee Jedi, Lowbacca. She did not tell them of her position as the Hapan heir, as she wanted them to accept her for who she was, not for her title.

While the group of friends was repairing a crashed TIE fighter, the pilot, Qorl, abducted Jaina and Jacen, but Tenel Ka made it back to the Praxeum to summon help, although by the time help arrived, Qorl had taken off in the newly repaired craft. Jacen and Jaina later escaped, but so did Qorl.

While her friends went on GemDiver Station, Tenel Ka had to stay behind to welcome one of her grandmother's ambassadors that was assigned to check in on her. When her friends were kidnapped by the Shadow Academy, she then helped Luke Skywalker find them by accompanying him to Borgo Prime and Dathomir for clues. It was here that Luke and Tenel Ka discovered that the Nightsisters had been revived under the aegis of the Great Canyon Clan and the existence of the Shadow Academy.

Passing themselves off as powerful, potential new recruits for the Shadow Academy, Tenel Ka and Luke were transported off of Dathomir in the Shadow Chaser, a ship flown by Garowyn. After she had set a course for the Shadow Academy, Tenel Ka and Luke threw Garowyn into an escape pod, jettisoned her, and then let the autopilot do the flying for them.



By the time that Tenel Ka and Luke arrived at the Shadow Academy, the twins and Lowbacca were already making an escape attempt, but their escape was delayed by a docking bay door that was unwilling to open for them. It was during this time that Tenel Ka first encountered Tamith Kai. At this time, things were said and done that would lead to much enmity between the Jedi trainee and Nightsister.

Sometime after their safe return to the Praxeum, Tenel Ka accompanied her friends to Coruscant for a vacation. On their first full day there, she met Jacen and Jaina's old friend Zekk. Though they got off to a rocky start when she lassoed him with some fibercord rope, Tenel Ka and Zekk quickly became friends.

A couple of days later, Tenel Ka was invited to a diplomatic banquet in honor of the new Karnak Alphan ambassador. Because she had had experience with the Karnak Alphans and their odd customs due to her royal upbringing, Tenel Ka managed to keep a number of diplomatic gaffes from occurring.

After Zekk disappeared, Tenel Ka joined Jacen in his search for the missing youth in the undercity of Coruscant. Tenel Ka had managed to recall the layout of the area from her previous visit with Zekk and the rest of her friends. After saving each others' lives a few times the two of them eventually found Zekk. Any relief that might come from finding him ended abruptly when Zekk revealed that he was going to train to become a Dark Jedi at the Shadow Academy. With that, he looked on as Jacen and Tenel Ka were stunned and left them behind.

Due to the threat that the Shadow Academy and its Dark Jedi posed, Luke Skywalker decided that Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca were ready to build their lightsabers. Tenel Ka's lightsaber was a rush job and proper attention was not paid to its construction, because she felt the warrior was more important than the weapon. That line of thinking was a factor in what had happened to her next.

During a lightsaber training exercise with Jacen Solo, Tenel Ka's newly constructed lightsaber (made from a rancor tooth) shorted out due to a flaw in its focusing crystal. Jacen's blade slipped through the space it had previously occupied and cut off Tenel Ka's left arm. Tenel Ka bore Jacen no ill will, but Jacen felt seriously guilty. The accident had drastically changed their relationship, especially in light of the fact that, prior to the accident, Jacen had hoped they would become more than friends.

Whisked back to Hapes by her grandmother Ta'a Chume, Tenel Ka briefly considered whether she should continue to train as a Jedi, but in a display of personal strength and confidence, Tenel Ka refused to have the prosthetic replacement her grandmother arranged for her to have attached, and sought to enhance her physical abilities along with her Jedi talents to make up. Then Jacen and the others arrived and sought to comfort Tenel Ka, and asked her why she hadn't told them she was a princess. In response, Tenel said that she did not think they would accept her on her own merits, even though they had. Jacen and Tenel Ka apologized to each other and spent time together. Then after foiling a plot by one of Ta'a Chume's ambassadors to kill her and her grandmother, she decided that her path was definitely one of a Jedi.



On Kashyyyk, she learned that Zekk had indeed been brainwashed and trained as a Dark Jedi. They stopped an attack by the Shadow Academy on Kashyyyk and prepared for an attack on the Jedi Praxeum. When the attack did come, Tenel Ka then faced down Tamith Kai and helped to foil the plot by the Shadow Academy to invade the Jedi Praxeum. Zekk later redeemed himself by telling the Jedi not to enter the doomed Jedi academy. After his warning, the academy blew up from the inside. The Shadow Academy had planned to blow up the academy, and due to Zekk, failed. Tenel Ka then helped in the reconstruction of the Jedi Praxeum.

Shortly after, her parents and grandmother sent her an old unmarked Hapan ship which she named the Rock Dragon. Tenel Ka chose Jaina and Lowbacca as pilot and co-pilot, and the friends went to the graveyard of Alderaan for their maiden voyage. While there, they were confronted by Boba Fett (who, in fact, was Fett's daughter Ailyn Vel), but they managed to escape with help from Zekk in the Lightning Rod. Afterward, Tenel Ka helped stop an attempt to abduct Raynar and Aryn Dro Thul, and after Lowbacca had seemingly joined the Diversity Alliance, she and her friends went to rescue him. However, they were caught by Diversity Alliance personnel and sentenced by Nolaa Tarkona to work in the ryll mines. Lowbacca found out about their presence and arranged an escape plan. In the confusion, however, Tenel Ka and Jacen were separated from Jaina and Raynar and were stuck on the dark and frozen side of Ryloth, where they found the exiled Twi'lek leader Kur. Help came in the form of the Rock Dragon piloted by Lowbacca.

After Zekk rescued Bornan Thul from bounty hunters, Tenel Ka and the rest of her friends went with them to destroy the asteroid containing the Emperor's Plague. During the battle Bornan Thul died with Nolaa Tarkona when the Emperor's Plaque was released. But Tenel Ka and her allies did win the day. In a celebration, the normally stoic Tenel Ka kissed Jacen Solo for the first time.

After the defeat of the Emperor's plague, an old enemy—Black Sun—resurfaced. On of their agents, a woman named Anja Gallandro, caught Jacen's attention, which made Tenel Ka jealous of the older woman. Later, Tenel Ka, Jacen, Jaina, Zekk, and Lowbacca helped Anja with her drug addiction and destroyed Black Sun once and for all. After the defeat of Black Sun, Tenel Ka, Jacen, Jaina, Zekk, Raynar, Anakin Solo, and Lowbacca graduated from the Jedi academy.

Jedi Knight (up to 36 ABY)
"You carry within you everything a Jedi Knight is."

- Luke Skywalker to Tenel Ka

During the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Tenel Ka stayed at Hapes. She was present on Hapes when Isolder won the honor duel that sent the Hapan Navy to the doomed Battle of Fondor. After that, she and the Rodian Jedi Jovan Drark went on a spying mission to Bilbringi.

In 27 ABY, Tenel Ka was one of the members of the Myrkr strike team, a team that was assembled to find and kill the voxyn queen. Tenel Ka and the strike team were to be captured by Duman Yaght, and then escape and steal the ship. After a torturous breaking session in which they all suffered (Tenel Ka in particular had one of her braids of hair ripped from her head), the strike team escaped from imprisonment and took over the Exquisite Death. Aboard the vessel, she helped Jacen patch things up with his brother Anakin. When they reached Myrkr, the ship was attacked by the Yuuzhan Vong. Ulaha Kore stayed aboard the stolen vessel, sacrificing herself so that Tenel Ka and the others would reach the worldship. Tenel Ka and the other Strike Team members then rescued the Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk from the Yuuzhan Vong, but true to their nature, they betrayed the strike team by stealing the Tachyon Flier, which had the injured Raynar Thul aboard. Tenel Ka then witnessed the death of the strike team's leader, Anakin Solo, and nearly got into a fight with Jaina after the latter blamed Jacen for the death.

"Perhaps it will be better for Jacen if we flee."

- Tenel Ka

When Jacen went to kill the voxyn queen, Tenel Ka went to kiss him, but was cut off from him by Vergere. Tenel Ka was the last person to see him, as he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong shortly afterward.

Queen Mother (27 ABY to 35 ABY)
With the success of the mission, they retreated to Hapes in a stolen Yuuzhan Vong ship. Tenel Ka was sent ahead in an escape pod to inform her parents and grandmother of their arrival. While in the escape pod, she felt what was apparently Jacen's death through the Force, and after breaking down, she realized she had loved Jacen.

On route to Hapes, her escape pod was intercepted by Hapan pirates wearing the colors of the Ni'Korish. Because they resented the fact that Tenel Ka shunned her Hapan heritage and that she was a Jedi trainee, they opened fire on her once she was on board their craft. She used her Force abilities to defeat them, but she let them live as she decided murder wasn't the way of the Jedi.

"My grandmother is power-hungry. She manipulates. I am not sure she even knows how to love."

- Tenel Ka referring to Ta'a Chume

On Hapes, Tenel Ka was greeted by her father, and saved him from an assassination attempt by his cousin. Shortly afterward, she went to pay a visit to her ailing mother, who gave her an emerald ring with instruction to pass it on to the next Queen Mother.

Tenel Ka then attended the funeral of Anakin Solo and watched Jaina fall to the dark side. Noticing that Ta'a Chume paid more attention to Jaina Solo than she did to her heir, Tenel Ka deduced that Ta'a Chume was plotting to replace Teneniel Djo with Jaina. However, she was too late in preventing Ta'a Chume's Ni'Korish assassins from poisoning her mother. "I will take my mother's crown."

- Tenel Ka

Even though she hated everything the position stood for, and was still mourning for Jacen and her mother, Tenel Ka was crowned Queen Mother of Hapes by her father, very much to Ta'a Chume's disappointment. Tenel Ka placed her grandmother under arrest for her part in the murder of Teneniel Djo, and pledged the support of the Hapan government and military to the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong. The emerald ring given to her earlier by her mother was actually a holochip showing the location of a rebuilt Hapan fleet. Tenel Ka placed this fleet under the command of Jagged Fel, and the Hapan fleet scored a victory at the Battle of Hapes.

During Jaina Solo's daring assault on the Supreme Overlord's fleet in 28 ABY, Queen Mother Tenel Ka led a squadron of Hapan ships to aid her. They succeeded &mdash; only to learn that the ship didn't hold the Supreme Overlord at all. Soon after, she learned that Jacen Solo had survived his capture with the Yuuzhan Vong, although it is unknown if they spoke to one another around this time. She was later one of the Jedi that was knighted in a ceremony on Mon Calamari and took part in the battle above Ebaq Nine.

Later, Tenel Ka grew more into the politics that came with being Queen Mother. She became a high ranking official in the Galactic Alliance, and was one of the people in Cal Omas's inner circle that opposed the use of Alpha Red (pathogen).

Close to the end of the Yuuzhan Vong war, Tenel Ka joined forces with Lando Calrissian and others to defend Zonama Sekot from the Yuuzhan Vong, and succeeded in repelling the invaders. After the war was over, Tenel Ka was one of the Jedi that went to Zonama Sekot for Luke Skywalker's meeting, then returned to Hapes to continue on as Queen Mother.

Mother (35 ABY and beyond)
"I will always be fond of you."

- Tenel Ka

In 35 ABY, Jacen Solo approached Tenel Ka about sending a fleet to guard the Killiks while the Jedi tried to find a way to deal with the Chiss. Jacen and the Strike Team had gone to the Unknown Regions when Raynar Thul had called them. Tenel Ka said that she had to lock herself in the Palace to stay on Hapes. He also told her that they had just returned from the Unknown Regions. She kissed him then, and told him that if he stayed the night, his chances on getting the Fleet would increase. The end result was that the Killiks got their fleet&mdash;and Tenel Ka became pregnant.

In 36 ABY, she gave birth to Jacen's daughter, Allana (though she delayed the child's birth through the Force by a few months). To protect Allana from the wrath of the Hapan nobles, she refused to reveal the identity of Allana's father and led the nobles to believe that one of them possibly fathered her. Tenel Ka also refused to release any holos of the child to the public. "You're not married, and you had a kid? You guys are going to be in so much trouble!"

- Ben Skywalker

Shortly after Allana's birth, Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Allana were attacked by agents of the Dark Nest acting on Ta'a Chume's behalf. The Dark Nest were angry with Tenel Ka's involvement with the Killik/Chiss border dispute a year ago. During the attack, Tenel Ka was thrown against a wall by Ben Skywalker in an impressive display of Force power on the untrained Force user's part. Tenel Ka then woke up and helped Jacen defend Allana from the Killiks. Because Ben accidentally found out about Allana's paternity, Jacen erased Ben's memory of the incident rather forcefully, which disturbed Tenel Ka. Jacen then focused most of his energy to protecting her and their baby from the Killiks, going so far as to render Ta'a Chume comatose and lead a preemptive strike against the Chiss. However, even though Allana was safe, Tenel Ka was disturbed by Jacen's startling behavior.

Later that year, when Luke Skywalker ordered a Jedi convocation on Ossus, she resigned from the New Jedi Order. Her duties as Queen Mother affected her duties as Jedi Knight too much. She also could not leave the Hapan people, in fear that a horrible ruler like her grandmother would take the throne. Following the ancient Jedi tradition, Tenel Ka tried to give back her lightsaber, but Luke Skywalker urged her to keep it, saying that there would always be a place for Tenel Ka if she changed her mind. Tenel Ka was pleased by this. She also said that she hoped she could return. Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, who were in the room at the time, wished to visit Hapes to meet Allana. Tenel Ka tensed up at the mention of her daughter, which Han and Leia found suspicious. Tenel Ka then returned to Hapes.

Betrayed (40 ABY)
"And I'll defend the throne if I must."

- Tenel Ka

During the tumultuous days of the Second Corellian Insurrection, Lumiya told Jacen Solo that he must sacrifice something greater than his public image if he wanted to be fully embraced as a Sith. Jacen then decided that his sacrifice should be killing Tenel Ka and Allana, the two people he loves most.

During the struggle, Tenel Ka and Allana were also marked for death by the Corellian leadership as part of a plan to draw the Hapes Consortium into the war on the side of Corellia.

Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, despite being allied to the Corellians, did not approve of the assassination plan and sought to rescue to the two. It was unknown as to whether or not Tenel Ka was aware that Jacen Solo, her love, had turned to the dark side and was planning to kill her and their daughter.

Legacy role
During ComicCon 2006, the Legacy of the Force authors stated that Tenel Ka will be a Queen Mother that acts like a Jedi Knight. Many people speculate that that means she may return to the Jedi Order, but that is yet to be determined.

Name
Tenel Ka is most commonly referred to as "Tenel Ka", although her full name is given as "Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo" in the Young Jedi Knights novels; this shows that she uses the Dathomiri surname "Djo", inherited from her mother Teneniel Djo and her great-grandmother Augwynne Djo. She prefers not to use the full name, however, and it is possible that Chume Ta' is not a proper personal name, but instead the Hapan royal title for the Queen Mother's eldest daughter: if this is so, then her full name would change when she becomes Queen Mother herself, probably to "Tenel Ka Chume Djo".

The only mentions of her simply being called "Tenel" are in her entry from The Essential Guide to Characters and Walter Jon Williams's Destiny's Way, where this form never appears in dialogue, but occurs in narrative prose in scenes told from the points of view of both Jaina Solo and Luke Skywalker. This suggests that Luke and Jaina may both think of Tenel Ka as "Tenel", although there is no evidence that they use the abbreviated form in speech.

Fan controversy
There was a great deal of fan controversy about whether Tenel Ka or Danni Quee should be with Jacen Solo. Though Tenel Ka eventually won his heart, some fans still believe Danni is a better match.

Appearances

 * Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
 * Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy
 * Young Jedi Knights: The Lost Ones
 * Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers
 * Young Jedi Knights: Darkest Knight
 * Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege
 * Young Jedi Knights: Shards of Alderaan
 * Young Jedi Knights: Diversity Alliance
 * Young Jedi Knights: Delusions of Grandeur
 * Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Bounty
 * Young Jedi Knights: The Emperor's Plague
 * Young Jedi Knights: Return to Ord Mantell
 * Young Jedi Knights: Trouble on Cloud City
 * Young Jedi Knights: Crisis at Crystal Reef
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Balance Point
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * The Apprentice
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal
 * Bloodlines
 * Tempest