Mara Jade Skywalker

"She is, shall we say, an experiment."

- Emperor Palpatine

Mara Jade Skywalker was a female Human of many talents. She was, during different times in her life, an Emperor's Hand, a smuggler and later a Jedi Master. She was also the wife of Luke Skywalker and the mother of Ben Skywalker.

Emperor's Hand


Mara Jade was once known as an "Emperor's Hand," one of the Emperor's personal assassins. Despite there being many Emperor's Hands she, like all the other Emperor's Hands, was unaware of the existence of any others. Due to her deep connection to the Force she could hear Palpatine's voice anywhere in the Galaxy via a telepathic link.

Emperor Palpatine took her from her parents when she was an infant and began to train her in the Force, although officially she was one of the Imperial Palace's dancers.

Before the Battle of Yavin, she was tasked with gathering intelligence in order to help Darth Vader hunt down any Jedi she that had survived Order 66, like The Dark Woman. Mara soon became envious of Vader and sensed a division in him, specifically because she didn't understand the basis of his obsession concerning Luke Skywalker. Mara began to hope that Vader would betray the Emperor so that she could kill him and take Vader's place as the Emperor's apprentice.

During the years following the Battle of Yavin and preceding the Battle of Hoth, Mara spied on Darth Vader and delivered reports on his actions, even going so far as watching, from afar, his assault on the Massassi Temples, some six months after the Battle of Yavin, which resulted in the capture of Rebel Commander Jan Dodonna.

Following the Battle of Hoth Mara became aware of Palpatine's worries about the Rebel Luke Skywalker; Mara was sent to and infiltrated Jabba's Palace on Tatooine disguised as the dancing girl Arica to await Skywalker. Melina Carniss, a member of Jabba's secret security detail, suspected her of being out to assassinate the Hutt, and had her imprisoned. She was thus unable to follow Luke to the execution grounds. Following Skywalker's escape and Jabba's demise she made her way back to Imperial Center&mdash; and a displeased Palpatine. Had she been present at the Great Pit of Carkoon, she would have prevented Luke's escape, as revealed to Skywalker in a Force vision years later.

Later, during the Battle of Endor, Mara saw the Emperor's demise through the Force. Vader and Skywalker were there, and it seemed that they both killed Palpatine together. Anticipating that she might be detained by those jostling to assume control of the Empire, she attempted to flee, but was arrested by Imperial Intelligence on the order of Director Ysanne Isard. However she managed to escape, disguised as a refugee.

Her hatred for Skywalker for destroying her master burned deep within her, and she vowed to destroy the Jedi Knight. She was unaware that the Emperor's telepathic command was at the core of this rage, making it stronger than any normal wish for vengeance would be. In the meanwhile, her life was in shambles: the resources she had once had access to were all dependent on the Emperor, and her life of luxury, privilege and purpose was over. She made her way through the Galaxy, doing odd jobs and manual labor to make ends meet. Her Force abilities faded, returning in ill-timed bursts.

All the while, she was still haunted by the Emperor's last command: "You will kill Luke Skywalker."

Smuggler


Fortune finally struck when Mara managed to save the smuggler baron Talon Karrde from an ambush that took the life of Karrde's second-in-command, Quelev Tapper, and almost killed Karrde as well. Karrde was so impressed with Mara that he hired her on the spot. Over the following six months, Jade rose within the ranks of Karrde's smuggling organization at an astonishing rate, on account of her skills, insight, and abilities.

Into this promising future crashed Luke Skywalker, the man she had sworn to kill. They met at Karrde's base on Myrkr, where the planet's Force nullifying Ysalamiri creatures blocked Skywalker's Force abilities. Jade was at first intent on killing Skywalker, but a series of circumstances and some unexplained hesitation resulted in her helping him escape instead. Karrde and his organization fled Myrkr soon after because of a massive Imperial bounty placed upon them.

Skywalker gradually realized that Jade was acting not so much of her own volition as she was following Palpatine's telepathic command. Jade also came to gradually realize this, that she was being used to inflict a last bit of revenge upon the dead Darth Vader. Skywalker promised to help her remove the command, even though being near her obviously jeopardized his life. This great altruism made a deep impression.

Eventually, the solution was found when the two confronted Joruus C'baoth, an insane clone of a long dead Jedi Master. Luke was forced to face off against a clone of himself, created using DNA from the hand he lost on Cloud City and armed with the very lightsaber he lost on Bespin. As Luke was overwhelmed by the clone Luuke Skywalker Mara leapt to his aid, striking down the clone. Finally she had fulfilled the Emperor's last command and was left at peace. Alongside Luke she faced the terrifying C'baoth and, as he attempted to bring the roof down on the pair, she leapt forward and impaled C'baoth with Luke's blade. In a twist of fate Luke then saved Mara's life, pulling her away as C'baoth exploded in a spectacular lightning storm. As a token of friendship, Luke gave her the blue lightsaber his clone had used, and she would continue to use it in the years ahead.

Jedi Knight
"I am so glad I found you and didn't kill you."

- Mara Jade

Ten years after the fall of the Empire, Mara was found briefly under the Jedi tutelage of Kyle Katarn on the battlefront of Altyr 5 when the New Republic base was receiving bombardment from two artificial asteroids, and an attack from the Imperial Remnant. Kyle Katarn managed to repel the attack, and destroyed both asteroids. While there, he got a lead for the planet Dromund Kaas, having some importance to the Empire and went to investigate.

Mara was now on her own. Her first mission for the Republic was to negotiate with Ka'Pa the Hutt concerning the New Republic's supplies. In order for Ka'Pa to comply, Mara was forced to steal for him Takara's GCT device. While looking for Takara's lieutenants, Abron Mar on the Katraasii spaceport, Mara was trapped by Takara, but managed to escape by killing a Rancor and stole the device.

Ka'Pa was pleased and agreed to help the Republic. Mara's second mission was on a Republic Corellian Corvette guarding a Jedi Holocron, when they again came under attack from Kaerobani's pirates. Mara repelled the attackers, but the Holocron was stolen. To retrieve the holocron, she decided to 'board' a cargo crate that was headed for Rathalay, the pirates base. Using her deeply ingrained training, Mara reclaimed the Holocron and escaped.

After that, Mara finally arrived on Dromund Kaas to see what had happened to Katarn. After travelling across the swamp, she reached the Dark Force Temple. Finally she found Kyle totally immersed in the dark side. Master and apprentice fought, but Mara managed to fight him off each time, while Kyle retreated deeper and deeper into the catacombs. On the final encounter, Mara voluntarily turned off her lightsaber and surrendered. Kyle realised that he could not follow this path and returned to the light side.

After Kyle forsook the Jedi and the Force and returned to his military action, Mara also participated in a mission from Karrde to track down Jorj Car'das, where she pretended to be involved with Lando Calrissian as a cover for the mission.

Over the years, Mara and Luke would continue to work together in many important situations in the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War that essentially followed the Battle of Endor. Initially, Mara declined to attend the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV because of her concerns about Luke and the way he structured the academy. On their mission to investigate the Hand of Thrawn, Mara and Luke finally realized that they had fallen deeply in love with each other. They married on Coruscant, soon after the signing of the peace treaty with the Empire. Mara would later continue her training in the Force and even one day become a Jedi Master. She took on young Jedi Jaina Solo as her apprentice and constructed a new lightsaber modelled after Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Luke and Mara investigated the remains of the thought disappeared Outbound Flight Project. With the help of the Chiss Ascendency, The Empire of the Hand and members of the 501st, they discovered surprising secrets about the project.

Jedi Master


During a diplomatic ceremony on Monor II, Mara acted as a bodyguard for one of the diplomats. Nom Anor was also in attendance and secretly infected all those present with coomb spores, a deadly Yuuzhan Vong bioagent. Almost all of those infected died. Mara was able to hold back the disease through the Force, but no lasting cure could be found.

When a distress call came from ExGal-4 on Belkadan, Luke and Mara decided to investigate together. On Belkadan the Skywalkers discover that the planet suffered from an ecological disaster, a result of Yuuzhan Vong terraforming. Mara sensed that her disease was somehow related to the planet's devastation. She was the first Jedi to engage a Yuuzhan Vong when Yomin Carr attacked her. She was barely able to defeat the infiltrator and was nearly killed.

On Dantooine, Mara was trying to recover and her nephew Anakin Solo was with her when the Yuuzhan Vong launched an attack on the planet. Anakin had to fend off hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong warriors until they were rescued by Luke and Jacen Solo. They then participated in the Battle of Dantooine.

The Jedi Vergere, who possessed the unusual ability to control the molecular composition of her "tears," gave Han Solo a dose to deliver to Jade, who upon ingesting them was almost totally cured her of her disease. Ten months into the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Mara realized that she was pregnant, though she had feared that the spores would render her barren.

As the Jedi's relationship with the New Republic government deteriorated, Mara and Luke were issued warrants of arrests. They went into hiding aboard the Errant Venture. During this time Mara's condition worsened as the disease started to gain ground. With the help of her husband she was able to defeat the disease and give birth to her son Ben. Borsk Fey'lya eventually rescinded the arrest warrants and the Skywalkers moved to Eclipse, a safeworld that acted as a Jedi base.

Shortly after the capture of Coruscant by the Yuuzhan Vong, Mara Jade made her way to Borleias along with her husband Luke and a handfull of other jedi in the hopes of securing a staging point for disoriented evacuees. While on Borleias General Wedge Antilles appointed Mara as Head of Intelligence for all in-system forces with priority on the Borleias ground base personnel, Mara held this position until Iella Wessiri arived planetside. Around this point Mara reluctantly left her son Ben in order to scout the Vong terriforming activities on Courscant with Luke, Tahiri, and the Wraiths. it was on this mission that Mara, along with Luke and Tahiri snubbed out the rising menace of Lord Nyax before he could become a true threat to the Jedi Order and by extension the Republic.

In an effort to end the war, Luke and Mara joined several other Jedi on a mission to the Unknown Regions. There, they sought to enlist the help of the Imperial Remnant and possibly the Chiss, and to search for the living planet Zonama Sekot. During the final battle of the war, Mara was part of the strike team that was sent to kill Supreme Overlord Shimrra. After the victory of the Galactic Alliance, the Jedi set up a new Jedi Praxeum on Ossus where the Skywalkers lived.

The Dark Nest Crisis
Despite surviving the Yuuzhan Vong War, the New Jedi Order would still face trouble. Her infant son Ben also cut himself from the Force as a result of the pain and suffering he had sensed during that time. Because of this she found it difficult to locate Ben through the force. Even five years on, Ben refused to use the Force, a disturbing development his parents did not know how to overcome.

She and Kyp Durron also led one faction that believed that the Jedi were not responsible for the protection of the Galactic Alliance by mandate, rather, that the Jedi had to take a larger view of Galactic affairs to avoid getting tangled in the internal politics of the Alliance, as was what happened in the Old Republic. They would be opposed by another faction under Kenth Hamner and Corran Horn that believed that the Jedi Order owed the Galactic Alliance their full and unwavering attention, due to the fact that it was the Galactic Alliance that financed the Order, and was also responsible for giving the Order a new Jedi Temple.

These tensions were nominally smoothed by the leader of the Jedi and Mara's husband, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Under his leadership, he tamed the tempers of even the brashest and loudest of the Jedi, but, as he would later reflect, he made the almost fatal error of not providing a power structure within the order. All these things would manifest themselves in the Dark Nest Crisis and the Swarm War.

Upon hearing this information, the irate Chiss went immediately to speak with Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance Cal Omas, who in turn spoke with Master Skywalker. Concerned, Skywalker, Mara and their son, and the Solo couple went searching for the renegade Jedi. When they caught up with the aberrant Jedi, they were attacked by mysterious blue-black Killiks that UnuThul, Raynar Thul's new Killik persona, seemed to know nothing about.

On another occasion, her son Ben befriended a Gorog, thinking of the creature as his pet. Secretly, Gorog attempted to brainwash the child to join the Dark Nest, but the plot was uncovered by Ben's mother, who was forced to kill the Killik.

Mara and her husband Luke were again brought before UnuThul, this time as presumed enemies. Leia, now a Jedi Knight, was able to calm down UnuThul, but he still did not trust him. This mistrust would eventually lead him to hold Skywalker and Han Solo captive, in attempts to get them to join into the Killik nest, hence being able to learn all their secrets. A rescue mission was hatched by Organa Solo and several Jedi, but before they could get to him the nests fled the Utegetu Nebula in massive Hive ships. Some escaped a blockade set up by the Alliance, but the Gorog Hive ship was caught. After fierce fighting, Luke was caught by Lomi Plo herself. Plo eventually gained the upper hand in the battle, and managed to escape. Luke however, was almost killed. The Killik fleets escaped, and engaged the Chiss. The Swarm War had finally fully begun.

The Swarm War
Luke Skywalker immediately returned to the Jedi Academy on Ossus. He granted himself the title of Jedi Grand Master and assumed full control of the Jedi Order, in hopes of uniting the Masters against him and overcome their differences. He told his Jedi Order that if they did not place the Jedi first in their lives, they should leave the Order. Some Jedi that resigned their post as Jedi were Danni Quee (because she wanted to travel with Zonama Sekot) and Queen Mother Tenel Ka (because of her daughter Allana and her responsibilities as Queen Mother). Luke knew she wanted to remain a Jedi, so let her keep her lightsaber and told her her place in the Jedi Order will always be open. Soon after, though, it became clear that his plan failed, and he then made up his mind that he had to take control for real.

After his speech, Luke finally discovered how his mother died when he made R2-D2 show him the hologram of his father Force-choking her. Luke, shocked at that revelation, later went with Jacen, Mara, Kyle Katarn, and others to the Gorog nest ship in the Utegetu Nebula to find and kill Lomi Plo. Luke almost succeeded in killing Lomi Plo, but Lomi got away just before they severely damaged the nest ship. During the aforementioned battle, Jacen Solo almost died when he purposely took a lightsaber through the stomach that was meant for Mara. Mara was severely injured by a slug from a Killik slug thrower. During their recovery, Jacen made Luke confront his doubt about his mother's death. Only when he can remove any doubt from his mind could he defeat Lomi Plo. Later, Luke fought Lomi Plo and Raynar alone, against the wishes of Mara and Jacen. Luke killed Lomi Plo and brought Raynar back to the Galactic Alliance, albeit under heavy sedation. After the Swarm War ended, he dissolved the Jedi's role in the Galactic Alliance Advisory Council on Coruscant, in favor of a new ruling Jedi Council, whose opinions and advice would be relayed to the Chief of State. Also, the Potentium view of the Force also seemed to be losing strength and the more orthodox view of Light and Dark started to take hold once more.

Mara's ships


Prior to gaining her own ship, Mara used a personal Z-95 Headhunter when circumstances required her to go off on her own. Mara lost her first space ship, a craft known as the Jade's Fire, when she remotely steered it into a Chiss fortress on Nirauan. She later owned four other ships: the Hunter's Luck,  the Jade Sabre, the Shrike and the Jade Shadow.

Portrayals
Mara Jade has been portrayed by several women. The most well-known is model Shannon McRandle (formerly Shannon Baksa), in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. Since then McRandle's likeness has been on several products that depict Mara. During the days preceding the DVD release of Return of the Jedi, it was frequently speculated that McRandle might appear in the movie as Mara Jade's alias Arica in Jabba's palace, but this did not in fact occur. In the Return of the Jedi radio drama, C-3PO speaks with Arica, voiced by Samantha Bennett. In Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Mara Jade was voiced by Heidi Shannon. In Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, Mara Jade was voiced by Edie Mirman.

Name
In Hebrew, Mara means "bitter," and alternately "myrrh" or "fragrance." In the Biblical tradition, Ruth's beleaguered mother, Naomi, declared that "Mara" would be a better name, for she had been treated "bitterly" by fate. However, perhaps like Mara Jade, Naomi's fortunes later improved. The name may also have been inspired by "Kama-Mara", the Buddhist deity of love and death. In Czech "Mara" means cherry blossom.

Relationships to other characters
Mari Amithest, a character from Attack of the Clones, was so named as an homage to Mara Jade. ("Amithest" being derived from "amethyst", a translucent violet gemstone, just as "Jade" is a translucent green gemstone).

Fan theories abound as to Mara's background and ancestry. The five most common are:
 * She is the daughter of Siri Tachi (with some fans believing Obi-Wan Kenobi to be the father, thus the reason Emperor Palpatine sent her to kill Luke). While this is one of the more popular theories, it is impossible, because Siri Tachi died in 20 BBY, two years before Mara's birth.
 * She is the youngling Aris-Del Wari, although this would conflict with her established birth date, as Aris-Del was born in 23 BBY, five years before Mara.
 * She is another descendant of Vima Sunrider, thus explaining her Force powers, long-lasting youthfulness, and red hair.
 * In the runup to the ending of Star Wars: Republic, some fans theorized she was the child of Quinlan Vos and Khaleen Hentz. This turned out to not be true.
 * A more unlikely theory is that Mara is either descended from Mira from Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords or that Mira was based off Mara. Possible clues pointing to this are the similarities in their names, their red hair, their particularly shady pasts, and their associations with fringe groups.

Appearances

 * Empire At War
 * Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand
 * Darth Vader: Extinction
 * Masters of Teräs Käsi
 * Allegiance
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi radio drama as Arica
 * Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade
 * Mara Jade: A Night on the Town
 * First Contact
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
 * I, Jedi
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * Children of the Jedi
 * Darksaber
 * The New Rebellion
 * Jade Solitaire
 * Ambush at Corellia
 * Assault at Selonia
 * Showdown at Centerpoint
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Union
 * Judge's Call
 * Survivor's Quest
 * Vector Prime
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Balance Point
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Destiny's Way
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal
 * Bloodlines