Cade Skywalker

"You're a Skywalker, Cade! Act like one!"

- Kol Skywalker

Cade Skywalker was a bounty hunter and pirate, once the Jedi Padawan of Wolf Sazen. He was the son of Kol Skywalker and Morrigan Corde, as well as a descendant of Luke and Anakin Skywalker.

Early days
"Listen to the Force, Cade. A Jedi's first concern is to preserve life."

- Kol Skywalker

The son of Kol Skywalker (and probably the grandson of Ben Skywalker, great-grandson of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker, and great-great-grandson of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader), a powerful member of the Jedi High Council, and Morrigan Corde, an Imperial agent, Cade was trained as a Jedi from an early age by various teachers, including the Whiphid K'Kruhk. Eventually Cade was apprenticed to his father's former apprentice, Wolf Sazen.

He spent at least some of his childhood at the New Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he explored the secrets of its foundations and the outer city with the young Shado Vao. Cade believed that his father was unaware of this, despite the fact that he and Shado fell asleep at the midday meal.

Massacre at Ossus
"I will not let you go, Master!"

- Cade reviving Wolf Sazen

As a fourteen year-old Padawan in 130 ABY, Cade was involved in the battle to defend the Jedi Praxeum on Ossus from the Sith. His master, Wolf Sazen, ordered Cade and Shado Vao to evacuate the planet in a Jedi Shuttle full of younglings. However, Cade desperately wanted to stay and fight with his father, Kol. He argued the point, but eventually obeyed his father and went to the shuttle.

Just after boarding the shuttle, Cade sensed that his master had been struck down, and that his father was now fighting the Sith alone. Much to Shado's dismay, Cade left the shuttle to fight by his father's side.

As soon as Cade joined Kol however, he was ordered to take Wolf back to the shuttle. Cade was devastated, but did as he was told. Aboard the shuttle which was now leaving Ossus, Wolf died in the arms of Cade. Cade could not accept that however, and focused his anger to the point where he used a power to successfully revive his master.

At that point, Cade felt the death of his father. Overwhelmed with anger, Cade promised revenge on Darth Nihl, the Sith that had murdered Kol. Cade left the shuttle one final time in a X-83 TwinTail starfighter, to kill the Sith. He cleared a path for the shuttle, in an effort to allow its escape into hyperspace. Cade's fighter was shot down by a Predator-class fighter, though he managed to survive by sealing his flight suit and jettisoning just as his ship exploded. Withdrawing from the Force so the Sith wouldn't sense him, he fell into deep meditation in order to conserve oxygen. He awoke three days later floating over Ossus, where he was picked up by Rav and his crew.

Sith attention
"Cade used to be the best hunter around, but he's lost his edge." "Not Cade's fault, Syn. Something in him is just&hellip; broken."

- Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue

When Cade revived his master with an unknown Force power, Darth Krayt sensed a dark murmur in the Force, and recognized that it came from a Jedi, not a Sith. Krayt vowed to find this Jedi and lure him completely to the dark side, calling him a "dark light in the Force". Three days after the massacre, the pirate Rav found Cade floating in the debris around the planet. It was his future crewman Jariah Syn who convinced Rav to rescue Cade. Soon after, he apprenticed himself to Rav and joined his crew.

Exile from the Order
"Why do you use those deathsticks?" "They keep you away."

- Luke Skywalker's Force ghost and Cade

Some years passed after the Massacre at Ossus, and Cade had freed himself from Rav's debt. Cade had become captain of a light freighter called Mynock whose crew included Deliah Blue, ship's mechanic, and co-pilot Jariah Syn. He hid both his last name and his Jedi ability from everyone who knew him, especially his crew mates. One of Cade and his crew's favorite haunts during this time was Rik's Cantina on Coruscant, a notorious meeting place for various underworld denizens. Around 137 ABY the crew of Mynock were contracted by Rav to locate bond-skipper Naxy Screeger on the planet Lok. After locating him, the group also came across a Jedi Healer named Hosk Trey'lis. Cade prevented Syn from killing the Jedi, seemingly because Jedi were worth more alive than dead. The group left Lok with both Screeger and Trey'lis in tow. After turning in their bounties on Socorro, Rav paid them in death sticks, which, though pleasing Cade, enraged the rest of the crew.

"It's a hard galaxy."

- Cade speaking to Hosk Trey'lis

Around this time Cade was being haunted by the Force ghost of his ancestor Luke Skywalker, who was pleading for Cade to return to his Jedi legacy. However, Cade was growing increasingly agitated with these visitations, using death sticks to block them out, and even going so far as threatening to end his own life.

As the crew of Mynock prepared for liftoff from Socorro, they were approached by Princess Marasiah Fel and her companion Astraal Vao. The Princess was demanding passage to Vendaxa, and the two were being pursued by the Sith Darth Talon. Cade initiated emergency take-off procedures, and headed towards Vendaxa, intent on delivering the Princess to her father, so that he could capture the Emperor himself, earning enough credits to be out of Rav's debt.

Reunion on Vendaxa
"Ah, shut up and kill something!"

- Cade Skywalker to Jariah Syn while being attacked by Darth Talon Astraal Vao, having pre-arranged a rendezvous with her brother Shado if ever they were in trouble, guided the crew of Mynock and Princess Fel to the crash site where Shado and Astraal's parents died. There, they came under attack from an acklay, and only the timely arrival of Shado and Wolf Sazen saved Astraal from being impaled upon the acklay's fore-claw. The immediate danger over, Princess Marasiah set about arranging safe passage with the two Jedi, revealing that she knew of Mynock crew's intention to turn her in for the bounty on her head. Not wanting to be recognized by his former Master, Cade stayed in the shadows and did not argue with the Princess. However, Jariah called him on his wanting to cut his losses, using his name as he did so which attracted the attention of the two Jedi. Turning to face the Jedi, Cade calmly stared down his former Master and admitted his name was Cade. If Wolf recognized his former pupil after their years apart, he gave no sign; instead choosing to turn to direct Princess Fel to where he and Shado had secreted their own ship. A sudden explosion signaled that ship's destruction, however and was quickly followed by an attack by Darth Talon, who used the dark side of the Force to provoke a number of native fauna into attacking alongside her.

Talon singled out Wolf Sazen and brought him down with Force lightning, intending to kill him, but Marasiah intervened, hoping for revenge for the death of her Master, Elke Vetter. Sia was no match for the Sith, however and Talon swatted her away with the Force. Wrapped in Force lightning, Wolf was still able to ask Cade to take the Princess to safety, but the captain of Mynock only stood by numbly, his mind flashing back through the years to a similar situation on Ossus.

Snapping back to the present with an expletive, Cade unloaded both barrels of his Rawk chopped special at the Sith, and after a moment both Blue and Syn joined him, the former declaring they'd all gone insane, the latter saying it was a "good" insane. Darth Talon however, easily deflected their blasts and disarmed them with a wave of her hand then advanced upon them, her lightsaber at the ready.

With an angry cry, Cade used the Force to lift some nearby wreckage and hurled it and Talon into the nearby forest. Retrieving his blaster, Cade calmly directed the stunned onlookers to head for Mynock. However, they were soon to discover that Talon had sabotaged Mynock, forcing them to remain on Vendaxa until repairs could be made. Meanwhile, Darth Talon remained hidden in the shadows nearby.

After the battle, Cade had a conversation with his former master, telling him that he wasted years looking for a man that didn't exist. That was followed by an argument with his friends, with Syn pulling a blaster on him. Marasiah Fel approached him, saying she knew he was a Skywalker. She then went on saying how she could disappear from her destiny. But she also told him that she would not run away from her responsibilities.

Imperial Knights arrived, but they were shot down by the Sith. They survived the crash, and the battle with the Sith had begun. Cade rushed to battle with his blaster telling Syn and Blue to lift off. When Cade entered the battlefield, he was flooded with the memories of the Massacre at Ossus. He was so dazed that he did not see a Sith approaching from behind. It was Princess Marasiah that saw the Sith and charged at him, cutting down the Sith and saving Cade's life, but not without injury. When Cade, holding her injured form in his arms, asked her why she did it, she said: "Told you&hellip; had to make it right&hellip; even if it's only&hellip; one&hellip; life&hellip;"

- Marasiah Fel

She then fell silent. Cade called her lightsaber to him using the Force. Ignoring his oath never to pick up a lightsaber again, he proclaimed after igniting it, "I have had enough". "No one dies for me! Never again!"

- Cade Skywalker

Cade then attacked Darth Nihl. During the fight, Cade told Nihl he saw him kill his father at Ossus. Nihl said he killed many Jedi that day, and that his father might have been one. Cade shouted that his father was Kol Skywalker, and began to use his rage against Nihl, despite warnings from Master Sazen. Jariah Syn entered the fight and hit the Sith with a blaster bolt, but promptly got Force pushed away. Afterwards, Cade kicked Nihl off a cliff, and got everyone on board the Mynock. While aboard the Mynock, Cade healed Marasiah with the blue lightning technique he used to heal Wolf Sazen years earlier.

Vendaxa aftermath and further Jedi training
"Kark this 'destiny' sludge. I make my own way!"

- Cade to Darth Vader's Force ghost

After the group arrived on Bastion, Cade slipped away and left Deliah Blue and Jariah Syn on their own, stating to Wolf Sazen that he could not trust Syn anymore. Cade then offered a ride to Sazen and Shado Vao, but told them to not get any ideas regarding him rejoining the Jedi Order.

Later, Cade, Wolf, and Shado traveled to the Wheel. Unknowingly, Cade was being pursued by numerous agents of Krayt's faction of the Galactic Empire, including his mother, Morrigan Corde, a deep cover Imperial agent who had been reactivated by Nyna Calixte. The two Imperial agents suspected he was either going to Hapes, which was neutral during the Sith-Imperial War, or Ossus. But Morrigan decided to quit hunting her son.

Cade proceeded to Ossus, where, after ingesting several death sticks, he had visions of Mara Jade and Anakin Skywalker, who then morphed into Darth Vader and warned him of the perils of falling to the dark side. He was then found by the Whiphid Jedi Master K'Kruhk, a one-time teacher of Cade, who healed his mental trauma. Sazen and Vao then arrived as well.

Cade then asked Sazen to complete his training. Sazen accepted, and Cade began his training again under the tutelage of both Sazen and K'Kruhk. During a lightsaber practice session with Vao, they both fell into a repository of priceless Jedi artifacts, whereupon they were attacked by two Yuuzhan Vong, Liaan Lah and Choka Skell.

Master Shaper Nei Rin ordered her two Vong bodyguards to cease their attack on the two Jedi. Rin, once a friend of Kol and the leader of the terraforming project on Ossus, revealed herself as the keeper of the Jedi artifacts left on Ossus after the massacre, and claimed that Cade should become their keeper.

Cade refused, and after being confronted by Master Sazen about his fears, was once more visited by his ancestor, Luke Skywalker, who told him to fix his mistake of turning in fellow Jedi Hosk Trey'lis by rescuing him on Coruscant. As Cade prepared to leave for Coruscant, Rin gave him his father's lightsaber, and K'Kruhk gave him R2-D2 to serve aboard his ship.

Mission on Coruscant
"How do you like me now schutta?!"

- Cade to Darth Talon

Cade's approach to Coruscant was detected by Imperial forces and by Darth Krayt himself, but Cade was able to elude Skull Squadron and hide in the depths of the Coruscant Underworld. Leaving R2-D2 in charge of the Mynock, Cade walked towards Rik's Cantina, blasting a would-be mugger and scaring off his confederates in the process.

At the cantina, Cade encountered Chak and Kee, two old friends. But he had no clue where Syn and Blue had taken Chak's ship, the Grinning Liar. His impertinence offended the Wookiee, but amused Queen Jool, the Hutt owner of the establishment. He left the access codes to his ship with her in case he did not return, instructing her to turn them over to his former crew mates if they showed up.

Cade entered the Temple of the Sith using secret routes he discovered when he lived there, and reaching with his Force senses, found Hosk manacled to a wall inside the structure. When he released the healer, the Bothan attempted to warn him that he had given in and betrayed his would-be rescuer, but Cade would have none of it, retorting "no one dies for me."

As they made their way out, they were ambushed by Darth Talon, who waited for them by a long causeway. She subdued Hosk with a Force push, but enraged Cade by telling him he and his quarry were both wanted alive.

Cade's eyes shifted, signifying his enthrallment by the dark side, and he overpowered the Twi'lek. His victory faded fast, as Darth Nihl, suddenly appeared and choked him into submission. Nihl went on to inform Krayt of his victory.

Meanwhile on Ossus, Wolf, meditating on the Force, received a vision: Cade turned toward him, his face half in shadow with the dark side gleaming in his eyes.

Darth Krayt
"What do you know about the Jedi&mdash;besides wanting them all exterminated?"

- Cade to Darth Krayt

Following his capture, Cade was tortured by Darth Maladi using a lethal dose of ixetal cilona, though the poison had no effect due to Cade's past usage of death sticks and powerful Force abilities boosting his immunity to it. Darth Krayt acknowledged that this Skywalker had more power than he had ever seen in any Jedi. Krayt wanted Cade to join him, but Cade refused the offer from his father's true murderer.

Krayt had imprisoned Syn and Blue, and while they were in the Sith's hands, Maladi implanted Yuuzhan Vong Yorik-Kul coral seeds into them that mutated their bodies using the dark side. Cade had no option but to help both of his friends by using his anger to cure them at a great cost.

Krayt invited Cade with Talon and his most loyal Sith advisor, Darth Wyyrlok, to his chambers. There, Krayt surprised Cade by showing him Kol Skywalker's lightsaber encased in transparisteel, giving Cade's father a place of honor. Cade was further surprised when Krayt revealed his knowledge about the Jedi and his true identity of A'Sharad Hett.

Krayt then recited the story of his duel on Tatooine against Obi-Wan Kenobi, near the Lars homestead, and how he was cast out of both Tusken and Jedi society. After finishing his story, Krayt found Cade to be barely moved. Talon then attacked Cade because of this, and she was nearly killed when he used his powers to re-open her recently healed wounds.

Krayt, however, prevented this and asked of Cade that he allow the Dark Lord to focus his anger into strength through the Sith teachings. Cade agreed, and was then ordered to heal Darth Talon, as she would become his Sith Master. During his Sith training, Cade developed an intimate relationship as well as a deep bond with his master that was created when he healed her. They presumably slept together, however after Talon left the bed, she inferred that he was just pretending to be like them. Still, Krayt was sure that he would fall to their side permanently.

Next day, to ensure Cade's fall, Krayt placed Cade in the Embrace of Pain while he continued to tell him about his own fall to the dark side. Cade was able to free himself and tried to escape the temple, but was caught by Talon. He was taken back to Krayt, where he was ordered to kill Hosk Trey'lis or die, but Cade refused to kill the Jedi. Krayt then killed Trey'lis himself, evoking Cade's anger. But Cade then received a vision of his father, telling him "That which can heal can also break." Cade broke into the transparisteel case that contained his father's lightsaber, stabbed Talon in the stomach, and engaged Nihl in a lightsaber duel.

Abilities and powers
"Cade, the Force is too powerful in you for you to just walk away! Healing me like you did was not something you were taught&mdash;you did that by instinct alone!"

- Wolf Sazen to Cade Skywalker on Vendaxa

As a Padawan, Cade showed great potential in the ways of the Force, and was able to hold his own against a large number of stormtroopers and Sith during the Massacre at Ossus. He was also entrusted with the safety of the younglings, essentially the future of the Jedi Order, by his father, hinting at the high esteem in which Kol held his son's abilities.

However, Cade was known to make rash actions, such as abandoning his charges on Ossus to defend his father against Darth Nihl's forces. In this instance, his emotions clouded his judgment, as it would in numerous future situations. One such reckless decision almost cost him his life; he took an X-83 TwinTail starfighter into combat, but was forced to eject from his fighter moments before it was destroyed by Imperial fighters. He withdrew from the Force to ensure the Sith would not locate him, then went into deep meditation for the next three days before being rescued.

Perhaps his most impressive and mysterious power was his apparently instinctive ability to revive Wolf Sazen from death. To do so, Cade tapped into the power of the dark side, and both he and Sazen felt the effect as a Force power with a similar appearance to Force lightning coursed over their bodies. The power he exerted even caused Cade's eyes to glow with Force energy. Within moments, Sazen had been revived, and he was soon able to talk and walk of his own accord. As Cade would later relate to Sazen some seven years later, the price for bringing his Master back from death was high: Cade admitted he "tapped into all the fear and rage" within him, and, as he told the Force ghost of Luke Skywalker, he was afraid that the hunger for power he felt that day was "not a good place for a Skywalker to be". Cade's use of the dark side was even felt by Darth Krayt, from the New Imperial Palace on Coruscant. Krayt believed that this power would enable him to cheat death, and began a search for what he called "a dark light in the Force". It should also be noted that Cade discovered the ability that his ancestor Anakin Skywalker had desired for so long&mdash;to keep people from dying.

"I could heal that hurt. Pour the Force into the place where the red lines intersect. Or -- and here's a new idea -- maybe I could explode that point. Kill you. Interesting idea. Should we try?"

- Cade to Darth Talon

In addition to being able to heal people with his power, it could be used to kill those that suffered a previous injury, allowing Cade to focus it into a point where their wound was.



Cade's Force powers did not appear to atrophy in the seven years he spent in Rav's crew, despite rarely drawing on his powers in that time. During a confrontation with Darth Talon on Vendaxa, Cade used the Force to hurl a crashed starship at the Sith, once more tapping into his anger to fuel his abilities. He later admitted that he could sense the Sith nearby, showing that his Jedi senses were as attuned as ever. When he attempted to rescue Hosk from the Temple of the Sith on Coruscant, he was able to sense the Jedi's presence from outside the mammoth structure.

In addition to his Force powers, Cade was a capable starfighter pilot, and he was proficient in both hand-to-hand combat and ranged combat with his weapon of choice, the Rawk chopped special.

Equipment
"Ah, shut up and kill something!"

- Cade Skywalker to Jariah Syn during Darth Talon's attack

As a Jedi Padawan, he used a blue lightsaber. During his self-exile, Cade used Marasiah Fel's lightsaber after she saved him from a Sith. After he left Deliah Blue and Jariah Syn on Vendaxa, he went to Ossus, where he was armed with a green lightsaber when he battled a vision of Darth Vader. After he met Nei Rin, Rin gave him his father's lightsaber, which he brought with him to Coruscant. After his capture, it was seized by Darth Krayt.

In his pirate years, Cade also had a collection of antique and modified blasters, his favorite being the Rawk chopped special, a custom piece built for him by chief mechanic of the Selonian Shipyards, "Bantha" Rawk. His armor chest piece was Mandalorian in origin. He also wore trousers that resemble those worn by Darth Vader.

Behind the scenes

 * In early iterations of the Star Wars script, the character that became Luke Skywalker had the first name "Kane". However, the name Cade also suggests Latin "cadere", meaning "to fall". This is the linguistic root of the English word "chance", and also of "cadence", meaning a rhythm like a marching beat, while in music a "cadenza" (the Italian form of "cadence") is also, specifically, a solo. A "cade" can also be an abandoned young animal raised as a pet, which seems likely, as Cade was abandoned by the Jedi and rescued by Rav.

Appearances



 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy: Broken
 * Star Wars Legacy: Trust Issues
 * Star Wars Legacy: Ghosts
 * Star Wars Legacy: Claws of the Dragon
 * Star Wars Legacy 23