Mara Jade Skywalker

Mara Jade Skywalker (b. c. 18 BBY), a human woman of many talents, had fiery red hair, deep green eyes, and the figure of a dancer. She was said to be similar in character to Princess Leia, her future husband's twin sister.

Emperor's Hand
Jade was once known as an "Emperor's Hand", because she functioned as one of his personal assassins and answered only to him, though she did not know of the existence of other "Emperor's Hands". She could hear his voice anywhere in the galaxy, enabling her to be a useful helper. Emperor Palpatine took her from her parents when she was an infant. He trained her (to some degree) to use her strength in the Force, and used her as his personal Hand (or, at least, one of them) - although, officially, her role was that of a dancer for employed in the Imperial Palace. When Palpatine began to worry about the threat of Luke Skywalker, Mara was sent (disguised as the dancing girl Arica) to infiltrate Jabba's Palace to await him. But she failed because Melina Carliss tried to arrest her during Luke's arrival and Jabba didn't allow her to come to the execution. She made her way back to Imperial Center and a displeased Palpatine.

Mara saw scenes from the Emperor's death through the Force. Vader and Skywalker were there, and it seemed that they both killed Palpatine together. Anticipating the fact that she might be detained by those jostling to assume control of the Empire, she attempted to flee Center, but was arrested by Imperial Intelligence on direct order of Director Ysanne Isard. She managed to escape and, disguised as a refugee, left Center.

Her hatred for Skywalker burned deep within her, and she vowed to destroy the Jedi. Even though she thought that she personally wanted to kill Skywalker, it was actually the Emperor's voice in her mind. In the meanwhile, though, her life was a 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. Even worse, her Force skills went into remission, only to return at inconvenient times, which generally necessitated a change of employment.

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, Mara rose within the ranks of Karrde's smuggling organization at an astonishing rate, propelled by her skills, insight and abilities.

Into this promising future crashed Luke Skywalker, the man she had sworn to kill. At Karrde's base on Myrkr, where Skywalker lacked his Force talents because of the the planet's force nullifying Ysalamiri, Mara was intent on following through with her plans to kill Skywalker; but a series of circumstances and some unexplained hesitation resulted in her helping Skywalker escape instead. Karrde and his organization fled Myrkr soon after because of a massive Imperial bounty on their collective heads.

Skywalker came to understand that it was not truly Mara who desired to kill him, but Palpatine, whose voice Mara could somehow hear in her head anywhere in the galaxy, even after Palpatine was long dead. Mara also came to understand that Palpatine didn't want Skywalker dead for his own sake, but rather as an added bit of revenge against Vader. Luke, for his part, resolved to free her from this curse, regardless of the danger she posed to him. Mara was both confused and impressed that her hated enemy would do such a thing for her. The golden opportunity came when the two found themselves battling Luuke Skywalker, the original's clone. After a protracted battle, Mara killed the clone, silencing Palpatine's voice and any ill will towards the real Skywalker.

Jedi


10 years after the fall of the Empire, Mara was found briefly under the tutelage of Kyle Katarn. Her first missions serving as a Jedi under the New Republic, was negotiating with Ka'Pa the Hutt, escaping from Takara's dungeons, repel Kaerobani's pirates from a Republic Corvette, and reclaiming from them a stolen Jedi Holocron. Finally she was able to travel to Dromund Kaas and bring her Master back to the light after he fell to the dark side.

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, the two would realize what a perfect match they were. 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 become a Jedi Master, strong in the Force. She took on young Jedi Jaina Solo as her apprentice, helping to bring her to a more skilled understanding of the Force.



Mara and Luke along with other significant heroes, fought together against the Yuuzhan Vong, who infected Mara with a dangerous and deadly disease. With the Force, she cleaned her body, keeping the disease at bay, Jedi Vergere's tears helping. Despite her worries, she found she was pregnant. She carried the baby to term, and nearly died when giving birth. The bond she and her family shared bolstered her abilities with the Force, and it healed her.

They named their son Ben, after Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi's nickname.

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 used a beckon call to direct it straight into a Chiss fortress. She later owned three other ships, the Jade Sabre, the Shrike and the Jade Shadow.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the Return of the Jedi radio drama, C-3PO speaks with "Arica", voiced by Samantha Bennett.
 * Mara Jade was portrayed by Shannon McRandle (formerly Shannon Baksa), in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. Since then her likeness has been on several products that depict Mara.
 * In Hebrew, Mara means "bitter", which pretty much describes Mara's personality in the earlier Star Wars books. However, it also means "myrrh" or "fragrance", which portrays her character in later books.
 * Fans expected that Shannon Baksa was to appear in the DVD remade version of Return of the Jedi portraying Mara Jade on her visit to Tatooine.
 * Jade was voiced by Heidi Shannon in two video games.
 * Fan theories abound as to Mara's background and ancestry. The four 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). Unfortunately for this theory, Siri Tachi died in 20 BBY, two years before Mara Jade was born.
 * 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.
 * She is the daughter of Quinlan Vos and Khaleen Hentz.

Appearances

 * Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand
 * Allegiance
 * Mara Jade: A Night on the Town
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Survivor's Quest
 * Vector Prime
 * Balance Point
 * Star By Star
 * The Joiner King
 * Galactic Battlegrounds

External link

 * The Official Website of Shannon McRandle, the model who portrayed Mara Jade in several live-action photographs.
 * The Official Website of Shannon McRandle, the model who portrayed Mara Jade in several live-action photographs.