Isolder

"Remember to serve the light side of the Force. Though you will never wield a lightsaber or heal the sick, you have some light within you. Be true to that light."

- Luke Skywalker to Isolder

Isolder was the former heir, or Chume'da, of the Hapes Consortium. As the second son of Queen Mother Ta'a Chume, Isolder was not expected to rule. However, after his older brother Kalen was murdered, Isolder went on an undercover quest to hunt down the person responsible. Impressed by his finding of the culprit, his mother granted him the rank of Chume'da.

In 8 ABY, Isolder fell in love with Leia Organa when she came to Hapes to discuss a possible alliance between the New Republic and the Hapes Consortium. However, after a series of events led him to the planet Dathomir, he instead fell in love with Teneniel Djo, one of the local Witches of Dathomir.

Shortly after his marriage to Teneniel, Ta'a Chume stepped down as Queen Mother, and Isolder and Teneniel ruled over the Consortium. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Isolder was pivotal in allowing the Hapan Royal Navy to participate at the ill-fated Battle of Fondor, and later suffered the murder of his wife due to his mother's plotting.

During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, Isolder served as an advisor to his daughter, Queen Mother Tenel Ka.

Early life
"You loved your brother very much. I can hear you, as children, trying to fall asleep in the same large room. Your brother sang to you at night, making you feel safe when you were frightened."

- Luke Skywalker to Isolder

Isolder was born into the royal family of Hapes as the younger son of Ta'a Chume and her consort. Growing up, he had the company of his older brother Kalen, who was the Chume'da of the Hapes Consortium. Kalen and Isolder were close, and Isolder did not envy his brother's status as the heir, mainly because he knew that as the second child he had more options available to him.

When Isolder was nineteen, Kalen was kidnapped and murdered by a pirate near the Terephon system, which left Isolder devastated. In order to track down his brother's murderer, Isolder went undercover as a privateer to get information on who committed the crime. After two years of going so deep undercover that his own mother's spies could not even locate him, Isolder located the perpetrator, a pirate named Harravan, and had him arrested. Unfortunately, Harravan was killed in his jail cell before he could be interrogated further.

Impressed by Isolder's resolve to bring his brother's murderer to justice, Ta'a Chume named him the new Chume'da. However, Isolder suffered further tragedy when his fiancée, Lady Elliar, apparently committed suicide by drowning herself in one of Hapes' reflecting pools. It would later come out that Ta'a Chume had arranged the murders of both Kalen and Lady Elliar on political grounds, as she found them both too weak to rule.

A political marriage proposal
When Leia Organa came to Hapes in 8 ABY to discuss a possible alliance with the New Republic, Isolder fell in love with her. As was the Hapan custom, Isolder asked his mother for permission to marry Leia, which she pretended to agree to. When the Hapans arrived at Coruscant, they presented Leia with a gift from each of the Hapes Consortium's many planets. Isolder himself was presented as a gift from Hapes, and he proposed marriage to Leia.



Upon seeing Leia's shocked expression, Isolder requested that she spend some time to get to know him and that they take a tour of the Hapes Cluster before she made her final decision. Shortly afterward, Isolder was informed by his chief of security, Astarta, that Leia was the target of an assassination attempt. Isolder assumed that his aunt was behind it, but could not prove it. When the attempt on Leia's life was made a short while later, Isolder and Astarta were able to foil it.

Han Solo, who was threatened by and jealous of Isolder, told Isolder that he was going to challenge him for Leia's hand in marriage. Isolder responded by bribing Solo with a Hapes Nova battle cruiser if he would fly far away and leave Leia alone. Solo refused, and after he won the deed to the planet Dathomir in a high stakes game of sabacc, he kidnapped Leia using the Gun of Command she received as a gift and took her to Dathomir for the sole purpose of impressing her. Upon hearing that Leia was kidnapped by Solo, Isolder set out to gather leads on the pair's whereabouts, but his mother and her agents acquired the information before he did. Isolder then had a conversation with his mother, and despite her advice regarding putting himself in danger, he resolved to rescue Leia by himself.

The search for Han and Leia
"I will hunt down General Solo, and I will bring home my bride."

- Isolder to Ta'a Chume

After Ta'a Chume discovered where Han Solo had fled, she assembled the Hapan fleet and set a course for Dathomir. While aboard his mother's flagship Star Home, Isolder met Luke Skywalker, who was also searching for Leia and Han. After the pair shared a meal with Ta'a Chume, Isolder and Luke set off for Dathomir aboard Isolder's Song of War. Upon arriving in Dathomir space, the Song of War engaged a Super Star Destroyer. While in the midst of battle, Isolder left the ship under the command of Astarta and told her to contact the Hapan Royal Navy to let them know what to expect for when they arrive. Isolder then departed the Battle Dragon in his custom Miy'til starfighter Storm, with Luke accompanying him in an X-wing from Song of War's hangar.

The pair were shot at on the way to Dathomir by Warlord Zsinj's fleet. Isolder managed to land his damaged craft on the planet, but Luke appeared to have been killed. Isolder at first assumed that his mother's agents had rigged the X-wing in an attempt to kill the Jedi, but after Luke floated down from the sky alive and well, it was revealed he had used a Force technique to fool the scanners into thinking he was dead. After a brief discussion between the two about the nature of the Force (and despite Isolder's lack of Force-sensitivity), Isolder became Luke's student in the ways of the Force.

After the pair made their way to a tar pit containing a crashed ship, they were confronted by a Witch of Dathomir named Teneniel Djo. Teneniel quickly captured both men as slaves, but listened to their plight and agreed to take them back to her clan village.

The raid on the Imperial prison
When they arrived at the Singing Mountain Clan village, Isolder was stunned when Teneniel announced to the village that she had taken him to be her husband. In light of his protests and an offer by Leia (who was a guest of the clan villagers) to buy his freedom, Teneniel later gave him his freedom in all but name to protect him from being claimed by the other clan sisters.

Shortly afterward, there was a discussion between Luke, Leia, Han, Isolder and Teneniel on how to repair the Millennium Falcon, which had been damaged by Zsinj's forces during entry. After they decided to cannibalize Storm for a sensor array, Teneniel informed them that the Dathomir Imperial Prison probably had the other spare parts needed for the ship, and that the former Nightsister Barukka knew the layout of the prison well enough for the group to sneak in.

Before they left, the clan leader Augwynne Djo had a request to make of Luke and Isolder. Due to a prophecy made by Mother Rell years ago regarding a Jedi Master and his student, Augwynne suggested to Luke and Isolder that they should go meet with Rell, as she claimed she had a message for them. Rell, whose mind was in the future at that time, asked Luke about Yoda, his wife and children and the Jedi Praxeum, but when she saw Isolder, she foretold that he was to die at Nightsister leader Gethzerion's hands. Isolder was rattled by this revelation, but was he was assured by Luke that the future was not set.

After locating Barukka and obtaining the necessary information from her, the group infiltrated the prison and located the parts needed to repair the Falcon. However, they were attacked by the Nightsisters on the way out, and Isolder suffered minor injuries.

On the way back to Singing Mountain clan village, Isolder and Teneniel had a nighttime conversation by the campfire about the stars and the planets in the sky. However, the conversation turned to Teneniel discovering that Isolder was the son of a powerful woman, and Isolder's status as her slave/husband. She gave him his freedom outright by letting him leave Dathomir, but only asked one thing in return: to be remembered.

The Battle of Dathomir
Upon the group's return to Singing Mountain, the Battle of Dathomir had begun. Isolder aided Chewbacca in repairing the Millennium Falcon, but they were attacked by Nightsisters hoping to get to the ship. Isolder knew that Rell's vision would come to pass at that moment, so he tried to escape, but a Nightsister used the Force on him to knock him out. Teneniel came along a few moments later and rescued an unconscious Isolder from being captured as a slave by the Nightsisters, thus preventing the prophecy from being fulfilled.



The Hapan Navy arrived in Dathomir space shortly afterward, and proceeded to engage Zsinj's forces and destroy the Orbital Nightcloak that had surrounded the planet. After the Iron Fist had been destroyed, Isolder issued the command to the Hapan Navy that they accept only unconditional surrenders, seize any speaceworthy ships, and to destroy the Imperial shipyard.

Choosing the new Queen Mother
Despite finding her to be quite plain by Hapan standards, Isolder had slowly fallen in love with Teneniel, but found himself denying his attraction to her due to the political situation back on Hapes if he were to marry her. After a brief conversation between the two, Isolder decided he could no longer deny his love for her.

At a victory feast held in the Singing Mountain clan village, Isolder announced to all present that he would take Teneniel as his bride. Ta'a Chume was horrified, and objected to the union on the grounds that Teneniel had no royal blood or lineage. After informing his mother that he would marry Teneniel whether or not she permitted it, it was revealed that it was Ta'a Chume who had arranged the attempt on Leia, and in light of this, Isolder accused her of being behind the deaths of Elliar and Kalen. After Teneniel threatened Ta'a Chume and used the Force on her, the elder woman allowed the union. Isolder also demanded of his mother that the Consortium join the New Republic, a promise to which she initially agreed but later backed out on.

Life as consort
Around 10 ABY, Ta'a Chume abdicated her role as Queen Mother, and Teneniel Djo became the new Queen Mother, with Isolder as her consort. Around the same time, the couple had a daughter, Tenel Ka.

Isolder insisted that Tenel Ka be trained as a future Queen Mother, but Teneniel wanted Tenel Ka to choose her own path. Both parents agreed to send Tenel Ka to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to train in the Force. Isolder himself had no opposition to Tenel Ka's training, mostly because he felt it would be a good resource when she became Queen Mother.

When Tenel Ka had her lightsaber accident in 22 ABY, both he and Teneniel were away from Hapes on a diplomatic mission. While on the mission, both husband and wife encountered assassins deployed by Ta'a Chume's traitorous underling Yfra. After neutralizing the assassins and returning to Hapes, Isolder expressed pride in his daughter for staying true to herself.

Isolder would continue to support Tenel Ka while she was at the Jedi Praxeum, and along with Teneniel and Augwynne Djo, he attended her graduation ceremony in 24 ABY.

The Yuuzhan Vong War
Near the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the question of succession was a hot topic. Tenel Ka had all but forsaken her claim to the throne, preferring to be a Jedi instead. Due to arguments regarding Tenel Ka's place in the succession, the marriage between Isolder and Teneniel had become strained, but in an effort to resolve the succession dispute, they had conceived another child to act as the heir in lieu of Tenel Ka in 25 ABY.

Shortly afterward, Leia Organa Solo visited Hapes to ask the Consortium for her help in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. After being welcomed by Isolder and the royal family, Leia then gave a speech to the Hapan delegates, warning them about the dangerous nature of the invaders. After the speech concluded, the Hapan delegates debated on whether or not to enter the war, and a vote was to be held in a few days. The Archon of Vergill, Beed Thane, was opposed to entering the war, and he insulted Leia in front of Isolder. Isolder responded by slapping Thane across the face, initiating a Hapan honor duel.

After Reef Fortress was selected at the location of the duel, Isolder spent the night there along with his family, Leia and a small group of advisors. The next morning, after both participants reaffirmed the terms of the duel, Isolder defeated Thane in hand-to-hand combat. As agreed to per the terms of the duel, Vergill pledged its vote to support entering the war.



The vote was held a short time later and the Consortium decided to enter the war. However, during a conversation with Isolder just after the vote had concluded, Leia had received a vision of approaching disaster through the Force and begged him to call for a re-vote under the pretense that Hapes had changed her position. Isolder told her not to worry and invited her aboard the Song of War for the trip to Coruscant.

Upon reaching Coruscant, Isolder and his crew were briefed on the Yuuzhan Vong and their tactics by Commander Brand, and the Hapan Navy was dispatched to aid the New Republic at the Battle of Fondor. Upon reaching Fondor, however, a misaligned beam from Centerpoint Station raced through the battlefield, taking out three quarters of the Hapan fleet and half of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Isolder was blamed for the loss of many lives upon his return to Hapes, and Teneniel suffered a miscarriage when the Force backlash from Fondor reached her.

In the months between the Battle of Fondor and the Fall of Coruscant, Isolder undertook a fact-finding mission to learn more about the invaders. He arrived back on Hapes just after the Fall of Coruscant and was immediately the target of an assassination attempt by one of his cousins. His daughter Tenel Ka, back on Hapes after fleeing from the disastrous Myrkr mission, foiled the attempt. Father and daughter then had a conversation that involved exchanging information about the invaders.

By now, Isolder's marriage was near the point of collapse, with talk of Teneniel returning to Dathomir. Citing the fact that he owed it to his people to provide them with a strong leader, Ta'a Chume tried to convince Isolder to divorce Teneniel, but he hesitated, especially when his mother wanted him to marry Leia's daughter Jaina Solo. Ta'a Chume reminded him that if he did not did not divorce Teneniel and remarry, their relatives would kill them all unless she reassumed the throne. Since Isolder did not want his mother back on the throne under any circumstances, he promised to consider marriage to Jaina Solo.

Not wanting to wait for his answer, Ta'a Chume arranged for the poisoning death of Teneniel Djo. Upon finding her mother poisoned, Tenel Ka decided to take up her mother's crown. Isolder then crowned his daughter the new Queen Mother.

Later life
In 36 ABY, Isolder became a grandfather when Tenel Ka gave birth to Allana. It is unknown if Tenel Ka entrusted him with the identity of the child's father.

As late as 40 ABY, Isolder served as an advisor to his daughter. During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, he helped with the questioning of witnesses to the assassination attempt on Tenel Ka, and later helped keep both Tenel Ka's and Allana's presence aboard the Anakin Solo a secret from rebellious nobles.

Equipment
Isolder had at his disposal both his personal Miy'til starfighter Storm and the Hapan Battle Dragon Song of War. The construction of Storm was overseen by Isolder personally, and the hull was modified to contain three laser cannons, two ion cannons, a concussion missile launcher, and four thermal detonator bombing tubes.

Song of War was the oversized Battle Dragon that served as the flagship of the Hapan Navy. Painted bright red to set it apart from the other Battle Dragons, Isolder served as commander of the ship on at least two occasions, the Battle of Dathomir and the Battle of Fondor.

Due to his position in Hapan society, Isolder also made use of personal shielding to protect himself against assassination attempts.

Personality and traits


Isolder was considered bold and brave, but he was also easily manipulated, especially by his mother. After he discovered that it was she who arranged the deaths of his brother and fiancée, Isolder distanced himself from his mother and defied Hapan tradition by marrying an offworlder instead of the typical Hapan noble.

However, that did not end Ta'a Chume's interference in his life. During the Yuuzhan Vong war, she demanded that he divorce Teneniel, and had her poisoned when he did not comply. For his mother's part in his wife's murder, Isolder helped have her arrested.

"You're lucky I don't play rougher, I'd gladly beat your face in for what you've done here. You'll be lucky if I don't."

- Isolder threatens Han Solo

Isolder was an accomplished pilot, having been the youngest graduate in Hapan flight school history at age 15. He would use his piloting skills many times throughout the years, from his privateer years to commanding the Song of War.

In addition to his piloting skills, Isolder was also quite proficient in many forms of hand-to-hand combat. He was also one of the few Hapans to learn Galactic Basic Standard, which he spoke with a thick Hapan accent.

"You're treating those beasts as equals. You show my mother, the Ta'a Chume of the Hapan empire, the same degree of cordiality as you give a droid!"

- Isolder to Luke Skywalker

Isolder was conditioned by his culture, and believed in a hierarchy of being. When he encountered Luke Skywalker, he was astonished and annoyed to find him treating droids and various beasts with the same compassion he gave to the Prince. Initially, he found himself jealous at this behavior, but began to see Skywalker's way of doing things. Isolder was also a firm believer in the right of the nobles to rule, at one point explaining his theories to Princess Leia about how intelligence and leadership were bred into people.

Behind the scenes
Isolder was created by Dave Wolverton and first appeared in The Courtship of Princess Leia.

The online supplement Hapes: Ladies First, which purports to detail part of Isolder's career as a privateer, is filled with continuity errors. The main ones include Isolder revealing his presence to his mother before he had captured Harravan, and the placement of the timeline as 0 BBY instead of after 2 ABY. These contradictions are explained away on the main page of the web supplement itself in the form of being included in a "poorly fact checked" novel written by Grov Bricker, Isolder's Corellian captain.

Appearances



 * Hapes: Ladies First
 * The Courtship of Princess Leia
 * Tatooine Ghost
 * Children of the Jedi
 * The New Rebellion
 * Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy
 * Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers
 * Young Jedi Knights: Crisis at Crystal Reef
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
 * Balance Point
 * Dark Journey
 * Tempest