Darth Caedus

"Don't worry about Jacen. He might seem fragile at times, but he's a survivor."

- Leia Organa Solo

Jacen Solo (9 ABY&mdash;) was the eldest son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, and the younger twin of Jaina Solo. Even before he and his sister were born, their uncle Luke Skywalker could sense their strong presence in the Force and the two shared an inseparable mental bond. Jacen had always been an empathetic person, forming close bonds with humans and animals alike

Childhood
Besides his older sister, Jaina, Jacen had a younger brother, Anakin Solo. Jacen lived a happy, adventure-filled childhood of privilege, being the son of the Chief of State of the New Republic. He was born to Leia Organa and Han Solo on Coruscant during the end of the Thrawn Crisis. Grand Admiral Thrawn had promised the twins to Joruus C'Baoth in return for his help.

During the earlier years of his life, Jacen was sequestered with his sister on safe worlds, to protect them from the Empire, including New Alderaan during the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine. Ultimately, Han and Leia decided it would be safest to keep the family together. He and his sister were safeguarded and babysat by Chewbacca, C-3PO and their nanny, Winter. When the twins were a year-and-a-half old, they were joined by a younger brother, Anakin, also strong in the Force. Even before the tender age of three, Jacen and his sister managed to toddle into adventure. Sneaking away from C-3PO, the duo took a decommissioned turbolift into the scary depths of Coruscant. Luckily, they were rescued before any harm befell them.

A short time later, Jacen came to the defense of his uncle Luke Skywalker who had been rendered unconscious by the actions of the dark spirit of Exar Kun. None of Luke's students could see the disembodied spirit of their Master, but the young Jacen could. Luke guided Jacen to defend his uncle's body from attacking predators, and the two-year old even wielded Luke's lightsaber.

Jedi training
When he was in his early teens, Jacen went with his sister to begin their Jedi training at his uncle Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. He eventually developed an affinity and sensitivity towards nature and the Living Force. He could instinctively communicate with animals, and kept a large menagerie of small critters in his quarters in the Massassi temple. He and his sister befriended Lowbacca and the Dathomiri warrior princess Tenel Ka, learning Jedi techniques quickly and going through many trials even as young teens.

Second Imperium
In their exploration of the surrounding jungle, Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka and Lowbacca discovered a crashed TIE fighter from the Battle of Yavin. Jaina decided to install a hyperdrive in the downed starfighter and begin fixing it to fly again. Jacen, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka would help her to practice their Force skills. Unfortunately, Jacen and Jaina were captured by TIE's original pilot, Qorl, who had been living in the jungle for 19 years. However, Tenel Ka and Lowie managed to escape to the Jedi Praxeum. Meanwhile, Qorl got his captives to repair his vehicle. During this time, he learned what had happened during those long years. Qorl later escaped into hyperspace where he began searching for any remnants of the Empire.

Qorl would discover the Shadow Academy, a training ground for Dark Jedi under the command of one of Luke Skywalker's fallen students, the Imperial agentBrakiss and the remains of the Nightsister Tamith Kai. The Shadow Academy was aligned with an Imperial insurgency group known as the Second Imperium which refused to acknowledge the peace treaty signed between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic. Eventually, they managed to kidnap Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca during a raid on Lando Calrissian's GemDiver Station in Yavin. The three young Jedi trainees were brought to the Shadow Academy though they resisted efforts by Brakiss and Tenel Ka to indoctrinate them into Dark Jedi and were eventually rescued by Luke Skywalker and Tenel Ka.

Jacen learned a valuable lesson while he was at the Shadow Academy. In a training exercise that pitted an unknowing brother and sister against each other, Jacen realized that he was not as powerful in the Force or as wise as he had thought. The young Jedi had wished to construct a lightsaber, but discovered how dangerous they were and how much knowledge and maturity were required to wield one.

The friends returned to Coruscant for a short vacation, and were reunited with the twins' childhood friend Zekk. They were happy to see the young man, but the boy was soon recruited by the Shadow Academy, who discovered before the twins that the boy had Force potential. Zekk would be forced to fight Jacen and Jaina several times, and the twins and their friends finally progressed far enough to be tasked with building their first lightsabers.

Jacen's hard-learned lesson became hit home once again when Tenel Ka rushed to complete her lightsaber to keep up with her friends. She used an imperfect crystal and her blade shorted out in a sparring match with Jacen. His lightsaber passed through thin air where her weapon had been seconds before and severed the young woman's arm. Though the girl bore him no ill will, Jacen took it hard, and it became another event that would help shape him into the Jedi he was becoming.

Not long later, the Jedi trainees and the Shadow Academy would have their final confrontation during the Battle of the Jedi Praxeum. The twins, with the help of their peers at the Jedi Academy, Luke, and Zekk would bring down the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium forever.

Diversity Alliance
After this, Jacen and Jaina continued their Jedi training at Yavin 4, meeting new friends like Raynar Thul. However, they were not able to convince Zekk to stay at the Academy with them, but Jacen and Jaina remained friends with him. With his and Raynar's help, they ran into their first discovery of a new threat to the New Republic, the Diversity Alliance.

The Diversity Alliance was an extremist all-alien group that wanted to punish Humans for the atrocities of the New Order. They were led by a Twi'lek named Nolaa Tarkona, the sister of Oola, Jabba's dancing girl whom he had fed to his pet rancor. Nolaa Tarkona was a very striking woman, with only one lekku and sharpened teeth that she kept perfectly filed. Since its leader was a Twi'lek, the organization was based on Ryloth. Eventually, Raaba&mdash;who had joined the Diversity Alliance&mdash;succeeded in persuading Lowbacca to join Nolaa Tarkona's cause.

Since Lowie's fellow Jedi trainees suspected that the Wookiee had joined the Diversity Alliance without knowing their true motives, Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka and Raynar Thul went to Ryloth to investigate. Unfortunately, all four were captured and were put to work as slaves in the mines of Ryloth. Fortunately, Lowie eventually discovered what had happened to his friends and turned his back on the Diversity Alliance. he managed to rescue them and they left Ryloth along with Kur&mdash;a Twi'lek clan leader who had been conquered by Nolaa Tarkona.

Finally getting to the bottom of a plot they had suspected all along, the Jedi trainees caught up with Raynar's father Bornan Thul to race the Diversity Alliance fleet to an Imperial storehouse hidden in the Deep Core. There was hidden a supply of deadly diseases created by General Evir Derricote almost two decades ago. Tarkona wished to unleash a plague against humans and wipe them all out, but her efforts were thwarted by the combined efforts of the Jedi. She eventually succumbed to one of the diseases herself and died on a distant planetoid. Sadly, Bornan Thul also died from one of the plagues right before his son's eyes.

Black Sun
As Jacen and Jaina were getting older and becoming more experienced Jedi, they went on a trip with their father Han to Ord Mantell to watch a race. There the trio ran into Czethros, a bounty hunter who had hunted Han Solo years ago. They were ambushed by Black Sun agents, but were rescued by Anja Gallandro, a young woman who wielded a lightsaber but was not a Jedi. Although attracted to Tenel Ka, Jacen found a small infatuation growing for the older woman, and this probably led to the cooling of Jacen and Tenel Ka's relationship. Anja had blamed Han Solo for killing her father, but Solo denied it because her father died in a trap while finding treasure.

When Lando Calrissian invited the twins and their friends to Cloud City, they discovered Czethros was a leader of Black Sun, and was attempting to gain power over places of interest that could hopefully overcome the New Republic. Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie were ambushed by several Black Sun mercenaries, and Jacen was almost killed.

On another adventure, Jaina attempted to help Kessel and capture Czethros while Jacen rushed to help Anja with her spice addiction and combat Black Sun. With his help, Anja got rid of her addiction and accepted her father's real fate. Jacen thought Anja had Jedi potential, but it turned out she didn't, and his infatuation disappeared when Anja went to work for Lando. While Jacen learned much from these experiences, they could hardly prepare him for the carnage that would follow shortly thereafter.

The Yuuzhan Vong
Luke took on Jacen and Anakin as his apprentices. While Jacen disagreed with Luke on several aspects of the Force, the differences between Anakin and Jacen were far greater.

While Jacen was just as grief stricken at the death of Chewbacca as the rest of the Solo family, it did not haunt him as much as it did his siblings. Jacen joined the effort against the Yuuzhan Vong, but he still held doubts about the Jedi's role in the war. After the disastrous Battle of Fondor, Jacen tried to stop fighting all together. That all changed as the Battle of Duro. Leia was captured by Tsavong Lah, the Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong, who intended to sacrifice her in a ceremony. Lah was unconcerened when Jacen appeared, for he considered Jacen a coward for being pacifistic. Jacen, however, attacked with unprecedented ferocity, and knocked Lah out a window, which crushed his foot. The act brought Jacen back to the front lines of the War&mdash;and prompted Tsavong Lah to call for the heads of the Jedi.

Jacen was part of the Myrkr Strike Team that attempted to destroy the Voxyn. The mission was one disaster after another, which resulted in the deaths of a number of the force, including Anakin. Jacen managed to kill the voxyn queen, but the team was forced to leave him behind. They then felt a surge through the Force, believing Jacen had been killed.

Only Leia was convinced her son was still alive.

Vergere
In truth, Jacen was alive, but death would have been preferable. Vergere, a Jedi of the Old Republic who had lived with the Yuuzhan Vong for over fifty years, severed Jacen from the Force, tortured him, and challenged his very beliefs about the Force. Jacen was placed with a group of slaves that were taking orders from a dhuryam, which was a more adavnced form of a yammosk. A set of dhuryams was being tested on which would be the World Brain of Yuuzhan'tar, which the Yuuzhan Vong had renamed Coruscant. Jacen helped the slaves in his detail, which helped the dhuryam. Jacen soon learned that he could sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. And he used that to escape onto Coruscant. Vergere foiled his plans at escaping the planet, and Jacen finally succumbed to the months of torture. He lashed out at Vergere and the Yuuzhan Vong, then fled. Vergere confronted Jacen in the Solo's apartment, and asked him if he had fallen to the dark side, or if he was still a Jedi. Nom Anor confronted Jacen, and offered him Anakin's lightsaber, if he would convert to the Yuuzhan Vong religion. Jacen agreed--and he was lying. Ganner Rhysode, who was part of the team at Myrkr, came to Coruscant after hearing that Jacen was alive. Ganner was killed while giving Jacen enough time to convince the World Brain to sabotage the Vongforming of Yuuzhan'tar. Vergere then helped Jacen flee from Coruscant, telling Anor that Jacen was the most dangerous of the Jedi, and was vitally linked to the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Jacen and Vergere returned to Mon Calamari, where Jacen was reunited with his family. After a long earned vacation, Jacen joined Jaina in Admiral Traest Kre'fey's battle group. Jacen became Kre'fey's link to the Jedi pilots in his fleet, and Jacen was able to prediect where new elements were needed when they were needed. At the Battle of Ebaq 9, Jacen rushed to Jaina's aid, but soon needed help himself. Vergere sacrificed herself to save Jacen and killed the Yuuzhan Vong Warriors on the moon.

The War's End
As the newly formed Galactic Federation of Free Alliance emerged, Jacen accompanied his uncle Luke Skywalker into the Unknown Regions to seek a solution to the Yuuzhan Vong menace. There he help thwart a Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Imperial Remnant, visited Csilla (homeworld of the Chiss Ascendancy), and discovered the living planet Zonama Sekot.

In last months of the war, Jacen helped recapture Coruscant, where he killed Onimi, the real Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong, in a battle of strength in the Force. During the battle, Jacen reached a higher level of the Force than ever before, causing him to age physically and dissolve Onimi. After the war, Jacen decided to travel the Galaxy and spend time among other Force-users.

The Swarm War
"You think you know him, and then he tries to start a war."

- Han Solo

Five years later, Jacen Solo, along with his sister and a group of Jedi returned to the Unknown Regions after being called by the Force. There they discovered that Raynar Thul had survived, and had been joined to a Killik hive. The Killiks were having a border dispute with the Chiss (the race of Thrawn) and there was no way the Killiks could defend themselves. Jacen convinced Tenel Ka to send a fleet to protect the Killiks. As a result, Tenel Ka and Jacen's relationship once again began to blossom, with Tenel Ka becoming pregnant. She gave birth to their daughter in 36 ABY, though the girl was not publicly revealed, as Hapan nobles would try to assassinate the girl, and probably Jacen and Tenel as well. The fear proved well founded when the Dark Nest immediately attempted to assassinate the child at the request of Ta'a Chume, Tenel's grandmother. Tenel and the baby were saved, and Jacen, to protect Tenel and his daughter, caused a hemorrhage in Ta'a Chume, rendering her comatose. Jacen then had a vision of endless war, and concluded that there was only one way to preserve his new found family&mdash;wipe out the Killiks. In order to do this, Jacen tricked Lowie, Tesar Sebatyne, a still Joined Jaina and Zekk, and some other Jedi into instigating a war between the Chiss and the Killiks. Jaina was furious with her twin, and vowed never to fly with him again.

Appearances

 * The Last Command
 * Dark Empire
 * The Crystal Star
 * Young Jedi Knights
 * New Jedi Order
 * The Joiner King
 * The Unseen Queen
 * The Swarm War