Darth Caedus

"[Jacen] has always questioned his purpose as a Jedi, and even the meaning of the Force. I can't imagine him not questioning any fate that lay in store for him. And a special destiny is not always something joyous, or easy to bear. My father had a special destiny, and see where it took him."

- Luke Skywalker

Jacen Solo was the eldest son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, the younger twin of Jaina and the brother of the late Anakin. Even before he and his sister were born, their uncle Luke Skywalker could sense their strong presence in the Force, for the twins shared an inseparable mental bond. Later in his life he became the mentor to his cousin, Ben Skywalker and fathered a baby girl, Allana, with Tenel Ka.

Jacen showed latent Force powers as an infant when he helped his uncle and his uncle's students defeat the spirit of Exar Kun. He started his formal Jedi training years later at his uncle's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. He excelled as one of the best students, getting into many adventures with his friends Lowbacca, Tenel Ka and his sister Jaina. Later, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, he often did not see eye to eye with the orthodox Jedi view of the Force, despite being one of the more powerful Knights of the New Jedi Order.

After being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, he became associated with Vergere, who molded many of his ways of thinking. Jacen had always been an empathetic person, forming close bonds with humans and animals alike; as a child he developed an affinity and sensitivity towards nature and the Living Force. However, this bond with living beings diminished severely after his encounter with Vergere. By 40 ABY, Jacen's empathy to others had become largely nonexistent as a result of falling to the dark side, a trait evidenced by his remorseless torture and killing of suspected terrorists. In 40 ABY, he secretly apprenticed himself to Lumiya, becoming her Sith apprentice.

Childhood (9 ABY–22 ABY)
"He said, 'Why do I have to be strong? Someday I'll be able to go anywhere I want, or get anything I want, just by thinking about it&mdash;like Uncle Luke.'"

- A troubled Han Solo, speaking of Jacen's disregard for physical fitness.



Just prior to the end of the Thrawn Crisis, Jacen and his older twin sister, Jaina, were born to Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo. Because Grand Admiral Thrawn had promised to apprehend the twins and their mother in exchange for Joruus C'baoth's help, Jacen, Jaina, and their mother were the targets of three unsuccessful kidnapping attempts by Thrawn's Noghri Death Commandos. After the twins were born, prior to the deaths of Thrawn and C'baoth, Imperial Intelligence agents staged one last unsuccessful attempt to apprehend Leia and the twins.

Isolation
Following Luke's advice on protecting the children from the dark side of the Force, Han and Leia sent Jacen and Jaina to New Alderaan and were placed in the care of Leia's lifelong friend and aide Winter. For more than the first year of their lives, Jacen and Jaina saw their parents only twice. But any safety that could be derived from this arrangement would be short-lived. The reborn Emperor Palpatine discovered the location of the planet and ordered an attack immediately. During the chaos of the Second Battle of New Alderaan, Jacen and Jaina were nearly kidnapped by Dark-siders Xecr Nist and Kvag Gthull, but their efforts were thwarted by the actions for Rayf Ysanna.



Following the battle, Jacen and Jaina were brought to the ancient space city of Nespis VIII, where it was discovered that the Alliance had survived the destruction of Da Soocha V. After the birth of their younger brother, Anakin, Jacen and Jaina would live with their mother and father while on the run with the Rebel fleet until after an incident involving a warhead that was fired from the Galaxy Gun. The twins and their younger brother would visit Onderon, a planet that had been presumed to be safe from Palpatine.

This proved not to be the case when Palpatine arrived on Onderon, hoping to spiritually enter Anakin. Jacen and Jaina could do little but look on as their parents and uncle, as well as Empatajayos Brand battled Palpatine's last known clone. Palpatine was unsuccessful, but the incident led to Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin being sent to the world of Anoth with Winter.

Reunion
"You may all someday be the greatest Jedi Knights ever, but I'll always remember you like this! Pests!"

- Han Solo to his sons Jacen and Anakin, good-naturedly referring the difficulties of being a parent.

When they were two-and-a-half years old, Jacen and Jaina would come back to Coruscant to live with their parents. Because they had lived away from Han and Leia for quite a while, Jacen and Jaina had viewed Winter as their mother and Leia as a stranger. Therefore, they were quite apprehensive during their reunion. Because Han was gone at the time, Leia found herself trying to keep a precarious balance between her motherly and political duties.

To keep herself from being overwhelmed by the tasks that confronted her, Leia would enlist C-3PO's help. The protocol droid had uploaded information regarding child-rearing into his memory banks and would meet the challenge with an initial enthusiasm but mixed results. Chewbacca would also aid in raising the twins after he had returned from Kessel with Han.

The team of C-3PO and Chewbacca would typically take care of Jacen and Jaina when their parents were away. C-3PO would recite stories such as The Little Lost Bantha Cub and take them on field trips along with Chewbacca, who would keep an eye on them. However, such an arrangement didn't pan out for them during a trip to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals.

Using their mental bond, Jacen and Jaina decided to play a game of hide-and-seek with Chewbacca and C-3PO, though the latter parties did not consent to it. The twins found their way to a turbolift and unknowingly took it into Coruscant's undercity. During the course of their adventure, they encountered many odd and dangerous creatures and discovered Onibald Daykim's kingdom. After they were allowed to sample some of the local cuisine, Daykim returned Jacen and Jaina to their parents.

When their Uncle Luke was disabled by Kyp Durron and the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord named Exar Kun, Jacen and Jaina accompanied their parents on a visit to the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 and were baffled by their uncle's condition. During the dinner that followed, the twins, along with their mother and the students felt a great disturbance in the Force when the planet of Carida was destroyed by Kyp Durron.

The day after that Jacen would find a number of woolamanders that had taken up residence in the Great Temple and claimed that he could talk to them. While in spirit form, Luke found that the twins were the only individuals with whom he could communicate. He managed to keep his body from being destroyed by warning them of the threat in their dreams.

After their parents had left the Praxeum, Jacen and Jaina were placed in the care of Cilghal, one of Luke's students. While visiting Luke's body once again, they noticed that they could see his spirit when they were awake. That night, Luke once again awoke Jacen.

Exar Kun's spirit had dispatched a number of Sith battle hydras that would surely destroy Luke's body if given the chance. Luke instructed Jacen to take up his lightsaber to defend his body. As Luke's spirit took control of Jacen's body, he showed Jacen how to use the lightsaber with all the skill of a master swordsman. However, after the event, Jacen seemed like he had no idea what had happened. Jacen and Jaina would later help destroy Exar Kun's spirit and restore Luke's spirit back to his body.



Abduction
When he was five years old Jacen and his siblings accompanied Leia on a diplomatic mission to the planet Munto Codru. Chewbacca would make sure that the children would not get into any trouble as they played in a designated meadow during negotiations, but he would not be enough to keep Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, and Chamberlain Iyon's wyrwulf from being kidnapped. The twins and Anakin unknowingly left a trail of pain behind them that could be sensed in the Force.

After returning to consciousness, the children were greeted by a man named Hethrir. He claimed that their parents, their uncle, and Chewbacca had been killed in an earthquake and that he, Hethrir, was their hold-father. They immediately picked up on the fact that Hethrir was lying to them when Jacen and Jaina lied to him about the order in which they were born.

Jacen and Jaina did not adapt well to the drudgeries of living aboard Hethrir's Worldcraft. They managed to stay resolute in the face of the overwhelming pressures that were brought to bear to ensure their corruption. Jacen and Jaina would rebel against the authority of Hethrir's Proctors in a number of subtle ways. On one occasion, Jacen would induce a large number of myrmins into attacking the Proctors during a meal. However, many myrmins died to cause the Proctors a small amount of discomfort, much to Jacen's regret.

Jacen would later use his talents to befriend the sand dragon that lived just outside the compound in which they were kept aboard the Worldcraft. He was able to ascertain that the sand dragon was a female and thus Jaina gave the name Mistress Dragon to her. That friendship would prove useful when they made an escape attempt with a number of the other captive children. They would mount Mistress Dragon to evade the Proctors who had by then been alerted to what had happened.

As the Proctors drew closer to the children, their mother's yacht, Alderaan, landed nearby. After a tearful reunion, they proceeded to Crseih Station to rescue Anakin and Iyon, as well as a number of other children who were in Hethrir's possession. If they did not make it in time, Hethrir would sacrifice Anakin to Waru. In the process of rescuing Anakin, Waru destroyed Hethrir and vanished from the known galaxy. Additionally, a number of other children were saved from being sold into slavery, among them Iyon's wywulf and Lusa, a young Chironian with whom Jaina had become friends.

After the rescue, both parents would take a more active role in the raising of their children. Of all of the children, Han was most concerned about Jacen, who had a tendency to shun physical activity and wanted to do everything with the Force, instead of his hands. Unlike his younger brother, Jacen&mdash;along with Jaina&mdash;would often test his father's patience. Despite the hard time that he gave Han, Jacen loved him and was frightened by the prospect of losing him when the news was broken to him that his father had been captured by the Duskhan League.

The First Corellian Insurrection
"All right, but be sure you remember whose idea it was to start shooting."

- Jacen Solo reluctantly acquiesces to his sister's desire to free Chewbacca, Ebrihim and Marcha.

In 18 ABY, Jacen accompanied his family on a vacation to the Corellia system. After their arrival, Leia hired a Drall named Ebrihim as a tutor for the children and a guide for the whole family. During their first day with Ebrihim, Jacen and Jaina made it clear that they were annoyed by the fact that they were being tutored during what was supposed to be their vacation. However, this was somewhat mitigated by the fact that they were learning about places that they would eventually visit.



On their first outing, the family was to visit Corellia's first major archaeological site. Jacen looked forward to this trip, and planned on seeing some real skeletons. He did manage to get a glimpse at some, but he was troubled by the recklessness shown by the Human League Heritage Squad's workers.

Jacen and his siblings became separated from the rest of the party and accidentally stumbled upon what would later be identified as Corellia's planetary repulsor, one of which was located on each of the Five Brothers. After Ebrihim's droid Q9-X2 found them, Jacen and Jaina used the Force to cover up any sign that they had been there and returned to the party. They would later tell their parents, Chewbacca, and Ebrihim what they had found in the tunnel.

After several days, during which they toured Corellia's main continent, Jacen and his family would relocate their lodgings to Corona House. There, Leia and Han were scheduled to attend a major trade conference which would be the first step in an attempt to encourage Corellia to become less insular and more connected with the rest of the Galaxy.

During the first night of the trade summit, while their parents were away, the three children overheard a conversation between their parents with Mara Jade and Governor-General Micamberlecto. They learned of a plot which involved the destruction of entire star systems.

Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin would end up cooped up in Corona House with Chewbacca, Ebrihim, and Q9-X2 while their parents left to advise Micamberlecto on how best to deal with the brewing crisis. They watched from the apartment as enclaves within Coronet City burned to the ground and bodies piled up in the streets in the first stages of what would come to be known as the First Corellian Insurrection.

Corona House came under fire and Chewbacca decided that at this point it was time to leave. The children, the Wookiee, the Drall, and the droid piled into the Millennium Falcon. Terrified by the violence that had erupted, Jacen falteringly said goodbye to his father, who had given him the burden of telling his siblings that they would have to leave their parents amid the chaos on Corellia.

With the hyperdrive of the Falcon damaged by a PPB's lucky shot, the decision was made to visit Ebrihim's Aunt Marcha on Drall. By the time that they reached Drall, the Falcon's damaged hyperdrive became a non-issue since an interdiction field had mysteriously materialized, preventing any ship within the Corellian system from entering hyperspace.

Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin were happy to accept the hospitality of Marcha, the Duchess of Mastigophorous and received a lesson about Drallish traditions as well. The following morning after breakfast, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin related to Marcha their experience at the archaeological dig, the mysterious installation that they had found there, and the conversation and recording that they had seen and heard.

Marcha would bring Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin to Drall's planetary repulsor after putting all of the pieces together. They eventually made their way inside the repulsor and looked as Anakin experimented with its interfaces.

After escaping death when his brother activated the repulsor, Jacen used his bond with Anakin to track him down within his general vicinity. Though he thought that Anakin should not get off easy, Jacen knew that being angry at and mean to his brother for what he had done would be pointless, given the situation. Jacen managed to gently coax Anakin from his hiding place and returned to the main chamber of the repulsor.

Jacen would later be reunited with his father's (and by extension his own) cousin Thrackan Sal-Solo, who came as soon as he learned that Drall's planetary repulsor had been activated. The reunion was not a happy one however, since Thrackan planned to use the repulsor for his own ends and imprisoned Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, Chewbacca, Ebrihim, and Marcha. Thrackan would use the children in a gamble to blackmail their mother into getting the New Republic to recognize Corellian independence.

The children escaped from their prison with the aid of Q9-X2 and made their way to their father's freighter. After they effected some repairs with the help of Chewbacca and Ebrihim, who needed to be left behind, Jacen piloted the Millennium Falcon out of the mouth of the planetary repulsor with Thrackan in hot pursuit.

Though he was flying it upside down and had no experience flying the Falcon, Jacen managed to outmaneuver Thrackan's ship, eventually tailing the Mynock-class assault boat. Jaina's gunnery skills would ensure that it presented no threat, eventually damaging Thrackan's ship enough that it hung dead in space. Immediately thereafter, a tractor beam attempted to lock on to the Millennium Falcon and Jacen did his best to evade it, but gave up after he heard the voice of his father's friend Lando Calrissian (who mistook his voice for that of Jaina) over the comm system.

Aboard the Bakuran vessel Intruder, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin were reunited with their parents. However the reunion was cut short since Han and Leia had volunteered to help the Bakuran fleet in its confrontation with the forces of the Sacorrian Triad at Centerpoint Station. Jacen and Jaina for their part, accompanied their brother back to the planetary repulsor on Drall to see if he could find a way to use it to stop the ancient space station from continuing its destruction of whole solar systems.

Once again inside the planetary repulsor, Jacen helped to smooth out the wrinkles in the lines of communication between Anakin and older more experienced technicians such as Antone. Anakin was a critical part of the plan to stop Centerpoint Station because the repulsor's systems would only answer to him. On one occasion, as the lives of the people of Bovo Yagen hung in the balance, Anakin became cranky and walked away from the terminal at which he was working. The responsibility would once again fall to Jacen to coax him into getting back to the task at hand. Jacen would watch as Anakin saved the lives of twelve million people and countless more.



Sometime after they returned home to Coruscant, Jaina would meet a street kid named Zekk, who had a talent for finding things. Though he had a tendency for disappearing many times, he became the first friend that they had outside of their family. He would often take the twins on many adventures throughout the city. Jacen would find that Zekk was often, if not always, amused by his jokes.

After the discovery of a partial copy of the Caamas Document in 19 ABY, and because of the crisis and scandal that would inevitably follow, Jacen and his siblings were sent to Kashyyyk with Chewbacca and a group of Noghri for their protection. After it had passed, he, Jaina, and Anakin was present at the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty with their parents aboard the Star Destroyer Chimaera. Shortly thereafter, Jacen would attend his Uncle Luke's private Jedi wedding to Mara Jade. During the public ceremony commemorating the union between Luke and Mara, Jacen was confined to a room designated for the children of the guests under the watchful eye of Booster Terrik.

Ever since he was aware of the gifts that he had inherited, Jacen wanted to develop them so that he could become a Jedi Knight and wield a lightsaber like his uncle. When he was twelve, he and his sister jumped at the chance to study at the Jedi Praxeum. He learned much during his time there, but the twins would stay there for only a few months. When the twins returned to their parents' open arms, Anakin would leave for the Praxeum for a few months as well. Jacen waited (albeit somewhat impatiently) for the chance to attend the Praxeum full-time.

Jedi training (23 ABY–25 ABY)
"Hey, Lando, I heard two droids talking the other day. The first one said, 'Well, did you beat the Wookiee at sabacc?' And the second one said&mdash;" "&mdash;'Yes, but it cost me an arm and a leg.' "That's an old joke, kid." "Maybe that's why Tenel Ka didn't laugh at it."

- Jacen Solo, attempts to amuse Lando Calrissian.



At the age of fourteen in 23 ABY, Jacen and his sister returned to Yavin 4 to begin their training at the Praxeum on a more full-time basis. Jacen continued to develop the gift that he had for communicating with animals. With Jaina's help, Jacen set up and made regular additions to a large menagerie of small critters in the quarters in which he resided. Jacen's hair was typically filled with twigs and leaves from his expeditions into the jungle in search for more odd creatures.

In spite of the knowledge that he had accumulated during his study of strange plants and animals when he had been younger, Jacen still had quite a bit to learn about the natural world. One of the creatures that he had kept in his menagerie was a rock lizard, who, after a few weeks in captivity tried to escape. Jacen brought up this problem during a conversation with Luke, who then related to him a story about Huey, a dewback that had shared the same problem. Jacen took Luke's advice and released his rock lizard into the wild. It would return later with an egg sack.

When Jacen wasn't paying attention to his animals, he would be attending classes and socializing with other students. After he and his sister befriended a Dathomiri warrior girl named Tenel Ka, Jacen took issue with her seeming lack of humor. The twins decided to make it their goal to make her laugh, but Jaina seemed to eventually lose interest in what seemed to be an impossible endeavor. Nevertheless, Jacen continued to pursue this matter as if it were a personal mission, but all of his attempts seemingly resulted in failure. There were only a few fellow students who managed to rub Jacen the wrong way and the most prominent among them was Raynar Thul, who took issue with his menagerie of animals.

Approximately one month after the twins had first begun training, Han and Chewbacca visited the Praxeum, along with a young Wookiee named Lowbacca. Lowbacca was Chewbacca's nephew and like Jacen and Jaina, planned to train to become a Jedi Knight at the Praxeum. Along with Jaina and Tenel Ka, Jacen befriended Lowbacca and found that the young Wookiee was among the few individuals who appreciated his sense of humor.

The destroyed TIE Fighter
"Be careful&mdash;don't assume a teacher is always right, without question. You have to think for yourself. Sometimes we teachers make mistakes, too. But in this case, I am right: You're not yet ready for a lightsaber."

- Luke Skywalker to Jacen Solo, after discovering his nephew playing with his lightsaber in his office.

When Lowbacca came back to the Praxeum late one evening with tales of a mysterious glittering object Jacen agreed to accompany Jaina, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka to investigate it. The next day they discovered that the object was a solar panel from a TIE Fighter that had crashed over twenty years prior. The rest of the TIE Fighter eventually was found and Jacen's sister declared her belief that the derelict starfighter could be fixed.

Though he had some misgivings about the enterprise, Jacen decided to help Jaina, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka repair the fighter. His job mainly consisted of searching the surrounding area for missing parts from the TIE Fighter, which allowed him ample opportunity to learn about the surrounding vegetation and search for interesting animals. As the TIE Fighter neared its final stages of repair and modifications (which included a hyperdrive that Jaina had received from her father), missing parts within full view crash site became rare.

Against his better judgment, Jacen went into the jungle out of sight of his friends and discovered a well-worn path. Like many of his other searches for "missing parts" this search became one for whatever animal created that path and he ventured further into the jungle until he discovered a makeshift dwelling and found signs that it had been recently inhabited by the pilot of the TIE Fighter.

Jacen ran as quickly as he could to the crash site only to be taken hostage by the TIE Fighter pilot. Lowbacca and Tenel Ka escaped so that they might be able to warn the others about the trouble that their friends were in. The pilot marched the twins back to his home and over "dinner" he revealed to them that his name was Qorl and that he had been out of touch from the rest of the Galaxy for the past twenty three years, after which Jacen informed him of the political situation at the time.

The next day, Qorl forced Jacen and Jaina to complete repairs on the TIE Fighter, during which Jacen attempted some subterfuge by placing a crystal snake inside the fighter's cockpit. After they completed repairs, Qorl announced that he would destroy the old Rebel base which housed the Jedi Praxeum, took off and left the twins to fend for themselves in the jungles of Yavin 4. After some waiting, the Millennium Falcon materialized from the sky and brought them back to the Praxeum.

The Shadow Academy
During a field trip to Lando Calrissian's GemDiver Station, the twins and Lowbacca were kidnapped by stormtroopers led by Tamith Kai, a Nightsister. En route to their kidnappers' secret base, the twins and Lowbacca were brought to the cockpit of the ship that had been used to board GemDiver Station. Here, they were reunited with Qorl, who told them that he had found "his Empire" and that that the kidnapping of the young Jedi Knights was the result of the information that he had given to his masters. After reversion to realspace, Tamith Kai told Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca that they would be trained to become Dark Jedi once they arrived at their destination&mdash;the Shadow Academy.

Brakiss&mdash;one of Luke's failed students and the head of the Shadow Academy&mdash;greeted the trio of Jedi trainees and informed them of the plans of the Second Imperium&mdash;one of the Imperial insurgency groups that had refused to acknowledge the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty. Despite their protestations to the contrary, Brakiss was convinced that Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca would eventually come around to see things his way and had them imprisoned in tiny cells.

After a particularly disastrous lecture, during which his sister Jaina experienced the power of Force lightning firsthand for defiance of Brakiss, Jacen was cut off from seeing his sister and Lowbacca. Brakiss decided that the new recruits were wise to the propaganda that he recited in his speeches, so he decided to try to turn the twins by giving them what they desired. In Jacen's case, it would be a simple matter.

Jacen's training at the Shadow Academy began with lightsaber practice. Despite Jacen's insistence that Luke had told him that he was not ready to be trained with a one, he was subjected to exercises in which he had to defend himself from holo-remotes. Though the imaginary monsters were unable to harm him, Brakiss "encouraged" Jacen by hinting that he might lose his patience with Jacen and put a real monster in the chamber with him. Jacen was later put in a variety of sadistic scenarios which involved him unknowingly dueling his sister and another wherein a series of hard balls, rocks and knives were thrown at Jaina and himself.

After Jacen survived the latter scenario and learned how visualize objects in the Force in the process, he, his sister, and Lowbacca were informed by Brakiss that of plans to kidnap more "recruits" from the Praxeum. Jacen decided that it was time to attempt escape. He used a Corusca gem that he had retrieved during his visit to GemDiver Station to free himself from his cell. Jacen then freed his sister and Lowbacca along with a reprogrammed Em Teedee, who helped to disable various subsystems of the Shadow Academy (except for the alarms). The Jedi trainees raced to the Shadow Academy's docking bay, where they found Luke and Tenel Ka, who had come to rescue them.

After making it back safely to Yavin 4, Jacen, Jaina, and Lowbacca returned to life at the Praxeum. Jacen's desire to have his own lightsaber was tempered by the realization that he could have killed his sister during their imprisonment at the Shadow Academy. He decided that he was not yet ready for the responsibility that a lightsaber entailed and would trust his uncle's judgment on the matter.

Zekk's recruitment into the Shadow Academy
Jacen and Jaina later returned to Coruscant with their friends for a month-long vacation from the Jedi Praxeum's strenuous curriculum. Jacen and Jaina spent their first day back home with Zekk, bringing Lowbacca and Tenel along on adventure through the undercity of Coruscant. During their time down there, Jacen helped "acquire" a hawk-bat egg for Zekk by using his gift for communicating with animals. After a run-in with the street gang known as the Lost Ones and its leader, Norys, they managed to make it back intact to the apartment that Zekk shared with his old friend Peckhum.

Over a lunch of stormtrooper rations, Jacen and Jaina convinced Zekk to attend a diplomatic banquet that was going to be held in the honor of the new Karnak Alphan ambassador within the next couple of days. Zekk accepted and he showed up at the Imperial Palace at the proper time. Jacen (with his hair awkwardly straightened) and Jaina greeted Zekk but, despite remaining silent about the matter, could not contain what they thought about Zekk's seemingly old-fashioned style of dress and long, tangled hair and how it would look at a diplomatic banquet.

During the reception, Jacen discovered that the hawk-bat egg that he had retrieved would find a safe home on Karnak Alpha. He was also mystified by Tenel Ka's knowledge of Karnak Alphan customs, but didn't try to force the point. After witnessing Zekk embarrass himself by accidentally eating a plant, Jacen looked on as Zekk stormed out of the Palace.

After coming to Zekk's apartment the next day, Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca were only greeted by the door and nothing else. As days passed without any word from Zekk, concern turned to dread. Peckhum eventually contacted them and when they asked him where Zekk had gone off to, the old spacer told them that he was going to ask them the same question. With the aid of information from Peckhum, Jacen and Tenel Ka decided to check out Zekk's haunts in the undercity.

Just in case they ran into trouble, Jacen and Tenel Ka kept an kept an open comlink to his brother Anakin and C-3PO. Eventually they found Zekk giving a speech to a group of strangely subdued Lost Ones inside their compound. In spite of Zekk's different appearance and the odd circumstances, Jacen was glad to see his old friend but Zekk didn't seem to share the sentiment. The reason for this made itself clear when Tamith Kai appeared with her fellow "recruiters" Garowyn and Vilas. The Jedi trainees had very little time to digest the news that Zekk had discovered that he was Force-sensitive and decided to train to become a Dark Jedi at the Shadow Academy before they were stunned and left behind.

Thanks to the comlink, Jacen and Tenel Ka were found by C-3PO, Anakin, and Leia. They returned to the upper levels and contacted Jaina, who had been unsuccessfully trying to keep her mind off Zekk by mapping out orbital debris and helping Lowbacca and Chewbacca repair the Orbital Solar Energy Transfer Satellite that Peckhum had been assigned to. Jacen told her what he and Tenel Ka had found in the undercity of Coruscant. By putting this piece of information together with other observations, Jaina helped to find the Shadow Academy, which had been conducting operations within the Coruscant System. The New Republic Defense Force's valiant efforts notwithstanding, the Shadow Academy managed to escape to hyperspace, Zekk along with it.

Tenel Ka's accident
After watching a message that Zekk had left behind in a message pod before the Shadow Academy had escaped, Jacen and Jaina were disheartened to discover that Zekk was doing what he was doing out of his own free will. What was supposed to have been a month-long vacation was cut short and they were brought back to the Praxeum by Master Skywalker, who reassured them that he believed that he thought that there was still hope for both Zekk and Brakiss. In the meantime however, in order to counter the Dark Jedi that the Shadow Academy was producing, Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca would have to begin building their own lightsabers.



Jacen's hard-learned lesson 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 left 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.

Luke contacted Tenel Ka's family regarding the accident, and Tenel Ka returned to her homeworld of Hapes to recover. After a brief period of time, Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacca were permitted to stay on Hapes to visit with her. Although Jacen was shocked to hear that his friend was the heir to the Hapan throne and wondered why she kept it from him, she assured him it was because she wanted her friends to like her for herself, not because of her position. Later on Hapes, Jacen helped foil a plot by Ta'a Chume's underling Yfra to overthrow Tenel Ka's family.

The fall of the Shadow Academy
After their return to the Praxeum, the Jedi companions then traveled to Kashyyyk, where Lowbacca's younger sister Sirrakuk was about to undergo a Wookiee ritual. Since the ritual was dangerous, Lowie wanted to assist his sibling. Unfortunately, a Second Imperium strike force led by Zekk himself attacked the city of Thikkiiana, a major exporter of computer technology. The four Jedi trainees defeated most of the Imperium soldiers, and Jaina informed Jacen and her friends that Zekk warned her that the Praxeum was to be the Shadow Academy's next target.

In response, the four Jedi raced back to the Jedi Praxeum and alerted the Jedi there. Sure enough, the Shadow Academy and a fleet of reclaimed Imperial warships appeared. Legions of Stormtroopers and Dark Jedi were then unleashed, thus starting the battle. 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.

Diversity Alliance


Following the defeat of the Second Imperium, the Solo twins helped rebuild the Academy and also continued their Jedi training. While the reformed Zekk recovered from his injuries, he was harassed by nightmares as a result of his involvement with the Dark Jedi. As a result, Zekk refused to use the Force again and left the Academy on Peckhum's freighter Lightning Rod to become a bounty hunter.

However, trouble would soon come when Raynar Thul received word that his father Bornan Thul&mdash;a wealthy merchant and shipping baron&mdash;had disappeared while en route to an important trade conference with Nolaa Tarkona, the Twi'lek leader of the Diversity Alliance, a fanatical all-alien group which sought to punish Humans for the cruelty inflicted by the humanocentric Galactic Empire. When Nolaa learned that Bornan had disappeared, she placed a huge bounty on him and the mysterious cargo he was hiding.

Jacen and Jaina also traveled to the Alderaan system to search through the asteroid field that had once been Alderaan. The twins landed on a barren asteroid and secured a shard from what used to be the planet's core. However, they were ambushed by Ailyn Vel, disguised as the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Luckily for them, Zekk came to the rescue and drove the Fett impersonator away. Despite having rescued them, Zekk refused to return with them to the Academy though he decided to search for Bornan Thul later.

During their hunt for Bornan Thul, the Solo twins would be joined by Raynar Thul, Tenel Ka and Lowbacca. They searched his last known locations stretching from ancient ruined worlds to the droid foundry world of Mechis III. Meanwhile, Nolaa Tarkona went on a crusade to whip up support among the alien species of the galaxy, particularly the Chromans of Chroma Zed. Things went bad for the Jedi when Lowbacca misguidedly joined the Diversity Alliance under the influence of fellow Wookiee Raaba and traveled to their headquarters on Ryloth to learn more about them.

Meanwhile, Zekk rescued Bornan from bounty hunters and learned the reason he had disappeared. Bornan had stumbled upon the location of a top-secret Imperial plague warehouse on an uncharted asteroid in the Deep Core. Hidden there was a supply of deadly diseases created by General Evir Derricote almost two decades ago. Though the Galactic Empire had been defeated, this plague warehouse still remained with its supplies of deadly diseases. Bornan also revealed that Ailyn Vel (still disguised as Boba Fett) had sliced into his ship's navicomputer and gotten a hold of the coordinates of the plague warehouse. Having learned about it, Nolaa Tarkona wished to unleash a plague against all Humans.

Feeling that Lowbacca only knew the public face of the Diversity Alliance, the Solo twins along with Raynar and Tenel Ka traveled to Ryloth only to get arrested by the local authorities and put to work in the dangerous ryll mines of Ryloth. However, Lowbacca soon learned what had befallen of his Human companions through Raaba. The enraged Wookiee turned against the Diversity Alliance and helped them escape the harsh terrain of the planet and zealous Diversity Alliance troops. The Jedi also discovered that the Diversity Alliance was stockpiling weapons for its war against Humans. While Lowbacca went ahead of the others to secure escape, Jacen and Tenel Ka were separated from Jaina and Raynar. Having been chased by Diversity Alliance soldiers onto the dark, frozen side of Ryloth, Jacen and Tenel Ka discovered a cave in which Kur, a Twi'lek clan leader exiled by Nolaa when she took power, resided. After they were rescued by Lowbacca, Sirra and Luke Skywalker, the pair also rescued Kur.

Based on the reports of his Jedi charges and the testimony of Kur, Luke asked the New Republic Senate on Coruscant that an inspection team be sent to Ryloth to investigate reports of Diversity Alliance aggression. After recording an encrypted message to his wife explaining their plan, Bornan, Raynar, Zekk, Jacen and Jaina Solo, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca gathered up some explosives and went to the warehouse with the intention of destroying it. The Diversity Alliance fleet, led by Nolaa Tarkona, arrived at the asteroid shortly afterwards, and there was a confrontation between the two groups. During the struggle, several plague canisters were busted open, and Bornan sacrificed himself so that the plague would not spread to the children.

Above the asteroid, the Diversity Alliance forces crumpled under the onslaught of both the New Republic fleet led by Han Solo, and the Bornaryn fleet led by Aryn Dro Thul. With the threat of the Diversity Alliance eliminated, Jacen and his friends returned to Yavin IV to continue their training. During a gathering of his friends by the river, Jacen was surprised when Tenel Ka leaned over and kissed him.

Black Sun


Following that, Jacen and Jaina went on a trip with their father Han and Zekk to Ord Mantell to watch the Blockade Runners Derby. Zekk later won the race. However, they encountered Czethros, a bounty hunter who had hunted Han Solo years ago, though he now claimed to be an honest businessman. Later at a hangar bay, they were ambushed by several Chameleon creatures though they were rescued by Anja Gallandro, a young woman who wielded a lightsaber but was not a Jedi. Instead, Anja relied on doses of spice to enhance her senses.

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. However, Anja was actually an undercover agent for Czethros, who really was a leader of Black Sun. The galactic-wide crime syndicate had been keeping a low profile for years ever since the death of Prince Xizor during a skirmish on Coruscant in 3 ABY. However, they had been attempting to gain power by planting cells in positions of power throughout the New Republic, including political, economical and military. Czethros also controlled Anja by keeping her addicted to spice.

Han managed to convince Anja that he was good by stopping a 25 year-long civil war on her backwater homeworld of Anobis. There, Solo met with the two rival factions and brokered a truce between them. This made Anja wonder whether her hatred for Solo had been misplaced and she agreed to join the Solo twins and their companions at the Jedi Praxeum to discover her abilities.

Later, Lando Calrissian invited the twins and their friends to Cloud City where he wanted them to be the first try out the new SkyCenter Galleria amusement park which he had invested in through the use of repurchased interests from the spice mining world of Kessel and shares from a mining operation on Varn. However, things went bad when a business associate of Calrissian named Cojahn was found dead. Worse, the Jedi discovered whom Czethros actually was and his plot for galactic domination. Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie were also ambushed by several Ugnaught Black Sun mercenaries in the lower levels of Cloud City. They ran into a garbage chute and Jacen fell, slipping out of Cloud City and into Bespin's atmosphere. Fortunately, M'kim, a Thranta Rider, caught him, saving him from a terrible death.

As a result, Czethros was targeted by the New Republic and arrests for him were issued on many worlds. However, he had managed to evade capture and went underground. Unfortunately for Anja, she had realized that without Czethros there would be no supplier for the spice that fueled her addiction. Anja then stole Zekk's ship Lightning Rod and traveled to the ocean world of Dac, better known as Mon Calamari, where she hoped to retrieve a hidden stash of spice beneath the planet's frozen ice cap.



Meanwhile on Kessel, Calrissian's longtime Sullustan mate Nien Nunb had been nearly killed during a suspicious accident in the carbon-freezing sections of the processing facility. Black Sun had planted cells even there and the Sullustan knew he was in danger. Worse for him, his workers were turning against him. Jacen, Tenel Ka and Zekk pursued Anja to Dac while Jaina and Lowbacca went to Kessel to help protect Nien Nunb. On Dac, at the resort city of Crystal Reef, Jacen confronted Anja while she tried to lease a Mini-Sub to hunt for the hidden spice stash. He managed to help Anja confront her spice addiction and she accepted her father's real fate. They also succeeded in destroying Czethros's stash of spice on Dac. Jacen thought Anja had Jedi potential, but it turned out she didn't, and his infatuation disappeared when Anja went to work for Lando.

Back on Kessel, Czethros and an army of Black Sun mercenaries took control of the planet and captured Nien Nunb though Jaina and Lowbacca managed to escape. They also discovered that Black Sun had been planting cells in positions of power throughout the New Republic. From Kessel, Czethros hoped to send a signal that would activate these cells. However, Jaina and Lowbacca sabotaged his operations by destroying the transmitter before Czethros could broadcast his signal. They also freed the prisoners and helped defeat the Black Sun mercenaries. Rather than allow himself to be captured, Czethros threw himself into a vat of carbonite and was flash-frozen instantly. However, he was retrieved and placed in New Republic custody. The Chief of State Leia Organa Solo would supervise his unthawing and interrogation. As a result, the names of Black Sun moles in strategic positions of power were discovered, defeating the crime syndicate.

Following this ordeal, he, along with several other trainees including his sister Jaina, his younger brother Anakin, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca and Zekk were honored during a ceremony at the Jedi Praxeum. While Jacen learned much from these experiences, they could hardly prepare him for the carnage that would follow shortly thereafter.

The War's beginning
"I renounce the need to know, now, what I will become later. In looking to my future, I have ignored the present and my role in it. The present is too critical for me to do that anymore."

- Jacen Solo



Luke formally 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.

In 25 ABY, Anakin and Jacen argued a lot regarding how the Force should be used, and these arguments started to cause a rift between the brothers. While Anakin viewed to Force as a tool to be wielded, Jacen was more passive in his views.

After Lando Calrissian invited the Skywakers and Solos to Dubrillion, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin took turns "running the belt", and Jacen watched as Jaina beat the record previously held by Kyp Durron.

Alerted by a cry in the Force, Jacen and Jaina traveled to Helska IV, and discovered that scientist Danni Quee and Kyp Durron's apprentice Miko Reglia were being held captive by a group of invaders calling themselves the Yuuzhan Vong. Although the pair successfully rescued Danni, the three watched as Miko sacrificed himself to cover their escape.

"Be careful about sacrificing your gifts, to help others see the truth as you perceive it."

- Luke Skywalker

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 give up using the Force altogether. That all changed at 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 unconcerned 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.

Mission to Myrkr
Jacen was part of the Myrkr Strike Team that attempted to destroy the Voxyn. Jacen's role in the mission was to coordinate the battle meld between all the strike team members and the use of his animal friendship ability. The leader of the mission was his brother Anakin, and the tension between Jacen and his brother threatened to derail the mission before it even began. The mission was one disaster after another, and resulted in the deaths of a number of the force, including Anakin. After Anakin's death, Jacen became the leader of the remaining strike team members, and he managed to kill the voxyn queen. However, the team was forced to leave him behind, and he was captured by the Fosh Jedi Vergere. Due to Vergere cutting him off from the Force, the rest of the strike team then felt a surge through the Force, believing Jacen had been killed. Only Leia was convinced her son was still alive.

Vergere
"I tell you this: though neither he nor they yet know it, he is the greatest of all the Jedi. Jacen Solo is the living Jedi dream. Even without the Force, he is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine."

- Vergere

Meanwhile, Vergere, who had lived with the Yuuzhan Vong for over fifty years, proceeded to torture him by placing him within the Embrace of Pain, forcing Jacen to give into the pain and understand the strength one gains when it is fully embraced. Vergere challenged his very beliefs, severing his connection to the Force, which manifested itself in a death-like Force surge, fooling most of those that felt it.

Jacen was placed with a group of slaves taking orders from a dhuryam, a more advanced form of a yammosk. A set of 12 dhuryams was being tested and pit against each other to determine which would be the World Brain of Yuuzhan'tar, the Yuuzhan Vong name for Coruscant. Abiding by his Jedi teachings to help others, Jacen medically helped the slaves in his detail, which helped the dhuryam assigned to it. However, he soon became overwhelmed by slaves and their respective dhuryams wanting help for the injuries and maladies that plagued them. Vergere tested Jacen by comparing what he did to gardening; weeding out some so that others might survive. Indeed, many did die and Jacen felt a sense of regret. During his time in the Nursery, he did make progress, however. Thanks to the slave seed imbedded in his chest and his Force abilities, he managed to seduce the local dhuryam and gain a bit of control over it and the rest of the Nursery. It could be said that he made, "friends", but the dhuryam had no comprehension of trust.



Shortly before seedfall would occur, Jacen led a revolt in the Nursery. Standing in an amphistaff grove, Jacen used the Force and his skill with creatures to beckon the creatures to him, having them wrap around his body to form a suit of armor. After dispatching many guards, Jacen began to kill the dhuryams. He nearly became immersed in the Dark side with his rage, killing all but one. Jacen then moved on to destroy the dhuryam he had befriended, but was stopped by a familiar voice; that of his dead brother, Anakin. Hearing that voice woke Jacen up out of the blood haze he had entered, but he suspected that it was Vergere that really stopped him.

Jacen soon learned that he could sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, a result of the slave seed Vergere had implanted in him on the seedship to make him obey the Yuuzhan Vong. He used this Vongsense to escape onto Coruscant. Vergere foiled his plans at escaping the planet, and Jacen finally succumbed to the months of torture. Vergere led him to the site of the former Jedi Temple, where Jacen told her of his grandfather's fall to the dark side. During this speech, Jacen was confronted by a squad of Yuuzhan Vong, and felt a hot tidal surge of red billow through him as he blacked out. When he came to, Jacen's hands hurt. They were singed and smelled like they were burning. Vergere asked him how it felt to touch the Force once again. It was then Jacen recalled his actions; he had unleashed a wave of Force lightning at Vergere and the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, narrowly missing Nom Anor, who fled through a cave.

"I slipped. I fell, barely on the dark side of... of the balance point. Everything started to slide. Everything."

- Jacen after realizing what he had done

Jacen began to panic with the realization that he had tapped into the dreaded dark side of the Force. Vergere then told Jacen the one thing that would alter his outlook of the Force. "What you feel is the Force. This is the shameful secret of the Jedi: There is no dark side." She went on to support her assertion. Vergere then told him that the only dark side he need fear is the one in his own heart. Jacen then turned and fled.

He ran, believing to see the spirit of Anakin Solo, his dead brother. However, he sensed that the apparition had no presence in the Force. He was drawn in by a hallucination, and, as he would later discover, entered a cave beast. Inside the belly of the gargantuan animal, he heard a voice, crying for help. He tried to shut it out, believing it another hallucination. Then, to his horror, he realized that it had a presence in the Force. He tried to rescue the little girl crying for help, but to no avail. He raised hate inside himself and used the Dark side for strength, finally rescuing the child. This confused him and drew his mind back to Vergere's teachings; that the Dark side was simply the Force's unleashed potential.

He discovered more survivors, refugees of the conquest of Coruscant. He speculated that they too, were drawn in by illusions; false hopes. Through his confusion, he also found anger and then rage. The refugees had a rule: whoever arrived last in the beast would sent to feed its ravenous hunger. The girl arrived last, and she was undergoing an execution, Jacen found. The survivors accused him of being the last and then tried to send him on his way to the stomach. Enraged, he drew on the anger he felt and used the Force to make the animal believe that humans were poisonous, triggering it to forcibly eject all of them. Bereft of their shelter, the survivors would most likely die of Coruscant's many dangers. Lost and confused, he left them and went on.



Jacen arrived at the Solo's now ruined apartment and was saddened by how much things had changed, the home and his life now a perversion of its former self. Shortly after his arrival he was visited by what he thought was (and may have been) Anakin's ghost, his deceased younger brother. This also challenged his thoughts on the Force. The apparition of Anakin engaged in the playful banter they had once shared, and Jacen told him of the things he had done, and also his confusion. Jacen also asked Anakin whether he was real or an illusion. He countered asking Jacen if there was a difference saying that life, like the Force, was all one thing and that there was no difference, akin to Vergere's teachings. Jacen then thought that Anakin really was an illusion and tried to shut him out, falling into a deep depression. Vergere arrived and woke him, once again challenging Jacen's beliefs. They were soon joined by Nom Anor and his entourage of warriors, who confronted Jacen offering him Anakin's lightsaber if he would convert to the Yuuzhan Vong religion. Jacen agreed, although Nom Anor was unaware that he was lying.

Meanwhile, Ganner Rhysode, who was part of the team at Myrkr, had heard rumors that Jacen was alive. He tried to convince Jaina that her brother might still be alive, but she refused to believe him. Ganner decided to discover the truth on his own. He backtracked the information and found himself face to face with Jacen, but caught in a trap that had been set for Jaina. The trap having failed, Jacen sent word to Nom Anor that they should return home with the prisoner, where he will be sacrificed. Jacen pretended to plan to offer up Ganner as a gift to the True Gods, killing him within the Well of the World Brain. But Jacen had something else in mind entirely.

Jacen gave Ganner Anakin's lightsaber, giving him the choice of exactly how to use it. Once inside the Well of the World Brain, formerly the Senate's Grand Convocation chamber, Ganner raised Anakin's blade and defended the door, while Jacen confronted the World Brain. When the door opened and the Yuuzhan Vong found Ganner standing there, they were puzzled as the Jedi stated "None shall pass." Ganner fought an ongoing wave of warriors, taking them each down, building a fortress of corpses around him, becoming one with the Force as he fought on. Meanwhile, Jacen connected with the World Brain, acknowledging his betrayal, sharing everything he knew and all of his experiences and, in the end, made the World Brain realize that the two were one. While chaos erupted in the Well, Nom Anor and Vergere made their way towards his hidden escape craft. Upon arrival, Vergere used the Force to tie Nom Anor with hydraulic cables and revealed that she took Jacen's lightsaber so that she and Jacen could steal Nom Anor's ship. Jacen finished with the World Brain and sensed the danger Ganner was in. He was just about to join the fight when he was stopped by Vergere who told Jacen that he could not save him, and would only die with him. She then returned Jacen's lightsaber to him. Meanwhile, in a last stand of defiance that would earn him near godlike status among the Shamed Ones, Ganner used the Force to rip apart the walkway he was on, plunging to his death along with his foes. Vergere and Jacen fled from Coruscant in Nom Anor's ship. During the flight, Vergere told Jacen of a vision she once had, of an invincible giant called "the Ganner" who guarded the Gate to the Lands of the Dead, with the words "None Shall Pass" engraved upon the gate. Jacen then revealed to Vergere that he had managed to convince the World Brain to join his side, and that it would sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong's efforts to Vongform Yuuzhan'tar.

Jacen and Vergere returned to Mon Calamari, where Jacen was reunited with his family. After a long earned vacation and a promotion to full Jedi Knight, 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 predict 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
"I'm more sure than ever that Jacen has a special destiny."

- Luke Skywalker



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

"Stand firm!"

- Anakin Skywalker's voice heard by Jacen

In last months of the war, Jacen helped recapture Coruscant. Jacen tried to attack Shimrra, but was knocked out with one hit from the mighty Vong, which forced Luke Skywalker to intervene, and kill Shimrra, saving Jacen's life. Meanwhile, Jacen engaged Onimi, Shimrra's "pet", in battle. Onimi had regained the usage of the Force as a result of extensive shaping and experimentation in Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, and had manipulated Shimrra into planning the invasion of the galaxy. Onimi tried to poison Jacen by secreting poison from his fang, but Jacen reached a higher level of the Force than ever before, balancing the light and dark within him. The effect caused him to age physically, but it also killed Onimi by using Onimi's own poison against him. During this battle Jacen heard a voice strikingly similar to, yet deeper than, that of Luke Skywalker. Jacen knew deep in his heart the voice to be that of his grandfather's, Anakin Skywalker.

After the war, Jacen decided to travel the Galaxy and spend time among other Force-users in search of answers, including the Aing-Tii Monks, Fallanassi, Witches of Dathomir, Jensaarai and Theran Listeners. During this time as well he met future Jedi Nelani Dinn, who he taught lightsaber techniques to.

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY–36 ABY)
"You think you know him, and then he tries to start a war."

- Han Solo referring to Jacen starting Swarm War



Five years later, Jacen Solo, changed by his travels among other Force-users, along with his sister and a group of fellow Jedi who had survived the Myrkr mission, journeyed 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, 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. Jacen was not aware until he arrived on Hapes with Ben Skywalker and found Tenel Ka with a baby. She gave birth to their daughter Allana in 36 ABY, though the girl was not publicly revealed, for fear that Hapan nobles would try to assassinate her.

The fear proved well founded when the Dark Nest immediately attempted to assassinate the child at the request of Ta'a Chume, Tenel Ka's grandmother. Tenel Ka and the baby were saved, and Jacen, to protect Tenel Ka and his daughter, caused a hemorrhage in Ta'a Chume's brain, rendering her comatose. Jacen went as far as to erase his own cousin Ben's memory to protect his daughter's existence. Jacen then had a vision of endless war, and concluded that there was only one way to preserve his new found family: wipe out the Killiks. In order to do this, Jacen tricked Lowie, Tesar Sebatyne, a still Joined Jaina and Zekk, into instigating a war between the Chiss and the Killiks. Jaina, upon realizing what Jacen had done, was furious with her twin, and vowed never to fly with him again.

When Luke called all of the Jedi to the Temple, Jacen went. He was asked by Han and Leia who was the father of Tenel Ka's baby, but Jacen wouldn't answer.

When Luke was told by Lowie and Tesar that Jacen had tampered with Ben's memory, Luke confronted his nephew. Jacen responded with a cover-up story, explaining that on Endor, a group of Ewoks had been captured by a Gorax and killed, and that Ben had felt their deaths in the Force. Jacen said he then erased the traumatic memory from Ben in order to prevent Ben from retreating further from the Force. He was lying, of course, to keep Tenel Ka and his secret.

Jacen had the chance to get to know his maternal grandparents when he was asked to stay and watch holo recordings that R2-D2 was trying to keep secret. He witnessed Anakin's attack on Padmé on Mustafar. Though he had reckoned from the holos he saw before that his grandfather was "only trying to protect his wife", he didn't understand how he came to Force Choke her.

During the final phases of the Killik expansion, Jacen joined his aunt and uncle on a mission to destroy the Dark Nest. In a saber duel with Lomi Plo, Jacen was stabbed in the gut saving Mara, puncturing three organs and preventing him from aiding Luke in his showdown against Lomi Plo and Raynar Thul. While in the infirmary with Luke and Mara, Jacen explained to his uncle that the reason Lomi had been able to become invisible was because she had been exploiting Luke's doubts to hide behind them and create the illusion of her not being there. According to Jacen, the only way Luke could fight Lomi on equal ground was if he banished all doubt from his mind, so he urged him to watch the last hologram R2 was hiding: the one showing the death of Padmé and his own birth. After this, he insisted Luke had to accept his fears and anger and use them to defeat his enemies. While Luke agreed he had to accept those emotions, he still refused to use them. Luke fought both Lomi Plo and Raynar with the combined power of the colony behind them, successfully defeated and killed Lomi Plo and captured Raynar Thul alive.

The raid on Centerpoint Station
"There are times when the end justifies the means. But when you build an argument based on a whole series of such times, you may find that you’ve constructed an entire philosophy of evil."

- Luke Skywalker

In 40 ABY, Jacen and his cousin Ben Skywalker were sent on a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar. The mission ended in a violent ambush, from which the Jedi narrowly escaped with their lives. The incident sparked political unrest that threatened to ignite into total rebellion that could shatter the young Galactic Alliance. In a desperate attempt to avoid such a fate, the Alliance readied a preemptive display of military might in a bid to bring the rogue worlds to heel. In a display of poor decision making, Corellia, Han Solo's home planet, was chosen as target of this exercise.

Torn between his two families, the Jedi and his genetic one, Jacen chose to stand with his uncle, Luke Skywalker, on the side of the Alliance. But when the Corellians launched a counterstrike, armed conflict was ignited. With a dark shadow looming over everything and the Alliance starting to resemble the Empire in the eyes of galactic denizens, Jacen decided to find the light at the end of this dark tunnel and followed a trail of cryptic clues to a dark rendezvous with the most shocking of revelations. His search lead to a piece of fabric possibly containing a prophecy meant for him. Jacen and Ben traveled to Lorrd to learn about tassels in hopes in finding out what they mean.

Lumiya
"You will be the man your grandfather couldn't."

- Lumiya to Jacen Solo

Along with Ben and Nelani Dinn, a female Jedi who felt an attraction to him, Jacen followed a woman named Brisha Syo to an asteroid lair of Darth Vectivus. There, Syo revealed that she was none other than Lumiya, a Sith who had once known his uncle. Lumiya told Jacen about Vergere's true identity and purpose, and the young Jedi witnessed visions that confirmed what Lumiya told him: only by accepting her Sith teachings and embracing the dark side could he prevent the galaxy from sliding into chaos. After sparring with a dark side vision of Luke, and seeing an apparition of himself as a future Sith Lord, Jacen killed Nelani when she tried to arrest Lumiya, and agreed to the Sith's offer. He left the asteroid with an unconscious Ben to make time for his Sith training.

Galactic Alliance Guard
"It's time he became a Master. We all know what he can do."

- Kyp Durron

As the Corellian dispute continued, Jacen neared complete mastery of the Force. Proficient in masking his presence in the Force completely, Jacen honed his dark powers under the tutelage of Lumiya and he began to take steps to ensure the safety of his family and the galaxy at large. After silently allying himself with Admiral Niathal in her drive to one day replace Cal Omas as chief of state, Jacen manipulated his way into the rank of colonel in the Galactic Alliance military. He later supported a first strike against Corellia, and was given control of a "secret police" referred to as the Galactic Alliance Guard. Hearing and reveling in frequent comparisons to Darth Vader, Jacen flow-walked back to the Raid on the Jedi Temple, helping to assure himself that he was not joining the Sith for selfish reasons by viewing the motivations of his grandfather, and repeatedly tested Lumiya in the presence of an unsuspecting Luke Skywalker to ensure her loyalties were with him, and not to her precious vendetta on his uncle. He moved her to Coruscant, he helped shield her from detection by other Jedi as she assisted him in rationalizing his conflicting emotions via the Sith prophecy of the tassels.

After the neutralization of Centerpoint Station, Thrackan Sal-Solo eventually placed a bounty on the entire Solo family, which was taken up by Boba Fett's daughter, Ailyn Vel. Already in custody from a prior GAG raid, Vel was interrogated by Jacen about her employers, tortured, and finally died when Solo attempted unsuccessfully to rip the information from her mind, instead causing a massive aneurysm that killed her. Ben was shocked by his actions causing Jacen to begin to fear what he was becoming and what he could do, doubting himself.

Shortly thereafter during a blockade of the Centerpoint Station, Jacen ordered his sister Jaina to destroy a disarmed freighter that was retreating from the blockade. When she refused, he removed her from active duty for refusing to carry out orders, for which she was suspended indefinitely. The rift between Jacen and his family widened further as Luke decided to ask his son to separate from Jacen's dark influence and return to the academy on Ossus. Though not accepting his father's request, Ben began to have suspicions of his own regarding Jacen's character after witnessing the murder of Ailyn Vel. After discovering Jacen's crime, Han Solo in disgust swore that he no longer wanted to know his son and disowned him, something Lumiya would say later was a necessary sacrifice.

Decisions
"I don't know who you are, but you aren't my son anymore. My Jacen would never do the kind of stuff you do. Get out. I don't want to know any more."

- Han to Jacen after seeing Ailyn's body

Lumiya told Jacen that his sacrifices were integral to becoming a Sith Lord who cared for the end of galactic chaos over all personal desires. This was meant in contrast to his grandfather, whose selfish love for Padmé led him along the Sith path fueled only by desire for the power to protect her, allowing Anakin to be easily corrupted by the power-hungry Sidious. His "ultimate test of selflessness" would be to kill what he loves. Jacen quickly realized he would have to kill his love Tenel Ka, and his daughter Allana&mdash;in Lumiya's words, "to face unending emotional pain, true agony, to gain the power to create peace and order for billions of total strangers." Even as he was horrified with himself for thinking it, Jacen realized that Lumiya's words were true. Before his eyes, the prophecy of the tassels was taking shape: "He will immortalize his love." Saddened and heartbroken, Jacen agreed to carry out the prophecy in the name of galactic peace.

Events at Hapes
"Hunting bad men is my job."

- Jacen Solo

In helping him find more Corellian insurgents on Coruscant, Jacen used the World Brain. On one trip to the World Brain, Jacen was followed by Alema Rar, who was believed to have been killed in the Battle of Tenupe during the Swarm War. Alema sought revenge on the Solo family and attempted to kill him with a blowdart. However, Lumiya was able to warn Jacen in time for him to dodge the dart, which then struck the World Brain.

Jacen wanted to go after Alema and eliminate her, but Lumiya convinced him that saving the World Brain was more important, and they let her go. Alema, as of then, was the only living being aware of Jacen's apprenticeship to Lumiya.

While Luke attempted to find a trace of the dark side in Ben through a series of sparring matches, Jacen ordered Lumiya to have all members of the Bothan True Victory Party killed in order to prevent further attacks on the World Brain. During a meeting between Jacen and Lumiya, Tresina Lobi, a Jedi Master who was tracking Ben, learned about Jacen's relationship with Lumiya and attempted to contact Luke. Alema Rar, hiding nearby however, was waiting for Jacen to become a Sith to hurt Leia, and attempted to protect Jacen and Lumiya from the Jedi. Alema and Lumiya formed a hasty and tense partnership, working together to kill Master Lobi while Jacen and Ben made for the orbital General Crix Madine Military Reserve.

Jacen became the commander of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, Anakin Solo. During this time, Tenel Ka requested that Jacen lead an investigation into an assassination attempt on her life, and also entrusted him with the safety of their daughter, Allana. Jacen agreed, vowing in his own mind he would never sacrifice Allana for any reason. He decided on his parents as possible candidates instead, after learning of their suspicious involvement with the assassination attempt. Soon after, Aurra Sing arrived on board the Star Destroyer and engaged Jacen in a duel. As the battle wore on, Jacen found Sing challenging despite calling upon the dark side to enhance his strength. Eventually, the duel ended after Allana incapacitated Sing using a paralyzing agent and Sing was incarcerated.

During a later starship engagement with a rebel Hapan fleet, Jacen was confronted by Alema Rar, who began to sow seeds of doubt in his mind about his parents' involvement with the threat to Tenel Ka. Believing his own parents to be behind the plot to assassinate Tenel Ka and Allana, Jacen ordered his ship gunner to attack the Millennium Falcon with his mother, father, sister, and cousin aboard. Although the old freighter escaped, one of the Anakin's turbolaser shots dealt it severe damage, punching a hole through the Falcon's central core and killing Cakhmaim and Meewalh.

Jacen tests Ben
"You're stalling. You don't know whether he will be fit to become a Sith apprentice. The time to learn that is now, not when you reveal yourself. You must test him."

- Lumiya tells Jacen to test Ben Skywalker

After coming to terms that his parents were to be his Sith sacrifices, Jacen experienced a vision in which he had met his end in a duel with his mother. Jacen later commanded the Anakin Solo in an attempt to round up members that were apart of a smuggling operation near Bespin. Jacen managed to capture smuggler Uran Lavint and her Hutt co-pilot, Blatta, after she sold them out to the Galactic Alliance to pay her debts. Just before releasing her, Jacen ordered his crewmen to disable her ship's hyperdrive. Kyp Durron also reported to Luke Skywalker saying that Cal Omas and Cha Niathal wanted Jacen to become a Jedi Master.

Jacen later met with Admiral Antilles aboard the Anakin to discuss the terms of agreement in which Corellia agreed to surrender itself to the Alliance. His conversation with Wedge also made Jacen realize that he wasn't the same nature loving and easy going adolescent he used to be. He would convince himself that it was a necessary change. At the request of Jacen, Lumiya organized a test for Ben in order to see if the boy was ready to become Jacen's Sith apprentice. Though Lumiya doubted that Ben would survive, Jacen had complete faith in Ben and believed that Ben was going to take up his mantle someday.

Ambush at Gilatter VIII
In an effort to gain information aboard the Errant Venture, Jacen once again crossed paths with Uran Lavint. Jacen decided to assign Lavint a job, which was to gain information on the conference held by the Confederation on Gilatter VIII. Shortly after, Jacen was confronted by Luke and Mara though he was forced to leave after he and the others were attacked by Alema. Under the disguises of Najack Ell and Silfinia Ell, Jacen and Lumiya were able to gain passage into the Gilatter System just in time for the G.A. military to carry out their surprise attack. The surprise attack failed after Jacen was recognized by Turr Phenir, the Supreme Commander of the Confederation.

The mission ended in a violent ambush, in which his parents and Luke came to his rescue. In a desperate need to escape, Jacen left his family behind, returning to the Anakin.

Jacen later dropped his name in favor of a Sith one, becoming a Sith Lord and taking the title of Darth.

Personality and traits
Well into his teens, Jacen was described as a happy-go-lucky child who tried to make his friends laugh by telling them jokes and collecting various animals as pets. Shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong war, however, Jacen became more serious, and often argued with his brother Anakin about the nature of the Force. At one point, he even outright refused to use the Force, but when his mother was attacked by Tsavong Lah on Duros, he unleashed a Force whirlwind on the Warmaster to save her life.

After Jacen was captured by Vergere and was influenced by her teachings, he no longer believed in the concept of the "light side" or the "dark side" of the Force. After achieving harmony with the Force during his battle with Onimi, he knew he could never reach that state again, but in an attempt to learn more about the Force, he decided to go on a quest to see the viewpoint of other Force using cultures such as the Witches of Dathomir, and the Fallanassi.

Five years after the end of the Yuuzhan Vong war, Jacen tortured Ta'a Chume using the Force, which rendered her comatose, and tricked his sister and her squadron into attacking the Chiss, which instigated the Swarm War. His rationalization for his actions was that he was protecting Tenel Ka and the newborn Allana, and that the Swarm War needed to happen to make the galaxy safer for them and everyone else.

Jacen had also advocated that the Jedi assassinate his childhood friend Raynar Thul, and when viewing a hologram of his grandfather Anakin Skywalker Force choking his pregnant wife Padmé Amidala, he failed to understand why Anakin did so.

During the Second Corellian Insurrection, Jacen fell further when questioned on his views by Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith. He willingly became her apprentice, and slew fellow Jedi Nelani Dinn to preserve his secret. Shortly afterward, when Ailyn Vel had died while he had interrogated her using the Force, he showed no remorse, only annoyance that she had died. Jacen also began to completely shun his uncle's viewpoints and guidance, instead relying primarily upo Lumiya's and the GAG's advice, beginning to mirror a certain number of dominant traits his grandfather had as Darth Vader including arrogant confidence in his own power, greater tendency to be angered by being questioned of his motives, a need for respect, and severe dislike of being proven wrong.

Jacen was told by Lumiya in order to complete his Sith training, he must sacrifice the very thing he loves. Jacen was heartbroken that he had to sacrifice Tenel Ka and Allana, but to avoid sacrificing his daughter and her mother, he decided to sacrifice his parents instead. This decision led Jacen to ultimately shun or completely sever his bonds with his own family members excluding only his connection to Tenel Ka and Allana.

Shortly before the Battle of Hapes, Jacen issued an arrest warrant for his own parents, and during the battle he ordered the Anakin Solo to fire upon the Millennium Falcon, endangering not only his parents, but his sister, Ben Skywalker, and Zekk as well. The aftermath of this incident allowed Jacen to recognize the contrasts from his adolesence to adulthood.

Jacen also willingly let Lumiya endanger Ben by letting her set up a deadly mission that would take Ben to Ziost to determine if he would make a suitable Sith apprentice.

Tenel Ka
Jacen had known Tenel Ka since they were both students at the Jedi Praxeum. When they were younger, Jacen had always tried to make her laugh in an effort to get her to open up, which usually failed. Nonetheless, Jacen viewed Tenel Ka as a close friend, and even at one point wished he could be more to her. As they grew older, they spent less time together due to their differing duties.

When Jacen was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and cut off from the Force by Vergere, Tenel Ka finally expressed her emotions regarding Jacen when she felt his "death". Long after Tenel Ka became Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, Jacen finally admitted his love for her, and together they had a child, Allana. Although he loved Tenel Ka and Allana very much, he could not be with them due to the political climate on Hapes. As a result, he spent very little time with both Tenel Ka and their daughter, and could not openly acknowledge that Allana was his daughter for fear of the destabilization of Tenel Ka's throne by Hapan nobles.

Danni Quee
Jacen met Danni during the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong War, when he rescued her from Helska IV. Although she was five years older than Jacen, she did admit to him that she felt an attraction to him.

After Jacen returned from his captivity, Jacen and Danni started to grow closer, but at the end of the war, they decided that they both had different paths to pursue: She was to remain on Zonama Sekot, and he was to travel across the galaxy to learn from other Force cultures.

Name
Timothy Zahn originally intended "Jacen" to be "Jasen," but his editor at Bantam, Betsy Mitchell, suggested changing the "s" to a "c" to make it less 1980s-like.

"Jacen" is an alternate spelling of the Greek name Jason (Iason), which means 'healer'.

Appearance
When he created the cover artworks for the Young Jedi Knights book series, artist Dave Dorman used young Calvin Engel, son of cartoonist Jim Engel, as a model for Jacen's appearance. Dorman however didn't try for his exact likeness due to Calvin's hair color and other differences.

Possible parallels
Jacen's actions during the Dark Nest trilogy had many fans drawing parallels between Jacen and his grandfather Anakin Skywalker during the final days of the Clone Wars. The extreme measures Jacen took to protect Tenel Ka and Allana (such as his torture of Ta'a Chume and his insistence that Raynar Thul be killed) have drawn comparisons to Anakin's actions to protect Padmé Amidala and the unborn Skywalker twins. These actions, coupled with Jacen's denial of the dark side of the Force, led some fans to predict that Jacen would fall to the dark side in the upcoming Legacy of the Force series&mdash;predictions which came true.

Sith Lord
As revealed at starwars.com, Jacen indeed becomes a Dark Lord of the Sith in Sacrifice. There is a contest through the site where registered members can choose Jacen's Sith name. Prior to this, many believed that he might become Darth Krayt. The finalist names are: Acheron (a river in Hell for those who deny justice), Caedus (a battle of darkness), Judicar (the final judge), Paxis (bringer of peace) and Taral (ancient Sith for "he who protects")