Ben Skywalker

Ben Skywalker was the son of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker. Ben was named for his father's first mentor, Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi. For most of his early life, Ben was sequestered in safeworlds so that his parents could fight the Yuuzhan Vong and keep him safe. Because of this, he grew to resent his parents and insisted on dealing life in his own way. He wielded a blue-bladed lightsaber following the Swarm War and became the unofficial apprentice of his cousin, Jacen Solo.

Like his late cousin, Anakin Solo, he was confident, brave, curious, intelligent, and quick-witted. As he grew up, his ability to use the Force became stronger, which enabled him to read emotions. Ben possessed the patience of his father, the strong-will of his mother, along with the passion of his grandfather. No doubt Ben, whose traits he shares with his cousin, father, and grandfather makes him a true Skywalker, shows great Force potential that may lead him to become more powerful than his father.

Pre-birth (25 ABY–26 ABY)
As Mara Jade was infected by Yuuzhan Vong coomb spores, she and Luke decided against having children. However, despite their efforts, Mara found, while attempting to heal her body with the Force, that she was pregnant. Although a temporary cure was found in the tears of a Fosh named Vergere and sent the disease into remission, it started to return and threatened Mara's health once the tears ran out. This was due to her efforts to keep the spores from attacking the child, which drove her to a near-death state while giving birth. But fortunately, the disease was permanently cast out of her body with the help of Luke and baby Ben. During this ordeal, Luke had his first vision of Ben. After his birth, Luke and Mara made it their primary goal to protect their son from any danger during those dark times.



Yuuzhan Vong War (26 ABY–30 ABY)
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Ben was born aboard the Star Destroyer Errant Venture, shortly after the Skywalkers were forced to flee Coruscant during heightened troubles between the Jedi and the New Republic Senate. The Skywalkers then moved into The Eclipse, a secret base for the Jedi. As a baby, Ben was sent to Shelter with all of the other Jedi children along the Great River to the Maw Cluster. He was then in the custody of his aunt and uncle. Leia and Han enjoyed their nephew's company, but in some ways, Leia was reminded of her late son, Anakin. Ben had little contact with his parents, though became embroiled in a kidnap attempt by Viqi Shesh during the Fall of Coruscant. Lando Calrissian and C-3PO were able to save Ben high above the galactic capital. During this time, Mara feared that this seperation caused anxiety in young Ben. Mara, being overprotective of her son, hired a defender and nanny droid to keep him safe &mdash; though Ben would often trick the nanny droid into shutting down.

Though Ben survived the Yuuzhan Vong war, the pain and suffering he had sensed through the Force during that dark time caused the infant to cut himself off from the Force. During this time, Ben developed the ability to hide himself in the Force, which made it difficult for his parents to locate him. It was also during this time that his empathy with humans began, particularly around his parents and aunt. Luke and Mara were careful with their emotions around Ben, in fear that their son would pull farther away from his powers and Jedi heritage. Despite this, Ben continually refused to use the Force, a disturbing development his parents did not know how to overcome.

Dark Nest Crisis (35 ABY–36 ABY)
Ben went with his parents to the Unknown Regions during the war. When Ben was eight years old, during the buildup to the Swarm War, he befriended a Killik named Gorog, thinking of the creature as his friend. Ben was unaware, however, that by befriending Gorog, he had put his mother in grave danger. Secretly, Gorog attempted to brainwash the child to join the Dark Nest, but the plot was uncovered by Mara, who was forced to kill the Killik. Despite this, Ben was still able to sense the Gorog nest's presence and thoughts.

A year later, his cousin Jacen Solo took on Ben as an informal apprentice. Ben felt comfortable around Jacen, and slowly began to open himself up to the Force. During the time he spent with Jacen, his raw Force power sometimes boiled to the surface. The time and distance away from Gorog, however, had done nothing to weaken his connection to the Dark Nest and only narrowly avoided in becoming a full joiner. He accompanied Jacen to Hapes when Tenel Ka presented her child to him, and was able to figure out that the Gorog were planning to kill the baby of Jacen and Tenel Ka. Although he attempted to persuade them not to, his nest-mates managed to convince Ben to help them, which caused Ben to instinctively applied an untrained powerful Force push against Tenel Ka, due to his overwhelming connection to the Gorog. Jacen decided that he could not trust Ben with the knowledge he had, and erased Ben's memory of the visit. When Luke was told by Lowie and Tesar that Jacen had tampered with Ben's memory, Luke confronted his nephew. Jacen responded with a coverup story, explaining that when a group of Ewoks on Endor had been captured and killed by a Gorax, Ben had felt their deaths in the Force &mdash; and thus erased the traumatic memory from Ben in order to prevent him from retreating further from the Force. Although Luke was able to sense that Jacen was hiding something, he accepted the story. Mara, however, became suspicious of Jacen.

Following the Swarm War, Ben was present at the Conclave on Ossus along with the rest of the New Jedi Order. It was then when his father declared himself the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

Later on, it is presumed that Ben lived with his parents and attended the Jedi Praxeum on Ossus.



The Lost Lightsaber
Years later, presumably after completing his training at the Jedi Praxeum, Ben managed to track down his father's lost lightsaber, previously owned by his grandfather Anakin, which was in the possession of a Dark Jedi. The Dark Jedi was preparing to imbue the weapon with the power of the dark side, but Ben took it from him before he was able to do so. Though it is not known what happened in the ensuing battle, it can be assumed that Ben slew the Dark Jedi as well as the other darksiders who were present and took his father's weapon as his own.

Legacy of the Force (40 ABY–)
In 40 ABY, a thirteen-year-old Ben and Jacen Solo 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, the Solo home planet, was chosen as target of this exercise.

It was this decision that threw the Solos and Skywalkers on opposite sides of the conflict. Jacen sided with his uncle on the side of the Galactic Alliance in his duty as a Jedi. To prevent Corellia from using its main planetary repulsor, Centerpoint Station, Luke sent Jacen and Ben to disable it &mdash; for Thrackan Sal-Solo had somehow been able to use Anakin's biometrics to activate the repulsor. While Jacen created a diversion by destroying many of the CorSec guards, Ben went inside the control room, only to find a four meter tall droid that believed itself to be Anakin Solo. Ben told the A.I. that it could not be Anakin Solo since the latter was dead. Finally, the droid decided to shut down Centerpoint Station. This action was not only due to Ben's successful persuasion, but because it still contained Anakin's morals. Ben, for his part, kept his meeting with the A.I a secret from everyone.

Meanwhile, as the civil war went on, Mara and Luke feared for Ben when his Jedi Master, Jacen, made a decision that shocked and caused concern for both families and the galaxy. Along with Jacen and Nelani Dinn, a female Jedi who felt an attraction to him, Ben 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 his Jedi Master 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 to search for an apprentice of his own, as Ben had been deemed too steeped in Jedi ways.

Behind the scenes

 * The above image is from a Star Wars Tales (and thus, non-canon) story, and predates the establishment of Ben's hair as being red. The image has thus been altered to give a more accurate representation of Ben's appearance in the Legacy era. The fact that they chose completely blond hair is interesting, as Ben's hair color had been identified as reddish-blond in a vision Luke had of Ben while Mara was giving birth.
 * He was presumably the ancestor of Cade Skywalker.
 * Interestingly, both he and his grandfather started their Jedi training at the age of nine. Which hints some similarities between him and his grandfather.
 * Judging from Luke's vision in The Unifying Force, it is likely that Ben will become a great pilot like his father and grandfather.

Appearances

 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Rebel Dream
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal
 * Bloodlines
 * The Lost Lightsaber