Ranik Solusar

"Kam's father, Ranik Solusar, was a great Jedi Master."

- Luke Skywalker

Ranik Solusar was a male Human Jedi Master who served the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic up to and during the Clone Wars. He married, and fathered a son, Kam, against the wishes of the Jedi Council, and was disciplined for his actions. In 22 BBY, he served on a strike team led by Master Mace Windu during the opening confrontation of the Clone Wars, the Battle of Geonosis. There, Solusar flew alongside several other Jedi in their starfighters, and helped prevent the Confederate ally Cavik Toth from deploying the deadly bio-agent trihexalon on the surface of Geonosis.

Solusar was later faced with Order 66&mdash;an edict that ordered the clone troopers serving the Jedi during the Clone Wars to murder the Jedi. Solusar evaded calamity, and was wanted by the emergent Galactic Empire in the days following the Declaration of a New Order. Solusar's name was on a list compiled by Imperial Intelligence, and he was to be reported to the authorities if he was spotted by a civilian. Solusar was later hunted down by Emperor Palpatine's enforcer, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. The Dark Lord struck down Solusar, and Kam was later forced to serve the Empire. In time, however, Solusar's son became a founding member of a New Jedi Order.

Master and son
Ranik Solusar was a Jedi Master of the Jedi Order who served the Galactic Republic during the Republic Classic era. Against the will of the Jedi Council, he married, and sired a boy named Kam. As a result, he was reprimanded by the Council. Still, Solusar went on to train his child in the ways of the Force, although his instruction was informal. Solusar's teaching methods stemmed from a different school of thought to those of Grand Master Yoda, focusing on resourcefulness and concentration, and he went on to train his son for several years.

Clone Wars
In 22 BBY, as the Separatist Crisis continued to brew, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was captured on the world of Geonosis, which was a part of the seceding Confederacy of Independent Systems. As Kenobi was thought to be in danger, Jedi Master Mace Windu assembled a strike team, of which Solusar was a participant. Solusar, piloting a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor, flew alongside the likes of A'Sharad Hett, Bant Eerin, and The Dark Woman to Geonosis, where the Jedi were engaged by Confederate ally Cavik Toth's Sabaoth Squadron.

While Windu and the bulk of the strike team liberated Kenobi and led the newly-formed Grand Army of the Republic into combat against the Confederate droid army on the planet's surface, Solusar and his compatriots continued to battle Toth's forces. Toth attempted to deploy the deadly bioweapon trihexalon on the Geonosian surface, but Solusar and the other Jedi worked with Master Adi Gallia to destroy the Hex Deployer and Sabaoth destroyer spacecraft. The Lok Revenants, headed by the pirate Nym, arrived to reinforce Solusar and the other Jedi, while Gallia was able to personally kill Toth, who had joined the battle himself in his personal starfighter. The battle was won by the Jedi and the Republic, although it heralded the opening of the pan-galactic Clone Wars.

The Purge
Just before the conclusion of the Clone Wars, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine issued Order 66&mdash;in which the clone troopers of the Grand Army turned against the Jedi who had been leading them into combat during the war. Solusar was able to evade the clone troopers, escaping with his life. Shortly afterward, Palpatine installed himself as Galactic Emperor, and he reformed the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. Simultaneously, he declared that the Jedi Knights were now enemies of the Empire, having attempted to claim his life and take over the Galactic Senate. Forced to become a fugitive, Solusar was wanted by Imperial Intelligence. On the HoloNet, citizens were advised to turn Solusar in should they encounter him. Solusar was driven apart from Kam by the altered state of affairs, bringing an end to his son's training.

Solusar was placed on an extensive list of missing Jedi, alongside Halagad Ventor and Kai Justiss. The Jedi Master was eventually slain by Palpatine's enforcer, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Kam was later swayed into the service of the Empire, although he eventually defected to the cause of the emergent Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, who had brought an end to both Palpatine and Vader. Kam went on to study under Skywalker, and was one of the founding members of Skywalker's New Jedi Order. Kam passed on his father's teachings, which were utilized at Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum.

Personality and traits
When Solusar, a Jedi Master, chose to marry and have a child while serving the Jedi Order, he clashed with the Jedi Council. As a result, he earned many reprimands for his actions. While operating as an informal master to his son, Solusar worked from a different school of thought than other Jedi, such as Yoda, instead opting to focus on exercises that enhanced concentration skills and resourcefulness.

Powers and abilities
"I was apprenticed to the great Jedi Master, Ranik Solusar&mdash;my father."

- Kam Solusar

Solusar was heralded by his son as a "great" Jedi Master. He was able to fly a Delta-7 interceptor, and did so successfully during the Battle of Geonosis. His skills allowed him to escape Order 66 and evade death in the early days of the Great Jedi Purge, but did not allow him to overcome the Sith Lord Darth Vader, and he was, as a result, killed.

Behind the scenes
Ranik Solusar was first mentioned in the comic issue Dark Empire II 1: Operation Shadow Hand, written by Tom Veitch and published in 1994. The character was later mentioned in the first issue of the Empire's End mini-series, and the Michael A. Stackpole novel, I, Jedi. Solusar was also briefly referenced in The Jedi Academy Sourcebook, in regards to his instructional technique. Eight years after his initial mention, he made his first appearance in the 2002 video game, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter. The character appears alongside several other Jedi from the wider Expanded Universe, including comics and novels, and is identified as the pilot of one of the Jedi starfighters at the Battle of Geonosis.

Later that year, the character was referenced in The New Essential Guide to Characters, wherein Solusar's marriage and siring of a child, which conflicts with the more monastic portrayal of the Jedi in films such as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, was addressed. In 2005, the character was referenced once again, in the Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24 article, published within Star Wars Insider 84, which both tied into the back-story of the latest Star Wars film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Solusar's earlier history established in Dark Empire II and Empire's End.

Originally, Solusar would have first been referenced in Tom Veitch's Lightsider story, although the product was later canceled.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
 * Dark Empire II audio drama
 * Dark Empire II 1: Operation Shadow Hand
 * Empire's End 1: Triumph of the Empire
 * I, Jedi
 * I, Jedi

Cut appearances

 * Lightsider