- "And for your information, I am the boss. I am Duke Solha of the Free System of Serenno."
- ―Solha, to Anakin Skywalker and Thrawn
Duke Solha was a human male from the planet Serenno who served the Galactic Republic. While in the Republic's service, the Serennian met Senator Padmé Amidala on a diplomatic excursion. Solha believed the Republic and its Senate considered him a joke, prompting him to leave and join the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The duke, along with his brother and sister, were subsequently dispatched to the planet Mokivj, where workers under Separatist leader Count Dooku's direction mined and processed the metal cortosis. Solha also designed and manufactured the cortosis B2 super battle droid in the Mokivj droid factory. The complex produced cortosis-covered clone trooper armor, which the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the secret leader of the Separatists, intended to use in the upcoming execution of Order 66 against the Jedi.
In 19 BBY, when Amidala's former handmaiden Duja started investigating the Separatist presence on Mokivj, Solha ordered assassins to kill her on the planet Batuu to keep knowledge of the droid factory's existence and his plans safe. Senator Amidala received one of Duja's calls regarding the search and, upon learning about her former handmaiden's discoveries, chose to travel to Mokivj. The senator was followed to the planet by her husband, Anakin Skywalker, and his colleague, the Chiss Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo ("Thrawn"), where they found her ship abandoned. Solha apprehended Skywalker and Thrawn when they entered the facility, placing them in prison cells.
The pair escaped from their cell and met with Amidala, and the trio planned to destroy the complex and investigate the unique weapons in production there. In response, Duke Solha donned cortosis-coated clone armor and attempted to minimize the chaos Skywalker was causing by ordering his droids to secure the complex. While in the factory, Solha tracked down Amidala, leading the pair to discuss the duke's past and his ambitions for destroying the Republic in line with Dooku's plans. The senator eventually escaped, helped evacuate the site's workers, and watched as Skywalker blew up the planet's cortosis mines, which prevented the Separatists from producing more cortosis battle droids and clone armor in Solha's factory.
Biography[]
Early life and Republic service[]
- "I'm impressed. So many in the Republic and Senate thought of me as a joke, or didn't notice me at all."
"That's not true. You were seen as one of the quieter but more solid supporters of justice and order." - ―Solha and Padmé Amidala
Solha was a male Serennian duke born on[1] the Outer Rim[3] planet Serenno whose family included his brother and sister. Before the Clone Wars, a galactic-wide conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the duke served in the Republic and met Senator Padmé Amidala on a diplomatic excursion. By then, Solha believed that many individuals in the Republic and the Senate viewed him as a joke or did not notice him.[1] Eventually, he lost faith in the Republic, joined Count Dooku's Separatists,[4] and began working for their military.[1]
Dispatched to Mokivj[]
- "You are part of the Separatist movement, currently at war with the Republic and Loyalist systems. Your duke has constructed a base and is shipping materials and equipment to it. Because he didn't want anyone to know where the base is, he gathered his supplies from various origination points and sent them to Batuu, where the inhabitants don't pry into others' activities. But he didn't expect interference from thieves."
- ―Thrawn, to Solha's smugglers
Solha was dispatched to the Mokivj to operate a cortosis battle droid factory (pictured).
In 19 BBY,[5] the Separatist leader Dooku dispatched Solha to the planet Mokivj, where he turned an existing factory into a droid factory and oversaw workers mining and processing cortosis, a metal that deflected blaster bolts and powered down lightsabers. While there, the duke also designed and manufactured cortosis B2 super battle droids. Solha's facility had a secret overseer, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who intended to use the factory's other product, cortosis-covered clone trooper armor, as a safeguard to ensure the success of Order 66,[1] a command that ordered all of the Republic's clone troopers to eliminate their Jedi commanders.[6]
Eventually, Solha's brother and sister came to work at the factory with him. With the droid factory and its cortosis mines established, the Serennian duke spent several months working with the material to produce reserves of battle droids. Solha hired smugglers from many locations to bring materials for his operations to the planet Batuu for later transfer to Mokivj, aiming to keep the location of his facility clandestine by having few direct connections to it. The duke began working with Captain Boroklif and his crew, who used their freighter, the Larkrer, to transport goods to the Mokivj factory.[1]
Duja (pictured) was killed while investigating the Separatists on Mokivj.
At some point, Amidala's former handmaiden Duja began investigating the Separatist presence on Mokivj while on Batuu. Having uncovered evidence concerning Solha's factory, Duja was assassinated on the duke's orders. Local citizens later found her corpse and left her at a bar, hoping someone would uncover the reason behind her death. Amidala eventually received a message from Duja that she had sent before her death, relaying the suspicious findings of her investigation into Separatist activities—Solha and his siblings had blocked the factory's lower levels except for the ones used by maintenance workers so as to keep the Mokivj factory's products secret.[1]
After her discovery, Amidala traveled to Batuu but went missing for weeks following her choice to investigate Separatist activities by journeying to Mokivj. Her disappearance prompted her husband, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, to go on a search that eventually led him to Batuu. While there, he met the[1] Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo, also known by his core name[7] "Thrawn," of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, and the pair decided to work together to investigate Amidala's disappearance. After killing some of Solha's smugglers, including Boroklif and his crew, while in the world's Black Spire outpost, Thrawn and Skywalker stole their ship and its cargo and changed clothes to appear less suspicious when meeting the duke.[1]
Dealing with Skywalker[]
- "Captain Boroklif is, let's just say, indisposed."
"I need to speak with him."
"Captain Boroklif isn't here. There was trouble at Black Spire. Boroklif and his crew weren't in any condition to fly. Do I have to draw you a picture?"
"Are you saying they're all dead? All of them?" - ―Anakin Skywalker and Solha
Using the preset hyperspace route stored in Boroklif's ship, Skywalker and Thrawn traveled to the coordinates on Mokivj of the Serennian's whereabouts. Locating Solha's droid factory and contacting the duke, Skywalker made his plan to infiltrate the facility. The Jedi informed Solha that Boroklif was indisposed due to trouble at Black Spire and that his forces were most likely dead. The Jedi Knight offered to bring the cargo Solha had lost to his factory, which the duke accepted, telling Skywalker that he would open the shield when the ship landed at the factory courtyard and not before.[1]
Solha greeted Skywalker and Thrawn upon their arrival to Mokivj.
Following their arrival, the Serennian duke and his escort of a pair of B2-series super battle droids and two squads of B1-series battle droids hailed the Jedi Knight and the Chiss. Solha inquired about Skywalker's possession of R2-D2, an R2 series astromech droid of the Republic. In response, Skywalker explained that he had found the droid and believed it could be worth something if the duke desired to purchase it. He and Thrawn further asked Solha about Duja's fate, which the duke brushed off, and spoke of their acquisition of Boroklif's ship. Thrawn explained that they came to Mokivj because there was a preset hyperspace course on the ship and, upon the Serennian's inquiry, elaborated that Boroklif had set the coordinates.[1]
Solha warned Skywalker and Thrawn that they had told him all the information they had, leaving them minimal bargaining room. However, the pair informed him that another preset hyperspace course was locked below the current one, which was in turn secured by a two-stage encryption passcode of which they each had half. After Skywalker introduced Thrawn under the name "Brix," Solha ordered all his droids to lower their weapons and escort them into the factory.[1]
Capture of Thrawn and Skywalker[]
- "Don't worry. I've got a nice, safe spot for you."
- ―Solha, to Anakin Skywalker in the detention block
Skywalker fooled Solha into thinking a rogue Jedi was loose in the factory.
As their group entered the building, Skywalker used Force-powered telekinesis to move his lightsaber around, making it appear as if a rogue Jedi had entered the facility and caused damage to doors. Skywalker destroyed several droids and then threw his lightsaber to the top of the building, hoping the duke would attempt to chase a figure that did not exist. Now focused on capturing a rogue Jedi, Solha sent Skywalker and Thrawn to stay in improvised prison cells, calling the latter a thief and aiming his blaster at Skywalker, blaming him for "transporting" a Jedi to the facility aboard the Larkrer. Solha then tried to impress Skywalker with his title of duke, though it had no effect.[1]
A B2-series super battle droid took the pair's weapons and communication devices before locking the cell and leaving with R2-D2. Skywalker, who could sense Amidala on Mokivj through the Force, agreed with Thrawn to wait in the detention block for two hours in the event that she joined them, after which they would break out and attempt to locate her. Thrawn later informed Skywalker that the ship in the courtyard was a filled ore carrier, meaning meaning Solha's factory was a manufacturing facility and not a staging ground. While they waited, Thrawn updated his partner on the ebbs and flows of activity near them by sensing heat signatures, for Chiss could see more infrared than humans.[1]
Raid on the factory[]
- "When they remembered my name, you mean? Well, that will change. After the final Confederacy victory, everyone will know my name."
- ―Solha, to Padmé Amidala in the factory
Skywalker, Thrawn, and Amidala (pictured from left to right) teamed up in an attempt to defeat Solha.
After waiting two hours without Amidala arriving in the detention block, the Chiss crafted a cord from the clothing he obtained from the Larkrer and used it to unlock their cell. Shortly after, assisted by factory maintenance workers Cimy, Huga, and LebJau, Amidala met Skywalker and Thrawn once they had escaped confinement, defeating the droids guarding the area. Following the Chiss' introduction to the newcomers by his Jedi companion, the group created a plan to retrieve Skywalker's lightsaber and defeat Solha.[1]
When Amidala and Thrawn left, the Jedi began to wander across the factory and found a section of the building that produced cortosis B2 super battle droids, which the duke, his siblings, and droid sentries guarded. The Serennians, who were protecting themselves with cortosis-covered clone trooper armor, were resistant to Skywalker's attempts to confuse them. Aware of the Jedi's presence, Solha attempted to track down the Jedi, prompting him to hide while Amidala and the Chiss commander retrieved his lightsaber. Unarmed, Skywalker used the Force to see where Solha and his droid sentries were, avoiding them while traveling across the factory. The duke became increasingly frustrated by the Jedi's use of telekinesis to cause chaos, ordering the droids under his command to secure the factory. Shortly after, Skywalker met with Amidala and reacquired his lightsaber, also learning from the senator that Thrawn had decided to focus on his own mission for the Chiss Ascendancy.[1]
With Skywalker intent on destroying Solha's factory, Amidala helped the factory's workers evacuate. Thrawn, who decided to rejoin their mission following the completion of his own, informed the duo that the duke's droids were built with cortosis, a metal Solha thought could decisively change the Clone Wars. After donning clone trooper armor, Solha sought out Amidala and conversed with her regarding his past ambitions and current goal of destroying the Republic in line with Dooku's plans. When Amidala's attempt to make Solha surrender failed, she resorted to stunning him with a strike from the grappling hook function of her S-5 blaster pistol.[1]
Defeat[]
- "What does that—? No—that's crazy. It's only supposed to redirect blaster energy."
"I guess it can redirect the heat of explosives too. That's lava out there, Anakin. However, the cortosis did it, it sent your explosion straight down the crust into the magma." - ―Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, after destroying Solha's factory
Attempting to protect himself during the raid on his factory, Solha donned cortosis clone trooper armor with the markings of the Republic's 212th Attack Battalion (pictured).
Skywalker and Thrawn also learned that the Separatists were producing cortosis-covered clone trooper armor in another section of the factory. The Jedi surmised that they were planning to infiltrate the Republic by sending Serennian troopers wearing clone trooper armor to Coruscant,[1] the capital planet of the Republic.[6] After Skywalker and Thrawn defeated the battle droids protecting the room, the group abandoned the factory and destroyed the clone armor section while sabotaging the droid manufacturing areas.[1]
Skywalker decided to set the cortosis mine of Solha's facility to explode, despite Amidala, Thrawn, and LebJau's advice against it. The mines were wiped out, but the amplified blast caused by the expansion of the area's cortosis additionally resulted in heat being sent to Mokivj's crust, which directed lava, ash, and smoke into the planet's best cropland and water supplies. Although LebJau informed the Jedi that his actions would result in volcanic activity and lead to widespread devastation—including mass deforestation and desertification—Skywalker remained unrepentant. Many years later, after Skywalker had fallen to the Dark side of the Force and become the Sith Lord Darth Vader, he reflected on the events on Mokivj and Solha's defeat.[1]
Personality and traits[]
- "Count Dooku would need someone who wouldn't be missed to run this facility."
"And who was ambitious enough to work for future promises of glory. I wonder what Dooku offered him." - ―Thrawn and Anakin Skywalker, about Solha
Solha's smile
Solha was a tall, slender human male.[1] He had white hair and a mustache, blue eyes, and light skin.[2] While working for the Galactic Republic, he felt that members of the Galactic Senate and the Republic saw him as a joke. By the time he oversaw work in the Separatist Mokivj droid factory, Solha presented himself as a very ambitious and confident man despite having been quiet before that. While he worked for the Republic, Amidala noted that his face portrayed him as someone whose desires and ambitions had been thwarted; however, when he worked for Dooku, his face was filled with ambition and determination. The duke aspired to become one of the most important members of the Confederacy, assuring others that his actions would make everyone remember him. He acted as a traffic controller as leader of the factory, which later became the reason for Skywalker not taking him seriously. The duke spoke the Basic language with a heavy Serennian accent by the time of the Clone Wars.[1]
Solha was very proud of his creations on Mokivj, some of which included cortosis B2 super battle droids. He did not care about the workers he managed, treating them harshly by not giving them enough food or letting them die in their labor of lifting heavy loads. During the raid on the facility, the Serennian duke was confident that he would prevail against his assailants and be praised after the Republic's eventual defeat. Protected by armor, Solha was willing to fight Amidala, having initially thought she was a Jedi when she was holding Skywalker's lightsaber. As the factory's situation deteriorated, he firmly believed he would live to see the assailants defeated.[1]
Skills and abilities[]
- "I see you're admiring my handiwork."
- ―Solha on his cortosis B2 super battle droids, to Padmé Amidala
Although initially a professional politician, Solha proved able to lead workers in manufacturing projects such as producing cortosis B2 super battle droids at the Mokivj droid factory, which he had designed.[1]
Equipment[]
When Skywalker arrived on Mokivj, Solha wore a royal Serennian cloak that was distinctively identifiable by its style, throat clasps,[1] high collar, brown[2] color, and ribbing.[1] He completed his outfit with black clothing under his cloak and black shoes.[2] After taking off the cloak, he donned cortosis clone trooper armor decorated with the Republic 212th Attack Battalion's markings to protect himself when assailants were loose in his factory. He also used an E-5 blaster rifle and a communications device during the attack.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Solha first appeared in the second storyline of the 2018 novel Thrawn: Alliances, the second installment in the Star Wars: Thrawn novel series written by Timothy Zahn.[1] He was first pictured in the fourth issue of Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances, a 2024 comic miniseries adapting the book's events. The issue was written by Timothy Zahn and Jody Houser, illustrated by Pat Olliffe and Andrea Di Vito, and released by Marvel Comics[2] on April 10, 2024.[8]
Appearances[]
- Thrawn: Alliances (First appearance, simultaneous with audiobook)
- Thrawn: Alliances audiobook
- Thrawn: Alliances 2 (Indirect mention only)
- Thrawn: Alliances 4 (First pictured)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 Thrawn: Alliances
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Thrawn: Alliances 4
- ↑ Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game
- ↑
"Anakin Skywalker" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ The events of Thrawn: Alliances set during the Clone Wars are dated to 19 BBY per Star Wars: Timelines.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising
- ↑
Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances (2024) #4 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)