I name you the Sword of the Jedi. You are like tempered steel, purposeful and razor-keen. Always you shall be in the front rank, a burning brand to your enemies, a brilliant fire to your friends. Yours is a restless life, and never shall you know peace, though you shall be blessed for the peace that you bring to others. Take comfort in the fact that, though you stand tall and alone, others take shelter in the shadow that you cast.
—Luke Skywalker
Jaina Solo also known as Jaina Darkblade was a Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order, the twin sister of Jacen Solo and the older sister of Anakin Solo. Born to Han and Leia Solo, she inherited her father's mechanical aptitude and her mother's Force sensitivity, resulting in her eventual training at the Jedi Praxeum. During her time there, she had many adventures, including helping to thwart the Second Imperium, where she helped Zekk abandon the dark side of the Force.
When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, Jaina joined the New Republic military and distinguished herself as a Rogue Squadron pilot. She was constantly on the front lines of battle during the Yuuzhan Vong War, earning the title of Sword of the Jedi from her uncle, Luke, and becoming known as an avatar of the Trickster Goddess Yun-Harla to the Yuuzhan Vong. During the war, she also became romantically involved with Jagged Fel. However, the death of her brother Anakin caused Jaina to walk dangerously close to the dark side. She was later redeemed by Kyp Durron, and as the war waged on, Jaina discovered a way for the Galactic Alliance to use Yuuzhan Vong warships and biots to their advantage, participating in the war's conclusion. Jaina, as a survivor of the Mission to Myrkr, later became Joined into the Killik community, and was involved in the subsequent Dark Nest Crisis and Swarm War. Shortly after the war. Jaina secretly married a Jedi that she had met when she was just a youngling. He was known as Kyp Duran they son is Malachai Darkblade.
In 40 ABY, she assumed control of the Hardpoint Squadron and participated in the Battle of Tralus, siding with the Galactic Alliance. Afterward, she and her brother Jacen commanded Rogue Squadron during the Blockade of Corellia. The resulting crisis resulted in a split between her and Jacen due to his increasingly aggressive actions, though she remained active in the Jedi Order. Jaina would later be paired up with Jagged Fel and Zekk on a mission to hunt down the renegade Dark Jedi Alema Rar. The death of her aunt Mara and the dark deeds of her brother only encouraged her to find a way to stop Jacen, and she began seeking the means to do so through training with her father's ex-arch-enemy, Mandalore Boba Fett. She later killed her twin brother, now the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, in a lightsaber duel aboard the Anakin Solo.
Following the death of Caedus and the end of the war, Jaina remained an active member of the Order. As such, when Chief of State Natasi Daala exiled Luke Skywalker from the Jedi Order as the beginning of a bid to take control of the Jedi, Jaina created a covert group, Darkmeld, as a means of secretly undermining Daala's efforts. At the same time, though, Jaina had to balance her obligations to the Jedi Order with her personal life. The Second Galactic Civil War had seen Jagged Fel return as a suitor, and in 43 ABY, asked her to marry him even as the Jedi Order and Daala were at odds. Fel's position as the Head of State for the Galactic Empire meant that her loyalties were now split between the JedI, Fel and her family.
Aliases and nicknames[]
You can call me Great One. Most people do.
—Jaina Solo
Jaina had a number of different nicknames throughout her life, particularly during the Yuuzhan Vong War:
- Sticks
- Jaina's nickname in Rogue Squadron, both due to the lightsaber she carried and her skill with an X-wing's control stick.
- Goddess
- Given to Jaina when she began to mimic the role of the Yuuzhan Vong goddess Yun-Harla as part of a prolonged psychological warfare operation against the Yuuzhan Vong. This nickname and image was partially crafted by Wraith Squadron specialists during the Second Battle of Borleias and stayed with her for the entire war. Jaina was heavily involved in personifying herself as the Yuuzhan Vong deity, using a captured frigate and inventing various deceptive techniques, such as false gravitic signatures, to combat the aliens.
- Great One
- Another term used by Jaina during the Yuuzhan Vong War, similar to Goddess.
- Sword of the Jedi
- Given to Jaina by her uncle Luke during her Knighting ceremony. In giving her this title, Luke declared that she would always be on the front lines, purposeful, and determined; restless, but protecting others. Jaina embraced the title and still claimed it as of the Second Galactic Civil War, but it caused her some grief, as she sometimes felt she was meant not to love anyone or be close to anyone, particularly after the loss of so many friends and comrades during the Yuuzhan Vong War.
Relationships[]
Zekk[]
Zekk, sometimes you're a real pain in the neck. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm kind of starting to like it."
"Now you tell me.
—Jaina and Zekk
When Jaina first met the street-wise kid on Coruscant, she was immediately smitten with him. They shared many adventures together, becoming fast friends in the process. Jaina often found her thoughts dwelling on Zekk, especially after he was inducted into the Shadow Academy. It was because of their growing friendship that Jaina was able to redeem Zekk from the dark side. As they continued to see each other, the two developed a mutual attraction, though neither would admit their true feelings. Despite their close bond with one another, Zekk couldn't stop her from going dark after the disastrous Mission to Myrkr, where Jaina lost both her brothers. They went separate ways soon after, reuniting during the Dark Nest Crisis. However, by this time, Jaina's feelings for Zekk had turned into something that she had for her brothers, making it impossible for them to be in a relationship. The harder Zekk tried to make her fall in love with him, the more Jaina insisted that she would never be in a relationship with him.
When they became Joiners, Jaina and Zekk became one person, feeling each other's emotions and hearing each other's thoughts. Despite this, Jaina still refused Zekk, wishing that her relationship with Malachai Darkblade had not fallen apart. During the Second Galactic Civil War, Jaina and Zekk were never apart, working together on various missions. Jaina's family began to suspect that Jaina and Zekk were a couple, though both denied their relationship as being more than a friendly one. After Zekk admitted to Jaina that he was over her, Jaina was relieved. However, a series of events made Jaina reconsider their romance. Both Jaina and Zekk still insisted that they were just friends, though Jaina's family believed that something had changed between the two.
During a mission to catch Alema Rar, Zekk and Jaina were forced to work with Jagged Fel and Malachai. Despite Jaina's changed attitude towards Zekk and Jagged, Malachai's presence stirred old feelings, though she was attracted to them all.
After sustaining a head wound as a result of a lightsaber duel, Jaina was extracted back to a blastboat in a delirious state. In this fashion, she stated that she wanted to share quarters with Zekk, Fel and Malachai, though she did not recall this statement later. Shortly before her final duel with Caedus, during an attack run against the Anakin Solo, Jaina felt Zekk simply vanish in the Force as his ship was destroyed. She did not believe Zekk was dead because there was no sort of last reaction from him in the Force, but afterward she was disappointed to learn that Zekk still had yet to be found.
Master Durron[]
You have a relationship with me. It's not boyfriend-girlfriend. It's no longer Master-apprentice. I think we both know that neither of these is right. It's partners, whatever that means.o me it will be husband and wife
—Jaina, to her husband Kyp
After her brush with the dark side, Solo apprenticed herself to Kyp Durron, a maverick Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order. She was initially attracted to Durron's aggressive stance in the war, though, gradually, Jaina found herself developing romantic feelings for the much older Jedi–feelings that were also returned by Durron. However, after Durron tricked her into helping destroy a Yuuzhan Vong warship, their relationship deteriorated, with Jaina leaving the Jedi Master for Fel Though her father, Han, was furious with Kyp for using his daughter, he admitted that he very much preferred him as Jaina's suitor, rather than Fel, who he had disliked.
Jaina eventually reconciled with Durron, and the two remained friends well into the Second Galactic Civil War, though she was still interested in him romantically.
Jagged[]
I think he almost married our daughter.
—Han Solo, to Leia Organa Solo
Jaina first met the suave Chiss-trained pilot during the Yuuzhan Vong War. After their initial encounter, Jaina felt something stir in her, as she felt Jag was in every way her equal. While working together, the two developed feelings for one another. Though their relationship was often interrupted by their duties, Jaina and Jag found ways to communicate with each other. The war eventually strained their relationship, as Jaina declined his offer to return to Csilla with him as she felt her duty came before her own personal needs. She also realized that the lingering effects of the Jedi meld that the Myrkr strike team had employed had left her emotionally detached from others, including Jag, and they failed to reconnect when they met again shortly after the Yuuzhan Vong War. The two met again during the Swarm War, where Jagged was leading Chiss forces against the Killik nests on Tenupe. Before Leia shot him down, Jaina confessed that she would always love him.
By the Second Galactic Civil War, Jaina had convinced herself that she was not in love with Jag anymore, and even considered that maybe she wasn't meant to be loved. After reuniting with Fel on Coruscant, Jaina and Jag's rocky relationship grew more tense, as Jagged revealed to both Jaina and Zekk that he was jealous of the latter. This complication led to a growing rivalry between Jag, Zekk and Malachai to gain attention from Jaina. Jaina would later vocalize a wish to share quarters with both Zekk, Jag and Malachai after being extracted from a lightsaber duel against Caedus. As she had suffered a head injury in the duel, she was delirious and did not later recall making that statement. Later, after her final duel with Caedus, she was glad that Jag had been the first one to reach her and help her back to a friendly ship. It was revealed that Jaina and Jag continued to develop their relationship, with Jag even professing Jaina as the "woman he loves", though their relationship kept somewhat secret because of Jag's new position as the head of the Imperial Remnant and their fear of angering the Moffs.
Malachai[]
I Love you and I always will, but its your dark past that worries me.
—Jaina, to Malachai
Jaina and Malachai’s relationship started when the two of them was on a mission to Dantooine, to bring back a rear Jedi Holocron, containing information about the whereabouts of the remaining JedI that was still in hiding since the rise of the Empire. Jaina and Malachai had got very close to each other and by the time the two was on there return from Dantooine to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Jaina had kissed Malachai.
It wasn’t into many years later in 49 ABY, that Jaina finally gave into fate and married Malachai. Jaina had loved him and when he was exiled for disobeying the Jedi Code. Jaina had fell pregnant, with twins, Jaina and Malachai felt that for the safety of the children they should be adopted, so Jaina and Malachai gave their son Ragnier to Malachai’s Twin Sister and Brother In-Law, and their daughter Su-Ana was given to Jaina’s close friend Supreme Chancellor Tim O’Rourke.
Behind the scenes[]
Jaina Solo was created by author Timothy Zahn, and debuted with her twin Jacen in the Thrawn Trilogy. Since then, she continued to feature in a number of works by various authors, and rose to greater prominence as one of the protagonists of Kevin J. Anderson's Young Jedi Knights books. Jaina has continued to play a large role in the New Jedi Order, Dark Nest Crisis, and Legacy of the Force novel series.
When writing the Young Jedi Knights series, Kevin J. Anderson said that he and co-author Rebecca Moesta didn't want Jaina to be a "typical 'girl' character, but intended to make her more of a tomboy, much like Han, more logical and mechanical minded." Anderson also stated that he and Moesta had numerous discussions with Lucasfilm employees about the types of dangerous situations the young Jedi Knights would be faced with. Ultimately, though, Anderson felt that if the Solo children and their friends were to be Jedi, they should be armed with lethal weapons and placed in life-threatening situations. In order to maintain the Star Wars feel of the young adult books, Anderson felt that they would need to be treated more like adults. Anderson also stated that while he hadn't read all of the subsequent Expanded Universe books featuring the young Jedi Knights, such as The New Jedi Order, he stated that some of what he had heard seemed quite harsh and "seems to strain credibility." However, he also expressed the fact that none of the characters were his property—they belonged to Lucas Licensing.
Lightsaber[]
So far, Jaina has used only one lightsaber her entire life. She was tasked by her uncle to create it after her friend Zekk was kidnapped by the Second Imperium and the Shadow Academy. She half-hoped her uncle would let her take apart his saber to see how it was created, but Luke laughed and declined. After learning about the focusing crystal, Jaina set a goal to make her lightsaber ultimately hers, as if it were a part of her. To do this, she made synth-crystals like her uncle had done, each one giving a violet hue, which was the color of her finished blade.
Name[]
Jaina's name was chosen by author Timothy Zahn, who wanted the names of the Solo twins to have a similar alliteration to the Skywalker twins' names (Luke and Leia). The name "Jaina" could originate from the Hindi word jaina. This itself comes from the Sanskrit jina, which means "saint", and more literally, "overcomer" (triumph). The root words for this are ji ("to conquer") and jayati ("he conquers").
See also[]
Information on this article was from Jaina Solo at Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki