Darth Caedus

Darth Caedus, born Jacen Solo, was a Human male who began his life as a Jedi Knight of the New Republic era and ended it as a Sith Lord who turned against his family and led the galaxy he once protected into a reign of terror. The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, he was the twin brother of Jaina Solo and the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, the man who had fallen as Darth Vader. His descent was driven by the same willingness to accept any cost in defense of the galaxy that had once corrupted his grandfather. This entry describes the Legends continuity.

Early life#

Jacen Solo was a figure of galactic significance before his birth. As the son of the Rebel hero Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan, the New Republic Minister of State, he and his twin sister Jaina were the targets of repeated kidnapping plots almost from the moment of their conception. The Grand Admiral Thrawn sought the unborn Force-sensitive children for the insane Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth, and only the intervention of the smuggler Mara Jade saved the family from an early Imperial abduction attempt. For their protection, the twins spent much of their earliest childhood in hiding, first under the care of the woman Winter and a guard of Noghri warriors, and later on the remote world of Anoth.

The twins returned to live with their family on Coruscant around 11 ABY. From a young age Jacen displayed an unusual affinity for animals, able to reach out to creatures through the Force, and he and his sister could see and speak with the spirit of their uncle Luke Skywalker when the Jedi Master lay comatose. When the spirit of the ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun threatened Skywalker's body, the young Jacen took up his uncle's lightsaber and, guided by Skywalker, drove off the Sithspawn creatures sent to attack.

Training as a Jedi#

When he was thirteen, in 22 ABY, Jacen and Jaina began formal study at Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. There Jacen made lasting friends, among them the Wookiee Lowbacca and the Hapan princess Tenel Ka Djo, to whom he became strongly attracted. As students the young Jedi thwarted numerous threats, including the Second Imperium and the Diversity Alliance. A philosopher by nature, Jacen struggled throughout his youth with the question of how to fight violence without becoming violent himself, often arguing the point with his more aggressive younger brother, Anakin.

In 24 ABY, Jacen and Anakin were formally apprenticed to their uncle. Jacen's philosophical doubts deepened with the outbreak of the Yuuzhan Vong War, an invasion by an extragalactic species that could not be felt in the Force. The conflict claimed his Wookiee "uncle" Chewbacca among its first victims at Sernpidal, and Jacen came to believe that evil could not be answered with evil. For a time he ceased fighting and refused to use the Force at all, fearing any misstep could doom the galaxy.

The Yuuzhan Vong War#

Despite his reluctance, Jacen volunteered for the strike team assembled to destroy the voxyn queen at Myrkr, the source of the Jedi-hunting creatures plaguing the Order. On that mission his brother Anakin Solo was killed. Jacen stepped up to lead the survivors, slew the queen, and ended the voxyn threat, but he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong in the process.

He spent nearly a year in captivity, subjected to torture in the Embrace of Pain. His captor and mentor was Vergere, a Fosh who had been a Jedi of the Old Republic. Under her teaching Jacen first slipped toward the dark side, then came to embrace a philosophy of responding to the universe with unconditional love, learning to treat pain as a teacher rather than allowing it to break him. He escaped with Vergere and rejoined the war. In its final battle he stormed Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's Citadel and destroyed Onimi, the being who had secretly controlled the Supreme Overlord, while experiencing a moment of profound unity with the Force.

The years of wandering#

After the war Jacen spent five years traveling the galaxy, learning from various Force-using traditions. Among the Mind Walkers at Sinkhole Station, poised between two black holes, he gazed into the Pool of Knowledge and saw the Throne of Balance, on which a dark, armored figure ruled the galaxy surrounded by disciples. The vision shook him, and he became determined to prevent its fulfillment.

He studied with the Baran Do Sages on Dorin under Master Koro Ziil, mastering techniques for manipulating the body's electromagnetic field, and learned Fallanassi methods for manipulating the White Current from Akanah Norand Goss Pell. Through these years he became known for his secretive manner and grew steadily more ruthless, returning to the New Jedi Order during the Dark Nest Crisis armed with a philosophy that accepted any sacrifice in the name of the greater good. He had also secretly fathered a daughter, Allana, with Tenel Ka Djo.

The fall to the dark side#

In 40 ABY, as tensions rose between the Galactic Alliance and a defiant Corellia, Jacen probed the future and concluded that if he did not become a Sith, he would kill Luke Skywalker and the galaxy would fall into chaos. He agreed to become the secret apprentice of the Sith Lady Lumiya and embarked on a year-long descent into darkness, slowly turning against the Jedi and his own family.

He took command of the Galactic Alliance Guard and pursued ever more extreme measures against Corellia and the Jedi. He murdered Mara Jade Skywalker, tortured his former apprentice and cousin Ben Skywalker, and committed multiple atrocities. After achieving battle meditation, which Lumiya had named a sign of Sith mastery, he named himself Darth Caedus, Dark Lord of the Sith. He later took Tahiri Veila as his own apprentice. Unknown to him, the hidden order of the One Sith on Korriban regarded his rise as useful, drawing Jedi attention toward himself and away from their own designs.

Death and legacy#

After killing Mara Jade Skywalker and torturing Ben Skywalker, and after his sister Jaina trained with the Mandalore Boba Fett to prepare for the confrontation, Darth Caedus was finally killed by Jaina in a lightsaber duel aboard the Star Destroyer Anakin Solo, the ship he had named for their dead brother.

Though his family had hardened against him in his final days, over time they came to remember Jacen Solo as the hero he had once been and to wonder what had gone so wrong. They took joy in raising his daughter Allana, in whom they saw much of the young Jacen, including his affinity for animals. His spirit was later visited by Luke and Ben Skywalker as they sought to understand the cause of his fall, a question that brought charges against Luke Skywalker himself and shaped the troubles that followed within the Jedi Order.