Solo family

The Solo family is a fictional family of characters in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 1977 film Star Wars, smuggler Han Solo is initially a morally ambiguous character but evolves into one of the heroes of the film. He is also a major character in the sequels The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). In The Force Awakens, Han and Princess Leia have a son named Ben.

In the alternate Star Wars expanded universe of novels and comic books, Han and Leia have three children—Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo—who also appear as lead characters in several expanded universe books and other media.

Fictional history

In the Star Wars Legends continuity, King Berethon e Solo ruled Corellia during the Golden Age of the Old Republic, and set up a constitutional monarchy in 312 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin). His descendants continued to rule Corellia until the establishment of the Diktat centuries later. By 29 BBY, their declining status had driven them out of rule and into poverty. Han Solo was born during this time.

Following the events of the original film trilogy, Han is a hero of the Rebel Alliance, and marries Rebel leader Princess Leia in The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton. Han and Leia have a twin son and daughter in Timothy Zahn's The Last Command (1993). Leia becomes the Chief of State of the New Republic by the time of the Jedi Academy trilogy (1994) by Kevin J. Anderson, and during this period has another son with Han. All three of the Solo children become Jedi Knights under the tutelage of their maternal uncle Luke Skywalker.

The canon continuity diverges from the Legends works in The Force Awakens. In the film, Han and Leia have a son they name Ben, who also becomes a Jedi but betrays the order. Destroying the new Jedi Knights brought together under Luke, Ben joins the Knights of Ren, taking the name Kylo Ren and becoming the leader of the First Order.

Characters

Canon

Han Solo

Main article: Han Solo

Han first appeared in A New Hope where he was played by Harrison Ford. He and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca are initially hired to help Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi, strictly for their own financial benefit. They later become involved in the Rebel Alliance and committed to its cause. Over the course of the franchise Han becomes a military leader for the Alliance (and later New Republic) as well as marrying Leia Organa and fathering Ben Solo. Originally, Han was only interested in helping Luke and Obi Wan for financial gain, but while Luke was attempting to destroy the Death Star, Han had a change of mind and returned to help. From that point on Darth Vader decided to put a bounty on his head, eventually capturing him and putting him in stasis. Vader set a trap for Han, Leia, Chewbacca by using them as bait and capture Luke when he came to rescue them at Cloud City, putting his training with Yoda on hold. He dies at the hands of his son Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens.

Leia Organa

Main article: Princess Leia

Leia first appeared in A New Hope, played by Carrie Fisher. She is an adopted member of the Alderaan royal family, a member of the Imperial Senate and one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance. She later becomes the elected head of the New Republic and continues to serve in various government positions. She marries Han Solo and gives birth to Ben Solo.

Ben

Main article: Kylo Ren

Following the events of Return of the Jedi, Leia and Han have a son, Ben. He is taught the ways of the Force by his uncle, Luke Skywalker, but is corrupted and turned to the dark side by the Supreme Leader of the First Order, Snoke. Taking up the name "Kylo Ren", he sets out to destroy the First Order's enemy and his mother's militant force, the Resistance, as well as kill his former master, Luke. Confronted by his father, Kylo stabs him with his lightsaber and watches him fall into the chasm.

Legends

Jaina Solo

Jaina Solo.

Jaina Solo Fel and her twin brother Jacen were created by Timothy Zahn for the novel The Last Command (1994), part of the Star Wars expanded universe. She is the eldest child of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo. She is also the elder twin of Jacen by five minutes and the sister of Anakin Solo. She has appeared in various novels and the Champions of the Force set for the Star Wars Miniatures Game.

The twins played a small role in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy, and a larger supporting role in Vonda McIntyre's The Crystal Star. Not until the Young Jedi Knights (1995) do Jaina Solo and her friends become major characters.

Elaine Cunningham, author of Dark Journey, commented that the story is a personal one focusing on a difficult time in Jaina's life. Walter Jon Williams, author of Destiny's Way, commented that the plot concerning Jaina Solo's love-life caused some frantic rewrites.

Jaina, named after Han's mother, is born five minutes before her brother Jacen in The Thrawn Trilogy. The twins, and eventually their younger brother, live at various safe havens for their first few years under the protection of Leia's handmaiden Winter. In Champions of the Force, Jaina helps her brother defend their unconscious uncle from the spirit of Sith Lord Exar Kun. In The Crystal Star, Jaina is kidnapped and used in a plot, along with her siblings, to take advantage of their Force powers. In the Corellian Trilogy, Jaina is again kidnapped but escapes. In the Young Jedi Knights series, Jaina travels to Yavin 4 with her brother to begin her Jedi training.

Throughout the New Jedi Order series, Jaina pursues a life separate from her twin brother and becomes Mara Jade Skywalker's apprentice. Jaina progresses quickly as a Jedi and a pilot, eventually joining Rogue Squadron. She also develops a romantic relationship with Jagged Fel. She briefly becomes the apprentice of fallen Jedi Kyp Durron. Jaina's understanding and manipulation of Yuuzhan Vong technology causes them to associate her with their trickster goddess. She is present at the conclusion of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.

In The Joiner King, Jaina and the Jedi Zekk are joined in the Killik hive. Jacen tricks them into attacking a Chiss base to provoke a war between the Chiss and the Killiks; Jaina, furious, vows that she will never fly with Jacen again.

In the Legacy of the Force series, Jacen throws Jaina out of the Galactic Alliance when she refuses to follow his order to destroy a crippled ship. She senses at this time a growing darkness in her twin. In Betrayal, Jacen falls to the dark side of the Force, and Jaina realizes her duty as the "Sword of the Jedi" requires her to stop him. She turns to Boba Fett to train her. In Invincible, Jaina duels and kills Jacen.

In the Fate of the Jedi series (2009–12), Jaina is promoted to Jedi Master by Luke Skywalker, and marries Jagged Fel.

Jacen Solo

Main article: Jacen Solo

Jacen Solo as Darth Caedus

Jacen Solo is the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo and the nephew of Luke Skywalker, introduced in the 1994 Star Wars expanded universe novel The Last Command. He is a major character in several Star Wars novels, particularly the Legacy of the Force series. He is the main antagonist of the series, up until his death at the end of Invincible. He is the twin brother of Jaina Solo, older brother to Anakin Solo, grandson of Anakin Skywalker, and cousin of Ben Skywalker. Jacen later became known as Darth Caedus, and his family disowned him because he became a Sith. Around 40 years after the battle of Yavin, Caedus was stabbed in the stomach with a lightsaber by his twin sister Jaina Solo.

IGN listed Jacen as #17 on their list of the top 100 Star Wars heroes, saying that he had a more "profound effect" than any other Solo children on the Star Wars setting. Jesse Schedeen, writing for IGN, also listed him as #5 in a reader-inspired list of top Star Wars villains, and called his "defining moment of villainy" his murder of Mara Jade. UGO.com listed Jacen as their top Star Wars expanded universe character, calling him "one of the most fearsome - and most tragic - villains in the Star Wars universe".

Anakin Solo

Anakin Solo is the youngest child born to Han Solo and Princess Leia, and the younger brother of Jacen and Jaina Solo. Anakin is named for his maternal grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, and, like his namesake, is a talented pilot who is prodigiously gifted both in the Force and mechanical engineering.

Anakin appears as an infant and toddler in many Star Wars novels such as the Jedi Academy trilogy (1994). Anakin and his siblings play central roles in other novels such as The Crystal Star (1994), the Corellian trilogy (1995) and The New Rebellion (1996). Anakin's birth is featured in Tom Veitch's Dark Empire II comic book miniseries (May 1995). He is first referred to as Han Solo, Jr. by his father, but Leia corrects him, having named the baby after her biological father, Anakin Skywalker, as a reminder of hope. However, Anakin still fears the name and his grandfather's legacy.

On October 1, 1995, Nancy Richardson started the Junior Jedi Knights series with The Golden Globe starring Anakin and his best friend Tahiri Veila. Anakin was now an eleven-year-old child starting his training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. Richardson continued Anakin's adventures in the following two novels, Lyric's World and Promises, before Rebecca Moesta finished the series with Anakin's Quest, Vader's Fortress, and Kenobi's Blade, starting in 1996. Anakin appears in the Young Jedi Knights series by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, which follows the adventures of Anakin's siblings, Jacen and Jaina.

In 1999, the first novel of the New Jedi Order series was published, entitled Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore. Anakin is now a teenager studying as a Jedi under his uncle, Luke Skywalker, debating with his brother, Jacen, on the ways of a Jedi and the Force. In the novel's climax, his father's copilot and best friend, Chewbacca, dies saving Anakin's life.

Anakin plays major roles in Dark Tide: Onslaught and Dark Tide: Ruin by Michael A. Stackpole published 1 February 2000 and 1 June 2000, respectively, and is the main focus of the books Edge of Victory: Conquest and Edge of Victory: Rebirth by Greg Keyes published April 1, 2001 and August 1, 2001, respectively.

In the 2001 novel Star by Star by Troy Denning, Anakin leads a team of Jedi to take out a dangerous enemy, resulting in his death. Writers of the New Jedi Order storyline revealed in a question-and-answer section of the paperback edition of The Unifying Force published on August 3, 2004 that Anakin was supposed to be the hero of the story and lead the Jedi Order, but this was changed due to the release of the Star Wars prequel films, in which the hero was also named Anakin. Instead, he dies in battle at the conclusion of the novel.

Even after his death, Anakin Solo has been mentioned several times in most following novels, including a possible appearance in Traitor by Matthew Stover, as a droid in Betrayal by Aaron Allston as Anakin Sal-Solo, and in Backlash, where he appeared to his maternal uncle Luke Skywalker and to Luke's son, Ben Skywalker by Aaron Allston.

Anakin is portrayed in the earlier books as being a genius and a loner, but is haunted by his name. In Lyric's World, it is revealed that he loves to take computers apart and put them back together and sees it as a puzzle. He would also have dreams of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader trying to persuade him to fall to the dark side of the Force; Anakin overcomes this fear in Anakin's Quest, in which he confronts himself.

In The New Jedi Order series, Anakin is older. He still spent time alone thinking about the role of the Force, and would get into arguments with his brother Jacen on the subject. However, his uncle Luke still sees Anakin as too young and reckless.

Reception

IGN listed the Solo children as the 16th top Star Wars heroes.

Family trees

Star Wars expanded universe (Legends)

References