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Revision as of 01:08, 20 June 2006

Template:SW Character

Mara Jade Skywalker (b. 18 BBY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. She first appeared in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, and is the most popular original character from that book series; in a poll of favorite Star Wars characters, Mara made it into the top twenty, beating all other EU characters and quite a few movie characters. She was also a hidden character featured in the PlayStation fighting game Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi.

Template:Spoiler

Once known as an "Emperor's Hand," Mara Jade functioned as one of Emperor Palpatine's elite personal assassins. She later became second-in-command to smuggling chief Talon Karrde, and afterwards married Luke Skywalker, a union through which she eventually received the rank of Jedi Master. Mara is not featured in any of the Star Wars movies, but she is portrayed by the model Shannon McRandle in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.

In Hebrew, Mara means "bitter", which describes Mara's personality fairly accurately in the earlier Star Wars books. However, it also means "myrrh" or "fragrance", which portrays her character in later books. Mara is a strong woman of many talents, with fiery red hair, deep green eyes, and the figure of a dancer. She is said to be similar in character to Princess Leia, her husband's twin sister.

Prior to gaining her own ship, Mara used a personal Z-95 Headhunter when circumstances required her to go off on her own. Mara lost her first ship, a craft known as the Jade's Fire, when she used a beckon call to direct it straight into a Chiss fortress. She later owned three other ships, the Jade Sabre, the Shrike and the Jade Shadow.

History

Emperor's Hand

Main article: Emperor's Hand

The Emperor's Hands were an elite group of Force-sensitive assassins handpicked by Emperor Palpatine to carry out his will via subtler methods than were preferred by the Emperor's apprentice, Darth Vader. Meant to complement Vader rather than replace him, Palpatine's Hands were entirely disposable and easily replaced, and were usually unaware of the existence of any Hands other than themselves. Some, if not all, of the Hands were able to hear the Emperor's voice from across the galaxy, and respond to him in kind. Grand Admiral Thrawn theorized that Mara's particular favor with the Emperor owed to her ability to hear his commands more clearly than her counterparts.

Early abduction and training

Jade was introduced in Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, an Expanded Universe author. Emperor Palpatine took her from her parents when she was a small child, but still old enough to understand that she would be leaving home and going with him. She has no memories of her previous life, except that she somehow thinks that her parents didn't want her to go. He trained her (to some degree) to use her strength in the Force, and used her as one of his personal Hands. When Palpatine began to worry about the threat of Luke Skywalker, Mara was sent to infiltrate Jabba's Palace to await and kill him. She failed because Jabba wouldn't allow her to come to the execution. Had she been present at the Great Pit of Carkoon, Luke and his friends would have been unable to escape, as revealed to Luke in a Force-vision over five years later.

Mara saw scenes from the Emperor's death through the Force. Vader and Skywalker were there, and it seemed that they both killed Palpatine together. While her hatred for Skywalker burned deep within her, Palpatine's last message to her was "you will kill Luke Skywalker". In the meanwhile, though, her life was a shambles: the resources she had once had access to were all dependent on the Emperor, and her life of luxury, privilege and purpose was over. She made her way through the galaxy, doing odd jobs and manual labor to make ends meet. Even worse, her Force skills went into remission, only to return at inconvenient times, generally necessitating a change of employment. Fortune finally struck when she managed to save smuggler baron Talon Karrde from an ambush that took the life of his second-in-command, Quelev Tapper, and almost killed him as well. So impressed was Karrde by this woman that he hired her on the spot; over the following six months, she rose within his organization at an astonishing rate, propelled by her skills, insight and abilities.

Into this promising future crashed Luke Skywalker, the man she was compelled to kill. At Karrde's base on Myrkr, where Skywalker lacked his Force talents (inhibited by native ysalamiri), Mara was intent on following through; but a series of circumstances and some unknown hesitation resulted in her helping him escape instead. Karrde and his organization fled soon after, a massive Imperial bounty on their collective heads.

Skywalker came to understand that it wasn't truly she who desired to kill him, but Palpatine, whose voice Mara could somehow hear in her head anywhere in the galaxy, even after he was long dead. Mara, further, once she learned who Skywalker's father had been, came to understand that Palpatine didn't want Skywalker dead for his own sake, but rather as a final act of vengeance against Darth Vader. Luke, for his part, resolved to free her from this curse, regardless of the danger she posed to him. Mara was both confused and impressed that her hated enemy would do such a thing for her. The golden opportunity came when the two found themselves battling Luuke Skywalker, the original's clone. After a protracted battle, Mara killed it, silencing Palpatine's voice and any ill will towards the real Skywalker.

Because Mara disobeyed the intent of the Emperor's will and failed to kill the real Skywalker, however, Palpatine, now reborn in a clone body and in hiding on his Deep Core throneworld of Byss, labeled her a traitor and sent one of his loyal Hands, the former Prophet of the Dark Side "Blackhole," to dispose of her. Mara was kidnapped by Blackhole in the Senex Sector, but she was eventually rescued by maverick Jedi Kyle Katarn. When Palpatine died a final death on Onderon in 11 ABY, Mara was released from his shadow at last, and allowed to begin her life anew. Curiously, during a mission to Nirauan with Luke, she expressed disbelief that the "reborn Emperor" was indeed a reincarnated Palpatine, though she did not elaborate the reason for her skepticism.

After Grand Admiral Thrawn's war against the New Republic ended with his defeat, Luke gave Mara his first lightsaber, which was actually his father's, a weapon long thought lost when Darth Vader severed Luke's hand on Bespin. It was recovered by agents of the Empire most likely because Vader recognized his old Jedi weapon.

Jedi

Mara Jade holding her and Luke's son, Ben Skywalker.

In the computer game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Mara is seen under the tutelage of Kyle Katarn for a time. Eventually, the first person perspective switches from Kyle to Mara, and the user experiences the game through Mara's eyes for the rest of the game. She is eventually able to bring Kyle back to the light after he briefly falls to the dark side of the Force.

Over the years, Mara and Luke would continue to work together in many important situations in the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War that followed the Battle of Endor. Initially, Mara declined to attend the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV because of her concerns about Luke and the way he structured the school. On their mission to investigate the Hand of Thrawn, they developed a close Force bond, prompting Luke to make an unexpected marriage proposal, which she accepted. They married on Coruscant, soon after the signing of the peace treaty with the Empire. Mara would later continue her training and become a Jedi Master. She took on her niece Jaina Solo as her apprentice, helping to bring her to a more skilled understanding of the Force.

In the New Jedi Order books, Mara and Luke fight together against a new threat, the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong, who infected Mara with a dangerous and deadly disease. Through the use of the Force, and tears from the Jedi Vergere, she cleansed her body. Despite her worries, she found she was pregnant. She carried the baby to term, and nearly died while giving birth. The bond she and her family shared bolstered her abilities with the Force, and healed her.

They named their son Ben, after Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's nickname.

During the Force Heretic novels, she plays a major role in finding the planet Zonama Sekot in the Unknown Regions, along with a small team of Jedi and an Imperial escort. Despite a trap set up by the Yuuzhan Vong, they succeed in finding the planet.

Fan reaction

Mara can sometimes be one of the most polarizing figures in the EU. There is a small yet vocal segment of the Star Wars fan community that passionately dislikes her. They claim that she is a Mary Sue and that Zahn intentionally writes other characters to look inferior to her. They also claim that her feelings about her past have not been sufficiently developed and that her pairing with Luke was unnatural and forced. Whether any of this is true largely depends upon readers' opinions/interpretations of the Star Wars novels.

Parentage

Various suggestions on Mara's parentage have surfaced from the fan community. These ideas are purely speculative, and have not been presented in any official EU material to date. Prospective parents include:

There is another theory that addresses more long-term genealogical issues, holding that Mara Jade is a descendant of Mira from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords as both are Force-sensitive, and have red hair and green eyes. However, considering the 4000 year gap between The Sith Lords and Mara's date of birth, such links are speculative at best.

See also

Appearances

Reference


External link

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