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Jaina Solo

Jaina Solo is a fictional character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, 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. She has appeared in various novels and the Champions of the Force set for the Star Wars Miniatures Game.

Creation and development

The characters of Jaina Solo and her twin brother Jacen were created by Timothy Zahn for the novel The Last Command (1994). 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.

Depiction

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. The Young Jedi Knights series depicts the twins adventures on Coruscant. In Dark Apprentice, Jaina helps her brother defend their unconscious uncle from the spirit of Sith Lord Exar Kun. In The Crystal Star, Jaina is kidnapped by and used, along with her siblings, in a plot to take advantage of their Force powers. In the Corellian Trilogy, Jaina is again kidnapped but escapes. In the Jedi Academy 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 Alliance Navy when she refuses to follow his order to destroy a crippled ship. She senses at this time a growing darkness in her twin. Jacen eventually becomes the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Caedus, and Jaina realizes her duty as the "Sword of the Jedi" requires her to stop him. She turns to Boba Fett to train her. After a long battle, Jaina eventually kills Jacen when he lets down his guard to warn his wife and daughter of an impending attack.