Mara Jade

Mara Jade is a female character who features in Star Wars.

Biography

Mara Jade was a Force-sensitive female human who lived in the galaxy far, far away.

The young Mara Jade was taken in by Emperor Palpatine who brought her to Coruscant and trained her in the ways of the Force at the Imperial Palace. Officially, she was regarded as one of the palace dancers but secretly her master trained her to be his personal assassin and agent as one of the Emperor's Hand.

During her first six months of working with Karrde, Jade swiftly rose through the ranks of his smuggling organization. Her Force-sensitivity, lying largely dormant since the death of Palpatine, reasserted itself when she brought Karrde's freighter, the Wild Karrde, out of hyperspace for a routine check right where Luke Skywalker's damaged X-wing was floating in space. Grand Admiral Thrawn, the leader of the resurgent Empire, had posted a significant bounty on Skywalker, and Karrde considered selling him to Thrawn for the bounty or extorting money from the New Republic to ensure his return. Karrde pulled the stranded Jedi aboard and took him back to his base on Myrkr, where the planet's ysalamiri blocked Skywalker's Force abilities. Jade was at first intent on killing Skywalker, but Karrde would not have it. However, Karrde did keep Skywalker and R2-D2 locked up and hid them from view when Thrawn arrived to collect ysalamiri. Skywalker, though, managed to escape in a Skipray blastboat. Jade gave chase, but both vehicles ended up crashing in the vornskr-infested forest. To complicate matters, Thrawn arrived on Myrkr to harvest ysalamiri, preventing the two from contacting Karrde, for Thrawn would know that Karrde had been withholding Skywalker from him. Jade was forced to work with Skywalker to survive, and she clearly stated her intention to kill him. The two made their way to Hyllyard City after fending off several vornskr attacks, but were caught in a stormtrooper ambush. Thanks to the timely intervention of Skywalker's recently arrived friends Lando Calrissian, Han Solo, and some of Karrde's men, they defeated the stormtroopers, and Solo, Calrissian, and Skywalker left Myrkr. Karrde and his organization also fled Myrkr soon after due to a massive Imperial bounty placed upon them.

As the last members of the organization fled Myrkr, Jade remained with Karrde, who decided to surreptitiously observe the Imperial arrival on Myrkr from the Wild Karrde. As expected, Grand Admiral Thrawn arrived in the Star Destroyer Chimaera and quickly took over the abandoned base. However, what Karrde did not anticipate was Thrawn deducing that the Wild Karrde had remained in the system and had called for an Interdictor cruiser, the Constrainer, to trap the smuggler's ship in place. However, Jade received a Force-related warning of the Imperials' arrival and activated the Wild Karrde's engines, preparing them for flight, much to the surprise of her fellow crew members and Karrde. However, as the Constrainer reverted into the system, Jade piloted the ship out of its range and made the jump into hyperspace, her seemingly premature activation of the ship's engines having saved them from an Imperial trap.

A century later, her Force ghost came to appear before one of her descendants named Cade Skywalker.

Overview

Personality and attributes

After marrying Luke Skywalker, she took on his name and went by the full name of Mara Jade Skywalker.

By the time of the Yuuzhan Vong War, she came to be pregnant with Luke's child. Her son would be born near the end of the conflict where the couple named him Ben Skywalker.

Powers and abilities

Mara Jade was born a Force-sensitive female allowing her to tap into the energy field that was the Force.

Jade Skywalker was adept in immediately reading and assessing any situation or individual, and the Emperor gave her memory retention techniques to enhance her abilities. She was also talented enough to secure a number of odd jobs while on the run, including as a hyperdrive mechanic.

A final telepathic command came to be placed in her mind by Palpatine which was to assassinate Luke with this plaguing her thoughts since the Emperor's death.

Though able to use the Force, her training was limited in her role as the Emperor's Hand. This changed when she came to join the New Jedi Order and she received proper instruction in the way of the Jedi.

As a Jedi Knight, she came to be trained in the use of a lightsabre and came to possess one of her own.

During the Imperial era, few were aware of her position as one of the Emperor's Hand. These were elite Force-sensitive agents who served as extensions of their masters will where they acted as assassins, representatives and operatives that enacted his orders.

Notes

• Mara Jade was created by Timothy Zahn where she featured in the Star Wars Legends continuity.
• In an interview, Zahn commented on the characters difference from the likes of Princess Leia, "Mara has a sharper and sarcastic manner, and of course, she had to go through the painful realization her service was to an evil cause. But both women are strong without sacrificing their femininity, a balance which I think some authors have trouble writing. Bear in mind, too, Leia was one of the first people in the New Republic who decided Mara could be trusted, which perhaps says something about their understanding of each other."
• In an interview on TheForce.Net, Zahn said on the character marrying Luke Skywalker, "I always intended that they would be getting together at some point. She seemed to be, from my point of view, the perfect match for him... At first they were unwilling to have Luke and Mara married, engaged, whatever. They wanted it left ambiguous. I said those were the two things I feel are needed for closure: if it wasn't agreeable someone else could do the book, that's fine, and it was one book originally. And they came back and agreed to let me do that."
• In 2018, Zahn noted about his creative control over the character and noted about their introduction into canon, ""If there was a generic, or organic, spot for her to fit into a story... I promise people, I will pitch it to the Lucasfilm story group, and then, it's their decision whether to allow it or not."
• IGN came to list Mara Jade as the 19th top Star Wars character.

In other media

Video games

• In Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi, Mara Jade appeared as an unlockable playable character in the setting of the fighting video game.

Appearances

• Heir to the Empire:

External Links

• Wookieepedia Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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