| “ | You may call me Darth Caedus. I shall be known only by my true name from now on. | „ |
| ~ Caedus to Tahiri Veila. |
Darth Caedus (born Jacen Solo) is the main protagonist turned main antagonist of The Legacy of the Force series and formerly one of the main heroes of the New Jedi Order series.
Biography
Jacen Solo, as he was known before he became Darth Caedus.
The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, he was the twin brother of Jaina Solo Fel and the elder brother of Anakin Solo. The most empathetic of the three Solo children, Solo became a powerful Jedi Knight under his uncle Luke Skywalker's tutelage. In a moral crisis, Solo tried to withdraw from the Force during the early stages of the Yuuzhan Vong war but changes his mind when he realizes that he couldn't abandon the Jedi Order during the war, and resolved to find his place in the Force while trying to find a peaceful end to the war that would not involve destroying the Yuuzhan Vong. Following a mission with several other Jedi to the planet Mikir to destroy the Voxin Queen, (a monster created by the Yuuzhan Vong which could sense Jedi through the force), his younger brother Anakin was killed and he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong Executer Nom Anor. During his capture, the Yuuxhan Vong attempted to turn Jacen to there side through torture, however Jacen was able to overcome the pain of the Embrace of Pain and actually feed off its power.
It was also during this time that Solo gained a new perspective from former Jedi Vergere. The Force was just the Force with no light or dark sides, the only darkness that one need fear was the darkness within themselves. With this new knowledge, he helped bring a peaceful end to the Yuuzhan Vong War. Throughout the years that followed, Solo gained more knowledge in the Force, even training among the enigmatic Fallanassi. Upon returning to the Galaxy, Now a war hero, Solo would help his uncle come to terms with his father's fall to the dark side and execution of Padme Amidala, during the Swarm War so he was able to defeat the Sith Apprentice and Queen of the Gorog Nest Lomi Plo. It was also around this time that Solo discovered that he was the father to the Hapan heir Allana through Queen Mother Tenel Ka.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Solo had been plagued with visions about the galaxy hanging on a balance point, in which one wrong move would tip the galaxy into darkness; this motivated Solo to prevent another war like the one that had consumed the galaxy and to save the lives of innocents so that no one else had to die such as Anakin had. Shortly before the Second Galactic Civil War, Solo met a Sith from his uncle's past, the Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya. Over time, the former Shira Brie managed to convince Solo that he might be able to protect the galaxy if he joined the Sith. The catalyst for Solo's decision would be when Lumiya told him that Vergere had been a Sith and that his torture at her hands during the Yuuzhan Vong War was to turn him into a Sith Lord. To fully earn the title of Sith Lord, Solo needed to undergo the Trial of Sacrifice, where he would give up something important to him, in order to understand the pain it coursed him but would in turn bring him more power.
Solo accomplished this when he murdered his aunt Mara Jade Skywalker, who had tracked Solo down upon learning of his intentions to convert her son Ben Skywalker. In her dying words, Jade observed that Solo had become as evil as her former mentor, the late Emperor Palpatine. Solo stated that he was nothing like Palpatine as he had only cared about power and ruling the galaxy, whereas Solo was trying to bring peace to the Galaxy and believed he had the will and strength to resist the pull of the dark side. From this point on, Solo was known as Darth Caedus.
Following an alliance created between the Galactic Alliance and the Empire in order to battle the Confederation, Caedus initiated an attack on the planet Fondor, bombarding the planet's shipyards and attempting to wipe out Fonder's major cities as a warning against those who would attempt to resist the Galactic Alliance. During the battle Imperial Admiral Gilad Pellaeon was killed upon order of Caedus by his new apprentice Tahiri when he disapproved of Caedus' method's and tried to turn against him. Following this Caedus returned to Coruscant and proclaimed himself publicly as Darth Caedus and took complete control of the Galactic Alliance. As the war reached it's final battle, Caedus received a vision through the Force of his daughter sitting on a white throne surrounded by friends and ruling the Galaxy in a time of peace, this convinced Caedus that he had indeed won the war and in time peace and order would be restored to the Galaxy. However Caedus was betrayed by the Moffs council who sought to kill Tenel Ka Djo and Allana with a biological weapon, after Caedus told them not to use it. Upon hearing this news Caedus attempted to go after the ship carrying the weapon himself but was attacked by his twin Sister Jaina.
During their fight Caedus deactivated his Lightsaber and tried to explain to Jaina that he was actually trying to save Tenel Ka and Allana and that they were wasting time fighting. Jaina refused to listen, however, and continued to attack her brother. In the final moments of the battle Jaina several her brother's Achilles tendon, rendering him almost helpless, as Jaina moved into finish off the Sith Lord, (using an unblock able strike which in turn left her open to attack). Instead of retaliating and taking Jaina with him, Darth Caedus instead chose to use his last moments to send a call through the Force to his Wife and Daughter, telling them to escape from the Imperial Remnant's attack. At the same time his twin bond with Jaina returned and this convinced Jaina that Jacen may have returned to the light. Following Caedus's death The Galactic Alliance would defeat the confederation and peace would soon be restored to the galaxy, just as Jacen Solo had intended by joining the Sith and sacrificing everything, by turning himself into Darth Caedus to accomplish.
Trivia
- Jacen Solo was initially the good guy before becoming corrupted by Lumiya; however, after the latter's death, he became the main antagonist of the series because he had bigger plans than anyone else. Ironically, he wound up achieving his primary objective, which was to bring peace to the galaxy.
- Darth Caedus was featured in Star Wars Legends: Legacy of the Force fan film, which is based on the novel series.
