Even before the sequels that started in 2015, Star Wars continued
. But these were not movies, but books, games, and comics. In this alternative timeline, Han and Leia already had a son, and he eventually strayed from the righteous path.
Which character is it about? After the first trilogy of Star Wars, which ended in 1983 with The Return of the Jedi, numerous stories followed before the prequels that continued the story in a non-canonical timeline. These stories are called Star Wars Legends.
In this continuation, Leia and Han Solo also had children, long before Kylo Ren was established. One child, Jacen Solo, faced similar issues as Kylo Ren 24 years later. It even went so far that he became a Sith Lord. He first appeared in the book Heirs of the Empire in 1991.
Destined to become a Jedi
Jacen Solo had a difficult childhood from the very beginning. Even before his birth, he and his sister Jaina had a target on their backs. Due to their famous parents and their Force potential. They had to be protected from dangers like Thrawn or Palpatine from a very young age.
As children, Jacen and Jaina enjoyed playing with the Force, which they were able to use from a very young age. Therefore, they trained as children to later wield the powers of a Jedi. In the meantime, they got a third brother: Anakin Solo, named after their grandfather.
They learned not only the teachings of the Jedi but also the field of their mother: diplomacy. Jacen’s great role model as a child was always his uncle Luke, who could practically do whatever he wanted and was constantly traveling.
He didn’t want to be a fighter at all. Unlike what his father Han wanted, he was not interested in strength. He was a peace-loving boy who enjoyed living with all sorts of creatures.
Despite a kidnapping, during which they were trained by a former student of Luke on the dark side, the three siblings remained on the righteous path of the Jedi.
The path to the dark side of the Force
How did Jacen become a Sith Lord? Similar to Kylo Ren, Jacen also succumbed to the dark side of the Force at some point. This happened during the Yuuzhan Vong War, with which Jacen already had issues due to his philosophical pacifism.
Despite his reservations, he joined a team that was supposed to deal with the Voxyn Queen, responsible for creating the Voxyn. These creatures were created by the Yuuzhan Vong to kill Force users.
But this mission went awry, and tragically, Anakin, Jacen’s brother, also died. Jacen was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and then tortured multiple times by Vergere. The Sith wanted to recruit Jacen as her Sith apprentice. He escaped after a year, rejoined the war, and even defeated Onimi, the Yuuzhan Vong who was pulling all the strings in the background.
However, despite his heroic deeds, the influence of his captivity did not go unnoticed. Jacen learned from several Force sects for five years. In one vision, he saw a dangerous person threatening the universe and wanted to prevent it.
But his pacifist philosophy changed. He was now convinced that one must make sacrifices for a good cause.
The drive for power and the path to becoming a Sith Lord
What happened next? Solo looked further into the future and discovered that if he did not become the apprentice of Lumiya, a Sith Mistress, it would lead to Luke’s death. That would plunge the universe into chaos.
His views became increasingly extreme, and his path to the dark side as well. He also felt the path of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, who also turned to the dark side. He became the leader of an anti-terrorist unit of the Galactic Alliance and exploited this position, where his mistress was also pulling the strings.
He and his allies gained more and more power, and Jacen turned against his family and the Jedi. At a crucial moment, he killed his aunt Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke’s wife. Lumiya took the murder upon herself, and Jacen became the new Sith Lord, taking on the title Darth Caedus.
After that, he gained more political and military power. He even trained a new Sith apprentice after failing to win over Ben Skywalker, the son of Luke and Mara, to his side.
And as is customary in Star Wars, there were family issues. First, Caedus was betrayed by the mother of his daughter, and later, in a final battle, he was killed by his own twin sister. Just like Darth Vader, his good sides emerged in the end. He later appeared as a ghost when Luke wanted to deal with the monster Abeloth.
How can one read the story of Darth Caedus? Jacen Solo, a.k.a. Darth Caedus, is a character featured in a large portion of Legends works. His childhood is depicted in the Young Jedi Knight
series. The real
beginnings are in the The New Jedi Order
series, and his path into darkness and thus also his end is in the Legacy of the Force
series.
The New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force are still available at relatively good prices, even as English audiobooks online. It may be significantly harder to find Young Jedi Knight.
Jacen has many parallels to what Kylo Ren later did.
Both characters were given a path by their birth that they likely did not want. Unlike Kylo Ren, Jacen became a great danger to the universe and even a powerful Sith Lord. Another Sith Lord from Star Wars Legends was Darth Krayt: A Jedi could have stopped Anakin in Star Wars, but he did not want to betray his friend.
