#all hail timothy zahn who created mara and the solo twins!

[blackidyll]

Saw your tags and omg if you ever write fic with Mara and Jacen and Jaina that would be amazing. I don't care that none of it is official anymore, they were my favorites.

Hi, it's likely been ten million years since you sent this message and I know this response is super late but I'm really happy to hear that you love the Extended Universe/Legends (whatever we're calling them now) characters too! Mara Jade is my absolutely favourite SW character. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever write fic for them because it's been more than a decade since I read any of the books (also the events of the Yuuzhan Vong War depresses me.....) but in my heart the original EU will always remain canon.

I don't know why I started reading the SW books in the first place, because I don't actually remember if I watched the original movies or not. I knew about Star Wars because it was one of those pop culture things people absorb through osmosis, but I picked up the Thrawn Trilogy on a whim from the library while on a sci-fi/fantasy book reading spree, and I just fell completely in love with Mara Jade and her very volatile interactions with Luke (in that she's trying to kill him, and Luke is determined not to be killed but also wants to help her, and they're both stuck on this planet and need each other to survive), and that's probably how I got interested in the Star Wars universe as a whole. 

Hence, I will always have a soft spot for Mara in my heart. She's such a wonderfully written character - complex and strong but flawed and human and yet she overcomes it all through her own efforts and hard work. Her agency after overcoming her past as the Emperor's Hand is probably one of the most important aspects of her character. Seeing Princess Leia become the head and leader of the New Republic? Hugely important. Seeing Mara Jade, overcoming her dark and painful beginnings and becoming utterly brilliant as the second-in-command of a major smuggling alliance and constantly sassing THE (one and only remaining) Jedi Knight/Master of the universe at the time? Also hugely important. And I was always more of a Mara kid than a Leia kid (I do love that Leia was amongst the first to trust Mara, despite Mara's Empire beginnings).

I also just love Mara's relationship with Luke; talk about the ultimate Enemies to Friends to Lovers. I remember as a teen reading the Hand of Thrawn books, and Luke freaking proposes when they're about to drown, and Mara just goes "we're in a literal life and death situation right now, are you for real?" because honestly Luke, your timing, and that banter of a proposal was just so THEM and I will love that scene forever. Also, moments after that Luke is forced to relinquish control and his saviour complex and let Mara do her job to save them, and it was a hugely important moment because their relationship can't survive if he doesn't trust her with this. And he does trust her with this, and I just love them and their partnership a lot ;A; they're so good together. I wouldn't change much about their canon selves except for how Mara's story ends (because... just no). In my ideal universe, the Solo children always remain chaotic teenage Jedi apprentices because everything falls apart when they grow up and the Yuuzhan Vong War happens. I actually stopped reading any Star Wars books midway through the Yuuzhan Vong arc because it was too depressing (if you read those books, you probably know why).

(more of my ramblings under the cut about the EU and also the new movie trilogies because I like Rey and Kylo/Ben, I just wish they were developed better when us EU fans already had characters like Mara and the Solo children.........)

I think one of the huge reasons why the new SW trilogy (Movies 7-9) constantly falls short for me is because... well, similar characters exist in the EU and they are just built and explored and characterized so much better. Much of it is because the book medium allows for so much more character growth and exploration, but yeah. I love Mara a lot because she really does have the whole grey and ambiguous background and she was molded into the Emperor's Hand with little choice of her own, and after Palpatine dies she fights bloody damn hard to define who she really is on her own terms. She actually feels like a so much better developed analogue for Kylo Ren, in that they were both manipulated from young to work for the dark side, and upon Palpatine/Snoke's death, they are finally free to make their own choices but are still haunted by their upbringing (Mara being literally haunted by Palpatine's final Force order to kill Luke).

I actually like Kylo's "redemption" back to Ben and how it was not motivated by any sudden moral change or goodness - but the fact that he just wants to be with Rey (someone who understands him), and if that means he has to go a little towards the grey side of the Force instead of the dark, then so be it. This is also why I thoroughly enjoyed Mara's long and windy journey to becoming a Jedi Knight - she didn't choose it and in fact avoided it since she quit Luke's Jedi training; it pretty much snuck up on her when she made the decision to sacrifice her beloved ship in an act of selflessness. The EU builds the idea that there is no true Light or Dark side of the Force, and although the new movie trilogy builds the foundation for this idea, it ended up enforcing the idea that everything /is/ black and white, that Rey has to reject being a Palpatine (Dark) to be a Skywalker (Light), and that Kylo Ren (a Dark side character for most of the trilogy) can only be "redeemed" in death............................ instead of just giving us the morally grey Jedi Knights that I want, because nothing is truly light or dark - one cannot exist without the other.

I hated the Rey Palpatine reveal BUT they could have really worked this angle and foil it against Kylo/Ben struggling with his legacy of being Darth Vader's grandson (and the fact that DV did die as Anakin Skywalker in the end - not on the side of good, but simply to protect his family). In fact, the EU does this perfectly with the Solo children: Anakin Solo has to struggle with his namesake and knowing he is the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, and his fear of turning to the dark side is a pretty great arc in the books (no Snoke or Palpatine influence needed).

Also, I think Adam Driver was wonderful as Kylo Ren/Ben, but honestly the EU making the very first Force-strong children in the new era a set of twins was a stroke of genius. The Solo twins are great. The fact that they are twins is also great as a literary technique. First, they share the burden of the entire universe's expectations - they bolster and balance each other. But they also eventually become opposite sides of the same coin, and even then, it's not all black and white. Jacen falls to the dark side literally because he wanted to protect the galaxy and was willing to do it at any cause (the road to hell is paved with good intentions indeed). Jaina is knighted the Sword of the Jedi - she's an offensive force that stands on the front lines so those behind her can know peace, and this eventually leads her to killing her brother (a Light character that commits fratricide to stop a Sith Lord).

I mean, I like the whole idea of Rey and Kylo/Ben's Force dyad thing (which by the way, is kind of broken/left hanging at the end of TROS because Ben fucking dies) but seriously, the Solo twins! All the built-in drama and legacy without having to give your new characters weird back stories!

At the end of the day. I wish they picked what they wanted to do with Kylo Ren. Make him like Jacen - have him willingly choose the dark side and live through the consequences of it. Or make him like Mara - someone who was forced into his current role - but also give him Mara's growth arc, where he gets the chance to properly break through the trauma and have time to work out his own motivations and NOT DIE at the end of it.

Same with Rey - let her be Rey from nowhere and build her own legacy (like Mara did :) I love that Mara absolutely thrived being second-in-command of a famed smuggling ring, because just because you are strong in the Force doesn't mean you need to be a Jedi). Or make her a Palpatine and let her actually struggle through the ramifications of it the way Anakin Solo did.

.. honestly if a Mara character existed in the movies we wouldn't have half the drama, because for one she wouldn't let Luke fuck off to the ends of the universe; she'd force him to take responsibility and not like, you know, abandon his sister and family and his duty. And knowing Mara (and seeing as Ben Solo was not actually responsible for the massacre at the Jedi academy apparently?), she'd take matters into her own hands and go infiltrate the First Order to get Ben back herself, because that's a Mara like thing to do. And she knows the Empire, you know? Even if it's been recasted as a different face (also canonically she's always been a good ally in taking care and safeguarding the Solo children).