Mara Jade

From her introduction in Timothy Zahn’s Heir To The Empire in 1991, Mara Jade quickly became one of stand out characters of the Legends universe.

With a career spanning appearances in novels, comics, short stories and even video games, fans followed Mara’s life from being a trained Imperial assassin as one of Palpatine’s “Emperor’s Hands” through her redemption turn to the light side. This journey included heading up the Smuggler’s Alliance in a bid to turn respectable, training in the ways of The Force under Kyle Katarn, and later taking on apprentices such as Jaina Solo. Finally, we witnessed Mara's marriage to Luke Skywalker, her place as one of the Jedi Masters of Luke’s rebuilt Jedi Order, her encounters with the  Yuuzhan Vong, and her adventures with her own son, Ben Skywalker.

Although Mara’s early life has been mostly fleshed out by Zahn, himself, many other authors took advantage of the opportunity to write his character into their own works, notably Kevin J. Anderson, who paired Mara up with Lando Calrissian in an unlikely partnership in his Jedi Academy trilogy, and Michael Stackpole, who wrote “Union”, the comic series depicting the Skywalker wedding.