Tenel Ka Djo

Mother. Friend. Jedi. Dathomiri Force witch, matriarch to millions. Queen. Lover. 

Tenel Ka Djo came from the fusion of two independent matriarchal cultures, as told in The Courtship of Princess Leia. She went on to train alongside Jacen and Jaina Solo at Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy on Yavin IV in the Young Jedi Knights series. With her origins in such a foundational book from the old-school days of Legends, she went on to become one of the most powerful women in the galaxy with the power to shape the fate of billions. 

And that’s just scratching the surface.

When you’re the one-and-only heir of a rancor-riding, reptile-hide-wearing warrior princess and the near-perfect prince in an extremely wealthy royal family that commands a fleet of Battle Dragons, how could you possibly be an even more interesting and endearing character? 

Somehow, Tenel Ka does exactly that. And despite her royal status, her journey is not always pleasant, either.

Perhaps known most famously for having one of the most memorable lightsabers in all of Star Wars—an emerald blade with the hilt of a RANCOR TOOTH (which is now available at Galaxy’s Edge)—Tenel Ka was one of the significant original Jedi to emerge from the ‘90s EU. Famously, she lost her arm in a practice duel with her classmate Jacen in Lightsabers, thus making her a great icon of representation for the physically challenged in an era lacking in representation—in addition to a strong female Jedi in a galaxy drowning in Skywalker men. 

She went from a sideline character to accompany the Solo twins to a fully-fledged woman of power who went on to play a pivotal role in galactic events. As her relationship with Jacen Solo matured beyond adolescence, she found herself in murky waters—especially as his actions compromised her internal compass and forced her to either stand with him or stand by her values. 

Tenel Ka is a truly remarkable and inspiring character who is the favorite of many Legends fans—especially those who watched her story develop from Dathomir to Yavin IV to Hapes and beyond. 

In this collection, you’ll find the first six stories in the Young Jedi Knights recommended, as they form a single cohesive story arc. That’s not to say you shouldn’t read all 13, though! 

Beyond that, Tenel Ka plays only a cursory role in The New Jedi Order, especially in comparison with her former fellow students, Jaina and Jacen. After that, though, she features prominently in the Dark Nest Trilogy—and thankfully not so much with the whole mind-controlling insects plot. 

That’s where her story moves into adulthood as she is clearly no longer the teenager we knew on Yavin IV. She is even more important to the plot of Legacy of the Force (even getting her own cover art), where her decisions and loyalties will decide the fate of countless lives. . .

All in all, her story is a shining beacon of both the weirdness and the beautifully heartbreaking elements of Legends continuity and one that benefitted from decades of authors picking up the baton with her journey, and one of the most meaningful characters worth investigating in all of Star Wars.