Young Jedi Knights

It is amazing that the Star Wars franchise speaks to so many across multiple generations. It is an all-ages franchise, and nothing demonstrates this fact better than the works of Kevin J. Anderson and his wife Rebecca Moesta.

Anderson is most remembered for his work on The Jedi Academy Trilogy (novels that are now in the “Legends” canon), which saw Luke Skywalker rounding up brand new Jedi in the years after the Battle of Endor.

The Jedi Academy trilogy was published in 1994 and a short time later Anderson and his wife also worked on the Young Jedi Knight series and the Junior Jedi Knight series.

The Young Jedi Knight books were a YA series featuring 14-year-old Jaina and Jacen Solo (Han and Leia’s twins). The twins were born in the 1993 book “The Emperor’s Last Command” so seeing them go from newborns to teenagers by 1995 was a bit weird. The twins trained on Yavin 4 under the tutelage of their Uncle Luke and the other Jedi in the Jedi Academy. Fourteen books were published in total.

Other important characters in the series were Tenel Ka Djo, Lowbacca, Em Teedee, Zekk, and Raynar Thul. Lowbacca was, of course, the nephew of Chewbacca and Em Teedee was his translation droid that he wore on his belt.

The stand-out character for me was always Tenel Ka Djo. Tenel Ka was the daughter of a Dathomari witch and the Prince of Hapes. Tenel Ka rejects her royal linage and embraces her mother’s warrior culture. Tenel Ka lost her arm in a light saber accident whilst sparring with Jacen Solo. Unlike Luke Skywalker, Tenel Ka chose not to have her arm replaced with a bionic one. Much later in life Tenel Ka would have a child with Jacen Solo, (Han and Leia’s first grandchild, Allana Solo). I know... the Skywalker / Solo family history if complicated.

The Young Jedi Knight series spoke to me, because I was a pre-teen when they were being published. I even met Kevin J. Anderson at a book signing in Stevens Point, Wisconsin at and got him to sign a copy of the ninth book in the series “Delusions of Grandeur”. Apparently he was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but currently lives in Colorado.

The Junior Jedi Knights was a series of books for very young readers (that I never read). It was probably written for the 2^nd – 4^th grade level. This 6-book series features Han & Leia’s younger son, Anakin Solo- who is about 12 when these books were first published in 1995. Yet, he was born only a year earlier in the 1994 novel “Dark Apprentice”. 

In these books Anakin befriends another Jedi Apprentice named Tahiri Veila who was raised by Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. I guess she walked around the temples with her shoes off because she liked the stone floors, because they reminded her that she didn’t have to walk on sand anymore. Yep, Tahiri is another Tatooine native that hates sand. It gets everywhere, you know. Also, the Jedi master who trained them was some sort of small rabbit thing.

Because I never read these books, I didn’t connect much with the character of Anakin Solo. He was killed off in the 2001 novel, “Star by Star”. I guess Tahiri fated a little better. She lived on and was featured in many Expanded Universe books up until the Disney acquisition.

I know that many Star Wars fans grew up with Jaina and Jacen Solo. They first fell in love with the characters through the Young Jedi Knights adventures and continued to follow them into the New Jedi Order series. People only a few years younger than I would have grown up following the adventures of Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila. Those only a few years younger still, would have first been exposed to Star Wars with The Phantom Menace and the adventures of Anakin Solo’s grandfather, Anakin Skywalker. Kids born after “Revenge of the Sith” may be currently falling in love with Star Wars through “Adventures in Wild Space”, a young readers series with six entries published in the last few years.

It’s odd to think that the piece of Star Wars that mattered most to me in my preteen years, hasn’t been read by 99% of Star Wars fans. Yet- despite being de-canonized- Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacca, and Tenel Ka will never truly be gone. There are many of us who still hold these characters near and dear.