Discover the story of Ben Skywalker, the retconned son of Luke Skywalker, and his journey in the Star Wars universe.
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Before Disney came on the scene, Star Wars lore was much more extensive and spanned past the Empire’s fall. Fans saw Luke, Leia and Han building their own families and living mostly peaceful lives in the newly established galaxy with their spouses and children. When Disney bought Star Wars, they ignored the already-established lore to create their own story. As a result, the deep, well-woven Star Wars stories told through books and comics were reduced to Legends. Among those retconned were Ben and Mara Jade Skywalker, the son and wife of Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker.
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Who is Ben Skywalker?
After the Empire’s fall, Luke Skywalker established the new Jedi Order. During this time, he met Mara Jade, the former assassin and Emperor’s Hand-turned smuggler. The two worked closely together for years, and Mara Jade developed a grudging respect for the Jedi, which developed into a friendship and eventually love. The two married and had Ben during the Yuuxhan Vong War.
Because of how busy his parents were, Ben grew up with Han and Leia Solo and their son Jacen. They lived in Coruscant during the conflict, and after it ended, Ben closed himself off from the Force because he could feel the pain and devastation from it through the Force.
When the Killik species (creatures who could telepathically link with Jedi through the Force) of the Unknown Regions, Ben developed an owner-pet relationship with one of them, unaware that it was trying to turn him against his mother. Fortunately, Mara Jade and Luke realised in time and were able to capture it.
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Ben’s Journey as a Jedi
Shortly after Jacen Solo’s return from a 5-year journey of learning more about the Force, he became the informal Jedi Master of Ben. Jacen helped him open himself up to the Force, develop his skills and become a powerful Jedi in his own right.
During the Second Galactic Civil War, when the Corellian system and a few others left the Galactic Alliance, Ben joined the Galactic Alliance Guard, the secret police who fought off Corellian invaders under the guidance of Jacen Solo. However, Ben’s increasing aggression and violence towards the Corellians on Coruscant concerned his parents.
While this happened, Jacen fell to the dark side and became Darth Caedus, who took over the Galactic Alliance and slayed Mara Jade. Ben attempted to combat his cousin several times, but in the end, Jiana Solo was the one who defeated her brother.
Ben and his father were exiled from Coruscant until they could prove that Jacen’s fall hadn’t been Luke’s fault, and the two journeyed through the galaxy to figure out why Jacen had turned. But unfortunately, several young Jedi went rogue with unexplained madness during this time, and an anti-Jedi sentiment began to spread through the galaxy.
The father-son duo clashed with several Sith on their journey, whom they briefly allied with to take out the Force-sensitive entity Abeloth. However, Ben grew close to the Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. As a result, she teamed up with the father-son duo to help defeat the other Sith and hunt Abeloth. Eventually, she develops a romantic relationship with Ben, bringing her to the light side.
The last time fans saw Ben, he was helping Luke and Vestara save people from the Force Storm created by Abeloth.
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TL;DR
- When Disney bought Star Wars, they retconned many beloved stories and characters so they could create their own stories and lore.
- One of the retconned characters was Ben Skywalker, the son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker.
- Ben was a powerful Jedi in his own right and spent much of his later life helping his father keep the galaxy safe from Force-sensitive threats.
