Origin
Mara Jade was born during the rise of the Empire. She was taken from her parents in a early age by Emperor Palpatine and was trained on Coruscant as both an imperial dancer and in the ways of the Force. At age fourteen, she became The Emperor’s Hand, the Emperor’s personal assassin.
She would become redeemed, turning from her dark ways and becoming a Jedi Master in Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order under the New Republic. She and Luke would fall in love, eventually marrying during a time of peace for the Galaxy.
Yuuzhan Vong War
But the peace would not last as a new enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong, threatened to destroy the Jedi Order and the New Republic. The succeeded in the latter, but the Jedi Order survived and defeated the Vong. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Mara gave birth to her’s and Luke’s son, Ben Skywalker, naming him after the alias used by Luke’s first master, Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi. In the aftermath of the war, the New Republic would be reformed as the Galactic Alliance.
Death
On the eve of the Second Galactic Civil War, Mara Jade Skywalker went out and hunted down her son’s, Ben Skywalker, master, Jacen Solo – also her nephew. They engaged in a brief dogfight in the skies before they went down to the ground. Mara Jade defaulted to her Emperor’s Hand techniques to fight Jedi, because she knew Jacen was vastly more powerful. She inflicted many wounds of Jacen, but was defeated when Jacen injected her with lethal poison. As she died, she accused Jacen of being exactly like Palpatine.
Luke, believing that his wife’s killer was the Sith Lumiya, went out and killed her. However, he became distraught when he discovered that Lumiya was innocent in her death, and that Mara’s killer was still out there.
With the death of his Sith Master Lumiya and finally having made what he perceived to be his necessary sacrifice by killing his aunt, Jacen took on his Sith name – Darth Caedus.
Abilities
As the Emperor’s Hand, Mara Jade was trained in the ways of the Force. Mara Jade could use the force to levitate herself for short distances. She also had training in mind tricks. She could also make a Force bubble around herself that retained her body heat so she could sneak past heat detectors.
As a Jedi master and very skilled the Force. She was a formidable fighter and is quite agile.
Mara Jade was secretly raised and trained by Emperor Palpatine to be his assassin. As one of Palpatine’s hands, she could hear his thoughts and at a psychic level knew his every command. Her last order was to kill Luke Skywalker, an order that followed Mara even after Palpatine’s death. When it was revealed the Emperor was reborn in a cloned body, it had become clear why Mara still felt Palpatine’s will. Mara couldn’t fight her urge to kill Luke Skywalker, but after the death of the cloned Emperor, Mara had a more flexible view of her “Last Command” and after she killed the Dark Jedi, Luuke Skywalker, a clone of Luke Skywalker, she felt that she had fulfilled her final order. Subsequently she married Luke, her true love. They had a son together, Ben Skywalker named after “Ben” Obi-Wan Kenobi. Mara was also a key member of the New Jedi Order, and one of it’s council members.
As the Emperor’s Hand, Mara Jade’s lightsaber was purple. She later received Luke’s first lightsaber.
Having been made Luke’s wife and a Jedi Master, it dictated the new set of rules which were to be governed by Luke, no more were relationships and love forbidden, but they were to be used and controlled appropriately. She was a skillful swordsman, and valuable asset to the Council. She was killed by Darth Caedus, formerly her nephew: Jacen Solo.
Following his descent into the dark side Mara and Luke became increasingly concerned about how to repond to the situation. They decided to fight Lumiya who has Jacen’s master. It was here that Mara created and perfected her lightsaber and shoto (short lightsaber, used by Yoda) in a devastating combination to combat Lumiya’s light whip. She used this alongside Luke and defeated and killed Lumiya much to the annoyance of Jacen. She also played a significant part in the death of the Dark Jedi Alema Rar who was working in league with Lumiya. After hearing of the torture that Jacen inflicted upon Ben, she prepared herself and sought out Jacen without the consent or knowledge of any of the Council, not even Luke. She cornered him, and did not even attempt to reason with him. However despite her prowess and thirst for vengeance, Darth Caedus was the superior master of the force which ultimately led to her demise.
Luke instantly realized what had happened and along with Ben searched for her. Having found her Luke was overcome with sorrow and became melancholic until he realized that Jacen had done this. He then trained Ben extensively and along with Jaina (Jacen’s twin) killed Darth Caedus and avenged Mara.
Other Media
Mara Jade appeared in the games such as “Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith”, “Star Wars Galaxies”, “Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi”, and “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”. Mara narrates “Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds”. She was portrayed by Shannon Mcrandle and voiced by Heidi Shannon .