Skywalker, Ben

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Coruscant

• Species:
  Human

• Gender:
  Male

• Weapon:
  Lightsaber

• Affiliation:
  New Jedi order; formerly Galactic Alliance Guard

• 

The son of Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, he was born shortly after the Battle of Duro. Named to honor the memory of Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, Ben Skywalker was born aboard the converted Star Destroyer Errant Venture during the Yuuzhan Vong War. He was separated from his parents shortly afterward, both to protect him and to allow them to fight against the enemy. Ben was taken in by his aunt and uncle, Leia Organa Solo and her husband, Han, and brought up on Coruscant. When the Yuuzhan Vong launched their attack on the capital planet, Ben was kept in several secure locations for the war's remainder.

With the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong, Luke and Mara resolved to spend more time with their son, but the rigors of leading the new Jedi Order conspired to keep them apart. During the Swarm War, Ben unknowingly befriended the assassin bugs of the Gorog hive, unaware that he was putting his family in danger. It was during this time that Luke and Mara discovered that Ben opened up more whenever he was around his cousin, Jacen Solo, and they asked Jacen to take Ben under his wing. Over time, Ben began to tentatively touch the Force, and his connection was strengthened with Jacen's help. As a Padawan, Ben adopted the ancient tradition of growing a single braid of hair to indicate his status, despite the fact that this was not required by the modern Jedi Order. He displayed an ability to remember things that he had seen or heard with uncanny accuracy.

In the wake of the Swarm War, Ben continued to train as a Jedi under Jacen's tutelage. When he was 13, he accompanied Jacen to Centerpoint Station on a mission to disable the facility before Thrackan Sal-Solo could reinitiatize it and use it as a weapon. However, they were forced to split up when Jacen was captured by Sal-Solo, and Ben set out to complete the mission on his own. Ben discovered the unusual droid that had been programmed to "become" Anakin Solo, and convinced it to shut itself down before it was used as a weapon. Upon returning to Coruscant, Ben became aware that he was no longer a child, especially when he came to the realization that much of the growing conflict between Corellians and the Galactic Alliance was rooted in his disabling of Centerpoint Station. Ben befriended a Coruscant youth named Barit Saiy who had joined the Corellian cause, and the encounter forced Ben to choose between his friend and his duty to the Galactic Alliance. In the end, Ben provided the location of the Saiy family to the Coruscant police.

Jacen and Ben next traveled to the Hapes Cluster to stop an assassination plot targeting Tenel Ka. The culprit proved to be the Ducha Galney, who was willing to destroy her own family estate in an attempt to kill the Jedi. They managed to thwart the plot thanks to the arrival of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon, but Ben placed his aunt and uncle under arrest as he believed them to be Corellian insurgents. Ben also wounded the Jedi Knight Zekk when he tried to intervene, leaving Ben even more unsure of how to gauge the loyalty of those closest to him.

In the wake of the Hapan action, Jacen gave Ben a secret assignment: recover the Amulet of Kalara. He traveled to the Sith world of Ziost, where the energy of the dark side tempted him to give in to his basest instincts. Ben returned to Jacen with a Sith ship he had located on Ziost, expressing his doubts over the mission and his conflicted feelings over his role as Jacen's enforcer. This concerned Jacen's Sith adviser Lumiya, who questioned Ben's suitability as Jacen's apprentice.

Jacen then suggested that Ben lead the mission to assassinate the Corellian Prime Minister, Dur Gejjen. Ben traveled to Vulpter with agents Jori Lekauf and Lon Shevu, and shot Gejjen in the head, killing him instantly. Security agents flooded in, forcing Lekauf to sacrifice his own life to ensure that Ben and Shevu could escape. Lekauf's death shook Ben greatly, since the two had become good friends. Ben met his mother on Coruscant to confess his crimes, filling Mara with rage over how Jacen had twisted and manipulated her son.

Soon, in a space battle above Kavan, Jacen and Lumiya forced Mara's StealthX fighter to crash on the planet below. Ben desperately tried to locate his mother, but instead felt her death in a wave of Force energy. He found Mara's body in a storm tunnel. Jacen suddenly appeared to offer comfort and a pledge to track down Mara's killer. The two brought Mara's body back home. Luke, who had killed Lumiya to avenge Mara, realized that she couldn't have been the culprit when Ben explained the circumstances of the Kavan incident. Ben came to believe that Jacen had killed his mother, but Jacen instead implicated the former Galactic Alliance Chief of State, Cal Omas. Ben confronted Omas to gain back Jacen's trust, and Omas -- realizing that only his death would allow Ben to expose Jacen's evil actions -- sacrificed his own life.

Ben returned to Jacen's side. He failed to kill Jacen during the assault on Kashyyyk, but the bold action gave Jacen reason to believe that Ben might still become a Sith. Jacen placed him in the Embrace of Pain aboard the Star Destroyer Anakin Solo, but Luke infiltrated the ship and freed him. Ben plunged a vibroblade into Jacen's back before he could attack Luke, and the two left Jacen to die, although Jacen -- now Darth Caedus -- survived to continue his scourge.

Ben was determined to track down his mother's true killer. He buried his strong feelings that it was Jacen and concentrated on the detached forensic procedure instilled by his Galactic Alliance Guard training. With the help of Lon Shevu, Ben was able to amass evidence pointing to Jacen's guilt. At the same time, he repaired the strained relationship with his father and helped Luke finally move past his grief over Mara's death. Knowing that Jacen had succumbed to the dark side, the Skywalker and Solo families and their allies gathered to formalize plans to bring him to justice. Ben was elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight and assigned to accompany Jaina Solo on a Jedi-sanctioned mission to destroy Darth Caedus. The mission was nearly cut short when Ben was intercepted by Tahiri Veila on Coruscant and taken away for interrogation.

Using a Force-blocking technique he had learned from Jacen, Ben refused to answer any questions. Veila even tortured and then killed Shevu in front of Ben, but he remained resolute. With Shevu's life no longer a bargaining chip, Ben realized that he had the upper hand. He goaded Veila into slapping him hard across the face; that knocked over his chair and provided a moment of confusion in which to act. Drawing upon the Force, Ben shoved Veila into her two guards and freed himself.

Returning to the hidden Jedi outpost on Shedu Maad, Ben was placed in charge of the evacuation of Jedi younglings after it was learned that Darth Caedus had followed Jaina Solo there. The battle over Shedu Maad grew complicated with the arrival of Imperial forces led by Veila. While dueling Veila, Ben appealed to her to break off her attack, hoping to return her to the light side. With Caedus' defeat imminent, Veila's options were vanishing. She started listening and Ben offered to help her regain her standing in the Jedi Order. Veila questioned that, but realized that Ben had been right about Darth Caedus all along and finally surrendered.