Star Wars fans have recently been introduced to the live-action debut of Hera Syndulla, the Twi’lek New Republic general and veteran of the rebellion. First appearing in the animated Star Wars Rebels, Hera appeared in live-cation for the first time in the first episode of Ahsoka. In the third episode, Hera’s son made his first live-action appearance as well.
As Hera exchanges pleasantries with New Republic Chancellor Mon Mothma, Mon asks how her son Jacen is doing. Hera answers that he’s well and is actually on-board the ship, somewhere with Chopper. After the meeting, Jacen runs up to meet his mom, asking if it’s true that Aunt Sabine is going to be a Jedi. To this, Jacen says that he wants to be a Jedi too.
At this point fans might be wondering who Jacen’s father is, and the show doesn’t help whatsoever on this front since it’s never once mentioned him, but Jacen’s father was Jedi knight Kanan Jarrus. Only a padawan when Order 66 happened, Kanan went into hiding as the Jedi Order fell and the Empire rose. He met Hera and the two developed a deep relationship, and together they led a rebel cell known as the Spectres. This crew included Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and Chopper, as well as Garazeb Orrelios, and as they fought against the Empire they became part of a much larger and organized rebellion. Hera and Kanan became like parent figures to the crew, especially to Sabine and Ezra, and Kanan took Bridger as his Jedi apprentice while also training Sabine to fight with the darksaber.
Shortly before their victory at the Battle of Lothal, where Ezra disappeared with Grand Admiral Thrawn (which the Ahsoka series is picking up on), Hera was captured while leading an effort to liberate the planet. Kanan went to save his love, and he was successful. But the Empire’s forces fired upon some fuel cells, which exploded. The blast would have killed Hera, Kanan, Ezra, and Sabine, but Kanan used the Force to hold off the flames long enough to get the others to safety. As he and Hera shared one last loving look, Kanan used his strength to push his friends away from the blast. Kanan was dead, but his sacrifice was not in vain.
Later, it was revealed that Hera had been pregnant with their child, and Jacen was born not long after the liberation of Lothal. In the Rebels epilogue we see Hera and Jacen flying the Ghost, and a narration from Sabine saying that he was “born to fly, just like his mother. And, well, we all know what his father was like.” So when Jacen tells his mother that he wants to be a Jedi, it’s because he wants to be just like his father before him.
We’ll see what his involvement is in the rest of the series, but his being present with Hera aboard the ship is a welcome change. As Hera continued to help lead the fight in the Civil War into the New Republic era, she was often away from Jacen, leaving him with Chopper. Hera regretted being away from her son so often, and now that he’s a bit older I wonder if it means that he’s traveling with her more frequently. Maybe he’ll even help her fly the Ghost, as there’s a shot in one of the promos of someone else sitting in the Ghost’s co-pilot chair, whom we can’t quite make out from behind.
It’s great to see Jacen in this episode, and I hope we see more of him. And I also hope that Kanan is actually mentioned at some point soon by the characters who were so close to him.
One more fun fact to mention about Jacen is that when Dave Filoni created him for Rebels, the name was an intentional nod to a major character from the Star Wars Legends books. Jacen Solo was one of the children born to Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, who studied under Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, fought as a Jedi in the Yuuzhan Vong War, but who eventually fell to the dark side. Jacen Solo was a significant player in these Legends stories and showed up a lot, and though those stories are no longer considered to be canon they have inspired much in the new canon. Grand Admiral Thrawn was created for Legends before being brought back into canon by Filoni in Rebels, and there are countless other examples of it. Jacen Solo was an inspiration for the character of Ben Solo in the sequel trilogy, as it has long been the case (whether in George Lucas’s mind or in Legends) that Han and Leia would have a child who would fall to the dark side.
I’m guessing that the name Jacen isn’t any foreshadowing of that for Syndulla, but it would certainly be interesting to see him too begin training as a Jedi. Might it be with Luke Skywalker? Ahsoka Tano? Ezra Bridger? We’ll have to wait and find out, but if Jacen is a Jedi anything like his father, he’d be one of the best to ever live.
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