Mara Jade

Mara Jade was raised from childhood as the Emperor's servant and assassin: she received training from the best instructors in a wide range of fields and learned to use the Force. As the Emperor's Hand, she eliminated both rebels and disloyal Imperials. After Palpatine's death, his final command reached her — to kill Luke Skywalker — but her master's death cut short her service, and she became a free trader.

Jade joined the smuggler Talon Karrde, becoming one of his best pilots and his second-in-command. During Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign, she had to work alongside Skywalker, for whom she gradually came to feel respect. Besides the Force, she was highly skilled with a blaster, in hand-to-hand combat, and with technology.

Karrde was grooming her to lead the Smugglers' Alliance. In time Jade studied briefly at the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 and increasingly acted side by side with Skywalker. In 19 ABY, during a mission on Nirauan, they admitted that they loved each other; later she joined the High Council of the New Jedi Order as a Master.