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Was just wondering

Both Jaina and Leia are inferior to the other members of their family in the Force and combat.

But with Leia it actually makes sense given her character. She's a politician, not a warrior, despite her fighting in the movies. Meanwhile Luke was trained to become the Jedi messiah.

Of course. She doesn't have less Force potential, no. She's just not nearly the Jedi that Luke is.

No, even Yoda states Luke isn't their last hope.

And Anakin Solo is not > Jaina.

I thought he was at the time. Everyone was going on about him being the next Luke or something.

Well, Anakin was originally intended to become Caedus iirc, but they switched his roles with Jacen early on. He doesn't have any overly impressive feats that I can recall. Jaina does, though.

Anakin was never intended to become Caedus. He was supposed to have Jacen's role in NJO though.

Isn't Jacen's role to fall to the Dark side, though?

I don't know that Anakin was going to become Caedus, but I know that Jacen was supposed to die instead.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
Isn't Jacen's role to fall to the Dark side, though?

Not initially.

Anakin Solo was originally intended to be the Caedus figure. Lucas made them change it to Jacen because he thought the fans would get confused. It says so in the back of the last NJO book where they have interviews.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
He doesn't have any overly impressive feats that I can recall. Jaina does, though.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
And Anakin Solo is not > Jaina.

Did you read NJO?

During Anakin Solo's life, he certainly was better than Jaina. He had arguably more force power than Kyp Durron.

Anakin Solo was the leader of the Myrkr Strike Team, over other notable characters like Jacen, Jaina, Tesar, Lowbacca, Tekli, Tahiri, etc. and was specifically chosen for the role by Luke because of his ability.

Anakin's rescue of Tahiri from Vong captivity is very impressive.

Anakin's last stand against the Vong was also very impressive, where he became one of the few people to become one with the force.

He was the next Luke Skywalker, and was quickly outpacing Jacen as far as lightsaber skill went, though Jacen was better during their last duel, it was implied that Anakin would very soon surpass him.

To expand upon that last part, that would mean that during Anakin's life, he was the most powerful and skilled of all 3 solo children. even though he was younger and less experienced.

Originally posted by DarthAnt66
Anakin Solo was originally intended to be the Caedus figure. Lucas made them change it to Jacen because he thought the fans would get confused. It says so in the back of the last NJO book where they have interviews.

The utter lack of respect Lucas has for the fans of his creation never fails to astound me.

Eh, I think having two 'Anakins' in a row fall would been pretty repetitive.

Originally posted by Nephthys
Of course. She doesn't have less Force potential, no. She's just not nearly the Jedi that Luke is.

Yes. Her potential is even, her training is just far less. She didn't even get serious training until Saba came along- though even before that her raw potential allowed her to beat an experienced Hutt fallen Jedi.


Jaina and Jacen have equal potential, though Jacen pushed his individual combat training more while Jaina spent more time on things like being a pilot. If they swapped training they'd swap roles. When she did push herself to catch up, she was pretty quickly able to get close to his saber level.

Anakin had a higher potential than either of them, luck of the draw.

Originally posted by DarthAnt66
Anakin Solo was originally intended to be the Caedus figure. Lucas made them change it to Jacen because he thought the fans would get confused. It says so in the back of the last NJO book where they have interviews.

There is no mention of Caedus. That idea originated after NJO with Denning.

Originally posted by Q99

Jaina and Jacen have equal potential, though Jacen pushed his individual combat training more while Jaina spent more time on things like being a pilot.

Yeah, but LotF makes it quite explicit that Caedus and Luke are both on an entirely higher tier than Jaina even when it comes to piloting ability (as in, Jaina herself comments on this fact when trying to keep up with the two in a dogfight).

Really, the only in-universe explanation for Jaina being so ridiculously less powerful than his brother, despite being of the same age and also obsessively training herself, is that she just doesn't have the same Force potential, just as Jacen didn't have the same potential as his younger brother.

From an out-of-universe standpoint, I think there's a legitimate explanation that has nothing to do with inherent sexism or anything (remember that Jaina was made the hero of the LotF saga; she was the one to kill Caedus). Darth Caedus must be extremely powerful in order to pose a realistic threat to Skywalker and company. Jaina, meanwhile, is supposed to be the action hero reminiscent of Luke and co. in the original trilogy, or even Anakin and Obi Wan in the prequels. Luke Skywalker at this point in time is so ridiculously powerful that you can't create the same underdog encounters where he must work with his friends to overcome a powerful adversary unless you continuously impede him with ridiculous plot devices. If you make Jaina Solo as powerful as she would be given her age were her potential comparable to, say, her mother's, you would have to pit Palpatine against her to get that same situation.

In Crucible novel Leia didn't show herself a single bit inferior to Luke during fight against Qrephs. Perhaps by that point she reached Luke's level at least when it comes to purely Force fight. When it comes to saber fight, it makes sense for Jaina and Leia being weaker cos women are not as capable physically as men in general.

^Luke was depicted as a weekling in Crucible (although it should be noted that both were being amped to ridiculous levels in the final fight, potentially enough that their original disparities would be trivial by proportion). He's the kind of protagonist that plays up and down to competition; pit him against Palpatine and he'll win, pit him against some no-name lost tribe sith and he'll win, but not to the same extent Palpatine would.

Originally posted by Arhael
In Crucible novel Leia didn't show herself a single bit inferior to Luke during fight against Qrephs. Perhaps by that point she reached Luke's level at least when it comes to purely Force fight. When it comes to saber fight, it makes sense for Jaina and Leia being weaker cos women are not as capable physically as men in general.

And Yoda is 3 foot tall. The Force should be above such things.

Originally posted by Nephthys
And Yoda is 3 foot tall. The Force should be above such things.

Well, he had ridiculous agility to compensate. While women are smaller than men, it doesn't make them faster unlike the case with Yoda. Force compensates for disadvantages. But "compensate" does not equal to "nullify", the disadvantages are still there.


He is never depicted as weakling except first books of NJO, where he was out of practice. But yes, that place made potential irrelevant. Still, her being able to use that power just as effectively shows her Force skill.