Ever since these two characters first met one another, there have been ups and downs in their relationship, just like any other. But certain factors set them apart from others. Maybe it's the whole "opposites attract" thing or the whole arm fiasco. Who knows. But this section will point out important events throughout the Expanded Universe that related to the two and their "OMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN" relationship! :o!
THE YOUNG JEDI KNIGHTS SERIES -- [ young teens ]
There are many things that happen between the two in this series. I'll pretty much go over some highlights. But if you're looking for a J/TK heavy series, this is it. You know that Tenel Ka is the strong, silent, "wtf are you talking about" type, while little Solo is the giggly little teenager who likes to collect animals. You quickly learn this about the two -- and you also learn that Jacen's goal in life at this point is to get the girl to smile. Right off the bat, when Tenel Ka is introduced, Jacen is all dreamy-eyed and fangirlboy at the mere thought of her.
This progresses in the series, and in the fourth book, Lightsabers, we see the two sparring. This goes with the whole playground theory: "IF THE BOY WANTS TO BEAT YOU UP THEN HE LIKES YOU" -- they're both little, competitive punks and decide to duke it out after they make their first lightsabers. There's some cute banter here (as there always is with the two of them XD), and Tenel Ka's lightsaber sort of sputters out (due to her rushing through the building process), causing Jacen to slice through her left arm. The rest of the book is spent with her not wanting a replacement and Jacen wangsting/emoing about what he did. She claims it's her own fault for rushing with her weapon, he still claims it's his cause he should've been paying more attention. They pretty much agree to disagree and it turns out all "awwww!"
The later books have more cute moments and equally adorable banter, but in The Emperor's Plague there's a kiss. OH NOES! Yes, anyways. Jacen claims nothing could surprise him after all the crap they had been through -- and you know him and Tenel Ka have the eternal one-up-the-other syndrome. She almost gives the boy a heartattack by kissing him, tosses a little "HAR HAR BITCH WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT?" (Well, not exactly like that) -- and wanders off, leaving Jacen in a perpetual state of:
:O!!
In Trouble on Cloud City, we get the perfect glimpse that Jacen actually means a lot to Tenel Ka when he takes a plunge off the side of Lando-land. She beats herself up over how stubborn she believes herself to be since if she had a replacement arm, she could've saved him from falling. Once he shows up again, she's the first to greet him with a big bear-hug. This, of course, ellicits an "aw shucks" moment from Jacen. And now, after his near-death experience, he's a pretty happy boy -- thinking that it was almost all worth it for that hug.
Crisis at Crystal Reef is the last book of the series and shows us a creative little Jacen, who makes a necklace out of gort eggshells for Tenel Ka. He presents it to her right at the end of the book and helps her put it on. The shocker here is that little Miss Doesn't-Crack-At-Anything has tears in her eyes at the gift, and this gives all the J/TK fans something to look forward to in the later series of books.
THE NEW JEDI ORDER SERIES -- [ late teens ]
So this series gets ushered in, and we don't really get any Jacen/Tenel Ka until the ninth book. The first couple books in this series start out with Jacen having a super-teen crush on the older scientist Danni Quee, whom he saves from the clutches of the Yuuzhan Vong (in a skirt, might I add XD) -- the whole 19 book series has her flip-flopping on whether or not she likes him back, but the last line on the matter happens in the last book, The Unifying Force, by way of this line: "She owed her life to Jacen, and at one point had come close to falling in love with him."
Then there's the issue of Jacen's other possible love interests in this series, an ignored crush from one Miss Wynessa Fel and a master/servant, teacher/student, hay/wtf relationship with the Fosh, Vergere. Which I guess can't really be considered a "love-interest" relationship. But claiming it is makes Jacen look more pimp.
Alright. So, the first hint of Jacen/Tenel Ka comes in the third hardcover, Star By . A book by Troy Denning, who is known to be a fan of the Young Jedi Knights series and the characters that came out of it. Tenel Ka had been in this NJO series previously, but never in a Jacen/Tenel Ka way, which is very good. Because it shows she's a character who can stand on her own (ZZZ BURN! XD). Both of our specimens are sent on a mission with a bunch of their Jedi buddies to Myrkr, where they are supposed to kill the voxyn queen. Anakin and Jacen argue about something mission-related (Surprise! Anakin and Jacen are arguing!) and Tenel Ka is seen consoling him about it while everyone in sleeping. There's some shoulder-rubbing and cute words shared, along with Tenel Ka turning the tables on Jacen and his jokes, but no outpouring of emo-angst, like everyone was drooling for. XD
Later in that same book, after deaths and fights and angst, Jacen Solo is sent of alone to take care of the voxyn queen alone. Right before he leaves, Tenel Ka comes to say her goodbyes and leans in to kiss him. This gets broken up by the Dominatrix bird Vergere (*snaps whip*) and Jacen delivers the patented Solo half-grin to her before running off, leaving TK to wonder if she'll ever see Mister "HAY-MAYBE-LATER!!1" ever again.
Dark Journey comes along, and shows us something we've pretty much known all along. Tenel Ka loves Jacen. SHOCKER! <3 It's good to finally get it in canon writing though. XD She is in a Vong-pod by her lonesome, being sent down to Hapes from the remaining members of the Strike Team who finally got off Myrkr (and left Jacen on his own). As she's floating on down to the surface, she feels the Jacen-place in her mind basically go supernova and burn out. This causes her to pitch a royal bitch, something we've never seen from her, since she usually keeps her emotions in check. She starts bashing the hell out of the ship, slamming her fist into walls and kicking things and so on. It is also fun to note that the lethargic Jaina Solo (who in the previous book had blown up at one of her best friends and said she had "the emotional depth of a ronto") -- feels all this anger and emotion from Tenel Ka and faintly remarks in a sense, "o rly? tk loves jasa, i never knew :P"...
Tenel Ka dwells on Jacen a few times in DJ, once while she's talking to her father and so on. Tenel Ka is one of the only non-family members that gets mentioned in his head while he's (literally) hanging on Yuuzhan'tar in Traitor. And that's that.
Jacen is left to wax philisophical and Tenel Ka is left to become Queen Mother of Hapes, the series is about three quarters done now. And their relationship is pretty much untouched in the rest.
Troy Denning takes hold of the wheel once this series is over...
THE DARK NEST TRILOGY -- [ mid-twenties ]
There are three books in this series, and in each one there is one chapter dedicated to some aspect of Jacen and Tenel Ka's relationship. We start out with The Joiner King, where chapter 23 is our juicy piece of meat. Tenel Ka is on Hapes, surrounded by a bunch of tools who call themselves "suitors" -- they all flip out (including Tenel Ka, who doesn't show it, of course) when Jacen Solo shows up unannounced (thanks to his nifty Jedi tricks). She is pleased to see him and introduces him to the "suitors" as "the boy who cut my arm off" -- they all are seemingly mortified, which she gets a kick out of and then proceeds to drag him away from them, to a more secluded area.
The end up crossing some water to a little grove she tells him she goes to when she wants to be alone. He jumps at the prospect of her being able to leave Hapes, stick by his side and help him with the new galactic-wide crisis, which she quickly shoots down by saying she couldn't get away. And she agrees to give him what he came for: a Hapan fleet. On their way back across the water, she asks him to stay the night, which he pretty much freezes up at. (JACEN SOLO JUST GOT AN OFFER FROM A GIRL, WUT?) He claims he didn't come here to "be her paramour" and she takes that opportunity to say 'paramours are playthings and she would never play with him' and then plant a pretty hot kiss on him, which just drives it home that he's totally staying the night.
Nothing is known, at this point, about this one night he stayed over. The chapter ended when he said yes. Did they have dinner together and she banished him to the guest quarters? Did they get in a fight and he slept on the sofa? Did he curl up at the foot of the bed like a little lost nerf? Did they sleep head-to-feet beside each other like little grade schoolers at camp?
Oh no. They didn't. We learn in The Unseen Queen that little Miss Tenel Ka and Mister Jacen Solo have a little spawn. By the name of Allana (which we don't learn till the third book). Which means, you know what they did. Wink wink nudge nudge say no more.
(*insert fangasms from all the J/TK minions here*)
Early on in TUQ, chapter 4, we see Jacen and Ben Skywalker on Hapes. Tenel Ka had invited him there, and he had no idea why. He left Ben with the nanny droid and went back to find her in the back-back room of the royal quarters, googling over a baby. He instantly felt like a tool for coming to Hapes so Tenel Ka could one-up him yet again and be like, "HAHA I HAVE A BABY. I WIN." He meandered over and congratulated her, inwardly commenting on how darn happy and pretty she looked. Everything his was feeling though was bitchslapped from him as he got a gander at the little tyke and eye contact showed him whose baby it was exactly. Tenel Ka shows Mr. Gobsmacked how to hold the baby while he bumbles his "WTFs" and his "HOWS" -- she tells him she prolonged the pregnancy using the Force so all the "suitors" wouldn't realize whose baby it was. (Kay, if the "suitors" had the tiniest bit of brain, they'd know whose baby it was -- like she would let any of them get near her.)
Their total "aww" moment is cut short by Ben, who barges in and goes all little kid on them by saying they're gonna be in SO MUCH TROUBLE FOR HAVING A BABY AND NOT BEING MARRIED AND AWWWWW! AWWWW! Jacen claims: "We're in love, we always have been." (Which ellicits a different kind of AWWWW! from the J/TK minions.) Tenel Ka adds her patented "Fact" to the end of this -- and then it's all taken over by bugs. Jacen fights Killiks off while TK watches the kids. Then there's Ben who gets pissed that his bug-buddies are getting creamed so he nonchalantly Force pushes JUST-HAD-A-BABY-TK into the wall. Jacen gets just as pissed, if not more for putting their lives in danger, and sends Ben into Force-time-out, by basically knocking the kid out -- nicely.
Oh yeah, and later, without TK's permission, Jacen fries Ta'a Chume's brain, since it was her who basically sent the bugs. Hope you didn't want to meet your Great Grandmother, kid.
Chapter 2 shows us Jacen and Tenel Ka separately in the third and final book, The Swarm War. They are both present for a Jedi meeting with Luke Skywalker (as are many others). Afterwards, Tenel Ka goes in to Skywalker's office to see him -- and resign from the Jedi Order. She goes to give him back her lightsaber, and he tells her to keep it, because she'll always have a place with them and she deserves it.
Here's the fun part. Han and Leia are present for this and they start to prod her about the baby. Leia says she wants to see the baby and all that -- it's fun to watch Tenel Ka squirm under the scrutiny of two who have no idea they're grandparents to the kid they're claiming to want to see. She tries to reply steathily and then shuffles off with a big moment of PHEW.
But I don't know which moment is better, because then Han and Leia with Jacen, wondering why Tenel Ka won't let them see the kid. They figure Jacen knows something since they're good friends not to mention the whole slept-together thing -- he claims to not know anything (Leia can totally tell he's lying). And Han pulls out a totally awesome: "Poor kid -- whatever's wrong, I'll bet the problem came from the father." Which garners and inward frown and a good inward slap in the face to Jacen, who just sits there and takes it cause he knows he can't say anything.
Jacen goes on doing a few other things that show he's fiercly overprotective of his crazy little family unit (aside from the frying Ta'a Chume's brain) -- which'll most likly give us some fun storylines in the future!
So now we can add a new addition to the J/TK saga, their baby Allana. :D
THE LEGACY OF THE FORCE SERIES -- [ early to mid-thirties ]
Betrayal didn't give us anything in the way of the relationship -- just lots on the Jacen front. But as of Bloodlines, the second book, we have found out that Jacen has visited TK and Allana between the Dark Nest books and these -- and also that he thinks about them alot, hiding that fact from Lumiya, who seems to have him in a slightly Sithly grasp. He finds out by the end of the book that if he wants to become fully Sith and help Save The Galaxy, he has to kill what he loves. He instantly thinks of Tenel Ka and Allana and his heart drops hard.
So in Tempest, Jacen is called to Hapes to help Tenel Ka figure out wtf all this assassenation attempt stuff was that just happened, since his line of work deals with stuff like that. He believes (and the evidence kind of makes it look like--) Han and Leia were behind the attempt, even though all they were doing was coming to warn Tenel Ka about it. They think very highly of her and like her a lot (your parents approve, Jacen)~! There is a darling moment when he comes in where Allana flips out and runs over to him, squealing "Yedi Jacen!" and so on. And Jacen and Tenel Ka share an equally adorable moment once everyone leaves the room and they hug and yammer on about the matter at hand.
Come to find out, Aurra Sing was the hunter sent in for the kill and Jacen has a showdown with her, which Allana helps out with. Daddy was given babysitting duties, by the way, which is why she was there when this happened. At the very end of the book, Jacen leaves Hapes and in private for a few moments, Tenel Ka gives him a quick peck on the cheek and says he's welcome back anytime. He's all business and leaves the planet, leaving us wondering what will happen with them next.
We can't forget the classic part in this novel where Luke and Mara are on the way to Jacen's ship, the Anakin Solo, and are debating over the parentage of Allana. Mara suspects it's Jacen, saying Jacen has been sneaking off to see someone every few months and the two of them are very close -- but Luke refutes with the timing issue. Mara calls him a killjoy and the issue is kind of dropped. I hope Mara rubs it in his face later. XD Oh snap, Tenel Ka did a Jedi trick and stumped Master Skywalker!
And now we come to Exile, which doesn't give us much in the way of the Jacen/Tenel Ka relationship, but we do learn that Jacen can't kill Tenel Ka and Allana because he loves them too much -- and he decides at the end of this book that his parents are the ones he needs to sacrifice. He's waffled all over the place in the last few books, saying he could never kill Allana -- but now it's Allana and Tenel Ka.
Which bring us to Sacrifice. Jacen goes to visit Hapes and gives Allana a stuffed tauntaun, which she names "Jacen" -- he says, "Why Jacen, sweetie?" -- which is adorable. And she replies that it's so she can talk to Jacen when he's not around. Lumiya finally puts two and two together in this book as well, she thinks about how Jacen will sometimes leave for a few days with an overnight bag and come back mellow and a tad relaxed -- and then she sees OH HAY HE HAS A LOVER AND A KID! D: She can't confront him about this though, because she dies. Tenel Ka and Jacen are shown together for just a little bit, chatting about his new political status and it's just like a little married couple jabbering about their day. Also, there is Jacen in a bathtub, with takeout food, thinking about Allana and Tenel Ka. Which is really giggleworthy. Overall, Sacrifice has told us a lot about him and what he's thinking -- now we only have to wait for Inferno to see where it all goes. Heee.
Inferno is next. This book was actually a lot in the way of our favorite dysfunctional couple. Jacen is kind of spying on her while she's getting ready for bed and they have a conversation about the war and such while she's standing around in her undergarments. There's a kiss and you know, it's all good kind of. Except Jacen asks for Fleet help again, uh oh! By the end of this book, Tenel Ka has realized -- or actually, she's acknowledged what he's doing and turns her back on him. And this was after she cried to Han and Leia about it -- yesss, actually cried. *gasp* Now Jacen knows he's has no one except Allana and he says he won't let anyone stand in the way of him and her -- which is making everyone worry for Tenel Ka. D:
So Fury is our seventh stop in the LotF series and just as crazy as all the others. Jacen (now Caedus) is taking the fact that Tenel Ka turned away from him very hard and he realizes Allana is the only one left who loves him. So what does he do? he kidnaps her, of course! He goes to Hapes in disguise and kidnaps Allana, replacing her with an orphan child from Coruscant. Tenel Ka realizes what's going on and basically follows a trail of bodies Jacen left to the hangar where he's taking off in a ship with Allana in his lap. He tosses her an evil little grin and then blows a hole in the hangar to escape, knocking Tenel Ka back into a column and knocking her out. By the end, Tenel Ka has Allana back and Allana knows that Jacen is her father, but we're not sure where this is going to go from here. Oh, and Han and Leia finally know Allana is their granddaughter! :o! There is no real follow up to this in Revelation and Jacen only mentions Tenel Ka and Allana in his thoughts here and there.
