jacen solo
-- Young Jedi Knights/New Jedi Order series
Ah, yes. Jacen Solo. A subject either very loved or hated by Tenel Ka fans. Depends on the way they look at it. They either love him and want the two together, or they hate him because of how he seemed to drop her for part of the New Jedi Order series then the way he played her in Legacy of the Force (bruh, she was the only one who believed in you and you jacked in up GOOD JOB, BUD). Most fans still loved the boy and had faith that the two would realize how much they meant to each other and get together. Legacy of the Force took them down a sort of Anakin/Padme path, but gave Tenel Ka a lot more to fight back with than Padme possessed (which is no fault of Padme's). We'll get to that later though. Let's start from the beginning...
During the Young Jedi Knights series, the two met and became friends. It was easy to tell Jacen had a crush on her - in fact, it was mentioned at many points. They shared cute little moments and a kiss, as well as some more depressing times, such as the sparring accident where Jacen sliced her left arm and Jacen's fall off of Cloud City. At the end of the series, Jacen is seen giving a necklace to her, that he made himself. She has traces of tears in her eyes, reinforcing the fact that Jacen is probably the only person in existence who can break down her emotional barriers. The series ends on a high note with the two, which brings us to...
The New Jedi Order series shows the galaxy in a state of turmoil. The people, especially the Jedi, are thrown through the wringer and worked to death in this series, fighting, arguing and trying to get through this mess with the Yuuzhan Vong. Jacen is yanked into a journey through himself and is oblivious to many things around him for the first half of the series. He nurses a crush on the hot, older scientist Danni Quee (and she seems to pine over him for a bit as well), which is dropped at the end of the series as he tells his sister: "Anyway, I'll know where to find her." (sort of a dismissive tone, it seems like) -- she's left on Zonama Sekot to do what she loves best. In the middle of the series are two books which stand out concerning Jacen & Tenel Ka. Star By Star and Dark Journey. In 'SbS' Jacen and Tenel Ka are thrown together in a mission to kill the voxyn queen. They help each other out the whole time, physically and emotionally and almost share a kiss before Jacen is ripped away and taken hostage by that evil bird (well, okay Fosh) Vergere and the Vong. 'DJ' shows us Tenel Ka's reaction to Jacen's "death" -- which also proves how much she cares for him. As she feels his pain, her barriers fall and she screams out, slamming into the side of the ship she's piloting. She becomes Queen Mother of Hapes and there is no other sign of Jacen & Tenel Ka's relationship in the rest of the series.
The future of their relationship was unknown. What was known was that Troy Denning, the author of Star By Star, was writing the next few books and he seemed to be a fan of Jacen and Tenel Ka -- as well as the YJK in general. So the fans had hope that the two would come to their senses and let ~looooove~ guide them back to each other, regardless of their political positions; with TK being Queen Mother and Jacen being a philisophical traveling circus... yadda, yadda, that whole love knows no bounds thing or whatever.
-- Dark Nest/Legacy of the Force series
Well, like I said before, who knew what would happen in the future -- and who knew it would turn out this way (and trust me, I'm not complaining). Tenel Ka is seen in a total of three chapters in the Dark Nest trilogy, one in each book. In the first, Jacen Solo ends up on Hapes to ask Tenel Ka, the Queen Mother, for the help of the Hapan fleets. They share a walk on water and a private little conversation in a grove, where Jacen's heart skips a couple beats at the prospect of her being able to leave and help him herself -- when it gets smacked back into place by the fact that she's RUNNING 63 PLANETS and CAN'T REALLY LEAVE RIGHT NOW. Silly Solo kid. She asks him to stay the night, to which he responds that he doesn't want to be her paramour (aka "her adulterous lover" and/or "her man slave" XD) -- to which she kisses him, he gets all fangirl and she says she would never play with him. Like that. You know. Come on. Anyways, he ends up spending the night with her bow chicka wow wow.
Her chapter in the next book (which takes place a year later) shows us she has a little spawn, a daughter named Allana (who isn't named yet, at this point). Jacen learns this the same time the readers do and everyone pulls a collective "HAY WTF IS GOING ON". It's a girl and she's Jacen's daughter -- Tenel Ka slowed the pregnancy down with the Force, so it didn't seem obvious to the dense mass of blubbering suitors who hovered around the Fountain Palace like a bunch of losers. Not much is obvious to them though. Again, Jacen learns the baby is his the same time the readers do (although when he realizes, the readers pull another collective "OKAY LOSER, DUH"). Their extremely adorable family moment is cut short by Ben Skywalker and lots of pissed off terminator bugs though (oh hey, Ta'a Chume already attempting assassinations on the baby) and they fight and slice their way through some craziness. Plus, everyone knows that baby is gonna get kidnapped sooner or later. SOLO TRADITION.
Jacen and Tenel Ka aren't seen together in the third book -- but Jacen makes some comments on Tenel Ka's child to his parents, who don't know she's his daughter. Han shoots a classic line about the father being ugly and that's why Tenel Ka's hiding the baby. B'awww, Jacen! HA. Tenel Ka, meanwhile, goes and sees Luke and quits the Jedi Order. Here's another classic scene, this time between Han/Leia and Tenel Ka, about the baby, Allana. The Solo's remark on the baby and Leia says she wants to see her and all that jazz. Tenel Ka plays deer in headlights and makes chit-chat while trying, so damn hard, to sneak out of the grandparent's line of sight. I couldn't wait to see how Han and Leia realized/found out the baby wass related to them. Did Han give Jacen a good-talking-to about the birds and the beeeeees? Come on Jacen, YOU'RE MAKING HAN FEEL OLD. XD
We hadn't seen TK in the Legacy series during the first two books, but she was mentioned quite a few times (as was little Allana) in relation to the man of this section, Mister Jacen Solo. In Betrayal, they weren't mentioned by name, although when asked by the fairly persistant Nelani, Jacen said there was someone occupying that special place in his heart. Then in Bloodlines, as Jacen falls prey to Lumiya's dirty Sith tricks, he realizes that to fully become a Sith, he must kill what he loves most -- and from his own mind, that's Tenel Ka and Allana -- even after he waxed ecstatic and sentimental over both throughout the book. Tempest actually gave us our first look at her during this series. Her and Allana were wearing matching jumpsuits when Jacen came along to Hapes to investigate an attempt at TK's life. They embrace once everyone is out of the room -- and during Jacen's downfall, which is happening slowly but surely, Tenel Ka tries to turn a blind eye to it, making excuses in her head for him.
There's a good few scenes between them in the rest of the series and they always show Tenel Ka knowing something is up, but she never calls him out directly on it. In Inferno, the two share a darling and pervy little scene where Jacen is hiding out in her room and spying on her while she's milling around changing into her nightclothes and that scene contains that little J/TK spark that they always had -- but at the end of that book is when she finally turns on him and he realizes he's alone in his crusade. In Invincible, he gets killed by his twin sister and his last thought and action is to scream to Tenel Ka in the Force to save Allana from a imminent assassination attempt. So in the end, Tenel Ka has given her daughter to the Solo's to take care of and she's lost her lover and her father. Too bad we'll never get any fill in stories between the YJK and LotF eras, cause that's a really bum note to end the relationship on. :|