Anakin Solo

"The Order can't wait for a great Jedi Knight to lead it. That's what everyone thought I was, and when I died, too much died with me. Don't make the same mistake I did, don't let anyone push you into that. Every Jedi has to be his own light, because the light shouldn't go out when one Jedi dies."

- Anakin to Luke

Anakin Solo was a major protagonist in the New Jedi Order series until his death in Star by Star. At which point, his brother Jacen Solo took up the mantle of main protagonist. Following his death, Anakin appeared twice as a ghost: first in Traitor, then in Fate of the Jedi: Abyss. After his brother's fall to the dark side, Anakin became the namesake for Lord Caedus's flagship.

He is the youngest child and son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, the younger brother of Jaina and Jacen, grandson of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker and cousin of Ben Skywalker, uncle of Allana Solo and the nephew of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker.

Appearances
Anakin is named after his maternal grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, and, like his namesake, is a talented pilot who is prodigiously gifted both in the Force and mechanical engineering.

Anakin appears as an infant and toddler in many Star Wars novels such as the Jedi Academy trilogy (1994). Anakin and his siblings play central roles in other novels such as The Crystal Star (1994), the Corellian trilogy (1995) and The New Rebellion (1996). Anakin's birth is featured in Tom Veitch's Dark Empire II comic book miniseries (May 1995). He is first referred to as Han Solo, Jr. by his father, but Leia corrects him, having named the baby after her biological father, Anakin Skywalker, as a reminder of hope. However, Anakin still fears the name and his grandfather's legacy.

On October 1, 1995, Nancy Richardson started the Junior Jedi Knights series with The Golden Globe starring Anakin and his best friend Tahiri Veila. Anakin was now an eleven-year-old child starting his training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4.

Richardson continued Anakin's adventures in the following two novels, Lyric's World and Promises, before Rebecca Moesta finished the series with Anakin's Quest, Vader's Fortress, and Kenobi's Blade, starting in 1996. Anakin appears in the Young Jedi Knights series by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, which follows the adventures of Anakin's siblings, Jacen and Jaina.

In 1999, the first novel of the New Jedi Order series was published, entitled Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore. Anakin is now a teenager studying as a Jedi under his uncle, Luke Skywalker, debating with his brother, Jacen, on the ways of a Jedi and the Force. In the novel's climax, his father's copilot and best friend, Chewbacca, dies saving Anakin's life.

Anakin plays major roles in Dark Tide: Onslaught and Dark Tide: Ruin by Michael A. Stackpole published 1 February 2000 and 1 June 2000, respectively, and is the main focus of the books Edge of Victory: Conquest and Edge of Victory: Rebirth by Greg Keyes published April 1, 2001 and August 1, 2001, respectively.

In the 2001 novel Star by Star by Troy Denning, Anakin leads a team of Jedi to take out a dangerous enemy, resulting in his death. Writers of the New Jedi Order storyline revealed in a question-and-answer section of the paperback edition of The Unifying Force published on August 3, 2004 that Anakin was supposed to be the hero of the story and lead the Jedi Order, but this was changed due to the release of the Star Wars prequel films, in which the hero was also named Anakin. Instead, he dies in battle at the conclusion of the novel.

Even after his death, Anakin Solo has been mentioned several times in most following novels, including a possible appearance in Traitor by Matthew Stover, as a droid in Betrayal by Aaron Allston as Anakin Sal-Solo, and in Backlash, where he appeared to his maternal uncle Luke Skywalker and to Luke's son, Ben Skywalker by Aaron Allston.

Anakin is portrayed in the earlier books as being a genius and a loner, but is haunted by his name. In Lyric's World, it is revealed that he loves to take computers apart and put them back together and sees it as a puzzle. He would also have dreams of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader trying to persuade him to fall to the dark side of the Force; Anakin overcomes this fear in Anakin's Quest, in which he confronts himself.

In The New Jedi Order series, Anakin is older. He still spent time alone thinking about the role of the Force, and would get into arguments with his brother Jacen on the subject. However, his uncle Luke still sees Anakin as too young and reckless.

☀His connection to the Force remained strong, and her gathered energy around him like a magnet. Solo became a glowing extension of the Force itself, almost invincible as he cut down Yuuzhan Vong warriors in order to get his comrades closer to the voxyn queen. The intense energy consumed him, and Solo's physical form radiated an intense light shortly before his death. Solo's body was laid to rest on Hapes.

Shortly after the fall of Coruscant, Solo appeared to his brother Jacen as a ghost, in which he helped his elder brother come to terms with his death and the insecurity Jacen was having about his place in the Force. During the conversation, Jacen pointed out that Solo had always seem so sure of himself than Jacen ever was. At the end of the war, Jacen would reach a oneness with the Fore, similar to the one his brother reached, in his duel with Onimi. Anakinghost Anakin as a Force ghost During the Second Galactic Civil War, Thrackan Sal-Solo once more tried to gain power over Centerpoint Station. With the death of Solo, this seemed impossible. However, Sal-Solo got around this by building a human replica droid, Anakin Sal-Solo. This droid not only looked like Solo, but it also believed it was him. The droid was destroyed by Jedi Padawan Ben Skywalker, now an apprentice of Solo's brother Jacen, on a mission to sabotage Centerpoint Station. Later, as Jacen began to gain more power within the Galactic Alliance, he christened his Star Destroyer flagship, the Anakin Solo, something that angered Solo's parents and sister. As Jacen transformed into the Sith Lord Darth Caedus, Solo played a major role in Caedus's corruption of Veila, when he flow-walked back to Solo's death, implicating that he could alter time and bring Solo back. After watching memories of Solo repeatedly, Veila succumbed to the dark side as Caedus's Sith apprentice. Following Caedus's death, Luke and Ben Skywalker encountered Solo's spirit on their journey to discover why Caedus made the choices he did.