Who Is Luke Skywalker’s Wife? Mara Jade Explained

Mara Jade’s first appearance in «Heir to the Empire» explains that she once served Palpatine, but that part of her history wasn’t explored until later in the Expanded Universe. In essence, Mara is raised by Sidious to be a powerful pawn — a Force-sensitive assassin sent to hunt down rebels and treacherous imperials alike. Curiously, her lightsaber during this time is magenta-hued, not red.

Mara’s title of Emperor’s Hand belonged to multiple agents who served Palpatine, but they were kept oblivious of one another. The closest parallel in the modern canon would be the Imperial Inquisitors, who do know of and work with each other but constantly compete for the approval of Darth Vader.

When Palpatine is killed on the second Death Star, he sends a telepathic Force message to Mara, ordering her to find and kill Luke Skywalker. This command compels her to exact revenge against Luke beyond her own desire, and it isn’t until much later in the Star Wars Legends timeline that she manages to fight off the compulsion that Palpatine thrusts upon her.

In the years after the Empire’s fall, Mara works intermittently as a smuggler. She also trains at Luke’s new Jedi school and, after numerous attempts to avoid her destiny, joins the order properly. The two grow closer and closer through Timothy Zahn’s «Spectre of the Past» and «Vision of the Future» novels, which comprise the «Hand of Thrawn» duology, which is set after the original «Heir to the Empire» trilogy. Luke proposes by the end of «Vision of the Future,» and they get married in Michael A. Stackpole and Robert Teranishi’s «Star Wars: Union» comic.