Karrde's second-in-command in Heir to the Empire. The novel establishes she was previously an "Emperor's Hand"—a special agent—for Emperor Palpatine. Several stories depict Jade before the events in Heir to the Empire, showing her training under Palpatine and executing his orders. The Thrawn trilogy depicts Mara's first confrontation with Luke Skywalker, whom she swears to kill to avenge Palpatine's death (Palpatine sent her a faked image of Luke and Vader turning on him together, rather than Vader killing Palpatine, and the demand for Luke's death motivated by Palpatine's desire for revenge against his father rather than Luke's actions). This was re-inforced by the Emperor's final telepathic command to assassinate Luke, plaguing her thoughts since his death; upon learning this situation, Luke vowed to help Mara break Palpatine's hold on her, regardless of the threat she posed to Luke. Toward the end of the trilogy, she turns against the Empire, and resolves her anger toward Luke, silences the command without killing him and instead killing Luke's clone—Luuke Skywalker—made by the Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth to challenge Luke. In doing so, she took Leia Organ Solo's lightsaber, and used it to stab C'baoth. At the close of The Last Command, Luke gives her Anakin's lightsaber because he believed she earned it and because he truly wanted her to have it. Over the course of the series, Luke recognizes in Mara an underdeveloped affinity for the Force; and although she initially resists Jedi training, she eventually becomes a Jedi Master. Luke and Mara develop a strong bond in Zahn's The Hand of Thrawn duology; he proposes marriage, and the two wed in Michael A. Stackpole's graphic novel Union. She delivers a son, Ben, during The New Jedi Order series. In the Legacy of the Force series, Mara is suspicious of her nephew, Jacen Solo, after he sends Ben on several ethically-dubious missions. Upon learning Jacen is a Sith apprentice, Mara vows to kill him, but Jacen ultimately kills her in Sacrifice. She later appears as a Force ghost, first to Ben then to Luke, in Revelation. She also appears as a Force ghost to Cade Skywalker in the Legacy comics, set more than a century after the Star Wars films. Other appearances Mara also appears in the short story Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade, by Timothy Zahn, in the anthology Tales from Jabba's Palace. In this story, she infiltrates Jabba