|Chronological and political information|
Ken was a male Human who was the son of Triclops and a "Jedi Princess" named Kendalina, therefore supposedly making Ken the grandson of Emperor Palpatine and a "Jedi Prince." There was some ambiguity regarding Ken's true origins, as accounts of Palpatine fathering offspring were generally discounted and all records of the Emperor's family disappeared shortly after he ascended to the Imperial throne.
Conception and birthEdit
- "Just Ken. I was never given a last name by the droids."
- ―Ken to Luke Skywalker.
Born in 7 BBY to the mutant Triclops and the Jedi Princess Kendalina during their tenure at Kessel, the young Ken was spirited away from the insane asylum after Imperial Stormtroopers killed his mother. He was named partly after his mother and was known only as Ken. Taken by an unknown brown robed Jedi Master, the boy was taken to safety to the Yavin system where he was sheltered in the fabled Lost City of the Jedi located on Yavin 4. There, the boy lived a quiet and lonely existence underground for the first twelve years of his life. The only thing that was present on the child was a silver necklace but beyond that there was little else that could identify his parents. Unknown to anyone, the second piece of the silver necklace was worn by the boy's father Triclops.
Life in the Lost CityEdit
- "Why do you think you were brought to us, Ken? Because your mother wanted you to have a chance to overcome your grandfather’s ways of darkness and evil. That’s why we were chosen to raise you. So that, under the guidance and teaching of the caretaker droids of the Lost City, your Jedi heritage could win out over the Dark Side that is also a part of your heritage."
- ―DJ-88 to Ken.
Inside the legendary Lost City, Ken lived a life surrounded by the caretaker droids that watched over the settlement and looked after the child's every need. His life was watched over by the City's primary caretaker, DJ-88, a droid who served as the Jedi librarian for the underground facility. For reasons known only to the droid itself, the knowledge of Ken's ancestry was not told to the boy, and it was decided that he would be informed of this when he became an adult. To further protect the child, DJ-88 forbid him to venture to the surface of Yavin 4, which was known as Topworld.
As Ken grew, his education was overseen by the droids. DJ-88 served as his teacher and made HC-100 to check the child's homework. His life consisted of study of history and many recent events, which were updated in the Jedi library by droids that on occasion went to the surface for supplies as well as to learn more about events in the galaxy. This meant that Ken became a student of history and knew many things about galactic events. He knew of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and believed himself named after the Jedi and thought that Kenobi might have been his father. During this time, to keep him company, the droid Microchip was constructed to serve as his friend. In addition, Ken was given a pet mooka, which he called Zeebo, that often woke him up every morning. During his studies, he also learned of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, whom he idolized. He wished to join them in their struggle against the Galactic Empire. Furthermore, he learned of the Galactic Emperor Palpatine as well as his "son" Triclops, though was unaware of the fact that this mutant was in fact his father. At this stage of his life, he learned several Jedi abilities that came to him naturally, such as the power to cloud minds, read the thoughts of others, and move objects by concentration alone. While he studied under DJ-88, Ken was taught to analyze the different types of Omniprobes used by the Rebels and Imperials. Once this task was given, he was given a goal of creating a new Omniprobe that was an improvement over the previous versions and incorporated their qualities into a single superior model.
However, he felt lonely in the city and bored with a life of constant study. In the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, Grand Moff Hissa helped put the slave chief Trioculus into the position of Emperor of the remnants of the Galactic Empire in order to unify the fractured factions. To complete his ascendance to the Imperial throne, Trioculus required the blessings of Kadann, the Supreme Prophet of the Prophets of the Dark Side. Unknown to anyone, this Kadann was aware of the existence of Ken and had made a recent prophecy stating that the Jedi Prince would be a threat to the new, self-proclaimed Emperor Trioculous. This led the mutant slave lord to Yavin 4 in order to destroy this threat. In 5 ABY, Ken in the meantime decided that he wanted to venture into Topworld despite the objections of DJ-88. Once there, he met Luke Skywalker and the Ho'Din Baji. Before they could speak further, DJ-88 arrived and used smoke to conceal the boy and return him to the Lost City. However, Ken had, in his previous attempt at leaving, left behind his datapad which was returned to him by Baji. It was during this time that he met Skywalker again. At this time, Trioculous was burning the forests of Yavin 4 in order to find the Lost City. Working with Skywalker, DJ-88 managed to activate the weather control system and brought about rain to stop the fires. With the crisis over, Ken decided to join the Rebel Alliance alongside Skywalker and was accompanied by Microchip.
Joining the New RepublicEdit
- "You inherited many of your mother’s features, Ken. You have a natural talent for the Jedi arts and skills, like she did. You have her brown hair and her eyes."
- ―DJ-88 to Ken.
After leaving with Skywalker, the self titled Emperor Trioculous attempted to track down the child in order to find the legendary city where he was raised. During this time, Luke Skywalker became curious as to why Trioculus was after Ken who revealed that he knew the reason but that he was unable to tell Skywalker as DJ-88 had sworn him to secrecy. Accompanying Skywalker and Solo, Ken made his way to Cloud City where he met Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian as well as demonstrated his knowledge of history. While on Bespin, he was captured by Zorba Desilijic Tiure who learnt of Trioculus's reward for the capture of Ken. He decided to use this as leverage in capturing Princess Leia Organa in order to punish her for the death of his son Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Thus, he captured Ken and used Avabush spice on him in order to learn of his past where the child revealed his life in the Lost City of the Jedi. During a meeting with a representation of Trioculus, Ken revealed that he knew that Trioculus was not the true son of Palpatine and that Triclops was still alive. While Troculus attempted to bargain for the boy, Ken managed to use the Force to cloud the mind of his guard and escape.
He later journeyed with his guardian Skywalker to Dagobah during a mission to the Rebel installation at Mount Yoda. At this time, he was receiving lessons in self defense from both Luke and Chewbacca. During his time there, the Alliance members learnt of an Imperial CAV on the planet with its markings identifying it belonging to Scardia Station to which Ken demonstrated once more his knowledge of events as it being the home of the Prophets of the Dark Side. Ken was also enrolled into Dagobah Tech for further studies as the location was the base of operations for the Defense Research and Planetary Assistance Center. Initially, Ken did not desire to study further but his guardian Skywalker made sure he continued his classes at Dagobah Tech where the boy excelled in certain fields of study. At the time, the facility was visited by a wounded Duros called Dustini Spa Ronii who required aid for his people to protect them from the cruelty of the Empire. While Ken was to remain behind and continue his studies, he decided to say goodbye to Skywalker on the Millennium Falcon for his mission to Duro. However, Ken got trapped in the ship and ended up, unintentionally, going on the Alliance mission to the planet. Once on Duro, it was revealed that Triclops had been reallocated to the Imperial Reprogramming Institute on the planet where Ken revealed that the being was the "son" of Darth Sidious. Ken later encountered his father, Triclops, for the first time though neither was aware of the fact that they were father and son. Together with Triclops, Ken and his Rebel allies helped rescue a group of Duros archaeologists that were trapped on their world after which they returned to Dagobah.
He later aided in stopping Princess Leia from being married to Trioculus by helping rescuing her and replacing her with Leia Organa II; a Human replica droid. After this incident, he returned to studied at Dagobah Tech and later when it was learnt that Triclops was unintentionally remotely beaming advanced scientific designs from his brain to Imperial probe droids; Ken revealed the presence of an advanced Omniprobe design in the Lost City of the Jedi. He later accompanied Skywalker and his colleagues to Yavin 4 once more in order to consult the Jedi Library in the settlement. After completing this mission, he accompanied Skywalker to Arzid to find a fungus that would disable an Imperial implant in Triclops's head. However, while on the mission, they were captured by Imperials under the command of former Grand Moff Muzzer. He was later taken to Kadann who used avabush as a truth serum to learn the location of the Lost City. Kadann proceeded to reveal to Ken his "true" heritage. At first, Ken was in shock and in despair as he had hoped that he was the child of Obi-Wan Kenobi but learning that he was Darth Sidious' grandson made him feel that he was born of evil and thus unworthy to join the Rebel Alliance. However, Luke Skywalker managed to convince Ken that he could be a force for good and together, they managed to escape the crumbling Lost City as it collapsed due to Kadann's actions which trapped the Supreme Prophet as well as his Imperial minions in the underground city.
Ken later returned to Dagobah in order to confront his father Triclops and reveal to him that he was his son. However, once he arrived at the Alliance base, he discovered that Triclops had left and disappeared into the forests. Before leaving, he had written a letter addressed to Ken where he said that he knew that the boy was his son due to the birth crystal he had worn. In addition, he urged Ken to not listen to comments about the evils that he might have committed and that his heart was good. He asked his son to believe in his mother and if he could not, then to believe in the Force. Ken did not reveal the contents of the letter to anyone, though he promised to Luke that one day he would tell him what was written in it.
Behind the scenesEdit
Ken is the protagonist of the Jedi Prince series. Ken was never identified beyond his given name. When Luke first encountered him and brought up the issue, Ken replied that his droid guardians had not given him a last name.
- The Lost City of the Jedi (First appearance)
- Zorba the Hutt's Revenge
- Mission from Mount Yoda
- Queen of the Empire
- Prophets of the Dark Side
- A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition
- The Essential Guide to Characters
- Star Wars Encyclopedia
- A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Reader's Companion