Tenel Ka Djo
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| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Tenel Ka Djo |
| Occupation: | Jedi Knight |
| Relationships: | lover of Jacen Solo, mother of Allana Solo |
| Fandom: | Star Wars, former Star Wars Expanded Universe aka Star Wars Legends |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Tenel Ka Djo is a major character, and one of the main protagonists, in the Young Jedi Knights series of Star Wars Expanded Universe tie-in novels by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.
Fan Reactions
I am so here for this emphasis on just how much bigger than Jacen Tenel Ka is and more muscular; that she takes up so much more space etc. I also love the gruff way she’s sees to the babe’s needs. “Here, eat this.” Basically, their dynamic is heavy-handedly reversing tropes and it’s lovely.Actually, YJK (at least the six books I’ve read) does a lot of ham-fisted trope reversal. It’s not particularly subtle or eloquent about it–the mechanical parts are for the girl, the flowers are for the boy, DUH–but there’s definitely a place for that. Not everything needs to be a poetic deconstruction; sometimes it’s fine to just flat say, “gender norms are silly.”
Tenel Ka is also just great wish fulfillment. Strong in the Force, self-sufficient, physically imposing, secret princess and heir to a huge star system choosing to live as a humble Jedi. I love everything about Tenel Ka that might be considered over-powered or “too perfect.” Girls deserve lovely over-the-top power fantasies too, after all.[1]
Everything about Tenel Ka just added to the growing list of reasons why she had ended up being my favorite character in the Star Wars Universe (slightly edging out past Jacen because of his dumbshit fall to the Dark Side). She was resourceful, she kept her emotions well in check and she was strong. She was also a princess who hid that fact from her best pals because she didn’t want it clouding the way anyone acted towards her. As she got older, a ton of shit happened in her life: Jacen cut off her arm in a lightsaber training accident and she refused a prosthetic, best pals found out she was royalty, she became a Jedi, she became a Queen Mother of 63 planets and then she had a baby with her favorite arm-slasher, among other things. She was pretty badass during all this too. And by pretty badass I mean super badass, okay I can’t hide my love.[2]
Selected Fanworks
- 20 YEARS AGO TODAY this magic shit came out by hexterah - Tenel Ka appreciation post