Isolder

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Hapes

• Species:
  Human (Hapan)

• Gender:
  Male

• Size:
  1.88 meters

• Vehicle:
  Storm

• Affiliation:
  Hapes Consortium

• 

From the Expanded Universe

Despite thinking of himself as a bold man of action, Prince Isolder has been the subject of maternal manipulation for more of his life than he'd care to admit. He was the Chume'da -- or heir prince -- to the throne of Hapes, an isolated area of space filled with riches. Isolder was the second son of Queen Mother Ta'a Chume. His older brother, Kalan, was destined for the throne. Isolder grew up in a world of luxury. His life was so full of opportunity that he was never jealous of his brother. As an adolescent, Isolder honed his physical skills and acrobatic abilities. He entered Hapan pilot training at age 11 and by 15, had graduated as a flight officer, the youngest ever in Hapan history.

When Isolder was 19, he suffered tragedy. His brother Kalan was kidnapped near the Terephon system. Instead of being offered for ransom, Kalan was murdered. Such violence hinted at political motives, and Isolder suspected his aunt Seccah behind the attack. To further investigate the matter, Isolder disappeared. He posed as a privateer for two years, exploring the underworld of the Hapes Cluster in search of his brother's murderer.

Despite his grim mission, Isolder found that he enjoyed his time in the fringe. He discovered that his adventures took him beyond his mother's realm and he relished this newfound taste of independence. With the help of the privateer Astarta, Isolder was able to track down the murderer, the Pirate King Captain Harravan. Isolder bested Harravan, and brought him back to Hapes in chains. Before he could interrogate Harravan, though, the pirate was mysteriously murdered in prison.

The Queen Mother was impressed by Isolder's tenacity, and wanted him to become the Chume'da. She disapproved of his first love, however, and a short time later, Lady Elliar -- Isolder's sweetheart -- was found drowned in the palace garden's reflecting pool. These tragedies only served to make Isolder stronger, and while he concentrated on becoming a stronger leader, he never dwelled on the possibility that Ta'a Chume was actually behind the deaths to fit her own agenda.

A chance encounter caused Princess Leia Organa to catch Isolder's eye. Approximately four years after the Battle of Endor, Leia served as a diplomat for the struggling New Republic. The growing galactic government was seeking new worlds to enter into its fold, and had sought contact with the Hapes Consortium. Isolder was instantly smitten by the beautiful Alderaanian princess, and surprisingly, Queen Mother Ta'a Chume approved of a possible union between Hapes and the New Republic through marriage.

Prince Isolder proposed to Princess Leia in the largest possible way. At a reception on Coruscant, the Hapan delegation presented Organa with 63 gifts from their 63 worlds, some extremely rare and unimaginably valuable. The very last gift was Prince Isolder's hand in marriage. Many politicians in the New Republic government were pressuring Leia to accept -- an alliance with the Hapes Consortium was exactly what the fledgling New Republic needed.

Politics or no politics, Han Solo would have nothing to do with it. He was the one in love with Princess Leia, and he was certain that Leia reciprocated the feelings in kind, though their relationship was rockier than a Hoth asteroid belt at times. Unable to compete with the endless riches or political clout of a Hapan prince, Solo improvised in typical Solo fashion. He set out to win Leia a planet... in a sabacc game. One high-stakes game later, Han found himself the proud owner of Dathomir, and absconded with Leia to their new world to profess his love to her.

As usual, the Solo knack for improvisation left much to be desired. The world he won was a condemned world filled with dark side-wielding witches and an Imperial garrison. While Han tried to smooth things over with Leia, Prince Isolder sought to regain Leia's hand. He teamed with Luke Skywalker to find Solo and the Princess, and the two came to Dathomir.

The Hapan culture and the Dathomirian witches had much in common, as both were strong matriarchies where men were second-class citizens. When Isolder met the Dathomirian witch Teneniel Djo, he found a strong attraction that eventually blossomed into love. He eventually declared his intentions to make Teneniel Djo the next Queen Mother. Upon returning from Dathomir, Isolder finally confronted his mother and accused her of being behind the deaths of Kalan and Lady Elliar. Ta'a Chume accepted Isolder's fiancée, and stepped down from her role as Queen Mother, handing that mantle to Teneniel Djo.

Isolder and Teneniel soon had a daughter, Tenel Ka. They raised the young girl with the proudest traditions of both cultures, Hapan and Dathomiri. She proved to be strong in the Force, and when Tenel Ka reached her early teens, her parents sent her to Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy on Yavin 4. Though Teneniel wished for her daughter to choose her own path in life, Isolder was grooming her to be the next Queen Mother.

During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the New Republic appealed to the Hapes Consortium for military aid. Though Isolder wanted to lend Hapan support, others in the consortium weren't so willing. Archon Beed Thane of Vergill was particularly opposed, and theatrically insulted Leia Organa Solo in order to provoke an honor duel from Isolder. Should Isolder lose, the Hapans would remain neutral in the conflict. Isolder won, however, and the Hapans committed their naval forces to join with the New Republic in a massive strike against the Yuuzhan Vong at Fondor.

Fondor proved to be a disaster. A misfiring of the Corellian Centerpoint Station superweapon decimated the Hapan fleet. Isolder survived, and retreated back to Hapes. The tragic loss was compounded when Isolder discovered that his wife, Teneniel, had miscarried when the Force disturbance caused by the Fondor disaster reached her.

Though she was no longer Queen Mother, Ta'a Chume continued to conspire against her son. She feared for Hapes, for though it had been spared from the initial Yuuzhan Vong invasion route, the worlds of the Consortium were becoming an increasingly tempting target for the brutal aliens. She felt that Hapes needed a more military-minded Queen Mother, so she arranged for Teneniel Djo's death. She next tried to cause Prince Isolder and Jaina Solo to wed, but her plan failed.

Grieving the loss of his beloved wife, Isolder discovered his mother's treachery and had her imprisoned. His daughter, Tenel Ka, became the new Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium.

Behind the Scenes

Prince Isolder was created for The Courtship of Princess Leia, a 1994 hardcover novel by Dave Wolverton published by Bantam Spectra. His daughter, Tenel Ka, figured prominently in the Young Jedi Knights series of novels by Boulevard / Berkley Books. Isolder recently returned in The New Jedi Order series of novels, particularly Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno and Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham. The escapades of his earlier years were detailed in the roleplaying supplement, Cracken's Threat Dossier.