Jaina Solo is the Sword of the Jedi, but what does that mean? Like a Guardian, she fights for the Light? Like a Sentinnel, she hunts the servants of darkness? Like an Assassin, she takes the fall so nobody else has to, when it comes to the darkest deeds for good intentions? Restless and never knowing peace as Luke prophecised? Ever fighting on, so others do not have to? No! Jaina Solo is many things, and even if her path lead her down the above mentioned road, that is not what it means to be the Sword of the Jedi. The vision of Luke is a dark promise should they fail, a fate to be avoided, not welcomed. A vision that is befitting her current role and a warning if she continues that path, not her fate. Jaina Solo is a soldier ever since she joined the military to be a pilot, after being a Jedi on the side. A Jedi that had her own dark journey already and came back out of it stronger. A Jedi that kept defending others, against Vong, Pirates, Chiss and Sith and more. Before she was a soldier, she was something else. She was a mechanic, she figured out how things work and repaired them. She built new things from old. She was not keen to get a lightsaber like her brother. Not distracted by philosophical debates or fearful of visions like her brothers. Jaina Solo stopped being a soldier when she came out of her dark journey. After that, she integrated her Jedi self more despite fighting on. She became a Goddess, a symbol, a Trickster, a clever tactician and solutionist. Like a mechanic, she took situations apart and made them work for her and the Force. She did the same to Tahiri when helping her cope and settle with Riina Kwaad. She helped Tenel Ka to realize her own role and step up to the royal power she had refused all her life that was offered to Jaina. The Sword of the Jedi is not a weapon. It is a tool sometimes, but it can cut or block when it needs to. Never wielded lightly, only drawn when absolutely neccessary and all other options are exeeded, she is a Sword of the Jedi not in the sense of a weapon, but a lightsaber. And lightsabers are symbols, tools, only weapons if a Jedi fails to avoid conflict. Failure, huh? That is something Jaina Solo can't do. It literally is in her name. Jaina etymologically means victor, winner, success. So if that success is not fighting but the opposite of it, reaching peace and harmony and balance, then Jaina is a true Sword of the Jedi, when she does not fight. Restless as she constantly is thrown into situations requiring a sword... not a blade. A sword for the worst case, yet one not drawn and settling conflicts in mediation if possible. So no wonder Jaina mediated with Hutts and Slave Races uprising a new treaty and peace freeing the slaves as her grandfather and his mother had dreamed of a Chosen One would. But Jaina Solo has more roles to fulfill. Jaina 's Legacy ties back to where it all began. Back to Shmi, Qui Gon Jinn and Mace Windu! SW has a tradition and line of female names of sanskrit origin, from (Lak)shmi via Padmé to Jaina. Strong women with meaning and interesting etymologies. The term "Jain" is derived from the Sanskrit word "Jina" means conqueror of senses. It shows the victory of a person from the cycle of birth and death. Thus Jaina Solo is not a warrior, but a spiritual conqueror victorious to break the cycle and reach harmony in balance. Jaina refers to someone who is an adherent of Jainism, a system of Indian philosophy. The term is Sanskrit for “overcomer.” Like Hinduism and Buddhism, Jainism is a yogic tradition. All three believe in the idea of liberation from the life-death cycle, albeit in different ways. Overcomer is a much better translation! Indian (mainly Rajasthan and Gujarat): Jain is the name from Sanskrit jaina 'derived from Jina' or 'follower of Jina'. Jina meaning 'triumphant' is an epithet for a saint of the Jain religion. So... if Jaina follows Jina... who is Jina? The universal principles of Jainism are Ahimsa (non-injury) Satyam (truthfulness) Asteya (non-stealing) Brahmacharya (celibacy) Aparigraha (non-covetousness). Sounds like basic Jedi tenets indeed. But still, who is Jina? A Jina also was translated as a teacher of herterodox teachings.. aka teachings that deviate from the established mainstream order. The “Jains” are the followers of the Jinas. “Jina” literally means “Conqueror.” He who has conquered love and hate, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, and has thereby freed `his' soul from the karmas obscuring knowledge, perception, truth, and ability, is a Jina. The Jains refer to the Jina as God. Aha! So the Jaina follows and revers a Jina. One who overcame all that, aka attachements, and transcended death. Now that sounds much more familiar! Qui Gon Jinn.. the first to do that Moviesaga-wise! While Jinn is a callback to the arabic Djinn, too, the different spelling of Jinn is too remniscient of Jina to not be tied into that as well! So we learned that the Sword of the Jedi is not a Warrior role, merely if it fails to avoid that. And that Jaina as per name and connection, is in the tradition of Qui Gon Jinn. A defender of peace and justice, a mediator at peace and if needed, a conqueror at war. Like her ancestory, Shmi and Padmé, she will be a Mother Goddess and give birth to the future. Qui Gon always challenged the Jedi while never being disloyal or shismatic. Many view him as rolemodel Jedi in a time where the Order lost its way and failed in dogma after the High Republic. Jaina, too, challenges Luke's order and ultimately will play a part in the Imperial Knights emergence possibly. Jaina will, in a time, where Luke's Jedi go to war with the One Sith and else, do the unthinkable to many, step back, become a mother, pass the torch, find peace herself. A new rolemodel for a new age. And, last but not least, Jaina wielding a purple lightsaber like Mace Windu, a good friend of Qui Gon, despite not always agreeing on everything, Jaina kinda is a bridge between both, heir to both. Mace Windu's grandmaster-esque keeping up traditions and Qui Gon's challenging them. Mace Windu's dabbling with the dark arts like in vaapad and Qui Gon's adherence to and ascension into the light. Mace and Qui Gon are like two sides of the same coin. Qui Gon feels instinctively and lets the Force guide him, Mace sees shatterpoints and knows where to strike or act to influence things much like Jaina's mechanic side. PS: Fun sidenote: Jaina in a mexican slang a word for "chick" or "girlfriend" lol... now that is all the etymology Jagged Fel needs!
I don't think any etymological connection was intended between Jaina's name and her title given in the NJO. Jaina's role is explicitly a warrior, a guardian, a "burning brand" and "brilliant fire". She isn't intended for quiet contemplation or diplomacy, her role is to vanquish the enemies of the order, to defend her friends and those she loves. You can sort of tie her victory over Jacen to a "victor" archetype, but this is more by coincidence than any planning on the writers' part. The ending in FOTJ where Denning elaborates on how she overcame the darkness also TBH feels tacked on, given Jaina wasn't really ever the central Solo child. The title itself "The Sword of the Jedi" has indisputably martial connotations. Jaina isn't a "weapon" in the sense she is depersonalized, but Luke explicitly says she will not know peace, or safety. A sword is useless in its scabbard. We do sort of see this-Jaina when not fighting tends to be listless and distracted(again that's partly the writer's fault but it does line up).
Walter Jon Williams said he made Jaina “Sword of the Jedi” in Destiny’s Way without a plan, but just because he felt the character was getting neglected and wanted to give her something that future authors could flesh out. It was just a stroke of inspiration. And Jaina was simply Jaina for years before she became the Sword of the Jedi. Also, even after Destiny’s Way, this line was mostly forgotten until they suddenly decided to change direction in ending LOTF with Jaina killing him.
Indeed, it is actually a relatively pleasant coincidence it lines up with LOTF(even the Vong twin stuff). But again all by coincidence. Does Jaina even really take ownership of the title after DW? I don't recall her ever thinking or saying "I am the sword of the jedi". I don't recall any real instance where Jaina is ever written to take ownership of the title. Maybe she does in FOTJ?
I think something comes up about it, but not much. It wasn't an "official" title, anyways. Luke has a random foretelling/prophecy moment happen in the middle of (re-)knighting her, along with others of the generation. "I name you the Sword of the Jedi. You are like tempered steel, purposeful and razor-keen. Always you shall be in the front rank, a burning brand to your enemies, a brilliant fire to your friends. Yours is a restless life, and never shall you know peace, though you shall be blessed for the peace that you bring to others. Take comfort in the fact that, though you stand tall and alone, others take shelter in the shadow that you cast." Imagine your uncle, during your graduation ceremony, declaring to everyone that you will never know peace and you'll be alone... but you'll help others! The kind of things that could do to a teenager's psyche, even if their uncle didn't have genuine psychic abilities.
I understood this to be basically Luke communing with the force and thus receiving this information. It’s even stated IIRC that these weren’t Luke’s words or they didn’t come from Luke IIRC. Even so, I don’t recall recall Jaina ever actually feeling burdened or even frightened by the title, she just never thinks of it, or if she does, at least I don’t remember it.
