Jaina's right. No one knows what the future holds.
—Aayla Skywalker
Aayla Skywalker was a Human female Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order. She was the daughter of Jedi Master Gustative Skywalker and Jedi/Senator Padmé Skywalker. Aayla was born in 56 ABY on and raised on her mother and father's homeworld of Naboo and would accompany her mother and father on diplomatic missions. As she grew older she was trained in the ways of the Force by Leia Organa and fought in the Second Galactic Civil War.
Following Padmé and Gustative's deaths in 144 ABY Aayla succeeded her mother as Senator of Naboo during the New Galactic Republic, but this, however, was only temporary as she knew that her true path was that of a Jedi.
She had known fellow Padawan Jaden Korr since she was five and he was four, and was his closest friend. Aayla became the Padawan of her sister, before the latter's death at the hands of Sora Bulq. Aayla then became the second Padawan of Leia Organa. She eventually entered a romantic relationship with Jaden.
Years later, the Sith Lord Darth Caedus attempted to make Aayla his Sith apprentice after Aayla had discovered she had a darker side within the Force.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Childhood[]
Aayla Skywalker was born on Naboo and at the age of two she was discovered by Jedi Knight Leia Organa. Organa sensed Aayla's strong connection to the Force and once her mission on Naboo was complete, she took her with her.
Aayla was raised in the Jedi Temple and was a quiet and solitary girl preferring to spend a lot of her time reading about history. She learned about the Valley of the Dark Lords and about the title of Jedi Sentinel, a title she would later take for herself. Aayla was also a talented student and was trained by Luke as a youngling. When she was sixteen Aayla became Leia's Padawan being the only Padawan Organa ever trained.
Clone Wars[]
Blue Shadow Virus crisis[]
During the crisis with the Blue Shadow Virus, Aayla accompanied Jaden to find Dr Nuvo Vindi's laboratory where Rosh Penin was being held prisoner. The two Padawan's reported back to Kyle and Leia who ordered them to create a distraction by setting off an explosion at one of the entrances allowing the adult Jedi and clones to get into the lab. Jaden used the Force to maneuvre a thermal detonator onto an entrance and blow it up giving their allies time to get into the lab. Aayla and Jaden quickly joined the fight.
At first the mission seemed to be a success since Dr Vindi was arrested and the bombs containing the Blue Shadow Virus were disarmed. However one of Vindi's droids managed to get a missing vial of the Blue Shadow Virus into a bomb and blow it up sending the deadly Virus through the facility. Rosh were safe because he was wearing a protective suit but Jaden, Aayla and the clones were forced to flee to a safe room. At first it seemed they weren't going to make it but Aayla used the Force to hold open the door and everyone got inside. Unfortunately some of the Virus got in through the door before it closed.
While Aayla, Jaden and the clones struggled against the effects of the Virus, Rosh reported that there were still droids in the facility. Jaden pointed out that since they were already infected they might as well try and stop the droids and tried to comfort the others by saying that he believed Kyle and Leia would find a cure.
They destroyed all the droids in the facility but by the time they were done the Virus was beginning to take its toll. Rosh had also been infected because his suit had been breached. Tom was convinced that they were all going to die and when Jaden fainted she caught him. Thinking that this might be her last time with him, Aayla kissed Jaden in front of the clones and Rosh. Jaden briefly regained consciousness after she kissed him but then fainted again. When a medical droid arrived with the cure Rosh was the only person who was still conscious and Aayla had her arm around Jaden while they were unconscious.
Aayla and Jaden felt awkward around each other for a few days and this was noticed by Luke Skywalker. Though he had never had a romantic relationship, Luke's father, Anakin, had and had told Luke about his feelings for Padme, Luke told Jaden that it was not wrong to fall in love and as long as they didn't allow their emotions to control them they could get into a romantic relationship. After his discussion with Luke, Jaden and Aayla shared another brief kiss in a training room.
Personality and traits[]
Aayla Skywalker was a nice person but in the first five years of her life, she was rather shy and solitary and spent most of her time by herself. Most of the other younglings didn't even attempt to interact with her and though they sometimes let her play with them, none of them became friends which sometimes made Aayla feel lonely. During her early years, Aayla would seek the company of adult Jedi if she felt lonely and enjoyed listening to stories that they told him. Though Aayla got on well with older Jedi, and was often content to be by herself, she secretly wanted to have at least one true friend that was around her own age, but didn't know how to get one. Luke told her that unless she tried to interact with people she would never get a friend.
Aayla listened to Luke's advise and was the first youngling in her class who tried to welcome Jaden Korr when he began his training, as she knew how felt about entering a class full of strangers. Jaden was the first true friend Aayla ever made. As she grew older, Aayla started interacting more and became more confident about being among others. Along with Jaden, she even got confident enough to start playing pranks on the Jedi Masters, which she would have never done before she met him. However she could suffer from a certain level of stage fright and disliked talking to or being in front of a large number of people. With Leia's help, Aayla got more confident about speaking to numerous people, though she usually preferred to let others do the talking.
Despite finding difficulty in interacting with others and suffering from nerves, during her first few years at least, Aayla was confident in her lightsaber skills, and rather enjoyed combat, which sometimes exasperated her sister and later Leia. However Aayla didn't like to kill if she could help it and was uncomfortable about Sora Bulq's massacre on Ryloth. Aayla also felt guilty about killing two Talz on Orto Plutonia seeing them as innocent creatures who were merely acting in self-defence. Aayla also showed concern for the life of the Zillo Beast and saved its life on Coruscant by intervening before missiles filled with a lethal gas could kill the creature. She also came up with the idea of using Animal Friendship to calm the Zillo Beast when four fully grown Jedi did not.
In her early years Aayla was curious about life outside the Jedi Temple and was interested about what ordinary people did for a living. She was also quite adventurous, exploring a little during her and Leia's brief landing on Korriban and stumbling upon the Valley of the Dark Lords though she decided not to enter the valley due to the dark presences he sensed there. Her adventurousness was later displayed when she decided to join Kyle Katarn and Leia Organa during their mission to rescue Rosh Penin from the Malevolence II, simply because she felt she hadn't had enough adventure that day.
However despite her Jedi training, Aayla was also shown to have a darker side of her personality. She was known to become enraged if people insulted, threatened, harmed or worst of all, killed, people she cared about. Because of this she got into a brief fight with Lusia Stryfe after the older Youngling bullied Jaden. Aayla was both grief-stricken and furious when Sora Bulq killed her sister, attacking Bulq with all her rage and grief but was nevertheless defeated. Aayla also displayed anger when she encountered Bulq a second time above Polis Massa. Unlike many Jedi, Aayla wasn't very good at letting go of people she cared about. her sister's death made Aayla more aware of her friends mortality and therefore she tried her best not to let any of them die. This was part of the reason why she didn't want to leave the safe room during the crisis with the Blue Shadow Virus; although this could be perceived as selfishness she was not only concerned for herself but also for Jaden and for the clones who were in the safe room.
Aayla was capable of feeling hatred and often ignored the Jedi Code when she was enraged or upset. After the death of her sister, Aayla developed a hatred for Sora Bulq and even after Obi-Wan helped hier recover from her sister's death she was unable to fully let go of her grudge against Bulq. She also grew to hate Cad Bane after the latter tortured her and nearly killed Jaden. In Aayla's opinion people should be allowed to let out their emotions rather than bottle them up. Unfortunately, even when she did let out her emotions Aayla often had trouble letting go of them.
Despite her Jedi training, Aayla had a habit of forming attachments, though it should be noted that this trait was linked to her natural talent for forming Force Bonds. Though she wasn't very good at making friends, she cared a great deal about the few friends she had. Her loyalty to people she cared about allowed her to form Force Bonds more quickly than most Force users. Aayla was sceptical about the Jedi's rule of not forming attachments, feeling that the Jedi Masters were acting as though they didn't want Jedi to make friends. Aayla also disliked the word "duty" feeling that duty was a way of losing free will. Despite her doubts about the Order and the fact that she often ignored the Jedi Code, Aayla thought of the Jedi as her family; a family with too many rules and restrictions but a family nevertheless.
Aayla also had a habit of using bad language at times. However she rarely used it in front of Jedi Masters or Knights, though she would say "damn" in front of them at times. Strangely she didn't mind swearing with her voice, but she didn't like swearing with her fingers. Therefore she altered the Niman opening stance slightly since the traditional stance made her feel like she was swearing.
Relationships[]
Jaden Korr[]
Aayla Skywalker had a very close friendship with Jaden Korr and over time she developed romantic feelings for him. Aayla and Jaden became friends very quickly despite the fact that, before they met, Aayla was rather solitary. Aayla was kind to him when they first met and helped him with his training and he felt that he owed her his friendship in return. Despite the fact that they had both been shy during their first few years, Aayla and Jaden both became far more confident as time went on, partially because of their friendship and partially because they were both among the most talented Younglings in the Jedi Order.
Jaden and Aayla were virtually inseparable until Aayla became a Padawan and did almost everything together. Aayla was a bit more cautious about the pranks they played on the Masters but usually went along with them and sometimes she and Jaden got told off for playing them. They were also known to tease each other from time to time. Aayla missed Jaden when she was a Padawan and though she was very fond of her Master she wished she had more time to be with Jaden. She was delighted when she discovered that Jaden was going with her to Christophsis, so delighted that she temporarily forgot about her sister's death though it would return to haunt her later.
Aayla's feelings for Jaden grew stronger as the Clone Wars progressed and during the crisis with the Blue Shadow Virus they shared their first kiss, although Jaden was unconscious at the time. After the kiss they had a brief period of awkwardness but with the help of Luke Skywalker they came to terms with their feelings and allowed themselves to enter a romantic relationship with one another. Their first kiss where both of them were conscious was in a deserted training room.
Powers and abilities[]
Lightsaber training[]
Though Aayla was peaceful by nature she was a talented swordswoman. Aayla was a master of Soresu and was one of the few Jedi to survive the battle of Geonosis. She helped her Padawan increase his skill in Soresu and if not for her training Aayla would have been killed during the battle of Geonosis. Aayla was also able to hold her own against Sora Bulq who was one of the greatest swordsmen of the time. However although her sister was skilled enough to hold off Bulq for a few minutes the Dark Acolyte eventually overwhelmed her sister, stabbing her sister in the chest. From training under Leia Organa, Aayla became skilled at Shii-Cho, using it in her duel with Bulq and during several sparring matches with her Padawan.
Aayla also learned the Lus-ma technique from Leia Organa which she taught to her own Padawan, Ahsoka Naberrie.
Force powers[]
In addition to her considerable lightsaber combat skills, Aayla was a skilled healer having studied healing since her promotion to Jedi Knight. She even used this ability on enemies at times as displayed on Ryloth where she successfully healed the majority of the criminals that hadn't been killed by Sora Bulq. However she was unable to heal her sister after she was fatally wounded by Bulq, though she did manage to keep her sister alive long enough for to say goodbye to her by using the Force to keep her sister's heart pumping, even though it had been burned by Bulq's lightsaber.
Aayla was also a master of Jedi Mind Tricks and used this ability to try and settle things peacefully rather than engaging in combat. She was also able to use Floating Meditation, which she offered to teach to Ahsoka but because Ahsoka disliked meditation she refused.
Other abilities[]
During her and Ahsoka's brief landing on Korriban, Aayla displayed her skills as a mechanic managing to get their ship working again after the hyperdrive malfunctioned. It has also been confirmed that Leia Organa taught her to pilot a spacecraft but the extent of her flying skills are unknown.