Who Is Jacen Syndulla in Star Wars: Ahsoka?
As more Ahsoka episodes come out, we keep getting more live-action glimpses of characters first seen in the animated Star Wars: Rebels. The latest example of this is Jacen Syndulla, a character who appeared only briefly in the original animated series but looks to play a much larger role in Ahsoka. If you’re ready to learn more about this son of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus, we’ve got more info than you could fit inside the Millennium Falcon.
Jacen is the son of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus
Who, then, is Jacen Syndulla? As we noted above, he is the son of the Twi’lek pilot Rebel general Hera Syndulla and the Jedi warrior Kanan Jarrus. These adult characters always had a very strong chemistry together, and their friendship eventually turned romantic.
There is something tragic about Jacen Syndulla, though, because Kanan died before his son was born. In the typical Jedi fashion, Kanan died saving many lives, but this was a cold comfort to Hera. After all, she was going to be stuck raising the child on her own rather than raising him with the man that she loves, and it is highly implied at the end of Rebels that Kanan didn’t even know Hera was pregnant when he died.
In the third episode of the Ahsoka show, we finally get to see Jacen Syndulla in the live-action flesh. In his brief appearance, he casually refers to Sabine Wren as “Aunt Sabine,” implying that Hera has retained a very close relationship with Sabine in the preceding years. This is likely one of the reasons that Hera encourages Ahsoka and Sabine to make up: since she is still very close with Sabine, Hera wants Ahsoka (one of her other very close friends) to have a copacetic relationship with Sabine.
Jacen Wants To Become A Jedi
Unfortunately, it looks like Hera’s close relationship with Sabine may inadvertently cause her some grief when it comes to her relationship with Jacen Syndulla. When the young man discovers that Ahsoka has resumed Sabine’s Jedi training, Jacen tells his mother that he would like to train and eventually become a Jedi. At this declaration, we see Hera look very pained, and that’s no concern: the path of the Jedi ultimately killed her boyfriend and caused Ezra to be lost in the depths of space, and Hera is understandably concerned that her son may suffer a similar fate.
Since Jacen Syndulla’s live-action appearances have been limited (so far, at least), most of what we know about his personality and abilities comes from the very end of Rebels. We discover that he inherited his mother’s fierce piloting skills, with Sabine commenting that he was born to fly. He also developed a fun relationship with everybody’s favorite murder droid, Chopper, and we’d definitely like to see these two get up to more misadventures in Ahsoka.
The Dark Side Of The Force And Jacen Syndulla
While it is only speculation, some fans think (mostly because of the similar first name) that Jacen Syndulla may follow in the dark path of a character found only in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (which is no longer canonical): Jacen Solo. That character was the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, and he eventually became a Dark Side threat to the entire galaxy. While Jacen Syndulla could follow in that path (especially if he begins his training too old under Ahsoka, who isn’t actually a Jedi), we doubt this will happen because we already have a Jacen Solo analog in Star Wars, and his name is Kylo Ren.
Ultimately, we’re looking at Jacen Syndulla like Senator Palpatine looked at young Anakin Skywalker: someone whose career we will follow this great interest. He might end up being nothing more than a small cameo character, but he could also end up being the next Big Bad threatening that galaxy far, far away. And unless you experience your own Force visions, the only way to discover the answer is to tune in to new episodes of Ahsoka on Disney+ each week.
