Valin Horn

Valin of the Horn family was named for his paternal grandfather Valin Halcyon, was born about four years after Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic. He was musically inclined and could often be found playing his chordokeylo. A Force-sensitive, he eventually attended Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 to train as a Jedi Knight.

Horn developed skills similar to those of Jacen Solo, particularly his affinity with animals. Around the age of eleven, he found he could communicate with animals through the Force. However, like his father and grandfather before him, he was weak in the art of telekinesis. In one instance, since Valin could not lift a stone using telekinesis, he instead used the Force to persuade small insects called garnants to move a stone for him by convincing them it was food. His father saw the stone move and thought Valin had used telekinesis until the younger Horn explained his method. He brought food for the garnants and left it for them before leaving, keeping his promise of food for them.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Horn was trapped on Yavin 4 with the other Praxeum students when the Peace Brigade blockaded the system. Fortunately, Horn, Sannah and Kam Solusar managed to survive long enough to escape during Anakin Solo's risky mission to save the trapped Jedi. Horn then spent some time training with the remaining Jedi initiates onboard his maternal grandfather Booster Terrik's ship Errant Venture.

After the Battle of Coruscant, he and the other Jedi children were sent to the Maw for safety for the remainder of the war. At the end of the conflict, Horn traveled to Zonama Sekot for Grand Master Skywalker's meeting with the surviving Jedi.

By the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, Horn was performing missions for the Jedi Order, and from his age he would be presumed to have reached the rank of Jedi Knight. As conflict developed against his ancestral homeworld Corellia, Grand Master Luke Skywalker ensured that his duties kept him well away from anywhere that his loyalties might be tested.

During a mission in the underlevels of Coruscant, accompanied by Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, fellow Jedi Knights Thann Mithric and Kolir Hu'lya, and Jedi apprentice Seha Dorvald, Horn and the group came into confrontation with Jacen Solo. During the ensuing battle, Katarn was severely wounded after being stabbed in the chest by Solo, forcing Horn and Dorvald to remove him from the fight which culminated in the death of Mithric.

Horn later participated in the operation to destroy Centerpoint Station, disguising himself as a Galactic Alliance Guard trooper alongside fellow Jedi, including Kyp Durron and Jaden Korr.

In 43.5 ABY, Valin Horn was suddenly possessed with an enigmatic madness that caused him to believe that everyone he knew had been replaced by impostors. His psychosis making him believe they were impostors, he attacked his own parents, but was captured by them and taken to the Jedi Temple to be evaluated. He broke free, however, and became a fugitive of the Galactic Alliance, making Chief of State Natasi Daala even more distrustful towards the Jedi. After a long manhunt, he was caught by Luke Skywalker and placed in the Mon Mothma Memorial Medical Center, and later moved back to the Asylum Block.

Eventually, Daala released a warrant for Horn, and he was arrested by Galactic Alliance Security forces under Captain Oric Harfard, and put on trial. He was found incapable of standing trial, but too dangerous to be kept in a conventional prison, so he was encased in carbonite and placed in the Armand Isard Correctional Facility. A rescue attempt to free Horn was made by rogue Jedi Seff Hellin, who was suffering from the same disease, believing that Horn was the only one he knew that wasn't replaced by an imposter. It was unsuccessful, however, and resulted in Hellin's capture by Darkmeld, a covert organization formed by Jedi Knight Jaina Solo to counter Daala's efforts to undermine the Jedi Order.

At some point following the failed rescue attempt, Valin was transferred, along with his sister to the Palem Graser Office Tower, a secret GAS safehouse under the command of Colonel Wruq Retk and operating under the guise of Galactic Alliance Storage. The Jedi Order obtained a writ granting them visitation rights to the siblings, along with an incarceration order providing their location. After a brief attempt to turn away the visitation group, which included Corran and Mirax Horn, the GAS officers directed the Jedi to the siblings' location. The Jedi, and the many HoloNet Reporters that had rushed in as well, were abhorred to learn that Valin and Jysella were being hung as decoration in the executive offices. When Colonel Retk entered the room, he engaged in a short conversation with Mirax Horn before she knocked the Yaka unconscious. The entire incident was an embarrassment to the GA Government, with Daala promising to ensure that the carbonite frozen siblings would be treated with dignity. After being freed from his carbonite prison, Valin and his sister were still inflicted with the Force psychosis. He was able to conceal his condition, being more in control of his emotions and suspicions than he was previously.

In his youth, Valin Horn was a follower and wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be a Jedi as powerful as Anakin Solo, which got him and a few other young Jedi into a lot of trouble when Solo came to Yavin 4 to rescue Tahiri Veila.

Like his father, he was lacking in telekinesis, but he made up for it with his affinity with animals. At one point his father Corran Horn said he was proud of him when he thought Valin had "lifted" a rock a minuscule height off the ground. In actuality Valin had made a nest of garnants think the rock was food. A few seconds later Ganner Rhysode showed up and implied that all Valin would be was a failure, and Valin made the garnants think he was food. In a way, Valin had made Rhysode eat his words. He once again manipulated insect life when he was being held for observation in the Jedi Temple after he exhibited traits of a mysterious illness. He successfully called the bugs to him through the Force and had them chew through the restraints on his medical bed in order to escape.

As a man, as reflected upon by his sister Jysella, Valin was level-headed and easy going. She also described him as gentle. The Solos commented that both Valin and Jysella were well liked within the Jedi community.

• "Who's Who in the New Jedi Order" — Star Wars Insider 57
• The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• The Official Star Wars Fact File90
• Fate of the Jedi: Dramatis Personae
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• "Blaster" — Star Wars Insider 109