In Hebrew, Mara means "bitter", which pretty much suits her personality in the earlier Star Wars books. She is a strong woman of many talents. She has fiery red hair, deep green eyes, and the figure of a dancer.
Mara is not in any of the Star Wars movies. She was introduced in Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, an Expanded Universe author. Emperor Palpatine took her from her parents when she was an infant. He trained her (to some degree) to use her strength in the Force, and used her as his personal Hand. When Palpatine began to worry about the threat of Luke Skywalker, Mara was sent to infiltrate Jabba's Palace to await him. But she failed because Jabba wouldn't allow her to come to the execution.
Mara saw scenes from the Emperer's death through the Force. Vader and Skywalker were there, and it seemed that they both killed Palpatine together. Her hatred for Skywalker burned deep within her, and she vowed to destroy the Jedi.
When Luke Skywalker came to Myrkr, where Mara had come to live and work for Talon Karrde, she longed to kill him, but restrained because of some unknown emotion building inside of her. Skywalker escaped the planet, aided reluctently by Mara and Karrde.
Skywalker came to understand that it wasn't truly her who desired to kill him, but Palpatine, who's voice Mara could somehow hear in her head anywhere in the galaxy, even after he was long dead.
Over the years, Mara and Luke would have to work together in many important situations, as the Galactic Civil War waged on. Upon killing clone Luuke Skywalker, Mara finally silenced the voice. On their mission to investigate the Hand of Thrawn, the two would realize what a perfect match they were. They married on Coruscant, soon after the signing of the peace treaty with the Empire. Mara would later continue her training in the Force and become a Jedi Master, strong in the Force. She took on young Jedi Jiana Solo as her apprentice, helping to bring her to a more skilled understanding of the Force.
Mara lost her first space ship, a craft known as the Jade's Fire when she used a [[beckon call] to direct it straight into a Chiss fortress. She later possessed two other ships, the Jade Sabre and the Jade Shadow.
In the Star Wars New Jedi Order books, Mara and Luke (along with the other characters in the Star Wars universe) fight together against a new threat, the Yuuzhan Vong, who infected Mara with a dangerous and deadly disease. Through the use Force she cleaned her body, keeping the disease at bay, Jedi Vergere's tears helping. Despite her worries, she found she was pregnant. She carried the baby to term, and nearly died when giving birth. The bond she and her family shared bolstered her abilities with the Force, and it healed her.
They named their son Ben, after Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.