Sola was a female Green Martian from Thark. She is the daughter of Gozava and Jeddak Tars Tarkas.
Biography[]
Barsoom[]
A Princess of Mars[]
Birth and Early Years[]
Sola was the daughter of Tars Tarkas and Gozava. When Sola's parents met, her mother was lonely outcast and her father, a guard positioned outside the city. Gradually they began to meet more often. Soon, both of the Tharks were in love. For six years they kept their relationship hidden. Gozava gave birth to Sola's egg and hid it on top of an abandoned building. After Sola hatched, her mother visited every night. She taught Sola the customs and language of the Tharks. Gozava also told Sola of her father, Tars Tarkas.
One night an elderly woman named Sarkoja overheard Gozava. Upon hearing about the crimes that Sola's parents had committed, she reported Gozava to the Thark leader, Tal Hajus. Sola was able to escape by blending in with the other children, but her mother was captured. Gozava was brutally tortured for the name of her spouse, but didn't revealed it. Sola never told Tars Tarkas that she was his daughter, for fear of his safety.
Time with John Carter[]
When the Earthman John Carter arrived on Mars and was taken in by the Tharks, Sola was assigned to instruct him in the ways of Thark. Carter resented her at first, thinking that she was just another captor, but she treated him kindly and soon he became fond of her. When Dejah Thoris was captured by the Tharks, Sola befriended her and helped her and Carter to escape.
Personality[]
Unlike all other Green Martians, Sola is capable of kindness and compassion. John Carter speculates that this is due to having known the love of her parents early in life. She tolerates the cruelty of Sarkoja, who considers her to be a disgusting atavism, a throwback to the weaknesses of human emotions which the Green Martians have largely discarded.
She personally cares for John Carter, sitting watch over him in the night, placing furs on him when the temperature drops. She also tends to his wounds after he fights the white apes.
Relationships[]
Sola is the only Green Martian to be acknowledged by her surviving parent, Tars Tarkas. The relationship has clearly come to mean a great deal to both father and daughter with unknown but possibly considerable impact on Thark customs given their position as Jeddak and "princess".
Sola is a devoted friend and companion of Dejah Thoris and chooses to accompany her on the final pilgrimage to Dor. Like Dejah Thoris she is kidnapped by Black Martians but is thrown overboard by her captors surviving by sheer luck.
Alternate versions[]
Dynamite Comics[]
In Dynamite's Warlord of Mars comic book miniseries, Sola first meets her father after he and another warrior, Tarkas, rescue her and several other green martians from white apes. The future jeddak, then a mere o-mad, prevented Tarkas from killing Sola for cowardice, and as a result, was forced to battle the elder warrior, who was goaded into demanding satisfaction by Sarkoja, his concubine. Tarkas was slain in battle, and thus Tars took his name and his retinue.
2012 film[]
Sola is portrayed by Samantha Morton in John Carter (2012). Her mother is not Gozava, like in the books, but a different (non-canon) Thark named Loas.