Welcome back true believers (thanks
Uncle Stan)! Are you ready for some more
Star Wars excitement? You damn well better! Anyway, in the
last blog I "briefly" summarized (to the best of my ability) the plot and relevant points in the first
Knights of the Old Republic. In this blog I will divulge the incredible story of
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Quick note before we begin... KOTOR II was developed by
Obsidian Entertainment (not
Bioware). Apparently the publisher,
LucasArts, started to think that the development time on the project was taking too long and forced Obsidian to hasten their efforts. This resulted in roughly 1/3 of the content being flat out cut from the final game due to time restraints, not only leading to some untied plot threads but also to major glitches and bugs. Despite being heavily critiqued for this, KOTOR II is still considered by most
RPG (role playing game) gamers to be an incredible experience that is well worth the time. So much for a quick note... lets us begin!
The story of
Knights of the Old Republic II focuses on the
Jedi Exile,
Revan's main general during the
Mandalorian Wars. The Jedi Exile is referred to as such because "she" was a player generated character and therefore could be subject to any name the player chose. Revan has the luxury of having an identity proceeding the events of the game and he refers to himself as whatever the player chooses during his time as a brainwashed servant of the
Republic. Told you I would explain that... didn't think it would take until two blogs later though... my bad.
Anyway, the events of the game take place roughly five years after the events of the first where Revan has left his friends behind to pursue "something" in the
Unknown Regions. He leaves everything, including his ship the
Ebon Hawk behind. Unfortunately I will not have the luxury of going into why until the next blog.
So... the Exile... After the Mandalorian Wars the Jedi Exile returns to the
Jedi Council on
Coruscant to answer for the crimes she and the rest of
Revan's Jedi committed. The council explained that she had gone against the teachings of the
Jedi and that she could no longer be trusted with her power over the
Force. With that said the council severs her connection to the Force and banishes her from the Order... at least that is what she is lead to believe.
Fast forward six years late
r, to 3951 BBY, the Jedi Order is for all intents and purposes destroyed. The
Sith Lord,
Darth Nihilus learns how to use his strange abilities to literally devour the Force, enabling him to destroy entire worlds. Nihilus and his protege,
Darth Sion, unify what is left of the
Sith after
Malak's defeat and initiate the
First Jedi Purge. Hundreds of Jedi fall to the newly trained assassins as a result. Out of desperation, the Jedi Order calls an emergency council at the enclave on the planet
Katarr, a colony of the
Miraluka (species) where they plan on discussing the future of the Order. Almost all of the remaining Jedi in the galaxy flock to the meeting. This coupled with the fact that the Miraluka, who there are millions if not billions of living on Katarr, are a naturally
force-sensitive species, acted as a beacon that drew Darth Nihilus to the planet. Using his dark and twisted power, Nihilus absorbed the Force from the planet's surface killing all life on the planet instantaneously. The Jedi Order was officially dead... but this didn't stop the Sith...
So the Jedi are gone and dead. Well that sucks. But wait a minute... what about the Exile? She was severed from the Force so she could never be found right? Wrong. After the massacre of
Malachor V, the Exile was depressed and had a bad case of lone wolf syndrome causing her to wander the galaxy alone. Upon returning from her emo drifting she begins to interact with other people once more and her connection to the Force slowly begins to return.
This is where
Kreia comes in. Remember Kreia? Didn't think you would. Kreia was a
Jedi Master and Revan's most influential teacher. After Revan's departure to fight in the Mandalorian Wars Kreia reevaluates her life and her view of the Jedi. Once Revan and Malek had disappeared after the war, Kreia went to the prominent locations Revan had visited during the war, ending her exploration at the ruins of Malachor V. There she discovers the
Trayus Academy, where Revan had learned the way of the Sith. What happens next will be explained a bit later...
Anyway, after the Jedi are all dead, Kreia embarks on a quest to find the Jedi Exile, knowing her to be the only hope for the survival of not just the Jedi but the entire galaxy... why the Exile is so important is something only Kreia knows and is revealed to the Exile at the climax of the story. So Kreia finds the Exile, stubborn and bitter about the fate the council bestowed on her the Exile welcomes Kreia's tutelage after Kreia saves her from certain death. They, along with Revan's old droid
T3-M4 and the smuggler
Atton Rand, escape the
Peragus mining facility where Darth Sion and his Sith assassins had tracked down the Exile. During the escape Kreia loses her hand to Sion's
lightsaber while defending the Exile and the mining facility is destroyed by the Sith. The Exile feels excruciating pain in the hand that Kreia had lost leading Kreia to believe that she and the Exile had developed a very powerful
Force-Bond.
After some misadventures on
Telos IV, a planet devastated during the
Jedi Civil War, the Exile runs into her old friend
Bao-Dur, a
Zabrak mechanic who helped create the
Mass Shadow Generator (the machine that destroyed Malachor V) and joined the Exile on her journey. They discover a hidden Jedi academy on Telos' surface led by the Jedi scholar
Atris, one of four living Jedi Masters in the galaxy. Atris reprimands the Exile for the mistakes of her past but lets the Exile leave with the Ebon Hawk. Once off Telos, T3-M4 reveals that it downloaded records from Atris' archives and plays a recording of the Exile's trial from six years ago. The video reveals that the Exile's connection to the Force was not necessarily severed by the Council, but by something else prior to her return from the war. The records also reveal where the remaining three Jedi Masters are.
The Exile and Kreia devise a plan to find all the Masters so that they may discuss how to stop the Sith once and for all. The mismatched group of adventurers journey across the galaxy, righting wrongs, recruiting friends and finding the lost Jedi Masters on various worlds;
Nar Shadaa,
Dxun (where the Mandalorian Wars actually started),
Dantooine,
Onderon, and
Korriban. During the journey the Exile and Kreia grow closer as Kreia divulges the secrets of the Force and her mysterious past. She reveals that she was betrayed by the Jedi order and became a Sith Lord, but was betrayed by the Sith as well and became an exile much like her apprentice. The Exile also grows increasingly friendly with the shipmates she recruits helping them discover their connection to the Force and
training them in the ways of the Jedi. Kreia explains these strange connections the Exile has with her friends as something almost evil in nature, saying that the Exile was leeching the Force from her companions via Force-Bonds. The true nature of this is not revealed until the climax of the game... don't worry we're almost there!
During her adventure on Korriban the Exile is attacked by
Visas Marr, the sole survivor of the Katarr and Miraluka apprentice to the evil Darth Nihilus. The Exile defeats her and shows mercy. Visas is inspired by the Exile's compassion and begins to grow closer to her, much like the rest of her companions. Eventually all the Jedi Masters are found and they decide to meet in the ruins of the old
Jedi Enclave on Dantooine (the enclave that was destroyed in KOTOR I).
During the meeting the masters explain that the Exile's force-bond powers are too dangerous to be left unchecked and that they must sever her connection to the force once more. This is where the true nature of the Exile's powers come to light so listen closely! During the final battle on Malachor V (Mandalorian Wars), the Exile, under the command of Revan, instructed Bao-Dur to construct a weapon of mass destruction dubbed "The Mass Shadow Generator" which had the power to destroy everything in orbit of Malachor V. Upon its completion, in order to end the war once and for all the Exile ordered its activation instantly destroying every ship, Republic and
Mandalorian alike by drawing them into a gravitational vortex and crushing them utterly.
Here's a nice little quote to emphasize the magnitude of this deed:
"I remember standing on the bridge with you and watching the destruction of the Republic—watching ships full of soldiers and Jedi burn and die. I remember the look you had when you turned to me. It was the longest you'd ever looked at me. You didn't say anything—just a nod. Events move quickly then, even in my dreams. Flashes, explosions, you—falling. I could feel the pain around me. And then the memory. The drifting hulks of the Mandalorian ships, the dead—allies, friends, strangers. And then the echo. Lingering. The sound I awaken to in my nightmares. Does anyone deserve the Mandalorians' fate? Even some of their conquered worlds fared better."
- Bao-Dur to the Jedi Exile
So what did this catastrophic event do to the Exile? What severed her from the Force to begin with? Remember
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope? Remember when
Grand Moff Tarkin gave the order to fire the
Death Star at
Alderaan and
Obi-Wan said, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." When these types of catastrophic events happen they cause a "
wound in the force", something so powerful and devastating that its effects echo through the galaxy. Sometimes these wounds naturally heal and sometimes it requires an outside force to heal it. In Alderaan's case the void that was once the planet is the wound and the same could be said for Katarr, the planet devastated by Darth Nihilus. In the case of the Mass Shadow Generator the wound was not confined to the planet Malachor V itself, but rather two individuals... Darth Nihilus and the Jedi Exile.
When the generator went off Nihilus was one of its victims. However, by some strange twist of fate he "survived" the generators activation... if by survived you mean he became an unnatural insult to life who required to constantly feed on the force in order to maintain his dark and corrupted existence. The Exile had the benefit of Jedi training that helped her resist the lure of the dark side which ultimately guided Nihilus down his road of hunger and destruction. The Exile cut herself off from the Force when the generator activated in response to the echo created by the Mass Shadow Generator. If she hadn't subconsciously cut herself off from the force it would have killed her. When she began her journey with her companions six years later the Force began to return to her because she was actually feeding off her companions without even knowing it. According to Kreia, this kind of power has the potential to not only destroy entire worlds, but actually spell the end of the Force entirely which as Star Wars lore dictates, would inevitably destroy all life in the galaxy, period... Ouch.
Anyway, that's why the council wants to cut the Exile off from the Force. They believe its too risky and if she ever fell to the dark side it could m
ean the end as we know it. The Exile, although not happy with the decision, agrees that it is necessary and allows them to do what they have to. Just as they begin to sever her connection to the Force Kreia arrives reprimanding the council for their ignorance and their disservice to their student, the Exile. She proceeds to kill them all while the Exile lies unconscious and leaves to Telos IV to confront Atris.
A bunch of awesome stuff happens from there that I am going to bounce through pretty quick. The Exile and her companions show up on Telos to discover that Atris had fallen to the dark side and the Exile spares her life after kicking her ass. Atris warns her about the true nature of Kreia, or "Darth Traya, Lord of Betrayal", as she is now referred to as. She was the one who taught Nihilus how to use his abilities to devour entire worlds and she was the one who united the Sith against the Jedi after Malak's defeat. She was eventually deposed by Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion when they became obsessed with the destruction of the Jedi. Apparently Kreia tipped Nihilus off that there were a crap ton of Jedi on Telos IV (which there were not) and that he should probably show up and roll the whole planet into one nice force taco for dinner.
The Exile, with the help of
Canderous Ordo (the new
Mandalore) and the Mandalorians of Dxun, attack Nihilus' ship and confront the Dark Lord himself. Visas and Mandalore accompany the Exile as they fight their way to Nihilus with little hope of defeating him (he can EAT planets after all) . This is where Traya's true intention is revealed. When Nihilus tries to absorb the Force from the Exile, instead of killing her and revitalizing himself, he actually cripples himself. Apparently when a Force Wound tries to absorbed the Force from
another Force Wound bad things happen. With Nihilus' trump card being rendered useless the trio makes him shit sideways and his tragic existence is finally put to an end.
The motley crew of galaxy-faring adventurers make their way to the remains of the planet Malachor V where the Exile intends on confronting Darth Traya and prevent her from... wait what is her plan? Well apparently the planet Malachore V actually shares its wound with the Exile, so (and bare with me here the details are sketchy) if Traya sacrifices herself to open up the wound on the planet again she will kill the Exile (I guess the combination of both the Force Bond with Traya and the planet's bond to the exile being severed at the same time would kill her) resulting in a larger wound opening that's echo would never reach its destination ultimately killing the Force... yeah I know its weird and doesn't make much sense but I'm not an expert here okay...
Anyway the Exile rolls through an army of Sith assassins and trashes Darth Sion after convincing him to let go of his pain by allowing himself to die. The Exile confronts her former master and friend defeating her. The Exile tries to save Traya, who tells her she already has, and that by killing her, the Exile has awarded Traya, more than she could possibly know. Its actually an incredibly depressing scene. Traya confesses her love (unconditional of course) for her pupil and tells her, "Know that much may happen here, but above all, do not forget this – you may trust in me. We cradle each other's lives, and what threatens one of us, threatens us both. And if you find you cannot trust me, trust in your training. Trust in yourself. Never doubt what you have done."
Traya dies of her wounds after
telling the Exile to journey to the Unknown Regions to search for Revan, for his quest may mean the salvation of the galaxy... salvation from the return of the
True Sith. The Exile leaves the planet on the Ebon Hawk after re-activating the Mass Shadow Generator to destroy the remains of the planet and finally close the wound for good. With that, the Exile leaves to search for Revan and thus ends one of the most unique chapters in Star Wars lore.
Sorry for the long ass blogs, but I promise this is leading somewhere. In this next and final blog I will jump 300 years in the future and briefly describe the events immediately proceeding the
MMO,
The Old Republic, and finally reveal "what" or "who" is the source of all my "I'll get to that later"'s... but just for a moment let me elaborate on my final thoughts of KOTOR II. KOTOR II had a great story for the most part but could have been so much better if LucasArts had given Obsidian the time to complete their vision. There are certain aspects of the story that fall flat due to cut content (Darth Nihilus for instants) that could have been far more meaningful and interesting if the content hadn't been severely cut. I think the most meaningful aspect of the story to take from this game is the relationship between the Exile and Kreia. It really is some great writing. It is something that you really don't see in Star Wars, much less in video games in general. When I played through the final hour of the game I was actually really sad about the tragic fate of Keia, and her telling you (the Exile) how much she really cared for you and believed in you doesn't help at all! Anyway, despite its problems its a good game.
Join me next time for the stunning conclusion in
Part V!
at, I did almost all of the work and did it on time (with two or three blogs saved for the last minute) and it should go without saying that I at least deserve a B.
