SciFi_SW_Books_The Old Republic: Revan
Let's get into some Star Wars extended universe legends novels. That was a mouthful, but I promise every word means something. I have been listening to the audiobooks chronologically (yes.... so many thousands of years of history....so many audible credits), but I am going to jump to The Old Republic: Revan as it will tie into my Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) playthrough. Let's get oriented....
"Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior", man this guys done it all. The book picks up 2 years after the events of the first KOTOR game, acting as a segue to the second game. If you haven't played the 1st game there will be spoilers, references, and inside jokes between characters. To be completely honest I had never played the game, but I continued with the book and really enjoyed it regardless. The book pushed me to want to play the game to dig deeper into the characters and lore. I will be posting about my game progress as well at some point in the blog and on my twitch stream.
In order for Revan to be accepted back into the Jedi Order, he needed to have his memories completely wiped from being Darth Revan and ultimately what led him to turn away from the Jedi Order during/after the Mandolorian War. He is now married to Bastila and even though he was accepted back into the Jedi Order, he is kinda blacklisted for his past betrayals. A Jedi in title and symbol only. He's been having nightmares and can't seem to let his past rest. He expresses to Bastila that he needs to figure out why his dreams are so persistent and why he's "got a bad feeling about this". Revan links up with Mandolorian bounty hunter Canderous Ordo and they decide finding the mask of the Mandalore will help Revan unravel the truth behind his dreams (he and Malak hid it after defeating Mandalore the Ultimate during the war to keep the Mandalorians from banding together under a strong leader). Bastila also is preggers with Revan's baby, and gives him the good news right before he goes on his super quick, "be back before the baby is born babe", mission.
At the same time all this is happening we get to follow Lord Scourge (yup that's his chosen Sith name and he is in fact made fun of for it) as he assists in protecting and sort of apprenticing for Darth Nyriss, a member of the Dark Counsel. Lord Scourge uncovers Darth Nyriss' plot to overthrow Emperor Vitiate, who has been the emperor for like 1,500 years. Kind of like that older coworker who can't figure out technology and kind of hinders everyone else's productivity but they still refuse to retire so you can't get a new employee in that might actually be helpful....bless their boomer hearts. After uncovering the plot, Lord Scourge is convinced to side with Darth Nyriss after she takes him to the Emperor's home planet of Nethema (originally named Mediaas). Nethema is where the emperor had used a ritual to suck the life force of every living thing on the planet (including the other Sith Lords he had lured there for a meeting) thus giving himself immortality, basically.
KK, so after landing on Nethema, Lord Scourge feels the absolute desolation of the planet. He feels no force at all, since the Emperor had consumed everything that contained the force (all living things, including plants, bugs, amoebas I'm speculating) for himself. Lord Scourge realizes that the Emperor's ultimate goal is not just to defeat the Jedi, but to consume everything in the universe in the same way. Also, when the Emperor consumes life forces, the souls don't go and rejoin the force they exist in a hellish limbo within the Emperor. Lord Scourge is like "oh hell nah, shit just got real, and I like myself too much for all that eternal turmoil mess, Nyriss what do you need from me". This revelation is also what drove Revan and Malak to confront the Emperor, leading to them being manipulated to the dark side during the confrontation previously.
Back with Revan and our buddy Canderous, they find the Mandalore mask in an empty Sith tomb on Rekkiad. Family tree time! So the tomb belonged to Sith Lord Dramath the Second who was in hiding from the cruel vengeance of his illegitimate half brother Tenebrae, who is.... Emperor Vitiate (the boomer). Not only do they find the mask, but they also find a datacron created by old Revan that relays the information of the family line of Sith Lord Dramath and leads Revan to his next stop Bakersfield... I mean Nethema. Canderous Ordo is left behind with the task of reuniting the Mandalorians as their new leader, Mandalore The Preserver, and Revan continues his journey. Revan coincidentally arrives on Nethema as Darth Nyriss and Lord Scourge are going to leave, they abruptly shoot him down and capture him. The book then jumps to Bastila playing with a now four year old Vaner, Revan's son.
Now that we've recovered from the timewarp whiplash, let us continue. Revan has been Lord Scourge's prisoner for four years slowly working his subtle Jedi mind tricks in on Scourge during weekly interrogations, keeping the faith that his day of emancipation is nearing. Back to Bastila, she is visited by Meetra Surik, the Jedi Exile, a Jedi who followed Revan and Malak into the Mandalorian War against the wishes of the Jedi Council. Revan, before leaving on his "be back in a jiffy" mission, had inquired about Meetra at the Jedi Archives and was told she had disconnected herself from the force due to his war and he was responsible for her exile. Meetra Surik is a force empath, and after choosing to activate the Force Shadow Generator on Malachor V she was forced to sever her connection to the force or die suffering from the wound in the force created due to the loss of life resulting from the destruction of the blast. After these events, and Malak and Revan's turning to the dark side; she returns to the Jedi Counsel and is exiled. For more details on Meetra Surik check out the games, were not getting distracted here, not today!
Now Meetra after the events of KOTOR 2 is back! Meetra is meeting with Bastila after finding out the T3-M4, which was with Revan during his capture on Nethema, has information on how to find Revan, but he was only authorized to share it with Bastila.
They watch the recording together, then Bastila gives Revan's old mask to Meetra in hopes it will help her bring Revan back. Bastila also gives her a little holocron of baby Vaner. Meetra is off to the races and after her own visit to the barren wasteland of Nethema she is redirected to Dromund Kaas. After some skirmishes and double dealings she eventually is linked up with Lord Scourge, who due to Revan's subtle Jedi mind suggestions and a little light manipulation, sides with the Jedis to double cross Darth Nyriss and attempt a coup against Emperor Vitiate. Meetra gives Revan his mask back and once he puts it on all his memories and former power comeback allowing him to defeat Darth Nyriss easily.
The trio heads to the Imperial Citadel to take on the boomer himself. Revan watches the holocron of his son over and over using it to reinvigorate his resolve. Lord Scourge has a precognitive force vision of the battle to come the night before the mission, in which the Emperor defeats Revan. New to this side of the force Lord Scourge is unsure how to take this vision and wonders if it's just a manifestation of his fears of defeat. Instead of informing his team members he keeps the vision to himself.
Time for the big battle, queue the lightsaber sounds. It is obviously epic, imagine force lightning everywhere and force flipping and force throws (alotta force going on here). After taking a shit ton of force lightning Revan seems defeated until T3 sets the Emperor on fire with a flame thrower and Meetra and Scourge regroup to help take down the Emperor. Time for the big comeback boys! Lord Scourge thrust his lightsaber into Meetra.... wait what? Yeah during the last few seconds of the battle, Scourge realizes neither Revan or Meetra are the Jedi who defeats the Emperor in his vision and quickly pivots to play the long con. Lord Scourge then quickly and panickily explains to the Emperor, that he lured the Jedi to the Emperor to meet their doom knowing he was too weak to defeat them on his own wink, wink. Revan is captured and used as an energy source for the emperor, while Lord Scourge is rewarded with eternal life at the cost of eternal pain in servitude of the Emperor as the emperor's new elite employee the "Emperor's Wrath". Meetra joins the force as a force spirit and assists in strengthening Revan's will while he is used as a AA battery for the Emperor (so they're both kind of batteries in a way).
Lord Scourge vows to bide his time until he can assist the Jedi from his vision in defeating the Emperor. The prologue ends with Bastila an old woman talking to her adult son Vaner about his career as a politician (yeah he's not a Jedi), and his twins who seem to be strong in the force (it's not them either who defeats the Emperor). The family line does eventually lead to Satele Shan and Theron Shan, but neither of them are the ones to defeat the Emperor, though they are both important in different ways later on. The book ends with Vaner asking his mother Bastila if she thinks Revan succeeded in his mission to which she replies of course he did because they are still alive and whatever it was Revan feared never came to fruition.
That's a wrap, I give it 5 out of 5 lightsabers! The pacing can feel strange, but all in all the story is engaging and leaves you wanting to delve even deeper into the lore. Let me know if you agree or have any tidbits to add or just wanna chat about it!
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