Bastila Shan

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

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Character

Bastila Shan
Gender	Female
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“The Jedi do not believe in killing their prisoners. No one deserves execution, no matter what their crimes.”

— Bastila Shan

Bastila Shan (c. 3,979 BBY – ?) was a Jedi Padawan by 3,956 BBY, one of the key figures of the Jedi Civil War and one of the few Jedi to survive the Jedi purge that followed the war.

Biography

Born on Talravin circa 3,979 BBY as the only child of Helena Shan and a hunter whose name history did not preserve, Bastila was a quintessential Jedi, trained from a young age and gifted with a natural ability with the Force that gave her both renown and considerable pride: Battle Meditation. This ability alone put Bastila into the forefront of the Galactic Republic's plan to defeat the Sith.

During the Jedi Civil War, Bastila was part of the strike force sent to capture Darth Revan, the Dark Lord of the Sith. The Jedi managed to corner Revan on the bridge of his flagship, and the unexpected betrayal of Revan's apprentice, Darth Malak, who opened fire on his master's ship, further simplified their task. Though Revan's mind was damaged beyond repair in the attack, Bastila managed to save his life, thus forging a powerful Force bond between the two. Revan was brought to the Jedi Council and reprogrammed with a new memory.

Bastila and the new Revan, assumed by everyone -- and himself -- to be a simple Republic soldier, were assigned to the Republic cruiser Endar Spire. In the upcoming battle with the Sith fleet above Taris, Bastila planned to use her Battle Meditation from the relative safety of the ship's bridge, while still keeping an eye on Revan.

However, the Endar Spire was unexpectedly ambushed by the Sith; Bastila, Revan, and Carth Onasi were forced to evacuate the ship in escape pods, which landed on Taris. Eventually, Revan and Carth found Bastila and rescued her from a Taris swoop gang called the Black Vulkars, and they left the planet aboard a freighter "borrowed" from the local crimelord Davik Kang -- the Ebon Hawk.

Image:Bastila ss.jpg

Bastila c.3,956 BBY

Revan and Bastila landed on Dantooine, where they discovered a partial Star Map -- an artifact which had been discovered by Revan and Malak five years earlier. Together with four other Star Maps, the artifact could reveal the location of the Star Forge -- an ancient factory of immense power which was being used by Malak to build the seemingly-infinite Sith starfleet. The Dantooine Jedi Council sent Revan on a mission to find the Star Forge and stop Malak, with Bastila guiding him along the way.

During their many adventures, Bastila was again captured, this time by Darth Malak. After torturing her for weeks, Malak eventually succeeded in forcing Bastila to give in to her hate. She fell to the dark side and became Malak's apprentice after the untimely death of Darth Bandon. She met with Revan atop an ancient Rakatan temple, and tried to persuade him to reclaim his former title of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Revan refused to give in to the dark side again. After an intense lightsaber duel, Bastila retreated to the Star Forge, where she and Revan eventually faced off a second time. Even though her powers were continually renewed by the Star Forge, Bastila found herself unable to defeat Revan. Beaten at last, she begged the former Dark Lord to take her life. Revan refused, however, and eventually persuaded Bastila to denounce the dark side and return to the light, drawing on the bond of love that they shared. Bastila then used her Battle Meditation to turn the tide of the battle in the Republic's favor, allowing the Star Forge to be destroyed after Revan had slain his old friend Malak in personal combat.

After the battle, the Jedi reconvened, and Bastila and Revan, along with their companions Carth Onasi, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, T3-M4, Canderous Ordo, Juhani, HK-47, and Jolee Bindo, were honored as the saviors of the galaxy.

Despite this seemingly happy ending, Revan and Bastila were not destined to remain together. A year after the Star Forge's destruction, Revan, having remembered a great threat to the galaxy he discovered as the Dark Lord, set out alone into the Unknown Regions, leaving all those he loved behind, for he knew that to take them to the places he had to go would bring destruction to them all. It would have helped had he made her understand. "It would have been better," Kreia would later remark, "if he had made her understand. But she was always strong-willed, that one, and did not understand war as Revan did."

Bastila remained behind with her fellow galactic saviors, keeping the Republic safe as Revan had asked them to, and waiting for the day when Revan would return. In the cataclysmic aftermath of the Jedi Civil War, with Darth Nihilus feeding on Force-sensitives, Sion hunting, torturing, and murdering them, G0-T0 put a bounty out on all Jedi, creating tempting targets for a horde of bounty hunters, she was one of the few Jedi to survive. By the time of the Battle of Telos in 3,951 BBY, Bastila was the only known living member of the Jedi Order besides Atris, when the Jedi Exile -- the new owner of the Ebon Hawk -- left the known space to search for Revan at Carth Onasi's request.

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Personality and traits

Bastila possessed all the qualities that separate those special few destined to leave their mark on history, but her very youth and determination were always threatening to become that which eventually consumed her.

Brash, impulsive, and overconfident, Bastila seemed to walk invincible through her world, though that was hardly the case. Bastila was well aware of the responsibility that pressed down on her shoulders. Her Jedi Masters urged her to be cautious, but Bastila turned every fiber of her being towards defeating the Sith menace and proving herself to the Jedi.

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Powers and abilities

Despite her youth, Bastila was skilled in the rare art of Battle Meditation—through sheer force of will she could influence the course of a battle. Through this power, one side was given courage and strength while the other is sapped of their will.

Bastila Shan had very strong Force Senses and could sense disturbances in the force such as Darth Malak's presence and the destruction of the Jedi Enclave, although perhaps this is merely Telepathy or her force bond with Revan. She could also Force Stun most opponents easily. She was also capable of using Mind trick temporarily on Hutts, such as Motta.

Bastila wielded a Double-bladed Lightsaber.

During her short time as a Sith Apprentice, she was capable of using force powers such as Force Horror, Force Wave and Force Stasis. From her point of view, she was more powerful than all but a few Jedi Masters.

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Behind the scenes

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Alternate ending

Two endings are available in Knights of the Old Republic in which Bastila appears. The Lucasarts established canon is the lights side way outlined above—the dark side ending is as follows:

Revan gave in to the dark side. He and Bastila killed Jolee Bindo and Juhani. When returning to the Ebon Hawk, Revan persuaded the rest of the team to join the dark side. The droids HK-47 and T3-M4 were already programmed to do so, and Canderous Ordo pledged his loyalty to the man he believed would bring him battles in which he could find honor, as he had in the Mandalorian Wars. Carth Onasi refused and ran away. Mission Vao refused to believe that Revan had returned to the dark side and did not run away. Zaalbar initially agreed to join the dark side as he owed Revan a "life-debt" and even agreed to kill Mission to prove his loyalty.

(Actually, the player can fail to persuade Zaalbar to attack Mission; in this case, the player must do it, with an option to kill Zaalbar as well. There is no way to save Mission.)

Before approaching the Star Forge, Bastila persuaded the Republic to attack the Sith fleet there as a measure to defeat the Republic. The Republic believed that she would use her Battle Meditation against the Sith, but she turned it against the Republic just before Revan faced Malak. Master Vandar realized all this, but could not do anything.

After Revan defeated Malak, he re-assumed the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and made Bastila his apprentice. Together, they set out to conquer the galaxy.

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Original character development

The character that was to become Bastila was originally going to be Vima Sunrider; she was presumably changed to make room for the backstory involving Bastila's parents. The character was then renamed Sareth Dorn, and then finally Bastila (the name originally given to Juhani).

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