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Why Did The Twist in Knights of the Old Republic Work?

God grant me the ability to pull off bald as well as Malak does, I'm going to need it in the next few years.

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PLEASE DO NOT ADAPT KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC

In the post-Rise of Skywalker era of Star Wars, fans frequently call for the return of material from the Expanded Universe (EU) Legends. Dissatisfaction with where ROS left the story has left fans eager to revisit the rich backstory. This sentiment has only grown with the work of uber-fan Dave Filoni and his Mando-verse, which has reintroduced favorite Legends characters into canon. Recently, for example, Ahsoka brought Grand Admiral Thrawn to live action.

As Filoni works through the top of the “Disney Please Canonize” list, and ignores the ones that aren’t compatible with the new canon(Dash Rendar and Mara Jade will live on forever in our hearts), the calls regarding Knights of the Old Republic into the canon have been consistent since the EU purge. Beyond bringing the game into canon, something we might anticipate if the remake ever actually comes out(and have optimism for, as KOTOR characters continue to appear in Action Figure form, and star in the mobile gacha game Galaxy of Heroes), fans have repeatedly expressed an interest in adapting Knights of the Old Republic into a Disney Plus series or a movie.

KOTOR is on my personal Mt. Rushmore of favourite games. Alongside Homeworld, it is forever near or at the top of said list, with the other two spots probably shifting in and out of a broader list of mostest-favouritest games depending on my mood. Star Wars itself has always had an outsized footprint in my psyche. I grew up on the X-Wing novels, playing the Decipher card game and, of course, many Star Wars Video Games. Rebellion, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, Racer, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, Jedi Academy, and quite a few more.

However, KOTOR rose above the rest. My nostalgia undoubtedly obscures my vision to its flaws and creakiness, and I suspect that had I played them back-to-back (especially with the Restored Content Mod), KOTOR 2 may have exceeded the original in my estimation. You might call it The Last Jedi to KOTOR’s Force Awakens, and I mean that as a compliment to both games. But KOTOR stands alone in my mind as the pinnacle of the many, many, many attempts to bring Star Wars into the video game medium.

I’m going to beg for an extended pardon for what is to be a lot of generalization to come in this section. If I refer to something as being the opinion of a group of people, I do so only to illustrate a point. For example:

When asked about what makes KOTOR so great, some fans will give specific answers. And I agree that the soundtrack IS great, the characters ARE well realized, and, despite being in a fully 3D game rather than its usual home of isometric pseudo-3D, the DnD based combat IS well balanced and interesting. The fans who offer these answers are likely doing so in an attempt to give a non-vanilla answer to the question immediately after giving such a common answer to the “What’s your favourite game of all time?” question that spurred it. However, much like KOTOR, vanilla is a GREAT flavour, and saying so does not make you boring. The vanilla answer to what makes KOTOR so great is, of course, the “Story”.

“Why the scare quotes around story there?” I hear you ask. I’m glad you asked, rhetorical reader, because it’s the whole point I’ll be attempting to make here. Despite KOTOR being one of my favourite games ever, and despite my undying love of all things Star Wars (I consumed ALL of Book of Boba Fett AND Obi Wan like I skipped breakfast AND lunch), I do not want Disney to adapt KOTOR. Not as a live action series, not as a comic book, not as a movie, not as a trilogy of YA novels, and not as a Dave Filoni-produced animated series. The why is also why I think the twist in KOTOR worked. If you have somehow made it this far into my weird blog post about this 20-year-old video game, don’t know the major twist, but ARE interested playing in this game, go play it! It’s been ported to mobile devices and you can get it for the Switch, or for almost nothing on Steam, and I clearly recommend you do so. Okay, spoiler warning issued.

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