Knights of the Old Republic #38: Faithful Execution

Well, Alek went back to leading the Crusaders in the war, offering to let Jarael join him, though she declined.

I don't remember if they said what happened to Shel. Maybe she rejoined her family.

 

I'm guessing that her appearence (or lack therof) will be explained along with Zayne's mysterious sojourn. Whenever he gets around to explaining it.

 

the writers should get her back... she's pretty... and good for Zayne...

 

Agreed! I love Jarael to death but I still think that Shel seems to be a better match for him at this point.

 

aww mate cant you see?! shel's the gal for zayne coz jarael is gonna be the exile!

 

He eloped?

 

Awesome! I can see it now. "I wanted you as the best man...er, snivvian Gryph, but her grandparents just wouldn't go alnog with the idea."

 

Didn't Shel join up with the crusaders?

 

Man, the red lightsaber really ticked me off...

I know it is thematically correct for a Sith to have one, but seeing how rationalized the EU is, such a development shouldn't just be introduced without explanation IMO.

If Toki is a Kunite, a bunch whose leaders and foremost member caste (mind-controlled Jedi) did not use red blades for the duration of the Sith War, then why does he? If we assume Haazen's saber was something he got from the Sith before leaving them, the question extends to him as well.

Here is my problem: Haazen and Toki are the first (that we know of) in a long line of consistent, cross-organization, red blade users. It irritates me that the first of this line is introduced without hint of explanation for the choice. Yes, you could argue that such a thing is best left for some story taking place during the Sith War, but with Kun and Qel-Droma keeping their blue blades to the war's end, it doesn't seem likely the Kunites suddenly decided en masse to start using red blades to spite their enemies (or similar) in the first place. So why did Toki and Haazen?

I guess what irritates me about it is that it seems to be part of the steamrolling of TotJ that the KotOR brand is associated with in my mind. Even though the Brotherhood of Darkness were led by former Jedi who used blue blades to the war's end, even though the foremost among them were converted Jedi who presumably didn't wear red blades, the only two members this comic series has introduced us to, used them. It just smacks of "Oh! A Sith! He has to have a red lightsaber! Cuz Vader did in ANH".

It was bad enough the Revan Sith all used red sabers when their predecessors didn't, but then at least you were dealing with a brand new organization who could have decided upon it as a statement. Or perhaps the Star Forge could only manufacture synthetic red crystals. But now Kunites as well? Following the same tangent, the new Sith from TOR seems to be suffering from the same disease. In spite of these Sith supposedly being survivors of the original sword-wielding, egyptian-clad Sith, their weapons, colours and aesthetics are identical to that of the "Evil Jedi"-look that the Jedi-born Sith of the galaxy is known for.

I get the OOU reasons for it. There are certain thematic rules to obey in SW, but when the EU is hell-bent on rationalizing everything, I must admit to feeling a little cheated not to be given such a rationale with Toki. Or why he couldn't just have been a blue-blader, leaving Revan to revolutionize the saber colour thing.

 

I just assume that because the old Sith Empire had a short supply of crystals it probably had to rely on synthetic ones, which--per the existence of lightsabers due to e.g. the Tapani from Precipice-- resulted in an abundance of red sabers come the Great Hyperspace War.

The rest, as they say, is then history.

Depending on how correct the synth-crystal page is on the Wookiee, there might also be something to be said for how synth-crystals could be made strong enough to "break" an opposing blade. That seems like the kind of property a Sith would gladly look for in a blade.

But, weird bonus properties of synthetic crystals aside, the likely abundance of them during the days of the Sith Empire remains my main assumption for their adoption by later Sith for the same reason they took to calling themselves Lords.