Will Zayne Carrick start to build himself up at any point?

One thing that's thrown me for a loop is the change in format with Knights of the Old Republic. I'm used to Tales of the Jedi and really, Zayne's adventures are decidedly more low key with events much more decompressed. It's more akin to a regular monthly title like Marvel or DC than the traditional Star Wars fare we get.

A part of me wonders if Zayne is going to go through a power boost while another part of me thinks that there's no reason he shouldn't be able to just continue meandering about as the crudtacular padawan that he is. On the other hand, there's the Jedi Masters that are looming as his goal and plenty of them he could engage.

Basically, a part of me really wants to see him confront one of them yet that isn't realistic given his current skill level.

 

According to JJM, Zayne's clumsiness in Commencement is inspired by the KOTOR gameplay. Like the player, who learns to use the controls in the early game, Zayne similarly has to adjust to the Force in the early issues.

I do think he has potential. If the people forgive me for what may be an outrageous and implausible comparison, I'd like to draw a parallel between Zayne and another instance of a "clumsy protagonist" I have seen: Sailor Moon. Not only is she clumsy in ordinary life, she is initially so confused by the very fact of having super powers that she screws up every battle until someone else interferes - despite having a powerful attack that never misses and can eliminate any Monster-of-the-Day in one hit! Yet, as revealed in later seasons, despite this apparent ineptude, her powers are tremendous - to the point that she alone can "rekindle" the entire galaxy - and their source is clearly outlined: love, friendship, openness and compassion. More precisely, her ability to become friends with almost anyone.

Or maybe it's just wishful thinking.

 

I always got the feeling that at the end of Commencement, when we see a focused Zayne in his snazzy new outfit making death threats to the Covenant that that was when he overcame whatever major Force handicap he had, be it psychosomatic or just a surge of new Force energy coming to him somehow.

The moment I saw his green costume I was like "He's gonna kick some arse now." We just haven't seen it yet...

 

Yeah, he definately looked like he was ready to kick some ass (possibly dark side style, given what he was saying), but it may have just been that he was very motivated, and had a difficult goal to shoot for.

 

I think his speech at the end of Commencement was an indicator of his psychological state- he had a goal and a purpose, and was no longer lost, just trying to escape. But then he gets deflated a bit when he realizes he doesn't have the resources to do that just yet, and he now has a group of friends to take care of, hence the side adventures to gain supplies and money. He is stronger, but he also has a lot more responability too.

 

And that one part in issue #10 where he uses the Force to strategically place mining charges all around Flashpoint station would seem to be an indication that his newfound confidence has brought newfound control to his powers.

 

Makes sense. You have to know you can do it, or it doesn't work. "Do or do not. There is no try." According to DL, that's one of the things that held Vader back, initially.

 

I've felt that zayne is becoming more skilled as the book progresses.

 

I thought that too. Of course I'll get killed for this, but him standing there calmly directing the mining charges with just a few gestures of his hand reminded me of the calm and collected ESB Vader playing dodge-debris with Luke. I'm thinking he's a tad better than we saw at the opening of the series.

Carnage

 

Mmhmm.

Luke: I don't believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.

 

I believe that if he is suppose to be Nihilus, than the "special relationship" with the force that he has will be that he leeches the force off of people. And if that's the case, then he probably will have a chance to become like the Exile where he inspires his followers, but instead he'll stear down the opposite path. Which is the path of Darth Nihilus, where all his followers are slaves to his power. That's if he becomes Nihilus. From what JJM says, the next storyline will be a good indication to where he's heading.

 

He won't be Nihilus. They've made it a point to separate themselves from the continuity to go their own way. It's all still there but happening in the background. Zayne Carrick is Zayne Carrick rather than anyone else. It's like speculating that Anthony Stewart Head was the Master.

 

Nah... my intuition says that he *will* be Nihilus. If they really wanted to go their own way completely, why bother setting it in that period at all?

I'm not saying it'll happen any time soon. I imagine we've got a couple of years of Zayne goodiness, but considering the parallels that can be drawn between him and the Exile - and considering the parallels that were drawn between the Exile and Nihilus... well...

That would have been so good though...

 

He does destroy things enough to be Nihilus...

 

Why not? Another reason is that it's underdeveloped to the point that they could set up their own hero without stepping on the toes of the overstretched continuity of the Galactic Civil War period which lends itself better to my theory.

Except for the fact that aside from Zayne Carrick's connection to people (and that ability hasn't been touched upon), there's nothing remotely connecting them. The Prophecy has been pretty strongly hinted to have nothing to do with Zayne as well. I'm also fairly sure it'd be pretty poor reading if the hero the audience has been following became the enemy just so some nameless video game character can later kill him?

True.

 

Tragic stories are perfectly acceptable reading. What's more tragic than your hero becoming a planet destroying Sith creature of nothingness?

Things could go a number of different ways with Zayne and I think it's very likely that they've got the "He is Nihilus" thing as one potential route to go down.

 

...while at the same time, there's a rich enough little universe built in this era to serve as a firm, established foundation.

 

Also true.

 

Disagree all you want, but there will be game Darths(it's been discussed by the man himself) in this series, and it will be shown how they became to be. And if he does become Nihilus, JJM will wait until the very end to disclose it for the fact that it'll ruin all the mystery of Zayne's character, which we'd already know he gets killed by a nameless(yet very powerful)character.

 

What gives you the idea that they'll reveal Sion and Nihilus to be anything?

For all we know, Nihilus will show up in full mask.

Like I said, it's poor storytelling in my opinion. Your mileage may vary. I'd much prefer a Happily Ever After for Zayne.

 

Like I said before, JJM specifically says that there are characters now that aren't who they will be later, which Darth was one description he gave. I have never said that Zayne will be Nihilus or they will show the becomings of Sion. But if what JJM says is true, which the word of the writer is the hardest thing to dispute, then he would show how they became. He could always mean Revan and Malak as well, so it's not just the one's from KOTOR 2. Though it seems like alot of the story has spoke of the second game. And if it's true that they planned on doing Nihilus's backstory, then it would just up the chances.

 

Alek is Malak, the unknown hooded jedi is revan, and zayne is the exile. done.

 

The Unknown Hooded Jedi is most probably Revan, but I'm not so sure about Alek. And Zayne can't be Exile unless he undergoes a sex change operation, and even then, there are simply too many discrepancies between them for this theory to be even remotely plausible.

- Adam, what myth are we testing today?
- Oh, you'll like this one, Jamie. There are rumors that Zayne Carrick is going to become the nameless protagonist of the second KOTOR game, who is canonically female and called the Jedi Exile!
- Well, I don't think we even need any comments here. Busted!
- Totally busted!

 

I hope so, because then there's the possible implication that Revan is already a Sith Lord (probably in the Jacen Solo sense at that point)... think about what Raana Tey says shortly after the Tarisian Masters' meeting with Council:

"A Sith Lord could stand right in front of them and they'd lecture him about neutrality"

And who was it they were lecturing about neutrality and non-interference just before the Tarisian masters went before them?

 

I doubt that means Revan is a Sith already. More likely it's just another winknudge moment, like revanchism. It's a hint to the hooded figure's identity, but there's no real reason to for him to be a Dark Lord already.