An exceptionally busy week here, as mentioned. A few housekeeping matters:
• I’ll be attending the new Chicago convention, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, in April. I don’t know yet whether I’ll be making the Wizard show in Chicago in August, given its proximity to Star Wars Celebration.
• Jazma Online has an interview conducted with me before the Knight Errant announcement.
• I now have the name of the artist for the spooky Lost Tribe of the Sith covers added to the pages here: Random House’s Dave Stevenson. (Don’t forget, that new Lost Tribe ebook is now available for free download.)
• Finally, tomorrow I begin counting down to Wednesday’s final issue of Knights of the Old Republic with a blog post a day with some reminiscences about the series and a few answers to some of the questions I’ve had over the years. I’m clearing the decks somewhat for Knight Errant, so if you’ve got a burning question about KOTOR — something trivial or big-picture — click “comment” and ask your question here. I’ll collect a few of the questions for a blog post later in the countdown.
No promises for answers to everything — we’ve got to keep some secrets! — and I won’t address any character’s future. This is just about the existing series. But now is the time to ask, while the answers may still be rattling around in my head…
Favorite cover?
PointGiven here, If Vector hadn't sped up the time to Vindication, how long would it have taken to get to the climax of the Fugitive arc? Also what other stories would you have had in mind to get there?
Did Revan know the masters killed their padawans?
Good questions — I'm making a list. Keep 'em coming.
This isn't exactly what you asked for, but would you ever consider posting a few script pages from KotoR on your site?
What is the name of Borjak's granddaughter?
Was there any video game characters that you wanted to sneak onto the pages?
What were the reasons which make you decided KotOR would not focus on the Mandalorian Wars and Revan/Malak crusade, but instead on a padawan? To make Zayne your principal character instead of Revan or the Exile for example.
Do you regret not to have further elaborated on Revan? (Because I Regret it :p)
At the beginning did you intend to make Zayne becoming one of the Sith Lords from the game?
when exacly did you create Jarael's backstory?
Something I asked on the Dark Horse forums, what year was Malak born?
(Master_Keralys, for the record) Are you planning to discuss what, exactly, the mysteries that Rohlan was digging for are? We know from #49 that he's agreed with Cassus to stop digging and disappear—but that leaves us, the readers, still scratching our heads…
Oh, and I should clarify: you answered some of it earlier in this arc, but there have been hints that he was looking into why the Mandos went to war, not just the Demagol stuff, and that has not been addressed.
Well, I have to take this chance to ask some questions.
Is there a chance to distinguish Garragor and Klydeker from one another?
Borjak's granddaughter's name is also an interesting query.
Did Haazen kill Dossa and Dr. Uburluh after he awoke? Since it was "off screen" we can only assume that by what he said before.
More to come later on. 😉
Were the Covenant Jedi on the “Draay moon” with Lucien in the final pages of "Vindication" Shadows?
If not, were they merely Covenant followers Missing/Presumed Dead with the destruction of the Draay estate? For members of an institution as small as the Jedi Order, it can’t be an easy thing to retire to a secret “redoubt” in the galaxy…
If there is one question to answer though, it is this. Does the balding, dark-skinned human male appearing with the other Covenant Jedi in the epilogue story pages of "Vindication" belong to a certain long-lived lineage from Tatooine who also lost family in the Sith War? I think you know who I mean. *wink*
Are you planning any ways to tie KNIGHT ERRANT in with KOTOR? Might we see a descendent of Zayne or Jarael? A charismatic Snivvian with the surname Hierogryph? I guess Elbee could still be around!
And one more:
Did you have any further plans for the Moomo brothers? (I *loved* them)
What is the type of ship that Alek escapes from Flashpoint on?
Is Swiftsure's different look in Turnabout simply Alan's different style or is it actually different from the others?
Also on the Inexies, are there more hangars than those shown in Nights of Anger and Turnabout? It seems unlikely that there would be so many fighters carried within without more hangars.
Is the Jedi Tower located in Highport or Patrol Plaza? It says one in the first Taris Holofeed and the other in Knights of Suffering.
Thanks!
Is the ship from which the Taris Padawans launch into Rogue Moon's asteroid field a Baronial-class yacht?
Do the other ships of the Republic Navy names? For example those "smaller" Hammerheads and the kind of "dagger" shaped vessels (see Serroco fleet view image in Days of Fear).
Oh, an addition to an earlier question (which came to my mind while reading your interesting thoughts on picking names):
Can you distinguish the likenesses of Nahk and Tallie Sowrs? Who is the blonde and who the brown haired?
There is a lot of speculation about whether Zayne and Jarael are in love or not (obviously as yet undeclared!). Are they/aren't they?
About how much time does the series cover? It was great to see you click over to 3,963 BBY at one point, but it seems like we've been there for a while now.
This might be a really random question, but I was rereading Daze of Hate, and Adasca mentioned that Lucien had spirited away his niece, Aurora (i.e. recruited her for the Jedi I assume). Just curious if that would've ever been important, with how important Arkanians turned out to be in this series.
And on the first issue's cover, just curious why that Falleen Padawan was included on the cover? Most of the other covers usually sorta depicted a scene in that issue, but don't think the first cover ever happened. Sure looks cool though.
And not sure if you can answer this, but anyway… I only played the first KotOR game last year so the only version of Revan's history I know is the retconned version, about how Revan's real goal was to fight the True Sith, and noticed references to that with Rohlan (the real one) being suspicious and in the Campaign Guide Canderous meeting that old possible Mandalore. Just curious if all those hints were meant to lead towards a KotOR III, they were always meant to be for TOR, or were just added as vague hints toward what became TOR? If you're not allowed to answer that kind of question, then never mind and sorry, if you can, then thank you for any answers.
To me, KOTOR sometimes felt just a bit like Jeff Smith's Bone – huge differences, obviously, but there's something about the main characters (goofy kid, money-obsessed sidekick/mastermind, beautiful woman). Oh, and it features a character named Lucius, which I was always reminded of by the name Lucien. 😉
While I don't think you took anything directly (as I said, vastly different), what's your take on this? Did you even read (and enjoy) Bone? Could it simply be that both series were largely influenced by collective Disney-influenced consciousness (as the money-obsessed guy was defined by Uncle Scrooge, for example)?
I never understood why Karath had a crutch during Turnabout…?!
So it was Zayne's story more than KotOR at the very beginning of this project. But when KotOR timeline was chosen, have you enjoyed to work with amazing tools like Mandalorian Wars, Malak and Revan?
Masks sounded like an introduction of Revan in KotOR comics, and you did tell to a fan and in the reader Q/A section, that you had plans for them, did you intent to further elaborate on them should KotOR have had more than 50 numbers?
Thanks a lot for your answers!
Favorite secondary character created by you? (Krynda, Lucien, Moomo brothers, Shel…)
Favorite secondary character already known in the KotOR timeline? (Revan, Karath, Malak, Carth…)
Favorite number of KotOR or favorite arc?
Favorite game between KotOR I and II?
Favorite planet in those games?
Favorite planet in your comic?
Jedi or Sith?
Comics or Novels? :p
The story has it that Gryph was originally intended to be an Ortolan, like Max Rebo. Were the designs or species of any of the other characters changed along the way?
Who do you imagine Jarael sounds like?
What Revan have been doing during the entire KotOR comics serie?
And when he met the Council in Homecoming, what were his discoveries on Onderon and Dxun that he told them about?
After the events of Vindication, is Lucien able to finally look into the Future?
Why did you ruin the character of Arca Jeth by making him a hybrid?
A few, if that's okay:
1. EEJEE VAMM. I assume it was Demagol that killed him now, but what information (and how exactly he found it) did Vamm find out that prompted his murder?
2. Did Adasca know about Jarael's past?
3. What species are the Crucible guards on Osadia and Volgax?
Thanks for writing, I'm sorry this series is ending! Good luck on Knight Errant!
I've always heard how, during development of the series, Gryph was originally supposed to be an Ortolan but wasn't visually emotive enough and thus became the Snivvian he is today.
As you've been working on the series, are there any other species, sexes, ages, names or settings that have changed from concept to execution?
Hello John, thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask some questions we might not get answered anywhere else. Although there are many that questions I have that you probably couldn't answer (mostly referring to Lucien and the moon and Haazen), I did have a couple of that have been on my mind for a while.
What was the overall purpose of Zayne's vambraces in the story? Was there a reason he lost one? It seemed you guys made it a point to show us this during the vindication arc.
Where does the name Demagol come from? Is it derived from the word demagogue?
-Lord Chafington
(Posted in a different section, not sure if it was the right place)
When Gryph and Zayne visited the Sanctum of the Exalted, was the item Gryph was holding actually Ludo Kressh's pedicure? Or was he just crackin' wise throwing out a random Sith name?
If it really was Kressh's 'pedicure' (pedicure kit I guess) any connection to a certain vengeful Sith lady from Lost Tribe: Paragon? 😉
I mean, we all know Ludo loved a finely groomed foot :p
After the Covenant was taken care of, what happened to all their Sith artifacts, like the Helm of Dathka Graush and Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger? Also, how did they manage to collect so many Sith artifacts?
1. You initially had the jedi order outlaw all of Revan's followers, which I felt was very consistent with the original game's plot. But as late as issue 42, you had the council support Revan's crusade. You explained the reasons for why you did this on Dark Horse's Star Wars boards, but seeing as how the series ends eight issues later without touching much on this, doesn't that leave the KotOR era with a gaping plothole?
2. Lucien Draay was cast as a potential Darth Sion (from the KotOR2 game), yet in the KotOR campaign guide, which you co-wrote, Sion was listed as having fought in the Sith War. Why did you include that reference, if it was already decided in the campaign guide – released before the revelation in the comic, IIRC – that Lucien would not be Sion?
3. Are there plot points in the KotOR comic book left unresolved? For example, I don't see the significance of revealing Jarael as force-sensitive so late in the series, when it's not going to be used.
4. This is the one I must ask, even though you cannot answer: What happens to the character during the subsequent Jedi Civil War and First Jedi Purge? All but a very few jedi are killed in the purge by Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion, so where does that leave Zayne and Jarael?
5. Why was the KotOR comic book cancelled? Clearly you're not tired of Star Wars, and the book seemed to sell well enough.
Q'anilia and Lucien seemed to be very closed to each other, were they in a relationship ?
Thanks.
With Lucien still being alive at the end of Vindication, did you have any plans for using him in the future?
If so, what were they?
If you had to room with one of the characters from Knights, who would it be, and why?
Something I was discussing on the Dark Horse forums. In the video game, Juhani says that Jedi rarely tread on Taris. Was the Jedi Tower constructed after she left Taris?
Where did the decision to make the Mandalore of this series so radically different in his approach from his predecessor come from?
Can you tell us any more about "fish-bowl guy"? Does he have any other name? What species is he? He could be a distant relation to Simus from TOTJ 😛
Also, which was your favourite ship to design?
In flashpoint, Rohlan was looking for the real reason the Mandalorians went to war against the Mando. We learn a lot about Demagol but not about Fett. With KotOR ending this week, will this plot (Sith involvment in the Mando Wars) stay a mystery? 🙁
Between the issues, the Handbook, and the Campaign Guide, 5 of the 6 Inexpugnable-class tactical command ships have been named: Swiftsure, Courageous, Indefatigable, Reliance, and Tremendous.
What is the sixth?
Was the ship we saw in the hologram before Cassus Fett in the Jedi Tower in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2, the mystic Ebon Hawk with Davik Kang from the Taris Exchange piloting it??!
In addition to the already known Mandalore the Ultimate and Cassus Fett, you created two brand new major mandalorian characters : Demagol and Rohlan. So my question is why haven't you used the future Mandalore, Canderous Ordo? Was it because you didn't like him or because you felt he didn't fit in the story? Even just a brief cameo could have been fun. Especially during Flashpoint when there were a lot of Mandos.
Furthermore I also agree with a question from an anonymous about : Why are the Mandalorians acting so weird in this war. It have been introduced in KotOR comics with Rohlan wondering about this and making research about Demagol and Fett but we are still waiting for an answer…
You already answered to the question if, yes or no, Revan knew about the Masters killing the Padawans and you answered no. It seems weird to me, I always believed it was the case due to one sentence. If Revan didn't know anything about the Padawans massacre, why the hell would he tell this to Lucien : "You see that I was right, now, don't you? THE TRUTH IS WRITTEN IN BLOOD!" !!?
I'd like to "renew" my question about the Commencement arc:
Is the ship from which the Taris Padawans launch into Rogue Moon's asteroid field a Baronial-class yacht?
Its image on the two page image and before the interior of the passenger hold resemble what is stated in the Campaign Guide (without image), so can you put these sources finally together?
Any events that made you go "What was I THINKING?" after the fact?
Were there any ideas that were shot down during the course of the comic?