KOTOR Countdown #9: Just-Asked Questions, Part One

Continuing a sequence of short pieces on the Knights of the Old Republic comics series, which ends Wednesday with #50, I hit the mailbag for a few of the questions readers have asked about the entire series. There’s more to come — and you can still ask, by posting here)…

Going through the mailbag on the site — and some questions sent me through other means — a few questions a day. I can’t get to everything, of course, and note that I really can only clarify what we saw on the page. I may be able to speculate about some other things, but obviously, such speculation would not be canonical.

Aha! Here’s a question I can answer. There are several favorites. I have a number of them on my office wall, and ran out of space before I ran out of covers. Some favorites include Benjamin Carre‘s comet action on #43; Travis Charest’s Zayne-in chains from #6; Dustin Weaver‘s iceworld on #26 and his gallery on the KOTOR Handbook; Brian Ching‘s Zayne-in-pain on #15; his moody duo of Lucien on #9 and Zayne on #31; and his much-reprinted Haazen from #33.

But if you’re looking for a single favorite? That’d have to be the Dustin’s “raiders of the lost vault of the covenant” cover from #29. Full-cast in action — and even a little misdirection with Jarael disguised as Celeste. Couldn’t have asked for a better follow-up to “Vector.”

I really have no idea. And if I did, this would qualify as one of those things where my answer wouldn’t count for much, since it wasn’t said directly in the comics.

He’s definitely older than Zayne, though, and probably closer to Jarael’s age. He said enough in #42 to suggest that.

Tyber asks: Is there a chance we can distinguish Garragor and Klydeker from one another?

Garragor and Klydeker were two of Haazen’s aides in #32. Given the direction that Haazen’s looking, I would guess Brian intended Klydeker to be the human figure on his right.

Darth Cronos asks: Did Revan know the masters had killed their padawans?

What an excellent question! Basically, what we see on the page is all we know: Revan makes a curt comment to Lucien — “I have learners to save” — on the way out of the Jedi Council chamber.

Now, remember what’s going on at this moment. Revan is on his way out to meet with Malak and his own followers, who suffered in his absence. Meanwhile, he obviously knows Lucien, a hoped-for ally until the rejection of #0, has been called on the carpet for failing to protect his own students. So the comment is really more of a “so-there” than a suggestion that Revan suspects anything more. Anything else we might say about what Revan knew is speculation.

So what about speculation? Lucien definitely has informants in Revan’s movement, but it’s hard to imagine it working much the other way. Anything’s possible — but the Revan that we see pretty much has his hands full worrying about his own group. He knows Lucien will be no help to him, but that’s probably as far as it goes.

Anonymous asks: 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.

I answered this question in another thread, but it’s worth repeating here — and it’s a restatement of what we’ve all said several times over the years.

From our thinking, Zayne wasn’t a sidequest — he was the main quest. I didn’t even know where we were going to set Zayne’s story in the KOTOR era when we started, so the existing historical events became the backdrop, rather than the star. They were important, and obviously had an affect on the characters’ lives — but they weren’t why we did the series.

Nayayen asks: 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.

Aha! This takes me back to journalism class. The Holofeed writers in #0 were using Associated Press Style — or the galactic equivalent: “A dateline should tell the reader that the AP obtained the basic information for the story in the datelined city.” The main interview was with Constable Sowrs at Patrol Plaza and about the hopes that officials had, so Patrol Plaza was the datelined location. If the story had been mostly about Lucien’s interview, then Highport — the location of the Jedi Tower — would have been the dateline.

See? Comics can be educational!

More tomorrow…

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