Alternative Character Interpretation in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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Player Characters
Some of these are simply a matter of player choice.
- Jedi Knight: Anything from a naive Wide-Eyed Idealist with a deadly weapon to a Knight Templar who is truly associated with the Dark Side.
- Trooper: Eagleland Type 1? A loyal, patriotic soldier with high ideals, the best example of Republic citizenry? Eagleland Type 2? A boorish, Sociopathic Soldier who shouts slogans before every battle, massacres civilians indiscriminately, and looks the other way when it's your side committing the abuses?
- A light-sided Republic trooper can come across as being outright fanatical, with him/her shouting slogans such as "For the Republic!" and "I live to serve the Republic!" at every opportunity. It doesn't help that one of your companions is a droid who is portrayed exactly like this for humorous effect.
- The Dark-side Republic trooper: A Jerkass/sadist who happens to be loyal to the Republic for whatever reason, a Well-Intentioned Extremist who views their Shoot the Dog moments as Necessarily Evil to save more lives in the long run, or a shell-shocked former child soldier who's too damaged to do things any other way and/or just wants the war to end as quickly as possible?
- As a Sith Warrior: Are you merely a Hot-Blooded warrior who saves his brutality for the battlefield, but otherwise prefers rational behavior? A nasty Blood Knight who wants to slaughter everything in his path? A cunning player who is gathering a power base so he's practically untouchable from his fellow Sith? A Wild Card who does as he damn well pleases, no loyalty to anyone (even the Empire), and backs up his arguments with a Force choke if he has to?
- Is the Light Side Sith Warrior a good, noble warrior fighting for peace? Or are they a cold, calculating Chessmaster, befriending powerful opponents in order to advance their own position within the Empire? Characters accuse you of both, and there's no real evidence to support either one over the other.
- As a Sith Inquisitor:
- You start as a lowly slave plucked from the auction block once it's discovered you're Force Sensitive. So, are you loyal to the Sith now that you have a chance to move among them, or have you not forgotten how badly you were treated when the collar was around your neck? Are you gathering power as to destroy your fellow Sith, or so you are never hurt again?
- Is the Inquisitor actually crazy? Or are they practicing Obfuscating Insanity to throw off their opponents? Or is their "differently rational" behavior a coping mechanism for their Dark and Troubled Past? Or do they just like trolling everybody? Or all of the above at once?
- Darth Imperius, the light side Sith Inquisitor:
- Are they people who suffered greatly as slaves, and now help others to avoid the pain the Inquisitor felt? Or are they just securing allies or keeping those around them weak to ensure an unstoppable rise to power?
- Can one even consider Darth Imperius a Sith? A good case could be made that the Inquisitor is simply playing their game for now, all the while secretly working to advance themselves into a position where they can better undermine the Sith from within. Indeed, a lot of their dialogue makes it clear they don't particularly care for their fellow Sith or the Empire, but do hold some modicum of respect for the Republic and the Jedi. Alternatively, the Inquisitor's conversations with Ashara often discuss reforming the Empire into a more peaceful organisation and forging an alliance with Grey Jedi, founding a movement that unites both Sith and Jedi teachings. This would make them, for lack of a better term, a light sith, the opposite of a dark jedi.
- Darth Nox, the dark side Sith Inquisitor:
- Why are they so violent, cruel and merciless, even to those who are genuinely on their side with the Empire? Sure, you could easily chalk it up to typical sith behavior, but what if there’s a deeper reason? Is Darth Nox just a typical sadistic sith lord who only cares about power and just happens to go along with the Sith Empire because they gain more from doing so? Or is Darth Nox a bitter, angry former slave who has been consumed by their rage and wants to hinder and destroy the Sith Empire from within out of spite for the way that they’ve been treated in the past?
- When it comes to their relationship with Ashara (regardless of if it’s healthy or not), they, like their light side and neutral counterparts Darth Imperius or Darth Occlus, end up going along with Ashara to reform the Sith Empire from within. However, since Nox is far more brutal, evil and merciless than Occlus or Imperius, this ends up coming across as an Out-of-Character Moment for them, since a dark side Inquisitor shows multiple times in the story that they don’t really care about the good of the Empire and are only looking out for themselves. This raises the question: Did Ashara’s influence convince Darth Nox to change their ways to become a better person and does Nox genuinely want to help Ashara make the Empire a better place? Or is Darth Nox just pretending to go along with Ashara’s plans by telling her what she wants to hear so that they can manipulate her and corrupt her, not unlike what Palpatine did with Anakin in the prequel trilogy movies? The latter is especially notable when you take into account that a), Ashara has a lot in common with Anakin, and b), the Sith Inquisitor class archetype (especially the sorcerer sub-class) is heavily based on prequel era sith lords like Palpatine, Maul and Dooku.
- Darth Occlus, the neutral Sith Inquisitor:
- Does Occlus deliberately choose to be neutral because they want to keep their intentions as clouded and mysterious to other people as possible? Or do they do it because they simply enjoy screwing with people by watching them try and fail to figure out their true intentions? Alternatively, is it possible that they’re neutral because they’re constantly torn by choosing between the light and dark side and can’t decide which side of the force they want to side with?
- Like with their light side counterpart Darth Imperius, can Darth Occlus even be considered a sith? If Occlus can be interpreted as either a Wild Card,
Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Neutral Sith who frequently alternates between the light and dark side to suit their whims, would that make them, for lack of a better term, a Gray Sith?
- Imperial Agent: Do you believe My Country, Right or Wrong, serving the Empire despite its lack of competent leadership, fascist policies, and brutal racism? Are you a Wild Card who grows weary of your government's policies and just wants to stop the network of terrorists trying to destroy both major powers? What kind of a Wild Card do you even want to be, for that matter? Someone who keeps to the shadows and swears allegiance to no one? Someone who knowingly aids and abets the biggest terrorist of them all because you're tempted by their vision and promises of power? A deep cover agent for the SIS (Republic Intelligence)? A person who has seen way too much and wants out, no matter who gets double-crossed? A Punch-Clock Villain who is just doing a job they happen to be good at?
- Smuggler: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything? A freelance business person trying to run as honest a ship as they can under the circumstances? A bloodthirsty pirate profiting off a galaxy-wide war? A privateer happy to help their Republic in a time of need for a share of the goodies? A crime boss in training? Loyal to the crew, but hang everyone else?
- A light-sided smuggler can be interpreted as a Wide-Eyed Idealist that should have gone broke and starved to death a long time ago. Despite the title, he/she may rarely engage in any actual smuggling, and actively turn down opportunities to make money by refusing to deal in drugs or participate in actions that will harm the Republic's war effort. One of your companions, Risha, will outright call you on this, accusing you of being a thief that doesn't steal, and ask if you actually have any plans about what you are doing with your life. Alternatively, the light-sided Smuggler could be described as a privateer (think pirates on government payroll), and while pirates typically ended their careers at the end of a rope, a privateer could end his with a big plantation and a title of minor nobility! The Smuggler actually does carry a privateer's license from act 2 onwards. Or they could be just an independent merchant trying to run as honest a business as they can under the circumstances. Alternatively, they could be a thrillseeker, traveling around the galaxy looking for the next adrenaline rush and just earning enough money to keep up the lifestyle.
- A Smuggler, if played as a Twi'lek, could be someone who has been railroaded by species stereotypes into a criminal lifestyle. They can even point out to Corso that they nominally work for the Republic because while they aren't treated very well by the Republic, the Empire would be much worse for them, so they play ball out of self preservation.
- A light-sided Bounty Hunter could just not care for the Empire at all and is only involved with them because it's good for business. A light-sided Hunter (especially an alien Hunter, that gets treated like garbage from the Imps anyway) also can be played as cheerfully sabotaging the Imperials right and left and being paid to do it. The fact you can take the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic up on a deal and effectively switch sides helps.
- Jedi Consular:
- A light-sided Jedi Consular can come across as sheltered and self-righteous, not to mention outright detached from reality, given their preaching Jedi dogma and aphorisms of peace and tolerance to starving refugees that just witnessed the killing of their families or desperate soldiers that are pinned down by heavy enemy fire.
- A dark-sided Consular (especially the Shadow sub-class) can come off as a merciless Knight Templar who is the Order's executioner and "cleanup crew", or a Chessmaster who subtly makes the galactic situation worse in order to make them dependent on the Consular, allowing the Consular to influence the situation to their personal benefit ala Darth Traya.
Non-Player Characters
- Darth Ravage and Darth Marr during the end of the Sith Inquisitor storyline. When the Inquisitor takes Thanaton's place on the Dark Council, Darth Ravage will object, citing a mere Lord of the Sith cannot be on the Dark Council, while Darth Marr feels the Inquisitor has earned their place and names them a Darth on the spot. However, both Ravage's statement and Marr's reaction to said statement are a lot more demeaning and angrier, respectively, if the Inquisitor is female, implying that Ravage is looking down on the Inquisitor because she is a woman, while Marr knows this and is angrily defending her. It doesn't hurt that there appears to only be two other women on the Dark Council as it is,note and that it wouldn't be the first time a female PC encountered sexism from other Imperials in the game, either: a male army officer on Quesh can potentially make some Stay in the Kitchen comments towards a female PC (the Inquisitor can shock him for it).
- Ki Sazen in the Imperial Agent's story arc. At first glance, she seems to be a crazed cult leader who manipulates her followers for her personal gain. However, depending on how you interpret her backstory, she can also be seen as yet another nonconformist Jedi Padawan that was hopelessly mishandled by her teachers, like Ashara and Jaesa. She saved a group of Nikto from a monster and they pledged themselves to her. The Jedi insisted that she send them away, despite that being an insult to the Nikto's honor (they consider themselves indebted along the lines of a Wookiee life-debt.) This is where she starts to deviate, and eventually break away, from the Jedi order. Through it all, she seems to genuinely care about the Nikto and is looking for a place for them to settle. You can Take a Third Option and have her join Republic SIS rather than killing her or recruiting her to either order, which becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when you find out that the head of the SIS cell you're infiltrating at the time is a failed Jedi himself.
- General Garza: According to Havoc Squad, she sent them out and then let left them to die on orders of the Senate. However, as part of the Trooper's storyline, she constantly sends you on missions that turn out to be ambushes because she is being outsmarted by her opponents. Can Havoc's experience be explained by incompetence rather than malice on Garza's part?
- Is the game's take on Revan a Well-Intentioned Extremist and The Unfettered who knows all too well how powerful Vitiate is, and is trying to stop a threat the player characters and their respective empires fail to understand, or nothing more than a useful idiot playing right into Vitiate's scheme and too deep fried by centuries of torture to see that he's being played? And if it's the latter, how long was he playing right into Vitiate's hands and too stupid or insane to realize it? Which would bring a whole new light to both Knights of the Old Republic games - he wasn't the grand genius everyone thought, but a foolhardy puppet who was on Kreia's leash, then Vitiate's, then the Jedi Council's (first game), and ended up as Vitiate's unwitting tool once again.
- Major Bessiker is a polite and friendly ally to the Sith Inquisitor, and at one point asks/"asks" you to rescue his son, who happens to be a sith as well. Said son is arrogant and ungrateful, calling his father a fool and non sith just "pawns in [our] game." If you do rescue him, Major Bessiker says he got a message from him saying to thank you. Is he acting nice to keep his father in the dark because he's useful to him, or does he truly love his father and was faking his attitude out of fear you (a fellow sith) might view him as weak and try and kill him or his father, (which a lot of sith would, to be fair).
