List of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic characters

Revan is a Sith Lord whose memory has been wiped and rewritten by the Jedi as a Republic soldier. Canonically, Revan is a male and follows the light-side path,[4] but the player may choose to make Revan female and/or follow the dark-side path.

The Jedi Exile, also known simply as the Exile, is the main protagonist and player character of the second game. The player may choose the gender and decide what path to take. Long after the game was published, the character was named officially as Meetra Surik: canonically, Surik is female and follows the light-side path.

Canderous Ordo, voiced by John Cygan, is a Mandalorian who appears in both the first game and in The Sith Lords. Ordo is a veteran Mandalorian warrior who joins the player's party in Knights of the Old Republic. After the game's conclusion, he becomes "Mandalore the Preserver", leader of the Mandalorians. Mandalore pledges himself and his warriors to the service of the Jedi Exile in The Sith Lords.

UGO Networks put Ordo among their top fifty Expanded Universe characters.[5]

T3-M4 is an astromech droid who appears in both games. It was constructed by a Twi'lek named Janice Nall of Taris for local crime lord, Davik Kang. The droid features code-breaking and computer "slicing" skills in addition to being able to mount armor and weapon upgrades. If the player attempts to talk to T3 it will simply communicate in a series of bleeps, similar to other astromech droids like R2-D2.

HK-47, voiced by Kristoffer Tabori, is an assassin droid owned by Revan, who appears in both of the games. In 2003 HK-47 won Computer Gaming World's "NPC of the Year" award,[6] and later won the category of "Original Game Character of the Year" in the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards.[7]

Carth Onasi, voiced by Raphael Sbarge, is a soldier and expert Republic pilot, and also the second character to become a party member in the first game (after Trask Ulgo who dies aboard the Endar Spire). He is a romance option for a female Revan. During the Mandalorian wars, Carth served under Admiral Saul Karath, who would become his mentor and, later, object of revenge. He met Revan while the two were fleeing the Endar Spire, following a Sith attack on the ship. Since then, he became a party member. It is revealed that Carth had a family on Telos who were killed by the Sith: his son Dustil later turns up as a Sith convert and the player has the option of killing him or opening his eyes. Carth will appear in the Star Forge if the player is a dark-sided Revan who has romanced him; Revan may either tell Bastila to finish him off, kill him herself, or (through a mod) kill Bastila to return to the light side and die aboard the Star Forge.

Carth Onasi was considered to have been replaced by Atton Rand in the second game by IGN's Hilary Goldstein.[8] A holorecording of Carth can be heard on the Harbinger by the protagonist of the second game, as well as a holorecording discussing the fate of Revan (if specific conditions are met) later in the game.

Shiela Lewis put Carth as the sixth "top male video game hotties".[9] Wes Felon from PC Gamer named Carth as the BioWare companion he loved to hate, calling him "the most self-righteous soldier in the galaxy", and an "uncool Han Solo". Fenlon commented "Carth's voice immediately made me angry. I'd recognize it anywhere, so as soon as he showed up disguised as Kaidan in Mass Effect, I knew that he'd be off the squad".[10]

Mission Vao, voiced by Catherine Taber, appears in Knights of the Old Republic. She is a fourteen-year-old Twi'lek and friends with Zaalbar. Mission joins the player's party after encountering her in the Undercity on Taris. In an interview with Comic Vine, Taber describes her character as "in the 'scoundrel' class so I really wanted to put some Han Solo in there. Her sarcasm, her defensiveness and her bravado, all have a bit of Han as their inspiration. And oh yeah, she also travels with a wookiee, but I didn’t have to add that part, the writers did it for me!"[11]

Mission is considered one of Bioware's 8 most memorable companions in a list published by Gamestm.[12] In 2017, App Trigger ranks Mission #9 in their list of the 10 Best BioWare Companions.[13]

Zaalbar is a character from Knights of the Old Republic. He is a Wookiee who is friends with Mission Vao and joins the player's party. Zaalbar is the brother to Chuundar, the leader of a tribe on their home planet Kashyyyk. When the player's party first lands on Kashyyyk, Zaalbar is referred to as "mad-claw". Through Zaalbar's and Chuundar's father, Freyyr, Revan learns why Zaalbar was banished from the tribe: Zaalbar learned that Chuundar was selling Wookiee slaves to Czerka Corporation, and attacked him with his bare claws, breaking a major Wookiee taboo; this led Freyyr to side with Chuundar and thus Zaalbar was exiled. When Revan and Freyyr confront Chuundar, Zaalbar (canonically) sides with Freyyr and Revan and in turn kills Chuundar, freeing the Wookiees and driving Czerka off the planet. He has a life-debt to Revan, which was bound when Revan assisted Mission Vao in saving Zaalbar from a group of Gammorrean slavers in the Undercity of Taris. (A dark-side alternative has Revan kill Freyyr, allowing Czerka's slave trade on Kashyyyk to continue: a dark-sided Revan can also order Zaalbar to kill Mission in order to fulfill his life-debt - this may cause Zaalbar to turn against Revan as well.)

Bastila Shan, voiced by Jennifer Hale, is a Jedi who appears in the first game. The first part of the game is spent rescuing her after the Endar Spire is destroyed. She is the Jedi who defeated Revan prior to the game's beginning and joins the player character's quest. Darth Malak captures her and seduces her to the dark side. The protagonist later confronts Bastila in a lightsaber duel and has the option of killing her or allowing her to live: a dark-side character makes her their apprentice, while a light-side character helps her redeem herself by helping the Republic fleet. Bastila also has a romance option if the player is a light-sided male. Canonically, she is redeemed from the dark side by Revan, and the two fall in love, marry and have a son. She also appears in the sequel. Two of her descendants, Satele Shan and her son Theron Shan appear in the MMO follow-up "Star Wars: The Old Republic".

Bastila was chosen by IGN as their 62nd favourite Star Wars character.[14]

Juhani, voiced by Courtenay Taylor, was once a padawan who believed she killed her master. She turned to the dark side and put a taint on the Grove on Dantooine where she meditated. She believed that after what she did the Jedi Council would not accept her back and that the dark side held greater power. Depending on which path the conversation is steered in by the player, Revan may either fight (and kill) her or redeem her and have her join the party to discover the location of the Star Forge.

Juhani is the first LGBTQ character in Star Wars media: in the original PC version of Knights of the Old Republic, she was a romance option for both male and female player characters, but in subsequent updates and in all other versions she is a romance option only for female characters.

Juhani was listed by UGO Networks as the 10th worst Star Wars Expanded Universe character, who said that while "Juhani isn't really good or bad per se. She's just utterly pointless" and that "she's almost a non-entity in the story. Her personality couldn't be more vanilla, her Jedi skills are inferior to others in your party... even the simple act of looking at Juhani provokes annoyance".[15]

Jolee Bindo, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, is a character in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Jolee is an old hermit living in the Shadowlands on the forest floor of Kashyyyk and a former Jedi Padawan. Bindo helps Revan bypass shield generators that lead deeper into the Shadowlands to find the Star Map and remains with Revan's party. After the main character gains experience, Jolee tells the tale of how he was once a smuggler, and through this met his wife. Against the wishes of the Jedi Council, he trained her in the way of the Force. She was then seduced to the dark side by Exar Kun, upon failing to convince Jolee to join Exar Kun as well, she drew her lightsaber on him. Jolee won the fight, but he was unable to bring himself to kill her. She escaped and went on to kill many Jedi. Jolee expected to be punished harshly for his mistakes, but the Council said he had learned his lesson the hard way, and even considered promoting him to knighthood. Disappointed with the Jedi’s decision, Jolee left the Order and started wandering the galaxy before crash landing on Kashyyyk, where he lived for 20 years until he met Revan.

Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer included Jolee Bindo in her list of best BioWare characters; she called him, "cranky old man who hacks the hell out of enemies is hard to top". According to Wallace, "he almost beats HK-47 for his power with sarcasm, as Jolee Bindo's self-ridicule is part of his charm.", and claims that he will perhaps never live down his infamous line, "I did it all for the Wookiees!"[16]

Atton Rand, voiced by Nicky Katt, is a character in The Sith Lords.[3][8] Atton is a human pilot, trained in Echani combat styles, that the main character meets on the asteroid mining station Peragus II. Atton fought in the Mandalorian Wars as well as the Jedi Civil War. He originally fought with the Republic, and when Revan won against the Mandalorians and became Darth Revan, Atton remained under his command and became a Jedi-hunter. He can become a Jedi Sentinel during the game.

Bao-Dur, voiced by Roger G. Smith, and the Remote are characters in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.[3][8]

Bao-Dur is a Zabrak from Iridonia, and a technician who fought under the command of the Jedi Exile during the Mandalorian Wars. Bao-Dur is the inventor of the Mass Shadow Generator that ended the battle on Malachor V by completely obliterating the Mandalorian Armada and inadvertently killing many Republic soldiers on his own side of the battle, leading to a great deal of guilt later in his life. The Exile (who much later befriended Bao-Dur) gave the command, which sent massive echoes in the Force throughout the galaxy. Bao-Dur is trainable as a Jedi Guardian.

Mical, also known as the Disciple, is a character in The Sith Lords voiced by Greg Ellis. He is a soldier and force-adept that was refused for training because of the Mandalorian Wars. He eventually tells the player character that he wishes the player to be his master. He is a playable character that joins the player's party on Dantooine if your character is female. The Disciple can be influenced by light side acts and can be trained as a Jedi Consular.

Mira, voiced by Emily Berry, appears in The Sith Lords. Mira lost her family during the Mandalorian Wars. By the end of the wars, the Galactic Republic was flooding with refugees, and many of them, including Mira, ended up in the refugee sector of Nar Shaddaa. To survive in the hostile environment, she became a bounty hunter with the sole purpose of earning credits. A rival bounty hunter, the Wookiee Hanharr, was employed to hunt her by an unknown person. Mira will join light-sided or neutral alignment (less than 25% towards light/dark mastery) players, and can become a Jedi Sentinel.

Hanharr is a Wookiee bounty hunter in The Sith Lords, and can play different roles within the game, depending on the alignment of the player character. Hanharr is encountered on the planet Nar Shaddaa, as is Mira, another bounty hunter. One of these will join the party of the Jedi Exile, as is determined by the personality of the player character. Light-side and neutral players are joined by Mira, dark-side players are joined by Hanharr.

Brianna, voiced by Grey DeLisle, is the "Last Handmaiden" on a Jedi Academy located on Telos IV in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. She initially does not reveal her name to the Exile; until she mentions her name late in the game, she is referred to as the Handmaiden. Brianna joins the party after leaving Telos on the Ebon Hawk if the player's character is male. Her training before joining the Exile's party makes her a skilled close quarter combatant and, after fulfilling certain combat and conversation requirements, she can be trained to become a Jedi Guardian or a Dark Jedi Guardian. It is revealed by Kreia that Brianna takes up Atris' role as the historian of the jedi.

Visas Marr appears in The Sith Lords. Initially an apprentice of Darth Nihilus, she eventually joins the player's character's party. Visas Marr is a Miraluka from the planet of Katarr, which was destroyed by Darth Nihilus when she was a child. While she is considered blind, she is able to see through the Force which allowed her to find the Jedi Exile. When she confronts the Exile, she loses and in turn becomes part of the Exile's party. Eventually the player confronts Nihilus with Visas, and fights him. The player may choose to have Visas sacrifice herself to weaken Nihilus.

Brian Menze designed the character, and drew on ninjas, the look of previous Sith Lords, and G.I. Joe character the Baroness in creating her concept art. As the character was mostly covered – only the lower half of her face is visible – Menze decided to make what was shown "as sexy as possible". Menze deviated from the usual black Sith Lords dressed in and instead added some color to soften her, based on the written description of the character.[17] Kelly Hu was chosen to voice the character. Voice directors Will Beckman and Darragh O'Farrell wanted someone "special" and "maybe a little sexy" to voice the part.[18] It was Hu's first role as a voice-actress, and she has said she enjoyed the role.[19]

G0-T0, voiced by Daran Norris, is a droid who appears in The Sith Lords. Built to oversee and aid in the planetary reconstruction of the planet Telos, its programming included two directives: produce options to rebuild the Republic and follow all the laws of the Republic. Sadly, all options G0-T0 could think of to assist the Republic would involve breaking a Republic law. Following this, the droid 'broke'; it overrode the second directive, and set up the greatest smuggling organization in the galaxy. Eventually the droid would be destroyed, but not before the organization had helped countless systems achieve prosperity.

Darth Malak, voiced by Rafael Ferrer, is the old Sith apprentice of Revan and is the main antagonist of the first game. Malak and Revan disobeyed the Jedi Council and helped the Republic defend against the Mandalorians. They fell to the dark side in pursuing the Mandalorians. Malak then betrays his master and usurps the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. However, Revan survives the attack, at the cost of his memory. Revan regains his power in the search for the Star Forge, and defeats Malak in the game's final battle. Jesse Schedeen of IGN put Malak, along with Revan, as their fifth favourite Star Wars villain, saying that "[v]isually, both Jedi are immediately memorable".[20] IGN also put Malak as their 28th top Star Wars character[14] and their 33rd favourite videogame villain.[21] GamePro's Hugh Sterbakov listed Darth Malak as 22nd most diabolical videogame villain of all time, saying he was "one of, if not the coolest expanded universe Star Wars character yet".[22] UGO Networks put the character as their 19th top Star Wars Expanded Universe character.[5] On GameSpot's "All-Time Greatest Villain" competition, Darth Malak managed to get into the top sixteen.[23] GameDaily's Robert Workman put Darth Malak as their 16th top evil mastermind of all time.[24] Robert Workman also listed Malak as one of his favourite Star Wars video game characters.[25]

Kreia, voiced by Sara Kestelman, is the teacher and mentor to the Jedi Exile in The Sith Lords.[8][26] Near the end of the game, she is revealed to have been Darth Traya, the Lord of Betrayal, all along. Her character received mixed reception since the game's publication, but is generally thought to be one of the most well developed backgrounds and characterizations. IGN chose her as the 81st top Star Wars character[14] and Kreia, along with the other Sith Lords, was put as the 2nd top Star Wars villain that was left out of the original list by Jesse Scheedeen based on reader's comments.[27] IGN's Hilary Goldstein said that "Kreia offers some truly fantastic dialogue in KOTOR 2".[8] GameSpy praised Kreia as "Best Character" in their "Game of the Year" awards for 2005, saying that "Kreia was easily the most intriguing, complicated, enigmatic, well-designed and nuanced character in a video game [in 2005]" and that she made "a trip full of heavy-duty thought a whole lot of fun".[28] Darth Traya is ranked 7th among Game Informer's "Top Ten Female Villains in Video Games" by Liz Lanier (issue #247, November 2013), saying that "Kreia is one of the few female Sith Lords of the Star Wars universe, but she represents women of the dark side relatively ruthlessly. She's also one of the few villains who still wants to kill the player's character even after an olive branch is extended... though she appreciates the offer."[29]

Darth Sion, voiced by Louis Mellis, is an antagonist in The Sith Lords. Darth Traya trained both Sion and Nihilus, who in turn betray her. He holds his ravaged body together with the dark-side of the Force. The player's character eventually defeats Sion, and upon doing so, can return him to the light before he dies. Sion, along with the other Sith Lords, was put as the 3rd top Star Wars villain left out of the original list based on reader's comments by IGN,[27] and was chosen by IGN as their 73rd favourite Star Wars character.[14]

Chris Avellone, lead designer of The Sith Lords, was inspired to create Sion by Tessai's death scene in Ninja Scroll.[30] In contrast to other characters, Sion's design took much longer to hone down. Brian Menze, creator of the concept art and in-game model, had difficulty finding a design that Avellone was satisfied with, and the two had many conversations on how he should appear.[30] It was planned that Sion would have small parts of him orbiting around him. Engine troubles, however, made that difficult, ultimately resulting in a character looking far more "human".[30] Voice directors Will Beckman and Darragh O'Farrell originally sought to hire someone with an English accent, rather than the Scottish one found in the game. Problems arose due to most English actors lacking deep voices, though afterwards they wished to avoid making Sion "too Scottish", wishing to avoid creating a caricature to American ears.[18] They called Sion's voice one of their favorites in The Sith Lords.[18]

Darth Nihilus appears in Knights of the Old Republic II as one of three Sith Lords featured in the game, and is the self-described Lord of Hunger. He imbued his dark soul into his mask and robes and had the power to drain the life force out of any living thing. Prior to the game's events, Darth Traya found and trained Nihilus on Malachor V. With Sion, Nihilus betrayed Traya and drove her into exile. Nihilus then used the might of the Sith Armada not to conquer planets, but to contain them so that he could "feed" off the Force energy of each planet's lifeforms, wiping planets of life. Nihilus is defeated in the game after being drawn out and tricked into launching an attack on Telos, believing it to contain the last Jedi. The Exile confronts Nihilus on his ship, and Nihilus is slain either after his former slave Visas sacrifices herself due to their shared link in the Force, or after his attempt to feast on the Exile's connection to the Force backfires and weakens him.

Nihilus was written so players would identify him less as a "human" and more a "force of nature"; Avellone described him as without personality beyond "just a feeling of hunger" due to having succumbed so far to the dark side. Avellone felt beating such a force seemed "more heroic" or "far more epic" than taking on an individual person.[31] The character's visual look was quick to define; Eurogamer describes him as "a concept created and greenlit in all of 15 minutes".[30] Character modeller and lead concept artist Brian Menze was asked to create a Sith Lord "based on" No-Face from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001).[32] One idea behind Nihilus's design was that there should be nothing behind the mask – representative of him being a void. A "pet peeve" of Avellone's is Nihilus art with him having a visible nose; Menze had drawn a nosed Nihilus for a magazine cover and Avellone had "let it go", to Menze's now regret.[30]

Nihilus went on to appear in the "Unseen, Unheard" story in the final issue of Star Wars Tales, which recounts his destruction of Visas's planet and his enslavement of her. Nihilus is mentioned in a few other stories in the original Star Wars Expanded Universe, and makes another, short appearance in Star Wars: Legacy. He was later introduced to the Galaxy of Heroes mobile game as a playable character in a 2017 update.[33]

Revan aside, Eurogamer's Robert Purchese described The Sith Lords' villains as "far more memorable" than those of the first game, and described Nihilus as the most recognisable of them.[30] Nihilus, along with the other Sith Lords, was put as the 2nd top Star Wars villain who didn't appear in an earlier list based on reader's comments by IGN's Jesse Schedeen, Schedeen commenting "[a]t the very least, Nihilus probably wins the award for coolest-looking Star Wars villain ever".[27] IGN also put the character as their 56th top Star Wars character.[14] Glixel listed him as one of twenty "awesome" Star Wars characters originating in games, and considered him "terrifying" and "more of a malevolent ghost than a typical self-serving Sith".[34] When developing the character Menze earned lasting prestige, stating: "That character has gone on to be bigger than the game we created, and I'm very thankful for that".[30]