Character Analysis: The Exile

[I will go with the character and avatar as played in the game on this, Meera Surik, the ‘canon’ Legends character being another thing entirely. This analysis is not of the Revan novel material nor the TOR-era changes but purely the KOTOR II protagonist presented within their story]

On one side The Exile is a little dumb at times, limited with debate. On the other the personality of the player character within KOTOR II is more vibrant, insistent with standards, motivations, and dark jokes. Acceptance or rebuke in a strong way are there, and no blank slate personality railroads, less of a leash aside from linear progression as killing or sparing the Jedi masters is entirely at your discretion to openly hunt/quest.

In opposition to the earlier story of a great hero remembering the past, the idea of the monk becoming crusader succumbing to temptation and power, The Exile is a character defined by what is taken from them. What is a Jedi without The Force? What is an empowered individual and a spiritually attuned being when both power and spiritual favour are stripped from them? We see where Revan would be idolised and reviled, that this unnamed, ambiguous character alone following a way returned to face judgment. All that follows them is rebuke and disaster. In a fashion that certain horror games would also find interesting, the deliberate disempowerment of the protagonist, in making the player experience ridicule is placed to reassess, perhaps even make a person empathise with the way a character is written to endure distain.

From the perspective of this game, during our story or great moments, really there is much that occurred before. All of us, reasonably or not have our dissenters, have systems which distain us. We are not possessed of reputation, or wealth; and in the mass of billions of souls, who are we really?

I tire of the knight, the hero of the space opera failing or having retroactively failed everything; and were I invested in Disney or other franchises making it a habit of dismantling their heroes I would find it depressing. It’s in interesting display of a different time and artistic direction that The Exile, arguably and more easily played or ‘canonically’ considered an anti-hero (classical and modern), anti-villain or villain protagonist even despite the abrupt ending lives a more thoroughly heroic, influential, and even constructive life than Kenobi, Luke, Rey and those of the Disney cycle seemingly destined to be content in beautiful vistas with the memories of their failures and lack of lasting generational change towards the galaxy at large.

The Exile will be subsumed by the Revan myth, but the fact is, like the paramedic, the anonymous writer, or the historically obscured figure; in simply surviving and acting upon the interest they held onto an interest the world persists and therefore so do does The Exile. That there is a Jedi Order at all, that there is a Republic, or on the smaller scale that the HK50s, Sion, Nihilius, Kreia, Goto and other dangers were defeated is a significant victory that cannot be taken away.

Revan one could argue in spite of his/her charisma and power in truth actually failed at almost everything he did save for conquering the Mandalorians and defeating Malak; their greatest enemy and even the inherent flaws and corruption of his nature were never personally defeated. We cannot say the same of the Exile; who defeated The Sith Lords of the time, the Jedi Remnant (directly or philosophically by sparing them) and the greatest threat of his/herself embodied by Malachor V, fascinatingly even a Dark Side Exile must come to terms with their innermost terror and corruption, and in calling others even assume the mantle of a less egomaniacal Sith or Grey user delving into the Force in a way no other creative team developed (or honestly was likely going to develop given how thoroughly the Revan novel crushed that concept with its plot).

Why did you enjoy something? Usually it comes down to the sight of it, the rush, that it’s novel, and you want to do it again, or dream of doing it again. those are the basics for marketing, success, and relationships. Those personal enjoyments. The story of The Exile comes less from the polish of chivalry, and renown, and the entertainment alone of a space opera fantasy, but in its offer for a player to win riddles in the sense of classic sagas, or a writing-heavy game such as Planescape: Torment.

KOTOR II tries to give the perhaps more relatable catharsis of winning a confrontation with words. Suggesting that yes, we do blindly give and aid people, but some people are aware and sardonic of what the world asks them. Were we to choose a darker path, there is seeing that there is ill intent and darkness in everyone, and that some have much reasoning for their suffering, and it is never too late to remake oneself and that we can use the long years of learning and experience that we alone observe and choose to forget or bear as we see fit.

We all know deep down, that in reality we will have a handful, perhaps even fewer companions, true friends and allies there for us in our moments of doubt or when we achieve personal glory. Our companions will be hero and villain depending upon the observer, that we can wildly disparate skills, appearance and abilities, but band together for the sake of a shared person, or around the guiding light of an individual or a goal. One philosopher argued that we are the closest people to us in a sense, and the great ensemble cast, as a literal extension of the protagonist/player character also gives nuance and depth to The Exile. Some, like GOTO or Mandalore are direct repudiations and responses to the war and quest the previous entry left behind, others like Mira would only ever be part of The Exile’s story and never seen outside of it, as we may be in a dark time the only person there for a friend or colleague as they struggle with an enemy.

In the end, these fractious people become part of a band against the Sith. And then, it unites into two factions. Kreia, The Exile’s master and enemy, against your ‘friends’, allies to whom you are the teacher, rather than the woman who has challenged and taught you. The Exile learns from the interesting place of public and private contempt, until their willpower and personal ability draws a kind of political or bodybuilder’s effect. To be well connected or well-loved is an irrelevant way of elevation to such an archetypical individual. Someone upon the margins of history, but fascinating to play, and intriguing to make ones’ own in the sense of sharing the quest and making a series of options while addressing the wider metanarrative of coming to terms with the past.

Reference:

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Obsidian Entertainment. 2004.