I am nearly off the meandering path of chronology I had to take, back-logging and considering times in earlier Star Wars history, to lead me back to the well trodden path of the Star Wars saga. This post today will be the last post before my regarding of the KOTOR video game, and before I get back to following Star Wars record in its proper chronological order.
With the coming release of the Star Wars ‘The Old Republic’ MMO due out in spring of 2011, Bioware, the company responsible for KOTOR parts 1 and 2, has been providing for fans on their website, http://www.swtor.com/, timelines leading up to the events of The Old Republic video game. These timelines have been, by far, some of the most interesting pieces of Star Wars history to engage with.
A few years ago I had to commute over an hour to work, and for a long time all I did during my commute was listen to the radio. I eventually got sick of all the nonsense of radio talk show hosts. For Christmas that year my wife got me an ipod, so I decided to put my ipod to work. I headed to my public library, and checked out some books on CD. I then went home, copied the CDs to my hard drive and transferred them to my ipod. So now on my way to work I was able to listen to a book on CD, without spending any money. One of my favorite things to listen to was a series of lectures called The Modern Scholar series. A few I enjoyed the most were: Eternal Chalice: The Grail in Literature and Legend, by Monica Potkay, and Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature, by Michael D.C. Drout. While I was listening to one of my Modern Scholar lectures, I got the idea of doing one of these, but in the vein of Star Wars. I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be neat if a Jedi Master were to narrate a lecture series like this, and comment on eras in Star Wars history like the Sith War and the Jedi Civil War? Well, my musing came true, as the timelines by the developers of The Old Republic are basically lecture series by a Jedi Master.
In these timelines, Jedi Master Gnost-Dural explains his role as keeper of the Jedi archives, and the task before him: “Greetings, I am Master Gnost Dural, keeper of the Jedi archives. The Jedi council request I perform a daunting task: to revise the Order’s historical records, in light of new revelations about the formation of the Sith Empire. Specifically I am to trace the conflict between the Empire and the Republic, the Sith and the Jedi, to uncover the roots of this struggle which now plagues us…” (Timeline #1,) http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/timeline
The voice acting for Master Gnost-Dural in these pieces is brilliant.
So far there have been 8 timelines, and they are measured in time with the denotation BTC and ATC, which mean, Before the Treaty of Coruscant, and After the Treaty of Coruscant. Though Joe Bongiorno has not placed timeline # 8 in his chronological record, BTC 303, which is the listed date of timeline number 8, can be equated with 3962-3961 BBY, sometime after the KOTOR comic series ended, and before the chronological record of Iridonian Darkness.
Some very interesting facts come to light in timeline #8, the most notable being that both Darth Revan and Darth Malak were working as agents for a Sith emperor, and not of their own accord. Master Gnost –Dural’s premise is that the Sith Empire, hidden in deep space, and unknown to the Republic, under the leadership of an enigmatic Sith emperor, began laying the groundwork of their invasion of Republic space as far back as 3962 BBY. It is Master Gnost-Dural’s claim that the Jedi heroes of the Mandalorian war, Revan and Malak, were seduced by the Sith emperor to the darkside of the force, who then sent them ahead into republic space as Sith agents to begin laying the foundation of a Sith invasion fleet. To do this he gave them the information on how to recover the Star Forge, and incredibly powerful weapon which can basically produces an endless amount of warships and weaponry.
Once Darth Revan and Darth Malak recovered the Star Forge, and being Sith, each began to plot their own schemes of Galactic domination, and before long Malak turned on Revan, which then lead to the events of Iridonian Darkness, and the re-conversion of Darth Revan to the Light.
This makes sense to me, as from a chronological perspective, I remember being very bewildered moving from the end of the KOTOR comic series, to Iridonian Darkness. ( see my post on Iridonian Darkness here). From the ending of the KOTOR comic series, to Iridonain Darkness, Revan and Malak make the transition from heroes to villains with no explanation provided. Timeline 8 fills in those gaps.
After this bit of important historical information is revealed, Master Gnost-Dural basically surmises the events of the Jedi Civil war, and the events of the KOTOR video game.
Looking at the timeline provided by The Old Republic, it seems there are still eleven more to come, each spreading further and further back into Star Wars history. I can’t wait to engage with them! They are most fascinating pieces of Star Wars history.
My next post will be on my reactions to the KOTOR video game, and a post that may take me a few days for me to type up (I have it in handwritten rough draft form right now). Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.
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