Back in March I covered the Xim material that was released through Hyperspace on the starwars.com website. When I examined the Xim material, I was blown away by its originality, uniqueness of genre, writing style, and its overall level of meticulous detail. It was obviously written by someone who loves the Star Wars universe.
Today, I am willing to say the exact same thing about the Galactic timelines provided by swtor.com. They are produced by persons with an obvious love of this universe. These short 4-6 minute vignettes of Star Wars history are by far some of the most entertaining pieces of Star Wars story I have come across. They encompass a plethora of genres in their telling: part academic history, part short story, part comic book, part movie. All these elements of Star Wars story-telling are rolled into these timeline updates.
As I already recounted in my reaction to timeline #8, The Jedi Civil War, these academic histories are working their way backwards into Star Wars lore. The Jedi Civil War timeline was the most jaw dropping one I’ve seen, and I can’t wait to learn about how far back the Sith emperor’s plans reached into Republic history, or what other events he or she was responsible for. In Timeline #7, Peace for the Republic, we learn how the Sith emperor infiltrated the Republic and the Jedi order, and destroyed any possible threats to his or her reign.
It is important to note that from a chronological perspective, we’ve moved ahead 195 years in Star Wars history. This is a significant shift in time. Much has happened, and much could have happened to the Republic and the Jedi order in this time.
Peace for the Republic focus’ on two Jedi: a padawan by the name of Eison Gynt, and his Master Barel Ovair, a venerated Jedi scholar. Briefly summarizing the plot, Eison Gynt was a 4th generation padawan of promising quality, and he was paired with a Jedi master of equal pedigree; himself a multi-generational Jedi. It’s important to see in this chronicle how the significant passage of time has deeply affected the Jedi Order; I’ll comment more on this a little later.
The Master and Padawan made a daring trek to Yavin four to explore the burial grounds of Naga Sadow. Their venture did not go well, as only Master Ovair made it off the planet alive, and returned to the Jedi temple on Coruscant half dead and half crazy. After some passage of time, his Padawan, Gynt, once thought dead but very much alive, made his way back to Coruscant and challenged his Master to a duel in broad daylight. Ovair was successful in slaying Gynt, and Ovair was hailed a hero by the Jedi Order.
What Jedi Master Gnost-Dural uncovered in this bit of history, was that Ovair was a Sith infiltrator, as were his father, grandfather, and other progenitors. Ovair’s mission to Yavin four was to destroy the Sith spirit of Naga Sadow on behalf of the Sith emperor. In slaying Gynt, Ovair completed his mission, and took out for the emperor a possible rival for his power.
Two important elements jump out at me in this story: the first being the long amount of peace that followed the events of the second Sith war, and the mention of generational Jedi.
In this long time period, the Republic was able to recover from the events of the Second Sith war. More interesting, however, was Master Gnost-Dural’s comments regarding the Sith empire: “For the Sith empire however, these centuries were marked by a rapid acceleration in the preparations for war. An effort in which the Sith showed surprising co-operation and sacrifice”. Lines like this kind of blow me away, because, again, Like Yaru Korsin in the fourth Lost Tribe of the Sith series, the Sith must work against the fundamental philosophies propping up their empire in order for it succeed. Mustn’t there be, at some point amongst the co-operation, Sith who realize how much better co-operation is? I think I understand the workings of the Sith empire now better than before, but there are times where I wonder how an organization like this can operate.
The second point of interest I want to comment on is a topic that has intrigued me since the beginning of my investigation into Star Wars history: married Jedi. It seems that after the second Sith war, the prohibition on Jedi marriage was put aside by the Jedi High Council. This makes sense as only a handful Jedi survived the council of Katarr and the battle of Malachor V. In order for the Jedi Order to move successfully into the next generation, the remaining Jedi must have necessarily married and produced offspring. This is of course verified by the mention of 4th generation Jedi such as Gynt and Ovair. I wonder, if in 3756 BBY, marriage is still an option for Jedi, or if its prohibited once again, or if there is simply a tacit understanding of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’. Interesting questions I think indeed.
For my next post I’ll be examining the sixth timeline in the series, Onslaught of the Sith Empire. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.
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