Theron Shan

"Jedi Grand Master mom, Supreme Commander dad. Now we get why Theron’s so messed up."

- Teff'ith

Theron Shan was a Human male who worked as a spy for the Galactic Republic's premier intelligence agency, the Republic Strategic Information Service, during the Cold War and the Galactic War against the Sith Empire. The secret son of Jedi Knight Satele Shan and Captain Jace Malcom of the Republic Special Forces Division, Theron was born around the year 3666 BBY after his parents fought together in the Battle of Alderaan during the Great Galactic War. However, Shan's mother gave up her child to be raised by her former teacher, the Jedi Master Ngani Zho, and young Theron was trained as a Jedi throughout his childhood. When Zho realized that Shan possessed none of his mother's strength in the Force, the youth was forced to leave the Jedi Order. Shan eventually began working for the Strategic Information Service, and he had become one of SIS Director Marcus Trant's top field agents by the later years of the Cold War.

Early life
"You are going to raise him. You should choose his name.''" "You're his mother. His name should come from you." "''Theron. His name is Theron."

- Satele Shan and Ngani Zho

Theron Shan was born to two heroes of the Galactic Republic during the Great Galactic War with the Sith Empire: Jedi Knight Satele Shan, descendant of the famous Jedi Bastila Shan and Revan, and Captain Jace Malcom, the commander of the Republic Special Forces unit Havoc Squad. Both Shan and Malcom participated in the Battle of Alderaan in 3667 BBY, with Shan saving the Republic trooper from execution and teaming up with him to defeat the Sith Lord Darth Malgus. The two had already met previously at the beginning of the war in 3681 BBY, when they were two of the few survivors of the Battle of Korriban, and after the battle Shan and Malcom confessed their feelings to each and conceived a child. Shan would participate in the Battle of Rhen Var not long afterwards, but as her pregnancy continued she was forced to seek help from her former teacher, Jedi Master Ngani Zho.

Zho informed the Jedi High Council and the leaders of the Republic Military that he sent Shan on a vital mission, while in reality she remained hidden on a remote world so that she could give birth to her child in peace. Fighting her maternal instincts, Shan decided to leave the baby in Zho's care so that she continue serving as a Jedi, and named the infant boy Theron. Zho raised the child from birth as a Jedi initiate, though he eventually realized that despite his efforts the boy was not Force-sensitive. After Shan failed to complete a meditation exercise while the two were on the temple world of Haashimut, Zho informed Shan that his apprenticeship with the Jedi Master was at an end. Shan was ordered to travel to the nearby Jedi enclave, where he would be welcomed as a Jedi Padawan&mdash;but Shan barely completed the journey, collapsing at the enclave's gates. He was nursed back to health by the Jedi there, but the Kel Dor Master Till'in was forced to inform Shan after he was well-rested that the boy could not remain a member of the Order.

As he could not progress within the Order, Shan began working for the Republic Strategic Information Service on Coruscant; during his career, his superior assigned him to discover any slaving rings selling to the Sith Empire. He interrupted a meeting involving Black Sun and captured a female Twi'lek named Teff'ith.

Reunion with Master Zho
Sometime later, Shan was called upon to find Master Ngani Zho, the Jedi who trained his mother, having turned up near Imperial space and ideal for the Republic to get an insight into the Empire. Shan accepted the mission, dragging Teff'ith along with him.

Shan found Ngani Zho on Taris, where the old Master told the young spy of his lonely fight with the Dark Councilor and Sith scientist Darth Mekhis and after the two came under assault of the Darth Mekhis' Sith Knights, they managed to escape only with the help of Teff'ith.

As soon as they were safe in space, Shan demanded to know why Zho's lightsaber failed to ignite, having witnessed it on the surveillance. Zho defended that he wanted to see his student's skills, before demanding that they head for the Vesla system, where he claims is where Mekhis is constructing weapons. When the Jedi tried reaching for the ship controls, Shan stunned him. Teff'ith comments that with Jedi like Zho, the Republic would be in trouble if it comes to war.

Once Zho regained consciousness and maintained a more calm demeanor, Shan contacted the Director and told him his plan to perform reconnaissance in Vesla. But first, Shan stopped at Port Nowhere to steal astrogation charts on Vesla. As soon as they arrive at Vesla and start setting up surveillance equipment, in the middle of the night, they were attacked by the local predators. In the morning, Shan surveyed Vesla Two, finding that its geography had been altered beyond recognition, and Vesla Three was practically torn apart. Shan then noticed a giant machine built around Vesla's sun. Shan realized that they must report to the SIS to figure out what to do, but Zho insisted that they stop Mekhis, stating that Jedi take action; Shan retorted that he was no Jedi. Unfortunately, they were caught by an Imperial patrol and detained.

Darth Mekhis' superweapons
"Darth Mekhis! Take a close look before you kill me. My name is Theron Shan."

- Theron to Darth Mekhis

After Shan was identified as SIS the Imperials decided to grant him the privilege of witnessing Mekhis' work. As the Imperials explained, they had constructed a Sun Razer to leech matter and energy from a star to construct superweapons in half the time required to ordinarily need to construct them.

The Imperials then offered Shan the chance to defect from the Republic, promising that his talents would be acknowledged by both Imperial Intelligence and Sith alike. Shan refused their offer, resulting in a rifle-butt to the back of the head. Shan was then moved to the same interrogation room Zho was. As Zho began begging Shan for forgiveness the SIS agent admitted that he had rebooted his cybernetics and gained access to prison security which would enable them to escape and rendezvous with Teff'ith, who was in hiding on their ship. While travelling in the facilities vents to reach their ship, Shan realized that they couldn't afford to allow Mekhis' Sun Razer to be completed and thus that they could not pass up the opportunity to destroy it.

As they discuss a strategy to sabotage the Sun Razer before escaping, Zho passed Shan a lightsaber, claiming it to be his inheritance. The latter tried refusing, as he's no Jedi. Nonetheless, Zho pressed the weapon into his hands.

While Zho and Teff'ith provided a distraction, Shan confronted Mekhis but was subdued by the Sith Knights. With a blaster pointed at his head, Shan confesses his identity to Mekhis. Incensed, the Dark Lord walked up to him, declaring that he's no Jedi. Shan was then able to take her surprise with one of his toxins before escaping his captors. He then deactivated the Sun Razer's heat shields and escaped before the station was consumed. However, Teff'ith put a blaster to his head but agreed to part ways since Zho, who died saving her, liked him.

Meeting a Grand Master
"You said your name was-''" "Classified." "I see. Is there... anything else you want to tell me?" "''Not anymore. It's been an honor, Grand Master Satele Shan."

- Satele Shan and Theron

Back on Coruscant, Shan met with the Director, who confirmed that Mekhis was still missing, though her superweapons were still out there. The Director feared that this would start another war, though Shan stated that they could not just stand and watch. He then passed the Director information on the Gauntlet superweapon, before heading to Tython to inform his mother of her Master's passing, though he did not reveal his identity to her.

The Ascendant Spear
In 3640 BBY Theron Shan went to Nar Shaddaa to talk with Morbo the Hutt, who decided to have Teff'ith and her crew killed for violating his terms of spice smuggling in his territory. Before talking with Morbo, Theron interrupted a 3 month long SIS operation to free several Republic Military prisoners of war sold by Morbo. Though Theron freed the soldiers, the SIS operation failed. Unable to convince Morbo to back off, Theron raced to the spaceport and arrived in time to help Teff'ith kill the thugs sent by Morbo. On Coruscant Theron was escorted to SIS headquarters and chewed out by Trant for disobeying orders and causing the mission to fail. Trant reassigned Theron to the Analytics Department as a punishment and asked Theron to assist in planning Operation End Game, a new mission to destroy the Ascendant Spear, a dangerous prototype Imperial battle cruiser under the command of Darth Karrid, a Falleen Sith Lord.

Theron was chosen by Supreme Commander Malcom to lead the operation, with Jedi Master Gnost-Dural joining the group. After the meeting, Malcom invited Theron to his apartment. During the conversation, Malcom revealed he was in a relationship with Satele Shan and that Theron's birth date confirmed to Malcom that he was Theron's father. The two agreed to talk more later and parted on good terms. Theron and Master Gnost-Dural left for Ziost, where they were able to secure a black cipher from Minister Davidge's office. After the mission Theron went to see his mother and confronted her about not revealing his father's identity.

Theron and Master Gnost-Dural left for Desevro's Jigani Port where Gorvich gave Theron a disguise to enter Reaver Station, an Imperial post where Theron intended to infiltrate the Ascendant Spear. However, he learned that the Empire attacked Ruan causing massive devastation and contacted Malcom and Trant who acknowledged they knew the attack was coming and the next attack will be to Duro. They planned on allowing the attack to go ahead since Ascendant Spear will not be there. Angered, Theron hatched a plan with Gnost-Dural to have the Ascendant Spear take part in the attack forcing Malcom and Trant to send a fleet. Gnost-Dural, aiming to force Karrid to take part in the attack, infiltrated the Ascendant Spear and intentionally let himself be defeated and taken alive. Theron meanwhile set off a simulated Republic attack. The confusion allowed Theron to also get on to the Ascendant Spear where he began scouting the ship and hacking into the systems.

Karrid decided to head for Duro, while Satele and Teff'ith convinced Malcom to send a fleet to Duro to intercept the Ascendant Spear. The Ascendant Spear faced off against the Republic fleet just as Theron had started to slice the Ascendant Spear's systems, forcing targeting systems, shields, and sensors go awry or completely offline. Theron then freed Gnost-Dural and both made their way to Karrid's command pod. Karrid's three apprentices attacked Gnost-Dural as Theron sliced in to convince the ship it was damaged causing Karrid to leave her command pod. The Republic fleet began to tear the Ascendant Spear apart and Moff Lorman gave the order to abandon ship. Karrid made a run for the command pod, but Theron threw is ruined blaster inside, which exploded, killing Karrid. The two were able to get into Karrid's personal escape pod, moments before the Ascendant Spear was vaporized by a hyper matter explosion. For their actions Gnost-Dural, Teff'ith, and Theron wereawarded the Cross of Glory.

The Revanite Conspiracy
Theron Shan helped plan the Korriban Incursion in 3640 BBY in order to retrieve strategic data to turn the tide of the war. After the Assault on Tython, which coincided with their assault on Korriban, Theron became suspicious of a conspiracy involving Colonel Rian Darok and Darth Arkous. Theron spied on Darok and updated a Republic ally on his suspicious behavior, noting that he didn't turn over the intelligence to the SIS.

Theron later come into contact with Lana Beniko, Arkous' adviser, who too suspected that her superior was up to no good. They determined that the attacks were smash-and-grabs meant to recover Rakata technology. They dispatched a strike team to Manaan, where they besieged an underwater base where Arkous and Darok were creating invincible cyborg supersoldiers. However, the two conspirators managed to escape with their research and scuttled the base, leaving the team to die. Theron managed to help the strike team escape before the base reached crush depth. Once they rendezvoused with Lana, the Sith revealed that Arkous and Darok were members of the Order of Revan. They then joined by Jakarro, a Wookiee smuggler, and his droid C2-D4, who were imprisoned by the Revanites after delivering their medical supplies, wanting revenge against the two men. Theron agreed to work with him to track down the Revanites.

After aiding the pursurers in tracking down Arkous and Darok to Lehon (then called "Rakata Prime"), Theron had hoped for the capture of the two Revanite leaders to learn more of their plans; however, both refused to submit and were killed as a result. It was then that the real Revanite leader was revealed to be none other than Revan himself. Escaping from Rakata Prime, Theron met with Lana, Jakarro, and their ally one last time on Manaan, where he revealed that he was decried as a rogue agent to be apprehended on sight (as opposed to the others, who received death sentences - twelve, in Jakarro's case), believing that the Director had managed to grant him the "lesser" punishment. However, in order to avoid being located by the Revanites, he, Lana and Jakarro were forced to go into hiding, leaving their ally to deal with hunting down Revan and his followers.

Eventually, the trio discovered that the Revanites allied themselves with the Nova Blades pirate gang, based out on Rishi, the latter being assigned to target Imperial and Republic patrol routes, effectively rewriting hyperlanes. In order to bring their ally to Rishi without letting the Revanites know they're onto them, Theron remotely sliced their navicomputers so that Rishi would be their only destination, while Lana made contact with Corellian Run Scoundrels leaders, Kai Zykken, and used a mind trick on him to spread rumours that their ally was part of an upstart pirate gang. Once reunited, Theron and Lana sent their ally to attack the Nova Blades' operations and slave camp, threatening their alliance with the Revanites. Knowing they would have to get whatever intel the Nova Blades had on the Revanites before they severed all ties, their ally assaulted the Blades' base in the crashed Aggressor, killing Commodore Dael Margok and recovered valuable intel. While Theron got to slicing the Nova Blade's files, Lana sent their ally to meet with Shae Vizla, whose Mandalorian clan was formerly allied with the Blades and Revanites, to acquire more information.

While their ally was gone, Lana discovered the location of a Revanite safehouse, which she, Theron and Jakarro attempted to infiltrate. Unfortunately, Theron was discovered and though Jakarro could've saved him, Lana held him back and allowed Theron to be captured, believing it was the best way to infiltrate the Revanites. Theron was then moved to Sky Ridge Island for interrogation, but he managed to escape, the same time as his ally stormed the base in search of him. Finding his ally in holoconference with Revan, Theron revealed his ancestor's plan; with the Imperial and Republic fleets rerouted to Rishi, the signal jammer built by the Nova Blades on the planet would prevent the fleets from coordinating while Revanite sleeper agents on both sides would commit sabotage so the Revanite fleet could wipe them out. With his plan exposed, Revan triggered his base's self-destruct to kill his enemies. Thankfully, Lana managed to slice and abort the sequence, with skill greater than Theron.

Theron then got to work on slicing the Revanites files, which identified the sleeper agents in both Republic and Empire, while his ally performed a ground assault on the signal jammer, enabling them to make contact with the fleet commanders, Satele Shan and Darth Marr and expose the double agents for detainment. Both sides declared a temporary truce until Revan was dealt with. Theron then revealed that Revan had fled to Yavin 4 to resurrect the Sith Emperor so he could destroy him. After the fleet commanders had left the room, Theron confronted Lana for her betrayal. Though they both agreed to put aside their differences to focus on the Revanites, Theron had lost all trust in Lana.

Yavin Coalition
On Yavin 4, despite having a common foe, the rank-and-file troops were having trouble trusting each other. It was only due to the efforts of Theron's ally that the coalition forces banded together and destroyed the device that would've resurrected the Emperor. Theron later became part of the strike team composed of the coalition's greatest heroes that confronted and defeated Revan. Unfortunately, their conflict had incidentally awakened the Emperor, who departed the moon without taking a physical form.

With the threat of the Emperor let loose on the galaxy and the truce between Republic and Empire over, Theron was reinstated into the SIS with a higher position.

Behind the scenes
Theron Shan was first indirectly mentioned in an article in The Holonet section of the Star Wars: The Old Republic website, which included the phrase "a secret son" written in Aurebesh. His name was later revealed in the 124th issue of the magazine Star Wars Insider, and first appeared in the 2011 comic series Star Wars: The Old Republic—The Lost Suns. Shan also appeared in the novel The Old Republic: Annihilation.

Drew Karpyshyn, author of Annihilation, responded to a question via Twitter that Theron Shan was 30 during the events of the novel, meaning that Shan was born in 3670 BBY. However, the novel itself stated that Shan was conceived after the Battle of Alderaan, which occurred in 3667 BBY.

Republic male and female players have the option of flirting with Theron after the Tython/Korriban flashpoints and Imperial male and female players have the same option after the Manaan flashpoint.

Empire male and female players also have the option to flirt with and kiss Theron at the closing of Shadow of Revan.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic—The Lost Suns
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * The Old Republic: Annihilation
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan