Lux Bonteri/Legends

"Before the war, I was always told Jedi were good.''" "And now?" "''I don't know anymore. There are a lot of terrible things happening&hellip;a lot of killing. And now my friends are saying the Jedi are to blame."

- Lux Bonteri and Ahsoka Tano

Lux Bonteri was a Human male who worked in support of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Although his family was originally loyal to the Galactic Republic, they sided with the Confederacy following its establishment in 24 BBY. After his mother, Mina Bonteri, became a prominent senator in the Separatist Congress, Bonteri moved with his parents to the Separatist capital of Raxus. Reaching adolescence in a time of war, Bonteri took on many idealistic views and hoped, like his mother, for a peaceful resolution to the devastating conflict. However, his father, a military officer for the Confederacy, was killed by clone troopers from the Grand Army of the Republic during a battle on Aargonar. Over a year into the war, Bonteri's views on the Republic and the Jedi Order were significantly tested after he personally met a Jedi, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, for the first time, but he also lost his mother shortly thereafter in a Republic attack.

Biography
"Well, I mean, you think we're all the bad guys. But how many of us have you actually met? And droids don't count.''" "Well, other than military officers like Grievous and Ventress&hellip;none, I guess. You and your mother are the first." "''Well, look at me. Am I so bad?"

- Lux Bonteri and Ahsoka Tano, in a discussion of perspectives

A Human male, Lux Bonteri was born to Mina Bonteri and her husband in the years preceding the galaxy-wide Clone Wars. Bonteri's mother, a prominent and experienced politician in the Galactic Republic, acted as a mentor to Padmé Amidala, an aspiring politician growing up on the planet Naboo. Bonteri became acquainted with Amidala during his early life, though his high-standing family's life itself was to soon change. When the former Jedi Master Count Dooku formed the separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems in 24 BBY in opposition to a Republic that was widely seen as increasingly corrupt, Bonteri's family was among those who joined the Separatists. They were subsequently distanced from Amidala, who had become a representative of the Republic Senate. Bonteri's mother became a distinguished senator in the Separatist Congress, which was headquartered on the Separatist capital of Raxus, and their family consequently moved to a large estate in a city on their new homeworld of Raxus.

Following the outbreak of full-scale conflict between the Confederacy and the Republic in 22 BBY, Bonteri was forced to grow up in a time of war. Though he made several friends, his original views on the Republic and the Jedi Knights who served it were challenged. After his father, who worked as a military officer for the Confederacy's armed forces, was killed in battle by the Grand Army of the Republic's clone troopers while setting up a base on the planet Aargonar, Bonteri became increasingly withdrawn, to his mother's concern. Around 21 BBY, as the Clone Wars continued to claim countless lives throughout the galaxy, Bonteri and his mother hosted an old friend at their home: Amidala, who sought an audience with her former mentor. Although the Republic Senate had outlawed contact with the Separatists to avoid allotting them any legitimization, Amidala hoped, with the help of Bonteri's mother, to promote a peace accord between the two governments, as the Republic Senator believed that the war had already consumed enough lives, whether militant or civilian.

Accompanying Amidala to the Bonteri family estate was Ahsoka Tano, a Jedi Padawan of Bonteri's age who hoped to gain greater insight into the nature of the ongoing conflict. Although Bonteri had heard mixed perspectives about the Jedi, Tano was the first one he met in person, and they both played a key role in making the other reconsider his or her outlook on the war. While his mother explored with Amidala the possibility of Republic–Confederate peace negotiations, Bonteri had a discussion with Tano in the estate's private garden. Though Bonteri was initially hesitant to admit to his biased view of the Jedi and the Republic, he also questioned Tano's equally contained view of the Separatists; Bonteri and his mother were the first Separatist civilians whom Tano had met in person. From their conversation, Bonteri and Tano realized, respectively, that the Jedi and the Confederacy were not quite what they had been led to believe, and they grew in understanding of each others' positions. They quickly became friends despite being on opposite sides of the war.

At a following session of the Separatist Congress, Bonteri's mother introduced a motion to open peace negotiations with the Republic, and she was able to win enough support from her colleagues to ratify the measure. Their work on Raxus done, Amidala and Tano prepared to return to the Republic capital world, Coruscant. Bonteri and his mother saw them off from a spaceport on Raxus, sharing their friends' hope that the Republic would subsequently vote to begin negotiations with the Separatists. However, the peace proposal was defeated in the Republic Senate when Count Dooku, secretly a Sith apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, organized a Separatist bombing of Coruscant's power generator, ensuring that the war would continue to serve its purpose for the Order of the Sith Lords. Shortly thereafter, Bonteri's mother was killed, leaving him an orphan. While Republic spies concluded that Dooku himself had ordered the death of Bonteri's mother to sabotage the peace process, Dooku publicly attributed her death to a Republic attack.

Personality and traits
"Look at me. Not so bad, am I?''" "No, not bad at all." "Ugh. Well, it seems boys are the same whether they're Republic or'' Separatist."

- Ahsoka Tano and Lux Bonteri

A fair-skinned Human male, Lux Bonteri stood almost two meters tall, and he had brown hair and green eyes. Being the son of a well-known politician in a high-standing political family, he dressed formally, even for daily activities around his family's estate. On Raxus, he wore a collared, embroidered lavender suit made of cloth, complete with a neck pin, metal shin guards, and black leather boots. In icy conditions, he donned a headcap, gloves, and a full-body coat. Idealistic from a young age, Bonteri was brought up amidst the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars, though he eventually lost both of his parents to the war. Born to a prominent Separatist senator, Bonteri shared some of his mother Mina's views, including her disapproval of the casualties that became so frequent during the war. Following the death of his father, a fervent supporter of the Confederacy, Bonteri became increasingly withdrawn, worrying his caring mother. A polite and well-mannered host, Bonteri obediently offered to relieve his family's house guests, Padmé Amidala and Ahsoka Tano, of their luggage when asked by his mother to do so.

Bonteri became acquainted with Amidala during her studies under his mother's charge. Like his mother, he wanted for the war to end and for the Confederacy and the Republic to open peace negotiations, though their campaign for peace did not succeed. Bonteri was perturbed but not outright offended when Tano, who harbored a distrust for all Separatists, curtly refused his offer to help her with her luggage. Prior to the war, Bonteri was taught that the Jedi Knights of the Republic were good, but that mindset was challenged after his family joined the Confederacy. The people whom he befriended in the following months blamed the Republic and the Jedi for the war's bloodshed, and he subsequently became skeptical of the aims of the Republic and the Jedi Order, though he did not condone them as his acquaintances did. Upon meeting a Jedi, Tano, for the first time, Bonteri initially did not know what to make of her. After speaking with her, he realized that the Jedi were not as bad as he had originally believed, though when asked what he thought of her, he used the opportunity to flirt with her. While conferring with Tano, Bonteri played a significant part in helping her see that the war was not as black-and-white as she presumed. He caused her to think twice about the Separatists and enabled her to see that they were not inherently evil, as she had at first contended. Tano and Bonteri grew in understanding of each other as time went on, each revisiting ideas of what had been a faceless enemy. They fostered a friendship that began to develop with stronger feelings.

Behind the scenes
"On this adventure, we thought it would be very exciting to start to hint at a&hellip;problem for Ahsoka, which would be contact with a boy of her age that has nothing to do with the Jedi Knights, and a boy that is very different from Anakin Skywalker in every possible way. This boy was Lux Bonteri."

- Series Director Dave Filoni, on Lux Bonteri's role in the character development of Ahsoka Tano

The character of Lux Bonteri was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and first appeared in "Heroes on Both Sides," an episode that aired with the series' third season in November 2010. Voice actor Jason Spisak provided Bonteri's voice in the episode. Bonteri's primary purpose as a character was to challenge Ahsoka Tano's somewhat rigid anti-Separatist perspective on the war, as she had been brought up on teachings from such figures as her Master, Anakin Skywalker. Bonteri was also introduced as a potential romantic interest for Tano, given their shared age and views. He is currently set to return to the television series alongside Tano in the series' fourth season, to begin airing in Fall 2011, as part of a storyline that will involve the Mandalorian Death Watch.