Bastila Shan

Overview
Bastila Shan (c. 3,979 BBY—) was a quintessential Jedi, trained from a young age and gifted with a natural ability with the Force that gave her both renown and considerable pride. Despite her youth, Bastila was skilled in the rare art of Battle Meditation—through sheer force of will she could influence the course of a battle. Through this power, one side was given courage and strength while the other is sapped of their will. This ability alone put Bastila into the forefront of the Galactic Republic's plan to defeat the Sith.

Brash, impulsive, and overconfident, Bastila seemed to walk invincible through her world, though that was hardly the case. Bastila was well aware of the responsibility that pressed down on her shoulders. Her Jedi masters urged her to be cautious, but Bastila turned every fiber of her being towards defeating the Sith menace and proving herself to the Jedi.

Bastila possessed all the qualities that separate those special few destined to leave their mark on history, but her very youth and determination were always threatening to become that which eventually consumed her.

Bastila was part of the strikeforce sent to capture Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith, during the Jedi Civil War. The Jedi managed to corner Revan on the bridge of his flagship, and the unexpected betrayal of Revan's apprentice, Darth Malak, who opened fire on his master's ship, further simplified their task. Though Revan's mind was damaged beyond repair in the attack, Bastila managed to save his life, thus forging a powerful Force bond between the two. Revan was brought to the Jedi Council and reprogrammed with a new memory.

Bastila and the new Revan, assumed by everyone—and himself—to be a simple Republic soldier, were assigned to the Republic cruiser Endar Spire. In the upcoming battle with the Sith fleet above Taris, Bastila planned to use her Battle Meditation from the relative safety of the ship's bridge, while still keeping an eye on Revan.

However, the Endar Spire was unexpectedly ambushed by the Sith; Bastila, Revan and Carth Onasi had to leave in escape pods, which landed on Taris. Eventually, Revan and Carth found Bastila and rescued her from a Taris swoop gang called the Black Vulkars, and they left the planet aboard a freighter "borrowed" from the local crimelord Davik Kang—the Ebon Hawk.

Revan and Bastila landed on Dantooine, where they discovered a partial Star Map—an artifact which had been found by Revan and Malak five years ago and, together with four other Star Maps, could show the location of the Star Forge—an ancient factory of immense power which was being used by Malak to build the seemingly infinite Sith starfleet. The Dantooine Jedi Council sent Revan on a mission to find the Star Forge and stop Malak, with Bastila guiding him along the way.

During their many adventures, Bastila was again captured, this time by Darth Malak. After torturing her for weeks, Malak eventually succeeded in forcing Bastila to give in to her hate. She fell to the dark side and became Malak's apprentice. She met with Revan atop an ancient Rakatan temple and tried to persuade him to reclaim his former title of Dark Lord of the Sith.

Revan refused to give in to the dark side again. After an intense lightsaber duel, Bastila retreated to the Star Forge, where she and Revan eventually faced off a second time. Even though her powers were continually renewed by the Star Forge, Bastila found herself unable to defeat Revan. Beaten at last, she begged the former Dark Lord to take her life. Revan refused, however, and eventually persuaded Bastila to denounce the dark side and return to the light, drawing on the bond they shared. Bastila then used her Battle Meditation to turn the tide of the battle in the Republic's favor, allowing the Star Forge to be destroyed after Revan had slain his old friend Malak in personal combat.

After the battle, the Jedi reconvened, and Bastila and Revan, along with their companions Carth Onasi, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, T3-M4, Canderous Ordo, Juhani, HK-47, and Jolee Bindo, were honored as the saviors of the galaxy.

Despite this seemingly happy ending, Revan and Bastila were not destined to remain together. A year after the Star Forge's destruction, Revan, having remembered a great threat to the galaxy he discovered as the Dark Lord, set out alone into the Unknown Regions, leaving all those he loved behind, for he knew that to take them to the places he had to go would bring destruction to them all. It would have helped had he made her understand. "It would have been better," Kreia would later remark, "if he had made her understand. But she was always strong-willed, that one, and did not understand war as Revan did."

Bastila remained behind with her fellow galactic saviors, keeping the Republic safe as Revan had asked them to, and waiting for the day when Revan would return. In the cataclysmic aftermath of the Jedi Civil War, when Darth Nihilus was feeding on Force-sensitives and G0-T0 put a bounty on Jedi, making a horde of bounty hunters pursue them, she was one of the few Jedi to survive. By the Battle of Telos in 3,951 BBY, Bastila was the only known living member of the Jedi Order besides Atris, as the Jedi Exile—the new owner of the Ebon Hawk—left the known space to search for Revan at Carth Onasi's request.

Alternate ending
Two endings are available in Knights of the Old Republic in which Bastila appears. The Lucasarts established canon is the lights side way outlined above—the dark side ending is as follows:

Revan gave in to the dark side. He and Bastila killed Jolee Bindo and Juhani. When returning to the Ebon Hawk, Revan persuaded the rest of the team to join the dark side. The droids HK-47 and T3-M4 were already programmed to do so, and Canderous Ordo pledged his loyalty to the man he believed would bring him battles in which he could find honor, as he had in the Mandalorian Wars. Carth Onasi refused and ran away. Mission Vao refused to believe that Revan had returned to the dark side and did not run away. Zaalbar initially agreed to join the dark side as he owed Revan a "life-debt" and even agreed to kill Mission to prove his loyalty.

(Actually, the player can fail to persuade Zaalbar to attack Mission; in this case, the player must do it, with an option to kill Zaalbar as well. There is no way to save Mission.)

Before approaching the Star Forge, Bastila persuaded the Republic to attack the Sith fleet there as a measure to defeat the Republic. The Republic believed that she would use her Battle Meditation against the Sith, but she turned it against the Republic just before Revan faced Malak. Master Vandar realized all this, but could not do anything.

After Revan defeated Malak, he re-assumed the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and made Bastila his apprentice. Together, they set out to conquer the galaxy.

Original character development
The character that was to become Bastila was originally going to be Vima Sunrider; she was presumably changed to make room for the backstory involving Bastila's parents. The character was then renamed Sareth Dorn, and then finally Bastila (the name originally given to Juhani).

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords