Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (comics)

"It's all Star Wars, whenever it takes place."

- John Jackson Miller

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, also known as Knights of the Old Republic or simply KotOR, is a monthly comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics that ran for five years, beginning January 25, 2005 and ending with its fiftieth issue on February 17, 2010. Written by John Jackson Miller, Knights of the Old Republic saw a variety of different artists and cover artists draw various issues of the series, and KotOR serves as a sequel to the earlier Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi comic series and a prequel to the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. Set in 3,964 BBY and later 3,963 BBY, Knights of the Old Republic focuses on Zayne Carrick, a Padawan of the Jedi Order who is framed for the Padawan Massacre&mdash;the murder of Zayne's fellow Padawans&mdash;by the true perpetrators, Zayne's teachers, who are members of a mysterious Jedi Covenant. Banding together with the con man Gryph, the fiery Jarael, and the eccentric Camper, Carrick goes on the run and works to clear his name by exposing the existence of the Covenant. When he finally manages to clear his name, Carrick takes up work with Gryph and Jarael, but the trio and their friends soon tangle with the slaving organization known as the Crucible.

As the flagship series of Dark Horse Comics' 2005 relaunch of their Star Wars line in celebration of their 20th anniversary, Knights of the Old Republic soon became one of Dark Horse's best-selling titles. In 2008, Knights of the Old Republic hosted the first four issues of the Vector crossover, an event that crossed into all four of Dark Horse's ongoing Star Wars series at the time. Knights of the Old Republic featured numerous references to both Tales of the Jedi and the Knights of the Old Republic games, and the series expanded greatly on the Mandalorian Wars introduced in the video games. At the Baltimore Comic-Con in 2009, Dark Horse announced that the series would end with its fiftieth issue, Demon, Part 4, in February 2010. In 2012, the series received a sequel miniseries that was set one year after the original series, John Jackson Miller's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War, and elements of Knights of the Old Republic have made their way into later Star Wars products such as the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Commencement


"The one who confesses, lives. I don't care which of you does it. It doesn't matter where they send you. You have a death mark, same as me. Don't look for me, Lucien. Because I'll find you. And if I do end up collapsing the Jedi Order, just remember one thing. You started it."

- Zayne Carrick

In the year 3,964 BBY, on the city-planet Taris, the Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick tries to capture the Snivvian criminal Marn Hierogryph for the eighth time, but Carrick's clumsiness allows Gryph to escape and send the Padawan flying off a building. Carrick is rescued by "Squint", a Jedi Knight who had been sent by Carrick's Jedi Master Lucien Draay to look for him, and Carrick learns that Squint is one of several Jedi visiting Taris's Jedi Tower in hopes of recruiting allies for their fight in the Mandalorian Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Mandalorian warrior culture. Squint takes Carrick back to the Jedi Tower, and he tells the Padawan how sometimes one has to enter the darkness to save the light&mdash;and as Squint and the others depart, Master Q'Anilia senses a disturbance in the Force that Lucien Draay and the other Masters decide to investigate.

Tipped off by Q'Anilia's premonition, the five Jedi Masters at the Jedi Tower on Taris&mdash;Lucien Draay, Feln, Q'Anilia, Raana Tey, and Xamar&mdash;take their Padawans&mdash;Zayne Carrick, Oojoh, Shad Jelavan, Kamlin, and Gharn &mdash;to the rogue moon of the Taris system for a final survival test. There, the Jedi Masters&mdash;all of whom are part of a secret Jedi Covenant dedicated to preventing the rise of the Sith&mdash;experience a Force vision that predicts their deaths at the hand of a red-armored figure. Believing the figure to be one of their Padawans, who are wearing red space suits identical to the foreseen Sith Lord, the Masters agree to execute their apprentices in a staged Knighting ceremony on Taris.

However, Zayne Carrick arrives late to the ceremony after he finally captures Hierogryph, and he finds the five Masters standing over their dead students: the Masters had killed them despite Carrick's absence, for the Padawans became suspicious of their intentions. Horrified, Carrick flees the Jedi Tower with Gryph and manages to escape to the Lower City of Taris, where the two realize that the Masters have placed bounties on their heads, as the "Padawan Massacre" has been blamed on Carrick. With Gryph's reluctant help, Carrick evades the Masters, tricking them into searching Taris's Undercity while the duo approach a refugee camp in the region known as Machineville. There, Gryph seeks out the aging Arkanian Offshoot engineer Camper and his fierce protector Jarael in hopes of acquiring a route offworld, but when the Jedi and Taris's police arrive, the group is forced to launch into space aboard the junk hauler Last Resort&mdash;which promptly loses power once in orbit.

When power is restored, the Last Resort hides among the asteroid belt in the Taris system, though Carrick attempts to contact Master Vandar Tokare and the Jedi Council at the Jedi Enclave on the planet Dantooine and seek help only to learn that Tokare does not believe his story. Realizing how unusual it is for four Jedi Consulars to be assigned to a single planet like Taris, Carrick decides to investigate the rogue moon in hopes of learning why the Masters killed the Padawans, and he and Jarael&mdash;who still resents Carrick for uprooting and exposing her and Camper&mdash;discover the Jedi's damaged droid T1-LB. Escaping Master Draay on the rogue moon, Carrick and the others examine T1-LB's memory: the droid witnessed the Jedi Masters experience their vision on the rogue moon, and Draay destroyed the droid to eliminate a witness, an action that severely damaged T1-LB's programming and brain.

When the Last Resort is captured by the bounty hunter and pirate Valius Ying, Gryph negotiates his own release and that of Camper and Jarael, but when Carrick tries to steal the Last Resort and escape, he is caught by Jarael. Realizing that he could not leave the others in danger to save himself, Carrick decides to surrender to the Masters. Ying's arrival on Taris with Carrick is greeted by mobs of celebrating citizens, as the public's loss of faith in the Jedi had led to rioting and mass panic in the face of the advancing Mandalorian threat from the Outer Rim Territories. When Carrick is delivered to the Jedi Tower, Draay and the Masters reveal that they did in fact kill the Padawans after the apprentices refused to believe that Carrick would be Knighted alongside them and became suspicious. Draay explains that the five of them are members of a Jedi Covenant sworn to prevent the return of the Sith, and he executes Ying to eliminate witnesses before preparing to kill Carrick.

However, Jarael, Camper, and Gryph have other plans: unwilling to let Carrick sacrifice himself to save them, the trio attack the Jedi Tower with the Last Resort. Jarael rescues Carrick in a red space suit, using the Masters' fear of the figure to buy them time to escape, and Carrick takes on a position as Gryph's "henchman" as the four of them escape Taris with Elbee in the Last Resort. Three weeks later, rioting has enveloped much of Taris, and the Masters are recalled to Coruscant, as the public has lost faith in the Jedi's ability to protect and police them. Before they depart Taris, however, the five receive a message from Carrick in which he promises to seek justice for the other Padawans, and he tells them that he has "foreseen" that the first Master to confess will survive.

Flashpoint
On the mining colony of Vanquo, Carrick, Gryph, Camper, and Jarael run a con on one of the mining stations, convincing the workers to evacuate under the belief that the planet is under attack by Mandalorians. However, as the crew of the Last Resort is loading the mining stations' supplies, they are presented with a surprise: the Mandalorians actually are invading Vanquo, which leads to Jarael's capture, as she was masquerading as a Jedi for the group's con. The remaining members of the crew flee through the forest back to the Last Resort, but the Mandalorian commander Rohlan Dyre, seeing an opportunity to escape, steals the Last Resort himself. With Elbee's help, Camper, Gryph, and Carrick barely manage to board the Last Resort as it takes off amid blaster fire from Dyre's own troops. Camper quickly attacks Dyre with Jarael's shockstaff, and with Elbee's help the group is able to subdue the Mandalorian and lock him in a storage compartment. Meanwhile, Jarael is imprisoned aboard a Mandalorian ship that enters the ongoing naval battle between the forces of Mandalore the Ultimate and Captain Saul Karath.

As the Last Resort pursues the ship that has Jarael, it is identified by Karath's Courageous, and Karath assumes that Carrick is a Mandalorian operative when the Last Resort is detected jumping towards Mandalorian space. Camper is tracking Jarael via a homing device in her bracelet, and Dyre convinces Gryph and Carrick to let him out so that he can help them rescue Jarael&mdash;for as he explains, he is known as Rohlan the Questioner, a Mandalorian who is determined to discover Mandalore's reasons for starting the war. Dyre explains that Jarael is being taken to the stellar research station Flashpoint, which was converted into a laboratory for the Mandalorian scientist Demagol's research into Jedi. Dyre also explains that the Mandalorians invaded Vanquo because of the Padawan Massacre, as Mandalore took the recall of the Jedi from Taris to be an opportunity for attack. However, upon learning that other Jedi are imprisoned on Flashpoint, Carrick becomes determined to rescue them, and he develops a plan to do so as they approach Flashpoint.

Meanwhile, Jarael is taken to Flashpoint and imprisoned with the other captives, many of whom had been captured on the planet Suurja three weeks earlier. Jarael encounters Squint, who realizes that Jarael is not a Jedi and offers himself in place of Jarael for Demagol's torture and experiments. On approach to Flashpoint, Dyre claims to have captured a Jedi and demands immediate clearance to land as Gryph and Camper hide in the Last Resort concealed storage compartment, and Dyre arrives just in time with a "captive" Carrick to rescue Jarael from Demagol's attentions. In Demagol's lab, Dyre and Carrick overpower Demagol and Carrick dons the scientist's armor, and the two head out to the surface, where Dyre distracts the sentries as Carrick uses the Force to plant Gryph's demolition charges on the various Mandalorian vessels nearby. Gryph then contacts Flashpoint as "Admiral Hierogryph" of the Republic vessel "Glomkettle" and triggers the charges, tricking the sentries into believing that the Republic had begun booby-trapping their equipment and ships to prevent the Mandalorians from using them.

Dyre and Carrick complete the con by convincing the other Mandalorians at Flashpoint to flee on one of the last remaining ship while Dyre stayed behind to evacuate Demagol. With the Mandalorians gone, the Jedi are able to escape Flashpoint, taking Demagol with them and seemingly accompanied by Rohlan Dyre. However, Dyre actually sneaks aboard the Last Resort, and unbeknownst to all, "Dyre" is actually Demagol: the scientist knocked out and drugged Dyre when the warrior came to get him, trading armor with Dyre and assuming his identity. The same day as Carrick and crew are on Flashpoint, Draay and the other members of the Covenant return to Coruscant, where Draay is refused entry to his family's house, the Draay Estate, and the five are split up by the Jedi High Council. Amid these events, Draay recalls his childhood and how his mother Krynda focused more on training the four seers than raising her own son, as she was obsessed with preventing the rise of another Sith like Exar Kun. The five Masters go their separate ways as ordered, but continue their efforts to locate Carrick despite the Council's refusal to allow them to be involved in the search for the missing Padawan. Draay tries again to visit his mother, the Covenant's leader, but his mother's retainer Haazen refuses him and reprimands Draay for killing the Padawans against Haazen's instructions.

Reunion
After the showdown at Flashpoint, The Last Resort arrives on the banking planet of Telerath, where Camper tries to take money from one of Gryph's accounts by posing as "Baron Hyro Margryph." Unknown to the crew, the banker assigned to them is Zayne's father, Arvan Carrick, who ends up captured by two Ithorian bounty hunters, the Moomo Brothers. These two hunters were contracted by Jedi Master Raana Tey in an attempt to use Arvan as bait. When Zayne learns about both developments, he begins an operation, aided by Gryph and Camper, to rescue his father and investigate the actual occurrence. This operation consists mainly of Gryph pitting the two Ithorians against each other and planting false information, while Zayne infiltrates the Moomo Brothers' ship and eventually results in Arvan being freed; as he is convinced that Zayne did not commit the Padawan Massacre, he assists his son in unlocking the account and withdrawing the funds. In return, Zayne directs his father to a safer workplace&mdash;the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.

Days of Fear
The Last Resort leaves Zayne and Gryph on Ralltiir, where Gryph contracts Slyssk, a Trandoshan ship thief, in order to secure another ship. Unfortunately for them, the vessel that Slyssk steals, the Little Bivoli, turns out to be a provisioning ship for the Republic Navy, and as such is noticed by the Republic fleet above Ralltiir. Zayne, Gryph and Slyssk are forced to join the fleet, as it moves to the planet Serroco, and pose as fringers, so as to avoid suspicion.

At Camp Three on Serroco, Zayne has a Force vision of the Mandalorians devastating the planet and tries to alert Gryph, but the latter dismisses his warnings, being too concerned about his own profit from the Little Bivoli fringer business. Desperate to alert Saul Karath, now a Rear Admiral, Zayne stows away on Lieutenant Carth Onasi's ship when it heads for Karath's flagship, the Courageous; however, he is not believed and is detained on the Courageous as a suspected Mandalorian spy. Shortly thereafter, the Mandalorian fleet seen in Zayne's vision appears out of hyperspace. Strangely, though, the Mandalorian fleet does not engage the Courageous, instead launching missiles around it towards the planet's surface.

While Carth manages to get seventeen of the Stereb cities evacuated underground, the Battle of Serroco results in a major disaster for the Republic. The Little Bivoli is destroyed among most of the Republic fleet; Gryph's and Slyssk's respective fates were unknown after the battle. Later, the Courageous itself is boarded and destroyed by Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Admiral Karath, Lieutenant Onasi and Karath's second-in-command Dallan Morvis were left with no other choice but to evacuate through Zayne's prison cell, having to rely on him to get to the cargo bay and escape on Carth's ship, the Deadweight.

Meanwhile, having parted with Zayne and Gryph, The Last Resort heads for the Arkanian homeworld, Arkania, where Jarael hopes to find a cure for Camper's illness. They are engaged by an HK-24 assassin droid sent after Camper, hidden inside a shipment crate. After attempting to help Jarael (whom the invader does not care about) and Camper, T1-LB proves to be no match for the HK-24; however, Rohlan Dyre, hiding aboard the ship, reveals himself and destroys the droid.

Nights of Anger
On Arkania, whose society is in a state of segregation between pure Arkanians and Offshoots, Jarael disguises herself as a pure specimen to get an analysis of Camper's blood. However, this move attracts the attention of Adascorp, which recognizes Camper as one of its former employees; as such, The Last Resort is captured by the Adascorp flagship, the Arkanian Legacy, and Jarael and Camper are brought before Arkoh, Lord Adasca. After Rohlan's unsuccessful attempt to free Jarael, she is kept close to Adasca to ensure that Camper finishes the secret project he used to work on before fleeing and hiding on Taris.

It is aboard the Arkanian Legacy that Jarael learns about the past life of "Camper", actually named Gorman Vandrayk. His past research has attracted Adascorp's attention to giant space slugs, or exogorths, which it intended to use as weapons of planetary destruction. As Vandrayk has now finished his debt to the corporation, giving it full control over the exogorths, Adasca intends to use the newfound weapons as means of political pressure.

Daze of Hate
The interested parties arrive on the Arkanian Legacy to discuss this new Arkanian development, each at a different time. First, Admiral Karath of the Republic arrives; however, his appearance is disrupted by a sudden kiss from Jarael to Zayne, resulting in his removal from the area being carried away. Alek arrives next, representing the Revanchist Jedi faction in the absence of his Master. Lucien appears next, taking Adasca by complete surprise. Adasca then resorts to drugging Lucien by feigning friendship and offering him a spiked drink.

Finally, Mandalore the Ultimate arrives with his Neo-Crusaders, summoned by Rohlan on the grounds that he promised safety for Jarael. After giving Rohlan a new suit of Neo-Crusader armor to change into and seeing a live demonstration of the exogorths' power, Mandalore proposes a military alliance to Adasca, asking his corporation to supply the Mandalorian war effort in exchange for eliminating its competition a proposal which Adasca prefers to Admiral Karath's offer of a seat in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Lucien awakens in a prison cell, tied up back-to-back with his former Padawan and sworn enemy, Zayne. After some unpleasant discussion, in which Lucien accuses Zayne of drifting further toward the dark side and reveals his family's former business ties to Adascorp. The two cooperate long enough to destroy the HK-24 droids holding them captive and free themselves. However, this cooperation does not last long&mdash;when Lucien recovers his lightsaber, he immediately attempts to murder Carrick. However, when he fails and his lightsaber is disabled by Zayne's vambraces, Lucien decides to deal with Adasca first, with Zayne's help, and settle his score with the Padawan later.

In the observation dome, Mandalore further extends his offer to Adasca by granting him stewardship of the Mandalorian war effort which Admiral Karath countered by offering Republic territory for Adasca's own state. Adasca muses that perhaps he could the Mandalorians his army and create his own Jedi Order. After destroying the HK-24 units assigned to guard them as well as the units in the security room, Zayne and Lucien watched in shock as Adasca allied with Mandalore. Carth soon joined in, bringing Zayne's lightsaber with him. Seeing Jarael guarded by HK-24 units, Zayne realizes that she is being use as leverage to force Camper to cooperate and control the exogorths. Lucien suggested killing Jarael to stop Adasca when out of nowhere, Rohlan appears with a blaster at Lucien's back saying to the Jedi Master that he will be dead before he can get near Jarael. Once Rohlan calmed down, Zayne made a plan in order to save Jarael. Using Rohlan's spare armor as a disguise, Zayne started short fight with Carth as well as distracting both Adasca and Mandalore until he was close enough to decapitate the droids guarding Jarael, surprising everyone in the vicinity. Zayne then removed his mask at the same time Lucien emerged from the crowd seemingly to arrest Mandalore. Assuming that Adasca was allied with the Republic and had planned this from the beginning, Mandalore ordered his forces to fire on both Adasca's and Republic forces alike. During the fight, Zayne freed Jarael, contacted Camper on Jarael's bracelet to tell him that Jarael was safe. Meanwhile on board The Last Resort, Camper managed to transfer the ship's systems to a laptop and destroyed the assassin droid assigned to him as well as taking control of the exogorths. Back in the observation dome, the Mandalorians retreated back to Mandalore's shuttle. Enraged, Adasca ordered the Jedi to be killed but one of Arkoh's underling's told him that the exogorths were attacking the Legacy. On Camper's command, the exogorths tore the observation dome apart and killed Adasca. Meanwhile, during the brawl, Admiral Karath was wounded and carried back to the Deadweight by Command Morvis who ordered Carth to take Zayne with them but Carth let the Padawan go. saying that Zayne wasn't a criminal and he didn't want to be a bad officer. In the hangar bay, Zayne, Jarael, Rohlan, and Alek were contacted by Camper who told them that he was taking the exogorths and removing all of their implants. Despite Jarael's protests, Camper told her that he was going alone, after a tearful goodbye, Camper left with the exogorths for Wild Space. After Camper's departure, Lucien appeared and informed him that there was enough room in his shuttle for all of them but would only take them if Zayne came along. Zayne agreed but suddenly the Moomo Williwaw came out of nowhere and down the ramp came Dob Moomo and to Zayne's surprise Slyssk who informed him that Gryph was still alive and joined the local resistance on Taris. Lucien overheard them and escaped on his shuttle.

Knights of Suffering
After hearing Gryph is alive and well on Taris, the group, along with Alek and Dob Moomo, return to the planet, now under Cassus Fett's control. Using the Mandalorian armor that was given to him by Rohlan, Zayne dives into the Lower city from above. Once there, he manages to find the Hidden Beks in one of the alleys, and reunites with Gryph. After returning to the Beks' base, Zayne learns of the peculiar situation on the lower city: the Constable refuses to cooperate with the Beks, believing they've kidnapped her children. Moreover, Gryph is involved with Jervo Thalien, the head of Lhosan Industries, who hired Gryph to find the Tarisian senator Goravvus in the Lower City. In return, the bounties on Gryph and Zayne's heads will be removed.

During their stay in the Beks' base, Constable Sowrs's children are found, and it's decided that they should return them to the Constable and become a part of the official resistance. In the Constable's base, Zayne meets Shel Jelavan, sister of the murdered Padawan Shad Jelavan and a onetime friend of him. Unfortunately for Zayne, Shel believes that Zayne was responsible for Shad's death; Raana Tey, Shel's mentor and influencer, encourages her to kill Zayne. A fight ensues between Raana and Del Moomo, who distracts her with blaster shots as Gryph disarms Shel. At this point, Senator Goravvus steps in, stopping the fight and ordering Raana to suspend her pursuit of Zayne&mdash;while at the same time relieving the tension between the Beks and the Taris Civil Authority officers by pointing the Constable to her children.

After the encounter, Gryph tells the Senator that Jervo is searching for him. Using Gryph's briefcase communicator, they contact Jervo on Coruscant but at the same moment, Del Moomo captures Goravvus. It is revealed that, after the Senator threatened to expose Lhosan Industries' illegal practices following the company's decision to abandon Taris, Jervo decided to dispose of him by placing a bounty on him for the Moomo Brothers to pursue. Raana appears and orders Del to release his hostage, which he does; Jervo, presuming that she was sent by the Chancellor to find Goravvus, proceeds with a backup plan by activating a bomb in Gryph's briefcase. However, the bomb does not detonate due to the briefcase having previously taken a blaster shot. Using the situation to his advantage, Goravvus blackmails Jervo and Lhosan Industries into offering military aid for the Tarisian Resistance.

Meanwhile, Zayne has a heated argument with Shel, during which he unsuccessfully tries to convince her that he did not murder her brother, while Raana tries to convince her that Zayne has fallen to the dark side. Goravvus interrupts the debate, informing them that Cassus Fett has come to Taris and is residing in the former Jedi Tower. When the Resistance members&mdash;including the Beks and Constable Sowrs's officers&mdash;gather in their headquarters, devise a plan to destroy the Tower, using parts recovered from Jervo's bomb in conjunction with the Resistance's own stockpiles of explosives. Zayne, Raana and Shel volunteer for this mission, the latter treating it as little more than an opportunity to fulfill her revenge against Zayne. Raana discreetly provides her with her brother's lightsaber crystal, which she wants her to install in the lightsaber itself which is locked in the Jedi Tower and then use it against Zayne.

In orbit aboard the Moomo Williwaw, Jarael, Rohlan and Alek wait for a signal from below. Noticing that Jarael is distraught over Camper's loss, Rohlan offers to "occupy her mind" by putting her in a sparring duel against Alek, which Jarael wins. However, afterwards, Alek's pursuit for a more romantic relationship, which Rohlan secretly observes, makes Jarael even more troubled, prompting her to leave.

Back on the surface, Zayne and Shel infiltrate the Jedi Tower. After seeing him shed a tear over her brother's death, Shel can't bring herself to kill Zayne. After Zayne leaves to see if Cassus Fett is in the building, Raana enters. Enraged that Shel didn't kill Zayne, she runs after him, determined to end the "threat" he posed. Meanwhile in the tower's council chamber, Zayne finds out Fett moved out to attack the Taris Resistance, but his way out is blocked by Raana, who intends to kill him where no one can see them. Despite Zayne's improved lightsaber skills, he was no match for the Jedi Master's wild swordplay and Raana ultimately disarmed him. As Raana is about to deliver the killing blow, Shel uses her brother's lightsaber to stab her in the back. Shel then tells Zayne she no longer believes he killed her brother. As the resistance arrives to rescue Zayne and Shel, Zayne offers Raana help to get back to a medic. Raana, amazed that Zayne would try to help her, tries to cut herself free. But Gryph, seeing Raana's raised weapon as an attack on Zayne, blows the bombs set at the Tower's base. Raana is able to ask Zayne to tell her master Krynda that she is sorry before plummeting to her death. Somewhere else, both Lucien and Q'Anilia sense Raana's death, but Q'Anilia was more concerned that Zayne now knows who leads the Covenant.

Vector
A month later at the memorial for Raana Tey the member of the First WatchCircle have a vision of Karness Muur conquering the galaxy using an army of rakghouls, created by Muur Talisman. Fearing that Zayne Carrick might use the dangerous artifact located somewhere on Taris, they decide to send a Jedi Shadow&mdash;a secret agent of the Jedi Covenant&mdash;named Celeste Morne to intercept him.

In the Undercity of Taris constable Noana Sowrs is chased by the rakghouls. When she is about to be overwhelmed, Celeste Morne appears and quickly gets rid of all the monsters. Constable reveals that Cassus Fett's plan to ambush and scatter the resistance has succeeded and the remaining members had been driven into the Undercity. Celeste notices that Noana is bitten and kills her moments after she transforms into a rakghoul. After a huge explosion Zayne Carrick and Marn Hierogryph appear, chased by a swarm of rakghouls. When Celeste saves them, they decide to follow her, despite her reluctance. Shortly after they come up on the group of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, led by Pulsipher, who had just found the Muur Talisman. Celeste follows them, with Zayne and Gryph keeping behind her.

The trio hides on the ship taking Pulsipher's team to Jebble. Shortly before the landing Pulsipher manages to activate Muur Talisman which attaches itself to his arm and infects the Mandalorians around him. When the ship lands, Pulsipher goes to his lab and Celeste follows him, while Zayne and Gryph are spotted by a Mandalorian Sergeant, who mistakes them for new recruits and directs them back into "their group". The group consists of all kind of scum and villainy from Outer Rim worlds, including Wargo and Frazznik, whom Zayne and Gryph previously encountered on Taris. The Rally Master declares that every recruit who follows the Resol'nare will be considered Mandalorian and announces that the army is going to invade Alderaan. Reuniting with Celeste, Zayne and Gryph, who is now wearing Mandalorian armor, decide to infiltrate the Ice Citadel. Gryph pretends to lead Tarisian slicers to assist Pulsipher, which is convincing enough for the guard to let them inside the War Forge. Once inside Gryph is separated from Zayne and Celeste, who encounter a group of Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Suddenly the warriors transform into rakghouls and Zayne and Celeste have no choice but to run. However they realize soon that they have nowhere to run, because there are millions of recruits outside the Citadel and with forthcoming invasion the Rakghoul plague is about to become intergalactic.

With incredible luck, Zayne and Celeste are able to lose their pursuit. In the following conversation Zayne reveals to Celeste that his masters, not him, are responsible for the Padawan Massacre of Taris, as well as some knowledge about the Jedi Covenant and its leader, Krynda Draay. Celeste is shocked by this and tries to justify Covenant's action, without revealing to Zayne that she herself is a part of it. Meanwhile in the Data Center Gryph finds Lucien's record about the history of Muur Talisman and its creator Karness Muur, as well as the mention of Celeste Morne as one of the Covenant's agents. In the communication dome Celeste contacts Lucien Draay, who orders her to retrieve Talisman and to kill Zayne Carrick. Celeste, however, is unsure about that and when she has the chance to strike him down, she does not. Meanwhile, Zayne contacts Cassus Fett and warns him not to land because of the plague. Fett is suspicious of him, but decides to check if his report was true.

Zayne heads back to the citadel to find Gryph, but is ambushed by rakghouls and taken to Pulsipher's laboratory, where the latter demands any knowledge of the talisman Carrick possesses. Zayne tries to persuade Pulsipher to get rid of the artifact and Pulsipher threatens to put Zayne into another Sith artifact in his possession&mdash;Dreypa's Oubliette&mdash;for any living being put inside it will remain there, enduring an eternal life that is worse than death for ages, until the galaxy collapses on itself. Suddenly the Talisman detaches itself from Pulsipher and heads towards Zayne. Losing control of the rakghouls, Pulsipher is immediately torn apart by them, but Celeste appears and slays them afterward. Zayne hopes that by controlling the Talisman he could stop rakghoul plague from spreading, but Celeste demands that he is not supposed to and struggles to stop the talisman from attaching itself to Zayne. Gryph comes in and demands that both stay away from the talisman, and in that moment Celeste calls talisman to herself. The artifact immediately attaches itself to her and, after a moment of shock and pain, Celeste is able to see the spirit of Karness Muur. More rakghouls arrive, but at the moment they are no danger to Zayne and Gryph, because they are now controlled by Celeste.

Now, under command by Celeste Morne the rakghouls dispose of remaining Mandalorians using their own vehicles and weapons. Celeste has gone through a radical metamorphosis&mdash;she now sees the destruction of the Mandalorian army as a right thing and even justifies the killing of a person by saying that the rakghouls have to eat sometimes. Meanwhile, Gryph tells Zayne that Celeste is working for Lucien and the Covenant. Zayne is shocked and angered by that and asks how Celeste could work for them after so many wrongs they have done. This pushes Celeste even further to the Dark Side, so she decides to kill Carrick, but he finally manages to get her to sense her lunacy by indicating that she is now commanding the Sith army she was devoted to stop. Celeste becomes herself again&mdash;she now feels Karness Muur struggling to use rakghouls to do unthinkable damage to the galaxy and, weeping, asks Zayne to kill her and run. Zayne however has a different idea&mdash;he decides to put Celeste into Dreypa's Oubliette, so the power of the talisman could not penetrate it. Before getting inside Celeste gives Zayne the key of the Sanctum of the Exalted on Odryn and asks him to get her there and to contact Krynda afterwards. Zayne closes the Oubliette, promising that he'll see her again later.

The again mindless rakghouls are chasing Zayne and Gryph, who escape from them to the top of the citadel, where they are picked up by timely arriving Moomo Williwaw. Zayne asks Alek to go back for Celeste, but there is no time&mdash;the Mandalorians have arrived. It becomes clear that Fett took Carrick's warning seriously&mdash;the fleet executes nuclear bombardment of Jebble, wiping out all life on its surface. Cassus Fett thanks Zayne and says that he is in his debt, but Zayne is crushed by the repetition of Serroco. While Alek is amazed by what a single talisman could do, Shel asks Zayne what he plans to do next. Zayne decides to honor Celeste by doing exactly what she told him to do&mdash;expose the crimes of the Jedi Covenant and clear his name in process. The crew takes Moomo Williwaw to Odryn, unknowing that the Oubliette with Celeste Morne and Muur Talisman inside it is perfectly intact.

Exalted
On Coruscant Lucien Draay is given a seat on the Jedi High Council. After the ceremony he is contacted by Haazen, who delivers astounding news&mdash;Celeste Morne has returned with success. Meanwhile Moomo Williwaw lands on Odryn, the homeworld of Feeorin. Jarael, disguised as Celeste Morne, and the Moomo Brothers, carrying a big crate, are escorted by Borjak to the Sanctum of the Exalted. After Borjak leaves, Zayne Carrick and Marn Hierogryph emerge from the crate and use Celeste's key to enter the Sanctum. Inside they find countless Sith relics and artifacts, each covered in green shell, shielding them from the Force. Soon, Jarael and Ithorians leave, while Zayne and Gryph stay to gather the pictures of what Jedi Covenant is doing. About a day and a half later they decide that they have enough evidence and prepare to leave, but on their way back to Moomo Williwaw they are spotted and captured by the Feeorin. To make matters worse, Jedi Master Feln arrives to deal with Carrick personally.

Feln contacts Lucien and describes the situation. Both come to conclusion that Zayne has killed Celeste and took her key and the Muur Talisman. Lucien gives Feln an order to destroy the Sanctum if its safety is compromised. At this moment, Haazen enters the conversation and strictly forbids Feln to destroy the Sanctum. Leaving Lucien and Haazen argue with each other, Feln decides to deal with Zayne Carrick first. But when he is about to strike him down, he is stopped by Borjak, who reminds him that Rime Feeorin forbids to harm with weapons anyone who has been inside the Sanctum of the Exalted. Feln decides to fight Zayne hand-to-hand, but Zayne hits him first and runs away. When Feln catches with him and is about to finish him, he is stopped again&mdash;this time by the news that Moomo Williwaw has returned to the system. Believing that Zayne's friends are about to raid the Sanctum, Feln decides to execute Option Ossus and detonates the charges planted underneath it. But the explosion destroys not only the Sanctum, but also the entire Feeorin village. Shocked by the act he committed, Feln decides to finish Zayne off once and for all. He heads back to his mount for his lightsaber, but&mdash;just as in his Vision on the Rogue Moon&mdash; he finds only a wooden stick in its place. In this moment, Borjak stabs him in the head with a primitive knife and declares that by destroying the Sanctum, Feln has violated the Rime Feeorin, which allows the Feeorin to change the rules. Badly wounded and unable to defend himself, Feln is killed by the furious villagers.

This evening Zayne and company are parting with Borjak, the new Exalted, and prepare to depart Odryn. First distressed by the loss of all of their evidence, Zayne and Gryph are encouraged again when they find out that the Moomo Brothers had stolen some artifact from the Sanctum in the same crate they brought Zayne and Gryph in. On Coruscant Q'Anilia and Xamar discuss the death of Feln with Lucien. He encourages them to continue their mission and reveals that he has told Admiral Saul Karath on Swiftsure that Zayne will be raiding Coruscant for Mandalorians, knowing that Karath will want to stop him. He ordered Xamar to join Karath within an hour, despite the fact that the prophecy has Xamar dying next, among the Republic Navy, shot down by the friendly fire. Unable to talk Lucien out of it, Xamar decides to deal with the threat in his own way.

Turnabout
Jedi Masters Vrook Lamar and Vandar Tokare are visiting a cantina on Coruscant, looking for a person who calls himself Captain Malak, but turns out to be none other than Alek. He and Shel Jelavan are telling the masters Zayne's true story&mdash;from Padawan Massacre to the bombardment of Jebble, and deliver the most shocking news&mdash;Zayne Carrick is about to come in. Meanwhile, on board of Swiftsure Xamar witnesses that Admiral Karath has initiated a blockade of Coruscant to make sure no ship reaches the planet without going through the Republic Navy. When Moomo Williwaw enters the system, it is intercepted by the Lance Squadron under command of lieutenant Carth Onasi. Moomo Williwaw and Lance Squadron engage each other, while Carth and Zayne are ordering his wing mates and the Moomo Brothers respectively to shoot only to disable targets. Meanwhile, the Republic Hammerhead cruisers take out all shields of Moomo Williwaw, to the joy of Saul Karath. Zayne and Jarael decide that they only can get to Coruscant on the different ship and prepare to execute their insane plan. Jarael takes control of the Moomo Williwaw and directs it straight to the Swiftsure hangar on full speed, which results in all crew evacuating from the hangar. When Saul Karath and his men finally arrive in the hangar, they only find Jarael, the Moomo Brothers and sleeping T1-LB aboard the ship, because Rohlan Dyre choose to hide. Meanwhile, Carth witnesses his old ship, Deadweight flying away from the Swiftsure. Knowing that Zayne is aboard the ship, Carth orders his wingmate to let it go. After landing on the surface, Gryph sends Slyssk away and right when he and Zayne are about to deliver the evidence, they are caught by Xamar, who hid himself aboard Deadweight and now takes them to Vrook and Vandar, seeking justice.

Characters
Major characters who appears in more than one arc:

Zayne Carrick


Zayne Carrick, the only male offspring of the banker Arvan and the gardener Reiva, is also their only Force-sensitive child, with a proficiency for the Force that Vandar Tokare identifies as "marginal." As the worst Padawan of his class, he is initially worried about his chance to receive the rank of Jedi Knight, but when he is framed for the Padawan Massacre of Taris, a crime committed by his Masters, his life and good name become his primary concerns; and even when Zayne does discover the truth about the massacre, he still has to find someone to believe him.

Zayne is the protagonist of the Knights of the Old Republic series. An overarching theme is his quest to clear his name, which he hopes to accomplish by getting one of the Masters to confess. His grasp of the Force strengthens gradually as the plot progresses.

Marn Hierogryph


"The Gryph," as he was known on Taris, was a small-time Snivvian black marketer in the Upper City whom Zayne used to chase. On his ninth attempt, Zayne finally caught Gryph, but the unexpected turn of events&mdash;the Padawan Massacre, for which Zayne was blamed&mdash;put them both on the same side of the barricades. Even on the run, Gryph never missed an opportunity, which eventually backfired on Serroco when he, obsessed with running a profitable business, refused to listen to Zayne's plea to leave the planet that would soon come under Mandalorian attack. He managed to escape the planet however and eventually reunited with Zayne again.

Jarael


Jarael is an female Arkanian Offshoot, her birth name, Edessa, was given to her by parents she does not remember. She was protector to the mechanic she knew only as "Camper" prior to and during the Mandalorian Wars. Jarael is a hot-tempered Arkanian Offshoot with eyes and hands like Humans and pointed ears, a feature unseen in other Arkanians, which often brought her to attention. She is a fierce fighter who demonstrated an extreme loyalty to Camper and her other allies; normally armed with a shockstaff, she is a tough opponent when fending off enemies, whether they be bounty hunters, Mandalorians or Jedi Masters.

Jarael, throughout the series, proves herself to be a master of disguise&mdash;so far, she has disguised herself as the Sith Lord from the Jedi Masters' vision, as Q'Anilia, as "Baron Hyro Margryph"'s aide Chantique, as a pure Arkanian and as Jedi Shadow Celeste Morne. She has a love-hate relationship with Zayne, moving towards the "love" end of the spectrum in Days/Knights. A few other characters, such as Rohlan Dyre, Alek Squinquargesimus and Arkoh Adasca, also seem to be at least somewhat romantically interested in her.

Rohlan Dyre


Commander Rohlan Dyre is nicknamed "Rohlan the Questioner" for his tendency to question the Mandalorians' motives behind their war against the Republic and their unusual tactics. Determined to find the truth, he has often deserted, but was always put back on the front lines once recaptured. Eventually, after a failed attempt to hijack The Last Resort, he sides with its crew in their effort to rescue Jarael from the Mandalorian-controlled Flashpoint Station. Later, he parts with them, but secretly boards The Last Resort again and reveals himself after Zayne and Gryph leave the ship, and plays a significant role in the exogorth negotiations aboard the Arkanian Legacy by summoning his superior, Mandalore the Ultimate.

Slyssk


Mocked as frail and meek by even his own mother, Slyssk did not enjoy "the hunt" like most Trandoshans, so instead he made himself a career as a pirate. Slyssk was a skilled starship thief, but his career was hindered by incompetence as a pilot. Slyssk joined the Raff Syndicate pirate group before quickly being kicked out. He later joined Marn Hierogryph and Jedi Zayne Carrick through their adventures in the Mandalorian Wars. He is also notable as an excellent chef, both as a legitimate business, and as a cover identity for various clandestine ruses his friends find themselves part of.

Alek


Alek, nicknamed "Squint," is a pragmatic, stoic Jedi Knight with a certain, sometimes inappropriate, sense of humor. He travels with The Revanchist, whom he calls his "Master". Alek believes that the Jedi Order should take immediate action against the current threat, the Mandalorians, instead of focusing on the phantom menace of the Sith. After briefly meeting Zayne on Taris, the two quickly forge a friendship, which is further reinforced when Zayne rescues him from Flashpoint Station, after Doctor Demagol's experiments result in Alek completely losing his hair.

The Revanchist


A Human male known only by the nickname the Revanchist is both a charismatic and enigmatic leader, a renowned tactician and expert strategist. Attracting attention amongst his fellow Jedi, he spreads his message to rally against the Mandalorian threat across the order. Amongst his stronger supporters is young Jedi Knight named Alek Squinquargesimus.

Chantique


Chantique was a female Zeltron Force-sensitive member of the Crucible, a slaver organization active prior and during the Mandalorian Wars. She was the Magister Impressor of the organization and the nemesis of Jarael. Also, she was the daughter of Antos Wyrick, alias sadistic Mandalorian scientist Demagol, who sold her to the Crucible in the first place for her disruptive behavior.

Demagol


Doctor Demagol, born Antos Wyrick, was a Zeltron Mandalorian Neo-Crusader scientist, who served under the banner of Mandalore the Indomitable during the Great Sith War and later under Mandalore the Ultimate during the Mandalorian Wars. After the capture of Flashpoint Station by the Mandalorians, all Jedi prisoners were sent there to be studied by Demagol, in hopes of finding the secret of their powers to negate and/or replicate them, not understanding the complexity of the Force. He showed a strong interest in Jarael, his former student in the school on Osadia.

Demagol was also the father of Chantique, who served as the Magister Impressor of the Crucible.

Gorman Vandrayk


Vandrayk used to work for the Arkanian company Adascorp on Project Black Harvest, dedicated to the research of the spacefaring species known as the exogorths. When he heard about the possible uses of the exogorths proposed by Argaloh, the Sixth Lord Adasca, Vandrayk went into hiding in the Lower City of Taris under the alias "Camper," under Jarael's care. Eventually, his health failing after having had to leave Taris on The Last Resort forced Jarael to take him to Arkania, where he was unexpectedly reunited with Adascorp&mdash;the very company he used to run away from.

During the ventures of The Last Resort, Camper was the mechanic of the team and the "fix-it guy," whose abilities were probably best demonstrated when he rebuilt the droid T1-LB from scrap and gave him the previously-nonexistent ability to speak.

Krynda Draay


Born to a Human mother and Miraluka father, Krynda Draay was apprenticed to Vodo-Siosk Baas and became a Jedi Consular. She married Barrison Draay, with whom she had a child, Lucien Draay. After the Great Sith War, she left the Jedi Order, but eventually went on teaching Jedi for thirty years without the supervision of the Jedi Council. She founded a Jedi cabal known as the Jedi Covenant, aimed at preventing the return of the Sith, but was exposed to the Jedi Council by a member of one of her WatchCircles who sought to end the repercussions of the Padawan Massacre of Taris.

Haazen


Although referred as a "failed Padawan" by Lucien Draay, Haazen had fought in the Great Sith War alongside Lucien's father, Barrison. However, after he was secretly tempted by the dark side of the Force, he led Barrison to his death, which ended for the traitor by receiving terrible injuries. When he received a strange new power that kept his allegiance secret from the Jedi Order, Haazen returned as close associate of Barrison's wife, Krynda, founder of the Jedi Covenant. He was also Lucien's former mentor during that time.

The revelation of Haazen being the puppet master of the entire Jedi Covenant and the servant of the Sith is one of the major events in the Vindication story arc.

Lucien Draay


The son of Barrison and Krynda Draay, Lucien spent his apprentice years on Coruscant training under Haazen, an aide of his mother. He was eventually assigned to the four seers of the Jedi Covenant as their protector, but retained a sense of inferiority for not being a seer himself. After witnessing a troubling vision on the rogue moon, Lucien, along with the other Jedi Masters with him, murdered those they were protecting. When Zayne, his Padawan on Taris, was the only one to escape the Padawan Massacre, Lucien initially did not consider him the threat foretold in the vision on the rogue moon, but has since come to regret underestimating his apprentice and made Zayne's capture his top priority.

Lucien is one of the main antagonists of the series, as well as Zayne's personal archenemy.

Q'Anilia


In 3,993 BBY Q'Anilia began her training with Krynda Draay, who she remained with for over a decade. It was during this time that she became a Jedi Consular and member of the First WatchCircle within the Jedi Covenant, making Krynda's mission to prevent the return of the Sith her own. She was stationed at the Jedi Tower as of 3,964 BBY and was one of the five masters implicated in the Padawan Massacre of Taris. She is a close associate and companion of Jedi Master Lucien Draay, the son of her former master.

Xamar


A member of the Jedi Covenant and First WatchCircle stationed on Taris, Xamar along with his fellow Masters participated in the Padawan Massacre of Taris after a vision that suggested one among their Padawans would become a Sith Lord. Lucien had Xamar join the Republic Navy, so as to intercept Zayne on his way to Coruscant, and after his capture of the fugitive Padawan, he found himself persuaded to admit to the Council the existence of the Covenant, as well as implicate himself and the Taris Masters in the Padawan massacre, as he wished to ensure the safety of Krynda.

Raana Tey


Raana Tey maintained a reputation among the Jedi Order as being intense and untamed due to her individualism in combat, in no small part caused by her Togruta background. Dedicated to her training, Tey became a Jedi Consular and member of the First WatchCircle of the Jedi Covenant, later teaching Kamlin, a Falleen padawan. However, the WatchCircle's devotion to preventing the rise of the Sith again led to a vision of a Sith Lord, and so the members struck down each of their own Padawans during their Knighting ceremony with the exception of Zayne Carrick, on whom the Covenant would lay blame for the murders, resulting in a galaxy-wide chase. As a result of murdering her own apprentice, Tey's sanity began to erode as her headaches and nightmares turned for the worse and the WatchCircle she had grown to depend on for support was dissolved by the Jedi High Council.

Feln


A Feeorin Sage Master stationed on Taris around 3,964 BBY, Feln was also one of five members of the First WatchCircle of the Jedi Covenant. After witnessing a prophecy which he and the rest of the First Watchcircle believed foretold the return of the Sith, Feln committed the murder of his own Padawan, Oojoh. However, Jedi Padawan and witness to the massacre, Zayne Carrick, escaped, leading Feln and the rest of the First WatchCircle in pursuit. Feln eventually caught up with Zayne on his homeworld of Odryn where he used his influence as leader and Exalted of his people, the Feeorin, to capture Zayne.

Saul Karath


Captain Saul Karath felt the Republic's forces were too few to face the Mandalorians&mdash;and was proven right in the Onslaught that followed. He was forced to abandon Courageous at Serroco&mdash;but was promoted to Admiral and put into command of a Republic Force tasked to intercept Zayne Carrick, whom he viewed as Mandalorian spy.

Carth Onasi


Carth lived on his homeworld of Telos IV, a planet in the Outer Rim, with his wife, Morgana, and son, Dustil. He became part of the planetary militia and later&mdash;the Republic Navy, where one of his first posts was in an orbital watchstation over Serroco. He served aboard the Courageous as a helmsman and was later promoted to Lieutenant. He participated in several battles, including the Battles of Vanquo and Serroco, where he met the fugitive Padawan Zayne Carrick, disguised as a janitor named Shad Camper, whom we would later help on several occasions.

Mandalore the Ultimate


Mandalore the Ultimate, the successor of Mandalore the Indomitable, is leading the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars. The last known Taung to claim the Mandalore title, he regrouped the Mandalorian forces into the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and slowly began to conquer fringe worlds that had been left defenseless in the wake of the Great Sith War. Mandalore takes full advantage of the Galactic Republic's halfhearted efforts to oppose his aggression and is personally leading his forces as they invaded Republic territory.

Cassus Fett


Cassus Fett is a Mandalorian Field Marshal and an aide-de-camp to Mandalore the Ultimate, leader of the Mandalorians, and is highly influential in areas throughout Mandalorian society. Fett spearheaded the promotion of the Neo-Crusader movement, a sect of Mandalorian society with a more regimented structure and standardized armor than the hitherto dominant Mandalorian Crusaders. By exerting control over the clans and providing a means of converting conquered cultures into Neo-Crusaders, Fett turned the Mandalorians into a war machine intent on galactic conquest.

Arkoh Adasca


Arkoh, the Eighth Lord Adasca, is the owner of Adascorp and its ultimate planetary-destruction weapon: the slug-like exogorths. Having set up an auction for these creatures aboard his flagship, the Arkanian Legacy, he hopes to use them as a tool of political manipulation to receive his own due from all involved sides. He was also know to be Lucien Draay's best friend, since they were children.

It is Arkoh's plotting that is responsible for bringing most of the previously-introduced characters together in a restricted environment in Daze of Hate. He even forced Zayne's reunion with Lucien, which serves as a catalyst for the forthcoming events.

Moomo Brothers


The Brothers Dob and Del Moomo are bounty hunters, but have an incredibly low success rate. Despite their antagonism towards each other, they always work together, taking assignments from Valius Ying, Jervo Thalien, Marn Hierogryph, and even the Jedi Covenant member Raana Tey.

Vandar Tokare


Vandar Tokare was a male Jedi Master who was the head of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine during the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War, holding a seat on both the Jedi High Council and the Council of the Jedi academy during this time span. He was friends with fellow Council member Vrook Lamar, usually having the last word in their frequent disagreements, most notably on the choice to train Revan once again in the ways of the Jedi after his fall to the dark side of the Force.

Vrook Lamar


Vrook Lamar was a Human male who served as a Jedi Master as early as the time of the Great Hunt, holding a seat on the Dantooine Jedi Enclave Council. He was also a member of the Jedi High Council throughout the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War, and the Dark Wars. He was friends with fellow Council member Vandar Tokare, despite rarely concurring with him on anything, most notably the decision of accepting Revan back into the Jedi Order after his fall to the dark side of the Force.

Conception
"When we initially talked about doing the series, Dark Horse's Randy Stradley and later, my editor on the series, Jeremy Barlow, and I pored over the parts of the Star Wars movies that we really wanted to recapture in print. Boiling it down to the basic elements, as it were. And one of the things I kept coming back to was right there in the very first prose Star Wars novel, ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster. There's a brief introductory history of the Old Republic that closes with a quote from Leia Organa: "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes.""

- John Jackson Miller

Dark Horse Comics's involvement in the Old Republic era began with the Tales of the Jedi series of the 1990's, the first trade paperback of which was published as Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic. In 2003, BioWare released the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game, which was set thirty years after Tales of the Jedi: Redemption, the last Tales of the Jedi story arc. From 1999 onward, Dark Horse did not produce any Old Republic era stories until the anthologies Star Wars Tales 23 and Star Wars Tales 24, which featured two stories&mdash;Shadows and Light and Unseen, Unheard&mdash;that tied into Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel The Sith Lords. By 2005, Dark Horse was eager to return to the Old Republic era. In early 2005, John Jackson Miller was just finishing a story arc of Star Wars: Empire with artist Brian Ching when Miller was approached by Dark Horse editors Randy Stradley and Jeremy Barlow, who were looking at the upcoming 20th anniversary of Dark Horse Comics in 2006.

Miller and Randy Stradley began discussing some of the elements they liked seeing in Star Wars comics, such as drama, camaraderie, and humanity, and Miller started putting together thoughts on a series that would be launched during Dark Horse's 20th anniversary in 2006. Miller, Barlow, and Stradley studied the parts of the original Star Wars movies that they wished to recapture in print, and one of the main things that Miller found himself centering on was a quote by Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novel: "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes." Miller reversed the theme of an apprentice betraying a master and considered what might make a Jedi Master betray a student, and that idea gave rise to the series' first arc, Commencement&mdash;an arc that was originally titled Renegade. The Jedi Covenant arose from the idea of how a Jedi would respond to history's habit of repeating itself, and Miller made a pledge to himself that he would not introduce any mysteries in the series that he didn't know the answers to. Miller's pitch for the series received great feedback from both the developers for Knights of the Old Republic and LucasFilm. Miller changed little from the original pitch other than Gryph, who was originally an Ortolan&mdash;a race known for their clever criminals. After the story was approved, Miller and artist Brian Ching began work on the series with colorist Michael Atiyeh. Michael Heisler was the series' only letterer, handling all fifty issues of Knights of the Old Republic.

For the character of Zayne Carrick, Miller took inspiration from the scene where Han Solo invites Luke Skywalker to become a smuggler. However, Ching soon realized that it would be hard to convey expressions on an Ortolan's mouthless face, so Miller quickly suggested a Snivvian instead. Atiyeh and Ching developed detailed visuals for each of the series's characters, and by August 2005 at Comic-Con International in San Diego, most of the first issue was done, and Miller had scripted several issues onward. The series was officially announced in July 2005 at Comic-Con 2005 as part of Dark Horse's 20th anniversary celebration, and the series was set eight years before the events of the first Knights of the Old Republic game. Around November 2005, an ad for the series mistakenly claimed that the series was set eight thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, though Miller refuted the error and reaffirmed the date of 3,964 BBY.

Commencement, Flashpoint, and Reunion
"In the beginning, I was going, "Hey, wait a minute. I'm going to have to make up a bunch of new characters!" Then I went, "Hey! I'm going to get to make up a bunch of new characters!" And I think that we've done a pretty good job of creating characters whose roles will be understandable to people who are familiar with Star Wars—yet which are not just shake-and-bake versions of the originals,"

- John Jackson Miller

Miller made a conscious effort to make every detail in the series matter, and he developed broad plans on how the series would fit into overall Star Wars continuity. The first issue was released on January 25, 2006, 363 days after Miller and Stradley had had their initial conversation about the series. Miller deleted Ching's preliminary drawing of the double-page scene in Commencement, Part 1 from his hard drive to prevent himself from accidentally emailing it to fans, as he wanted to keep it secret until the issue's release. Ching and Miller also worked especially hard to create Carrick's and Lucien Draay's expressions for the final page of the issue. Miller chose to forgo an omniscient narrator and thought balloons that describe the action in the issues. The inside cover to issue #2 incorrectly credited Brian Ching with the cover art instead of Travis Charest, and the dialogue balloons in that issue's garbage can scene were accidentally reversed.

As Miller progressed with the development of Commencement, he realized that he had material for a prologue story that would help fans gain their bearings in the new era. Miller suggested the possibility of doing a prologue as a promotional comic for Free Comic Book Day, but editor Jeremy Barlow came up with the idea of a 25-cent special earlier in the year. Late in the process, Miller suggested the Taris Holofeed, basing the idea and format off of Star Wars Insider. The production team paused in the development of Commencement, Part 3 to create the Knights of the Old Republic/Rebellion Special, lengthening the third issue's production time somewhat, and Knights of the Old Republic/Rebellion #0&mdash;which contained Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 0: Crossroads&mdash;was released on March 1, 2006, only a week after Commencement, Part 2.

Miller considered the heart of Commencement, Part 4 to be the conversation between Zayne Carrick and Master Tokare, and he particularly enjoyed using the conversation to introduce the possibility that he was actually responsible for the murders of his fellow students. For Taris's Rogue Moon, Miller provided Ching with his own visual reference of the moon that he created by piecing together fragments of an image of a planet's surface. Miller also dedicated several pages to establish the working relationships between the crew of the Last Resort, as he felt that it was important to introduce their dynamics. Issue #5 saw guest artist Travel Foreman fill in for Brian Ching in order to keep the series on schedule, as the development of Crossroads had necessitated Foreman to fill for Ching. Travel Foreman took Miller's advice on the sequence depicting the Rogue Moon Prophecy, using a style reminiscent of the Doctor Strange artist Steve Ditko to create a vision experienced by several minds at the same time. Miller debated whether to depict Elbee's point of view during the vision, but he ultimately left it out.

In his production notes for issue #6, Miller admitted that the chapters of Commencement that follow the Padawan Massacre mirror the five stages of grief: denial in #2, anger in #3, bargaining in #4, depression in #5, and acceptance in the last pages of #5 and in issue #6. Miller devoted a lot of attention to finding the tone for the scenes in Commencement, Part 6, particularly Carrick's final speech to the Masters. For Valius Ying, Miller suggested to Travel Foreman and Brian Ching that he be based on an alien Tony Soprano&mdash;a gang leader who is full of himself and later realizes he's out of his depth. For Commencement, Part 6, Miller and Ching originally had Jarael plummeting towards the Jedi Tower's skylight in a background shot before she crashed into the Tower, but they ultimately removed her from the scene to preserve the mechanics of the scene.

Dustin Weaver joined the creative team for the series with issue #7 as a joint artist for the series, alternating story arcs with Brian Ching. Flashpoint, Part 1 shifts gears to focus on the Mandalorian Wars, showcasing the influx of new recruits of many different species among the Mandalorians and hinting at the conflict between their culture's typically loose command structure and their status as an invading force. Miller was pleased to give more time devoted to Elbee, who he had hoped to develop further in Commencement before he decided to focus more on the Master's vision. In the production notes for the issue, Miller revealed that Elbee's name was derived from the character Bartleby the Scrivener in a story by Herman Melville. Because the series begins before the Knights of the Old Republic game, Miller was able to delve into the early stages of the Mandalorian Wars, and he compared the conflict depicted in the Flashpoint arc to the kind of military action in remote theaters that preceded all-out war. The Courageous, the flagship of Admiral Saul Karath, earned its name through an obscure connection to Karath's flagship Leviathan in the video game: the Leviathan was a reference to the real-life British Royal Navy class of the same name, and the real-world class was based on the design for the French vessel Courageaux. Rohlan Dyre's first name was partially inspired by the name of Roland, a paladin of Charlemagne.

The ninth issue of the series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming, was developed as a stand-alone tenth issue that focused on Lucien Draay. Miller had wanted to do a single issue focusing on the Covenant in the first year of the series, modeling it after stories such as the Marvel comic Star Wars 29: Dark Encounter and Neil Gaiman's Hob Gadling story. However, Miller lost half of the script for the issue due to a hard drive problem, and both the file and its back-up became corrupted after a power failure. Miller ultimately gave up trying to recover the script and rewrote it instead, but another problem came up with art scheduling. Dustin Weaver was originally scheduled to work on issues #7-9, the Flashpoint arc, while Brian Ching was to work ahead on #10, but when Ching finished his work first, the standalone issue was published prior to the unfinished final issue of Flashpoint. The events of the two issues took place simultaneously, and marked the transition from the year 3,964 BBY to 3,963 BBY, seven years before the Knights of the Old Republic game. The cover art for Flashpoint and Homecoming was handled by Brian Ching and Michael Atiyeh. While working on Flashpoint, Miller collaborated with Star Wars writer Karen Traviss for information about the Mandalorian culture and their language, Mando'a.

For the issues following Commencement, the next six issues were originally planned to be broken up into three smaller stories: a three-part story, a standalone, and a two-part arc. Doing so would allow Dustin Weaver to join in as the series' second artist, but the scheduling issues saw a third artist&mdash;Harvey Tolibao&mdash;take over for the sixth issue, Knights of the Old Republic 12: Reunion, Part 2, which was also colored by guest colorist Jay David Ramos. The two-part Reunion arc was intended as a comical departure from the heavier tone of the preceding arcs and the storylines to come in 2007. The storyline, which was originally titled Target of Opportunity until Miller suggested renaming it to fit with the titles of Commencement and Homecoming, was intended to showcase the working relationship between Gryph and Carrick. Reunion title was also a hint to the identity of Arvan Carrick, and Miller described the bank on the planet Telerath as having a central tower with spidery veins spreading across a beautiful countryside; Ching expanded on the design, adding a sea, islands, and airships. The illustrator HOON drew the cover art for the two Reunion issues. Having different artists for the two issues presented some art problems: the Moomo Brothers are identifiable by the colors of their scarves, though issue #12 reversed the colors of the scarves and created confusion as to which was which.

Days/Nights
"The arcs for 2007, not coincidentally, refer to a downward spiral of events spoken of in the movies by Yoda. And here, following the Mandalorian onslaught, things are beginning to go from bad to worse for the Republic. It's like 1940 in Europe, with one country falling after another."

- John Jackson Miller

As Knights of the Old Republic became successful in early 2006, Miller began looking forward at 2007, and he developed an expansive storyline which would bring in multiple characters but could be broken down into smaller chunks so that the series' artists could alternate. This plan led to the development of four interlocking arcs: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger, Daze of Hate, and Knights of Suffering&mdash;the names of which stem from Jedi Master Yoda's warning from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering." While planning out the plots of the arcs, Miller was at one point forced to put every character's story path on a dry-erase board so that he could keep track of them all. Taking inspiration from Roy Thomas's decision to split up the main characters of the Marvel Star Wars comics in Star Wars 7: New Planets, New Perils!, Miller decided to break up the crew of the Last Resort in the opening pages of Knights of the Old Republic 13: Days of Fear, Part 1. The four arc titles came to be referred to collectively as Days/Knights first unofficially by Miller himself and later officially, as part of the publisher's summary for issue #23. Miller later confirmed that the look that Carrick gives the "camera" in a scene in Weaver's Days of Fear, Part 1 was inspired by the look that Jim, a character from the US version of the television show The Office, often gives the camera.

Also in issue #13, the creative team introduced Zayne Carrick's phrik vambraces, the character's first unique piece of equipment and an element that had been a part of Brian Ching's design for the character since his inception. Dustin Weaver handled artwork duties for issues #13 and #15, while Brian Ching drew issue #14, the second part of Days of Fear. Days of Fear also saw the return of the backup news organs, with The Admiral's List: Jimas Veltraa Memorial Edition, The Adjudicator Special Report: The Outer Rim, and The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition accompanying the three issues of the arc respectively. The character of Slyssk was partially inspired by Miller's childhood action figure of the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk, which had wider eyes than in The Empire Strikes Back, and the name of the Little Bivoli &mdash;a ship designed by Dustin Weaver&mdash;is a reference to a foodstuff in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. The Reliance name comes from the same source as that of the Courageous: a ship in the British Navy of the Napoleonic era of the same class as the Courageaux.

Days of Fear, Part 2 introduces the character of Carth Onasi, a companion character in the original Knights of the Old Reppublic game, and the creative team worked hard to ensure that he was consistent with his game portrayal and yet also present surprises. Looking back at the issue, Miller acknowledged the fact that he unknowingly staged the dialogue similar to that of the game, in that Carrick&mdash;like the player character&mdash;receives long expositions from Onasi in response to single-line observations and questions. Miller and Ching plotted out a vision of Serroco's destruction that was relatively similar to how the actual event would appear, and in the production notes for the issue, Miller acknowledged the questions of fans as to whether a bearded crewmember on the Courageous from issue #8 was Onasi. Miller had intended Onasi to be present at Vanquo on the Courageous, but he did not specifically direct Dustin Weaver to draw the character, and Miller himself assumed that Weaver had drawn Onasi&mdash;only to later learn from Weaver that the crewmember was actually a rendition of Miller himself.

Zayne Carrick's reaction to the death of the Sterebs in Days of Fear, Part 3 was inspired Miller's personal reaction to the events of September 11, 2001. Ching and Atiyeh drew the cover artwork for Days of Fear,   and the cover for Part 3 was directly suggested by Miller: he noted to Brian Ching how he liked one of Frank Miller's covers for Daredevil that featured Daredevil cowering on a white background. Ching took one of Carrick's postures in the previous issue and added Mandalore's mask and the flames. An earlier promotional image featured a redder mask,, though the mask was ultimately changed to a brighter gold by the time of the release.

In Knights of the Old Republic 16: Nights of Anger, Part 1, Miller was particularly pleased with Ching's ability to recreate the panel layout from issues #1 and #2&mdash;the depiction of Carrick's discovery of the Padawan Massacre. The sequence also allowed Miller to return to Raana Tey and give insight into her motivations, something that he had wanted to do for a while. Nights of Anger, Part 1 saw the appearance of Arkania from Tales of the Jedi, and the fact that Brian Ching's designs for Camper and Jarael were divergent from that of typical Arkanians allowed Miller to deal with the subject of segregation. The broad strokes of Arkanian society stemmed from Miller's experience with student protesters against companies that did business with apartheid-era South Africa, and he brought in elements of the Russian communes from the 19th century. Colin Wilson handled the cover art for Nights of Anger, and his addition of word balloons on the covers of the issues was the idea of editor Jeremy Barlow: Barlow looked at the year's military storylines and saw an opportunity to pay tribute to the war comics covers by Joe Kubert. For the character of Zadawi, Miller asked Brian Ching to create a character who would hold a mirror up to Jarael, a way to show what Jarael's life would have been like if she had grown up on Arkanian. The Tremendous battle group is also another reference to the British Royal Navy, as the Tremendous was a ship of the same class as the Courageaux.

The Reaping, Demon, and Destroyer
Work on the final arc, Knights of Suffering, drawn by Dustin Weaver, had begun before Nights of Anger was finished, and continued simultaneously with Daze of Hate.

2008: Vector and beyond
The 2008 run of KotOR began with the first part of Star Wars: Vector, a multi-era crossover between all four of Dark Horse's ongoing series: KotOR, Rebellion, Dark Times, and Legacy. In creating his part of it, John Jackson Miller had to collaborate closely with other members of the creative team. For instance, Mick Harrison, writer of Star Wars: Dark Times provided the title for the series and Jan Duursema, penciller and co-writer of Star Wars: Legacy worked on the designs for Celeste Morne and Karness Muur, the characters which played essential parts in the story of Vector.

This year also saw the release of Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, a supplement to the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Roleplaying Game, co-written by John Jackson Miller, which provided additional info about characters, vessels, and organizations, originating in the series.

Continuity
The comic series is set in the years 3,964 BBY and 3,963 BBY, at a midpoint between the Tales of the Jedi comics and the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game.

References to the video games and Tales of the Jedi
The planet Taris and the Mandalorian Wars, which the series heavily revolves around, were first described in the first Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. Much of the game's backstory was revealed by two participants in the war from both sides: the Republic officer Carth Onasi and the Mandalorian warrior Canderous Ordo. Carth, along with his superior and mentor Saul Karath, were characters originally introduced in the game, who later went on to play a significant role in the Days/Knights meta-arc.

In the second video game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Canderous appears as the new Mandalore of the Mandalorians, having inherited the helmet of the previous Mandalore, introduced in Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War and mentioned in the first game. According to the game backstory, Mandalore the Ultimate led his people during the Mandalorian Wars, and he later appeared in the KotOR comics in that role, starting with the Flashpoint arc. However, the helmet Canderous wears in the game is different from the version seen in TotJ and the KotOR comics. However, this issue was cleared up in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide released in 2008, where it is stated that the old mask was incorporated into Canderous' helmet. Overall, the Mandalorian aesthetics presented in the ongoing series (including armor designs) are in a transitional state between TotJ and the games and more diverse than in either.

Other references to Tales of the Jedi include mentions of such characters as Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, his former student and later Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun, and Jedi Master Arca Jeth. In addition, Alek references the Great Sith War in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 0: Crossroads. In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 33: Vindication, Part 2, the Great Sith War and Arca Jeth appear in a flashback telling Haazen's backstory.

The design of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine and the composition of the Dantooine Jedi Council and the Jedi High Council on Coruscant are taken directly from the games, with one exception: Master Dorak is not yet a member of the Dantooine Council, and his place is occupied by Bala Nisi. This character debuted as a Dantooine Council member in the comic story Shadows and Light from Star Wars Tales 23, which also featured the Jedi Enclave and served as a backstory to a certain quest featured in the first KotOR game.

Both Alek and the Revanchist are revealed in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force and later in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 31: Turnabout and the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide to be one and the same with future Dark Lords Darth Malak and Darth Revan; more about their fate will be revealed in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 42: Masks.

According to Freddye Lins, there are no plans for characters from Tales of the Jedi or The Sith Lords to appear in the comic.

Continuity errors and peculiarities
Until issue #10 was released, it had been presumed by some fans that the depiction of Arkanians Camper and Jarael with five-fingered hands and evident eye pupils was a continuity error or a deliberate attempt to retcon the look of the species. However, this later turned out to be a plot point as Mandalorian scientist Demagol clarified Jarael's status as an Arkanian Offshoot, and when pure Arkanians were featured on their home planet in issue #16.

One actual continuity error that was left unaccounted for, even in the Commencement trade paperback, was the mention of bacta before it was invented, in an era where bacta's niche was occupied by kolto. Miller acknowledges this and suggests "a number of remedies," including the idea that the name "bacta" coincidentally referred to as "something Mama Hierogryph used to make." Presumably this is not canon. It has since been retconned in The Essential Atlas that bacta has been available in the galaxy since at least 4,100 BBY.

Reception
"As a fan of Star Wars I was not disappointed by this book. Without giving much away, it really captured the feel of Star Wars for me with high action, comedy, some drama, and the occasional serious overtones. It both entertained me and made me think a little. It has some interesting plot points which make you think and creates a mystery type feel to the book."

- Review of Commencement by "Thomas Lorraine" on Amazon.com

Reviews of the pilot issue have been mixed. ComicCritique gave KotOR #1 a 2/5 rating, citing it as containing "a lot of stereotypical fiction and dialogue that will work for most fans of the series, but not for comic book readers looking for their money's worth." IGN gave it a "Check It" rating and said that "for a first issue, this isn't a bad start," despite adding that "KOTOR is a pale shadow to the original Tales of the Jedi, which remain among the best Star Wars comics of all time." User reviews on the Jedi Council Forums have been consistently positive.

Comments about trade paperbacks, on the other hand, have been largely positive. Grovel rated the Commencement TPB as 4/5 overall, with 3/5 for the story and 4/5 for the artwork. As of December 15, 2007, Amazon.com lists a 4/5 rating for the Commencement TPB, with 7 customer reviews, and a 4.5/5 rating for the Flashpoint TPB, with 6 customer reviews.

The sales figure estimates for the series are based on John Jackson Miller's calculations performed for Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest comic book distributor in North America. These estimates place the KotOR sales consistently between 21,000 and 25,000 copies for each individual issue, with the position in the overall comic sales chart for the particular month varying between 80 and 120, but generally staying in the 90s. According to these figures, Knights of the Old Republic is Dark Horse's third-best selling title, after Star Wars: Legacy (roughly 33,000 copies on average) and Conan (roughly 26,000 copies), with high consistency.

John Jackson Miller interviews

 * EU Cantina.net
 * Newsarama
 * The Lightsabre
 * Dark Horse Comics
 * Silver Bullet Comics
 * Broken Frontier
 * Comic News I
 * TwitchGuru