Timeline 8: The Jedi Civil War

Timeline 8: The Jedi Civil War is the eighth in the series of in-universe videos, providing backstory for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic video game. The video is presented in the form of a record entry made in the Jedi Archives by Jedi Master Gnost-Dural.

Publisher's summary
One of the greatest threats to the Republic preceding the Great War arose approximately three hundred years before when the Sith Lords Darth Revan and Darth Malak began the Jedi Civil War. Jedi Master Gnost-Dural’s historical investigation steps back to this era, and he examines new evidence which reshapes the Order’s understanding of the events surrounding Revan’s fall and his ultimate fate.

BTC 303 – Three hundred years before the Sacking of Coruscant, two prominent Jedi Knights pursued enemy forces into deep space at the conclusion of the Mandalorian Wars. When the two Jedi, Revan and Malak, returned to Republic space, they had fallen to the dark side. As Sith Lords, Revan and Malak began searching the galaxy for a powerful ancient artifact known as the Star Forge. During their dark campaign, however, Malak’s ambitions grew and eventually drove him to betray Revan, sparking the bloody Jedi Civil War. Though Revan was ultimately redeemed and restored peace to the galaxy, he disappeared afterwards in search of a 'great darkness' in Deep Space. Through his investigation, Master Gnost-Dural confirmed that this great darkness was the Sith Empire whom the Jedi Order battled during the Great Galactic War.

Behind the scenes
This video is the first canonical source to depict Revan without a mask or hood obscuring his head. However, he is never shown facing the viewer when unmasked, so the details of his appearance remain a mystery. He is portrayed as having shoulder-length black hair and light skin, which is similar to one of the player portraits available in the KotOR video game, but his true appearance remains inconclusive.

The video contains a number of inconsistencies with the events of KotOR. Revan is shown wielding his lightsaber in a Shien reverse-grip hold, which was not an available fighting style in the KotOR video game. Bastila is shown wielding a double-bladed yellow lightsaber during the capture of Revan, yet in the video game, she wields a single-hilted blade. It is stated that the Rakata Star Forge is over 25 centuries old when it is actually over 25,000 years old. When Bastila Shan first faces Revan in the timeline, she is referred to as a Jedi Master instead of as a Jedi Padawan, although Gnost-Dural might have been retroactively applying the title of Master that Shan went on to earn after the events in KotOR. Revan is also pictured at one point as being taller than Malak despite every other source saying that Malak, at 2 meters, is considerably taller than Revan. Also, Revan and Bastila are depicted fighting Malak together, and Bastila somehow has recovered her Jedi robes.

It was noted on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums by game developer Rob Chestney that the events and portrayals in this timeline are the interpretation of Jedi historian Gnost-Dural over 300 years after the events of the video took place and therefore may not be entirely accurate. Chestney also noted that the age of the Star Forge was a genuine mistake and will be rectified at some point.