Vandar Tokare

"It would do all the Jedi High Council members good to get out more on Coruscant."

- Vandar

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. One of the attendees of the Conclave on Katarr, Tokare was killed during an attack from the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus in which the entire Miraluka colony and much of the survivors of the First Jedi Purge were lost.

Biography
"The eye sees, but cannot see itself. Anyone can be the eye, but the key to Jedi training is to be able to see oneself."

- Vandar Tokare, to Derrica Praji

Tokare took Derrica Praji and another person as Jedi Padawans and trained them on Ossus. In 4,225 BBY Tokare and his two apprentices traveled to the world Kaikielius, where they led Galactic Republic troops during the Kaikieli Reconquista, a campaign to retake Kaikielius from criminals. For three months, Tokare led attacks on most criminal-infested cities and was eventually victorious.

Prior to the Mandalorian Wars, Vandar had a conversation with Vrook Lamar concerning the Jedi Exile. She had yet to achieve the title of Jedi Knight, but a Master had already been assigned to her, and her talent with Force bonding had already begun to manifest itself. Master Vrook had low views on anyone who followed Revan, but even before the war, he deemed the Exile a mediocre Jedi, and believed her talent was uncontrolled because of lust for power, and that it would eventually lead her to the dark side. When he caught the Exile in a heated argument with his Padawan, Vrook first asked her Master to lecture her about discipline, without success, then he expected Master Vandar to step in, but he wouldn't either. Though respecting Lamar's wisdom, Tokare told him that it was not his concern, and he voiced a divergent opinion on the Exile, whom he saw as a natural leader with a unique strength. This conversation was recorded by a protocol droid serving at the Jedi Enclave. Years later, in 3,951 BBY, for the first time since she went to war, the Exile would return to Dantooine. She met this droid in a battered state, its memory banks corrupted, but after indulging in some maintenance, she found a partially degraded holorecord of Vrook and Vandar speaking about her.

Mandalorian Wars
"We're not just their teachers – we're their protectors."

- Vandar

In the years leading up to the Mandalorian invasion of the Galactic Republic during the Mandalorian Wars, Master Vandar taught many pupils, and by 3,964 BBY he was the leading Master of the Jedi Enclave. Zayne Carrick, who had been a student of his before being apprenticed to Lucien Draay, sought the help of Master Vandar in the wake of the Padawan Massacre of Taris, for which he had been framed. The fugitive Padawan contacted him from The Last Resort and disclosed the details of what occurred in the Jedi Tower when his fellow students Shad Jelavan, Kamlin, Oojoh, and Gharn were all killed during their Knighting ceremony.

Distraught, Vandar asked him how could he have murdered those he grew up with. Zayne tried to explain that he barely escaped the same fate, as he was chased by those he found standing among their corpses with their lightsabers drawn, their own teachers, Jedi Masters Feln, Q'Anilia, Raana Tey, Xamar, and Lucien himself. But Vandar found hard to even contemplate that Lucien, who was the scion of an important family, both in the Republic and in the Jedi Order, could be responsible for such a thing. Instead, he pondered aloud if Zayne himself may have committed the crime, and subconsciously erased it from his mind.

When Zayne called the Enclave, Vandar was in a meeting with fellow Council members Zhar Lestin, Vrook, and Bala Nisi. He asked Zhar about any Jedi Consulars serving on Taris, and was surprised to hear that, save Lucien, all Jedi stationed there were Consulars, which was unusual. Nevertheless, he told Zayne that if he turned himself in, one of those Jedi could probe his mind and help him find the truth. Just as Zayne pointed out that those were the ones trying to kill him, the transmission got cut by Jarael, who struck Zayne from behind and knocked him unconscious.

A dependable Master
Within weeks since the murders, Zayne decided to turn himself in so as to relieve his new companions of the trouble he had brought upon them. In the Council chamber of the Jedi Enclave, Vandar watched him on a news hologram as he was brought in chains to the Jedi Tower. However, before he could be killed by Lucien, Zayne was rescued by Jarael, and escaped once again. The Masters of Taris were then contacted by the Dantooine Jedi Enclave Council and recalled to Coruscant to explain themselves. As they stood judgment before the High Council, a stern Vrook Lamar would reprimand the five for allowing the deaths of their students, and he would remind them of a recurrent counsel of Vandar's about being protectors as much as teachers. Master Vandar insted regretted he did not listen to Vrook's counsel when he expressed disapproval of assigning students to them uneager teachers, feeling now that perhaps that reluctance was, in fact, wisdom.

When Raana Tey hired the Moomo brothers to stalk Zayne's father, banker Arvan Carrick, Master Vandar welcomed his family to Dantooine for as long as they liked, and let Arvan work for the Jedi Enclave. Dantooine not offering much in the way of financial opportunities, Master Vandar was surprised to hear of his request, which was really to let Zayne's mind be at peace with the well-being of his loved ones, while he did what he could to clear his name. Arvan justified it with the fact that Zayne always spoke of Vandar as of someone he could trust, and that trust meant a lot in banking.

Chasing Shadows
At some point, Lucien Draay was offered a seat on the Jedi High Council as a result of the influence of his family and the manipulations of his former teacher, the shadow leader of the Jedi Covenant, Haazen. Vrook and Vandar agreed to this, if only to keep a closer look on him and find the truth about the Padawan Massacre. Tokare found his rise to power rather suspicious, and felt someone else was behind it, but he could not tell who or why. Haazen was really safe from Vandar's grasp in the Living Force, as he relied on a Sith artifact known as the Yoke of Seeming to prevent Jedi from perceiving his intentions.

After the deaths of Feln and Raana Tey, Vandar received a transmission from Shel Jelavan, the sister of one of the victims. He was informed by her of what took place on Jebble when Covenant Shadow Celeste Morne, a rogue Jedi under Lucien's orders, unleashed a powerful dark side artifact which caused the Rakghoul Plague; and he agreed to meet Shel in a cantina on Coruscant, where he was to ask for "Captain Malak." The bank Arvan Carrick worked for was co-owned by the Draay Trust, a corporation from which half the members of the Jedi High Council received funds for their charitable causes. With his help, Master Vandar discovered that the true extent of their financial power and influence within the Jedi Order was indeed more than enough to make possible the creation of Jedi Shadows. Though being very sceptical on this matter, Master Vrook accompanied him to the meeting, and when Vandar made the name of his contact, they found that Captain Malak was none other than Jedi Knight Alek Squinquargesimus, who had come to Coruscant with Shel on Zayne's behalf, even though an arrest warrant had been issued on Revanchists, by the Council, on Lucien's request. Shel told the Masters what happened on Taris, when Raana Tey revealed that the head of the Jedi Covenant was Krynda Draay, a Sage Master, and one of the few remaining heroes of the Great Sith War. However, even when Alek told them that Zayne was bringing a collection of Sith artifacts from a repository on Odryn as evidence to expose the Covenant and clear his name, Master Vrook said that it was not enough to bring the matter before the Council. He and Vandar realized that if they were to accuse Krynda, the Order would be torn apart, as she had been training Jedi for thirty years after the war, without the supervision of the Council, and retained their allegiance. When Zayne landed and gave the signal, they set off to meet him. Just as Master Vandar came to the conclusion that one of the Masters of the Covenant needed to speak up, Xamar stepped forward, ready to confess.

Jedi Civil War
"Many of our own pupils are leaving the Jedi order to follow the Sith teachings. We need recruits to stand against Malak!"

- Vandar

During the Jedi Civil War that followed the Mandalorian Wars, Vandar oversaw the training of Revan after he was stripped of his memory by the Jedi Council. He was also the one who assigned Revan and Bastila to hunt down the Star Maps that would lead to the Star Forge.

Having survived Darth Malak's attack on Dantooine, Master Vandar participated in the Battle of Rakata Prime, acting as an adviser alongside Admiral Forn Dodonna. After the battle, it was Vandar who proclaimed Revan to be truly redeemed, thus reinstating his former rank of Jedi Knight and also proclaiming him as the "Prodigal Knight."

Death
In 3,952 BBY Jedi Master Atris called a Jedi Conclave under the strict agreement of secrecy on the Mid Rim world of Katarr, where the few Jedi who escaped the First Jedi Purge hoped that in communion with the Force-sensitive Miraluka, they would be able to identify the elusive Sith threat that was ending them. Vandar attended the meeting, not knowing that Atris had secretly leaked knowledge of the gathering in the hopes that the enemy would reveal themselves. Ruled by his hunger, Darth Nihilus was drawn from the Unknown Regions and fed upon all life on the planet, making the Jedi all but extinct. Vandar's death would be related to the Jedi Exile on Dantooine by his long-time friend Vrook, who had not gone to Katarr, and was still unaware of why or how he had died. The Exile would learn later on how Atris had even felt what could happen, and still not warned the Jedi, choosing instead to stay safely away and watch.

Powers and abilities
Vandar was a practitioner of the Ataru form of lightsaber combat, and owned two shotos. Like most wielders of the Force, he could perform Mind tricks, but he also possessed many strong Force powers such as battle meditation, Sever Force, and Force Suppression. He was also capable of advanced applications of Telekinesis, like levitation, and could wield weapons effectively without his hands.

Aside from Basic, he could also speak Kreva and Draethos language.

Behind the scenes
Vandar can also die if the player makes the dark side choice in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Vandar dies along with Admiral Forn Dodonna aboard a Republic capital ship, destroyed by Sith fighters assisted by Bastila Shan's battle meditation.

Vandar is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kane, who has done the voice of Yoda in several video games and the mini-series Star Wars: Clone Wars. Kane recently confirmed that he would reprise the role of Vandar for The Old Republic, though it is unknown whether Vandar will appear in the flesh or as a Force ghost or Holocron.

Vandar is of the same species as Yoda, but unlike Yoda and Yaddle, did not speak in inverted sentences.

Master Vandar is the only known member of his species to have a surname, in contrast to Yoda and Yaddle. He is also the only one shown thus far to speak in accordance with more common-practice Basic (or English) grammar, however this may be due to his growing up with the Jedi, many of whom speak Basic in proper syntax.

His last name is misspelled as Dokar in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Commencement, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 4: Commencement, Part 4
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 12: Reunion, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 24: Knights of Suffering, Part 3
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 29: Exalted, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 31: Turnabout
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Notes and references
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