Juhani

"I feel I could count on any one of you, but it is you who saved me from the dark side. It is you who I feel a debt to. And I shall make it up to you."

- Juhani

Juhani was a female Cathar Jedi who followed Revan during the time of the Jedi Civil War.

Biography
During the Mandalorian Wars, Juhani's parents narrowly escaped from the destruction of their homeworld by the Mandalorians during the Battle of Cathar. They fled to Taris, among the very last remnants of their race, taking their child with them. There Juhani, only a few months old, was raised; throughout her life, she called Taris her homeworld.

Like many non-humans, Juhani's family had a rough life on Taris at that point in its history. The native humans disliked them merely for being "aliens," looked at them in disgust, persecuted them, and charged them more for food than their own species. Juhani had mixed feelings for the planet she had to live on; she hated it, called it a "rat-hole" and a "warren," but still realized that it was her home. Her life could have been far, far worse.

However, when her father was killed by the Mandalorian slaver Xor, something began to slowly die within her mother, as well. She worked as hard as possible, but still didn't earn enough money to support both herself and her daughter. So she started borrowing money from the Exchange, doing everything possible to save funds, giving her daughter Juhani most of their food. And one day, she collapsed in the cantina she worked in... and never recovered, as they simply did not have enough money to pay for a doctor.

The Exchange then charged Juhani with her mother's debts, and, as she had no way to repay them, enslaved her. This was the worst period in her life. She was bound like a beast and treated like livestock, with Xor planning to purchase her at auction. One day, however, an unexpected force intervened.

It should be noted that Juhani never gave up hope for a better life. She remembered legends about the Jedi, of whom she had a somewhat idealized image of fearless peacekeepers and protectors of the innocent. And in the end, she was freed from the slavers by a Jedi who, in her opinion, perfectly matched her image&mdash;Revan, who arrived on Taris during the Mandalorian Wars, driving the occupiers offworld.

Jedi
"I will be your doom!"

- Juhani



After that, Juhani, who was in fact Force-sensitive, vowed to become a Jedi. Immediately after collecting enough money, she boarded the first freighter to Dantooine, where she was taken for training by Jedi Master Quatra. At first their relationship was peaceful, but as her training progressed, Juhani, due to her hot-tempered Cathar nature, began to lose control over her emotions and slip towards the dark side.

During her period of doubt, she confided in Dak Vessar, another Jedi trainee. Dak surprised her by confessing romantic feelings for her, feelings Juhani could not return. Dak grew angry and ran off to join the Sith, leaving Juhani behind and even more confused.

Quatra, aware of the changes in her Padawan, decided to test her in an unusual way. By that time, Juhani's training was almost complete, and Quatra had nothing more to teach her. She allowed Juhani to give in to her rage and strike her Master, making her believe that she had done so willingly. Juhani left her for dead (in truth, Quatra was only injured, later recovering in the Jedi Enclave).

Believing that she had harnessed the power of the dark side, Juhani left the Enclave and hid in a Jedi meditation grove. The grove soon became tainted, and the local kath hounds were driven mad, resulting in attacks upon the local settlers.

Her salvation, coincidentally enough, once again came from Revan. At that time, the former Jedi Knight and Dark Lord of the Sith was unaware of his true identity; suffering from amnesia, he believed he was a former Republic soldier taken for Jedi training, and the task of removing the taint from the grove, given by the Jedi Council, was his final test. Revan, like Juhani, was once again waiting to become a Padawan.

As Revan approached the grove, Juhani engaged him in battle, but was unexpectedly defeated&mdash;she had falsely believed that no one could match her power. Finally, she realized what Quatra had tried to teach her: that the dark side itself was no stronger than the light side, and that being seduced by it did not make one any stronger.

Revan spared her life and persuaded her to ask the Jedi Council for mercy. She was forgiven, promoted to Padawan, and remained in the Enclave for some time, until Revan and Bastila Shan uncovered a Star Map on Dantooine. At this point, Council assigned Juhani to their expedition aboard the Ebon Hawk, which aimed to find other Star Maps that could reveal the location of the Star Forge.

During Revan's adventures, Juhani was sometimes on the verge of falling to the dark side once again&mdash;especially when she met Xor once more and prepared for revenge. Revan, however, managed to prevent the bloodshed by reciting the Jedi Code, which also worked surprisingly well in other situations. Generally, Juhani showed the most zeal as advocate of he light side and the ways of the Jedi... perhaps to show her repentance and restrain herself from falling anew.

Juhani repayed Revan in turn when they were stranded on Rakata Prime, when he had to enter the Temple of the Ancients to disable the disruptor field which damaged any ships travelling within the Star Forge's system. Jolee Bindo persuaded the Rakatan priests to allow him and Juhani to follow Revan into the temple, and it turned to be a valid effort.

"I pledge my life to your cause. We WILL defeat the Sith once and for all."

- Juhani's words to Revan on the Temple of the Ancients, when he rejected the dark side.

It was not to be an easy task, however. Revan was confronted by Bastila Shan, a Padawan converted to the dark side by Darth Malak, and it is conjecturable that, without Juhani and Jolee having restrained Revan's underlying emotions, the Dark Lord would have ultimately embraced his former identity and followed Bastila over to the dark side. Juhani had saved the one who had saved her.

After the death of Malak and the destruction of the Star Forge, Juhani, among Revan's other followers, was honored at the celebration of the Republic's victory on Rakata Prime. Her fate after the Jedi Civil War is, as yet, unknown.

Behind the scenes

 * Her name was originally going to be Bastila Shan, before the introduction of that character. Early sketches of Juhani with that name are still available on some Knights of the Old Republic-related websites. On that concept art, her outfit is something of a middle ground between what we see Bastila and Juhani wearing in the final game.
 * Juhani's original name, Bastila, is a possible reference to the Egyptian feline goddess Bast, or Bastet. The reference lost its significance when the name was transferred to the current Bastila. Interestingly, if Juhani was named Bastila Shan, she would be the first known Cathar to have both a first name and a last name.
 * Juhani is romanceable by Revan in the game if Revan is female, leading many to believe that she is a lesbian. This would be a first for the Star Wars Universe. While it is speculated to be a developers' error, checks for Revan's gender in in-game scripts overwhelmingly prove that it was done deliberately. A male Revan can also trigger the romance dialogue in the first release of the game, but Stanley Woo, speaking on the Bioware boards, confirmed that this was a "glitch" and patches released by Bioware for the PC remove a male Revan's potential romance.
 * Some fans believe that Juhani and Belaya harbored romantic feelings for each other, as the latter takes the former's death very hard, should Revan kill Juhani on Dantooine. Before attempting to avenge the slain Juhani, she alludes to their relationship by talking of nights they had spent together under the stars. Though Juhani stole the heart of fellow Jedi Dak Vessar, but could not return the feelings for obvious reasons.
 * After the name of Bastila was reassigned, fans speculate that the character may have been removed from the game (due to the lack of dialogue and many programming glitches) before being reintroduced near the end of production.
 * Juhani speaks with a Russian accent, especially notable with "r" and "w" pronunciation. This is likely intended to give a catlike 'purr' to her voice, or to denote a special Catharian dialect of Galactic Basic.
 * "Juhani" is also a Finnish male first name.
 * After defeating Xor, the player can encourage Juhani to take revenge on him, rather than to suppress her anger.
 * Dark side players have the opportunity to kill Juhani twice. First, after encountering her in the grove, they can choose to end her life instead of redeeming her, thus losing a potential party member. Second, if the player chooses to follow Bastila to the dark side in the Rakatan temple, Juhani and Jolee Bindo leave the party and become hostile.
 * At one point in the game Juhani is referred to as an Apprentice instead of a Padawan &mdash; this is stated in the mission journal between the time Revan meets Juhani, and when he redeems (or kills) her. This may have been a mistake, or Juhani was only made an official Padawan after being redeemed.
 * If Revan has any companions with him when he approaches the grove, Juhani freezes them using Force Stasis before drawing her lightsaber.
 * Juhani was voiced by Courtenay Taylor.
 * There was a conversation option that allowed her to voice suspicion and dislike for Canderous Ordo. Another cut dialogue tree allowed her to voice her knowledge on the various planets the party visited. Overall, only about half of the dialogue voiced and written for the character appeared to make it in game.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic