Zayne Carrick

"You're Zayne Carrick, right? Your Master sent me to look for you. He said to follow the trail of debris."

- Alek

Zayne Carrick was a Human Padawan learner during the Mandalorian Wars. Hailing from the family of a banker and a gardener, Zayne was barely accepted into the Jedi Order with his level of Force sensitivity, described as "marginal", and spent his youngling days in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. He was then taken as a Padawan by Jedi Master Lucien Draay, who, unknown to both Zayne and the Dantooine Jedi Council, was a member of a secret Jedi organization bent on preventing the return of the Sith by any means necessary.

Training on the city-world of Taris under the supervision of Lucien and four other Jedi Masters, Zayne never expected to go far; he lacked confidence in his abilities, performed poorly for a future Jedi, and was treated as little more than a source of comic relief. Not even expecting to be knighted, he nevertheless attended the knighting ceremony &mdash; but, running late, was shocked to see his four fellow Padawans dead &mdash; killed by their own Masters in cold blood.

As Zayne later discovered, the Masters saw a vision that identified one of the Padawans as a threat to the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic. As the only surviving Padawan, still seen as an enemy by the Jedi Covenant, he united with Marn Hierogryph, a Tarisian black-marketeer he used to chase in the past as a law enforcer, and two mysterious Arkanian offshoots, Camper and Jarael in his quest to avenge his murdered friends and force the Masters to confess in their crime and clear his name. Little did he know that, on his run, he would be thrown right in the middle of the emerging Mandalorian Wars, chased by the Republic and the Mandalorians alike.

Early life


Zayne was discovered by an unknown Jedi Knight and brought to the Jedi Order for testing when he was quite young, coming from a family where he had four sisters. His father, Arvan, was an accountant with a "dead-end job at a nowhere bank" and his mother, Reiva, was a gardener. Although Jedi Master Vandar Tokare described Zayne's ability in the Force as "marginal," he was accepted to the Jedi Academy on Dantooine. It was hoped that Zayne's ability to quickly form kinships would blossom with Jedi training.

On Dantooine, Zayne was trained by Master Vandar, along with Shad Jelavan, Kamlin, Oojoh, and Gharn. However, his Jedi abilities did not advance as far as he might have hoped for while at the Academy.

Padawan on Taris
"My luck ranges from barely tolerable to cataclysmic. Master Lucien says I'm living proof the Force has a sense of humor!"

- Zayne Carrick to Alek

By 3,964 BBY, Zayne was being instructed by Master Lucien Draay at the Jedi Tower on the city-world of Taris. Here Zayne's ability to form friendships was demonstrated by his emotional attraction to Shel Jelavan, the sister of his best friend Shad. Yet Zayne struggled to keep up with his fellow Padawans on Taris; his clumsiness with the Force was often evidenced in his ongoing pursuit of the black-marketeer Marn "Gryph" Hierogryph.

Zayne was interested in the rapidly spreading Mandalorian Wars and other issues affecting the Jedi Order, but he felt isolated on Taris and doubted his ability to become a Jedi Knight. However, he received encouragement from the Padawan Alek &mdash; who, at that point, did not reveal his name, identifying himself as "Squint". While passing through Taris with his Master on their way to the Outer Rim frontlines, Squint told Zayne that he was to become a bigger player than he thought.

However, Alek's advice to Zayne that "sometimes you have to enter the darkness to save the light" boded ill for the future. Jedi Master Q'Anilia sensed a dark change in the Force just after Alek spoke to Zayne. Indeed, the Jedi Masters on Taris were apparently worried that one of their Padawans would turn to the dark side.

Dark prophecy and the Padawan Massacre
"Lines have crossed. Something has happened. Something bad. Something near. Several somethings!"

- Q'Anilia

Soon after Zayne's encounter with Squint, the Padawans on Taris faced a challenge on Taris's rogue moon. Zayne and the other Padawans had to find their way back to their Masters amidst the moon's perpetual meteor bombardment, blinded by their visor's blast shields. As he was the last to complete the task, Zayne felt that he might not become a Jedi Knight along with his friends.

The Masters' fears about their Padawans led them to desperate measures; for as Zayne noted, they hated the Sith&mdash;but hatred was an emotion forbidden to the Jedi. After observing their apprentices' completion of the rogue moon challenge, they retreated into cloister at the Temple. When they emerged, they announced that a knighting ceremony would soon take place.

The ceremony was only a ruse, however, for in consultation with Krynda Draay, the voice of the Jedi Covenant on Coruscant&mdash;a secret Jedi organization dedicated to preventing the return of the Sith with the help of seers &mdash;the Jedi Masters instead killed their Padawans, with the exception of Zayne, who, having finally caught Gryph, was running late. He discovered his masters in the midst of their crime and managed to escape.

Ironically, as Zayne later discovered, his own ineptitude saved him twice. Not only was it his late arrival that saved him: it was expected, and the Masters were prepared to wait for him as long as needed; Shad Jelavan was originally going to be blamed for the crime. However, the delay, and the fact that Lucien was carrying his lightsaber like the other Masters, indicated that Zayne was going to be knighted, which the Masters confirmed with a hastily concocted story about his alleged "special relationship" with the Force and the increasing demand for Jedi Knights. However, Shad grew suspicious, as they never treated Zayne seriously, and his disbelief urged the Masters to strike preemptively. Zayne arrived moments after the other four were killed.

Jedi on the run
On the run from the Jedi Masters he once served, Zayne had no choice but to flee into the seedy Lower City of Taris with Gryph, whom he had finally succeeded in capturing. Meanwhile, the Jedi Masters successfully framed Zayne and Gryph for the Padawan massacre&mdash;and knowing that the Dantooine Council would not believe that he could have done it with his lack of skill, they said that he allegedly received help from the dark side.

After hitching a ride with some Wookiee garbage collectors and a close encounter with some Black Vulkars, Gryph led Zayne to Junk Junction, where they encountered the aging mechanic "Camper" and his friend Jarael. Jarael was suspicious of the fugitive duo and attacked Zayne, upstaging the young Jedi with her electrostaff skills, even in the face of Zayne's lightsaber. Initially both Jarael and Camper refused to help Zayne&mdash;Jarael because of Zayne's indirect role in convincing Lhosan Industries to leave Taris, and Camper because of Gryph's failure to pay him for their last transaction; however, when a force led by Constable Sowrs and Master Draay arrived on the scene, Jarael and Camper allowed Zayne and Gryph to escape with them on their ship Last Resort. Unfortunately, the Last Resort had not flown in years, and soon stalled in the asteroid field in orbit around Taris. While the other passengers slept, Zayne sent a transmission to Master Vandar Tokare, who did not believe his story. Instead, Master Vandar speculated that Zayne did murder his friends, but did not remember the incident correctly. He advised Zayne to contact one of the Jedi Consulars on Taris&mdash;who, of course, were trying to catch him. Zayne was interrupted in the middle of his discussion with Vandar by Jarael, who knocked him out with her electrostaff.

After his transmission to Dantooine, Zayne quickly realized that it was odd that four out of the only five Masters stationed at Taris, save for Lucien, were Consulars: Q'Anilia, Feln, Raana Tey, and Xamar. He descended with Jarael to the rogue moon, hoping to find clues to the mystery of the Padawan Massacre. While there, the duo uncovered the destroyed droid T1-LB ("Elbee") that might have had information as to why the Masters murdered their Padawans. Elbee had been present for the Jedi Trials but had foolishly fallen off the edge of a cliff. Yet before they could locate Elbee's information, Lucien Draay and the forces of the Republic descended to the moon's surface to apprehend Zayne.

Investigation on the rogue moon
Thanks to a surprise attack by Camper and Gryph, both Zayne and Jarael got away without harm and with Elbee's memory bank in their hands. Camper tried his best to transfer Elbee's memory bank to another droid body and he gave him a vocabulator and holo projector. Zayne asked Elbee to recall the last moments of his recordings on the Rogue Moon. Zayne saw a revelation: a dark secret had been kept by his own masters. The four Masters (bar Lucien), as it turned out, had all seen terrifying visions of the future, which ultimately led them to commit the murders. All the Masters saw a Sith Lord encased in red armor and armed with a red lightsaber responsible for their own deaths; Feln was the first to make the assumption that the red figure symbolized one of their Padawans, each of whom was wearing a red environmental suit on the moon at that moment.

Zayne now knew the truth about his masters. However, moments after Elbee's projection was finished, the Last Resort was brought in by the tractor beam of the Oroko, a bounty hunter spacecraft captained by Valius Ying. After some negotiations, Gryph determined that Zayne's freedom was non-negotiable, but that the other members of the party could go free; the bounty on Zayne's head was too high for Ying to let the Padawan go. Gryph and Zayne made an alternate plan: Zayne would go and then distract the guard and take the Last Resort for his escape. However, they did not predict that Jarael was waiting there to cut him off. She reminded him that there was nothing wrong with running, but one must not endanger others to save oneself. Zayne did not want to die, but neither did he want to lose his newfound friends. He came to the only decision that a true Jedi would make: he decided to stop the prophecy from happening by surrendering to the Masters.

Justice
"I have a goal now, too. Justice. [...] Because, you see, I've had a vision of my own. One day, one of you is going to confess and clear my name, and to make sure, I'm going to hunt down each and every one of you. The one that confesses, lives. [...] 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

Valius brought Zayne to Taris and dragged him to through the Upper City, now filled with an exultant crowd impatient to see the "murderer" punished&mdash;including Shel Jelavan, who was led to believe that Zayne killed her brother&mdash;to the Jedi Tower.

The young Padawan's fate was, at last, in the hands of the five Masters. Having Zayne alone to themselves, Lucien Draay explained to the young Jedi how Shad Jelavan's impetuousness had forced their hand, making Zayne their unintended patsy. They prepared, finally, to end Zayne's life (not before disposing of Ying, who learned too much about the actual circumstances of the crime). It was at that moment that Jarael, dressed as the five masters' mysterious Sith Lord&mdash;complete with the red suit, closed helmet, and Zayne's lightsaber&mdash;chose to rescue Zayne. They escaped together with the help of Camper and Gryph inside the Last Resort, after which Gryph offered him a place in his "organization", consisting only of himself&mdash;to which Zayne agreed, happy that someone finally indicated belief in him.

Lucien, desperate, ran out of the Tower to reach his former apprentice as he was boarding the Last Resort. He admitted underestimating Zayne and asked him to, if he intended to run, to forsake the Jedi ways because, as Lucien put it, he needed to fear his dark destiny that the other Masters had foreseen. Zayne refused, saying that fear leads to the dark side.

Zayne successfully escaped from the masters once again, but with terrible consequences for Taris. Because of the Masters' repeated failure to catch the supposed Jedi killer, public confidence in them plummeted to the point that the Jedi Council recalled them to Coruscant. It was around this time, roughly three weeks after his escape, that Zayne contacted the five Masters and gave them a warning, saying that they now had the death mark, just like the rogue Padawan himself.

Dragged into the Mandalorian conflict
"Elbee! Cargo: Mandalorian &mdash; to orbit!"

- Zayne as he is attacked by a Mandalorian

On the run from the Jedi Order, Zayne Carrick and the crew of the Last Resort made life on Vanquo, a mining colony on the fringe of Republic space. With supplies low, the crew did what they could to survive; they stole.

Disguised as a refugee, Zayne had himself spotted by the mining crew and begged for supplies to his "family". During his "pleading", a distress transmission came in from Master Q'Anilia. At first, the mining crew believed it to be a trick. By using a Jedi mind trick, Zayne convinced the crew that the Mandalorians were indeed attacking and ordered the camp to evacuate.

The plan was successful; the transmission from Q'Anilia had actually been performed by Jarael in disguise. However, while the crew raided the mining camps supplies, the Mandalorians actually attacked. Jarael was surrounded by them and taken prisoner. Stricken with guilt, Camper had to be carried away from the scene by Zayne and Elbee. While trying to flee to the Last Resort, Zayne and Gryph attempted to hold off the Mandalorians with what little they had. However, the Mandalorians managed to beat them to the Last Resort and steal it.

As the single Mandalorian, Rohlan Dyre, attempted to steal the Last Resort, Zayne, Camper, Gryph and Elbee were able to jump to the landing platform and climb onboard as the Last Resort lifted off into space. Camper managed to stun Rohlan with Jarael's stunstaff while Zayne was able to hold him down. Though Rohlan began choking Zayne, the Jedi immediately called upon Elbee to assist him by telling him that it was Rohlan who crushed his hand as the landing platform closed.

Showdown at Flashpoint
When locked inside a smuggling compartment, Rohlan informed Zayne that they would need his help to rescue Jarael. Rohlan informed the renegade Jedi that the Jedi Council on Taris had moved to Coruscant and Taris was in chaos. Zayne vowed to make it right, somehow, and when informed of other Jedi captured on Flashpoint Station, Zayne began to form a plan.

After reaching Flashpoint Station, Rohlan pretended to bring Zayne in as a captured Jedi to Demagol while Camper and Gryph hid in smugglers compartments in the Last Resort. Rohlan managed to convince Demagol to take Zayne immediately. While inside Demagol's laboratory, Rohlan attacked Demagol and locked him in a storage cabinet while Zayne stole his armor. The pair walked out, purposely making a note that Zayne perished. Zayne was attacked by Jarael, though she backed off when he telepathically communicated with her.

Rohlan and "Demagol" walked out onto the facility's surface. Elbee dropped a sack of charges out of the Last Resort, which was docked there, and with the Force, Zayne placed the mining charges on the bases of key structural points. Disguised as a Republic Admiral, Gryph then contacted the Mandalorians there and set off the charges, claiming they were a Republic trap. The Mandalorians evacuated immediately, though Zayne, still disguised as Demagol, claimed to want to save his work and left while Rohlan went after him, telling another Mandalorian to inform Mandalore that he died with the facility. When all the Mandalorians were gone, Zayne revealed himself. He and Jarael left Flashpoint Station with Rohlan stowing away.

Master Raana's bounty
"What, did you say two Ithorians? The Moomo brothers. Why'd it have to be the Moomo brothers?"

- Marn Hierogryph

Cash became a problem afterwards. Luckily for the group, Gryph kept a legal account on the banking world of Telerath, although, because of the misfortunes on Taris, it was frozen. Camper and Jarael disguised themselves as nobility who supposedly owned the account, and were disgruntled by it being frozen due to the similarity of the fake names they used to Gryph's name. As they were about to given the cash, Arvan, the banker assisting them, was captured by the Moomo Brothers. Zayne went off to stop the brothers from escaping with their captive, and was startled to discover that the banker was his father.

The Moomo Brothers managed to get away with Arvan, but Zayne and Gryph devised a plan to rescue him. While Gryph discovered where Arvan was being kept and distracted the Moomos, Zayne would free his father. The plan was successful, and Zayne escaped with Arvan. During the rescue, Zayne discovered it was Raana Tey who wanted to lure Zayne out with his own family members, which earned her the top spot on his list of the Jedi he would hunt down. He also learned about several bankers working with the Jedi Covenant, specifically the Draay Trust. Zayne requested some of the money that would be taken from Gryph's account on Telerath to be transferred to Taris, and requested his father move to Dantooine for safe refuge with Master Vandar.

Leaving the Last Resort
Zayne and Gryph decided to leave the rest of the crew of the Last Resort on the planet Ralltiir. As a parting gift, Jarael and Camper gave Zayne a unique pair of phrik vambraces. While on Ralltiir, Gryph hired someone to steal a large freighter for them, much to Zayne's dismay. They were instructed to meet their contact on Pad 223 at the local spaceport, and when they arrived a ship was indeed waiting for them. Before Gryph could finish negotiating with Slyssk, the Trandoshan who had acquired their ship, the true owners showed up, forcing them to take off prematurely. Once in orbit, the three learned that their new ship, the Little Bivoli was in fact a civilian supply for the Republic Fleet in orbit around the planet. In order to maintain their cover, the Bivoli was forced to follow the fleet, led by the Courageous to the planet Serroco.

When they arrived to Serroco, along with the rest of the fleet, Zayne and Gryph quickly developed a reputation with their restaurant, the Little Bivoli, as "the place to be in camp 3". Their restaurant-ship was hailed as the best place to eat, so much so that Gryph remarked: "When the Mandies get here, they'll have to eat standing." Zayne had other concerns about them being with an army fleet, as it made the possibility of them becoming recognized far greater. Gryph dismissed his worries until after the dinner rush was over, when they finally had a chance to talk to one another. After a heated argument about their remaining with the army, Zayne went outside for a breath of fresh air and experienced a Force Vision in which the Mandalorians bombed the entire staging area on the planet, which was due to happen with their arrival the next morning. Having foreseen that event, Zayne returned to the restaurant and urged Gryph to start packing and get off the planet as quickly as possible; he also said that he could not accompany him because he had to talk to Admiral Saul Karath.

Zayne stowed aboard a Republic cargo ship, piloted by Carth Onasi, who he had met before his vision. He explained to Carth his story and how he was not a fringer, but a Jedi. Carth Onasi agreed to take Zayne, or "Shad Camper" to Admiral Karath. Unfortunately for Zayne, Saul Karath immediately recognized him as the killer of the Padawans on Taris. Saul Karath quickly made accusations of Zayne being a Mandalorian spy despite his protests of innocence in his crimes on Taris and on Vanquo when Karath first spotted him.

While Zayne was being cross examined by Karath on the Courageous bridge, Mandalorian ships dropped out of hyperspace and launched nuclear missiles straight towards the Republic fleet. Zayne protested to get the Republic armies away from the Stereb Cities, due to his vision. However, Karath ignored him, and ordered the fleet to countermeasure the attack. However, the missiles veered off from the fleet and steered straight.

Zayne was sealed in a cell shortly after, and was later visited by Carth Onasi. Carth informed Zayne that he had hailed a tornado warning to seventeen cities on the planet, despite his uncertainty of Zayne's innocence; however, he was sure of his kindness, seen earlier when Zayne fed a starving Stereb. Carth left Zayne and told him to hang in there".

Personality and traits


Despite his clumsiness and apparent ineptitude as a Jedi learner, he had "random destructive power", as Gryph referred to his tendency to leave wreckage behind, and that power was valuable enough for Gryph to team up with Zayne; he was possibly the only person who did not view Zayne as entirely hopeless. However, the very fact that he was able to outrun five Jedi Masters and uncover the truth about their plot shows that he may not have been, in fact, as inept as everyone tended to assume.

Zayne sometimes had Force visions, but unlike his Masters, he did not believe in deliberately inducing visions to learn the future, as he himself had seen how prone to misinterpretation such visions were. Instead, he regarded spontaneous visions as the most accurate, believing that if the Force "wanted" to tell him something, it was for a vision. He was known to have at least two visions: one of a Covenant member confessing, although he did not know which one it would be, and the other of the devastation of Serroco.

Betrayed by the Jedi, Zayne nevertheless remained faithful to the ideals the Jedi stood for, tending to the ones in need &mdash; such as Shel Jelavan and her little brother or the Stereb at Camp Three, giving away all the money he earned as Gryph's "henchman". He retained faith in Master Vandar, despite the fact that this trust was not mutual.

Zayne wielded a yellow lightsaber.

Inspiration
In an interview to Lightsabre.co.uk, John Jackson Miller, the writer of the KotOR comic series, admitted that, while the series was not a direct adaptation of the video game of the same name, Zayne was partially inspired by the early player experience in the game, with the overall feeling of disorientation and the player learning the controls&mdash;with Zayne still "learning the controls" with the Force.

As artist Dustin Weaver said on the official Dark Horse Comics forums, he bases the appearance of Zayne off of a young Christian Slater.

Identity
Many fans have speculated about Zayne's future. If the Jedi Masters' fears turn out to be accurate, they argue, there is a possibility that Zayne could become one of the characters from the Knights of the Old Republic games. In particular, many fans predicted that Zayne might become Darth Nihilus, judging by the "destroyer of worlds" prophecy.

There was also a fan theory stating that Zayne may have been the Jedi Exile, but it was proven wrong by The New Essential Guide to Droids, which revealed that the Exile was canonically female.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 0: Crossroads
 * The Taris Holofeed: Prime Edition
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Reunion
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Days of Fear
 * The Adjudicator Special Report: The Outer Rim
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 16: Nights of Anger, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 17: Nights of Anger, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 19: Daze of Hate, Part 1

Notes and references
Zayne Carrick