You’ll have to bear with me, I’m a little obsessed. You see, I played KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) at a young and impressionable age and it messed me up good and proper. I never really recovered. Though I loved the movies, it was this game and that novel that served as the true connection point for me into this vast universe. And Star Wars is vast. There’s always something new to find and fall in love with. Even after I finished the game I followed it up by reading the Krapshyn novel and digesting wookiepedia including watching a fair few YouTube videos looking for appearances of Revan and I’m left with a firm conviction that The Mandalorian will, at some point feature the enigmatic grey Jedi.
Who is Revan?
Revan is a perplexing figure in Jedi history. He rose to prominence in the lore at the time of the Old Republic some four thousand years before the events of ‘A New Hope’. So, an even longer time ago in a galaxy far far away. He was a young, passionate, charismatic Jedi master who defied the council in a very serious matter. You see the galactic republic was at war with a vicious enemy from the outer rim who thrived on battle. These bloodthirsty barbarians will be all too familiar to us now: Mandalorians.
The Jedi order at the time didn’t want to be involved in the war. Was it Mace Windu who expressed this kind of sentiment nearly millennia later when said ‘we’re keepers of the peace, not soldiers’ but Revan saw the bigger picture. He saw The Republic losing planet after planet so he took a slack handful of Jedi, and marched to war. He proved to be competent general and cunning strategist, and he routed the Mandalorians at every turn. This all culminated in final battle with the Mandalore himself. After a bloody fight Revan defeated him and took his mask. This is why Revan is often pictured wearing a Mandalorian mask. During this time Revan deployed ruthless weapons and strategies to reach his goal and he compromised much. He and his apprentice, Malak, eventually fell to the dark side after uncovering an ancient super weapon and he went to war with the Old Republic.
The best part about all of this is that the Mandalorians love the man. Even when they were busy conquering their way through the galaxy they never really had a particular goal in mind (though, if I’m right they were being manipulated by the Sith Emperor to weaken the Republic). They just mostly wanted to get in a bunch of fights. The war was not a means to and end but the end itself. They didn’t want to establish a new galactic order they were just spoiling for a fight and Revan gave them a good one. A really good one. This is why later in KOTOR when you hear Mandalorians referring to Revan they typically treat him with a certain amount of reverence. He’s a badass and no one loves a badass more than the Mandalorians.
His story according to the legends canon then involves an amnesiac Revan finding redemption. There’s also a love story in there, blah blah blah. With all that said this is according to legends continuity. For those of us who don’t keep abreast of Star Wars lore when the house of mouse took over from Lucas they carpet bombed every bit of the history (about a billion books, games, comics and other material) with the exception of the movies. Now those of us well read in the older lore (lookin’ at you, Seth) will know that the newer movies and content are nodding toward some of these old (and really cool) stories as they create their new stuff. This is why, despite Revan being officially stricken from the record, I think he might show up still. His story is intimately tied with the Mandalorians and he’s an awesome character.
Why I think they’ll reference him in The Mandalorian
So this is where the tin foil hats come out in earnest. I had had this theory since Season 1 but Season 2 is just teasing me now. In season one the Blacksmith talks of the Jedi referring to ‘the songs of eons past talk or battles between Mandalore the Great and an order of sorcerers called Jedi.’ sound familiar? They keep playing this at the beginning of each episode. Season two we get some more indications of this. On a visit to Tattoine a Krayt dragon is encountered. One such a creature must be defeated in Knights Of The Old Republic (the game feature Revan) this creature, when defeated leaves a pearl which is a powerful modification to a lightsaber in that game. It’s this item that the Sand People extract from the corpse of the dragon (their part of the bargain was the ‘viscera’ of the beast). We keep getting this discussion of the scattered nature of the Mandalorian people, and discussion of what it might take to reunite them. Maybe a mask would do the trick. The mask of Mandalore the Great perhaps? It seems like the show is preoccupied with uncovering the Dark Saber but I sense that Revan must play a part in this at some point. Not to mention the assassin droids in Season 2 Episode 5 appear to be closely related to Old Republic assassin droids that appear in both KOTOR 1 and 2.
The Conclusion
Look, I could be wrong. I really could be wrong here. But I want it to be true so bad! This is the strength of Star Wars as a world building property. There are so many memories, so many stories, so much depth to this saga’s history that we can all fall in love with something it’s offering. Sure, single biome planets are silly, yeah maybe the rules for the force are thin on the ground and midichlorians don’t make sense but danged if you can’t color me interested. I’m excited for the Mandalorian because I think I’m gonna see Revan. If I don’t see Revan I’ll feel teased, I’ll get wound up, sure. But I’ll come back. I’ll always come back. Why? Because there’s always something new to love about Star Wars.
