The Old Republic - Reflecting on the Inquisitor

Article by Randy May

Let me start off by saying that this is less of a review and more of a reflection.  I've been playing Bioware's MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) for several months now and I only recently got my first character to the level cap.  I'm partial to single player games but because I'm such a fan of the Star Wars mythos, I couldn't help but be excited to take part.

I realize that the game has been out now for months.  Hundreds of reviews have already been written, scores have been given, and people have generally made up their minds about what they think.  So I apologize for being so late to the game (no pun intended), but like I said, this isn't a review but a reflection, more specifically a reflection on one of the game's many stories.

BEWARE! The rest of this article contains SPOILERS.

The class I chose to play as was the Sith Inquistor (think Darth Sidious).  The race I chose was a Sith.  Now for those of you that don't know the difference between a Sith and Sith, click here.  If you read the article or already know anything about the foundations of the early Sith empire you'll know that it enslaved the Sith species and took their name.  It just so happens that the Sith inquisitor begins his story as a slave. But of course this slave is different.  Because of his sensitivity to the force, he is chosen to take part in a gauntlet of sorts, a chance to earn his freedom by showing that he can master the ways of the force.

As a matter of personal taste, I like to role play a little with my characters in games like this.  Because SWTOR in particular puts a lot of emphasis on decision making, I decided to create a moral backstory on which I would base the decisions I made.  For the most part, this backstory was fairly basic.  I was a slave so I myself would sympathize with those whose power and freedom had been stripped from them.  I would see the Empire as a necessary evil, something with which I could gain power but would ultimately need to be reformed.  Finally, I would have no tolerance for those in power who would take advantage of those weaker than themselves  Coincidentally, these are things that were already a part of the story and my role playing fit in nicely.

After much time spent proving himself, my fledgling inquisitor becomes the apprentice to Darth Zash, a master consumed with ancient Sith rituals of power.  As is the Sith way, the fight for power sees Zash betray her apprentice but failing to do so leaves her essence imprisoned in the body of an alien.  It's complicated but not important.  What is important is where to the story goes from here.  Darth Thanaton, recently made a member of the Dark Council, sees my inquisitor as a threat and sends his lackeys to make short work of me.  But my inquisitor escapes and seeks complete one of his old master's rituals, one that will make him powerful enough to defeat Thanaton and take his place amongst the greatest of Sith.

If you've seen the classic Star Wars trilogy you'll know that it's possible for Jedi to live on after death in a sort of ghostly form.  The same goes for the Sith but it is a much more torturous existence.  The ritual that my inquisitor seeks to perform involves taking the power of these "force ghosts" by entrapping them in his own body.  None of these ghosts come willingly but eventually four are enslaved with the promise of their freedom once the deed of killing Thanaton was done.  Yes, that's right. Enslaved.  But we'll get to that later.

Along the way, I found myself making excuses for the power I was gaining so quickly and the means by which I was acquiring it.  For the most part the companions that traveled with me were supportive of my goals.  All except one.  A young female Jedi named Ashara.  Joining me out of necessity rather than choice, she walks the line between peace and chaos, always struggling with her personal beliefs of the Jedi, their code, the Sith empire, and more importantly my inquisitor who claims to have ambitions of reforming the Sith way.  She constantly calls my motives and means into question, forcing me to think about my actions.  Unfortunately, my inquisitor is manipulative, a quality he has gained along with his newly found powers, and soon convinces not only Ashara but himself that what he is doing is good and that his ends justify the means.

In the end Thanaton falls to the power my inquisitor has harnessed from the enslaved force ghosts and I take my place as a new member of the Dark Council.  I'm finally in a place of power, a place where I can change the Empire like I said I would.  But there is still the matter of the force ghosts.  They appear to me, demanding that I make good on my promise to free them.  I weigh my options.  I ask the ghosts if they would find peace.  They say no.  They say the because of my actions I too will face the same torturous fate as them.  With this is mind, the only choice that makes sense is to take advantage of the power I have while I still have time left to use it.

I chose to use the ring for "good."

I denied them their freedom and immediately I understood what this decision meant.  This inquisitor who was once a slave, who once fought for those whose freedom had been stripped from them had just done the very thing he swore he would fight against.  The irony sunk in pretty quickly.  As tragic as this ending is, it was fitting.  His lust for power had cost him his soul, a fate suffered by so many others before him.  The dark side had consumed him.  It had deceived him into thinking he was in control, when really, he had begun losing it the moment he chose to enslave those weaker than himself.  Denying their promised freedom only sealed his fate.

I was very taken with this story.  I'll admit, its presentation was not very good.  The game's art style and choppy cinematics did not lend to the story's dark tone and tragic theme.  But as it came to a close, my personal experience with this character was more important than any of the game's shortcomings.  I'm sure that others came away with a very different interpretation of this story.  Maybe they decided to truly be good, to follow the light side of the force rather than succumb to the dark side.  Either way, it's a testament to the writers.  They took a dry and in many ways dying genre and breathed a bit of life back into it.