ladyrevan15 - Tumblr blog

[ladyrevan15]

When I don’t know what to draw, a super dramatic Kreia is a fine subject, don’t you think?

Edit: There’s a few more baddies involved…

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

Kreia, her ideology, kotor 2 and trauma.

So I've been thinking a lot about Kreia and kotor 2 recently. I noticed how Nihilus and Sion are both widely discussed in how they relate to trauma, both being warning and ways you should not go about dealing with your trauma. Nihilus has let trauma consume him, he's become uncaring about his place in the world, empty almost and nihilistic. He consumes and consumes other eating away at those around him instead. This doesn't close the wound trauma left in him he only grows emptier, falling deeper into nihilism. On the other hand we have Sion who exists on the other side of the spectrum, he has refused to acknowledge his trauma, he's in denial. He just keeps soldiering on. You can't meaningfully heal while refusing to acknowledge what has happened. You can't move on no matter how much you fight or run. Travelling with us on the Ebon Hawk is Atton, Sion's mirror. Just like The Exile and Sion Atton has a lot of trauma behind him, trauma which he runs away from. In the quest to make Atton a jedi you help Atton heal is by helping him address his past, his trauma and help him find a way to move on. Both Nihilus and Sion are warnings, how not to deal with trauma and that is something I see a lot of people have already talked about, but I think discussions on Kreia's warning are missing. Sure there are a lot of discussions about Kreia's ideology in general but not in how it relates to trauma. So here's my take on it. I've tried to make things as accessible as possible so if some things are over explained I'm sorry.

Just like the other sith lords we face in Kotor 2 Kreia is a commentary on trauma and how we deal with it. A warning just like the others. Kreia's ideology is objectivist to say the least, enough to make Ayn Rand blush. Her foremost value is self reliance and so she despises all acts of charity and kindnesses in a similar vain. By helping someone you're robbing them of their struggle, weakening them and so help and pity simply becomes another form of domination over another. The only difference between contempt and pity is that you feel sad for the victim you're elevating yourself above. That is why she despises the force. The force is a crutch that sith and jedi make themselves dependent on, early on Kreia talks about how the jedi are often overestimated, they might seem strong but they're weak without the force. I'm going to indulge myself and quote a scene at length here, it's just after you arrived in house arrest on Telos.

Atton: Explain something to me.

Kreia: I do not have the years required - nor the desire to indulge you.

Atton: If she served in the war... well Jedi are supposed to be tough, capable.

Kreia: Yes... and what are they without the force? Take the greatest jedi knight, strip away the force, and what remains? They rely on it, depend on it, more than they know. Watch as one tries to hold a blaster, as they try to hold a lightsaber, and you will see nothing more than a woman - or a man. A child.

Atton: But to lose so much. I guess I didn't realise how much they relied on it.

Kreia: Do not be surprised, in many ways, even you are more capable than a jedi. You could survive where they could not simply because you do not hear the force as they do. It is irony of a sort - and it is why I tolerate your presence now

Atton: But such a loss of ability - for a jedi, it seems so extreme.

Kreia: She has been gone from war for some time. It is conflict that strengthens us... and isolation that weakens us, erodes us. Add to that that she turned away from war, did all she could to forget it and the last piece clicks into place. But we have spoken enough of this - and we do her a disservice by not speaking of this while she is present.

This conversation between her and Atton hopefully demonstrates firmly the degree to which she despises dependency and how that translates into a dislike of the force. A dislike that would become much more obvious later on.

So according to Kreia, the force binds and dominates millions through its influence. Through its eternal desire for balance of the force for example it creates eternal conflict between light and dark. It pushes the jedi to charity and self limitation, to ascetic life and in the sith it created a people of war, hate, murder and essentially everything bad. The sith code created for the previous game was based on mein kampf. It worships victory and so the sith are ready to kill and dominate however many it takes to reach what they consider victory.

However, while deeply explored and thought through, Kreia's Ideology isn't perfect or free from internal contradiction, even discounting the objectivism. She believes that those who are dependent in ways deserve their subjugation. Just by the nature of the Star Wars universe they're all dependent on it, it "binds all living things". If the dependent are deserving of their subjugation what does that say of Kreia's quest to destroy the force? Kreia especially is dependent on the force, among the most dependent of all the exile meets in her journey. Her eyes have withered away due to lack of use because she has chosen to see through the force instead. (There’s a first person view you can enter with all your party members and Kreia's and Visas' views who both see through the force are adapted to match this. A lot of people miss this but it's cute). 

Looking back at what I said about Kreia being a commentary on trauma and how we deal with it, this is the game showing her teachings' failings. Kreia believes that you can only grow from your trauma by struggle, by fighting for it, with absolutely no dependency. Your companions are your tools, not your friends, not your support network. The contradiction of her view of dependency and the force including her extensive use of it is a microcosm of this. She has grown dependent on her force sight because it has benefits. It allows her to see things she wouldn't otherwise. Just like with a support network of friends, dependency isn't always bad. The primary difference between a lot of the light or dark side choices is the degree to which you view other people, especially your companions, as either friends or tools. By accepting some degree of dependency, by surrounding yourself with friends, giving kindnesses and sometimes receiving kindnesses in turn you grow. By making these light side decisions you get the light side ending where you heal from your trauma and leave Malachor behind for good. You heal from your trauma by rejecting Kreia's view on life. In this way she's a warning just like Sion and just like Nihilus.

[ladyrevan15]

To be united by hatred is a… fragile alliance at best.

[ladyrevan15]

This whole conversation I was just

I can’t fall to the Dark Side now!!  Juhani believes in me!

[ladyrevan15]

100 lgbtq+ videogames characters (47): JUHANI (Knights of the Old Republic)

[ladyrevan15]

With all the questionable shit about episode 9 here’s a friendly reminder about Juhani the first LGBT+ character in Star Wars.

A Cathar Jedi, who survives the genocide of her people, was a former slave, constantly faced xenophobia, and fell the dark side, and yet she managed to come back to the light, was able to find herself, despite all the shit she faced, and ended up saving Revan from falling again and saved the galaxy.

[ladyrevan15]

“Who are you?“

[ladyrevan15]

Knights of the Old Republic (Hour 10): Juhani’s tale

From that moment on, I knew that I would have to try to become a Jedi. To lift myself out of the rut I had been living in for years and to make a real difference, as the Jedi were.

[ladyrevan15]

Came across Bastila's Theme again and suddenly had a strong will to draw something.

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

Revan, wrestling with 4 gizka: GUYS TATOOINE IS FULL OF FREE DOGS

[ladyrevan15]

[ladyrevan15]

if u ever need a babysitter then the old republic-era sith lord who decimated your people and terrorized the republic is a good choice