Buy Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
3,963 BBY
*Okay, so this is kind of interesting. This single issue story was originally published in the middle of Flashpoint. In the original comic series, Flashpoint, the story we looked at last time, is split over three issues, 7, 8 & 10. This one is issue 9. I’m assuming maybe there was some sort of an issue ( *rimshot* ) with the Flashpoint story that delayed the final section or something. Because I don’t know why you’d do it this way intentionally. This would fit just fine as issue 10, coming right after Flashpoint. I mean, that’s where it is on the timeline, obviously. Anyone know the backstory on that?
*Not important really, but worth noting. Maybe. I don’t know.
*And this is a really, really great story and I kind of need to mention something, which is that I love this series, so I’m just going to go ahead and tell you that if you haven’t read this series, you should really go do so. Because I’m going to be spoiling the heck out of it in this walk-throughs and, you know, that’s kind of a shame if you haven’t read it.
*If I don’t like a story or a book or whatever, I don’t really care about warning people about spoilers. I mean, some of my summaries I do intend to kind of stand in for the story I’m talking about. I mean, I want to be in-depth enough that you can read my summary and kind of have an idea of what happens in the story without having to read it. This is fine for stories that I honestly don’t think you should take the time to read. But if I really love something, I will warn you, so consider this the warning for, well, for this entire series. If you haven’t read it and just don’t think you want to do so, but you’re interested in getting my take on things, well, okay, then stick around. But seriously, if you haven’t read the series, you should.
*Okay, moving on. This story focuses on Lucien, Zayne’s homicidal master and I really, really love Lucien as a character. I think he’s absolutely every bit as great a character as Zayne, really, which is kind of necessary. I think I mentioned it before, but it’s very clever to make them enemies because they really are opposites. Lucien is a well-respected, highly intelligent, competent Jedi Master; Zayne is a bumbling, unlucky, kind of bright in a weird way Jedi Padawan.
*In a way, I think Lucien is kind of the ideal Jedi. He’s the Jedi Master you’d put on the poster, handsome, well-built, dashing, etc. Zayne is the Jedi nobody wants to be; awkward, gawky, clumsy. It’s brilliant, really.
*So, Lucien (and the other murderous masters) stop off at Lucien’s mother’s house. Krynda Draay.
*It’s in this story that we really start getting some character development on the rest of the Masters. Q’anlia, the Miraluka seer, gets some interesting backstory.
*Oh, I should say at this point, since I was just talking about Lucien so much, that in my dream television series/movie series of the EU, Lucien would most definitely be played by Michael Fassbender. He’s so perfect it’s ridiculous.
*Anyway, flashback to the first meeting of Lucien and Q’anilia when they were children. It seems that Krynda has a special ability for teaching Force sensitive children to be seers, but in the aftermath of the Sith War, she’s stepped away from the Jedi and has no interest in continuing to do so. But something about Q’anilia is . . . special.
*Ah, perhaps this is the reason this story got shoehorned in the middle of Flashpoint. Because when Lucien and his group of Jedi arrive at the Jedi Temple, the mysterious master of Alek is addressing the Council, trying to get them to commit to joining in the war against the Mandalorians. So, after Flashpoint, we now know that this is Revan, but reading this between the second and third issues of Flashpoint, of course, you wouldn’t. But this appearance actually would give you some serious clues. I mean, if you know that Revan’s major break with the Jedi comes over the Jedi involvement in the Mandalorian war and then this guy shows up and, despite the fact that he’s seen speaking to the Council and also to Lucien after his speech to the Council, he’s still seen only from behind or with his face strategically in shadow under his hood. I think you might read this and deduce that this guy is probably Revan.
*Anyway, cool to see him (or rather see his robe) as a character here. Hope to see more of the doomed Jedi.
*One of the Jedi Council really reads Revan the riot act. But he says that some of Revan’s actions in pursuing the war are “beyond reproach.” He says it like a bad thing, like it’s even worse than reproach or something. I’ve always heard it used as a positive. Like something is so good that it’s beyond any criticism you could level at it. Huh.
*So, more flashbacks. Li’l Lucien is being trained in the ways of the Force by his mother’s assistant or butler or something, Haazen, a failed Jedi learner himself. He wants to be trained by his mother with the rest of the students, but she just genuinely doesn’t think he’s good enough.
*Oh, this is going to be a great relationship to explore in this series.
*Great dialogue: “Those Miraluka you invite in here – they can’t even see!” “They can see farther than you can, boy! If only my father’s blood had been stronger! I would gladly have given my eyes – and yours – for you to be able to see what the Miraluka can! What I can! But it was my destiny to have both sight & second sight. It was yours to have sight alone. Too much like your father!” “My father? My father was a great warrior!” “Your father is a DEAD warrior.”
*This is frigging awesome.
*So, Haazen arrives and tells Lucien to have more compassion. Krynda carries a great weight of guilt because she was a great Jedi Seer, but she was unable to predict the rise of Exar Kun and the Sith War.
*Yeah, she really should feel guilty. I mean, I have no psychic powers, but it was plain as day that Exar and Ulic were gonna split the Dark Side wide open from their very first appearances.
*Anyway, yeah, Lucien’s dad died in the Sith War.
*Haazen has a word of wisdom: “You will never understand your mother . . . until you understand her mission.”
*And I see that Raana Tey and Squid Face (I’ll grab his name eventually) of the murderers are also being taught by Krynda. Whatever her “mission” is, it has something to do with forming the group that Lucien now seems to be the leader of. A group of seers, apparently, specially trained to see any indication about a new group of Sith. And that group does have a vision and that’s why they killed the Padawans. Yeah, I get it. But it’ll be interesting to see what Krynda thinks about this action. Will she think her trainees took it a bridge too far? That could be an interesting dynamic.
*Oh, this is great. Lucien and his group are being interrogated by the Council, which isn’t that thrilled about four dead Padawans and a fifth on the run, accused of being the murderer.
*And this has a wonderful page-ending panel of Lucien: “Masters of the Council . . . I did it. I’m guilty. I killed the Padawans of Taris.” My jaw literally dropped.
*And then you turn the page and the next panel is Lucien again: “Or I might as well have. The Dark Side touched my own Padawan.”
*That was a great little trick there.
*So, Lucien asks the Council to appoint his group to lead the search to bring Zayne to justice. The head councilman gets off a great little speech: “You know, I’ve never really understood how you five kept winding up together – but it’s safe to say the fruits of your collaboration have not impressed us . . . You are all being reassigned – to separate postings.”
*After their meeting, the group discusses Revan and his efforts to make the Jedi focus on the Mandalorian war. Lucien has played it, in his meetings with Revan, as if was sympathetic to this, but really he’s not. The whole purpose of his group is to guard against the Sith and they fear that the Jedi will lose focus in the Mandalorian War.
*One of Lucien’s group brings up the whole concept of regaining ground lost in battle. “What’s the basic word for it?” “Revanchism,” Lucien spits, “And it’s irrelevant.” So, our “mystery Jedi master” isn’t named Revan yet. But he will be.
*And this whole thing is compelling to me. The Covenant is all about watching for the Sith; they fear that the Jedi have, as a whole, lost focus on this issue. But all the while Lucien & the Covenant believe that the Jedi aren’t focusing on the right thing, they themselves aren’t focusing on the right thing – Revan is right in front of them and, ultimately, the war he begins will threaten to destroy everything that is important. It’s very compelling, these people utterly wrapped up in focusing on the most important thing, while the thing that’s actually most important is right under their noses. In some way, it seems to me, this is essentially the history of the Jedi Order in a nutshell.
*Flashback to Lucien kicking all kinds of ass, beating up the seers in a drill. It seems his role in the Covenant will be that of a warrior, not a seer.
*Okay, but we get some names here: Q’anlia is the Miraluka, I knew that, and Raana Tey is the other female, but I don’t know what species she is. Anyway, she’s got orange skin and basically bigger balls than all the Covenant’s guys put together. Very mercurial.
*Then there’s Xamar & Feln, which are the other two guys. One of them is a squid-face guy and the other one is . . . is he the same species as Kit Fisto? Looks like it. And Krynda mentions that Feln is a Feeorin. So, if I just knew what in the hell a Feeorin is, I’d have all the masters figured out. Well, soon, I’m sure, now that I actually know all the names.
*So, Krynda says she knows that this group of four seers is the Covenant, the group she’s foreseen that will “do what has to be done” to keep the Sith from returning. Seems she might be down for Padawan murder after all. But Haazen convinces her that they will need “practical help.” Cut to Lucien smirking.
*So, the history of this little group is now clear. And there must be all kinds of emotional tension simmering in this group. All to the good. The more character development the better.
*So, the story ends with a confrontation between Lucien and Haazen in the present. So, Lucien had let Haazen know about the vision Q’anilia had and Haazen had ordered Lucien to bring the five Padawans back to Coruscant so he could evaluate them. Instead, as Lucien puts it, “I interpreted the situation on the ground and acted.” So, okay, there’s some definite tension between Lucien’s group and the leadership of the Covenant.
*Haazen says he was a ‘failed Padawan’ himself. Lucien responds: “You still are.” Sick burn.
*So, Haazen reveals himself by pulling off his robe. He’s got like robot legs and his whole torso is burned and scarred and I guess all this happened during the Sith War.
*Anyway, Haazen flat out orders Lucien to bring Zayne back to him alive. Lucien just as flatly refuses; Zayne is too much of a threat, Lucien says, and the minute Lucien has his hands on him, Zayne’s going to die.
*There’s this whole thing about Lucien wanting to see his mother but Haazen won’t let him or tell him where she is.
*Great ending of Lucien on the street outside the house. He screams, “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” at the closed doors and then calms himself to murmur, “That’s all fair – there’s something I haven’t told you too.”
*Hell to the yes. HELL to the YES.
*This story is really fantastic. It’s awesome that this comic series gives an entire issue over to the story of its main antagonist (and fills in a lot of the other antagonists as well). Zayne doesn’t appear in this issue at all, which I think is really cool. Spending an entire issue on, essentially, just character development of the villains of the series? I support that. Enough cardboard villains in the Star Wars comics.
*And this just really lays some fascinating groundwork. So many dynamics to explore. The Jedi Order as a whole being unaware of the Covenant being hidden within it. The whole relationship of Revan to both the Order and the Covenant. The relationship of Lucien to his other Covenant members; I find this one particularly fascinating. The other four members are all more mystical, all Seers, while Lucien is both their leader and also seemingly the least important. They’re Seers; Lucien is the “practical help,” the enforcer – he’s a thug essentially, there to do the dirty work.
*And the relationship between Lucien & Q’anilia seems particular interesting. I want more of their history.
*And then there’s the whole dynamic of Lucien & his mother; some serious issues there obviously. And what exactly is Haazen hiding? Does it have something to do with the strangely absent Krynda? Well, yeah, I’m pretty sure it does.
*But I think maybe the most compelling thing is Lucien’s last line. This story has really stripped him bare and helped us get where he’s coming from. At the end of this story, you kinda feel like you know who Lucien is and what he’s up to. But just the second you feel that way, there’s a twist: there’s something still hidden in the story of Lucien Draay. And I, for one, cannot wait to find out what it is.
*Flashpoint was great. Homecoming is even better. Seriously. Flashpoint made me excited to see where this series was going next. After this one, I’m absolutely drooling to see where we head next. Frigging awesome.
*This series has genuinely gotten better with each story. Commencement was good; Flashpoint was great; Homecoming is phenomenal. Miller, I knew I could trust you.
*CANONICAL STATUS: This work is of exceptional accuracy and is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.
*Highly recommended. 4 stars.
John Jackson Miller
*Next time, we’ll keep on moving. Back to Zayne’s group for Reunion.