Bastila Shan

Bastila Shan, a Human female, was a legendary Jedi Master who fought in the Jedi Civil War during the fall of the Old Republic. Born on the planet Talravin to Helena Shan and a treasure hunter, her mother gave her up to the Jedi Order, believing that their lifestyle of travel and exertions was not suitable for her daughter. Shan was found to have an exceptional gift with a Force power known as battle meditation; which increased her allies' morale while demoralizing her enemies. Shan sided with the Jedi Council when the Jedi Knights Revan and Malak rebelled against the Council and joined the Galactic Republic in its war against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.
One year after the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars, Revan returned from the Unknown Regions as the new Dark Lord of the Sith, with Malak as his apprentice, at the head of a new Sith Empire. Two years into the Jedi Civil War, Shan was the leader of a Jedi strike team sent to capture Darth Revan and Darth Malak. When her team boarded Revan's vessel, they managed to corner the Dark Lord on the bridge. Before they could engage Revan in combat, Malak, who was separated from his Master during the battle, betrayed Revan by ordering the guns of his flagship Leviathan to fire on Revan's vessel in an attempt to destroy both the Jedi and Revan.
However, Shan survived and managed to use the Force to stabilize Revan, who was near death. This act created a bond between the two and Shan brought the comatose Revan to the Jedi Council. Both the Council and Shan came up with a plan and temporarily erased Revan's memories, reprogramming Revan with an identity of a soldier loyal to the Republic. The Council hoped that Shan, through her bond with Revan, would be able to coerce Revan into revealing the location of the Rakatan space station called the Star Forge, which was now under the new Dark Lord Darth Malak's control.
In the final year of the war, Shan's Republic warship Endar Spire was ambushed and attacked by Malak's fleet above the Outer Rim planet Taris. She managed to flee the ship aboard one of its escape pods, assisted by Republic commander Carth Onasi. Shortly after her pod reached the surface, Shan was captured by a swoop gang known as the Black Vulkars. After Revan and Onasi landed on Taris, they managed to track down and rescue Shan. She, Revan, and their companions teamed up with the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo, managing to steal both the launch codes necessary to escape Taris and the Exchange crime lord Davik Kang's light freighter Ebon Hawk, killing Davik and nearly doing the same to Calo Nord, who Revan, Bastila and one of their companions would later kill on Kashyyyk. Shan and her companions escaped during the Sith's bombardment of Taris, and headed to Dantooine, where a Jedi Enclave was located.
After Shan met with the Dantooine Jedi Council, they began retraining Revan in the Jedi ways. After finding a Rakatan Star Map in the burial mounds near the Enclave, the Council tasked Shan, Revan, and their companions with finding the Star Forge. During their travels, Shan watched Revan closely to ensure that he did not fall to the dark side. Shan eventually fell in love with Revan, who, despite his past, was able to remain true to the Jedi Code. After Revan found a fourth Star Map—which was necessary to locate the Star Forge—Shan was captured by Malak and fell to the dark side after a week of torture at her new Sith Master's hands.
However, Revan eventually confronted Shan aboard the Star Forge and she was redeemed from the darkness to which she had succumbed. To prove her reclaimed faith, Shan aided the Republic in the Battle of Rakata Prime through the means of her battle meditation. Revan then vanquished Malak, and the Republic fleet successfully destroyed the Star Forge, routing the Sith forces. Sometime after this, Shan and Revan married, and started a new life together. However, within the next two years, Revan left for the Unknown Regions, seeking to eliminate a hidden Sith threat that Revan had discovered during his time as the Dark Lord. He left all whom he cared for behind, including Shan due to her pregnancy, as he did not wish to put the life of their child at risk. She went on to survive the era of strife that followed the Jedi Civil War.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Bastila Shan, daughter of Helena Shan and a hunter, was born on Talravin. Shan shared a loving and powerful relationship with her father. Despite this relationship, she was not on good terms with her mother, Helena, believing that her mother pushed her father into dangerous hunts so they could live in wealth.
As a child, Shan was discovered to be exceptionally gifted with the Force.Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide She did not wish to leave her father behind and join the Jedi Order, but her mother felt that the life she and her family led —one full of relentless travel and fruitless exertions— was not a good life for Shan. She believed that her daughter's life would be better with the Jedi and gave her to them. Shan was separated from her family and began her training, quickly proving to be an exceptional Jedi Sentinel.
Shan was discovered to be gifted with a Force power that would gain her considerable renown later in life: Battle meditation. It was a rare skill that increased the morale of her allies in battle and reduced her enemies' will to fight. This ability would make her a considerable asset in the Galactic Republic's plans to defeat the Sith Empire during the Jedi Civil War.
As a young Padawan, Shan was present when Malak, on behalf of his best friend and mentor Revan, delivered a passionate speech that denounced the inaction of the Jedi High Council against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Though Shan refused to join Revan's growing rebellion, she witnessed several Jedi, including Meetra Surik, the future Jedi Exile, willingly submit to Malak and Revan's cause.Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords Later, when those same Jedi returned as Sith during the Jedi Civil War, she became one of the most active supporters of the Jedi Order.
===Jedi Civil War===
In 3957 BBY, the Jedi Council sent Shan and a strike team to capture Darth Revan."The Betrayal of Darth Revan" Along with at least three other Jedi, Shan managed to board his flagship and fought their way to Revan. Her team had just cornered the Sith Lord on the bridge, but before they could engage him in combat his apprentice, Darth Malak, betrayed him and fired upon the ship. Revan was left clinging to life. Shan, remembering that a Jedi seeks to preserve all life, was able to keep him alive and preserve his mind using the Force. This act resulted in a powerful Force bond between them.
Shan then brought Revan to the Jedi Council. The Council then decided that they would use the Force to temporarily wipe his memory, even though this was considered an immoral use of the Force. Revan was then reprogrammed with a new identity, one that was loyal to the Republic. They hoped that, with time, his submerged memories would cast some light on the many mysteries surrounding him. They were especially interested in finding the Star Forge and stopping the legions of Sith invaders that were attacking Republic affiliated planets.
Following Revan's apparent death, Darth Malak declared himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. He knew that the Republic fleet had been saved from certain destruction by Shan's gift with battle meditation. His primary objective became either to eliminate Shan, or ideally to capture and turn her to the dark side of the Force. He would then use her skills with battle meditation to crush the Republic.
====Destruction of Taris====
One year later, Shan and a reprogrammed, amnesiac Revan, assumed by everyone to be a simple Republic soldier, were on board the Hammerhead-class cruiser Endar Spire over the planet of Taris. Revan had been assigned to the ship, where Shan was the commander, at the last minute so that Shan could maintain a vigilant watch over him. Without warning, part of the Sith fleet ambushed the cruiser. A small assault team of Sith soldiers and Darth Malak's apprentice, Darth Bandon, attacked the ship. Bandon's mission was to capture Shan alive, but he was prevented from doing so by Ensign Trask Ulgo.
Shan, Revan, and Republic pilot Captain Carth Onasi, were forced to evacuate the ship in escape pods just before the Endar Spire was destroyed. Shan's pod crashed in the Undercity of Taris, and she was quickly captured by a Taris swoop gang known as the Black Vulkars. She later revealed that the reason she had been captured so easily by the Vulkars was due to her lightsaber being "misplaced" during the crash. She elaborated, with embarrassment, that it must have fallen from her belt and rolled under her seat in the escape pod.
Without her saber, Shan was able to keep her status as a Jedi a secret, and the Vulkars assumed she was a Republic officer. She was imprisoned by the gang to be used as a prize in the Tarisian Season Opener. Onasi, who had crashed in the Upper City with Revan, informed him of Shan's importance to the war effort, and the two began a search for her. The Sith were also searching for Shan on the surface of the planet, and had blockaded Taris to prevent her escape. Revan, seeking to rescue the Jedi, made an agreement with Gadon Thek, the leader of the Vulkars' rival gang, the Hidden Beks, and entered the swoop race on their behalf. He managed to win the swoop race by using a prototype accelerator designed by the Beks that he retrieved from the Vulkars' base with help from Twi'lek Mission Vao and Wookiee Zaalbar. This helped the Beks to maintain their control of the Lower City.
By the end of the swoop races, the Vulkars had realized that Shan was a Jedi, and had fitted her with a neural disruptor. Unwilling to give up such a valuable prize, Brejik, the leader of the Vulkars, accused Revan of cheating and tried to keep Shan so he could make a large profit selling her on the slave market. Shan managed to free herself and, with the help of Revan, fight and kill Brejik and the nearby Vulkars. Shan was shocked to see that her rescuer was the former Sith Lord, and clashed with Onasi over the lack of a plan to escape Taris. She expressed a sense of pride that aggravated Onasi, but Revan managed to keep the peace between the two of them, and Shan apologized for her behavior. She was impressed that Onasi and Revan had managed to locate her, but was disturbed to discover that Revan was having flashbacks of his capture.
Following Shan's rescue, Revan was soon contacted by Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian mercenary in the employ of Davik Kang, a local crime lord for the Exchange. Impressed with Revan's performance, Ordo offered a proposal for getting past the Sith blockade and asked Revan and Shan to retrieve the launch codes from the local Sith base. Shan was wary of trusting the mercenary, but sensed no deceit from him. She and Revan infiltrated the base with the assistance of the droid T3-M4 Kang had commissioned from Janice Nall, and managed to steal the codes after defeating the Sith Governor that Malak had placed in charge of Taris. Ordo then took Shan and Revan to Kang's base, telling Kang that they were potential recruits. Ordo's intention was to steal Kang's ship, the Ebon Hawk, which would be able to outrun any Sith pursuers once they used the launch codes to bypass the blockade.
Frustrated with his fruitless searching, Malak ordered Admiral Saul Karath to destroy the planet. If he wasn't able to find Shan and take advantage her abilities, he wanted to be sure the Republic would not have the opportunity to do so either. The urban centers of Taris were utterly obliterated in a hail of indiscriminate turbolaser fire while Shan's group was still in Kang's base. After defeating Kang, Shan, Revan and Ordo barely managed to escape with their companions aboard the Ebon Hawk before Taris was completely leveled by the bombardment.
====Searching for the Star Forge====
Shan suggested they seek refuge at the Jedi Enclave located on Dantooine where they could also seek the advice of the Jedi Council located there to determine their next steps. The Council decided to re-train Revan as a Jedi. He and Shan often sparred together and he would come to Shan for advice and aid when he needed it. After only a few weeks, Revan had recovered a great deal of his former skill and power with the Force. During this time, Shan and Revan shared a dream of Revan and Malak discovering something in the nearby ruins. Shan rushed to the Jedi Council in the Enclave and discovered that she and Revan shared a very powerful Force bond that had been forged when she saved his life.
Soon after, the Council sent her and Revan to the ruins that she and Revan had been receiving visions of. Inside they found a partial Rakatan Star Map, an artifact that had been discovered by Revan and Malak five years earlier. Its data, when combined with that from the four other such Maps, would reveal the location of the Star Forge—an ancient factory of immense power that was being used by Malak to build the seemingly infinite Sith fleet. The Council sent Revan on a mission to find the Star Forge and stop Malak, with Shan guiding him along the way.
Calo Nord, a bounty hunter and former associate of the late Davik Kang, was hired by Darth Malak to kill Revan and the others, while bringing Shan before the Dark Lord alive, if at all possible, but was killed by Revan shortly after they found the first Star Map. While searching on Tatooine for clues about the Star Forge, Shan would be reunited with her estranged mother, Helena. She was saddened to learn that her father had been killed while hunting a canyon krayt dragon for its pearl, which he thought would provide enough credits to pay for the treatment of an unknown fatal illness that Helena suffered from. With Revan's encouragement, they were finally able to reconcile. Shan gave her mother 500 credits to pay for treatment from a doctor on Coruscant. The reconciliation brought Shan much peace, and she expressed gratitude to Revan for his help.
During their quest, Shan would closely monitor Revan, searching for any possible signs that he might have been slipping back to the dark side. She still held a dislike for the man who had caused so much damage to the galaxy, yet she was also attracted to the man he had become after his mind was wiped. Instead of being the monster she imagined and feared he would be, Revan proved to be a true servant of the light side, and displayed many acts of kindness throughout their journey together.
Though this may have been attributed to the programmed identity that replaced his former persona, Revan's compassionate nature may have also been caused by subconscious aspects of his former personality before his fall to the dark side. She soon found herself admiring his passion and unrivaled power and, despite her best efforts, began to slowly fall in love with him. She resisted such feelings, partly because it was forbidden for Jedi to fall in love and partly because she was unable to come to terms with whom he really was. Shan later noted that it caused her a great deal of pain and guilt. Though he was now a true Jedi and a good, honest man for whom she cared deeply, he could still return to the dark side of the Force. If that were to happen, Shan would be forced to stop him before he could rejoin Malak. Shan also worried about what would happen when he found out whom he really was. Revan tried to convince Shan that she could love him, and they even shared a kiss aboard the Ebon Hawk before Bastila swore she would not allow herself to fall in love.
====Malak's final apprentice====
During the quest to find the Star Forge, the Ebon Hawk was captured by the Leviathan, Malak's flagship. Shan, Revan and Onasi were placed in their own cells apart from the others and tortured. Saul Karath, knowing Revan cared for Shan, proceeded to make her suffer in an attempt to get Revan to tell him where the Jedi Enclave was, what they were looking for, and what their mission was. Although his will weakened upon seeing her tortured, Revan refused to tell Karath anything.
After they were freed by one of their crew members, Shan, Onasi, and Revan headed to the bridge to release the tractor beam. When they reached the bridge, they battled Karath, his troops and Dark Jedi. Mortally wounded, Karath told Onasi of Revan's true identity. Onasi then demanded answers from Shan. She promised to answer his questions once they escaped.
Just before reaching the docking bay, however, Darth Malak halted their escape. Onasi attempted to shoot him but was cast aside with ease. Malak told Shan that he had spent far too much energy arranging her capture to let her escape, and he wanted to see his old Master in person. He told Revan about his former life as the Dark Lord, and Shan was forced to come clean to him, telling him about his mind-wipe by the Jedi Council. Malak told Revan that he had been a mere puppet of the Jedi Council. Revan struggled to understand with both Shan and Malak giving him a different story. Malak made it seem as though Shan was using Revan to indulge her own interest in the power of the dark side, while Shan told Revan that she was trying to redeem him and save the galaxy. After Revan told her that he understood and forgave her, Malak was enraged, and used Force stasis on Shan and Onasi, preventing them from helping Revan while Malak engaged him in a duel. Revan managed to hold his own for the majority of the duel but was soon caught in Force stasis by Malak, wherein Shan intervened, sacrificing herself by attempting to distract Malak so that Revan and Onasi could escape and find the Star Forge.
After a duel, Shan was defeated and captured by Malak who took her to Lehon, where she rejected Malak's continued attempts to turn her. But after subjecting her to torture for a week, Malak eventually succeeded in forcing her to give in to her hate and fall to the dark side. She became convinced that the Council was holding her back, using her, and so she took her place as the Dark Lord's apprentice, replacing the slain Darth Bandon.
In time, she would reunite with Revan atop the Temple of the Ancients on the world of Lehon, though under unexpected circumstances. Shan told Revan, Jolee Bindo, and Juhani that she had sworn allegiance to Malak and was now his apprentice, declaring that she would aid Malak in taking over the galaxy. She engaged all three of them in a lightsaber duel, but was no match for the three Jedi. Shan threw a Force wave at the three in order to save herself from defeat. After seeing how powerful Revan was despite what the Council had done to him, she came to believe Revan deserved to be the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Shan attempted to persuade him to reclaim his former title, reminding Revan of all the Jedi Council had done to him. Revan was forced to grapple with the dark legacy of his former self, with Shan reminding him that she could sense his thoughts through the Force bond linking them. Revan stated that there was something more than the bond between them: love. Shan denied this, however, claiming that the only thing between them was the Force and power. Shan beckoned Revan to join her, to reclaim the Sith Empire and take revenge on Malak. Revan demanded to know how he could trust her after she had already betrayed him. Shan informed him that she need not deny herself anything anymore, and would stand by his side gladly as his lover and apprentice. Claiming that she would be "utterly yours," she told Revan that they could defeat Malak together. Revan calmed himself, made the choice of a true Jedi, and rejected Shan's offer of power. Angered at her failure to turn Revan, Shan retreated to the Star Forge where she and Revan eventually had their final battle.
====Return to the light====
Shortly after Revan and his crew boarded the Star Forge, Malak summoned Shan, who was using her battle meditation against the Republic fleet, enabling the Sith to predict their enemy's move and strategies. Malak told Shan that if she killed Revan then she would prove herself worthy of being his apprentice. Despite the inner conflict she felt, she assured Malak that she would not fail him again.
Shan did not have to wait long. Revan and his companions reached her swiftly and Shan lashed out with the Force, disabling Revan's companions and launching a vicious attack on Revan, which he quickly countered. Shan eventually withdrew and began to curse Revan for his refusal to reclaim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith, only for Revan to attempt to turn her back to the light side of the Force. Shan angrily attacked two more times, only to meet the same results. Even with the full power of the Star Forge behind her, she was still unable to defeat Revan. Realizing she was no match for him, Shan yielded, pleading with him to quickly end her life for her betrayal. Revan refused, however, telling her that she could return to the light side. Shan didn't believe that she was strong enough, feeling there was too much anger, hatred and fear inside her to ever find peace in the Force again. Revan persuaded her to use their bond, to take her strength from him, and confessed to Shan that he loved her. Shan admitted that she harbored feelings for him as well, and despised herself for keeping the truth about his true identity from him, but asked what good was love in her situation. However, Revan told her that she could redeem herself by helping the Republic defeat the Sith, and displayed his trust for her by leaving himself open to her attack, as he did not think that she would take his life, because he loved Shan and believed in her. Swayed by his words, Shan could not bring herself to kill Revan and returned to the path of the light, renouncing the dark side and confessing her love for him.
Redeemed, Shan used her battle meditation to turn the tide of the battle in the Republic's favor. Revan, meanwhile, went after Malak and dueled his former apprentice in the Star Forge's command center, where he defeated the Dark Lord. Revan caught up with the rest of the crew, including Shan, shortly before they left the station. The Republic fleet destroyed the Star Forge moments later.
After the battle, Shan and Revan, along with their companions Carth Onasi, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, T3-M4, Canderous Ordo, Juhani, HK-47, and Jolee Bindo, were honored as the saviors of the galaxy.
===Quiet life===
Sometime after the war ended, Revan and Bastila married and settled on Coruscant. However, their relationship with the Jedi Council failed soon after this: the Council didn't agree with their marriage, and came to see Revan as a heretic because of his views of love. Some refused to forgive him for his fall to the dark side and others believed that he had led Bastila, whom they had considered their finest student, away from the standard ways of the Jedi. Bastila sided with her husband in the debate with the Council, and the two sides came to an arrangement: the Council would not attempt to speak out against their marriage, and in return, Revan agreed not to attempt to spread his new philosophy to the rest of the Order. Bastila was at first unwilling to accept the Council's terms, but was convinced by Revan that an ideological war with the Council served no purpose.
Two years after the Star Forge's destruction, Bastila's husband started to recall the existence of the True Sith Empire and his meeting with the Sith Emperor. He set out alone into the Unknown Regions, leaving his loved-ones, including his wife Shan and his soon-to-be born child, behind, knowing that to take them to the places he had to go would bring destruction to them all. Before Revan and T3-M4 left known space, Shan secretly programmed the droid to return to known space and find her should something happen to Revan. Should T3-M4 have been unable to locate her, the droid was to find any Jedi who could help. At some point, this command became active, and T3-M4 discovered the Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik.
Shan remained behind with the rest of the Ebon Hawk former crew, keeping the Republic safe as Revan had asked them to, and waiting for the day when he would return. In 3954 BBY Bastila gave birth to Revan's son, Vaner Shan. In the aftermath of the war, as the Sith Triumvirate and G0-T0, among others, hunted the remaining Jedi Knights to near extinction, she was one of the few to escape their notice, staying hidden so she could protect Vaner.
When Meetra Surik, the new owner of the Ebon Hawk, came to Citadel Station after defeating Darth Nihilus, she spoke to Bastila and Revan's old friend Carth Onasi. After their conversation, Bastila approached Carth and asked if Meetra knew anything of Revan. Carth told her that Meetra knew nothing. Bastila lamented that she would never know why her husband left or what he was trying to protect them from, but Carth reminded her that Revan had asked them to stay behind. Bastila would soon after get her wish, because shortly after Meetra triumphed over the Sith Triumvirate and reunited the surviving Jedi, T3 took her to Bastila. The droid informed the two Jedi of what had become of Revan; he had been captured by a duo of true Sith. When Meetra decided to leave known space to search for Revan, Shan agreed and trusted Meetra with Revan's mask, the key to unlocking his last, forgotten memories.
According to the Jedi historian Gnost-Dural, Bastila served as a Jedi Master at some point in the years that followed, although she took it upon herself to spend the rest of her life with her son, and their family grew in the following years. Bastila never saw Revan again, and missed her husband dearly, though Revan would secretly watch over her through the Force in her dreams from his prison in the Maelstrom. However, she was convinced that whatever threat Revan went to fight, he had put a stop to it because their family never had to deal with war like they did.
===Legacy===
Revan and Bastila's family line eventually led to Satele Shan, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order during the post-Great Galactic War era and Satele's secret son Theron Shan, a Republic spy.Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia A holostatue of Bastila was erected in the Leisure Garden section of the Axial Park in the Coronet City on Corellia, along with the statues of Revan and his other companions in memory of their deeds.
During Satele's time, the Kel Dor Jedi Master Gnost-Dural created a series of records to update the Jedi Archives about the Sith Empire. In the holorecording discussing the Jedi Civil War, Bastila was incorrectly referred to as a Jedi Master during her role in the capture of Darth Revan. The holorecord also incorrectly depicted Bastila at Revan's side when the former Dark Lord confronted Malak aboard the Star Forge.
At some point late in her life, Bastila's appearance and thought patterns were recorded into the Noetikon of Secrets, as she was a Jedi Master who had experienced both the light and dark sides of the Force. This holocron-recording would later aid the Barsen'thor in saving Jedi Master Yuon Par from a maddening dark side illness created by the Sith Lord Terrak Morrhage. With the assistance of the noetikons, the Barsen'thor learned a shielding technique to free those inflicted by Terrak Morrhage's maddening disease. However shortly after their consultation, the Noetikon of Secrets, the Noetikon of Science and the Noetikon of Light were seemingly destroyed by an unidentified Sith Lord within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Their charred remains were salvaged by the Jedi Order and returned to Tython where the Jedi Engineers attempted to repair them.
Once repaired, the noetikons further assisted in raising an army to combat the Children of the Emperor. The replica of Bastila pointed the Barsen'thor toward a hidden army of Esh-kha imprisoned in stasis by the Rakata could be found on Belsavis.Star Wars: The Old Republic
==Personality and traits==
Shan possessed many qualities that set her apart from her peers and destined her for greatness, but these same traits and the inexperience of her youth set her down the path that would eventually lead to her fall.
Brash, impulsive, and somewhat overconfident (due in no small part to the rare gift that was her battle meditation), Shan acted as though she were unstoppable, though she was constantly aware of the responsibility resting on her. Despite the warnings of her masters, Shan continually sought to prove her worth by devoting herself to defeating the Sith.
Shan's relations with the Jedi Council and the Jedi Code were complicated. During the Mandalorian Wars, she trusted the Council's wisdom, rejecting Malak's proposal to join the fight—and years later, when the Jedi Civil War was at its culmination, she still believed it was the right decision. Nevertheless, she thought the Jedi Masters were self-absorbed and stodgy—and in her youth, she swore to herself that she would never adopt these traits. Although much to her own chagrin, she felt she was becoming more like the Jedi Masters in her adulthood, and because of this, she strived to change and become more understanding and compassionate towards others. Shan initially thought the Council intended to use the quest for the Star Forge to test her abilities and determine if she was worthy of the rank of Jedi Master—only to discover that she was, in the end, far from it.
Shan tried to follow the Jedi Code as strictly as possible, to the point of expressing even more radical views than some Jedi Masters—she believed that no one deserved death without a chance of redemption, a belief that would later result in Revan's return to the light side. However, she was not always able to temper her emotions, frequently exhibiting outbursts of annoyance or anger, and sometimes disregarded the very idea that romantic relationships, specifically marriage, should be discouraged among the Jedi.
Seeing Revan, once the Dark Lord of the Sith, maintain the path of the light apparently without any trouble or internal struggles made her question her own devotion to the Jedi Code, even though she and Revan agreed to prevent each other from diverging from that course—and the development of this self-doubt later played no small part in her eventual downfall to what she feared most: the dark side.
Bastila's redemption saw a change in her personality as a Jedi. Instead of living a life of non-attachment and controlling emotions, Bastila took on a much grayer way of thinking, which led to a deterioration of her relationship with the Jedi Council. Along with Revan, Bastila saw that positive emotions such as love and happiness actually strengthened a Jedi's connection to the Force and helped them battle the dark side rather than increasing the risk of falling. She was also very defensive of Revan towards the Council. In fact, by the time Bastila learned of her husband's capture by the true Sith, she had come to believe that the members of the Council were ignorant, and wrong more often than they were right.
==Powers and abilities==
Despite her youth, Bastila Shan was exceptionally skilled in the rare power of battle meditation and through the Force, she could affect the outcome of a battle by thought alone. Through this power, one side was granted strength and a boost to their morale, in addition that side would be granted perfect coordination and the ability to respond instantly and perfectly to the enemy's every change in formation and strategy. These effects caused significant damage to enemy morale and fighting effectiveness thus causing two important shifts in the battle towards the user's favor.
Shan had a very strong Force sense and could sense disturbances in the Force such as Darth Malak's presence, although this might have been merely telepathy or an extension of her Force bond with Revan. She could also use Force Stun and was capable of using the Jedi Mind Trick on Hutts, such as Motta.
During her short time as a Sith apprentice, she was capable of using Force powers such as Force Insanity, Force choke, Force Wave, Force lightning, Force Plague, Force Breach, Drain Life, and Force Stasis Field. From her point of view, she was more powerful than all but a few Jedi Masters, Malak, and of course, Revan himself.
Additionally, Shan was a skilled lightsaber duelist, and wielded a double-bladed lightsaber in combat. She proved capable of dueling the redeemed Revan, Jolee Bindo, and Juhani atop the Temple of the Ancients and emerging relatively unscathed, albeit defeated. Shan also managed to hold her ground against Darth Malak long enough for Revan and Carth Onasi to escape. It should be noted that Malak was considered to be one of the greatest swordsmen of his time.
==Equipment==
During the Jedi Civil War, Shan had a yellow-bladed lightsaber which she modified over time. As a Jedi Sentinel, she originally had single-bladed weapon. After Revan's "death," she modified the weapon into a double-bladed lightsaber. After the attack on the Endar Spire, Brejik found it when he salvaged her escape pod, and when Revan killed Brejik during the aftermath of the Taris swoop race, he returned it to Shan. When she became a Sith apprentice, she replaced the yellow crystal with a red crystal, making her lightsaber produce red blades from both ends.
Shan preferred wearing a tight and flexible full-body suit, kept in the color scheme of the traditional Jedi robes. As a Sith apprentice, she wore a suit of black Dark Jedi robes.
==Behind the scenes==
Bastila Shan first appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, where she is voiced by Jennifer Hale. She was in part written by David Gaider.
The character that was to become Bastila Shan was originally going to be Vima Sunrider, connecting what Vima Da-Boda said in the Star Wars: Dark Empire trilogy about her ancestor Vima Sunrider's great skill of battle meditation; she was apparently changed due to trademark issues over the name "Sunrider." The character was then renamed Sareth Dorn, and then finally Bastila Shan—the name originally given to the Cathar Jedi Juhani. Shan, along with Zaalbar, Carth Onasi, Canderous Ordo, and Mission Vao, was inspired by James Ohlen's work on roleplaying campaigns for West End Games.
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, during a conversation between the Jedi Exile and Mical, Shan's name is twice subtitled as "Bastilla." Also in that game, during an influence-based conversation between the Jedi Exile and HK-47, the droid mocks both Onasi and Shan. Further, if the player decides that Revan was male and did not stray from the light side, which was the canonical ending of the original game, Shan appears on Citadel Station after the Exile speaks with Admiral Carth Onasi. If the player defines Revan as having taken the dark path, Shan appears in a hologram in the Sith Academy on Korriban. Shan does not appear in the game at all in case of a light side female Revan besides portraying a non-speaking vision of herself during a test the Exile faces while on Korriban.
Bastila Shan was nominated among 25 other Star Wars Expanded Universe characters as a figurine design in the Hasbro and Toyfare 2006 Fan's Choice Poll. In the 2009 poll, Bastila Shan was selected as the fan choice winner.
Bastila is seen wielding all three types of lightsabers available in Knights of the Old Republic in official material. In-game, she initially has her (canon) double-bladed lightsaber. In the in-game cutscenes detailing the capture of Darth Revan, she is seen wielding a yellow single-bladed lightsaber; she also does so in early concept art. Finally, on the cover of Knights of the Old Republic, she wields a short-bladed lightsaber. It should also be noted she is seen with multiple lightsaber colors. Her initial weapon has a gold crystal, though she switches this to a red crystal during her time as Malak's apprentice. Furthermore, she wields a blue-bladed lightsaber in concept art, and is seen with blue double-bladed and single-bladed lightsabers in the Prima guide, and a green-bladed lightsaber on the cover of Knights of the Old Republic and in concept art.
In both of the Knights of the Old Republic games, all characters that wield a double-bladed lightsaber share the hilt of Bastila Shan's lightsaber. The Knights of the Old Republic II Prima Guide mentions the player being able to retrieve Bastila's lightsaber upon confronting and defeating Darth Revan's apparition in Ludo Kressh's tomb on Korriban. However, in the actual game, one receives a random lightsaber type with random crystal (similar to other occasions in the game) instead. The term Bastila's lightsaber may have been used either due to the author's mistake or referring to cut content.
===Alternate endings===
If Revan is set as female or did not play the romance as male, the player can still turn Shan back to the light side. However, this solution is harder than the romance option available for the male Revan.
If the player is unable to convince Shan to stop fighting, either by failing at persuasion or not choosing certain dialogue options, then Shan attacks Revan and is killed. Alternately, she begs to be killed, believing herself beyond redemption, and Revan grants her wish.
Two endings were available in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in which Shan would appear. The LucasArts-established canon is the light side path outlined above—the dark side ending is as follows:
Revan gave in to the dark side. He and Shan killed Jolee Bindo and Juhani. When returning to the Ebon Hawk, Revan and Bastila offered the rest of the team the choice to join them. The droids HK-47 and T3-M4 were already programmed to do so, and Canderous Ordo pledged his loyalty to the man he believed would bring him battles in which he could find honor, as he had in the Mandalorian Wars. Carth Onasi refused and fled. Mission Vao refused to believe that Revan had returned to the dark side and did not run away. Zaalbar initially agreed to join the dark side as he owed Revan a life debt and even agreed (via a mind trick from Revan) to kill Mission to prove his loyalty. (Note that the player could fail to persuade Zaalbar to attack Mission; in this case, the player must personally engage Mission, and kill Zaalbar as well.)
Before approaching the Star Forge, Shan persuaded the Republic to attack the Sith fleet there as a measure to defeat the Republic. The Republic believed that she would use her battle meditation against the Sith, but she turned it against the Republic just before Revan faced Malak. Master Vandar Tokare realized the truth after Shan applied her battle meditation against the Jedi, but could do nothing to stop her. After Revan defeated Malak, he re-assumed the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and made Shan his apprentice and lover. Together, they set out to conquer the galaxy.
However, Revan soon left the known galaxy for the Unknown Regions, leaving the Sith and Shan behind on Korriban. Before his departure, Shan installed secret commands into T3-M4. She knew that Revan would not take her into the Unknown Regions, fearing their bond would be a weakness. She also knew that Revan would take T3. She ordered the droid to return to known space should something happen to Revan. If T3 was unable to locate her, the droid was to find anyone, Sith or Jedi, who could help. She ordered T3 to keep this last command a secret from Revan.
Shan, left behind, seeing disorder among the Sith—and seeing none left with the power to control the Star Forge, devouring those too weak to harness its power—realized that Revan never intended to keep the Star Forge operational. She recorded her concerns in a Sith holocron placed in the Sith Academy on Korriban—shortly before the Sith Empire, along with most of the Order, completely collapsed. At the end of the holocron, Shan stated that she was leaving for the Unknown Regions to find and bring Revan back. It had not yet been proven if she left before Korriban fell into ruin, or died there before leaving.
Also, in the dark side ending, on the Command Deck, instead of facing Bastila, Revan faced Malak's three most powerful Dark Jedi (each with different robes). Malak promised that the one who delivered the killing blow to Revan would become his new apprentice. Revan and Bastila fought and killed all three of them.
==Appearances==
* 
*"The Betrayal of Darth Revan" 
*Knights of the Old Republic: Opportunities 
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake 
*The Old Republic: Revan 
*Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
*The Old Republic, Threat of Peace Act 1: Treaty of Coruscant 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic Cartel Market 
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire 
*Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Enslaved individuals
Category:Females
Category:Galactic Republic military officers
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:Jedi Sentinels
Category:Pre-Ruusan Jedi Masters
Category:Redeemed Jedi
Category:Shan family
Category:Sith of Revan's Sith Empire