Darth Revan May Be Making His Return To 'Star Wars' Canon After All
The character Revan came into existence in 2003 with the critically acclaimed game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. We were introduced to this former Jedi who had previously led the Republic against the Mandalorians. After succumbing to the temptation of the dark side of the Force, he returns as Darth Revan leading the Sith forces against the Republic. The prelude of the game tells us that Revan was finally brought down as a result of Jedi Knight Bastila’s powerful battle meditation, and his apprentice Darth Malak’s betrayal. For the remainder of the game, the player controls an amnesiac presumably Republic soldier who eventually gains Force powers, and undergoes Jedi training in order to fight against Darth Malak’s remaining Sith forces. Warning: spoilers ahead (although, this game is well past the statute of limitations for spoilers). In what was possibly the most shocking twist in the Star Wars universe since the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke’s father in Empire Strikes Back, the player discovers that their character is none other than Revan, the great Sith Lord they kept hearing about and whose forces they are now fighting against.
Up until recently, Revan and the stories of Knights of the Old Republic remained in Legends. He only appeared within the world surrounding the original game. He was mentioned in its sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and appeared in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Drew Karpyshyn's novel The Old Republic: Revan, and the Dark Horse comic series Knights of the Old Republic are considered Legends.
Revan came close to making an appearance in the canon Star Wars: The Clone Wars series in 2011 as one of ghostly advisers to the Son alongside Darth Bane. However, his scene was removed in final production. According to Director Dave Filoni, the scene was shot, but never made it to animation. After much deliberation, George Lucas pulled the plug on the scene as it clashed with his bigger view of the Force in that followers of the dark side were incapable of becoming Force spirits. This scene was included as bonus content on the Blu-ray edition of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Three.
In 2019, the reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary finally brought Revan into canon with the mention of Revan Legion, a group of elite infantry Sith troopers who fought on the side of the Sith Eternal on Exegol. He now officially exists in the canon Star Wars universe albeit in the form of an homage to his legacy as a great Sith Lord in the Old Republic era.
This time, we are one step closer to seeing the real Darth Revan in the flesh. The 2020 canon comic series by Marvel, Star Wars: Darth Vader, follows Darth Vader in the time period between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In Issue 11, set to release on April 28, 2021, Darth Vader is on Exegol, bent on discovering his master’s secrets. He is about to enter the same Sith Temple that we saw in The Rise of Skywalker. The concept art of The Rise of Skywalker has shown that the movie originally planned to spend more time showing the details of the Sith Temple on Exegol. There were to be “Carvings, glyphs, and tributes [on] its weathered walls that represented the culture of the Sith.” One mural design shows the unmistakable images of Darth Revan, Darth Malak, and Darth Nihilus.
In this concept art for Rise of Skywalker, the image of Revan is seen in the bottom of the middle column. Malak is to his left. Nihilus is further up the middle column from Revan.
With Darth Vader exploring Sith lore, this is a good opportunity to bring the name of Darth Revan and his rich story into canon. For now, we wait on the edge of our seat with anticipation to see what the issue brings (or go back and read the comic series from the beginning).
The character of Revan is fleshed out in detail in Legends. His time fighting the Mandalorians, his rise to power as one of the greatest Sith Lords in Sith history, his adventures after the lost of his memories, his eventual return to the light side, and his centuries of spent in captivities in a mental war against the hidden Sith Emperor Vitiate provide great materials for the Star Wars series to explore. We have already rewound to the time of the High Republic. Why not go back even further in time to the Old Republic era?
Source(s): CBR