Revan Vs. Luke Skywalker: How Do The Two Star Wars Protagonist Compare?

If you have never had the chance to play not only one of the better games to come out of the first generation of Xbox, but the best Star Wars game to ever be released, then I feel terribly sorry for you. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing game that takes place in the Star Wars universe 4,000 years before the events of the original trilogy. It was canon up until Disney's gained the rights to Star Wars and have renounced all previously canonical stories.

While the game itself is not canon, fans have still been on their hands and knees begging for Disney to give this story a chance at a live-action TV series or movie. Recently there has been a fan made petition going around that is calling for Disney and Netflix to team up to make Knights of the Old Republic into a Netflix original series.

This is some exciting news for fans of the game, but why exactly would Disney have a desire to make a show that is completely separate from any of the Skywalker stories? Well, it could be an opportunity to create a somewhat original story of their own design, but also it is worth noting just how different the two stories actually are, more specifically the two protagonists.

Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will follow!

Luke Skywalker is the main character of the original trilogy and really the character that is still at the center of the entire Star Wars universe. Luke is exactly what we all expect out of a hero in a movie. He is the expression of what we all strive to be, brave and bold. He is an incorruptible force that cannot be turned to the dark side.

This is something that we see all the time in film, characters like Batman and Harry Potter are two names that come to mind with this same archetype.

What is an archetype? In layman's terms it is a title that we give to a certain character. Han Solo is the Rebel, Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Wise Old Man, and Luke Skywalker is the Hero. I'm going to use this as a way to go in depth on the true difference between Revan and Luke Skywalker.

Whenever there was a Star Wars game released with an original story, and a new main protagonist, we all assumed that he would follow this same archetype. It was what players expected when they looked at other characters that closely resembled some from the original trilogy; you have Carth Onasi as this games Han Solo and Bastilla Shan in a Leia Organa type of role.

It's only natural that we'd expect the character we play, to play into the Hero archetype and closely resemble Luke Skywalker.

This is a role-playing game, which means that every decision you make, will have effects on the game itself. You can choose to have this character be the kind of incorruptible hero we talked about before, or you could even make them into a blood thirsty murderer. The choice is truly yours.

That being said though, there is still a canon storyline behind this game. You see, this is where the story starts to follow a whole different narrative to a New Hope. The story has you believing that you are just a regular character who is in all these difficult situations simply by bad luck, but the truth is the game was toying with us the whole time.

In the game you live in a galaxy that is being overrun by a Sith lord named Darth Malek, who was the apprentice to an even more powerful Sith Darth Revan. Darth Revan is presumed dead when you start playing the game. The whole game revolves around retracing Darth Revan's steps in order to find a ancient and powerful space station.

This is where I would suggest if you have not played the games or at least watched a YouTube let's play of the game, you should go and do so before reading further. The major twist of this entire game is while you are retracing all of Revan's steps and fighting off the forces that used to follow Revan, it is eventually revealed that the character YOU are playing as, is in fact Revan.

The Jedi order captured Revan and wiped his mind of any memories. It is a major reveal that completely toyed with the players idea of the kind of character we were playing. We weren't playing the prototypical hero, we were playing as a fallen ruler.

Darth Revan was a ruler of the Sith and we were now watching an amazing story unravel that bends and twists the archetypes that we have come to know in Star Wars. Rarely do we as a player, reader, or viewer get put into the perspective of the villain, but we are given that here.

You have to understand, in this game while Revan was never physically seen or fought, his actions were felt everywhere and he was essentially a villain in this game. Revan falls under the Villain archetype, but also the Ruler. He was the leader of a vast army that he tried to control the galaxy in his image with.

That being said though, the canon story of this game has Revan become the Hero archetype as the game goes on. He had his memories erased, so It allowed him to get a restart on his personality. At the end of the game he is proclaimed the "Prodigal Knight" and has become the Hero.

So, is that it? The Villan and Ruler turned Hero? Nope.

We still have one more layer to peel back on this big onion I'm calling Revan. We have to talk about his actions prior to the game What took Revan down his dark path.

Revan was a Jedi before all this, and a powerful one. There was a war breaking out between the Republic and the Mandalorians prior to the events of Knights of the Old Republic and it is referenced countless times in the game. The Jedi did not wish to aid the Republic and Revan took this news very hard.

He wanted to help stop the war so he gathered a group of Jedi and essentially went rogue and aided the republic to the ire or the Jedi Order. Revan's actions though helped the Republic defeat the Mandalorians and he was viewed as a hero in everyone's eyes, but the Jedi.

Revan was exiled which sent him down the dark path towards becoming a Sith. . Revan's actions though, turned a war around in the favor of the Republic and made him into an icon. He displayed characteristics of the Revolutionary archetype.

He felt a strong pull towards righting wrongs and was not afraid of the backlash that was inevitably coming for him at the hands of the Jedi. Revan did what he thought was right even though based on his teachings his actions were wrong.

He revolutionized the way that most Jedi even looked at the Jedi Order, and a small faction of Jedi Knights called themselves the Revanchists, and worked more closely with the Republic then the Jedi Order.

So, the Revolutionary, Villain, Ruler, and Hero. What has writing out a long article detailing all the different archetypes that Revan falls under prove? It is supposed to prove that while Luke Skywalker is a classic character and will always be loved by fans, he is not near as diverse of a character as Revan.

I hope that Disney realizes this and gives this amazing story and character a chance, because even if they do not incorporate the famous game twist, this story can still be incredibly divergent and follow a diverse character that gives Star Wars fans a type of story they have never seen before.

What do you guys think? Do you want to see Disney and Netflix team up for a Knights of the Old Republic series?