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| “ | These are the moments we strive for, when the hope of victory becomes real. When we can see peace on the horizon. | „ |
| ~ Satele Shan. |
Satele Shan is one of central protagonists of the Star Wars Old Republic era, appearing as one of the main protagonists of the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. She was a Human female who served as the Jedi Order's Grand Master during the Cold War and the Galactic War with the Sith Empire.
She was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who also voiced Bastila Shan in Star Wars: KOTOR, Aayla Secura in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Shepard in Mass Effect.
Overview[]
The daughter of Jedi Knight Tasiele Shan, who was herself a descendant of the legendary Jedi Knights Revan and Bastila Shan, Satele was born on the planet Brentaal IV in the year 3699 BBY. Inheriting her family's strength in the Force, she was inducted into the Jedi Order and became the Padawan of Jedi Master Ngani Zho, though she later traveled to the Sith homeworld of Korriban to study under the Zabrak Battlemaster Kao Cen Darach. It was there that she witnessed the recapture of the planet by the Sith Empire in 3681 BBY, and she escaped to warn the Republic with the help of the smuggler Nico Okarr and a Republic trooper named Jace Malcom at the cost of Darach's life.
Achieving the rank of Jedi Knight under the tutelage of Master Dar'Nala, Shan became a hero to the Republic as she led Jedi and the forces of the Republic Military to battle in the Great Galactic War, and she grew close with Malcom despite the Jedi Order's restrictions on attachments. Their bond drove her to rescue Malcom and his small band of Special Forces troopers on the Core World of Alderaan when the Empire invaded in 3667 BBY, and her arrival turned the tide of the Battle of Alderaan in the Republic's favor.
After defeating the Sith Lord Darth Malgus in combat with the help of Malcom, she and Malcom began an affair that lasted for six months before Shan broke it off in fear of the darkness in the soldier's heart. However, she was pregnant with Malcom's child, and Shan bore her son Theron in secret with the help of Master Zho before giving the child up to the Jedi Order and returning to the battlefield.
In 3653 BBY, Shan was selected to be part of the delegation that was to attend peace talks with the Sith Empire on Alderaan. However, the Empire used the conference as a distraction while they attacked the Republic's capital of Coruscant, holding the world hostage to force the Republic to accept the terms of the Treaty of Coruscant. As the galaxy settled into an uneasy Cold War, Shan foiled a conspiracy to sabotage the new peace perpetrated by Dar'Nala herself, and afterward embarked on a odyssey inspired by the call of the Force across the galaxy. The journey led her to the Jedi Order's long-lost homeworld of Tython in the Deep Core, and for her rediscovery of the planet, Shan was appointed to the position of Grand Master and given leadership of the entire Order. In her new role, Shan guided the Order through a number of crises that arose during the Cold War, and trained her Kiffar Padawan Shigar Konshi to Knighthood.
As the fragile calm of the Cold War began to collapse, Shan worked with the Republic Emergency Response Corps to protect the unsteady peace and the innocents of the galaxy, and she was alerted to a dangerous threat from the Sith Emperor by his former servant Lord Scourge when a daring mission that she had authorized to capture the Emperor ended in disaster. Learning that the Emperor intended to extinguish all life in the galaxy, Shan helped the Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython foil the Emperor's plans and personally led an invasion fleet in an assault on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas while the Knight confronted and defeated the Emperor.
As the renewed war continued to spread across the galaxy, Shan worked with her former flame, Malcom, in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Republic Military, and the two achieved victory over the prototype Imperial warship Ascendant Spear at Duro thanks to the efforts of their son, Theron. Shan also forged a temporary truce with the Empire's Darth Marr in order to combat the threat of the Order of Revan, and the two led their combined forces in defeating the returned Revan on the moon Yavin 4. After the Eternal Empire conquered the Republic and Sith Empire, Shan was disheartened by the casualties the Jedi Order suffered under her command and renounced her title, going into a meditative exile with the spirit of the Sith Darth Marr.
Appearance[]
Shan typically wore tight-fitting combat attire of an olive-brown color with gold trimmings, and she also sported an armband on her upper left arm that had a piece of metal affixed to it. She also donned more traditional Jedi robes of dark brown on occasion, and she frequently wore brown gloves that covered most of her forearm in silver or gray armor plating.
Personality and traits[]
| “ | We're not going to hold them off. We're going to push past them, and march to the black heart of our enemy! We fight for our homelands, and for our freedom—may the Force be with us! | „ |
| ~ Shan rallies the troops on Rhen Var. |
A Human female with fair skin and blue-gray eyes, Satele Shan wore her brown-black hair cut short for most of her life. Shan sported bangs on either side of her face as a teen,[6] though she later replaced them with a pair of braided ponytails. Shan was a relatively short woman, though she radiated a sense of power, confidence, and resolute calm throughout her life that was far beyond her short stature. In her youth, Shan—who preferred to be addressed by her first name, even as a Jedi Master—inherited her ancestor Bastila's impatience and impetuousness, though those aspects of her personality were later tempered under the tutelage of Master Dar'Nala. Shan was a powerful presence on the battlefield, and her reputation as one of the greatest heroes of the Republic was directly inspired by her actions in the Battle of Alderaan.
As a Jedi Knight, Shan was sworn to serve the Republic, and her devotion to her cause and her selflessness drove her to give up the chance at a normal life and a family when she had her son, Theron. This same sense of duty, coupled with her fear of the dark side's corrupting influence, had caused her to break off her relationship with Theron's father several months earlier. Shan recognized that she would do everything in her power to protect her son, and, coupled with the powers and responsibilities she possessed as a Jedi and a Republic hero, she believed the risk was too great and therefore gave Theron to Ngani Zho.
Zho himself was a paternal figure to Shan, who felt that he was the only person she could trust enough to tell about her pregnancy. Of all of his many students, Zho felt that Shan was the one who made him the most proud, and she was greatly saddened by her Master's passing. However, despite her Jedi teachings and devotion to placing the galaxy's needs above her own, Shan deeply regretted ending her relationship with Jace Malcom and giving up her son, and the memories that were dredged up after meeting her son as his mother for the first time were still painful even twenty-six years later.
By the end of the Great Galactic War, Shan was still struggling with her impatience and strongly distrusted the Sith, leading her to aggressively attack Darth Baras when she discovered that the Sith's peace negotiations were a sham. However, over the course of the next few weeks, Shan was confronted with the hypocrisy of her former Master Dar'Nala's efforts to disrupt the Treaty of Coruscant and realized how Dar'Nala herself had become consumed by the very emotions that she had taught Shan to resist.
As a result, Shan came to believe that the current peace was the best possible thing for the galaxy at the time and dedicated herself to doing good as she traveled the galaxy after the end of the war. As a Jedi Master and later Grand Master, Shan possessed a warm demeanor and an approachable personality, holding herself equal to even the youngest Padawans of the Order. However, Shan's outward attitude belied her true determination and strength of will, and the sense of authority that her voice conveyed could bring even the Supreme Commander of the Republic Military to a halt. Shan was renowned for her wisdom and considered by many to be the Order's voice and conscience, and her prowess in battle and experience with the dangers of the dark side made her both a wise teacher and a powerful warrior.
Relationships[]
Jace Malcom[]
Shan first met Jace Malcom when she came to Korriban to study under Kao Cen Darach, and the two escaped the Sith Empire's return with the help of Nico Okarr. The two had other experiences together over the next fourteen years, during which Malcom made clear that he had feelings for her ever since they first met. However, Shan resisted reciprocating those feelings until the aftermath of the Battle of Alderaan, where she acknowledged that she felt the same way and began a romantic relationship that lasted for six months. That relationship ended when Shan, worried over the growing darkness within Malcom's spirit and his desire for revenge against the Empire, broke it off after confronting him over his reasons for waging war and decided not to inform him of her pregnancy.
Shan's trepidation over Malcom's closeness to the dark side kept them apart for over two decades, and their few interactions were relatively cordial. However, when Malcom discovered the existence of Theron, Shan and Malcom were forced to reconcile over their decisions and actions in the past. Shan deeply regretted that she could not pursue their relationship, but, during the battle at Duro, both she and Malcom were glad that they did not have to die alone—though thanks to their son, the pair's impending death was averted. In the days after Duro, both Shan and Malcom gradually came to terms with the status of their relationship, and both understood that they could not allow their feelings to interfere with their responsibilities as Grand Master and Supreme Commander.
Theron Shan[]
Shan bore her son, Theron, during the Great Galactic War but, upon viewing her child for the first time, realized that she would have done anything to protect her son, even if it meant danger to the galaxy, and so she gave Theron to Ngani Zho. Shan did not see Theron again for over twenty years, and when she finally did meet her son, it was when Theron—by then an SIS agent—was bringing his mother news of Zho's death.
Neither openly acknowledged their relationship during their conversation, though they were both aware of each others' identities. A few years later, when Theron participated in Operation End Game, a covert mission organized by his father, Jace Malcom, Shan contacted her son and asked to speak with him. Shan was proud of her son's accomplishments and loved him deeply, but her attempts to warn Theron about his father's dark desire to destroy the Empire only angered her son.
Shan's relationship with Theron complicated her relationship with Malcom, who had been unaware of his child's existence until Operation End Game, but she trusted Theron's judgment and was willing to stand up to Malcom in order to help Theron. Both she and Malcom were overjoyed to see Theron survive the battle at Duro, though they managed to contain their emotions in public. Shan did not speak with Theron in the days following Duro, but she remained confident that her son would reach out to his parents when he was ready.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | She does have the gift, Master Zym, just like Bastila did. I'm sure of it. | „ |
| ~ Dar'Nala, regarding Shan's lineage. |
As the descendant of Revan and Bastila Shan, two of their generation's most powerful Jedi, Satele Shan was incredibly strong in the Force. Shan was skilled with the use of telekinesis, and her strength with such abilities even as a Jedi Knight was enough for her to bring down an entire mountain on top of Darth Malgus during their battle.
She was also able to dismantle the door to Darth Mekhis' fortress using the Force and was skilled enough with tutaminis abilities to block a lightsaber blade with her bare hands without injuring herself. Shan's powers continued to grow over her lifetime; by the Battle of Rhen Var, she was able to destroy a blast door simply by using the Force to break it into pieces. During the incident on Sebaddon, she dismantled hex droids with a mere gesture, when the droids proved more than a match for other Jedi and Sith alone.
Throughout her life, Shan was known for her affinity for foresight—she predicted the arrival of the Sith Empire at Korriban, and her ability to view the future grew stronger over the course of her life. By the time of the renewed war with the Sith, many Jedi believed that the Grand Master could change the future simply by predicting it. Shan was also an accomplished telepath, to the point that she could both read the minds of others and communicate in full sentences with them.
She could influence the biological components of more than half a dozen hexes to keep them at bay, though Shan could not influence the hexes and maintain a Force shield strong enough to seal in the air around her at the same time for long. Shan's Master Dar'Nala suspected that she had inherited her ancestor Bastila's skill with battle meditation, and Shan was well-versed in the art of battle meditation by the time of the Galactic War, when she used it to support her allies in the battle against the returned Revan. The Grand Master also developed a strong bond with her apprentice through the Force, which allowed her to sense Konshi's emotions from halfway across the galaxy.
Trained by the Order's Battlemaster, Kao Cen Darach, Shan was exceptionally skilled with the use of both a normal lightsaber and a double-bladed lightsaber. In combat, Shan was an agile fighter who utilized acrobatics to both evade her opponents and quickly strike them down. During the battle of Alderaan, Shan was able to cut down four Sith Warriors effortlessly and hold her own against the powerful Darth Malgus, the killer of Shan's own master. Although Shan fought well Malgus proved to be the superior lightsaber duelist, destroying her double-bladed lightsaber before being caught off guard by Jace Malcome and overwhelmed by Shan's astonishing Force powers.
Equipment[]
- Saberstaffs: She primary utilized a blue-bladed saberstaff, all sporting the same spiral design, in the years before the Great Galactic War, though it was destroyed when Darach utilized it and his own blade in battle with Vindican and Malgus. By the year 3667 BBY, Shan was utilizing a second blue-bladed saberstaff, but lost this weapon when Malgus cut it in half during the Battle of Alderaan. She quickly reconstructed the saberstaff or built new saberstaff, though she eventually exchanged it for a single green-bladed lightsaber sometime during the Cold War and utilized that weapon during the Sebaddon affair in 3643 BBY. However, Shan exchanged it for her old saberstaff by the time of the conflict with the Flesh Raiders not long afterward.
- Green Lightsaber: Shan one utilized a green-bladed lightsaber during the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Replacing the double-bladed lightsabers that she used primarily through the Great Galactic War with the Empire, the weapon was used by Shan during the Cold War, but she eventually returned to using a saberstaff by the time of the Galactic War with the Empire.
- Yellow Lightsaber: She also had a yellow-bladed sparring lightsaber during the Cold War and the Galactic War, which shared the same design as her saberstaffs.
Gallery[]
