#*sohlaire

the thing to understand about sohlaire is there is negative chance that he'd be a canon smuggler and slightly higher but still negligible chance that he'd end up as the alliance commander, but while often my side character kotfe runs are just kind of whatever ("this person would never be in this position to make this decision so i guess i'll do whatever matches their alignment") sohlaire i have been thinking more along the lines of "he would not say that be in this position but what would it take to get him there"

the key with sohlaire is yes he was a jedi, and yes he was a sith, and yes he was powerful, a fair prodigy with the force, and yes he cut himself off rather than fall to the lurking shadows in the dark side that threatened him, but after all that he's just constantly tripping over himself and ruining his own chances of success. not to have kotor 2 colouring everything all the time but it's like the way kreia describes the exile in the beginning— while sohlaire isn't cut off quite as intensely or forcefully as the exile, he doesn't know how to exist without the force and he's literally tripping over his own feet for a while, doesn't know how to hold a blaster let alone use it well, doesn't know how to interact with people without that thrum of connection in his mind. and he's angry. angry at his circumstances, angry about what happened to him, angry at everyone around him, and more than willing to take it out on anyone he sees.

and yet he decides to go the route of fake it til you make it— which canonically goes very very poorly: kicked out of at least a couple pirate crews and a whole lot of people want him dead, until he stumbles on riyk's ship and trips his way into being less of a dark side V asshole. he isn't good by any means, but being in an environment that doesn't punish him quite as harshly for his missteps helps him shift away from making decisions based on whether it will hurt the most people possible. until he fucks it up entirely but that's a problem for later.

to be alliance commander, to have ended up in that position of power, those missteps can't have happened. faked it til he made it— except it actually worked. the gained notoriety, a famed pirate with just enough usefulness for someone to call in to help with whatever situations. bloodthirsty but dangerously effective, and willing to make a bad call for personal gain— or even just personal satisfaction. even then it's a stretch to say any of that would have led him to that role, but the key part is that his missteps, the hits to his ego, the support and friendship he slowly gained— he has none of that. which leaves him in a very, very dangerous position.

the jedi and sith both know of his past— it's not unreasonable to think valkorion would have as well. and to take over a body with the potential he had, even if it's been buried and blocked out and denied for years? it's a prize, and sohlaire's own ego and overconfidence has made his mind weak. the dark side seeping through the cracks of the wall he put up, and he can taste it— and so can valkorion.

he's definitely going to get a bad end— valkorion would win, take over his body and destroy his mind, and he'd deserve it, too. since the game doesn't allow for that ending, he's simply going to continue terrorising people with even more of an ego— he beat the emperor, after all, and he did it entirely without help and even without the force— or so he's convinced. the myth of the self-made man, and he believes in it fully.