So I don’t know if you’ve answered this before, but I was curious about Heyt’s surname being Lok. Is Heyt related to Artus Lok? Did Heyt take his surname when adopted as a Mandalorian? After the art piece about Artus’s death (adore that, btw), I figured it wasn’t a coincidence so curious on the relationship Heyt has with him :D
huzzah i have actually the time and energy to answer some asks today...
Heyt took on the Lok clan name when Artus adopted him as a Mandalorian, yes! I kind of hand-wave the SWTOR timeline and establish Heyt as a Mandalorian prior to the Great Hunt so he's been part of Clan Lok for a while now.
His relationship with Artus is... complicated. He respects Artus for his convictions but Heyt is more of a traditionalist himself, and had the Cadera schism happened when Heyt was present, he might have gone with them.
Heyt was a losing dog that Artus bet on because he saw the same scrappy drive and defiance toward the status quo in him that had led Artus to becoming Mandalore. It's just that with Artus now being the one maintaining the status quo, Heyt and him inevitably started clashing hard.
Heyt is still a Chiss and was raised in Csilla with Ascendancy values, which means that adopting the Mandalorian perspective on Force-users was very easy. It also meant that he holds a significant disdain for working alongside Sith, whom he doesn't see as any less of an enemy as Jedi. It makes for an interesting clash of values with the Alliance later down the line as the Hidden Chain story unfolds, but that's not relevant to Artus (for now).
Artus Lok dies off-screen (which I find disappointing) and Shae Vizla becomes the new Mandalore. Seeing as Heyt is not my Outlander, I like to imagine that Heyt was there when he died; he has very complicated feelings about it. He loved Artus like a father but disagreed with his political stances as Mandalore.
