so im thinking about planet destroying weapons and how the movies handle them as compared to kotor ii
because the point of new hope and return of the jedi and the force awakens is to destroy these terrible machines; they are used but their after effects are not examined within the context of the movies. we don’t know what happened to anyone who survived alderaan or how leia felt after, what she did. we don’t know now about the survivors of the republic system.
but in kotor ii there’s only malachor. and it is destroyed before the game begins. and the planet is destroyed not by the dark side but by the game’s protagonist. and the entirety of the game is about the after effects of making such a terrible choice–of committing such a horrible war crime, a crime against the galaxy.
and the weapon doesn’t get used again after malachor (except by bao dur again, at the end); the mass shadow generator is detonated and then just–left on the remains of the planet. revan doesn’t ever go back for it. it is a weapon of comparable destruction to the powers of the star forge and revan just leaves it there. and no one else goes back for it. as if it is too terrible to be used. to be acknowledged.
the star wars movies keep making these weapons again and again and using them again and again. in kotor ii–arguably the best deconstruction of the star wars universe and its philosophy out there–the weapon is left behind. it ruined the lives of millions. it is too terrible to be acknowledged. it’s not just a plot device–not just a plot point to overcome to get to the grand finale of the triumphant ending.
there’s no triumph in kotor ii. there are mistakes, made again, made twice: choices made. kotor ii deconstructs the light/dark paradigm of star wars, but it also directly challenges the idea that destroying the weapon ends the war or the suffering that comes after. because it doesn’t.
stormborns
kianamaiart
prguitarman
snowghoul
2087
gummygunk
vaporwave
andulkaphoto
izzy806
blakekathryn
origamiaround
