It’s weird to think of actor Cameron Monaghan, who got his start as Ian Gallagher in the Showtime series Shameless, as anything other than Ian Gallagher. And yet over the last 5-10 years, Monaghan has begun to come into his own. First, as the man who would become the Joker in Fox’s Gotham, which ended its run back in 2020, and later on when he joined a gaming galaxy far, far away. Of course, this is referring to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order game from Respawn Entertainment, and EA. Most pertinent to the topic at hand, Monaghan will reprise that same role in the sequel entitled Star Wars Jedi Survivor when it releases on March 17th, 2023.
In the meantime, though, fans can look forward to getting their hands on the tie-in book, Jedi: Battle Scars, by author Sam Madds, which releases a week earlier than the game and is expected to fill in the 5-year gap between the two titles. Furthermore, Random House – in partnership with Respawn – recently released the cover art, which when paired with the new “reveal” trailer that aired during the Game Awards has led many to speculate about potential plot threads as well as character arcs. It should be noted that a majority of this isn’t based on the cover art, though. Either way, here are the top 8 things that Battle Scars needs to explore before Jedi Survivor.
The Effect of Trilla’s Death on Cere
Throughout the story of Fallen Order, Cal Kestis travels the galaxy on the Stinger Mantis (more commonly referred to as “the Mantis”) luxury yacht trying to rebuild the Jedi Order accompanied by his adoptive family; ex Jedi Knight Cere Junda who acts as Cal’s would-be mentor, a 4-armed alien pilot named Greez, Cal’s beloved adopted droid BD-1, and the Nightsister Merrin.
All the while they are primarily pursued by the villainous Second Sister whom Cal eventually discovers was an ex-Jedi Padawan named Trilla. The rub in this particular scenario? She is Cere’s ex-padawan who was abandoned at the height of Order 66, leading to her shutting herself off from the force. Later on in the game’s finale, Cere “lets” the force back in and helps Cal infiltrate Fortress Inquisitorious and convinces Trilla to rejoin the light. Unfortunately, though, she is almost immediately killed by everyone’s favorite Daddy – Darth Vader.
From this point on, the guilt weighs very heavily on Cere’s conscience… And to be honest, it’s kind of evident based on the concerned look she is sporting on the cover. To further back this up, Cere can be seen in the newly released trailer for the upcoming game taking a more pacifist approach. In that trailer, Cere is shown taking on a librarian role (similar to that of Jocasta Nu in Star Wars canon). Long story short, we just want to see what happens next since this seems like something of a vast (but not entirely surprising) character departure.
The Potential of Cal’s Encroaching Dark Side Struggle
As is the case with all Jedi Knights, Cal Kestis’ overarching status throughout Fallen Order is one of ensuring justice and stability throughout the entire galaxy. However, as we have gotten more information about the upcoming Jedi Survivor alongside new footage, it has become increasingly evident that Respawn plans to amp up the darker parts of the Star Wars universe. This is supported by both some of the interviews that Cameron Monaghan has done as well as in the newer trailer for the new game.
In Jedi Survivor’s latest trailer, we see a less passive Cal who is more about action than anything else. As time goes on, this is a pretty understandable change since we expect to see Cal struggling to wrestle with what would be a call to the darker side of the force. An argument could also be made that that transition isn’t overnight, so we hope to see it slowly approached in Battle Scars vs something overly sudden and drastic. We can only hope that Cal’s best boy BD-1 will be enough to bring him back to the light.
Information About Potential Tool For Anti-Imperial War Efforts
The synopsis of Battle Scars mentions several stories, including one of specific note related to an Imperial defector who hires Cal and company to get him into more neutral waters. It also mentions that this same person knows a rumored “powerful tool” that will hopefully give the Mantis crew a bit of an edge.
If we were to take a guess, this particular tool is almost certainly something of greater significance regarding the wider Star Wars universe… perhaps even somehow connecting to the initial creation of the Death Star, tying it to Galen Erso and Rogue One. Unlikely yes, but who knows?
However, more likely would be for this so-called “tool” to not be an actual weapon whatsoever (unlike the gigantic Star Forge shown above from the iconic KOTOR series, which has still yet to become actual canon) and instead for it to be a tool potentially connected to the High Republic era. If we go off some of the press material released by Respawn thus far, it may be exactly that. This would in turn potentially connect it to the mystery man shown in the Bacta tank, which we will discuss next.