Highlights
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is confirmed as canon, with one of its key elements, battle meditation, making a comeback in the franchise's timeline.
- The power of battle meditation, which can coordinate entire armies and turn the tide of a battle, has the potential for destruction at unthinkable scales.
- This opens up the possibility for future stories to explore and utilize the power of battle meditation, and there's a chance that the character Bastila Shan might return to the official canon.
One aspect of the classic game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been officially confirmed as canon, despite the game being mostly relegated to the "Legends" collection of stories no longer taking place in the "true" timeline. But this particular element retains some of the mystery that initially surrounded it.
Fans continue to mourn the loss of the beloved Knights of the Old Republic game from the Star Wars franchise's official canon even after all this time. But the series has been slowly throwing bones to the players over the years through small tidbits from the game returning to canon. Now, one particularly significant Force power has made the jump, which could have some interesting implications. This new ability's return occurs in Star Wars' slightly more recent High Republic era, which cleverly leaves the door open for its original use in the Old Republic days.
During the Lucasfilm publishing panel at New York Comic-Con 2023 (via StarWars.com), the production company revealed several upcoming comics, books, and even new replica lightsabers for fans to look forward to. Among them was the DK-published Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia, which will surely be a valuable primer as new projects delve further into that era. One entry shown in a preview contains a stealthy reference to the powerful ability known as battle meditation, which Knights of the Old Republic fans will immediately recognize.
The previewed page mentions how the Jedi Porter Engle "uses a form of battle meditation to unite the minds of other Jedi to fly their starships in formation with his," which explains the ability almost better than the entire original game. In Knights of the Old Republic, the young Jedi Knight Bastila Shan is revealed to have a unique aptitude for battle meditation, which can effectively coordinate entire armies and turn the tide of a battle and even war. When she's captured and corrupted by the dark side, the player must race to find her and stop her before her use of the ability crushes the Republic fleet.
This could change things for the new Star Wars canon, offering a powerful (albeit rare) Jedi power that any storyteller might now choose to implement. Despite battle meditation remaining rather difficult to explain and even more challenging to understand in some cases, it's detailed enough for viewers, players, and readers to know that it's an ability with the potential for destruction at unthinkable scales. Jedi from the Old Republic to the post-sequel era can now feasibly carry this power, and that's a remarkably cool idea. That's not even to mention the possibility that Bastila herself might one day come back into official canon, bringing home the familiar while offering up the chance of some interesting new adventures.
Whether or not Knights of the Old Republic becomes canon again, there's no denying this is a big deal. Perhaps it's a subtle hint that fans could see battle meditation again as soon as the upcoming High Republic Disney Plus series Star Wars: The Acolyte. After all, Star Wars has a particular affinity for more self-references than Family Guy has cutaway gags. So the future is exciting, if maybe a bit predictable.
The Star Wars saga is available on Disney Plus.
Source: StarWars.com