Kreia
Kreia is a character and party member in Obsidian Entertainment's video game Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. She is a blind Force-sensitive who forms a "bond" with the player character, the Jedi Exile, through the Force. Kreia sets herself up as the Exile's mentor, and rejects the divide of the light and dark side of the Force, as well as the predestination the Force entails. By the game's end, it is revealed she is the Sith Lord Darth Traya and is planning on destroying the Force, and she becomes the final boss of The Sith Lords. Kreia makes no more appearances in Star Wars fiction, though a miniature by Wizards of the Coast was released in August 2008, and she appears as an obtainable character in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
Written by Chris Avellone, the character was created as a sounding board for the game's theme of the role of the Jedi and the nature of the Force, and was heavily influenced by Planescape: Torments Ravel Puzzlewell. She served both to test the player and to act as a mouthpiece for any questions Avellone thought should be asked about the Star Wars universe. Sara Kestelman voiced the character, with Kreia's casting being considered the most important of all the characters. Her name references Princess Leia of the original Star Wars trilogy, while her character design draws both on Palpatine's hood and Obi-Wan Kenobi's robes.
She was positively received, and is often pointed to as the highlight of The Sith Lords. Praise went to the questions and dialogue she provided, as well as her voice acting. The character has appeared in numerous "top lists", often commending her as a Star Wars character. Attention was drawn to one moment where Kreia lectures about the dangers of charity. Despite this, Avellone felt he failed in creating a "sympathetic" Sith Lord, though he has called her one of his favorite characters in the game.
Conception and creation
The first draft of the game placed a figurehead similar to Kreia as the leader of matriarchs ruling the Handmaiden's world, which the player was sent to free. This draft was made before Obsidian had played the first game, and after they had played it the draft was discarded. However, some of Kreia's characteristics were salvaged, though little else was.In the game proper, Kreia was written by Chris Avellone, who was also lead designer of The Sith Lords and created most of the party. Avellone was initially unsure about working on Star Wars but after beginning became more "excited" about it. Avellone decided to attempt to create a sympathetic Sith Lord. The character was highly influenced by Ravel Puzzlewell, a Planescape: Torment character which Avellone also wrote, and was intended to tell stories with her he had been unable to do in Torment. Avellone felt it would be "cool" to be in a party with Ravel. Despite Ravel's influence, the Star Wars setting and its elements resulted in Kreia changing heavily.
A multi-page biography was created for narrative reference, art and audio. When making characters, Avellone prefers to focus on their role in the story, their name, their visual signature, and in Kreia's case the character's ability to serve as his voice. Her name is inspired by Princess Leia of the original Star Wars films, and serves a similar role as ally, but Kreia has darker past demonstrated by a harsher prefix. Her visuals, meanwhile, combine elements of both "the wise mentor" like Obi-Wan's robes and dark side elements like Palpatine's hood. Brian Menze, lead concept artist and modeller for the characters, designed Kreia.
Narratively, Kreia had several roles in The Sith Lords, acting as a party member, a foil, and a "sounding board" for the theme of the game, which concerned the Jedi's role and the Force's nature in a living galaxy. As an extension of Avellone's voice, Kreia became his way of expressing all his problems with the Force. Despite her view of the Force, it was important to avoid causing continuity problems with the rest of the Star Wars series, and her views were presented within the context of the original Force in the Star Wars world. Kreia is intended to test the player on the basic philosophical issues of the Star Wars universe. She is rude and dismissive to everyone but the player character, something intended to help make the player feel special.
English actress Sara Kestelman voiced the character in the game. In voice directors Will Beckman and Darragh O'Farrell's "Designer Diary", the character was considered the most critical character to cast, though a challenging one as few games cast women of her age group. Obsidian worked hard in finding Kreia's voice, which had to match with her model without being "witchy or grating" due to her lengthy amount of dialogue.
Developers tried to give each companion a unique ability to make them distinct from any other companion. Originally, throughout The Sith Lords Kreia would be seen through cutscenes recruiting certain characters such as Hanharr to side with her and seducing them to the dark side, though her exact purpose was not made overt. At the end of the game, they would then be used as "cannon fodder" before the fight with her began. Ultimately, this was cut.
Character
Kreia is shown as an elderly blind woman, whose eyes have atrophied from lack of use in preference of viewing things through the Force, viewing normal sight as a distraction. Dialogue in The Sith Lords establishes her past as a Jedi historian and one of the teachers of Revan, who became a Sith Lord and was the player character of the first game, and how her teachings were blamed for his fall. The Sith Lords reveals she has trained two Sith antagonists of the game, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, before they cast her out. She is initially depicted in earth-brown hooded Jedi robes with empty white eyes, though after the revelation of her identity as Darth Traya, both a Sith and a being of betrayal, both her robes and eyes are changed to black, and her skin becomes paler.Kreia was the personification of Avellone's frustrations with the concept of the Force. He called her "one redeeming feature" her love of the player character, and what they represent: a way of destroying the Force and its predestination in favor of giving freedom to the galaxy. She shuns the light-side and the dark-side divide of the Force, as well as blanket good and evil, favoring choices that emphasise personal strength for the player. The A.V. Clubs Julie Muncy described her philosophy as "a pessimistic and borderline-Randian way of thinking focused on the importance of power and strife".
She is initially presented as an ally and a teacher, and acts a mentor from the start of the game. Alexander Gambotto-Burke of Eurogamer commented that she has a "genuine, albeit twisted maternal" love for the player, her student. In contrast to Darth Malak, the clear villain of the first game, Avellone called Kreia neither "necessarily good or evil"; instead, she merely wants the Exile to grow as a person. Kreia is deliberately complicated in her goals and motivations, giving the character a feel of mystery. IGN's Hilary Goldstein noted this mystery, commenting both on her seemingly dark motives and yet how she appears as the player's "staunchest defender and a true protector".
Appearances
In ''The Sith Lords''
The game was first released in December 2004, on Xbox, marking the character's debut. Kreia initially seems dead when introduced, but after the player character, an exile of the Jedi Order, enters the morgue of the mining station they've woken in, she begins conversation. She informs the player that while they slept they both formed a Force bond, tying the Exile and Kreia together. It is revealed that Kreia and the Exile both came in aboard the Ebon Hawk after the Exile's original ship was attacked by the Sith and the Exile rescued while unconscious. During their escape, Kreia encounters Darth Sion and loses her hand during the battle, which in turn causes the Exile tremendous pain due to their bond. After she rejoins the party and they escape the station on the Ebon Hawk, Kreia then appoints herself the Exile's "teacher".Kreia serves as a party member throughout the game, and may interject at certain points of it to offer her perspective. Depending on each decision the player makes, Kreia may gain or lose "Influence", which measures how much "trust, confidence, or control" the player has with a party member. Unlike other party members, Kreia's alignment is not affected by the player's Influence level with her and is instead set at neutral, though Influence will unlock new conversations with her. In gameplay, she may only equip one hand, and is a "Jedi Consular", focused on using the game's Force powers. Having her in the party grants the player extra experience, and any Force effects the player character or Kreia use on themselves will also affect the other.
After the player finds all the in-hiding Jedi Masters, Kreia will retake her mantle as a Sith Lord. If the player does not kill the Jedi, she will intervene when they attempt to cut the Exile off from the Force, draining the Jedi of the Force herself and killing them. If the player chooses to kill the Jedi, she will renounce the Exile. Either way, she will leave, and the player must hunt her to Malachor V, the site of such great atrocities and death that they caused a wound in the Force. Kreia seemingly plans on creating another wound in the Force there, deafening all to the Force and causing its "death", as well as potentially killing all those touched by it. The player faces Kreia, now "Darth Traya", as the final boss, and after she is defeated she offers to describe the future she foresees before dying.