History VideoGame / KnightsOftheOldRepublic

** Once you rescue Bastilla from Taris and make it back to the Jedi enclave on Dantooine, your impressive Force potential prompts the Council to accept you for training in the Jedi arts despite your age. For the next few missions, you have to prove yourself worthy of becoming a full Jedi after your accelerated training course, first by memorizing the Jedi Code, then by creating a lightsaber of your own with a colour determined by your chosen Jedi class, and finally by purging the nearby grove of the Dark Side influence corrupting it [[spoiler: and end the threat of the fallen Jedi apprentice responsible for it - hopefully by redeeming her.]] Once that's done, you're officially a Jedi Knight.

** Malak's arena has eight captive fallen Jedi. He has not allowed them to become one with the Force, and has kept them there to be used as Force batteries and reserve health packs. After demonstrating its use, he declares his intent to do the same to the player character should they be defeated.

'''PlayerCharacter:''' But not always. Mostly it makes things worse.\\

'''PlayerCharacter:''' But... if you lose your compassion, will you still care about those slaves?\\

* AsleepForDays: The PlayerCharacter is injured when the escape pod crashes, and goes "in and out of consciousness for days" with Carth watching over them and tending to their wounds.

* AthleticallyChallenged: The first opponent faced in the Taris Dueling Ring is [[ButtMonkey Deadeye Duncan.]] The cutscene seen as the PlayerCharacter shows up to the duel section of the bar is Duncan dropping his blaster and getting knocked out without so much as a scratch on his opponent. He's viewed as a joke so much that beating him hardly gives the player any respect from fans. In fact, unless the player makes an intentionally awful character and does nothing, it's impossible to lose to him.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Stealth requires fiddly tactics to use effectively. For example, Mission can use stealth, go invisible, and deliver powerful sneak attacks, but using stealth forces her to go into solo mode and walk ''very slowly''. Once she scores her attack, she becomes visible again, and if there are still enemies nearby, and you've messed up your tactics leaving her unsupported, Mission will be facing them alone. The other major limitation on stealth in the game is that many unavoidable cut-scenes, and even using terminals, will force you out of stealth mode, negating any advantage from it. Get stealth right, especially if your player-character is a scoundrel build also using stealth, and the results can be ''very'' satisfying.
* AwfulTruth: The revelation that [[spoiler: the player character ''is'' Darth Revan.]]

** The player character can perform a Batman Gambit on Korriban by [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder triple-crossing people and backstabbing everyone]].

* BattleCouple: The PC and Bastila, Carth, or [[GayOption Juhani]] if you romance any of them.

* MysteriousStranger: This becomes the [[spoiler:Revan's]] ring name in the Taris arena, as the Hutt who runs the place markets the fact that they're a new face with no renown.

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Among the duelists on Taris, there's Marl, who's incredibly friendly and very helpful towards the player, willing to answer any question the player has for him, Ice, who lives up to her name, is very cold and insulting towards the player and isn't interested in conversation, but is GracefulInDefeat should you beat her, Gerlon Two-Fingers, who's cocky and nowhere near as friendly as Marl is, but is otherwise much more civil than Ice is. And Twitch, who is a straight up psycho.

** Walking into the Krayt Dragon's cave before you killed it will leave you with the same result as the dumb schmuck who did it before you.

* Failing the Power Pillar puzzle twice inside the Tomb of Naga Sadow on Korriban results in the weakened ceiling above the chamber you get sealed in falling down upon your lone PC due to the unstable electrical output that pillars give off.
* Purposefully being an idiot by using the Special Fire Grenade on the acid pit blocking the way to both the quest-related ceremonial Sith Lightsaber and Star Map despite what the datapad detailing what would happen if one uses it on said pit which results in the fumes that appear afterward to kill your lone PC.
* On the Unknown World, when approaching the Elder base, answering "I'm with the Rakata" triggers the Elders' defenses, wiping your group out instantly.
* There was a third ending where, playing as a Dark Side female, Carth's plea for a Last-Second Chance works and the two of you opt to die together on the collapsing Star Forge. It is very easy to restore, however.

* GoneHorriblyRight: The Rakata somehow were able to harness the Dark Side of the Force in their technologies, with the Star Forge itself being the pinnacle of Rakatan Dark Side engineering. However, the Rakatans never considered the cost of using the technology on such a scale: [[spoiler: the factory gave them the means to conquer the galaxy, but also led to their downfall. The Star Forge semi-consciously began to affect not only its operators but Rakatan society itself, feeding their greed, cruelty, and lust for conquest. The Rakatans eventually both overextended themselves and fell to infighting, leading to their overthrow and near-extinction as a species.]]
** The Jedi hoped to [[spoiler: overwrite Darth Revan's personality with the relative blank slate of the player character]]. This works perfectly... and if the player pursues the Dark Side ending [[spoiler: the new personality is a much more powerful, cunning, and generally effective Sith than Revan ever was, with the ability to recruit powerful allies that Revan could never have recruited and intimate knowledge of Jedi resources and strategies]]. It is not a good time to be part of the Republic once the credits start rolling.
* GoryDiscretionShot: If you walk into the Krayt dragon's cave [[TooDumbToLive without first killing the dragon]], you get a cutscene of it standing up and walking out. The screen then fades to black and the 'Your entire party has been killed' dialogue appears.

* ConditionedToBeWeak: The Wookie Chieftain Chuundar admits to the amnesiac Revan that he took steps to make his people weak so Cezrka Corporation could take more of them as slaves. Revan helps the Wookies rise up against Chuundar and Czerka and free their world from the slavers.

** The end trigger in the 'Mission's Brother' quest in Knights of the Old Republic is a particularly amusing example: the trigger for the next conversation is you leaving the zone, but because of how the despawning system works, you can overtake Griff on the way to the door, come back in and be told he skipped town while he's still visible behind you.

* ThreatBackfire: If you have Canderous and Jolee with you when you offer help Lashowe find Tulak Hord's holocron, this exchange occurs:

** Also on Korriban, if you have Jolee and Canderous with you for that same confrontation, when he stars getting flippant with the Sith, Canderous will chuckle along.

** The game had mountains of it leading up to TheReveal, they even have a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFvN2y9PI3s cut scene]] with some of it.

** It is also foreshadowed that [[spoiler:Bastila will turn to the Dark Side]]: read the description of the double-bladed lightsaber.

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Among the duelists on Taris, there's Marl, who's incredibly friendly and very helpful towards the player, willing to answer any question the player has for him. Ice, who lives up to her name, is very cold and insulting towards the player and isn't interested in conversation. And Gerlon Two-Fingers, who's cocky and nowhere near as friendly as Marl is, but is otherwise much more civil than Ice is.

* NoCanonForTheWicked: Canonically in the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' universe, the player character was a light-sided male. However, the sequel game allows you to choose his gender and alignment.

** [[spoiler:[[CutsceneIncompetence When Bastila is captured]], you lose all her equipment except for her [[DoubleWeapon double-lightsaber]] which mysteriously goes into your inventory.]]

** All those spike tunnelers serve no purpose in the game (unlike the sequel where they are used for cracking locks), they can be sold for credits, since there is no penalty for bashing doors and locks open like there is in the sequel.

* InformedAbility: There is a case of this in the Republic embassy on Manaan. One of the ways to get into the Sith embassy is to decrypt a Sith passcard. The head of the Republic embassy and a Republic technician claim that none of the other technicians can solve the final number sequences required to complete the decryption. The technician you talk to in particular says that he couldn't even solve the first sequence. When you try to do it, they turn out to be simple mathematical problems that can be solved by anyone with a school education.

* InformedAbility: There is a case of this in the Republic embassy on Manaan. One of the ways to get into the Sith embassy is to decrypt a Sith passcard. The head of the Republic embassy and a Republic soldier claim that none of their technicians can solve the final number sequences required to complete the decryption. The soldier in particular says that he couldn't even solve the first sequence. When you try to do it, they turn out to be simple mathematical problems that can be solved by anyone with a school education.

* SpaceBattle: This ''is'' Star Wars. The game starts in a ship that's been scuppered in a fight, you get to shoot down enemy fighters several times in a minigame, and the game ends on a massive battle between the Republic fleet and the Star Forge.

* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Almost completely inverted, assuming one sticks with the cast's initial skillsets. The party's ranged specialists are either male (Carth, Canderous) or robots (HK-47, T3-M4) while up to three of the four lightsaber wielders (Bastila and Juhani, plus a female protagonist if you're so inclined) are women. Mission's skillset and personal weapon revolve around close combat as well. Zaalbar straddles the line between both worlds -- his personal weapon is a long-ranged bowcaster, but he's much more useful in melee and can unlock his Wookie clan's ancestral vibroblade later on to make him even better at cutting things to shreds.

* MysteriousStranger: This becomes the protagonist's ring name in the Taris arena, as the Hutt who runs the place markets the fact that they're a new face with no renown.

** Early in the game, the player character experiences a variety of strange dreams and visions, while also managing the herculean task of helping a stranded Jedi escape a CityPlanet occupied by the Sith. The latter sounds like standard fare for an RPG protagonist, but Bastila reveals that it's because you're actually an undetected Force Sensitive. [[spoiler: More specifically, you are the amnesiac Darth Revan, and your powers are starting to reawaken.]]
** The protagonist's first companion, Carth Onasi, infamously has uncannily accurate {{Gut Feeling}}s that leave him constantly ProperlyParanoid, has a better on-screen piloting record than confirmed Jedi candidate Atton Rand, and ''[[ISeeDeadPeople can see and understand Force Ghosts]]''. There is a wealth of evidence that Carth is a Force-Sensitive who evaded detection both because of the political consequences of taking a child from Telos, where the Jedi traditionally send their failed candidates, and because they were too busy with the Exar Kun War to focus on identifying potential students. Carth's son was identified, and since Force-Sensitivity is InTheBlood, Dustil could have inherited it from either or even both of his parents. Carth shows slightly more awareness when he appears in the second game.

* ShoutOut: In the original series' proud tradition of cribbing from great sci-fi literature, the Wookies' backstory shown here owes a lot to the Hork-Bajir of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series. Both are large, NobleSavage creatures who live in huge forests and have fearsome claws that are actually used for stripping tree bark and have social taboos about using them for fighting. [[note]] This taboo pre-dates ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' as far as Franchise/StarWarsLegends, originating in the West End Tabletop [[/note]] The protagonists also learn that both races have been genetically engineered to tend to the giant trees by a more advanced alien race as part of their {{Terraforming}} biotechnology.

* ThisIsNotMyLifeToTake: The protagonist leaves Admiral Karath to Carth, since ItsPersonal, and may or may not (depending on morality) encourage Juhani to take revenge on the man who bought her as [[SexSlave a 'pet']]... Let's just say Bioware loves this trope.

* WeHaveReserves: Malak orders the bombardment of Taris despite the presence of his own troops on the surface. During the Battle of the Star Forge, Malak sends all of his forces and all of his Sith, knowing that the protagonist has a good chance of killing them all but not caring.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kotor.jpeg]]

the rise of the Galactic\\
Empire, the Republic verges\\
on collapse. DARTH MALAK,\\
last surviving apprentice of\\
the Dark Lord Revan, has\\
unleashed an invincible\\
Sith armada upon an\\
unsuspecting galaxy.\\

as countless Knights fall in\\
battle, and many more\\

In the skies above the Outer\\
Rim world of Taris, a Jedi\\
battle fleet engages the\\
forces of Darth Malak in a\\
desperate effort to halt the\\
Sith's galactic domination....]]]]

** Early in the game, the player character experiences a variety of strange dreams and visions, while also managing the herculean task of helping a stranded Jedi escape a CityPlanet occupied by the Sith. The latter sounds like standard fair for an RPG protagonist, but Bastila reveals that it's because you're actually an undetected Force Sensitive. [[spoiler: More specifically, you are the amnesiac Darth Revan, and your powers are starting to reawaken.]]

** Early in the game, the player character experiences a variety of strange dreams and visions, while also managing the herculean task of helping a stranded Jedi escape a CityPlanet occupied by the Sith. The latter sounds like standard fair for an RPG protagonist, but Bastilla reveals that it's because you're actually an undetected Force Sensitive. [[spoiler: More specifically, you are the amnesiac Darth Revan, and your powers are starting to reawaken.]]

** After collecting three out of the four pieces of the Star Map, you're ambushed by the ''Leviathan'' and packed off the ship's brig, where you, Carth, and Bastilla are interrogated for information before being left to wait for [[BigBad Darth Malak]]'s return. However, you're able to plan your own breakout in advance by setting aside one of your companions as your ace in the hole, allowing them to break you out - setting the stage for your escape from the ''Leviathan'' itself.

* StupidSacrifice: Bastilla "saving" the player during [[spoiler: the fight with Malak on the Leviathan]]. Unless built as purely support, the player is likely winning handily.

* ObliviouslySuperpowered: Early in the game, the player character experiences a variety of strange dreams and visions, while also managing the herculean task of helping a stranded Jedi escape a CityPlanet occupied by the Sith. The latter sounds like standard fair for an RPG protagonist, but Bastilla reveals that it's becaue you're actually an undetected Force Sensitive.

* FantasticFlora: Unsurprisingly, a trip to Kashyyyk involves a whole lot of megaflora and [[ArborealAbode arboreal abodes]]. [[spoiler: It also reveals that this ''isn't'' Kashyyyk's natural ecosystem: the Rakatans began terraforming the planet long ago for their own uses but lost contact with the machines doing it. The terraforming device then went haywire, creating the mega-trees and forests that Kashyyyk is known for]].

* GreatAccomplishmentWeakCredibility: When you complete your accelerated Jedi training and are sent off in pursuit of the Star Forge, Carth Onasi is increasingly bewildered by the fact that you've been judged competent enough to be sent on a mission that will save the galaxy after only a few days of study. In later conversations, he admits to being deeply suspicious - not just of you, but the Jedi Council, believing that some underhanded strategy is in play. [[spoiler: He's right, as it turns out.]]

** The Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban has very beautiful and majestic sunsets. Too bad that the whole thing is honoring the worst the galaxy could offer: infamous {{SorcerousOverlord}}s with body counts in the billions.

** Also, though it is set just forty years later, the aesthetic and philosophy of the Jedi are far more in-line with the prequel trilogy (four thousand years later) than ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' (four ''decades'' earlier). Understandable, perhaps, for marketing purposes. It makes it a bit strange for the Jedi to have a strong taboo against romance and marriage when the previous head of the Order, Nomi Sunrider, had been openly married to a Jedi, had a child, and then entered another relationship with another Jedi during a war. Especially as Jolee talks about this very period of history as though the taboo was in place and the original plans called for Vima Sunrider--the product of said happy and totally unremarkable Jedi marriage--to have Bastila's spot in the party. Other works set around this time period (like the tie-in comics) follow this version's lead.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The crew of the Ebon Hawk that undertakes the mission to stop [[BigBad Darth Malak]]. Members include a [[TagalongKid 14-year-old Twi'lek teenager]], a [[TheBigGuy Wookiee]], a [[RobotBuddy utility droid]], an AxCrazy [[RobotBuddy assassin droid]], a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Mandalorian mercenary]], a Republican AcePilot, a [[TheAtoner former Dark Jedi]], an [[CoolOldGuy old Grey Jedi]], a [[ActionGirl Jedi padawan]], and an [[spoiler:[[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnesiac]] [[EvilOverlord Dark Lord of the Sith]]]], [[spoiler: [[EvilMentor Darth Malak's former Sith Master]], no less!]]

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The crew of the Ebon Hawk that undertakes the mission to stop Darth Malak. Members include a [[TagalongKid 14-year-old Twi'lek teenager]], a [[TheBigGuy Wookiee]], a [[RobotBuddy utility droid]], an AxCrazy [[RobotBuddy assassin droid]], a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Mandalorian mercenary]], a Republican AcePilot, a [[TheAtoner former Dark Jedi]], an [[CoolOldGuy old Grey Jedi]], a [[ActionGirl Jedi padawan]], and [[spoiler:[[LaserGuidedAmnesia an amnesiac]] [[EvilOverlord Dark Lord of the Sith]]]], [[spoiler: [[EvilMentor Darth Malak's former Sith Master]], no less!]]