Characters / Star Wars – Bode Akuna

All spoilers regarding the Skywalker Saga and The Clone Wars are unmarked. Examples relating to Disney's EU and the new movies can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

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Character page for Bode Akuna, a major character in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which takes place nearly a decade before the events of A New Hope.

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Bode Akuna

"Let's get some payback. See you in the mix, Scrapper."

Species: Human

Portrayed By: Noshir Dalal

Appearances: Jedi: Survivor

"It's us against the galaxy, Cal. We've got to use every advantage we can against the Empire."

A mercenary affiliated with the Partisans due to a grudge against the Empire. Through the Partisans he was introduced to the fugitive Jedi Cal Kestis, and the two quickly become friends and Bode joined the crew of the Stinger Mantis.

Warning: Bode's character during the third act of the game plays a huge change in both his personality and goals as well as the overall plot of Jedi: Survivor. As a result, most of his tropes are related to his characterization and motives near the end of the game, hence spoiler tags are off for aesthetic purposes. Beware of unmarked spoilers.

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A-D

• Abusive Parents: Bode is so overprotective of his daughter that he ends up personally endangering her more than any of his actual enemies. In fact, he ends up nearly killing Kata in fits of blind rage during his fight with Cal and Merrin.
• Ace Pilot: Shows some skill behind the cockpit of a Z-95 Headhunter (the forefather of the X-Wing).
• Action Dad: He has a young daughter, Kata. Making the galaxy a safer place for her is one of the reasons he fights.
  Bode: I don't get to see her as often as I'd like, but at least I can provide for her.
• Affably Evil: Zig-Zagged; after his true colors are revealed, Bode still remains cordial to the Mantis crew and even tells Cal to go save his "family". He's also much more honest and forthcoming after his betrayal is revealed, with the moments he shares with his daughter involve him being as nice as he could, which is genuine on his end. That said, Force Echos do reveal that he was planning to use Cal and Merrin's budding relationship to his advantage, yet also that he sincerely saw Cal as a good friend and contemplated about betraying his crew. His affability goes out the window when pushed one too many times about his recklessness and rage, whereupon he tries to kill Cal and Merrin in cold blood.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite everything he's done, Cal still gives his traitorous friend a proper Jedi funeral, alongside Cere and Cordova, understanding the circumstances that caused Bode to fall to the Dark Side in the first place.
• Apologetic Attacker: He takes the time to regretfully apologize to the Mantis crew before revealing himself to be a traitor and killing Eno Cordova.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: In his fight against Cal and Merrin, Bode puts little focus on defensive tactics beyond making quick zips. He mainly prioritizes fast lightsaber strikes, shooting with his blasters at a distance, and using his jetpack to fly around and drop bombs. By the final phase, he puts all of his efforts into just his lightsaber attacks.
• Ax-Crazy: His second boss fight is essentially him acting like an enraged animal, attacking widly with reckless abandon and screaming and growling furiously at Cal and Merrin to stay away from Kata, despite his own uncontrolled rage indrectly almost killing his daughter.
• Bash Brothers: With Cal Kestis in Survivor. It falls apart after Cal finds out Bode had sold out the other survivors to the Empire.
• Becoming the Mask: Downplayed as he was still willing to betray him, but Bode genuinely did come to regard Cal as his best friend (as implied by the post-game Force Echo in the Lucrehulk-class battleship) and tried to turn him to his side before his betrayal. Even after his betrayal, he's still cordial towards Cal and even tells Cal to save his friends when he sends the Empire to Jedha. Unfortunately, his worsening paranoia leads to him trying to kill Cal in the end anyways.
• Beyond Redemption: Cal gives him several chances to surrender and turn over a new leaf for the sake of protecting his daughter. Bode tosses every one of those chances back in Cal's face. At the end of the final battle, Bode tries to shoot him with the clear intent to kill Cal, but the pistol Bode tried to use malfunctioned. At that point, Cal concludes that enough is enough and guns Bode down with the same blaster he provided Cal.
  Greez: We all know it's a rigged game, but we choose how to play it!
• The Big Guy: Being more physically bulkier than Cal, Bode serves as his main muscle throughout much of Jedi: Survivor, often using his bombs and blasters to deal damage in the midst of whatever battle Cal is engaged. Though with a jetpack, Bode is much faster than usually expected for a character of this role.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Yells one at Kata after she tries to convince him to listen to Cal and Merrin.
• Boss-Only Level: Bode is the only opponent encountered in Tanalorr, the game's final explorable planet.
• Broken Pedestal: Becomes one not just for Cal, but for his daughter as well. While Kata still loves her father very much, she's clearly heartbroken by the horrible man he had become trying to protect her and doesn't hold it against Cal when he's forced to kill him because she understands how Bode's actions have hurt so many people.
• Control Freak: A major trait for Bode is his obsession to keep Kata safe and doing whatever means necessary to accomplish such, right down to telling her not to get herself associated with other people who might be nothing more than just friendly and accommodating to her. There is a degree of excuse for this; Bode has never really been in control of his life and actions, especially since as a Jedi survivor from Order 66, he's constantly been on the run from the Empire and is roped by Denvik to do his dirty business to ensure his own daughter's protection. His main motivation for finding Tanalorr is for a chance to finally get himself and Kata to be on a planet where nobody can interrupt him and is so driven by such that he betrays Cal and then lures him to take out Denvik and distracts the Empire while he whisks himself and Kata away to be in their newest safe haven. He near-instantly becomes frustrated and desperate when he sees Cal and Merrin in Tanalorr with Kata, screaming that only he gets to decide Kata's safety despite Cal and Merrin's insistency for help.
• Corrupted Character Copy:
  • At first glance, he's the game's answer to Han Solo and Poe Dameron, a swashbuckling, wisecracking Tall, Dark, and Handsome Ace Pilot who's handy with a blaster and serves as a surrogate big brother to the protagonist. Problem is that he's The Mole, and it's largely an act to get close to his targets.
  • He's also this to Noshir Dalal's other famous video game role, Charles Smith from Red Dead Redemption II. Like Charles, Bode is a competent and dependable ally who serves as the player's best friend and always has his back. Unlike Charles though, Bode is a disloyal and selfish schemer all along.
• Crusading Widower: He hates the Empire because they killed his wife. Deconstructed as the death of his wife ended up contributing to him falling to the Dark Side, as he became obsessed with protecting what remained of his family at the cost over everyone else.
  Bode: The Empire took her from us.
  Cal: I'm sorry. They've taken a lot of people.
  Bode: More every day.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was a Jedi during the Clone Wars, but instead of serving on the front lines, he served in Republic Intelligence. After Order 66, he used his training as a spy to hide. In time he married and had a daughter, but his wife was eventually killed by an Inquisitor. Knowing he could not hide forever, Bode cut a deal with a COMPNOR agent, Commander Denvik, to ensure the safety of himself and his daughter.
• Deadpan Snarker: Bode would occasionally snark and make wisecracking quips during gameplay and cutscenes, likely as a nod for being the Mantis Crew's equivalent of Han Solo. This character aspect evaporates completely when Bode reveals himself to be a spy for the Empire.
• Death by Irony: The player can choose to use the Blaster style to fight him, and Cal always strikes the final blows with the same blaster Bode gave Cal, in the same place Bode thought would be a sanctuary.
• Detrimental Determination: Bode's love for his daughter naturally forms a protective desire for her, but years of being hounded by the Empire for his past as a Jedi and the death of his wife twist that love into a mad obsession to keep Kata safe from anything. Bode is willing to sell out and condemn anybody if it means saving himself and Kata, regardless of the consequences and misery it would cause for them. It's to the point where Bode cannot be bothered to even listen to additional advice, seek alternatives, or even enlist anyone else's trust to ensure Kata's safety and any rebuttals and arguments cause him to lash out. In the end, his ambitions are just for himself and his daughter and he will do anything to ensure that, everyone else be damned.
• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: In the long run, reporting Cere's location to Darth Vader turns out to have been this. Bode did this partly so that he could get what he wanted, the compass to Tanalorr, for himself as well as expose Denvik for trying to act above his station to earn political points and influence, knowing full well the latter would seriously piss the Sith Lord off. The seemingly reckless act of leaving his tracker active for Cal to follow also plays this further by depriving Denvik of his military might and facing the full wrath of Vader while Bode and Kata escape to Tanalorr. In spite of how heinous his acts were, it's still an impressive feat that Bode was able to get Darth Vader to be a part of his plan to eliminate a certain obstacle of his, all whilst never having to directly confront the Sith Lord.
• Dies Wide Open: His eyes are still open after Cal guns him down and has to close them afterwards.
• Discard and Draw: After Bode's jetpack is damaged during Cal's chase, Bode reveals his Force abilities and fights Cal with a Sword and Gun style. Cal taps into the Dark Side during the final boss fight, and Bode accidentally damages both of his blasters, which forces him to use only the lightsaber for the last phase.
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: As indicated above, he's been blackmailed into doing Denvik's dirty work to keep the Inquisitors off his back. That said, he is aware of all the Empire's interservice rivalries and that Denvik is acting way above his station, so he is also manipulating events to screw over Denvik and finally be free. Denvik realizes that Bode had purposely lured Cal to his base so Bode could escape to Tanalorr with his daughter unopposed while Cal deals with the Empire. It's implied to be true given that's exactly what happens when Cal confronts him about this.
• Dragon-in-Chief: While he nominally answers to Lank Denvik, Bode's resources as an Imperial spy and abilities as a former Jedi make him a far greater threat to Cal and his friends. Sure enough, after he's got everything he needs out of Denvik, he has Cal - and failing that, Vader - take care of him to cover his tracks.
• Dressing as the Enemy: As part of an elaborate con, Bode disguises himself as a member of the CSF claiming to have captured Cal.
• Duel Boss: Bode is fought for the first time in Jedha just on his own whilst using a lightsaber to even the playing field between him and Cal. During the fight against him in Tanalorr, Cal initially has Merrin for support until Bode loses around half of his health whereupon him blindly endangering Kata forces Merrin to prioritize saving her first, leaving just Cal for Bode to directly contend against for the remainder of the fight.

E-M

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: With all the atrocities he's done, Bode does love his daughter and he seemed to have a genuine affinity with Cal. Unfortunately, his paranoia blinded him into endangering his daughter and betraying his friends anyway.
• Even Evil Has Standards: It's implied that his disdain for the corrupt Pau'an senator Daho Sejan isn't an act, he's genuinely contemptuous of the man for allying with the Empire to save his own skin and benefit himself while claiming that he did it to protect Utapau when in reality he sold the planet out.
• Evil All Along: Bode is not only an Imperial double agent, he's also a Dark Jedi willing to do anything to protect himself and his daughter, even committing appalling atrocities.
• Evil Virtues: Subverted with Love as while it serves as a primary motivator, it's since been corrupted into a mad obsession that contributes to Bode's weakness in his impulsiveness and eventual downfall. Played straight with Diligence as Bode is willing to make and go ahead with extreme choices and risky plans if it means furthering his goals.
• Face–Heel Turn: A Double Subversion; although Bode betrays Cal's crew with terrible consequences on the latter's end, he was never truly on the latter's side either, having been a spy for the Galactic Empire (more specifically, Lank Denvik) the entire time. Still, there was a time when he was a genuine hero as he used to be part of the Jedi Order via the Republic Intelligence. It was the death of his wife Tayala some years before the events of Jedi: Survivor that drove Bode into villainy and insanity.
• Fallen Hero: He was once a Jedi and a loving husband/father. However, the Jedi Purge and losing his wife to the Empire has caused a great toll on him, not even the love of his daughter could help him overcome.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Once Bode betrays the Mantis crew, Wrath and Impulsiveness are shown to be his greatest faults. Everything he does is for the sake of his daughter, Kata, but that is what he claims and they increasingly hold little weight. The slightest disagreement or even a mention that there are alternatives to taking care of Kata is enough to frustrate Bode and drive him mad if pressed long enough. Additionally, most of his plans are short-term and only benefit him as Kata begins to be nervous and then disapproves of her father's actions. Ultimately, Bode's impulsive and wrathful nature gets him killed as they prove that he's beyond convincing, followed by Cal finishing him off with a blaster shot to his chest.
  • Related to the above two, there's a refusal to trust anybody. Bode's overprotectiveness towards Kata is so bad that he doesn't even stop to think that maybe he could use some help from others. Cal and Merrin not only prove to be genuine about protecting Kata but are also willing to let Bode's actions be forgiven and even remain in Tanalorr. Bode's response is to throw their sentiment and promises back and attack them in blind rage, resulting in his death.
• Fights Like a Normal: His main fighting style is using dual blasters, shock bombs, and a jetpack. This is all to further conceal the fact that he is a Dark Jedi who is hiding his identity. And even when he does fight using Dagan's lightsaber, Bode uses his blasters and bombs more often and, compared to most Jedi in combat, hardly uses any Force powers, instead using his physical build for hard-hitting saber strikes.
• Final Boss: Of Jedi: Survivor, he ends up being the game's last antagonist after Dagan Gera turns out to be a Disc-One Final Boss (albeit having been the main villain for three of the game's six chapters, compared to Bode's one). He was a mole for the Empire, manipulating Cal the whole time and he led the Empire to Jedha, indirectly resulting in Cere's death and most of her archive being destroyed.
• Foil: To Cal. First and foremost Bode is talkative and has a sense of humor while Cal is more silent and taciturn - something Cal remarks upon during the prologue. Both of them have lost people they love to the rise of the Empire. Both are former Jedi who hid their former occupations by taking new ones. Like Cal, Bode is deeply hurt by all the people he's lost to the Empire, his wife first and foremost. Much like Cal at the beginning of Survivor, Bode is dominated by the pain of his loss. While Cal's channeled that into an otherwise hopeless fight against the Empire, Bode's channeled his own grief into an obsessive need to protect his daughter, even if it means betraying everyone around him to the very same Empire that took his wife.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Discussed by Merrin, who says that Bode was merely using his daughter and the death of his wife as blanket excuses for his betrayal and murdering countless lives. Not to mention he keeps endangering his daughter regardless during his final battle with Cal and Merrin. While Cal understands where Bode was coming from, it was still crossing the line the moment he sold his friends out to the Empire.
• Genocide Survivor: He later turns out to be another survivor of Order 66 like Cal and Cere.
• Grief Song: When he is in Tanalorr, before Cal and Merrin's arrival, Bode and Kata sing Ghost Star together. During a solo performance, he ends up replacing one of the lines with the name of his wife, Tayala, causing him to break down sobbing and faltering his performance.
• Guns Akimbo: He has two blaster pistols that he dual-wields during combat.
• He Who Fights Monsters: His greatest desire is to love Kata and protect her from whatever threat they would encounter. By the time he fights Cal and Merrin, he's become the exact opposite; he's an irrational aggressor who is reacting in rage and he ends up endangering his daughter.
• The Heavy: His actual role in the story of Jedi: Survivor after his true alignment and goals are revealed. While Bode is the main direct threat to Cal and the Mantis Crew after his betrayal, he is taking orders from Lank Denvik, a chief supervisor from the Empire who got Bode into working undercover with Cal's crew while Denvik himself sits out on the sidelines until near the end. However, Bode has no loyalty to Denvik and fully intends to ditch and leave his superior at the mercy of Cal and Vader once Bode gets the former to arrive in Nova Garon to find his former friend.
• Hero Killer: He reveals his betrayal by killing Eno Cordova before escaping. During his duel with Cal, he almost kills him by Force pushing him off a cliff and shooting him while doing so, but Cal manages to barely survive through quick thinking.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ends up getting gunned down by the very same blaster he entrusted to Cal.
• Hope Spot: An interesting case where he breaks one and is the victim of one.
  • He offers one by being a loyal ally to Cal and being instrumental in defeating Dagan and claiming the compass. It seems the heroes have achieved a meaningful victory for once and are ready to initiate a plan to gather survivors and move the Hidden Path to Tanalorr... then Bode suddenly pulls out a blaster, kills Cordova, and calls upon the Empire to attack the Jedi Temple in Jedha, revealing himself to be a spy.
  • On the receiving end, he feels that he is finally at peace in Tanalorr with just him and his daughter, assured that Kata can live out her days without harm and they can both live together with nothing to interrupt their newfound quiet days. Then Cal and Merrin suddenly show up, breaking said tranquility that Bode wanted for purely selfish reasons, initiating their fight.
• Hypocrite:
  • For all of the judgment he slings at Dagan over having become virtually identical to the worst of the Sith Lords, Bode is ultimately no better, choosing to sell out his own fellow Jedi for what is ultimately a very selfish goal.
  • Having lost his wife to the Empire hunting him down, he has no problem making other people experience the exact same thing if it means saving himself.
  • Bode justifies all of his heinous acts as necessary to protect Kata, but during the final boss fight, he's so careless for her safety and desperate to kill Cal that he almost ends up killing her himself by collapsing the bridge she's standing on, putting her in more direct danger than any of his enemies ever did.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Bode seems to be a Badass Normal who performs well in a fight with his jetpack, blasters, explosive grenades and a mean punch, capable of keeping up with Cal even in a fight with a skilled Jedi like Dagan Gera. However, when he betrays the heroes to the Empire, Cal manages to eventually catch up to him and destroys his jetpack, seemingly rendering him helpless close-range against a Jedi... until he knocks Cal back with his own Force push and draws Dagan's lightsaber, revealing himself to be another Jedi Survivor. That said, whilst the abilities he displays do mean that Cal can't easily win, he's clearly extremely rusty from never showing these in a fight for a long time, and is clearly lacking Cal's refined skills with a Lightsaber, instead using them to augment his preferred method of shooting or blasting the target.
• In the Back: He unexpectedly shoots Dagan behind whilst the latter is ranting about Tanalorr being his. This action gives Cal enough time to regain his lightsaber and cut down Dagan.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He's modeled after his voice actor, Noshir Dalal.
• It's All About Me: The fact that he planned to bring just himself and his daughter to Tanalorr at the cost of the other survivors suffering at the hands of the Empire is just pure selfishness. His self-centeredness even overrides the love for his daughter as he carelessly puts her in danger during the final boss fight.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Bode is taciturn, aloof, and snarky in a caustic way, but is still cooperative and friendly with most people he encounters and he has an almost brotherly relationship with Cal. Then he turns out to be a ruthless double agent for the Empire who is willing to shoot an old man and leave his newfound friends to fend for themselves when Vader barges in. Although his affection and friendship for Cal are genuine, this immediately crumbles when he sets him up as a ploy to eliminate Denvik and escape to Tanalorr with his daughter, not caring if Cal dies in the chaos. In the end, he literally cannot seek any compromise or alternatives, instead resorting to attacking Cal and Merrin in feral rage and indirectly endangering Kata's life as the fight goes on. Bode might have been a good man at one point, but in the very end, he's devolved into a raging, selfish madman who is too lost in his delusions and anger to be worth saving.
• Jet Pack: He wears one on his back, which gives him the nickname "Jet Pack" by the crew and allowing him to move around very quickly. It gets destroyed at the beginning of his first fight with Cal following the reveal of his betrayal.
• Karmic Death: After constantly refusing to change his ways on several occasions, attacking Cal and BD-1 in a delusional desire for freedom, and almost killing Merrin and his daughter, Bode is put down by his former friend with two shots unhesitantly after a quickdraw went horribly wrong on his end. For extra karma, Cal kills Bode with the same blaster the latter gave to the former much earlier on.
• Kick the Dog: While beating Cal to a pulp, Bode slaps BD-1 off of his friend in a blind rage, which sets Cal off.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Bode deeply loves Kata, but his trust issues, along with his wife's death, twisted that love into something else. In the midst of his Villainous Breakdown in his duel with Cal, he endangers his daughter and then Force Pushes her with no regard to her well-being.
• Knight of Cerebus: His betrayal and reveal as a Dark Jedi very quickly darkens the mood of the game, with the consequences emotionally shattering Cal and the Mantis Crew. It's even told by the pause menu; Bode's treachery left such an impact that the blue background has been changed to a blood-red one, signaling how Bode made everything worse and causing Cal to teeter towards releasing the Dark Side.
• Knight Templar Parent: He is only concerned with saving himself and his daughter, damn the other survivors. During his final battle against Cal, he ends up endangering his daughter at multiple points trying to keep Cal and Merrin away from her.
• The Lancer: To Cal in Survivor, being his most recurring ally and aiding him in various sections of the game, up to even participating in the final fight against Dagan Gera. This is lost immediately when Bode reveals himself to be a spy and traitor.
• Laser Blade: Appropriates one half of Dagan Gera's red-bladed lightsaber and uses it against Cal after revealing his Force abilities, and thus his true nature as a renegade Jedi.
• Last-Second Chance: On the failed giving end; despite his betrayal and selfishness, Cal and Merrin are still willing to try to appeal to Bode's good side and to just move on from what has happened, even reasoning that with him and Kata having finally reached Tanalorr, they can cease their conflict as well as making sure they can also protect his daughter. Bode not only refuses but attacks Cal and Merrin, being far too irrational to consider the idea of entrusting Kata's safety to others, even a close friend. Eventually, Cal decides that convincing him is not worth it and puts him down with two blasts to the chest.
• Let's You and Him Fight: A major part of Bode's ultimate gambit. He provokes Cal into taking down Denvik, while also betraying Cere Junda to the Empire, knowing that naming her specifically will ensure Vader's personal attention. Even if the ensuing chaos doesn't result in the deaths of everyone with knowledge of either his daughter or Tanalorr, it will at least buy him enough time to get his daughter through the Koboh Abyss and out of reach (or so he thinks) of anyone.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: In spite of his own deplorable actions and attitude, Bode still comes off as this to Lank Denvik, as there was a tragic reason for Bode's turn to villainy and his friendship with Cal was genuine, even if he was willing to kill the latter and his motives were entirely self-serving to the detriment of his daughter. In contrast, Denvik is an opportunistic slimeball and bully who played a role in Bode's descent to villainy and simply sees Bode and Kata as stepping stones to advance himself in the Empire's ranks.
• Lightning Bruiser: While lacking in Force abilities and lightsaber versatility, Bode makes up for it with fast saber strikes that hit hard alongside using his jetpack to quickly zip around the battlefield and dropping explosives and shock bombs at the same time.
• The Lost Lenore: Bode loved his late wife, Tayala, and continues to grieve for her after she was killed by an Inquisitor. This is deconstructed as this incident drives Bode to The Dark Side, causing his familial love for his daughter to warp into an irrational and blind rage.
• Love Makes You Dumb: By the third act, Bode's love for his daughter has been corrupted so badly that he starts making irrational and costly decisions that bite him back really hard. On top of that, he doesn't want to accept any offers and chances that Cal and Merrin are willing to give him, instead lashing out that only he gets to decide what is best for Kata, which shows just how blind and aggressive he's become in ensuring for his daughter's safety and how badly his judgment has been clouded. This ultimately gets him killed for his troubles.
• Love Makes You Evil: His paranoia towards what might happen to his daughter if she is placed under someone else's protection is what causes him to sell the other survivors out.
• Manly Tears: A Force Echo in Tanalorr tells that he sang Ghost Star, only to mention Tayala in place of one of the lyrics, causing his performance to halt for a moment, followed by Bode crying over being reminded of his late wife.
• Master Actor: Bode was able to conceal the fact that he was once a Jedi Knight who survived Order 66 very effectively and with no one able to sense this particular part about his past, not even seasoned Jedi Masters like Cere and Cordova. Given that he was assigned to Republic Intelligence before Order 66 and was mentored by Denvik during that time as well, Bode was skilled in surveillance, espionage, and tracking and used them to effectively keep himself and his daughter concealed during the reign of the Empire.
• Mirror Boss: His boss fights are largely similar to most other lightsaber-wielding ones, though Bode places special emphasis in that he also uses blasters that further mirror Cal's pragmatic fighting style and taciturn nature during combat. His swordplay places emphasis on hard-hitting attacks, much like the Crossguard Stance, only faster.
• Mirror Character: Like Dagan, he's another one to Anakin Skywalker. Like Vader, Bode was once a Jedi and would eventually find love, only for that to be taken away from him in the worst way imaginable, causing him to double down on his descent to The Dark Side. Both Anakin and Bode also possess the capability to show and express great love, which unfortunately becomes twisted into misplaced rage towards the ones they're supposed to protect. Unlike Anakin whose turn to villainy was due to his desperation to save Padmé, Bode turned to darkness and insanity after Tayala was killed by an Inquisitor. While Vader would pass away finding redemption and peace, Bode is not so lucky, meeting an unfortunate and premature end after his rage and recklessness expire whatever chances Cal and Merrin would have had for him.
• The Mole: Bode's actual allegiance was to the Galactic Empire and was sent by his superior, Denvik, to infiltrate Cal's crew to retrieve the Hidden Path and aid in furthering Denvik's position in COMPNOR all while Bode poses as a loyal and brotherly team member. That said, Bode did come to genuinely like Cal, even after showing his true colors.

N-Y

• Near-Villain Victory: Bode pretty much succeeds in his main goal of reaching Tanalorr safely with his daughter. Furthering the point, he was guile enough to set up Cal via a tracker to get Denvik out of his way as he escapes with the compass, ensuring no one would be able to reach him and his daughter as far as he thinks. His victory and attempt to have peace is short-lived when Cal manages to make it to Tanalorr anyway. It's telling when the moment Bode sees Cal and Merrin with Kata, he immediately flips out and starts acting confrontational. Interestingly, his short-sightedness and refusal to negotiate doom his efforts and he is gunned down after fighting in a futile and misguided attempt to keep Kata safe.
• Non-Player Companion: Bode serves as the main supporting character to Cal during his endeavors in Koboh. During gameplay, he can fly around places pelting enemies with blaster shots and dropping bombs to make fighting for Cal easier. They'll also have short conversations whilst exploring and during the aftermath of a battle.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Bode uses protecting his daughter as a blanket excuse for every bad thing he does, from betraying Cal's trust to leaving several other survivors to perish at the hands of Darth Vader, simply because he wanted to live in Tanalorr with Kata alone. When Cal calls him out on all his crimes and accuses him of being a monster, Bode doesn't even try to deny it, simply declaring that he's a father and he's going to do whatever he has to protect his child. Even Kata is appalled by her father's actions.
• Obvious Villain, Secret Villain: While Dagan is openly antagonistic from the get-go and is the adversary Cal spends the majority of the game hunting down, Bode is a seemingly friendly ally until he reveals his true colors not long after Dagan's death, in which he becomes the game's final antagonist.
• Oh, Crap!: When he picks up one of his blasters to shoot Cal only for it to malfunction, Bode has just enough time to realize how screwed he is before Cal blasts Bode in the chest.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Many of Bode's actions are taking advantage of whatever events have happened so that he could collect what he could use to serve his own ends. This even applies retrospectively once Cal starts discovering new Force Echos that are about Bode. Namely, he would secretly take one-half of Dagan's lightsaber, plan on using Cal's budding romance with Merrin against him should he become a threat, and deliberately left a tracker behind his ship to lure Cal and take out Denvik and whoever was stationed there so that there isn't anyone left to chase him and Kata down as he flees to Tanalorr.
• Papa Wolf: Deconstructed and taken to an extreme level. His mind is so wrapped up by the idea of protecting his daughter that he's willing to let other survivors, including his close friend, Cal, to die at the hands of the Empire to take Tanalorr for himself. Cal calls him out for it, and even Kata admits to being unnerved by her father's overbearingness.
• The Paranoiac: Bode is actually unable to place his trust in anybody, feeling that giving the Hidden Path to whom he saw as "complete strangers" is too much of a risk for him and his daughter. Furthermore, he thinks he's the only one who is fit to look after and protect Kata, yet he's so paranoid and distrusting of aid and help that he attacks Cal and Merrin immediately after seeing them in Tanalorr despite them meaning no harm and the resulting fight actually endangers his daughter a few times, his justifications fall completely flat.
• Playing Both Sides: He betrays Cal and the Mantis crew by coldly killing Cordova and taking the compass to Tanalorr. Then he leaves his tracker active to allow Cal to barge into Nova Garon as a way of taking Denvik out of commission and getting Cal to decimate whoever was stationed to guard the Satellite Station to ensure he and Kata can make it to Tanalorr without anyone tailing him. To top it off, the Imperials he betrays the Mantis crew to are a different faction than those stationed on Nova Garon - a faction who will be just as eager to slaughter the Nova Garon survivors as to hound the remaining Mantis crew, thereby further covering his tracks. In the end, Bode's loyalty is solely to himself, and he would use and discard literally everyone he works with so long as he is convinced this is the only way to keep his daughter safe.
• Precision F-Strike: Bode holds the distinction of being one of the very few characters in the franchise to openly swear in English. Namely, he calls Denvik a bastard when he changes the deal of his plans regarding Bode and Kata's safety.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Deconstructed. As long as he can keep telling himself that what he's doing is best for Kata he'll do it, no matter how monstrous and cruel it is. In the end, even Kata is begging him to stop but he ignores his daughter's begging until Cal finally shoots him.
• Red Is Violent: His red shirt and wielding one half of Dagan's lightsaber compliment Bode's twisted psyche during his fight against Cal and Merrin, with most of his dialogue being raging rants and feral growling as well as a fast and aggressive fighting style.
• Redemption Rejection: Cal gives Bode every chance he can to just stand down and walk away in their final fight, swearing that he will do everything he can to protect Bode and Kata as long as Bode just puts his weapons down. When Bode responds to Cal's final offer of peace by trying to shoot him again (only causing no harm because the gun shorts out), Cal finally has enough and shoots him dead.
• Retirony:
  • He mentions to Cal in Coruscant having a daughter named Kata and that his mercenary work is a means to provide income and safety for both him and his little girl. Interestingly enough, he's the only member of the new Mantis crew outside Cal and BD to escape with their lives.
  • As a survivor of Order 66 and after the death of his wife Tayala, he is defined by his desire to keep Kata safe, no matter who he has to work with and who he has to betray, seeing Tanalorr and the Hidden Path as his ultimate ticket to keep themselves out of the war against the Empire. He succeeds and intends to settle down peacefully with his daughter, but only for a short period as Bode is fought and killed by Cal as soon as the latter reaches Tanalorr.
• Reverse Grip: After revealing to Cal that he's Force-sensitive and took Dagan's lightsaber, he holds said lightsaber this way which is famously how Shien duelists held their lightsabers.
• Robbing the Dead: After he and Cal kill Dagan Gera, he secretly takes one of Dagan's lightsabers from his dead body after Cal leaves the observatory so that he has a powerful weapon that he can use in case he has to fight Cal or anyone in the Mantis crew following his betrayal. The fight he anticipated does end up happening, so he uses Dagan's lightsaber for the rest of the game as his main weapon alongside one of his blasters.
• Screaming Warrior: Most of his voice lines in his second fight are animalistic screams and growls, a telling sign of just how mentally lost and insane Bode has become in his misguided desire to protect Kata. The "warrior" aspect of this trope comes from the fact that he was a Jedi Knight before the events of Order 66.
• Shipper on Deck: He notices how close Cal and Merrin are and at one point during the story, he recommends that the young Jedi pursue a future with the Nightsister. A Force echo indicates that he mainly intended to use Cal's love for Merrin to turn the Jedi to his side.
• Shock and Awe: He uses shock grenades for long-ranged attacks.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Became the sixth member of the Mantis crew in Survivor, but ultimately turned out to be an Imperial spy and a Dark Jedi.
• The Starscream: While his actual allegiance is shown to be under Lank Denvik, it's also shown that there is no true loyalty or respect between the two. Cal arriving in Nova Garon was a ploy for Bode to get his former friend to wipe out Denvik and whoever was stationed in the Satellite Station while he quickly takes Kata and escape to Tanalorr without any resistance. Considering Denvik had tried to put a firm hold on Kata, Bode's willingness to betray him makes sense, even if his end goal is still incredibly selfish.
• Stupid Evil: His efforts to escort Kata and himself to Tanalorr edge him to this. Even after his betrayal, Cal is willing to try to talk him down, but Bode is so rash and impulsive about his desires that he lashes out even when the opposite party doesn't mean any harm. His overprotectiveness for his daughter and refusal to seek a compromise with the heroes leads to him becoming the aggressor and his recklessness gets his daughter almost killed, ultimately making his goals more of a detriment to his child and him getting killed by Cal after one refusal too many. In the end, Bode's demise was the result of one bad decision after another and likely would have lived had he just went through with Cal's compromise without letting his paranoia clouding his judgement.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: While not possessing any of the cybernetics or aesthetic of Darth Vader, Bode does share the same desire to protect the ones he cares about that doomed Anakin Skywalker in the first place. Even to the point where his obsession endangers the very people he wished to save.
• Sword and Gun: He uses Dagan Gera's lightsaber in conjunction with one of his usual blasters during his first duel against Cal and the first phases of the final boss fight.
• Sympathy for the Devil: While he was Beyond Redemption in his last moments, Cal at least understands that Bode was just a scared father who got lost in his own paranoia. To show this understanding, Cal gives his traitorous friend a proper burial, alongside Cordova and Cere, for Kata's sake.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's got the imposing build and swashbuckling good looks you'd expect of a character who's basically the cool older brother Cal never had. Or, at least, who seems like a cool older brother.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The consequences of Bode's villainy is how he's single-minded about keeping Kata happy and safe without ever considering his daughter's actual needs and the safety and support of his friends. He doesn't waste any time killing Cordova and running away with the compass to Tanalorr, knowing and not caring that this has made him an enemy of Cal's. Even when meeting his former friend again, Bode cannot fathom seeking a compromise in spite of the many chances Cal tries to give him, instead choosing to lash out in blind rage at the very idea of his daughter being threatened when it's Bode whose actually putting Kata in danger. In the end, his impulsiveness gets him killed.
• Too Dumb to Live: Even when Cal offers him every opportunity to redeem himself and stand down, Bode keeps trying to kill him which eventually gets him killed when his last ditch effort to kill Cal after Cal had just nonlethally disarmed and subdued him forces Cal to gun Bode down. If he had just accepted Cal's offer of surrendering, Kata wouldn't be an orphan by now.
• Tragic Villain: A former Jedi, assigned to intelligence, who went into hiding after the purge, Bode only wanted to find someplace safe for him and his daughter after losing his wife to the inquisitor's, but become so distrustful of others from his time as a Imperial Double Agent, he ultimately became a bigger threat to his daughter then anyone else.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He makes the reveal of him being an Imperial Spy in a dramatic fashion. He shoots Cordova dead, gives the Hidden Path's location to Darth Vader, causing multiple deaths (Among them Cere). Everyone has different opinions on him due to Kata, but they all agree that what he did was monstrous.
• Undignified Death: He dies rather anticlimatically; his blaster malfunctions at the very last second and he has a few seconds to realize he's done for before Cal shoots him down. Despite Bode groaning in agony for some time, there's nothing in the way of redemption or a last-second epic clash, Cal just bluntly shoots him a second time, finishing Bode off.
• The Unfettered: At the end of the day, the only thing that motivates Bode is to ensure the safety of his daughter Kata and will manipulate, backstab, and take advantage of literally everybody if it means furthering his goals in some way. This however turns out to be a faulty approach, not helped by his desire to protect becoming an irrational insistency for control regarding Kata and seeing his approach as the only real way to protect his daughter.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Bode's application of his Jedi skills are shown to be this. Having been unable to practice and hone his abilities with a lightsaber or the Force leaves his prowess with both rather lacking. He has the strength to affect Cal and Merrin, both being highly powerful Force users, with the Force, but his lightsaber skills mostly focus on aggressive and brutal attacks with little defensive skillset, while his usage of the Force is limited to straightforward telekinetic attacks. That said, he still has a lot of physical prowess and relentless determination, and combining his Jedi training with the skills he's gathered as a mercenary still allows him to pose a genuine threat to Cal, even managing to knock him out once. That said, it's clear that he could only win against Cal in their first match as Cal was still reeling from his betrayal, and when they fight it out properly, Cal needs only minimum help from Merrin to push Bode to his limits when he's able to bring out the big guns, clearly having the upper hand whenever they fight with purely lightsabers alone, and as soon as Bode loses his mercenary equipment, Cal hands Bode his ass in a one-on-one fight.
  • It's heavily implied that Bode practices Form V (Djem So and Shien) of lightsaber combat which is all about this trope, if his usage of the Reverse Grip way of holding a lightsaber and aggressive style of fighting are anything to go by. This form of lightsaber combat is all about unleashing powerful strikes, swings, and counterattacks in a lightsaber duel. This form would be perfect for someone Bode's size and physicality, allowing him to overpower and overwhelm his opponents with his sheer strength which allows him to keep up with Cal who, despite being more skilled and powerful in the Force, is still physically weaker due to Bode being twice his size.
• Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one when he learns that Cal and his crew have successfully navigated the Koboh Abyss alive and have come to take back the compass. He becomes so hellbent on killing Cal that he completely disregards his own daughter's well-being as she begs him to stop and he spends the rest of the fight against Cal and Merrin growling and roaring in rage about how they should keep away from Kata.
• Walking Spoiler: The reveal that he's an Imperial spy makes him this, and the reveal that he's a Jedi who survived Order 66 makes him even more so.
• We Used to Be Friends: Happens over the course of a single game's story. He quickly becomes best friends with Cal over the course of Survivor, only for that friendship to collapse after it's revealed that Bode sold out the other survivors to save himself and his daughter. And after Bode throws away every attempt at mercy Cal can provide, Cal is given no choice but to shoot him dead. An echo found later does subvert this a bit - Bode purposefully played on Cal's insecurities and trauma to win his friendship, but also sincerely liked him and hoped to convince him to just bring his family to Tanalorr and not the Hidden Path.
• Would Hit a Girl: During the final battle, he Force Pushes his own daughter and Force Chokes Merrin. Fortunately, they are both alright, thanks to Cal's quick-thinking.
• Would Harm a Senior: Once he shows his true allegiances, he has very few issues about gunning down Eno Cordova, even when the latter simply wanted to ask Bode about what was wrong and wanting to help out. It's implied this was Bode's way of ensuring the heroes wouldn't have any means of following him without the Compass, given how extensively Cordova had studied it, as Bode goes the extra mile of both shooting him and blowing his body up with a grenade to additionally cover his escape, ensuring Cordova's demise without needing to spend a second longer with his former allies than he can afford.
• Would Hurt a Child: When Kata begs him to see the error of his ways, he nearly sends his own daughter falling to her death as he destroys a bridge to deal with Cal and Merrin alone, blindly endangering her anyway. Then, he Force Pushes Kata when she tries to intervene with no regard for her well-being.
• You Monster!: Cal calls him such when they meet in Nova Garon, criticizing Bode for being so selfish as to shamelessly kill Cordova and dooming the Hidden Path stationed at Jedha to the mercy of the Empire, all so that only he and Kata should be the only ones to go to Tanalorr.

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"I'm sorry, Kata... I tried."