Juhani

By 3973 BBY, Juhani was born to her father and mother on the planet Cathar, the homeworld of their Cathar species. She was only a baby during the early stages of Mandalorian aggression that would culminate in the Mandalorian Wars. The genocide of their people by the forces of Mandalore the Ultimate's lead strategist, Cassus Fett, in the Battle of Cathar forced their people to capitulate to avoid extinction. Her parents fled with her as far as they were able, and eventually settled on Taris to raise her.

Like many non-Humans on Taris at that point in its history, Juhani's family was relegated to the Lower City and experienced significant hardships. The native Humans disliked them merely for being "aliens," looked at them in disgust, persecuted them, and charged them more than they charged Humans for food. Juhani had mixed feelings for the planet she had to live on; she hated it, called it a "rat-hole" and a "warren," but still felt that it was her home. Despite the adversities she faced, she never gave up hope for a better life, in part due to being inspired by tales of the Jedi, whom she viewed as the heroes of the Republic.

In 3963 BBY, the Mandalorians entered Republic space and besieged Taris. Xor, a Twi'lek who had fought with the Mandalorians on Cathar, provoked Juhani's father into a fight and killed him. Her mother escaped with Juhani, but she never fully healed from the death of her mate. Although Juhani's mother worked as hard as she could, she did not earn enough money to support both herself and her daughter. She started borrowing money from the Exchange, a crime syndicate that operated on many worlds and was the major supplier of slaves on Taris. Juhani's mother did everything she could to save funds, but due to giving her daughter most of their food, her health deteriorated. One day, she collapsed in the cantina she worked in; unable to afford a doctor, she never recovered and died.

The Exchange charged Juhani with her mother's debts, and as she had no way to repay them, they enslaved her. She would later consider it the worst period in her life; she was bound like a beast and treated like livestock. Between 3961 and 3960 BBY, the Jedi Knight Revan and his followers arrived to liberate Taris from the Mandalorians. Before Juhani could be purchased at auction by her father's murderer, she was freed her from her enslavement by Revan; however, the two never directly interacted and she never saw Revan's face. Juhani saw the Jedi in general and Revan in particular as living up to the tales that had inspired her. A Human woman who followed Revan encouraged Juhani to join the Jedi Order, and the young Force-sensitive vowed to become a Jedi.

As soon as Juhani collected enough money, she boarded the first freighter to Dantooine, where she was taken for training by Jedi Master Quatra at the Jedi Enclave. As Juhani progressed through her training, she struggled with mastering her emotions due to her nature as a Cathar, leading her to question her place among the Jedi.

The Human male Dak Vesser had joined the Order at the same time as Juhani and become her friend. They both had doubts about the Order that they expressed to each other. Believing the Order was too controlling and limiting, Vesser decided to leave and asked Juhani to come with him; he further surprised her by confessing he had romantic feelings towards her that she had been unaware of and did not reciprocate. Vesser, angry at her refusal to follow him, left the Jedi and eventually joined the Sith on Korriban.

Juhani and Belaya, a Human female and fellow Padawan, grew especially close to each other during their training. Belaya also struggled with controlling her emotions, something she was often reminded she must learn how to do by her Master, the Twi'lek male Zhar Lestin who was a member of the Jedi Council. For several years, the pair were dear companions to each other, and they spent many nights alone together under the stars. Their attachment did not escape the notice of the Council.

In 3959 BBY, Revan returned to Republic space as a Dark Lord of the Sith, accompanied by his Sith apprentice, Darth Malak, and leading a Sith invasion fleet. Juhani was shocked to learn of the change in her hero and wondered what could be terrible enough to cause a paragon of the Jedi to fall to the dark side. Darth Revan was captured by a Jedi strike team in 3957 BBY, and Revan was said to have died; in truth, the greatly injured Revan had been brought to the Council, where the Jedi created a new identity for him through the Force. It was believed that Bastila Shan could draw on his subconscious memories to lead them to the Star Forge, the seat of power of the former Dark Lord. Meanwhile, Juhani remained with the Jedi and progressed through her training.

In 3956 BBY, Revan's new identity did not yet know the ways of the Force; thus, after the Sith set an ambush for Shan over Taris and eventually destroyed the planet in their attempt to prevent her escape, Shan brought the amnesiac soldier to Dantooine to train and begin his Jedi Trials. In the days prior to Revan's third trial, Quatra decided it was time for her pupil to face her own Jedi Trials. Quatra had nothing left to teach Juhani except how to accept her own limitations; thus, she chose to test Juhani in an unorthodox manner by allowing the Cathar to give in to her rage. Juhani struck her Master down in the middle of a fierce confrontation, leaving Quatra greatly injured and feigning death.

Believing that she had harnessed the power of the dark side and killed her Master, Juhani fled the Enclave and hid in the Ancient Grove, a site that Jedi would visit to meditate. The grove soon became tainted by Juhani's dark emotions, and the local kath hounds became more aggressive, resulting in attacks upon the local settlers. Beings at the Enclave passed on rumors regarding the creatures and the conflict that had nearly killed Quatra. The Jedi Council, believing that the closeness and strong emotions between Juhani and Belaya posed a risk of more harm than help, would not permit Belaya to approach her dear companion and attempt to restore her to the light side.

Revan's last test before becoming a Padawan was given to him by Master Zhar Lestin, who told the student that he must confront the source of the darkness tainting the Ancient Grove and stop the threat there without assistance from other Jedi at the academy. Lestin told Revan that the trial would show him how the dark side was a constant danger to all Jedi, and its corruption could take hold even on Dantooine. Revan was not told that he would confront Juhani there.

As Revan approached the grove, Juhani sensed his power but did not believe he could match her own. Igniting a red-bladed lightsaber, she paralyzed his companions with the Force and engaged him in a duel before he could speak. Although she boasted to him about her strength, her bravado masked her grief and shame until Revan defeated her and spared her life. Distraught over her actions towards Quatra, she told him to leave her alone, but he persuaded her to ask the Jedi Council for mercy.

Juhani returned to the Enclave and learned the truth about Quatra, who had been confident that Juhani would pass the trial and had already left to train other students. She felt foolish to have thought she could harm a Master such as Quatra. Though she still bore the emotional impact of her slip to the dark side, she trusted her Master's wisdom and understood what she was meant to learn: humility. Quatra's lesson was that even one who was true to the teachings of the Jedi could fall to the dark side through their inability to understand or accept their own limitations.

With this final trial passed, Juhani's training with Quatra was complete. Restored as a Jedi, Juhani reunited with Belaya and spent time with her in the courtyard that Belaya frequented.

When Revan and Shan uncovered the Star Map in the Rakatan ruins and were appointed the quest to find the Star Forge, Juhani asked the Council for permission to accompany the Padawan. Juhani was unaware of Revan's true identity, as she had never seen the face behind the mask; nevertheless, the Council felt she may serve as a reminder of the dangers of falling to the dark side, and they granted her request to join the crew of the Ebon Hawk.

During their travels, Juhani opened up to Revan about her past. When she revealed her homeworld had been Taris, she lashed out at him in anger and blamed him for its destruction, but then calmed herself with the Jedi Code. She realized that nothing could have been done to prevent Taris' destruction. She confessed to her friend that she had been inspired by the Jedi hero who became Darth Revan, neither knowing that she was speaking to the one who had once been that man.

While traveling in search of the Star Maps, Juhani encountered Xor, the Twi'lek slaver who had killed her father and tried to purchase her on Taris during the Mandalorian Wars. The slaver tried once again by making an offer to Revan. Revan stood by her, saying she was her own person; Juhani lashed out at Xor as he spoke of how he wiped out her people on Cathar and killed her father on Taris, but she did not give in to her anger. The thought of him still running free made her Cathar blood seethe, but she let him go. Xor promised he would be back.

The second time Revan and Juhani encountered Xor, he brought two of his enforcers with him. After Revan and Juhani beat Xor and his thugs, Xor used his last moments attempting to feed her hatred, seeking the satisfaction of showing Juhani she was no better than him by provoking her into killing a defenseless opponent. He related the burning of the people of Cathar in their homes by his hand and the pleasure he took from it. With Revan's support, Juhani was able to leave Xor to his inevitable fate. Juhani regretted that he did not die by her hand, but it was more important that she resisted the dark side.

When the crew was captured by Saul Karath on his flagship, the Leviathan, Revan learned the real reason for his visions and lost memories as Malak dueled him and taunted him with the revelation. Malak's words were confirmed by Bastila Shan before the Sith Lord captured her. Afterward, Revan revealed the shocking truth of his identity to Juhani and the crew.

Juhani expressed her strong opinion that Revan, the man who had rescued her from slavery, could never have fully turned to the dark side. She vowed that now—from his example of redemption—that she would never fall again.

When Revan had collected the five Star Maps he needed to locate the Star Forge, the Ebon Hawk approached the space station, but the station's disruptor field damaged their hyperdrive. The ship barely made it to the nearby planet Lehon without joining the wreckage that covered the surface. Juhani suggested they search the other downed ships for the parts the Ebon Hawk needed to take off, though the disruptor field still needed to be deactivated. The possible whereabouts of its generator was found by the droid T3-M4, which detected energy readings on the ship's sensors that seemed to be coming from the Temple of the Ancients. The Elders granted Revan access to the temple, but tradition had it he should go alone; however, when both Juhani and Jolee Bindo received a premonition warning them of great danger laying inside, they insisted on accompanying Revan and struggled to persuade the Rakata to allow them to. It turned out to be the right decision, as the temple was infested with numerous Dark Jedi, Sith Masters, and acolytes.

Atop the Rakatan temple, the Jedi trio was confronted by Shan, who had been tortured and turned to the dark side by Darth Malak. When she found herself at a disadvantage, the fallen Jedi attempted to lure Revan into reclaiming his usurped title of Dark Lord of the Sith. Although Shan mocked Juhani for running like a "cowering animal" when she first touched the dark side, Juhani had grown stronger through her friendship with the man who had once saved her on Taris; his inspiration helped keep her from falling to the dark side again. Juhani and Bindo helped Revan to resist Shan and turn away from his dark side persona for good.

Revan and his companions proceeded to the Star Forge to battle the Sith forces and confront Malak. Shan was convinced by Revan to return to the light, and ultimately, Revan was victorious over his former Sith apprentice. Juhani and the rest of the Ebon Hawk crew survived the battle.

After the death of Malak, the redemption of Bastila Shan, and the destruction of the Star Forge, Juhani was honored at the celebration of the Republic's victory on Lehon along with Revan and his other comrades. A holostatue of Juhani was erected in the Leisure Garden section of the Axial Park in the Coronet City on Corellia, along with the statues of Revan and his other companions in memory of their deeds.

Juhani had yellow eyes, brown hair, and lightly-furred and cream-colored skin with light brown stripes. She was a female Cathar of a subspecies that had less prominent claws than other Cathar.

Juhani's devotion to becoming the ideal Jedi did not allow her to accept failure in herself or her peers, yet she always found herself struggling against her Cathar instincts and fierce temper. Juhani's Master, Quatra, feared that her unchecked perfectionist views would eventually end in frustration and lead Juhani to the dark side. Quatra's final test forced Juhani to re-examine herself and how her pride had nearly made her fall to the dark side; the act would serve as a reminder to Juhani when she needed to reflect on her choices. Juhani claimed that Cathar were solitary and slow to trust by nature. When she eventually joined the Jedi, she mostly kept to herself and had only a small circle of friends, including fellow Padawans Belaya and Dak Vesser. Among Revan and the crew of the Ebon Hawk, she kept herself at a distance, though she valued their companionship. Juhani was often a zealous advocate of the light side and the ways of the Jedi.

Due to Cassus Fett's unprovoked genocide on her birth planet of Cathar, Juhani held a grudge against Mandalorians, which made it difficult to be civil towards the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo when they were allied in the quest for the Star Forge. In addition, she harbored some animosity towards Humans for the prejudice and persecution she and her parents suffered while living on Taris. While some of the best people she had ever known were Human, she found it difficult to let go of her bitterness and at times would lash out emotionally at Revan for it. At one point, she blamed Revan and Bastila for the destruction of Taris, although she apologized later for holding them responsible.

Juhani's heritage and segregated upbringing had a unique effect on the way her Force powers developed. Her particular Cathar subspecies had the ability to quickly alter the pigments in their fur, a natural camouflage that was enhanced when she instinctively learned how to conceal herself with the power of Force camouflage. As a Jedi Guardian, she preferred lightsaber combat, although she would also use several Force powers while in battle. She supplemented her lightsaber dueling skills with a wide array of battle oriented Force powers, including Force speed, Force stun, Force push, and Saber Throw.

During her brief stint as a Dark Jedi, she also began to learn dark side powers such as Force Slow, Force Shock, and Force Choke, though she would later abandon the use of the latter. She could also employ the Jedi Mind Trick, though she often saw it as a misuse of the Force.

Juhani first appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and was voiced by Courtenay Taylor. The character's name was originally going to be "Bastila Shan," with early concept art depicting Juhani wearing the color scheme that Bastila wears in the final game. Juhani is technically an optional companion, as players can choose the dark side dialogue options that end with the player having to kill Juhani; however, the 2012 novel The Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn confirmed that Juhani was canonically redeemed and joined Revan's party, and continued to serve as a Jedi after the events of Knights of the Old Republic.

Juhani was the first character in the Star Wars universe to be portrayed as LGBTQ+, one of the earliest positive representations of LGBTQ+ characters in video games, and the first gay character of any gender in a video game developed by BioWare. Knights of the Old Republic co-designer David Gaider was surprised when his fellow developers, most of whom were straight men, proposed taking the risk. A gay man himself, he had never suggested a same-gender romance option because he believed fellow developers and audiences would not accept the idea. Juhani's storyline as a lesbian character helped him realize he could include LGBTQ+ characters in his own work, such as when he later helmed the Dragon Age franchise.

Because Juhani would be the first LGBTQ+ character in Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic co-writer Drew Karpyshyn said the team had to "tread pretty carefully." The resulting subtlety left some players unaware that Juhani was written to be lesbian. The writing team did not seek anyone's permission to include Juhani's storyline, and they were never told they could not or instructed to do otherwise. However, because the team's assumptions about the player base led them to censor themselves, Juhani never came out and explicitly said how she felt. At the first GaymerX convention, Gaider said, "We kind of hid it in the game a little bit because she never comes out and actually says 'I love you.' She talks around it. There's another character she mentions in the game who was her lover in the past, but she never says, 'She was my lover.' She just says, 'We were very close,' things like that." In a question-and-answer series on LucasArts' now-defunct LucasForums, Gaider wrote of Dantooine and Korriban that the player "could run into Juhani's former lover as well (and she would attack you if you killed Juhani)," a description of events that only matches her friend Belaya.

On their journey together to stop the Sith, Revan earned Juhani's trust and respect, becoming close friends with the normally solitary and reserved Cathar. However, their story can only take a more intimate turn if Revan is played as female; Juhani and the male Revan do not express one-sided or reciprocated romantic affections.

In the grove, Juhani has additional lines for the female Revan. If told she is a "beautiful and talented young woman," she says Revan seems to know how to affect her. Discussing her belief that she killed Master Quatra, she says, "I think, in my own way, I truly loved her." While thanking Revan for her redemption, Juhani wishes she had a way to make it up to her. Multiple conversations afterward include additional lines from Juhani only when Revan is female. For instance, after the reveal of Revan's identity, Juhani hesitates to share how she feels and calls Revan the woman she has "come to care for" if the player has maintained the subplot; otherwise, Revan is the woman Juhani has come to "admire" and whose heart she wishes she had.

The culmination of the romance with the female Revan depends upon prior choices and occurs when she initiates a conversation with Juhani after refusing to follow Bastila to the dark side in their duel on the Rakatan temple. If the female Revan failed to support Juhani in the past, Juhani will only hint at her unrequited feelings by saying she is glad to have been of value to Revan, even though it was not as much as she would have liked. If Revan continued to ask Juhani about her history and consistently supported her, Juhani will confess her feelings for the other woman. Revan can share that she feels the same way, and Juhani will be pleased, but say they must confront Malak before they can sort out what to do about their mutual emotions for each other.

Unlike the optional romance subplots between the female Revan and Carth Onasi or the male Revan and Bastila Shan, Juhani and the female Revan do not use the word "love." Despite Juhani being one of two romantic options for the female Revan, if the player character in the sequel sets Revan to a light-side female, it will be assumed that Revan had a romantic relationship with Carth Onasi. However, both the Juhani and Carth Onasi romance subplots are non-canon, as Revan was canonically male and married Bastila Shan after the events at the Star Forge.

Players have the opportunity to kill Juhani twice. First, after encountering her in the grove, they can choose to end her life instead of redeeming her, thus losing a potential party member. Second, if the player saved Juhani but later chooses to follow Bastila to the dark side, Juhani and Jolee Bindo leave the party and become hostile, resulting in killing them both.

After defeating Xor, the player can persuade Juhani to give in to her emotions and take revenge on him instead of suppressing her anger. If the player does so, Juhani loses control and strikes Xor down with her hatred. Afterwards, Juhani regrets that she gave in to the dark side again, even though she felt he deserved his fate.

If the player chooses killing Juhani instead of redeeming her in the grove, the strength of Belaya's emotions for Juhani causes her to fall to the dark side as well. Upon returning to the enclave, Belaya initiates a confrontation, expressing her anger towards the player and the Jedi Council for their roles in Juhani's death. She believes a more experienced Jedi or one who believed in Juhani could have spared and saved her, but the Council would not let Belaya try. Thanks to the player, she will never again spend nights under the stars with her dear companion as they did so many times before. Inconsolable, Belaya leaves the Jedi Order and falls to the dark side. When Revan arrives at the Sith Academy to search for the Star Map, Belaya is there as a student. She again blames Revan for Juhani's death, saying it placed a "bitter blackness in my heart," and swears vengeance for Juhani. She attacks and is killed by the former Sith Lord.

Although Juhani's romance subplot is intended for only female player characters, some players of the initial release reported that the romance subplot seemed to be available to their male player characters. One of Juhani's primary writers, Peter Thomas, confirmed in January 2004 on the BioWare forums that the romance variable was only set to "true" for female player characters by a script check during the first conversation with Juhani after she joined the party; male player characters later receiving one romantic line was a bug that had not been caught in time to correct it. Juhani's Databank entry on StarWars.com also contained errors, such as incorrectly stating that she was a romance option for player characters regardless of gender and that she had killed Quatra. Juhani's bugged subplot and the rumors surrounding it led some players to mistakenly believe that she was intended or scripted to be bisexual rather than lesbian, among other speculation.

The player base was aware from an early date that Juhani's personal quest line was bugged and difficult to trigger, but by January 2005, it was rumored that her entire character had been cut during development and added back shortly before the game release. Some players incorrectly stated that her romance subplot was only intended for the male Revan and its availability to female Revan was the result of a bug. Juhani's interactions with the female Revan were sometimes framed as expressing platonic admiration or familial affection. Persistent rumors speculated that BioWare or Lucasfilm had learned about the writers planning a female romance for Juhani and ordered it to be eliminated or toned down. Online discussions about Juhani sometimes used homophobic language, including on the official BioWare forums, the IGN Boards, the Jedi Council Forums, and the talk page for Juhani's Wookieepedia article.

In addition to individual lines that were cut from conversations that remained in the game, Juhani had multiple cut dialogue trees. One would have allowed her to voice her knowledge regarding the various planets visited by the party.

Juhani's personal quest had three cut dialogue trees that are present in the game files. All three contained lines that were part of the optional romance with a female Revan. In one tree, the player could have asked Juhani about her hostility towards Canderous Ordo; she would share what the Mandalorian culture did to the Cathar species and her fears that it would lead her to the dark side again. If the player offered to protect her, her response would differ based upon whether the romance was active. Juhani's lines would also differ when asking the player to stop her if she fell again.

Following Korriban, Juhani would have discussed the player's actions on that planet, with separate branches intended for dark actions and light side or neutral actions. For the dark side, Juhani would have discussed her concerns that she had not done enough to keep the player on the right path. A female player could choose to dismiss Juhani's words, which would end an active romance with her. If the female player instead discussed the matter, Juhani would wish her concerns meant more and ask if the player would try to avoid the dark side for Juhani. The light side branch would have had lines specific to having the female romance active, sharing that since Juhani began turning to the player whenever she has a problem, she sometimes seems to want them for the chance they provide to her.

A scripted conversation on the Leviathan prior to encountering Malak would have had Juhani discussing her apprehension. In the dark side alignment branch, Juhani would have expressed her concerns about the player falling to the dark side, including one line limited to having the female romance active. Regardless of alignment, if the female romance was active, Juhani would wish they had more time to see what the future held for the two of them.

Within the final game, Juhani's final history dialogue tree reveals to the player that Revan was the Jedi who saved her. The tree is only available prior to the Leviathan, where the player learns they are Revan and then tells their companions. Despite that condition, cut lines and a cut branch would have reflected Juhani and the player learning Revan's identity before the Leviathan. In the branch, Juhani says that she had not recognized Revan when they met because she had never seen Revan when she was saved She would have expressed to Revan that they had changed her life, but the nature of that expression would depend upon whether the female romance was active.

On August 19, 2008, Wizards of the Coast published the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, a supplement to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. It includes artwork that depicts Juhani in a lightsaber duel with Malak's Shadow Hand Darth Bandon. However, the specific moment is not confirmed as canonical for the video game Knights of the Old Republic. The Star Wars Miniatures game collection for Knights of the Old Republic was released by Wizards of the Coast on the same day as the campaign guide. A miniature of Juhani, marked as being "very rare" and part of the "Fringe" set on the checklist poster, is depicted wearing the brown and yellow coloring seen in her concept art rather than her in-game tan and teal attire. The miniature wields a blue-bladed lightsaber.

BioWare's PC video game Star Wars: The Old Republic has a non-repeatable bonus mission on Corellia called "Restore the Statues" in which players restore holostatues that were deactivated by Mandalorians and depict Revan's companions. The hologram representing Juhani portrays her with a generic Cathar model and without her unique attire. Four armor pieces that replicate her Knights of the Old Republic outfit can be purchased in the Cartel Market.

Juhani and other Legends characters are featured in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, a mobile game released by Electronic Arts on November 24, 2015. The game allows players to collect characters from multiple eras of Star Wars storytelling and put those characters into battle on a holotable. Due to the game's sandbox nature, it does not canonize Juhani in the current canon continuity. She was added to the game in the "Legends of the Old Republic VIII: Juhani" event on November 30, 2018.

• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
• Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 28