Atris

Following the end of the Great Sith War, instigated by the Sith Lords Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, Atris, a Jedi historian, sought to overhaul the flawed system of Jedi apprenticeship. She argued that the Jedi's lax instructional practices, such as a single Master overseeing numerous Padawans, the unconventional bonds of reciprocal apprenticeship, and Jedi commencing their training in their teens or later, were contributing factors to the fall of Kun and Qel-Droma to the dark side of the Force. Drawing upon recommendations made centuries earlier by Jedi Master Simikarty, she advocated for limiting the number of Padawans a Master could have at any given time and restricting the age of Jedi candidates.

Furthermore, Atris championed the prohibition of romantic relationships for Jedi, citing the First Great Schism as an example of the consequences of love. She even supported adopting a stricter interpretation of the Jedi Code, as favored by the Draethos Jedi Master Odan-Urr in memory of his death at the hands of Exar Kun at the Jedi Academy on Ossus. Her arguments resonated with the Jedi, and she was appointed to the High Council.

In the year 3964 BBY, when the Mandalorian Wars broke out, the Galactic Republic turned to the Jedi for assistance. However, Atris opposed the call to protect the inhabitants of the Outer Rim Territories, steadfastly defending the Council's decision to meditate and contemplate before taking action.

Many Jedi struggled to comprehend the Council's inaction while innocent lives were lost. The Order was divided when two Jedi Knights, Revan and Malak, chose to engage in the war. Many followed them, including the Jedi Meetra Surik. Atris had held Surik in high regard, viewing her as both a hero and a close friend. When Surik and Revan abandoned the Order to join the war, rejecting everything Atris believed in, Atris felt deeply betrayed. Atris condemned Revan, his followers, and the "freethinking" teachings of his former Jedi Master, the historian Kreia. Revan's eventual descent to the dark side came as no surprise to Atris. Indeed, when Revan later inquired about Surik's whereabouts, Atris made little attempt to conceal her disdain.

After the war concluded, Meetra Surik was the only one of the Jedi who had followed Revan to war who returned to face the council. She stood before them as an echo in the Force, having severed her connection to it after the climactic battle at Malachor V. Surik's defiance and conviction in the righteousness of her actions caused Atris to question herself. Atris sought to punish Surik for this, becoming convinced that she had fallen to the dark side along with all of Revan's followers. She believed that exile was an insufficient punishment for Surik's betrayal, fearing that she would rejoin Revan if left free. The other Masters cautioned her to be mindful of her feelings, but Atris insisted that Surik should have perished at Malachor V, because when she stood before them, it was if she was already dead. The Council decided not to tell Surik that she had become a wound in the Force, which was the result of her actions at Malachor.

Atris retained Surik's lightsaber after the trial, carrying it with her always. Even years later, she maintained that the Council had been right to exercise caution. However, deep down, she continued to question the actions of the Council, Surik, and herself.

In 3954 BBY, Revan visited the Temple Archives seeking information about Meetra Surik, his trusted General. He accessed Surik's file but found it lacking in details about her current location. Atris then revealed that Surik had severed her connection to the Force due to the guilt she carried over her actions during the Mandalorian Wars. Although Revan felt responsible for Surik's fate, he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing his guilt and grief. She stormed out of the room.

Following the demise of Darth Malak at the hands of a redeemed Revan, the Jedi Order's infrastructure was devastated. To compound matters, an unknown entity was systematically hunting and eliminating the remaining Jedi. Atris convened a secret Jedi convocation on Katarr, a colony world of the Miraluka, with the aim of assessing the threat and discussing the Order's future. However, Atris deliberately leaked information about the session in an attempt to draw out the threat so that it could be fought. Unfortunately, she severely underestimated its power. The Sith arrived in the form of Darth Nihilus, who proved to be too powerful for the Jedi. Through the Force, he consumed all life on the planet, including the Jedi and Miraluka (with the single exception of Visas Marr, whom he later took as his apprentice). Atris, who had not attended the Conclave, survived, along with a handful of other Masters who went into hiding.

Atris sought sanctuary beneath a polar ice cap on the planet Telos IV, where she began constructing a clandestine Jedi academy within an abandoned irrigation system. Here, she concealed many of the Jedi's most valuable artifacts and resources, including numerous Sith holocrons.

She sought to address what she perceived as a fundamental flaw within the Jedi Order: the absence of any mechanism to prevent Jedi from succumbing to the dark side and repeatedly wreaking havoc on the galaxy. To that end, she trained a group of half-sisters, specially equipped and trained to resist Force powers and, if necessary, employ their Echani combat skills to subdue wayward Jedi. Atris intended to eventually rebuild the Jedi Order, but she overestimated her own ability to resist the dark side, becoming corrupted by delving into the forbidden knowledge contained within her collection of Sith holocrons.

In 3951 BBY, Meetra Surik and her companions arrived on Telos IV, having narrowly escaped the destruction of the Peragus Mining Facility at Peragus II. Upon learning that the Telos Security Force was holding an individual known as the Jedi Exile and her party under house arrest for their suspected involvement in the mining facility's explosion, Atris sought to uncover the cause of the explosion, recognizing the potentially dire consequences of its loss. To this end, she dispatched one of her Handmaidens, Brianna, to steal their ship, the Ebon Hawk, along with T3-M4, who was conveniently on board. The ship and droid were thoroughly examined for information, though little of value was discovered.

Upon discovering the theft of her ship, Surik managed to trace the Ebon Hawk to the polar plateau where Atris's academy was concealed. Once inside, Atris had Surik's companions confined to force cages while the Handmaidens brought Meetra Surik before her for questioning. Atris had recently learned of Surik's identity and was surprised by the revelation, as she had not expected to see her again after the Council sentenced her to Exile.

Initially, she hoped that Surik had returned to acknowledge the Council's correctness and to atone for her transgressions, but this was not the case. Surik's presence stirred up unpleasant feelings that Atris had almost forgotten and hoped were gone. These feelings manifested when she accused Meetra Surik of walking the dark path, while Atris's own words sounded bitter and resentful. In fact, she was so angered by Surik's actions that she refused to believe Surik's intentions to help others during the Mandalorian Wars, claiming that she had simply sought adventure and the thrill of battle. Atris continued to berate Surik, blaming her for the destruction of Peragus II. She was shocked to learn that the Sith were responsible and even more shocked to discover that the Sith were hunting Meetra Surik. She reluctantly accepted Surik's offer of assistance in defeating them, instructing her to gather other Jedi on Dantooine so that action could be taken and a Council could be had.

After departing Telos IV, Surik discovered that T3-M4 had downloaded Atris's archives. It appeared that Atris had kept a holo record of her trial, as well as a list of the remaining Jedi Masters. Despite her claim that she was the "last of the Jedi," T3 had been able to slice into the historian's files and copy them, making it easier to locate the Jedi Masters for Atris's proposed meeting.

As Atris desperately sought to understand Surik's motives, which was part of the reason for her keeping of the holocrons, she clung even more desperately to her perfect view of the Jedi. However, in light of Surik's choices, she knew that either she or the Council was wrong. Though she placed Surik in the wrong, it only made her more unsettled, as, inwardly, she respected her choice. It built up a pressure that finally exploded when Kreia, who had then revealed her former identity as Darth Traya after she had killed the three Council members Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook Lamar when they reconvened on Dantooine, stripped Atris of her self-denials and allowed her to finally accepting that she was betrayed by her dark persona; Atris embraced herself as the second Darth Traya, the Queen of Betrayal, and was told by Kreia that Meetra Surik would return to her sanctum on Telos to confront her for the last time.

After being informed by an Onderonian colonel named Tobin of the Jedi academy on Telos, who had been in turn informed by Kreia, Darth Nihilus attacked Telos, believing that he could feed on what Jedi were there.

When Surik, who was searching for Kreia after having been left by the former Sith, returned to the Academy, Traya clashed with her in a lightsaber duel, and was defeated. Surik, however, spared her life. This action was something Traya believed Surik would never have done, leading her to forgo the moniker of Darth Traya and let go of the Jedi; to be exiled from the Order to find her human self once more. Atris was held captive in her sanctum until judged by Mical and the new Jedi Council; the disciples of Meetra Surik.

Atris possessed an unwavering dedication to the Jedi Order, coupled with an unshakeable belief in their righteousness, bordering on arrogance and fanaticism. She displayed impatience towards dissenters and took accusations against the Jedi personally. When numerous Jedi abandoned the Order to follow Revan to war, Atris was quick to dismiss them as traitors and Sith, even Meetra Surik after her return to face the Council.

As the Dark Wars unfolded, Atris became increasingly reclusive, consumed by a desire to preserve what remained of the Jedi legacy. This included Sith relics, which ultimately led her down the path to the dark side. She grew bitter and distrustful, surrounding herself with Echani warriors trained to resist the Force. Despite claiming to be building a Jedi Academy, she made no effort to recruit Force-sensitives for training. In fact, despite knowing the locations of Jedi Masters Zez-Kai Ell, Vrook Lamar, Kavar, and Lonna Vash, she made no attempt to contact them, and none of them knew that she was still alive.

Ironically, despite championing causes such as limiting the number of Padawans a single Master could have and striving to preserve Jedi knowledge, Atris herself never took on a Padawan.

Atris typically wore an all-white variation of the traditional robes worn by Jedi historians.

Atris was a Jedi Master of considerable power, wielding abilities such as Force suppression, Droid Disable, and Force stun. After succumbing to the dark side, she demonstrated proficiency with dark-sided Force powers, including Force choke, Force drain, Force horror, Force lightning, and Force affliction. She was also a skilled lightsaber combatant, utilizing the deadly lightsaber form Juyo.

As a former Jedi Watchman, Atris possessed fluency in multiple languages, including Basic, Sith, Old Galactic Standard, and the Echani language. She was also a skilled negotiator.

The voice of Atris is provided by Elizabeth Rider. However, Grey DeLisle, who also voices Brianna the Handmaiden, provides Atris's voice during combat sequences. Her concept art was created by Brian Menze, who also developed her in-game model.

Lucasfilm maintains an internal image archive named "Atris" for use in the company's productions.

In the Champions of the Force miniature set, the Jedi Guardian figure bears a resemblance to Atris, although she is never identified as a Guardian. In fact, she is classified as a Jedi Consular in the game files. In promotional materials for The Sith Lords, she is portrayed as the embodiment of the light side of the Force, analogous to Darth Nihilus, although the two never interact within the game. This is ironic, as Atris embraces varying degrees of dark side corruption throughout the narrative.

Although the ending where Atris is explicitly revealed to have become Darth Traya was cut (see below), the Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide provides this information. This is supported by the final version of the game, where Kreia says this to Atris, who had been overtaken and betrayed by the dark side: "But there must always be a Darth Traya, one that holds the knowledge of betrayal. Who has been betrayed in their heart, and will betray in turn."

There is an error in the Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide, which shows a picture of Atris fighting Darth Nihilus in the black robes pictured above., which is explicitly stated in a cut version of The Sith Lords. A misprint in Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide on page 27 says the Handmaiden Brianna; the picture above is Atris and not Brianna.

Atris's Jedi historian robes share a similar design to those of Jocasta Nu, another Jedi librarian, with the distinction that Atris wears white while Nu wears yellow and black.

If the Jedi Exile is male, discussions with the Echani Handmaiden Brianna reveal that Atris may have harbored feelings for the Exile, and his decision to leave the Jedi for the Mandalorian Wars may have triggered her eventual fall to the dark side. This further explains the bitterness of her attitude when she first encounters the Exile earlier in the game. In cut content, Atris openly confesses these feelings to the Sith holocrons shortly after the Exile departs from the academy.

With a male Exile, Atris secretly orders Brianna to stow away on the Ebon Hawk, presumably to spy on the Exile. When the other five Handmaidens discover their sister is missing, Atris lies to them, claiming that Brianna willingly left with the Exile for reasons unknown to her, making it seem that Brianna had voluntarily renounced her oath.

In addition to stopping Darth Traya and allowing Atris to choose to find her true self after their battle, the player has an opportunity to kill Atris, or to leave her at the mercy of the Sith holocrons.

There are indications that Atris was originally intended to be a party member at some point, likely after Kreia's departure for Malachor V. For example, her appearance set is named "Party_NPC_Atris." An unused party member portrait for Atris is also present in the game files. Furthermore, she is a prominent figure in promotional materials for the game, comparable to Bastila Shan in the first game. Bastila was a party member and played a major role in the plot, whereas Atris' role is relatively small.

Should the Jedi Exile be a male, Brianna would not simply join the Exile out of belief that Atris may have been wrong but rather that Atris had personally sent her to watch the Exile and study him and to make sure that he does not contact the Sith. Originally, Mical, also known as the Disciple, would not only be a spy for Admiral Carth Onasi or Admiral Cede but also for Atris. En route to Telos shortly after the Exile's confrontation with the Jedi Masters in the Jedi Enclave, the Disciple would contact Atris and inform her of the Sith's pending attack.

When the Exile returned to Dantooine to confront the Jedi Masters at the rebuilt Jedi Enclave, a party member was to note Atris was not present at the meeting and ask why she was not there. This party member would then figure out that both Atris and Kreia had been corrupted by the dark side.

Cut content from her dialog with Kreia indicates that Atris's fall involved Kreia making references to Telos, and how twice the choices of the Jedi had marked the planet for destruction, first by Revan as Telos was to host the Jedi and their lore in the avenue of a sudden attack, then by Darth Nihilus because Atris chose to hide there.

During Atris' battle with the Exile, at some point, she would use the Exile's first lightsaber against her, claiming it is not hers to wield anymore.

Originally, the light side and dark side endings differed from each other more significantly than in the final game. One possible ending featured Kreia's redemption and Atris's total shift to the dark side, which culminated in the scene where Atris attacked the player wearing a black robe and claimed that she, not Kreia, was Darth Traya. Her dark side model remained in the PC version of the game and can appear in the main menu if the CurSithLord option is set to 1 in swkotor2.ini. An Action Replay mod is needed to view it on the Xbox. You may also use the model in the KOTOR/TSL Save Game Editor. If the KOTOR Save Editor is used, the code for her dark side model is Unique_Darth_Traya, indicating she was meant to become the new Darth Traya.

Later on, the dark side model of Atris (see above) was planned to be put in the final game for the confrontation with Atris, but it was removed a few weeks before the game was released, with the reason that the presence of the dark side model was confusing the game testers.