Jolee Bindo

Jolee Bindo, a Human who exhibited sensitivity to the Force, was brought into the Jedi Order and underwent training in the ways of the Force at the Jedi Temple located on Coruscant. During his time as a Padawan, Bindo was known for his impetuous and daring nature, frequently going against the wishes of the Jedi High Council to pursue what he believed was the correct course of action, a prime example being his involvement in the blockade of the Ukatis system. The Ukatis system, isolated from the rest of the galaxy by its own king, found itself unable to procure essential food and supplies, with no assistance forthcoming from the Senate. Bindo resolved to personally aid the people in need. Procuring a vessel, he and a companion proceeded to redistribute wealth, viewing it as a "tax on the greedy," and successfully delivered supplies to the planet through the blockade.

Ultimately, his ship was shot down on the planet by his future wife, Nayama, and the two entered into matrimony, although such unions were generally discouraged among Jedi at that time. He recognized her strength in the Force, and despite counsel from the High Council and his own Padawan status, he took it upon himself to train her.

During the war against Exar Kun, his wife, like numerous other Jedi, succumbed to the influence of the dark side. She made an attempt to sway Bindo, but he resisted, leading to a fierce lightsaber duel that left her defeated. Unable to bring himself to kill her, Bindo allowed her to escape; an act that would ultimately result in the deaths of many Jedi at her hands before she was eventually defeated in combat. This was a sensitive subject for Bindo, and the Jedi believed he was simply unlucky in life and had, "So many bad memories, some you never want to think about ever again." Indeed, it required considerable persistence and questioning from Revan to elicit any information about his wife, let alone the complete account.

The Council chose not to punish Bindo for his choices, stating that he had learned his lesson the hard way. However, when they sought to elevate him to the rank of Jedi Knight, Bindo lost confidence in the Council's judgment and entered self-imposed exile, relinquishing his aspirations of becoming a Jedi Consular.

After a year spent with his close friend Sunry, Bindo embarked on a journey through the stars. He wandered for years, working when necessary. For a period, he even engaged in smuggling, and he did not hesitate to employ a Jedi mind trick to bypass customs. Eventually, he crash-landed on Kashyyyk and spent the next two decades exploring the Shadowlands. Initially, the Wookiees mistook him for a benevolent forest spirit, referring to him as "the hairless one," and would leave offerings of gifts and fruits outside his dwelling, until the old hermit explained the truth to them, albeit with some embarrassment, as he was knocked out cold by Freyyr, who wanted to see if the spirit was solid. Nevertheless, Bindo remained a friend to the Wookiees, assisting them in safeguarding the Shadowlands and its wildlife from poachers. He frequently roamed the forest, prepared to defend himself from any threats, sentient or otherwise, with his lightsaber.

Late in his wanderings, he came across an ancient computer guarding a Star Map, and made 152 attempts to communicate with it; however, during his initial visit to Kashyyyk with Darth Malak, Revan had secretly reprogrammed the computer to only respond to him.

When Revan once again ventured into the Shadowlands, in search of Star Maps, he encountered Bindo, who was fending off a pack of Katarns. Bindo decided to join Revan's group, partly out of boredom and partly to confront his past. He was among the few within the group who were aware of Revan's true identity, though he felt it was not his place to reveal it. As he journeyed with Revan, he was frequently reminded of an old acquaintance, Nomi Sunrider, whom he had known during his time as a Jedi.

On Manaan, Jolee encountered his old friend Sunry, who was awaiting trial for the murder of Elassa Huros. While the final outcome of the trial remains unrecorded, Jolee was deeply troubled to learn that Sunry had committed the crime and struggled to accept Sunry's justification for the act.

At one juncture, Revan inquired of Bindo the reasons for his presence. Bindo responded by recounting the tale of a man who followed a snake, only to be bitten and killed. When questioned about his motives by the snake, the man replied that he had been leading the snake away from his village. Revan could only ponder his role in relation to the story. Bindo's proclaimed neutrality, already contradicted by his association with Revan, became even more dubious when Revan landed on Rakata Prime, the home world of the Rakata. When the Rakatan priest caste permitted Revan to enter the Temple of the Ancients to deactivate the Star Forge's disruptor field, they insisted that he enter the temple alone.

However, Bindo convinced the priests to allow him and fellow Jedi Juhani to bolster Revan's resolve against succumbing to the dark side once more - this time by Bastila Shan. Bindo remained with Revan until the end, and along with Revan's other companions, was honored at the Republic's celebration of their victory over Darth Malak.

Bindo receded from public view by the conclusion of the Dark Wars, serving the High Council in an advisory capacity for several years before vanishing entirely. Several articles of clothing believed to have once belonged to him were in circulation during Meetra Surik's mission to rebuild the Order. A holostatue of Bindo was erected in the Leisure Garden section of the Axial Park in Coronet City on Corellia, alongside statues of Revan and his other companions.

Even during his time with the Order, Bindo allowed his emotions to influence his actions, thus navigating a precarious path between the light and dark sides of the Force, asserting that he perceived "only in gray." Despite this perspective, Bindo clearly recognized the existence of evil within the galaxy, as evidenced by his wife's fall to the dark side and his experiences in the Ukatis System. Similarly, Bindo's "gray" outlook did not prevent him from maintaining a firm stance against the Sith, and living a morally upright life.

He presented himself as a crotchety old man, readily dismissing the galaxy and its problems with an impatient gesture. To outsiders, Bindo appeared as a grumpy old man, directing his disdain towards both the young and old, yet his compassion and wisdom were evident beneath the layers he concealed around his heart. He maintained that his sole desire was peace, yet he was drawn back into conflict when Revan arrived in the Shadowlands for a second time. Bindo sensed a powerful destiny awaiting Revan, though he insisted that he was merely along for the ride. Even when Shan insisted that Bindo was a Jedi and needed the Order's structure, he waved her off, saying he had done plenty well without it.

Likewise, he cautioned Carth Onasi's insistence that the universe would be irreparably changed should Malak succeed in collapsing the Republic:

Jolee Bindo frequently communicated through stories and allegories, employing a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor with a touch of self-deprecation. In addition to the snake story, he shared the tale of a Jedi Master named Hortath (or possibly Hartoth, according to Bindo's own memory), who was blind and refused to acknowledge it, who met a Padawan who asked him for directions, not knowing that Hortath was blind. He followed the master's incorrect direction unthinkingly, and a Council who may have covered up for the blind master out of their own blind adherence to rank. Even his tale about Andor Vex was a cautionary tale intended to get Revan looking at the potential for folly. Still, he never considered himself Revan's teacher in any form:

In his various conversations with Revan, Bindo appeared to stay on topic, at least for a little while, before (seemingly) randomly moving off into one of many various memories of someone he encountered or heard of as a Jedi Padawan in the Order, such as that of Hortath or Andor Vex (above). When asked the moral or meaning of these stories, he usually gave an answer similar to, "Someone my age is entitled to ramble, dammit!" Revan never really knew if there was a meaning to these stories, though they did keep him moderately entertained.

Despite adhering to the Jedi path and utilizing the Force, Bindo did not identify as a member of the Order due to his past experiences, or rather because the Order had failed him. He never officially advanced beyond the rank of Padawan, although he once informed Revan that he was intended to be knighted before his self-imposed exile. His time in the Shadowlands only honed his survival skills. He had even learned to craft medicine from simple herbs, without any access to kolto or medical supplies. He was also fluent in Huttese.

Physically, despite his age, Bindo's time living in the dangerous Shadowlands kept his body in shape and nimble and saw him into dangerous situations on a regular basis. Even though lightsaber combat was not his primary strength compared to his command of the Force, the very first time he talked to Revan, several katarns had fallen to his lightsaber.

During their travels, Bindo would display his signature talent for Jedi Mind tricks, something he thought could serve them well when Admiral Saul Karath ambushed them, if he was going to be their Leviathan prison break agent. He possessed a unique personality that allowed him to command the Force through both its light and dark sides. Due to a lack of documentation, the full extent of Bindo's abilities remains unknown, but he potentially could have mastered dark arts such as Force lightning as easily as any other power, a feat that would have been nearly unthinkable for most light-sided Jedi of the time. He possessed some skill in damaging his opponents internal organs with the Force.

Jolee Bindo appears as a playable character in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. His voice was provided by Kevin Michael Richardson, and his character was written by David Gaider.

His Databank entry claims that: "Though a useful ally, Jolee is not crucial to the completion of the KOTOR storyline." This is contradictory because Revan actually needs Bindo to get past a Czerka force field that stands in his way to one of the Star Maps as he is the only one who could get past that force field and he is an obligate party member in the Temple of the Ancients.

Also, the face-off with Bastila Shan on the Temple is a re-run of Bindo's with Nayama, of which Revan learns during their journeys; there is little margin for error that Revan's final choice of allegiance and final confrontation with Bastila were meant to be influenced by Bindo's experience. Despite his issues with the Order, when he was called to make a choice, Bindo proclaimed his standing with the Jedi; he did so with Sunry, and would with Revan if he chose to reclaim the mantle of Dark Lord. His tendency to follow the light side is also matched by a Force alignment score of 55.

Promotional images show Bindo using a lightsaber with a blue blade, instead of the green one he uses in the game, which is the typical color for his Jedi Consular class. Game files suggest that, similar to Bastila Shan and Juhani, Bindo was also intended to have his own unique ability, specifically Psychic Static, a more powerful version of the Mind trick.

In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, there are two items that might have belonged to Bindo: Bindo's band and Jolee's robe. In the same game, Brianna asks the Jedi Exile about how love conflicts with the Jedi Code, saying that either the lovers would be removed from the order or must maintain a secret love. The Exile responds by calling it "Pulling a Bindo." This is a reference to Bindo when he married secretly.

In the non-canonical dark side story, Revan embraced the dark side at the Temple of the Ancients summit on the Rakatan homeworld. He reclaimed his title of Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith and accepted Bastila Shan as his apprentice. Jolee Bindo and Juhani tried to prevent this but they were struck down by Darth Revan and his new apprentice.