“Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all things, Revan… and yet you are nothing. In the end, you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone.”

Introduction

This has been an article long in the making for me, and the addition of another hint towards Revan’s place in canon within The Last Jedi inspired me to sit down and write this piece as soon as I possibly could.

Like many hardcore Star Wars fans, the character of Revan has become one of my favorite in the franchise. His views of the Force were eye-opening and truthful; he was one of the few to ever recognize the flaws of both the Jedi Order and the Sith Empire, and worked to better the galaxy throughout his lifetime.

Though he was eventually captured and tortured by the Sith Emperor Vitate, he was able to resist and even reverse the influences of the Sith Lord. The battle of the mind between the two lasted for what seemed like an eternity, and Revan ultimately was able to delay the Sith invasion of the Republic for three centuries.

Revan would go on to influence all future Force users, as well as the Republic itself, leaving a massive legacy in the wake of his death. Because of this, the story of Revan has become one of the most loved and widely-known within the expanded universe.

It goes without saying, then, that Revan is one of the main characters that Star Wars fans want Disney to make canon — myself included. However, there are four things we have as hints to them potentially doing just that. In this article, I’m going to clearly lay those things out and explain how they relate back to Revan.

“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Makes Darth Bane Canon

During his journey to understand his Force visions in the finale episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Master Yoda travels to the ancient Sith planet of Moraband (Korriban in the Old Republic era) and enters a temple, only to discover a fake spirit of Darth Bane that he must face as a trial.

Though the spirit wasn’t real, this is significant nonetheless because Darth Bane’s Rule of Two was based on the teachings from the holocron of Revan (when he was a Sith Lord) that a master should take only one apprentice, and because The Clone Wars show has been confirmed as canon.

Taken from Revan’s holocron in Darth Bane: Path of Destruction…

“True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise. Mercy, compassion, loyalty: all these things will prevent you from claiming what is rightfully yours. Those who follow the dark side must cast aside these conceits. Those who do not—those who try to walk the path of moderation—will fail, dragged down by their own weakness. Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding on to it. By its very nature the dark side invites rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the Sith: it culls the weak from our order. Yet this rivalry can also be our greatest weakness. The strong must be careful lest they be overwhelmed by the ambitions of those working beneath them in concert. Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time, the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; axiomatic. That is why each Master must have only one student.” — Darth Revan

Through association, Darth Bane being made a canon character strongly implies that Revan also is canon. Without Revan, Bane wouldn’t have become the man he was, or begin the radical restructuring of the Sith.

Revan Was Originally Going to be in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”

As significant as the confrontation between Yoda and Bane was, there’s another moment in The Clone Wars that directly points to him almost being canon: his presence in a deleted scene of the show.

In the episode “Ghosts of Mortis”, The Son interacts with two Force spirits, Darth Bane and (you guessed it) Darth Revan. They tell him in synchronized voices that it is important that Anakin, the Chosen One, is converted to the dark side because the Chosen One will majorly influence the fate of the galaxy.

Though the scene was cut by George Lucas, the fact Revan was planned to physically appear in this show speaks volumes.

“Star Wars: Rebels” Makes the Mandalorian Wars Canon

In the sequel to The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, the Mandalorian Wars are made canon by a conversation Kanan Jarrus has with Sabine Wren. Specifically, in the episode ‘Trials of the Darksaber”, he does this when he reprimands Sabine’s use of Mandalorian Force-dampening gauntlets during training.

“History lesson — the Jedi won the war! These tricks will amount to something, maybe save you from time to time, but they won’t keep you alive in the long run. Only training and discipline will do that.” — Kanan Jarrus

Though this scene doesn’t specifically name the conflict Kanan is referring to, there is no other time in Star Wars mythos, Legends or canon, in which the Jedi war against the Mandalorians other than the Mandalorian Wars. Equally as important is the fact that Revan was arguably the most important person in this conflict; without his creation of the Jedi Crusaders (also known as Revanchists) the Mandalorians would have succeeded in overthrowing the Old Republic and taking over the galaxy.

Appearance of a Jedi Crusader Pendant in “Star Wars Episode VII: The Last Jedi”

(Some spoilers here for The Last Jedi!)

During The Last Jedi, we catch a glimpse of what appears to be a red lightsaber crystal placed in a metal holder as the camera shows us the contents of Luke’s hut. (Note: I’d have used a picture of it if I could find one! If you see the film again, keep your eyes out for it.)

Most fans, including myself, thought the items could be Darth Vader’s. It certainly would make sense, given that Luke’s actions in helping Vader redeem himself in Return of the Jedi were some of the most defining moments of his character.

However, Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary threw me for quite a loop in regards to this. In it, the metal object is described to be a “recovered Jedi Crusader pendant.” That term — Jedi Crusader — specifically refers to Revan and his fellow Jedi that decided to go to war with the Mandalorians.

Though the pendant technically could belong to any of the Revanchists (the book doesn’t specify which one, after all) I think it’s much, much, much more fitting that it belonged to Revan. In The Last Jedi, Luke takes a grayer stance on the Force that’s very similar to Revan’s. Both of them came to understand that the Force existed in full outside of the Jedi and Sith religions, and that the way each side romanticized their views was harmful to the goal of truly understanding the Force.

Luke holding onto the relic of Revan himself, someone who realized what he did in the past, is a lot more logical than just a random follower of Revan’s ideology, in my opinion. Considering Revan dual wielded a red and purple lightsaber at one point, it would also make sense if the crystal in the pendant was his own.

In the end, even if the crystal and pendant aren’t Revan’s, they do belong to a member of the Revanchist Jedi Crusaders. That in and of itself arguably makes Revan canon, unless they outright retcon everything. The only way they could make it any more confirmed is by specifically using his name.

Author’s Notes

Well, there you have it. I rest my case!

In my opinion, these four pieces of evidence (especially the fourth one) clearly show that the writers behind Star Wars have been consistently hinting at the Old Republic era and the events within it — with Revan strongly being tied to all of it in some way or another. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Revan getting a new novel, comic series, or even a full appearance in Rebels in the near future. Though he hasn’t officially been confirmed canon, we’re so close to that being so that I can taste it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my argument. Let me know what you think, either here on my blog or over on my Twitter.

In addition, I reviewed The Last Jedi last week; if you’d like to read that, head here!

That’s all for now, everyone. You can expect one more article before the end of the month, which will be one more Star Wars piece. I won’t tell you exactly what the theme of it will be, but here’s a hint:

After the year ends, we’ll be visiting Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s musical score and the concluding issue of Rise of Atriox in January, so look out for that!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday. May you all enjoy your friends, family, and gifts this season!

Much love and appreciation,

Lor