Know your Lore: Zayne Carrick

Soeren Kamper know your lore

Since it was announced last weekend that Zayne Carrick would return in the KOTOR comics, we thought it would be time to do a “Know your lore” Piece on this interesting character. Many fans have speculated about Zayne’s future. If the Jedi Masters’ fears turn out to be accurate, there is a possibility that Zayne could become one of the characters from the Knights of the Old Republic games. In particular, many fans predict that Zayne may become the Jedi Exile. Others theorize that Zayne may be Darth Nihilus, judging by the “destroyer of worlds” prophecy. Non of these theories came through though, but we might see him or notes about him when the game comes out.

Zayne Carrick was a young Padawan learner in the Jedi Order during the Mandalorian Wars who wielded a yellow lightsaber. He was brought to the Jedi Order when he was several years old, coming from a family where he had four siblings. Zayne was instructed by Jedi Master Lucien Draay and was also emotionally attracted to his best friend’s sister, Shel.

In 3,964 BBY, Zayne found himself framed for a brutal crime against the Jedi on the city-world of Taris. On the run from the Jedi Masters he once served, Zayne had no choice but to flee into the seedy Undercity of Taris with Marn Hierogryph, the criminal who had been named as his accomplice. Together, the two embarked on a desperate mission to clear his name—and stay alive in the process.

In an interview to Lightsabre.co.uk, John Jackson Miller, the writer of the KotOR comic series, admitted that, while the series was not a direct adaptation of the video game of the same name, Zayne was partially inspired by the early player experience in the game, with the overall feeling of disorientation and the player learning the controls—with Zayne still “learning the controls” with the Force.

Biography
He was brought to the Jedi Order when he was several years old, coming from a family where he had four siblings. Although Jedi Master Vandar Tokare described Zayne’s ability in the Force as “marginal,” Zayne was accepted to the Jedi Training Academy on Dantooine. It was hoped that Zayne’s ability to quickly form kinships would blossom with Jedi training.

On Dantooine, Zayne was trained by Master Vandar, along with Shad Jelavan, Kamlin, Oojoh, and Gharn. However, his Jedi abilities did not advance as far as might be hoped while at the Academy.

Zayne as a youngling on Dantooine.

Origins of a Padawan
An unknown Jedi Master found Zayne accidentally, and brought him to Dantoonie to test out his Force powers. His father was named Arvan and his mother Reiva. He was trained by Master Vandar Takore there. During the Mandalorian Wars, Zayne Carrick was just accepted into the ranks of the Jedi on Taris. He wasn’t the best Padawan there was, as Jedi Master Vandar Tokare described his Force powers as “marginal”. He also lost focus during training many times, and didn’t have the confidence to perform certain Force feats. As a Padawan on Taris, he was appointed the Jedi Master Lucien Draay and there he found an attraction to Shel Jelavan. His clumsiness in the Force also allowed him to meet a black-marketeer named Gryph. There, he also met another Padawan who introduced himself only as Squint. He supported Zayne and told him “sometimes you have to enter the dark to save the light.” After Squint had given Zayne such advice, Q’Anilia felt a disturbance in the Force. She told the other Jedi Masters, and so the Jedi Masters feared that all the Padawans may fall to the dark side.

Padawan Massacre of Taris
The Jedis feared that their worst fears would come true – that all the Padawans would fall to the dark side. So they took desperate measures, by appointing the Padawans a mission, which they had to complete on Taris’ rogue moon. Once they had completed it, the Jedi Masters called them for a ceremony. However, it was all fake as the Jedi Masters thought that the Padawans were sure to fall to the dark side, as the mission on Taris’ rogue moon was used to observe their emotions. The ceremony was really planned by the Jedi Masters and Krynda Draay. Krynda Draay was the leader of the Jedi Corvenant, who were dedicated to keeping the Sith at bay. Zayne was actually running late as he was chasing after Gryph which meant that he had avoided the massacre. The Jedi Masters knew that Zayne would come later, so they had planned that Shad Jelavan would be framed for the massacre. Shad himself was suspicious of this ceremony as he couldn’t believe that the Jedi Masters would allow Zayne to become a Jedi Knight; he was a joke amongst the Padawans. The Jedi Masters quickly made up a story, saying that he had a special connection to the Force, but Shad thought differently, so the Jedi Masters killed them all. Zayne showed up and realised what the Jedi Masters had done, and was now on the run from them. Zayne, along with Gryph had escaped from the Jedi Masters and had fled to the Lower City of Taris, where gangs were rampant. The Jedi Masters made up another story about Zayne killing the Padawans. He obviously did not have the skill to kill all the Padawans, so they added that he had turned to the dark side to do his killings.

Zayne crashing into the banquet while chasing Marn Hierogryph.

With Zayne and Gryph in the Lower City, they made their way to Junk Junction and met a mechanic named  and his friend, Jarael. At first they were not too friendly towards Zayne and Gryph because one, Zayne had indirectly smoked out a company called Lhosan Industries who looked after the Lower City in Taris. When the massacre happened, they sought out to look for somewhere safer and when that happened, the Lower City was in a state of disarray; and two, Gryph had failed to pay back Camper from last time. Camper and Jarael soon changed their minds as a police force, led by Constable Noana Sowrs and Lucien Draay were looking for them. Camper and Jarael led them onto their ship, the Last Resort. The Last Resort had broken down in the astroid belt around Taris and were stationed there until repairs could be completed. On the ship, Zayne made a call to Master Vandar and told him about the massacre. Vandar believed Zayne, but he had his suspicions, and speculated that Zayne had killed the Padawans himself. He advised Zayne to contact one of the Jedi Consulars on Taris. During the call, he was knocked out by Jarael. Zayne himself was suspicious of that as the four of five, except Lucien, were consulars on Taris were also his masters, the same masters who performed the massacre. He decided that he should investigate on Taris’ rogue moon along with Jarael to look for clues about this massacre, and in the hopes of proving that he wasn’t the killer. On the moon, Zayne finds a destroyed robot called T1-LB, also known as “Elbee”. Elbee tells Zayne that he had accidently fallen off a cliff, but Zayne realises that the masters had pushed him off as he was present during the Jedi Trials. Before Zayne can grab anymore information, Lucien, Noana Sowrs and the rest of the force arrive.

Truth and Surrender
Lucien finds Zayne on the moon, but thanks to Gryph and Camper surprise attacking Lucien and his force, they make it back onto the ship, and Zayne puts Elbee’s memory core into another droid. Zayne asks Elbee to tell him the last of what happened through his recordings and holograms. Elbee’s holograms show the Jedi Masters, apart from Lucien have a vision where a Sith in red armour would kill them all. Feln assumed that the red spacesuits the Padawans wore was a symbol of one of them being the Sith. However, all of the Padawans had red spacesuits, which resulted in them being murdered. As soon as Zayne discovers the truth behind the masters’ actions, the Last Resort was pulled in by a tractor beam from the Oroko, which was owned by the bounty hunter Valius Ying. Zayne realised he now had to make a decision a true Jedi would make. After some negotiations, Valius allowed the others, except Zayne, to be let free. Zayne’s bounty was too high for him to be let go, so Gryph and Zayne made an escape plan, where the guard guarding them would be distracted while Zayne would make a run for the Last Resort. Jarael intervenes and tells him that there is nothing wrong with running, though endangering the lives of others while doing so is not right. Zayne then chooses to face the music and surrender to the Jedi Masters who were chasing him.

Zayne on the run after witnessing the death of his fellow Padawans.

Valius Ying, a bounty hunter had turned Zayne in on Taris where his execution was being prepared. Crowds had gathered, including the sister of the murdered Padawan Shal, Shel Jelavan. Up at the Jedi Tower where Zayne was brought by Valius, Lucien had explained how Shal’s suspicions had caused this situation of cat-and-mouse to happen. Lucien was ready to finish Zayne off, but not before killing Valius who had discovered too much. Just before Lucien is about to execute Zayne, a Sith in red armour walks in the room with Zayne’s lightsaber. The Sith rescues Zayne, and it later turns out to be Jarael dressed up. Zayne escapes, though the Jedi Masters on Taris retreat to Coruscant because of the backlash the general public gave to them for letting a “murderer” escape. A few weeks after Zayne’s escape, he calls the Jedi Masters, warning them that they too have the a mark above their heads for a bounty, and possibly death.

Mandalorian Involvement
On the run from the Jedi, they hid on the planet of Vanquo on a mining colony where they had to steal for food by setting up different scenarios. One time, Zayne was begging for food for his “family”. Jarael then radioed in the mining colony pretending to be a Jedi Master, warning them of a Mandalorian attack. The miners were not convinced, but Zayne used the Jedi mind trick to made them think that the Mandalorians were going to attack. Everyone was in evacuation mode and allowed Zayne to use the frenzy to his advantage to steal the food without anyone questioning his actions. However, it turned out that the Mandalorians did actually attack. Jarael managed to get captured, and Camper, Gryph, Elbee and Zayne made their way towards the ship and had to hold off the Mandalorians so they could take off. However, one Mandalorian named Rohlan Dyre managed to get onto the ship. Zayne held him down while Camper stunned him with Jarael’s electrostaff. With Rohlan locked in the storage compartment, he tells Zayne that they will need him if they wish to rescue her. They continue with their plan, and fly to Flashpoint Station where Rohlan brings Zayne to Demagol, a highly respected Mandalorian. There, they knock out Demagol out and Zayne takes his armour. The both of them release Jarael from her cell, though she attacked him. Zayne convinced her that he was in disguise. As Rohlan and Zayne disguised as Demagol walk towards the Last Resort, Elbee finished planting the mines and Gryph, disguised as a Republic Admiral warns the Mandalorians that the bombs will go off. The Mandalorians flee and with them all gone, they leave Flashpoint Station.

The Moomo Brothers
Money was becoming an issue, so they devised a plan to get the money from Gryph’s bank account. By dressing up as nobility and going under fake names, they almost get the money from the bank assistant called Arvan, though the bank assistant gets kidnapped by the Moomo Brothers. Zayne goes to get the bank assistant back but fails, although he finds that the bank assistant was in fact his father. Gryph finds out where he is taken to thanks to his connections, and he plans that he will distract the Moomo Brothers and Zayne will save his father. As Zayne rescues his father, he finds out that a Jedi named Raana Tey had used Zayne’s father to bring him out of hiding. He also found out that the bankers were working with the Jedi Covenant, giving them information to zone in on Zayne. After saving his father, Zayne had requested some money and got him to go to Dantoonie with Master Vandar.

Zayne Carrick and his father escape from the Moomo Brothers.

On Their Own
Zayne and Gryph thank Jarael and Camper for the help and tell them they have to part, but before leaving, Jarael gives them a suit of light armour made from the expensive metal known as phrik. The duo continue their adventure as Gryph asks someone named Slyssk to steal a ship for them. Slyssk tells them to meet up on Pad 223, but as they do, they also find that the owners of the stolen ship near the landing pad as well. With that, they take off with ship earlier than expected. On the ship, the three of them learn that their new ship, the Little Bivoli was apart of a Republic fleet and to lower suspicions, they follow the fleet to Ralltiir. They also learn that their ship is in fact a restaurant, and the restaurant profits them plenty of money, though Zayne is more concerned about their popularity, especially amongst a Republic fleet. After the busy times during dinner, Zayne has an argument with Gryph and decides to calm himself down by stepping outside ship. There, he has a Force vision where he sees the Mandalorians wipe the whole planet out. He urges Gryph to leave, though he could not leave with Gryph because he had his own business. He aboards the ship which Carth Onasi flies and explains to him about the massacre. However, Admiral Saul Karath spots him and takes him aboard the bridge of the Courageous, which was the lead ship of the Republic fleet. As Zayne is on the bridge, the fleet gets attacked by the Mandalorians with nuclear missiles, which were used to bomb the city. Zayne tells Saul to steer away from the missiles as he tells him of the vision he had, but Saul decides to defend the city. Zayne is thrown into a holding cell for the time being. The Republic fleet fail in defending themselves and the planet, as the Mandalorians hijack their ship and kill everyone on the ship, except Saul, Carth and Zayne. Saul orders Carth to free Zayne and keep him safe for the time being. They escape on Carth’s ship, the Deadweight. Saul Karath tells them to go to his old master, though a Duro named Eejee Vamm told them that his master, Lord Adasca, wanted to meet the people that had piloted the freighter. They change their course and head straight for him as Adasca said that he may have a way of ending the Mandalorian Wars.

Zayne’s vision of the destruction of the Stereb Cities.

Meeting Arkoh Adasca
The Deadweight went aboard Adasca’s ship, the Arkanian Legacy and Zayne had spotted Jarael. Jarael kissed him, but only to give him information about Camper. Zayne was then taken to a holding cell and and found Lucien Draay captured as well. However, the both of them set their differences aside and planned to escape together. They were successful, but Lucien almost killed Zayne when he got hold of Zayne’s lightsaber. Zayne was protected with the armour that Jarael gave him earlier and lived. The both of them agreed that they would deal with their differences once this was over. The both of them find Adasca allying himself with Mandalore the Ultimate. Carth had brought Zayne an extra lightsaber, and Rohlan had let him borrow his spare Mandalorian armour. As a plan, Zayne walked in the allying between Adasca and Mandalore and set it up to look like the Jedi were capturing the Mandalorians. It was total chaos as the people from both sides were fighting each other. Zayne went to free Jarael and the gang fought their way off the ship, escaping the ship being swallowed by exogorths. Mandalore also managed to escape, but Adasca went down with the ship. As Carth managed to escape with Zayne, he said that he would let him go, even though he was a wanted person. However, Lucien caught him just before he left and negotiated with him, saying that he would take his friends off the ship, only if he turned himself in. Zayne agreed, though the arrival of another ship, the Moomo Williwaw had stopped Lucien from doing so. The Moomo Brothers were on board, along with Slyssk. Slyssk tells him that Gryph is still alive and fighting against the Mandalorians on Taris, which was led by Cassus Fett.

Zayne back on Taris.

Back On Taris
Zayne made his way to the Lower City of Taris, where a droid came out to attack him. Zayne defeated the droid, and discovered a secret entrance to the Hidden Bek base, a swoop gang of the Lower City. Zayne made his way into the base where Brejik, the adopted son of Gadon Thek, who was the leader of the Hidden Bek, had caught him, thinking he was an intruder. Zayne was brought to Gryph and Gadon Thek though the Mandalorians had attacked and caused them to retreat. In the Hidden Bek base, Zayne was healing the people that had been shot while they were retreating, and Gryph had explained what happened since he landed on Taris. While Gryph explained, he noticed a young Twi’lek and she introduced herself as Mission Vao. She told him that she was not allowed to talk to him because her brother, Griff Vao, but she wanted to show him something. She said that Griff had some pets she wanted to show him. As they made their way there, Brejik accused Zayne of escaping, and pulled out a blaster. Before he could shoot, Del Moomo of the Moomo brothers stopped him. However, Zayne discovered that Griff was in fact feeding Constable Noana Sowrs’ children when she was deemed missing. Gadon Thek was outraged at having children hidden in the base, though he realised that maybe this could allow for some negotiations with the Taris forces.

Their next step in the plan was to go to the Resistance base. They fought their way over there, and as they entered the base, Zayne saw Shel Jelavan, though she herself pointed a blaster at him. It didn’t kill him thanks to the armour he was wearing, though it did knock him back. The Jedi Master, Raana Tey, who was apart of the massacre, started manipulating Shel into thinking that Zayne was now on the dark side. Del Moomo was angered with the thought of Raana Tey into manipulating Shel into killing his bounty, so while Raana Tey was too focused on Shel and Zayne, he tackled Shel to the ground and got her to let go of the blaster. With Zayne knocked unconscious, Raana had turned her attention to the Senator Goravvus and asked him to kill Zayne, though Gadon defended him, saying that he found the Constable’s missing children, which could lead to negotiations to strengthen their forces in fighting against the Mandalorians. While Raana disagreed, Senator Goravvus agreed and allowed Zayne to live. While at the base, Zayne and Gryph attempted to disprove that Zayne had fallen to the dark side. Meanwhile, Raana was still accusing Zayne of falling to the dark side. Shel left, frustrated from both parties. They then learned that Cassus Fett had taken residence in the abandoned Jedi Tower where his base of operations were. Senator Goravvus suggested a recon mission before an assault. Zayne volunteered to lead it, though Constable Sowrs didn’t like the idea. Shel had volunteered to come along, though it was really a plan to kill Zayne. Earlier, Raana had taught Shel how to put a crystal in her brother’s lightsaber in case Raana had failed to kill Zayne, she would have to do it.

They commence the recon mission, with Raana Tey going through the vents of the Jedi Tower, and Zayne, disguised as a Mandalorian, pretends to take Shel hostage and go through the same way when Valius Ying had captured them. However, Shel was not co-operative, even as a pretend prisoner which led into a heated discussion about their youth and how they were good friends. It also brought up buried feelings from the past, and the two kissed. Once they were inside the temple to meet up with Raana, Shel was getting ready to kill Zayne, though their past conversation had stopped her from doing so. As they made it to where Cassus was staying, they discovered he already left to attack the resistance. This allowed Raana to attack Zayne, but he was no match for her, and she managed to throw him onto the glass ceilings of the Jedi Chamber. With Zayne’s jetpack disabled and his lightsaber disarmed, Raana was about to attack him. Zayne told her that he now understood the “Prophecy of the Five”, that it was really about the five Jedi Masters who would kill Padawans. Raana was about to attack him, though Shel attacked Raana first. Raana dropped to the floor and told Shel that Zayne never killed her brother. Gryph and Gadon had then come over them with their ship to pick them up. Before they could escape, Raana stood up once again to finish off Zayne. Gryph said that the explosives were set so they could blow up the Jedi Tower. Zayne offered Raana his help by holding out his hand, asking her to hold on. Before they could leave, Raana had ignited her lightsaber to cut off her hand which was stuck, but Gryph thought that she was going to attack Zayne, so he set off the charges, killing her. Before she had caught in the explosion, she asked Zayne to tell her master, Krynda Draay that she was sorry. As she was caught in the explosion, the rest of the Jedi Masters felt something was wrong. As they left, Shel apologised that she wasn’t able to save what seemed to be the only names to prove Zayne’s innocence, though Zayne didn’t see it as a total loss; he now knows a name – Krynda.

The Muur Talisman
The Jedi Masters leave Taris, and move to Coruscant where a Jedi Master, Q’Anilia has a vision of the Muur Talisman, something that obviously holds great power. In the vision, she sees “the end of everything” and questions whether this is happening now, or if it will happen in the future. Lucien Draay then assigns another member of the Covenant, Celeste Morne to retrieve the talisman and bring back Zayne.

In the Undercity of Taris, Constable Sowrs is being chased by rakghouls. A rakghoul makes a jump for her, but Celeste saves her. Constable Noana Sowrs introduces herself, but Celeste finds that Noana had gotten touched by a rakghoul. Celeste ignites her lightsaber and Noana begs for her not to kill her, but she eventually accepts and Celeste kills her, but not before she turns into a rakghoul. Just then, an explosion happens and Zayne and Gryph come running out with plenty of other rakghouls, where Celeste finishes them off for the both of them. They introduce each other and Celeste realises that Zayne is the “killer” she is after. However, she controls herself and says that she has better things to do before she can bring them in. Celeste walks off to finish her duties and the both of them follow her. They then hear a “boom” and realise that someone’s blasting under them, which causes them to fall. As soon as Zayne wakes up from his unconsciousness, Gryph notes the presence of Mandalorians. They then see the Muur Talisman, and Zayne sees Pulsipher, Demagol’s assistant holding it. Before Zayne can ask what that thing is, Celeste already has a jetpack on her back, and tells them to go with her, unless they want to deal with another horde of Mandalorians. As Celeste shoots up into the air, Gryph and Zayne aren’t far behind.

Zayne’s lightsaber hilt.

Powers and Abilities
Despite his clumsiness and apparent ineptitude as a Padawan learner, Zayne had “random destructive power,” as Gryph referred to his tendency to accidentally wreak havoc. That power was valuable enough in Gryph’s eyes, for him to team up with Zayne; he was possibly the only person who viewed this capacity positively. However, the very fact that he was able to outrun five Jedi Masters and uncover the truth about their plot shows that he may not have been, in fact, as inept as everyone tended to assume.

Zayne sometimes had Force visions, but unlike his Masters, he did not believe in deliberately inducing visions to learn the future, as he himself had seen how prone to misinterpretation such visions were. Instead, he regarded spontaneous visions as the most accurate, believing that if the Force “wanted” to tell him something, it was for a vision. He was known to have at least two visions: one of a Covenant member confessing, although he did not know which one it would be, and the other of the devastation of Serroco.

Sources