2019's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sent shockwaves throughout both the video game and Star Wars communities with its release. The 'Soulslike' game set in the universe far, far away was met with many very favorable reviews.
In January, after the community spent many months speculating, EA officially announced the return of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, with a sequel currently in development. While many fans are expecting to see the return of Cal Kestis, there is plenty of room for EA and Respawn to explore other aspects of the Star Wars universe. One such place is the Dark Side of the Force.
What Happened in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
To recap, Jedi: Fallen Order takes place about five years after Emperor Palpatine executed Order 66, bringing the end and near extinction of the Jedi Order. In the game, players control Cal Kestis on the scavenging planet Bracca, who is quickly revealed to be a survivor of the Jedi purge as he uses his Force powers to rescue his friend and colleague, Prauf, from certain doom. The (re)activation of his Force powers draws the Sith Inquisitors' attention – the very same institution that plays an active role in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series.
While his friend is executed for speaking against the Empire, Cal activates his lightsaber, revealing himself to be the Force-wielding individual. The Ninth Sister throws him off a cliff, resulting in a chase where he eventually gets saved by former Jedi Master Cere Junda and Captain Greez Ditrus. The three members of the Mantis crew then embark on a quest to recover a Jedi Holocron containing the names of all Force-sensitive children in the galaxy – visiting many worlds along the way – all while escaping the crutches of the Inquisitors and slowly growing his Jedi abilities.
Throughout Cal's journey in Jedi: Fallen Order, he has never brushed the Dark Side. Cal, as a character, has been faithful to the Disney ethos, where no evil can touch him nor corrupt him. However, he does suffer PTSD from losing his Jedi Master Jaro Tapal in such a brutal way and, perhaps as a consequence, experiences a mirage of attacks on his confidence whenever he fails a task. Still, Cal is never once tempted by the Dark Side, and that's something that should change in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2.
Jedi: Fallen Order 2 – A Venture to the Dark Side
Within the original Star Wars Extended Universe lore, there were stories of Force users who walked the Light Side and the Dark Side – and those who walked in-between. One prominent name in Star Wars is Revan, a Jedi who turned to the Dark Side alongside his apprentice Malak, and another is Ahsoka Tano, a Jedi who abandoned the Jedi Order as an apprentice but never touched upon the Dark Side. There are many exciting facets to the Dark Side aside from the depicted murdering, conquering, scheming, and deceit within recent video games, movies, and shows, yet the other facets have barely been touched upon.
Since Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise, there has not been a Star Wars game that even remotely explores the Dark Side – Star Wars: The Old Republic not included, since the MMO is not part of the Disney Canon. The most recent game to have done so, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, was released in 2008 – Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. In The Force Unleashed, Starkiller, a secret apprentice to Darth Vader, is trained to one day assassinate the Emperor so that Vader may take his place and rule the galaxy.
While players start on the Dark Side of the Force, playing through The Force Unleashed shows the journey of a Sith apprentice, with the killing and all the evil deeds associated with the Dark Side. However, it still offers Starkiller a path to redemption – a path to join the Light Side. The sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order should use the opportunity to explore the reverse in ways that the series Star Wars: Rebels never fully could with Ezra Bridger. Again, Rebels portrays the murderous aspect of the Dark Side as Ezra commits to inflicting pain to fulfill the mission at hand despite the protests of his companions, but nothing more.
If Jedi: Fallen Order 2 continues on Cal's story, it seems highly unlikely that he would have any reason to be tempted by the Dark Side. Still, the first game often made it seem that one could easily surrender to it – Cere being the most prominent example. In order to explore the Dark Side of the Force, either another tragedy needs to happen to Cal or the game needs to revolve around another character.
While looking into the journey of a Sith Inquisitor could be the most compelling, their journey from Jedi to Inquisitor is known, and it's hard to build a story from that. Most Inquisitors are severely broken both mentally and physically (with some even losing limbs) by Vader and Sidious before submitting to the Dark Side. Thus, it might be challenging to explore an Inquisitor's journey back to the Light Side, especially after the mental torture they've endured. Even so, the best character to have used for this would have been the Second Sister, Trilla Sunduri, the former apprentice of Cere. Unfortunately, she was killed by Vader at the end of Jedi: Fallen Order.
An interesting take on the Dark Side/Light Side narrative would be to play the Zabrak Nightsister Merrin, who joined the Mantis crew after helping Cal defeat Taron Malicos on her homeworld of Dathomir. Although Nightsisters aren't technically Sith, they still tap into the power of the Dark Side and feed into the stereotype of utilizing negative emotions to strengthen their abilities. Now that she's joined Cal and company, Jedi: Fallen Order 2 could be able to explore the Dark to Light path that has not yet been examined for a while. Plus, it would be interesting to see how Force magick works within the Light Side, as it has never been touched upon in the history of Star Wars lore.
It might take a while before fans hear more about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 and learn what story path the developers might take, although some speculate that EA will reveal details at Star Wars Celebration. As of this moment, it's also unclear as to which part of game development the sequel is in or what release window it may have. Nevertheless, many hope that Respawn will divert from the typical path of modern Star Wars games to explore the plethora of lore that the universe far, far away has to offer.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 is currently in development.