Let's Talk About Andronikos Revel
I AM HAVING SERIOUS PIRATE FEELINGS
(And only a couple of my followers play swtor that I know of, so you all get to help me deal with my pirate feelings)
Second most underrated romance in the game. (Felix Iresso is the first - but that is a post for another day). Lots of potential spoilers below, read at your own risk!
FIRST OFF - LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL MAN
SECOND - YOU WANT A COMPLEX CHARACTER? HERE YOU GO!
- Enlisted in the Republic Army at 18. Was a rising star in the Republic, made Captain faster than almost anyone ever.
- Double agent wiped out his entire team. Every man and woman who served under him was killed and he couldn’t do a damn thing to save them.
- He blamed the Republic for their deaths and deserted.
- Unlike a lot of Republic deserters, he didn’t join the Empire, cause he hated them, too. So what does he do? He became a pirate and harassed them both!
- Started off small, but works his way up, finally captaining the Sky Princess. Has a loyal crew. By all accounts, he was damn happy.
- THEN SHIT GETS REAL
- He found a sith artifact that basically made his crew go crazy. They mutiny and eject him in an escape pod. He’s picked up by the Empire and goes to jail for a year.
- When he got out, he went to Tatooine, because that’s where his first mate, Sylas Wikes was. That’s when he meets the Sith Inquisitor.
Here is what not many people talk about. In the quest to get the artifact from Wikes, Revel has to kill every single crew member of the Sky Princess. Can you imagine how that would mess you up? Having to kill men and women who were loyal to you, who were your family? Who trusted you to keep them safe because you were their captain? AND YOU HAVE TO KILL THEM? It would mess me up.
THIRD - LET’S TALK ROMANCE
- By the third conversation it’s obvious that the Inquisitor and Revel are digging each other. But he makes it clear to her that he’s not a play thing, that he’s his own man.
- He doesn’t get jealous and respects the Inquisitor’s decisions. On Alderaan, the Inquisitor can sleep with Urtel and Revel doesn’t blink an eye. In fact, he finds his own one-afternoon stand.
- HE GIVES HER A SWORD. Fifth conversation, instead of flowers, he gives the Inquisitor a sword that has a personal meaning to him.
- After they sleep together for the first time, he asks her out on a proper date. He could have totally opted for a non romance sexual relationship, but he asked her out. And he asked her about her dreams and what she wants out of life. HE LISTENS TO HER.
- What a lot of people don’t like about the romance is that he leaves the ship twice. But each time he promises to come back and he does. Revel has his own life outside the Inquisitor, which I love!
Something that doesn’t get touched on a lot is that he is there for her for all of act II and III when it really wasn’t clear whether the Inquisitor was going to live or die. What’s more, by my count, there are six instances when the Inquisitor has to do something where she might potentially die.
SIX! And Revel is next to her the entire time, he doesn’t waiver, he doesn’t ask her to stop, he has to watch her die over and over and instead of saying ‘this is too much,’ HE PROPOSES!
(1. Interlude before Act II, dealing with Thanaton 2. Going to save her apprentices on Quesh 3. Fighting Thanaton at the end of Act II 4. Using the machine to repair her body on Belsavis 5. Learning the Dreamwalk ritual on Voss 6. Accepting the Kagesh on Corellia)
What’s also great is that there’s a lot of ways to write them. Most of the versions I’ve seen have them immediately forming a bond after he joins the crew and starting a relationship right away. Personally, I don’t have them sleeping together until Act I is over, just before Act II. Revel needs some time to mourn his crew before he’s ready to jump into a relationship, is the way I look at it. You can write them light hearted, or more dark (HAVE I MENTIONED HE HAS TO WATCH HER DIE OVER AND OVER?) But the fact that there are a number of different ways to write them is another way that they’re great.
Imho, this is the best romance in the game. I can’t think of another romance (except possibly Vector/Agent) where the the male romance treats the female PC with as much respect to the women’s autonomy. He does not get jealous, he does not make crude remarks. This is a very well done mature romance. The Sith Inquisitor is also one of the best story lines in the game. And if you ever want to scream with about the sith and the pirate with me, please let me know.