Atton Rand  is a playable male character in the Xbox and PC RPG (role playing game) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. He is the second character that you, (as the Exile Jedi) meet in the game.

Atton was one of the Lost Jedi, but in the time of KotOR2 he is "just" a scoundrel and an Echani-combat trained pilot, that the main character meets on the asteroid mining station Peragus II. Atton fought in the Mandalorian Wars as well as in the Jedi Civil War. He originally fought with the Republic, but when Revan won against the Mandalorians and became Darth Revan, Atton remaining under his command involuntarily joined the Sith, as Revan's army fought for the Sith goal from that. While under Revan, he was put through intense combat training to make him an effective Jedi hunter, that is how he learned Echani combat methods and how to hide and keep himself from being probed by Jedi. Maybe that is the reason of he is one of those characters that can become a Jedi the fastest and the easiest way during the course of the game, as a Jedi Sentinel. (If you play the game as a Sith, he will be a Dark Jedi Sentinel.)

During the Jedi Civil War, Atton was part of an elite Sith Assassin unit, trained to resist Jedi Force powers and sent on missions to kill or capture Jedi to be broken and converted to Sith. He was able to torture them mentally and physically, like Said from the series Lost. Later during the war, Atton captured a female Jedi, who impressed him deeply, and even started to feel emotions to her. He was confronted by this female Jedi who informed him of his Force-sensitive nature, warning him that the Sith would undoubtedly command him to train as a Dark Jedi if they found out. They talked a lot, and the Jedi lady also liked Atton, so she wanted to keep this information in secret, however she feared she can't hide it away when the Sith torture her. So once she asked Atton to kill her, she loved Atton so much that she rather died to protect him. After a painful fare-well Atton struck her down, but before her death, she opened up her mind to his, giving him a glimpse of the Force as she saw it. It was not that painful, cruel, dark Force, or Life that Atton learned from the Sith. It was loud from several life forms, it was happier, nicer, even in the mind of a dieing woman. She allowed him to see life, to see what he was doing to it all around him by harming others. Then she died. (Atton later revealed to the Exile Jedi that at first, he thought he would love to kill her, but at the end he killed her because he loved her - this could mean that he killed her to end her suffering and to spare her from being broken by the Dark Side. Is it a kind of Sith euthanasia?) After Atton killed her, he could not forget that lady, and could not forget what she showed to him, what she had done for him, he remembered her each and every day, so disillusioned of the Sith way, and pained with self-loathing he deserted the Sith, trying to run away from his past, and from his memories. That was the second time when he deserted, first involuntarily, when he joined the Sith with Revan, and now the second time, when he left them. The Exile asked him once, what was Atton doing. He answered I am a deserter. That is what I do. That is ironical, but this is very typical of Atton.

After fleeing the Sith, Atton hid in the refugee sector of Nar Shaddaa, blending with thousands of refugees who had been displaced in both wars. It was here that he became a smuggler, transporting slaves, refugees, spice and other kinds of vice to and from the Smuggler's Moon, trying to keep the distance from both the Jedi and the Sith. But he can't do it too long, after the Sith killed almost all the Jedi knights, he learned that the Sith was chasing Exile, who was his fellow companion in the army of Revan. So he decided to find Exile, and help him, to set right some of his sins, but he was arrested at Peragus, and was locked in a force cage. Ironically that actually saved Atton's life. Shortly after being imprisoned, the mining droids were reprogrammed and the ventilation systems were poisoned with deadly gases by a mysterious saboteur, which effectively cleansed the facility of all life while Atton remained safe within his Force cage. Is that luck maybe? Who knows. But the Force often makes more interesting things: Exile soon arrived to Peragus "by luck". The Jedi Exile found him, and freed him from his force cage. From that point they worked together, of course the first priority was to escape from Peragus. So Atton remained in the control room to use the maps and computers, to be able to help the navigation of the Exile Jedi in the station, in its mine sections, and even out, in the space on a service passage, where they noticed the ship Harbinger docking at the station with the Sith Lord Darth Sion aboard. T3-M4 and Exile were working hard to find a way to reach the Ebon Hawk, to flee from Sion, and finally they successfully reached the ship, Atton and Kreia joined, and the four of them escaped the facility, however the chasing Harbinger's weapons fire started a chain reaction that destroyed the fuel laden asteroid field and mining facility. Luckily they manage to jump into hyperspace BEFORE that, and they fled for Telos, where they were imprisoned for suspicion concerning the explosion at Peragus. Annoyed at once more ending up in a cell, poor Atton thought he might spend his whole life in force cages... :-) After being cleared of the crime they continued to travel together to Telos Surface, and then to Telos Polar Region. If Atton could have imagined that he would be in force cage in Atris's Palace again, he probably haven't travel with Exile there, but anyway, Atton got in a force cage again. (it is a kinda humor source in the game.) During their incarceration, Kreia became suspicious of Atton's fear of the Jedi, and used the Force to probe his mind involuntarily. Despite his skills for shielding his thoughts, he was unable to prevent the powerful wicked witch from unearthing his entire sordid past. She then used this knowledge to blackmail him into serving the Exile. Atton didn't want the Exile to know what he had done, or who he really was, so he accompanied the Exile throughout his mission to find the remaining Jedi Masters. However Atton did not served the Exile Jedi with this, but Kreia, without knowing her reasons... Anyway, they continued their journey to Nar Shaddaa. In the refugee sector Exile was approached by two Twi'leks who told him that they had seen Atton when he was hiding there, and that he wasn't a mere smuggler, but a murderer. He confronted Atton about this, and while angry at his persistent questions, he had earned enough of his trust at this point that he told him the whole truth about his past. Atton recounts the incriminating details of his past before the Exile, expecting to be punished for his crimes. But Exile forgave him for what he had done and welcomed him to stay with him on his journey to stop the Sith, and at his request he awakened him to the Force once again, and trained him to become a Jedi Sentinel. So Atton continued to travel with the Exile, participating in the defense of Telos against a Sith armada led by Darth Nihilus and, shortly after, transported the Exile to Malachor V, where the Exile went on to defeat Darth Sion and Darth Traya.

Additional interesting, and funny information on Atton Rand:

He had an irrational hatred of droids. For example on Peragus, he asked the Exile if he had destroyed the HK-50 because "droids can't be trusted," referred to T3-M4 as a "trash compactor" and even suspected T3 of stealing the Ebon Hawk on Telos. (Of course that was not true, as Handmaiden took her.) It is very funny, when he was saying: "He's probably joyriding around the system right now, laughing at us - laughing at me!" J Where this dislike for droids stems from is unknown, as it appears to be pre-dated from the droid rampage on Peragus. However, there is a theory that he had heard about (or even met) Revan's HK-47 assassin droid, and became bitterly jealous that a droid could be just as good at breaking Jedi as he was, especially given that the techniques both he and HK-47 used, and described to the Exile later, are the same. (One possible mistake in the game is that, despite the fact that he asked the Exile how he could understand droid speak, or "garbage-speak" he later understood what T3-M4 was saying when T3 returned after stealing a ship ID signature from Vogga the Hutt's warehouse, to help the team fly into GO-TO's yacht. However that may not be a mistake, it could be that Atton was only playing dumb as he did with most of his talents.)

Influence

He also liked to impress people he respected, not wanting them to think badly of him. He likes to be praised, and likes if you call him an "expert". Also, he is pretty easy to manipulate, so after you killed someone, and he got angry you won't receive a negative influence point, as you can always tell him what you have done was painful for you too, but was necessary. Later in the game he starts feeling, thinking, and acting as the Exile either when Light Sided, or when Dark Sided, you won't even have to explain the things. So influenced by the Exile Jedi Atton Rand will follow his leader, and sometimes he looks even more cruel, and has wider instincts then the Dark Exile. For example when the previous owner of the Ebon Hawk wants his ship back, the Dark Sided Exile does not want to give it back, while Atton proposes preventive measures. J When the man threatened them he would not give his ship up, and would do everything, to take it back, Atton told "lemme shot him in the back, no one has to know". :-) Here Atton is becoming cooler, ain't he? This makes even the ex-Sith Visas smiling. J J

Combat

Atton was also a fighter who refused to give up, often standing to rejoin a fight even when seriously wounded. Atton was skilled in combat, being an expert in the handling of pistols and a practitioner of Echani combat methods. When he starts fighting he often cries "it's time to even the odds", which means he is determined to take out some enemies. But he also cries "everyone down!" sometimes, which means he is anxious about his friends, and he wants them to stay in cover, while he takes down the enemy soldiers.

Computer, repair, and mechanical skills

He was also a competent hacker, was able to slice in computer systems, and to open some kind of locks. He often asked the others "let me take care of this", and opened the doors, the lockers, and hacked the computers as a real expert. After he had done that, he happily told "pure pazaak", which means easy pie, or not a big deal, it was easy as a round of pazaak with two ten cards. (which is the pure pazaak) He was also able to fix some vehicles, he repaired the speeder at Nar Shaddaa, and despite he was a fair pilot, when the Ebon Hawk was shot down by General Vaklu's fighters and crash-landed on Dxun, he proved he had some mechanical skill by repairing the damage done to the Ebon Hawk.

Special attributes

He relied on his instincts. These instincts turned out to be surprisingly reliable, though this could well be attributed to his Force sensitivity. Atton is the game character who repeats the classic line "I have a bad feeling about this" as a reference to the movies. Atton's "bad feeling" is also used as a small in-game feature: the game notes that when Atton is in your party and expresses his "bad feeling", then it is a good idea to save the game. But the most remarkable aspect of Atton's nature was his resistance to Jedi mind techniques. He originally taught these to himself so that he would make an effective assassin, as they would prevent him being detected and give him some resistance to Force powers. The defense was so effective that even the powerful, and strong Sith Kreia had to make a concerted effort to probe his mind. He later taught the Exile one of the techniques he used. It involved keeping the mind occupied, for example, by imagining playing pazaak or counting sounds made by the Ebon Hawk's propulsion.

If the Jedi Exile is played as female by the player, then Atton will have a possessive relationship with her. However I did not felt it necessary to try the game with a female protagonist, it is said to be a bit different, the ending is the same only a few dialogues changes. I played the game twice so far with a male character, first on the Light Side, and then on the Dark Side, but I could not open all videos, so I think there can be one or two new cut scenes too with a female protagonist, but this is only my idea, and that is not sure.

Canonically, Atton, and the other companions are supposed to survive the events of the game, help the Exile Jedi defeat the Sith Triumvirate and help rebuild the Jedi Order.

Take a look at my custom Atton Rand figure!

custom Atton Rand figure front view (bare handed, like in the first screenshot, you can enlarge it there)

custom Jedi Atton Rand figure (with a yellow saber like in the Korriban screenshot above, you can enlarge the pic there)

Thanks for your interest, and come back soon!

 

written by: Norbert Rostas 2008.06.20. the figure was made years before