Jedi Master Vandar Tokare custom figure and article

Vandar Tokare was a male Jedi Master of Yoda's species. He was the head of the Dantooine Jedi Enclave Council during the Mandalorian Wars and the upcoming Jedi Civil War, holding He was friends with fellow Council member Vrook Lamar, usually having frequent disagreements even with him, most notably on the choice to train Revan once again in the ways of the Jedi after his fall to the dark side of the Force. We can find clues about their arguments, there is a battered protocol droid near the Dantooine Khoonda, that can be programmed with proper skills to play back old recordings with Vandar, Lamar, or the Exile Jedi. As Anakin Skywalker, Revan also separated the Council into two, because they all felt the extremely strong Force in both of these two heros, but their future was clouded by the dark side, and we now know that both youth talent was influenced by the Dark Side. But the masters did not saw the movies, did not played the game, they have to listen to their feelings, and they had to decide whether train Revan or not. With this, they gave him opportunity to influence the fate of the Galaxy, and influence even the future of those masters, who put their trust in him. Finally they decided to train Revan, but later Revan decided to leave the Jedi Order to help the Old Republic forces who were fighting the mandalorians in that times. Revan was followed by other renegade Jedi, including the Exile, who is the protagonist of the game Kotor2. The Exile left her Padawan back just to follow Revan into the battles, to fight the evil, to protect the innocents, don’t just sit there while the people are starving, dieing, and suffering. And this is where they confront the Jedi. And even the Jedi argued with each other, they did not now how they act properly. If they join the war, they will escalate the conflict, if they stay away, it may never end. Master Vandar, and the others knew the phrase, and used it, that the Jedi are not warriors, they are the keepers of the peace and the freedom. The are the protectors of the justice, the followers of the universal good and a kind of perfection. But the war changes everything. No one can remain the same being that he or she used to be. It makes an animal from the human kind, or even worse, since the animals would never do such madness. The souls die in the war, even if the body stays alive. The nightmare will always haunt the survivors, noone can forget the bloodshed, the sin of killing, even if it is ideologized and said to be that we did the right thing, and „just killed the evil enemy”. That is not true, and Master Vandar knew that. But he also knew that the joined jedi are in danger, the Dark Side can overwhelm them. They kill day by day, while their souls can die. They get used to the bloodshed, and not because of the phrase „kill or you’ll be killed”, but they will hate the enemy. Because the will see brothers collapse, and die on the battlefields. They will hear the detonation of the bombs, and they will hear the crying of the people. The will smell the blood, or the burned flesh. They will go to bed in the night with the fear of never waking up again. And the Dark Side soon will be victorious over them. Master Vandar knew that. He was old, and wise. Saw many horrible things, experienced many thing that the youngers never. He survived some bloody centuries during his life, and wished nobody to live the same things. Never ever.

He knew that the Jedi would join the war, they will lead new mass of people the the fronts. So there will be more victims, more deaths. And even the leaders, the jedi will die. And the soldiers without the leading Jedi Generals will run to certain death, or to kill many enemies with some kind of demonic rage. The „heads” the jedi should remain in their place. There has to be someone, who can think, who soothes tempers, who negotiates about the peace. There has to be someone who wants to solve the problems, rather than trying to kill anyone who thinks otherwise. The war can be finished by the stronger crushing the weaker one, but if it goes well with the truth? Will the looser accept the ideology of the victorious side? Won’t remain eternal wounds in the victims? The loser will not wait for a retort, the possibility of revenge? Just look at the conclusion of the World War 1, how many wounds were carried in the nations’ soul, how many territorial losses were, how much property damage, how much sorrow, and a complete generation grew up with these, and they just only waited for the possibility of strike back, thus virtually inevitably prepared for the second world war. Master Vandar was wise. Considered and decided that the Jedi Council will not fight. But they will constantly work on peace. While on the front Revan wanted to resolve the situation with weapons. Time will do justice.

Revan was the same genius as the Exile, the two men grabbed many Jedi who are trusting in them and in a good finish, faithfully followed them. Exile and Revan fought heroically at all times during the fighting, and slowly entered the rank of General. They kept winning the battles, but they only had to slaughter more and more systems, and the end of the war seemed to be further and further. They could not win, they could not put an end to the battles, there was always an other. Again, think of the World War 2 that affect the whole humanity, where at the end the US military deploys the atomic bomb for the first time in the world to force surrender the stubbornly defending Japan, and bombing them to break them. Obviously they did not want to agree with Japan. Obviously they knew that Japan will perhaps forever against them because of this. But they wanted to put an end of those terrible six years of running World War II. They dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki and on Hiroshima. Japan capitulated.

I have informed you about the tragedy of these renegade Jedis earlier, in my article of Revan. Exile’s personal tragedy was Malachor V. (This is very similar to the atomic bomb solution, that I mentioned above.) It was a planet, and there was a gigantic fight for its possession. It seemed to be an awful never-ending battle, which will take a terrible death-toll. To prevent this, Exile ordered to use the Mass Shadow Generator, a new super-weapon to end the egregious massacre. It is like Terminator 3 when the Skynet program was activated to kill the dangerous virus that attacked the global networks. In that film they released an even more dangerous virus on its way, which almost killed the human race. Exile almost did the same. He opened the box of Pandora, and ignited the never tested brutal weapon, which was developed by Bao-Dur. It works! It takes away the whole enemy army, but there is a small side-effect, it destroys the Army of the Republic, too! Exile feels responsible for the loss of those lives. The Force echoes the death of many, many cries, then dies in a second. Exile’s soul hurts physically. Maybe the same pain was when Master Yoda feels the pain of the killed Jedis after order 66, or what the elder Kenobi felt in EP. IV. when Alderaan was blew, and the all the civilians died. Exile was shocked the same. In addition he was responsible for the deaths, while the two other mentioned Jedi couldn’t been blamed. Exile is struggling, we wanna get to grips with the pain of his soul, but he finally can’t ease the weight, he quits the army. The other Jedis, also Revan and Malak stay, and fall deeper in the Dark Side. Exile all alone returns to Dantooine, and takes all responsibility for all his acts in front of the Jedi council. Vandar and the other Jedi know Exile well, they know he fought for a good aim. They also know that Exile and Revan are symbolical characters for the other Jedi. They can’t punish him for his sincerity, he was the only one who admitted what he did. But they afraid, other Jedis will make the same mistakes. So they deterrence Exile to make a lesson for other Jedis, and show others how a Jedi get close or join the Dark Side. So they banish Exile from the Jedi Order, they incapacitate him from Force powers with an ancient Jedi trick, they also delete his memories, and they bundle Exile off. Exile admits his guilty, he knows he acted against the will of the Order when he went to war, he violated rules, so he submit himself without resistance under the Jedi Order’s will, he lets them to do what they have to do, so he looses his Jedi abilities and his memory, and he starts a new life as an ordinary man. While Revan and the others go mad out there. They kill hundreds of people, thousands, and in their crazy rage, they join the Dark Side. Revan and Malak, the former Jedi become Sith. They go to Korriban, Malachor, and the learn the path of the Dark Side from Masters such Uthar Wynn, or from Darth Traya alias Kreia. Finally they become not only a Sith, but THE SITH, representing the ideology, the Sith Order itself.

Time goes by. The tide has turned. The Sith were victorious at many worlds. The Jedi are being pursued, and the evil is everywhere present. The Order at Dantooine was found, and attacked. The Masters are fleeing. The universe suffer under the Sith dictatorship. Complete Systems were ruined, and human lives were taken.

Meanwhile Vandar trained the next generation of Jedi, among them there are young talents. For example, Bastila Shan. She is able to use the Force Power Battle meditation on mastery level. But she is an adequate subject for Vandar in fencing and knowledge, so she will be entrusted with an important mission that can change the future and the fate of the galaxy. Until finally the right moment comes. In BBY 3957 the Jedi Council sent Bastila Shan and a small party to infiltrate and search Revan's ship to stop, or even kill the Sith Lord, who (just like Anakin) is not a Jedi by now, but a Sith, who is a threat for all, even for the Jedi Order. Bastila gets one of the top construction of the Old Republic, the so-called Old Republic Hammerhead Class Cruiser, (ORHHCC) one of the best vessels, to invade Revan’s Sith fleet. Bastila is in the capital ship, which was called Endar Spire. She organizes the moves from there, and waits for the right moment. Which finally came. Bastila and her team infiltrates Revan’s ship, finds Revan, and just wanna confront him, when Malak gives his fire order, thinking that was high time to refresh the Sith bloodline... After the first shot Revan falls, and hit his head into some hard thing, and almost die. Bastila saves his life, and drag the body out from the burning, falling ship into hers. They stabilize Revan's life signs, and manipulates his brain there. They wanna delete the Sith memories, trying to set back Revan's old Jedi identity with the Force. Making this a strange Force bond forms between the two.

Bastila contacted Master Vandar and reports that she has the "package", which means they caught Revan. Vandar instructed her to bring Revan home because he has plans of him. Revan has been presented with the Endar Spire crew as an injured, unconscious Old Republic soldier. Meanwhile, Malak continued to chase and attack them . Although the Endar Spire was shot down by the Sith, a few escape pods evacuate some survivors, so Carth Onasi, Bastila Shan and Revan as well. Finally getting back home to Dantooine, where Revan’s brain was deleted with an ancient Jedi trick, deleting the Sith identity and renewing the old Jedi memories. They start to bring him back to the Light, and although Revan is in a bit schizophrenic state first, but later he advances pretty well, coming back to the Light Side. The Jedi give a partner beside him, that Bastila Shan, who had by this time been intertwined with Revan a kind of Force bond, and later fell in love with him. But since Bastila herself was only a Padawan, so Vandar and the other Masters continuously provided supervision for them. They could act independently during missions, but had to report from time to time, how things have progressed as well as on the Star Map pieces, and then on the Star Forge itself, and other issues regarding the mission elements. Doing so, the Council helped Revan in everything, presenting them a kind of mentoring. Master Vandar provided to him a kind of liberal, free education, even though they knew he could fall back, they have not forced anything, but once again they gave him full freedom, letting him to make his own will and his own decisions. Though Bastila was beside him all the way, and Vandar also supported him, you can also play in Kotor the way that Revan fall to the Dark Side again. Although Vandar felt it, but he allowed him to live and to decide from his own feelings, his own will. This point is perhaps incomprehensible for many of us again, because after they let him to leave the Order and join the war, they seems to let him to turn away from the Light Side again, for the second time. This really requires a higher level of thinking, which is often incomprehensible to man. My example, but perhaps you can understand the analogy, that just as in Christianity we believe that God loves us so much that he lets us to decide alone, providing us own will, giving us the opportunity for our own journey, even with the risk that we counteract him, or we decide to denying him, even his existence, and we live in evil, but as the Bible also says God loved the world and his created beings (us) so much, that he allows us to turn against our creator, even if we won’t come out well from that. Something similar could be behind Master Vandar’s behavior. Perhaps because he believes in some universal truth, that everything eventually turns to good, and it will happen that was written, even if sometimes the way of the human will include detours, and evil things.

Master Yoda realizes similar things in the last episodes of CW6. When he realizes how perfect is the nature of the Force, he realizes that it will happen that way anyway, which was written in the Force. That is why he takes no actions against Anakin. That is why he saves Anakin in the vision when Anakin hangs over the nothing and Yoda catches him, turning his back to Palpatine, Yoda suffers a terrible Force lightning in his back, but Yoda saves Anakin no matter what he has to suffer. This thing is a parable, meaning he has to accept the will of the Force as that is, let the things happen in the sad outcome if it is necessary, either he has to suffer, or he has to die. The evil figuratively tortures him from behind, but Yoda sacrifices himself to save the one who will later ruin the entire Jedi Order. But Yoda knows that the Force will solve everything eventually, selecting those (Yoda and Kenobi) who will be used in the future to remedy things, to the restoration of universal truth. Interestingly, Star Wars uses two representatives of the same race, Yoda and Vandar to represent these exemplary and lofty ideals. And even with the time difference of 3-4000 years apart. Very interesting.

Master Vandar’s wisdom was legendary beyond these principles. He attributed the motto, which was spoken in many Padawan upbringing, and this was as follows: "The Eye Sees, but can not see itself. Anyone can be the eye, but the key to Jedi training is to be able to see oneself." This means that the Master taught all Padawans to get to know themselves, their values and mistakes as well. Only a self-identical Jedi is able to represent the truth, who is in the right place, and his belief is strong. Vandar never told what to see. What you must believe. He only gave specific guidance. From his experience, from his knowledge, advices given on the basis of his life. Then he unleashed the disciple to prevail, live the way as he want, use what he have what he have learned. Unfortunately, this liberal education has been failed. The man is vile. Greatness, honor, truth are a gift for a few, and adherence to these are rare. So unfortunately Vandar’s several Padawans fell. I have already spoken of Revan. The Jedi Exile (Meetra Surik) also fell, but then later came back to the Light, or there is Zayne Carrick known as the fictional comic book hero, as well. Bastila was only partly Vandar’s disciple, but she was also turned to the dark side by Malak for a short period of time. So either way we educate anyone (let is be your student, child, or anybody) as we let them out into the world, they will be surrounded by so much bad things, personnels, and influences, so that will be very difficult to remain moral and remain in the light.

These can cause the death of Master Vandar, based on the decisions taken in the game. If you play Dark Side in the game KotOR1, then Master Vandar will die during the siege of the Star Forge. In fact, Master Vandar will be there on the Old Republic Hammerhead Class Cruiser (ORHCC), where Forn Dodonna directs the Old Republic fleet. Bastila is Sith at this moment, and if the player also a Sith, Bastila will help the Sith fleet with her Battle meditation, making holes in the Old Republic fleet lines, disrupting the pilots, and with her help the Sith flew on Vandar’s ship, and they destroy it.

If we were on the good side while playing Kotor1, the Old Republic triumphs, blow up the Star Forge, and Vandar survives the battle. They awarded Revan and the other heroes at the end of Kotor1, and everything is going on. In this case, however, in 3952 BBY Jedi Master Atris called a Jedi Conclave under the strict agreement of secrecy on the Mid Rim world of Katarr, where the few Jedi who escaped the First Jedi Purge hoped that in communion with the Force-sensitive Miraluka, they would be able to identify the elusive Sith threat that was ending them. Many Jedi, including Tokare, attended the meeting, not knowing that Atris had secretly leaked knowledge of the gathering in the hopes that the enemy would reveal themselves. And that will happen, they will reveal themselves, but that will be disastrous, because Darth Nihilus sees an excellent opportunity to simultaneously destroy all the remaining Jedi on Katarr. Ruled by his hunger, Darth Nihilus was drawn from the Unknown Regions and fed upon all life on the planet, making the Jedi all but extinct, killing everybody. Darth Nihilus drained the Force from the entire planet with a hideous Force power. All living collapses and dies, so the Jedi who were present, Master Vandar as well. Nihilus went down to the planet, and walked among the lot of dead, contemplating pleased that not only the Jedi, but all Miraluka is deceased, having deprived them of all life-giving Force. But a Miraluka yet somehow survived the famous Visas Marr, whom Nihilus therefore took up and took her as his own apprentice, if she has been so strong that she survived, she will be a good servant for him. In any case, so this is the second way of Vandar Tokare's death, this thing is not canonical however, it all depends on which side the player chooses.

Master Vandar's voice was given by Tom Kane, as well as Yoda’s voice in the Clone Wars. Here in Hungary Yoda was voiced by Laszlo Versenyi, he was the voice in the films and also in the Clone Wars series, so I asked him to give a voice sample for master Vandar. This audio samples that you have heard during the start of the article were recorded well before his death. Now I write this Vandar presentation and publish this material to commemorate Uncle Laci, whom I met several times, and really liked him. I am delighted in particular that I had the opportunity to shake his hands, chat with him, even I could record his voice in addition, because it can remain for me as a relic, and it is perfect eternal memento for the readers of the CSW, remembering the voice of Yoda, Kitt (from Knight Rider), and Moff Tarkin (among many others) - Laszlo Versenyi Hungarian actor.

Custom Vandar Tokare figure front

Custom Master Vandar figure back

Master Vandar on aboard an Old Republic Hammerhead cruiser

Thank you for your attention, visit CustomStarWars soon again!

written by: Norbert Rostas 2016.02.10. the figure was made years before