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Knights of the Old Republic 45: Destroyer, Part 1

What is it ? : In the past Captain Golliard attends an academy, making a delivery, he is told of a Zeltron who is too wild for the Academy so takes her, Chantique.
In the current day she is Galliards boss, and they are at a slave camp where the slaves are forced to fight one another. One captive, a Republic Officer captured and put into the arenas draws their attention as he manages to defeat his opponent. So they put him against Snout, a Caamasi, a race which shares memories, so Snout has all of the memories of all of the Caamasi who have been in these arenas. The republic officer beats Snout, and Chantique gets a closer look at him.
Afterwards, the Republic Officer apologises to Snout for hurting him, and Snout speaks, apparently for the first time anyone remembers, revealing that he used to be Ralthar Sitan, a historian until he was brought here.
The officer reveals that he is really Zayne Carrick, and the Caamasi senses he is a Jedi, and uses his ability to share memories with Zayne, showing him the entire history of this place and all the violence and pain that occurs here. Which overwhelms Zayne and he collapses.
Chantique realises what has happened, and knows who he is, finding a tracking bug that Jarael placed on him. When he awakens he is in her quarters as she attempts to seduce him, but his new memories show him that this place is pointless, the pain and violence are done for no reason. She counters with that Jedi do violence, but just justify it. She senses something more though, and realises that he has become close to Jarael, so now knowing the history of this place wonders how his friend could have been part of all this.
She tells him that Edessa, Jarael's original name is gone, and the markings on her face spell out in the ancient language of the Crucible her true name, Destroyer . . . .

High Points : I have to admit I didn't realises it was Zayne until he revealed it, even though the clues were there, since Zayne isn't very good at fake names, so claiming to be Carth was a big indicator. But the surprise worked for me and made sense. I really liked Zayne instantly becoming an expert on these slave pits, by being given centuries of memories by Snout, and I wonder if this will play a large part in his future campaign against the Crucible, as he now has experience, not just advice from Jarael.

Low Points : Although there's some really good world building going on here, it's at the expense of anything much happening. We get a glimpse at how Golliard and Chantique met, then Zayne in disguise fighting some arena fights, him getting a blast of knowledge and then getting caught, I was kind of surprised when the issue ended as it barely felt like any story had happened.

So what do you really think ? : Apart from being over without anything happening, it's a solid issue, and I really enjoyed the journey it took us on, introducing the arenas and the slaves that fight there. But his being a two parter, I wonder if all that effort is for naught as we'll leave it behind as we move onto the next.

Final Words : I really want them to make something of the knowledge that Snout imparted to Zayne, the racial memories of the Caamasi. It'd be great if this becomes a real weapon that he can use, inside knowledge of the Crucible which he can use to take them down. But I worry that it's just going to have been used this once, and will now be forgotten.

Score : 8.5/10

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