Lana Appreciation Thread - Love for the Dark Advisor! Haters, please stay away,

[IoNonSoEVero]

I think what the devs should have done (and maybe hopefully will do in the future) was to make all of her different appearances up till now available as customization options (I would pay so much $$$ for her SoR appearance! Even with the ms paint eyeliner lmao). That way everyone would be happy!!!

 

And thanks! I loved the article too, I've had it bookmarked for months now lol

 

ITA. That would have been brilliant. She has a different body type and I felt that the devs should have made maybe five or ten customizations for her, the way they do for some of the other companions, instead of going with the customizable model. So you could buy a customization and get your SoR Lana, Mercenary outfit Lana, the one they have now; maybe one in traditional Sith clothing, maybe the current Lana body and face but with the SoR outfit, or the SoR face with the gray outfit, etc.

[JakRoanin]

That story was exceptional, although I am surprised they made her Father a businessman, and they seemed to set her Trials with that of the SI... that contradicts her being around at the time of the Treaty of Coruscant... Still, it does highlight the birth of her sternly pragmatic nature. Her companions were also fascinating. Something like it in an actual conversation would have been a dream to have.

[Kraytdragonegg]

I hope how we will get in the future more Lana content since she is my favorite sith now in which we will see further development of her character , and one more chance to get a LI lock for her for the people like me which screwed their romance in KOTFE chapter 9 because of the confusion with that cantina scene which never indicated to us how if we don't pick there non flirt option would lose the romance. My sorceress likes her more than her original companions, Andronikos was just a generic pirate for her and Talos not really her type while Ashara was to childish for her taste, and she finally found her soulmate in another reasonable pragmatic sith.

 

I 100% agree with you there. I really want to see more backstory because all Sith have to go through a load of bs just to exist. Maybe they can introduce a side-quest about her former master or something similar. It's sad you missed the romance lock though. I've got a few characters who have no romances at all but that must suck.

[Kraytdragonegg]

That story was exceptional, although I am surprised they made her Father a businessman, and they seemed to set her Trials with that of the SI... that contradicts her being around at the time of the Treaty of Coruscant... Still, it does highlight the birth of her sternly pragmatic nature. Her companions were also fascinating. Something like it in an actual conversation would have been a dream to have.

 

I don't see how the trials necessarily have to be set during the same time as the SI. From reading it it seemed to me that Tulak Hord had an absolute s***load of different relics lying around in his tomb (someone could have subbed any other ancient Sith tomb for story's sake). Your curiosity raises some interesting points to think about. If Lana was already a Sith during the Treaty of Coruscant and no longer an acolyte she must be of rather venerable age, Harkun too before he died (canonically).

[JakRoanin]

Its in her codex entry.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I don't see how the trials necessarily have to be set during the same time as the SI. From reading it it seemed to me that Tulak Hord had an absolute s***load of different relics lying around in his tomb (someone could have subbed any other ancient Sith tomb for story's sake). Your curiosity raises some interesting points to think about. If Lana was already a Sith during the Treaty of Coruscant and no longer an acolyte she must be of rather venerable age, Harkun too before he died (canonically).

 

If you do the math she's over 40. Someone worked it out in another thread here. I wouldn't call that 'venerable' but she isn't 20. Harkun's Codex just says "by the time of the Cold War" he was an overseer, but there's nothing to say he wasn't there before then. In the SI story when he's ranting and raving, he indicates he's been there for a long time and has been training acolytes for IIRC decades.

Edited March 10, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[JakRoanin]

I'm fine with her age! Why shouldn't she be?

[Kraytdragonegg]

If you do the math she's over 40. Someone worked it out in another thread here. I wouldn't call that 'venerable' but she isn't 20. Harkun's Codex just says "by the time of the Cold War" he was an overseer, but there's nothing to say he wasn't there before then. In the SI story when he's ranting and raving, he indicates he's been there for a long time and has been training acolytes for IIRC decades.

 

Color me surprised. Firstly, because Sith aging tends to take a toll on the physical attributes. Secondly, quite impressed but probably oversight, that Bioware would even have a female LI in her 40s. This makes me like her more but now I'm gonna be stuck begging for background story (imagination runs freely in the meantime). Consider, even young Raina has a decent backstory for her age.

[IoNonSoEVero]

Color me surprised. Firstly, because Sith aging tends to take a toll on the physical attributes. Secondly, quite impressed but probably oversight, that Bioware would even have a female LI in her 40s. This makes me like her more but now I'm gonna be stuck begging for background story (imagination runs freely in the meantime). Consider, even young Raina has a decent backstory for her age.

 

I love that they have it that way. They have never come out and given her an official year of birth, just the Codex clue, and I am going to guess it's because of ageism that might happen (some people act like jerks about women who aren't 25 year old Barbies). The Sith who seem to look really aged are the ones who seem to be really deep in the dark side, like Zash or Baras, so Lana's probably okay there.

 

If i knew they wouldn't screw it up, I would love a backstory for her.

 

There are a few other women confirmed to be over 40 in the game, but only one is a LI:

 

Satele Shan (the Wiki gives her year of birth as 3699, so she's 69 now)

Kaliyo (said to be 29 when SWTOR starts so she would be 42 now)

Hylo Visz (the Wiki gives her a year of birth before 3681 so she'd be at least 51 in game time now)

[MikeCobalt]

Everyone of those ages seem to be about right. As far as Lana being over 40; that doesn't change my opinion even alittle. Lana's a good character overall.

[JakRoanin]

Quinn is also an older LI it's not any big deal.

[IoNonSoEVero]

Everyone of those ages seem to be about right. As far as Lana being over 40; that doesn't change my opinion even alittle. Lana's a good character overall.

 

I don't think it should change anyone's opinion either - she is wonderful.

 

Plenty of the male LIs are 40 or 50+ and nobody thinks anything of it. Quinn, Andronikos, Jorgan and Felix Iresso all are, and nobody questions how hot and awesome they are if they're into those characters or even considers their age as an issue at all. It should be just the same for our ladies.

Edited March 10, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[JakRoanin]

Jorgan is only 40 in KOTET. Iresso is not near 50 either. Still, that is not the point. There are options to flirt with Satele, Senya, and Acina, Ageism isn't or shouldn't be an issue. Lana's age isn't an issue. However, it would be nice if we got glimpses into the stories of her life.

[IoNonSoEVero]

You know what, I'm not even going to bother. Edited March 10, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[McBaal]

I remember reading somewhere that Lana just finished here time as an acolyte (by getting the acolytes to team up on some suicide mission into the tombs instead of killing each another over the relic) and traveled to Hoth when the treaty of Coruscant was signed.

With 10 years between the great galactic wars, the years of the second war and then 5 years before KOTFe it is safe to say that Lana is at least in her late 30s and way older than most other classes except maybe the smuggler and bounty hunter. However, i don't realy care. It is safe to say that even humans can get pretty old in the SW galaxy if they dont die by blaster fire, a lightsabre through their chest or get clubbed to death by space teddies

So most likely Lana is still in her 1/3 of the expected lifetime, even without Sith stuff for extended life. Also the Jedi and Sith characters are no young Padawans / Akolytes either during KOTFE. The story until KOTFE stretches over years. I think in KOTFE the expected life difference between the Outlander and Lana is in average about 15 years (thx to the damn carbonite freezing, another reason to cut off Arcanns head...) But Lana seems to have looked out for herself during those years, so all my non Jedi knight characters get ***** when looking at Lana and are still madly in love with her (Kira 4 ever #1, sorry Lana)

[JakRoanin]

One thing I've learned in life is that age does not reflect life experience! I know children with far more experiences than middle-aged people.

[SithKoriandr]

Figuring all the force users are likely to be late teens to early twenties at the start and 5 years later meets Lana, she's likely what, 5-10 years older, with 10-15 older due to carbonite, when the PC would have had about another year or two tacked on before being frozen?

 

Lana is awesome regardless

[IoNonSoEVero]

Figuring all the force users are likely to be late teens to early twenties at the start and 5 years later meets Lana, she's likely what, 5-10 years older, with 10-15 older due to carbonite, when the PC would have had about another year or two tacked on before being frozen?

 

Lana is awesome regardless

 

I always count the carbonite because their chronological age does advance, but 5-10 years seems about right to me. I always head canon the Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor as being in the 18-19 year old range and the Sith Warrior and Jedi Consular being early to mid 20s. According to the timelines I've seen, there are 6 years for the time of the class stories and all the expansions up to KOTFE.

 

They have some age differences among the male LIs - if your Sith Inquisitor is 18, there's a 17 year age difference between her and Andronikos (who is born in 3678 and thus is 35 when the story starts). Similarly, Quinn is 37 when the story starts (DOB 3680), so even if your Sith Warrior is, say, 25, there's a 12 year age difference. Doc's only 27 at the beginning of the class story, but if your JK is 19, that's still an 8 year spread.

 

IMHO age is all relative in the Star Wars universe, there are a lot of ways people stay vital, and considering some characters like Scourge, Vowrawn and Marr are still vital and active (or were, in Marr's case) when they're what we would consider "older", the character's ages are drops in the bucket that don't matter.

[JakRoanin]

When Lana get's Theron captured she says

Clearly the ends have justified the means...

 

This is whole summation of Machiavellian Philosophy. She didn't throw Theron to the wolves out of evilness or because he's Republic. She did it because in her mind it was the easiest and most effective way to advance her agenda. I don't buy her excuse for not letting him volunteer but that's just bad writing, not an indication of her morality. It really doesn't matter if you believe she was right or wrong. In her mind anything that efficiently gets you to the goal is the correct course of action, faffing around to either hurt or help others wastes time and resources therefore is "wrong."

 

She calls herself Pragmatic, I would say she's practical. Nevertheless if we could hook up NPC's with each other I think she and Quinn are a perfect match.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I 100% agree with you there. I really want to see more backstory because all Sith have to go through a load of bs just to exist. Maybe they can introduce a side-quest about her former master or something similar. It's sad you missed the romance lock though. I've got a few characters who have no romances at all but that must suck.

 

Have you ever seen Leliana's Song in Dragon Age? That is Leliana's backstory before she meets the Warden in DA:O. You get to play as Leliana, IIRC. It would be nice if they did that for Lana.

[BlastBoomArt]

When Lana get's Theron captured she says

 

This is whole summation of Machiavellian Philosophy. She didn't throw Theron to the wolves out of evilness or because he's Republic. She did it because in her mind it was the easiest and most effective way to advance her agenda. I don't buy her excuse for not letting him volunteer but that's just bad writing, not an indication of her morality. It really doesn't matter if you believe she was right or wrong. In her mind anything that efficiently gets you to the goal is the correct course of action, faffing around to either hurt or help others wastes time and resources therefore is "wrong."

 

She calls herself Pragmatic, I would say she's practical. Nevertheless if we could hook up NPC's with each other I think she and Quinn are a perfect match.

 

I have to disagree, especially with your repeated use of the word machiavellian. It implies a lack of morals, but we know for a fact that Lana has a very rigid sense of morals, they're just different than most peoples'. She places her service to the Empire at the very top of her priorities. She wants to see it and it's citizens thrive and prosper. And if that means she has to work with the Republic, or even form a completely seperate faction to see that the Empire has a chance of survival, then so be it.

 

In the case of lieing to Theron: she treasures his friendship of course, but she will do exactly what is necessary to ensure that there is a 0% chance of her plan to save the Empire from failing. It had nothing to do with saving time or resources, there was a possibility for Theron to be discovered and DIE if he knew, which would make all of their planning for nought and ensure the Empire's (as well as the Republic's) destruction. She wasn't going to take the risk, even at the cost of losing Theron's trust. More than anything else, Lana is patriotic. She doesn't do these things to serve herself, she does it for the greater whole. She is cunning and relentless, absolutely, but she is not machiavellian.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I have to disagree, especially with your repeated use of the word machiavellian. It implies a lack of morals, but we know for a fact that Lana has a very rigid sense of morals, they're just different than most peoples'. She places her service to the Empire at the very top of her priorities. She wants to see it and it's citizens thrive and prosper. And if that means she has to work with the Republic, or even form a completely seperate faction to see that the Empire has a chance of survival, then so be it.

 

In the case of lieing to Theron: she treasures his friendship of course, but she will do exactly what is necessary to ensure that there is a 0% chance of her plan to save the Empire from failing. It had nothing to do with saving time or resources, there was a possibility for Theron to be discovered and DIE if he knew, which would make all of their planning for nought and ensure the Empire's (as well as the Republic's) destruction. She wasn't going to take the risk, even at the cost of losing Theron's trust. More than anything else, Lana is patriotic. She doesn't do these things to serve herself, she does it for the greater whole. She is cunning and relentless, absolutely, but she is not machiavellian.

 

I'm ignoring that poster and will not respond to them - but I couldn't have said this better. Thank you.

Edited March 11, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[JakRoanin]

I have to disagree, especially with your repeated use of the word machiavellian.

 

One of the Dictionary's definition of Machiavellian is... being or acting in accordance with the principles of government analyzed in Machiavelli's The Prince, in which political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described.

 

I don't know if anyone in this thread has actually read The Prince, or read any other material or watched any documentaries' regarding Machiavellian Philosophy, but it's the connotation of the word you're all reacting too, and not the facts.

 

Machiavelli never advocated evil for evil's sake. His philosophy advocated doing whatever is necessary to accomplish a goal. Right or Wrong is not an issue. Achieving your goal is of paramount importance, especially when that goal is geared toward "a greater good" IE 'a prince's kingdom.

 

I feel bad that people think that I'm saying Lana is evil or somehow immoral. That isn't what I mean at ALL. I'm saying she is willing to Sacrifice conventional morality to achieve the goal of saving the Galaxy.

 

Again she actually says this in the GAME.

 

I'm not trying to make Lana look bad. If you really think I am, then it's because you have a pop culture understanding of Machiavellian Philosophy, Quinn also fits this way of thinking perfectly.

[Eshvara]

I think the term Machiavellian applies more to someone like Vowrawn rather than Lana. Not to say Lana can't be some of the terms that also apply to said word.

It doesn't really seem that some posters agree with said term, which is fine. I don't think either of you are necessarily wrong.

 

Some words from a dictionary

 

artful backdoor calculating calculation conniving conspiratorial crafty cunning devious disingenuous fox foxy guile legerdemain Machiavellian scheme sleight of hand sneaky trick tricky underhand wily

 

I think the bolded ones fit with Lana, which apparently are synonyms for Machiavellian. I know some words just don't sit well with people! Like Obesity/obese! Even though its a perfectly normal medical term, nobody really wants to be called that way.

anyway, my two credits. happy fangirling/boying!

Edited March 11, 2018 by Eshvara

[DuchessKristania]

So, I do not get along with Lana, like at all. However, a friend and guildie started this thread so I feel compelled to support it by posting. I will just unload all the Lanas from various toons into this thread. Be free, Lanas. This is for the best, Lanas. Your people are waiting and your absence will make room for all the Vectors I intend to collect.

 

I will say one nice thing though, her VA has a lovely voice.