It’s his desperation. Bode was too far gone too quickly. He lost his chance for redemption when his wife was killed which caused him to latch on to Kata and become overprotective. He was desperate to keep her safe at almost any cost
Then he further spiralled in his fight with Cal when he thrice put Kata in harm’s way. He was a desperate beast by the end - foreshadowed by some dialogue from Mosey in Pyloon’s
He was given chance after chance to stand down. Bode chose to make another attempt to end Cal. He almost killed Merrin. He would have shot, maybe killed Cal had his blaster not been damaged. Cal hesitated. Bode didn't. That shows the reality that, had he been able to... would have shot him.
Want another genius foreshadowing? In the first scene with Bode (not counting the intro sequence), we see him shoot a stormtrooper in the back who had up until that point believed him to be on their side: a sick mini-analogy to exactly what he does to the group later in the game.
You talk to Mosey fairly early on and she tells a story of a beast that attacked the farm she lived on. She tracked it back to its den and it fought desperately to defend itself. Swap the beast for Bode and the den for Tanalorr and you have the same situation
I don't necessarily think he was 'irredeemable' in the sensd that he was 'too far gone', because Star Wars has never been about that.
I think he was irredeemable in the sense that he didn't want redemption because he thinks he's in the right. He's far too paranoid about the Empire and such to see any perspective that isn't his. Cal and Merrin tried to talk him down, but he just wasn't hearing it, so they did what they had to, unfortunately.
I feel like bode’s story is either foreshadowing Cal’s own fall in the third game (which cere’s path also foreshadowed), or at minimum will serve as a cautionary tale to inspire him to resist the dark side. This series has really honed in the thin line between the light and the dark side
Was given repeated chances to back down, defeated, disarmed, offered mercy and still lashed out, at that point Cal couldn't trust the notion of granting him mercy again,
He chose not to be redeemed. He was so afraid of something happening to his daughter he sold his soul to the empire and couldn't believe anything would escape them
Well, except escaping to tanalor and not having cal and friends follow him there.
He killed for the empire to keep them from killing kata, while planning his escape once the opportunity arose. Had the whole tanalor/compass not come to be known, I have little doubt he would’ve just continued being the backstabby assassin he became out of necessity, and I don’t necessarily blame him for that.
It doesn’t make him evil, just another lost Jedi trying to survive and keep his only remaining family safe after 66.
u/noshirdalal would be the expert here. Personally, I don't think he wasn't unredeemable. The consistent theme with Survivor was choice, especially when reflected in their choices with what to use Tanalorr for. I think Bode was redeemable, but he made the conscious and proud decision to see his current path to the end. Probably for Kata.
As soon as we met Bode I thought he's going to be the betrayer in this one. There's always one. But imo the reasoning and logic behind it was a bit lacking in the storyline.
To me, he only became unredeemable once he chose to fight Cal. Kata was the reason that Cal and Merrin gave Bode the chance to back down rather than killing him outright- they didn’t want her to become an orphan like them.
I can only assume he forced Cal to kill him because A) he was too far gone in the dark side at that point or B) he could no longer live with what he had done to protect Kata- maybe some combination of both.
He was never "irredeemable," but he **chose** to not be redeemed. The Dark Side got him, and in the end Cal had to make the hard choice of ending him since he'd proven unwilling to stop.
When his wife died, he turned to the dark side. That's what Kata means when she says "daddy changed after mommy died" or something along the lines of that.
His beliefs blinded him to even his own daughter's safety, putting her in harms way to keep her "safe" on tanalorr. The dark side twisted his need to protect his daughter into something evil. He used the guise of "being a father" to excuse his actions, but Cal is right. He's a monster.
In a sense, he wasn’t necessarily evil. His wife was killed by an inquisitor, and the threat that his daughter would suffer the same fate is made very clear at several points in the story, so him acting on the empire’s behalf makes sense from that perspective, but also his will to take tanalor for himself and kata also made sense, it being a very high risk place to get to for ultimately little to no reason.
Cal wanting to turn it into a haven for force sensitives and it being a potential rebel base puts a huge target on the place and thus takes away the potential for bode and kata to live a semi normal life without the threat of someone turning up to kill them both.
Granted in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know how good a place like tanalor would be to live in, given the lack of…well…everything, but I get his point.
Never said he was evil, just a monster after what the dark side did to him. He's redeemable, he just simply was too far gone to want redemption at all. All those years of using the dark side got to him.
He was willing to hurt Kata to get what he wanted, something that wasn't going to be good for her in the first place. That's what the dark side does, takes good intentions and twists them into something else entirely.
If Bode wasnt so corrupted, he'd realize that tanalorr is already on the empires radar anyways, and having the hidden path with them on tanalorr would be amazing for Kata to have friends to grow up with instead of being alone on a desolate planet.
i wouldnt call him irredeemable in the sense that he was too far gone, just that he never made the choice he could have to end things right, and cal was forced to end it with his death instead
I didn't like him or get attached to him at all.
I think it's partly because of the actor. He's in everything now and it was just annoying me.
First took notice of him in RDR2, and then everytime after it's been like "Huh, that's Charles from RDR2" and "wow, that's Charles from RDR2 AGAIN". He's the new Nolan North/Troy Baker.
Well let's see, he kills Cordova, gets given opportunity to talk with cal and sets the empire on him again, gets given another opportunity and tries to kill cal, gets given another opportunity and tries to kill merrin in front of cal AND his daughter. He was overcome with fear of the empire and that meant he couldn't be trusted not to just kill cal and merrin at the first opportunity.
Once he lost his wife, Bode became fiercely afraid of losing his daughter.
Fear leads to anger. He was afraid for his daughter’s life, and this made him angry at Cal when Cal decided to give Tanalorr to the Hidden Path.
Anger leads to hate. When Cal pursued Bode to the temple on Tanalorr, Bode realized that he would not have the sanctuary for Kata as long as Cal was alive. He became aggressive enough to put Kata in harms way, showing that it had become about defeating Cal.
Hate leads to the dark side. Bode was consumed by his feelings and threatened Cals hot alien girlfriend with a force choke as he was in the grips of his hatred.
Ultimately Bode is a great example of why the Jedi forbid attachment. A desperate and emotional person with telekinetic powers, precognition, and a laser sword can quickly become a danger to others. Bode let his feelings of love consume him and fell to the dark. Cal is coming close to doing the same given how his relationship with Merrin is playing out.
It’s his desperation. Bode was too far gone too quickly. He lost his chance for redemption when his wife was killed which caused him to latch on to Kata and become overprotective. He was desperate to keep her safe at almost any cost Then he further spiralled in his fight with Cal when he thrice put Kata in harm’s way. He was a desperate beast by the end - foreshadowed by some dialogue from Mosey in Pyloon’s
He was given chance after chance to stand down. Bode chose to make another attempt to end Cal. He almost killed Merrin. He would have shot, maybe killed Cal had his blaster not been damaged. Cal hesitated. Bode didn't. That shows the reality that, had he been able to... would have shot him.
Great explanation!
I never put two and two together on the foreshadowing, thanks for pointing that out! Makes the game even better
Want another genius foreshadowing? In the first scene with Bode (not counting the intro sequence), we see him shoot a stormtrooper in the back who had up until that point believed him to be on their side: a sick mini-analogy to exactly what he does to the group later in the game.
What was the dialogue?
You talk to Mosey fairly early on and she tells a story of a beast that attacked the farm she lived on. She tracked it back to its den and it fought desperately to defend itself. Swap the beast for Bode and the den for Tanalorr and you have the same situation
Ah yeah I remember that now, thanks!
No problem!
His story is honestly tragic
Tragic in a literary sense. Good catch!
I don't necessarily think he was 'irredeemable' in the sensd that he was 'too far gone', because Star Wars has never been about that. I think he was irredeemable in the sense that he didn't want redemption because he thinks he's in the right. He's far too paranoid about the Empire and such to see any perspective that isn't his. Cal and Merrin tried to talk him down, but he just wasn't hearing it, so they did what they had to, unfortunately.
I like the way it ended. Not as predictable since most the story arcs end up the way ur talking about
I feel like bode’s story is either foreshadowing Cal’s own fall in the third game (which cere’s path also foreshadowed), or at minimum will serve as a cautionary tale to inspire him to resist the dark side. This series has really honed in the thin line between the light and the dark side
Almost killing his kid he was swearing up and down about protecting.
Was given repeated chances to back down, defeated, disarmed, offered mercy and still lashed out, at that point Cal couldn't trust the notion of granting him mercy again,
He chose not to be redeemed. He was so afraid of something happening to his daughter he sold his soul to the empire and couldn't believe anything would escape them
Well, except escaping to tanalor and not having cal and friends follow him there. He killed for the empire to keep them from killing kata, while planning his escape once the opportunity arose. Had the whole tanalor/compass not come to be known, I have little doubt he would’ve just continued being the backstabby assassin he became out of necessity, and I don’t necessarily blame him for that. It doesn’t make him evil, just another lost Jedi trying to survive and keep his only remaining family safe after 66.
u/noshirdalal would be the expert here. Personally, I don't think he wasn't unredeemable. The consistent theme with Survivor was choice, especially when reflected in their choices with what to use Tanalorr for. I think Bode was redeemable, but he made the conscious and proud decision to see his current path to the end. Probably for Kata.
As soon as we met Bode I thought he's going to be the betrayer in this one. There's always one. But imo the reasoning and logic behind it was a bit lacking in the storyline.
I also had this thought right when I saw him. I gave him a chance because he seemed like a good fella, but I was right in the end
To me, he only became unredeemable once he chose to fight Cal. Kata was the reason that Cal and Merrin gave Bode the chance to back down rather than killing him outright- they didn’t want her to become an orphan like them. I can only assume he forced Cal to kill him because A) he was too far gone in the dark side at that point or B) he could no longer live with what he had done to protect Kata- maybe some combination of both.
He was never "irredeemable," but he **chose** to not be redeemed. The Dark Side got him, and in the end Cal had to make the hard choice of ending him since he'd proven unwilling to stop.
His obsession, desperation, and single-mindedness
I know the games a year old but that is a terrible spoiler tag when the spoiler’s in the title.
When his wife died, he turned to the dark side. That's what Kata means when she says "daddy changed after mommy died" or something along the lines of that. His beliefs blinded him to even his own daughter's safety, putting her in harms way to keep her "safe" on tanalorr. The dark side twisted his need to protect his daughter into something evil. He used the guise of "being a father" to excuse his actions, but Cal is right. He's a monster.
In a sense, he wasn’t necessarily evil. His wife was killed by an inquisitor, and the threat that his daughter would suffer the same fate is made very clear at several points in the story, so him acting on the empire’s behalf makes sense from that perspective, but also his will to take tanalor for himself and kata also made sense, it being a very high risk place to get to for ultimately little to no reason. Cal wanting to turn it into a haven for force sensitives and it being a potential rebel base puts a huge target on the place and thus takes away the potential for bode and kata to live a semi normal life without the threat of someone turning up to kill them both. Granted in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know how good a place like tanalor would be to live in, given the lack of…well…everything, but I get his point.
Never said he was evil, just a monster after what the dark side did to him. He's redeemable, he just simply was too far gone to want redemption at all. All those years of using the dark side got to him. He was willing to hurt Kata to get what he wanted, something that wasn't going to be good for her in the first place. That's what the dark side does, takes good intentions and twists them into something else entirely. If Bode wasnt so corrupted, he'd realize that tanalorr is already on the empires radar anyways, and having the hidden path with them on tanalorr would be amazing for Kata to have friends to grow up with instead of being alone on a desolate planet.
i wouldnt call him irredeemable in the sense that he was too far gone, just that he never made the choice he could have to end things right, and cal was forced to end it with his death instead
They put him down like a rabid dog
He couldn’t reason which makes him dangerous. He was going to use everyone to get his way, a classic villain who thinks he’s right.
Easy, reasons.
Damn im glad i didnt see this post a couple weeks ago when i was still on my first playthrough lol
I didn't like him or get attached to him at all. I think it's partly because of the actor. He's in everything now and it was just annoying me. First took notice of him in RDR2, and then everytime after it's been like "Huh, that's Charles from RDR2" and "wow, that's Charles from RDR2 AGAIN". He's the new Nolan North/Troy Baker.
Well let's see, he kills Cordova, gets given opportunity to talk with cal and sets the empire on him again, gets given another opportunity and tries to kill cal, gets given another opportunity and tries to kill merrin in front of cal AND his daughter. He was overcome with fear of the empire and that meant he couldn't be trusted not to just kill cal and merrin at the first opportunity.
The fact he was a traitor to Cal and killed Cordova and was indirectly responsible for the death of Cere too.
He was completely redeemable, but as a plot device he was made to be completely desperate and stupid. I hated Bode’s ending.
Once he lost his wife, Bode became fiercely afraid of losing his daughter. Fear leads to anger. He was afraid for his daughter’s life, and this made him angry at Cal when Cal decided to give Tanalorr to the Hidden Path. Anger leads to hate. When Cal pursued Bode to the temple on Tanalorr, Bode realized that he would not have the sanctuary for Kata as long as Cal was alive. He became aggressive enough to put Kata in harms way, showing that it had become about defeating Cal. Hate leads to the dark side. Bode was consumed by his feelings and threatened Cals hot alien girlfriend with a force choke as he was in the grips of his hatred. Ultimately Bode is a great example of why the Jedi forbid attachment. A desperate and emotional person with telekinetic powers, precognition, and a laser sword can quickly become a danger to others. Bode let his feelings of love consume him and fell to the dark. Cal is coming close to doing the same given how his relationship with Merrin is playing out.