Dissident Companions

I started playing again on my Jedi Knight one or two weeks ago. And I was thinking about why Lord Scourge was still hanging around. I don't really remember if he gave me a reason for staying with me after I killed the emperor, can anyone remind me?

But then I also started thinking about how dull it is that you get stuck with companions that totally disagree with your character's behavior and opinions on most topics, and you can't leave them nor affect their personality. Why? If you have to make us stick with these companions at least make us able to affect their morality, like in Kotor.

Why would Scourge stick around when he completely disagree's with everything I do? Why can't I, as a light side Jedi, kick him out (or even capture him, he's a sith for crying out loud) ? And why can't I reprogram HK-51 to be less interested in "deleting" people, and more interested in protecting people?

Gah, well I had to vent somewhere. But I guess my point is, if we have to be stuck with these predetermined companions, at least make us able to affect their personality/morality. Maybe with conversations, actions, or in the case of droids reprogramming.

Scourge will stay until he is sure the Emperor left us no surprises.

You should see Skadge.... I hate that guy so much.

Ahh ok.. Well that doesn't really mean he has to stay with me. We could contact each other if something happened.


Hmm don't know who that is xD

Scourge is sort of an odd fellow. He obviously follows you because you're the Jedi he saw in his vision 300 years ago as the one who would defeat the Emperor. He'll stay with you until he is certain there is nothing left of the Emperor. As he states, "I'll always be Sith, but that doesn't mean we can't help each other", so since they share a common enemy, he sticks around. Besides, I don't really think Scourge could go back that easily. He's committed high treason to the Empire and there's obviously another Emperor's Wrath out there now, who would probably hunt down Scourge if he/she was aware of Scourge (which he/she is not).

Then there's also the amusement factor. As Scourge notes in one of his companion dialogues, he enjoys trying to plant seeds of doubt and darkness in a light-sided Jedi Knight, trying to cultivate the strength of the Sith in him/her, though he states that he's doing that "purely for his own amusement".

A more frustrating "dissident companion" is Ashara. If you're a DS SI she's the equivalent of a LS JK's Scourge- can't change her and probably don't want her on your ship. The fact that a SW can have Jaesa go one way or the other likely means the thought was there, it just wasn't further implemented.

Another reason for Scourge to stick around is the stock line all non-LI companions give in the end (I'll-be-here-for-your-legacy-etc). If you're the least bit DS- and take the DS convo choice- his assertion that he'll train your child(ren) is very compelling. What else does he have to do? As Ben pointed out, he can't exactly go waltzing back to the Empire...and do you really see him becoming another Praven, even if the Jedi would have him (huge 'if')? In the legacy context, the JK may be the only means by which he could return to the Empire- via the JK's offspring.

(edit: the aforementioned final conversation, if you're LS and choose LS, still has him claiming that he'll hang around to see to your kids but it takes a more menacing tone; he implies that as a Jedi you're a waste of power and that he won't allow the same "mistake" to occur again)

I tried to think it out- hope that made some sense, the caffeine's just not kicking in fast enough today

Yes and no. Ashara is more logical than anything. I used her on my DS Sorc more or less from 35-50 and managed ~7k Affection without gifts. For example, if you blow up an orphanage because it's fun, she will hate it. If, however, you can provide some sane reason it's necessary to blow up said orphanage, she will like it.

Point conceded about Ashara - she does have shades of grey if you're logical. I only caught a few glimpses of that when trying to max her affection via dailies.

Bounty Hunter companion on Belsavis. Houk psychopath killer who badmouths you pretty much all the time and you HAVE to take him along. God, my Bounty Hunter would've shot him then burned his corpse for good measure

His final conversation is pretty great. Y'know, in that 'actually terrible and made me renew my confusion as to why I keep him around' kind of way.

Sorry there Skadge buddy, but when the best you can muster is 'I've decided you're sort of alright but I'll still kill you one day because lol', I'm going to continue wanting to introduce you to the airlock.