More to Explore | The Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Lost Generation

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is considered one of the best Star Wars single-player games (Knights of the Old Republic still exists). For one, the game mechanics are pretty cool: Slowing down blaster bolts to take care of enemies, lightsaber combat, and the addition of a skill tree all made Jedi: Fallen Order special even with initial bugs. But the thing that put it on the same level as KotOR is the story. And the core of the story is the importance of choice and how three characters got stuck carrying the weight of decisions from previous generations. Cal Kestis, Trilla, and Merrin’s lives were all affected by decisions that had nothing to do with them.

As of June 2021, the game has surpassed 20M players. That’s probably more eyeballs than most streaming shows which makes me wonder: Why haven’t these characters (particularly those main three) made their way to other screens? Of course, there is still more story to tell with Fallen Order 2 coming down the road, so Lucasfilm likely wants to keep these characters in the canon vault…but then what? Even if Cal and Merrin die in the sequel (Trilla is already gone), there are still stories in between.

So let’s take a closer look at the characters from the first game and how they could impact future stories.

Cal Kestis

The hero of Fallen Order and the only playable character, Cal Kestis is a former Padawan survivor of Order 66. When we first meet him, Cal is a shipyard worker on the junk planet Bracca, breaking down decommissioned ships for the Empire. One good deed (saving his co-worker from a deadly fall) puts him on the radar of the Inquisitors, and he goes on the run.

After former Jedi Cere Junda and the pilot Greez rescue Cal, he embarks on the game’s mission: Searching for a Jedi holocron with the names of Force-sensitive children in the galaxy. However, his experiences in-game with his former Master, the Nightsister Merrin, and learning about the Second Sister all factor into his final decision to leave the children’s destiny to the Force and destroy the holocron.

Cal is knighted during the prime years of the Empire and when the Jedi are almost non-existent. But he is still around post-Clone Wars, and theories have already started popping up on where Cal could reemerge in live-action. Depending on what happens in Fallen Order 2, Cal could be one of the youngest Jedi still alive after the events of Return of the Jedi. Like Ahsoka, his whereabouts during the rest of the Reign of the Empire era would have to be explained. I’m guessing Fallen Order 2 will do this as the trio of Force-users (Cal, Cere, and Merrin) will not slip by Palpatine or Vader’s radar.

I also do not expect Cal to be addressed in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series outside of mentions of past failures by the Inquisitors because anything else might give away whatever secrets Fallen Order 2 wants to keep.

Second with the Ninth Sister Inquisitor | credit Respawn and Lucasfilm ltd

The Second Sister aka Trilla Suduri

The Second Sister is shrouded in mystery until about halfway through the game when she is revealed to be Trilla Suduri, Cere Junda’s former Padawan. Cere gave up the location of Trilla while tortured at Fortress Inquisitorius, resulting in Trilla turning to the dark side.

Out of the three younger generation stories, Trilla’s is the most tragic. While Cal and Merrin have a path to healing, Trilla does not survive long after forgiving her former Master, Cere, and letting go of her hate. Darth Vader cuts the Inquisitor down, her last words “Avenge us!” just slipping out in time.

Because of the reach of Fallen Order, the Second Sister was an introduction for many to the Inquisitors, which will play a big part in Obi-Wan Kenobi. And Kenobi will take place four years after the events of Fallen Order, the Second Sister should at least be mentioned as a cautionary tale for the others.

Cal tries to appeal to Merrin | credit Respawn and Lucasfilm ltd

Merrin the Nightsister

When I wrote about the best canon contributions from Fallen Order, Merrin was thrown in with Taron Malicos and Dathomir, so I wanted to take some time and highlight her as a character. Like Cal, Merrin belonged to a group of powerful Force-wielding beings, the Dathomir witches.

Once only in Star Wars Legends, the Dathomir witches were reimagined for The Clone Wars, officially becoming a part of canon, mainly through the perspective of Asajj Ventress. But shortly before The Clone Wars end, Ventress gives her life to save the Jedi Quinlan Vos, who returns her body back to her homeworld. And so, for a long time, Ventress was assumed to be the last of the Dathomir witches.

In Fallen Order, just as we learn there are more Jedi survivors of Order 66, we meet a survivor of the Dathomir Massacre that killed all except Ventress and Mother Talzen (who would later meet her own fate at the hands of Jar Jar Binks of all beings). And Merrin has been on Dathomir the whole time, even when Obi-Wan and Quinlan returned Ventress’s body.

When we meet Merrin, she falls somewhere between Cal and Trilla, not quite forgiving of the trauma she experienced but not so enveloped in hate that she cannot see through Malicos’s lies. It is interesting then that she is the first one of the three to let go of her pain and move forward.

Like Cal, Merrin is still in the galaxy somewhere, and we will probably see her again in Fallen Order 2. Unlike Cal, Merrin represents the last of her kind. Therefore, she is more significant as a loose thread, especially if she is still around after the sequel game. Star Wars loves to fall back on the familiar, and even though the Nightsisters were relegated to the animation wing of Star Wars, putting them in the most high-profile game since Star Wars Battlefront II means there might be more to come from the Nightsisters. And this would have to involve Merrin somehow if the Nightsisters reappear after the Fallen Order period.

Battlefront II brought the story of Inferno Squad member Iden Versio to canon. And she has had interactions with the most recognizable Star Wars characters like Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian. Unfortunately, neither she nor the new characters surrounding her are to be found in animation or live-action. Iden and the Inferno Squad did get a tie-in novel but, as far as visibility, Battlefront II story mode has been the biggest audience for Versio.

I do not think the same level of obscurity will happen to the characters from Fallen Order. Lucasfilm has invested more money in marketing and merchandise (you can read more about the fascinating Jedi: Fallen Order campaign here). And, it is too convenient that all the main actors look identical to their game characters not to use some of them in live-action. And Hollywood is always trying to make video game adaptations (with varying degrees of success), and a Jedi: Fallen Order adaptation or continuation in series form would be a hit.

And the characters from Fallen Order will be getting a second game (not just a DLC) to prove why they should make their way out of the gaming console and into the streaming verse.