He suffers from insomnia. I know the in-game mechanics have him always working at the cockpit because of game limitations, but I honest to God think he is actually running on maybe 3-4 hours of sleep max. He is always awake, always finding busywork, always doing something to keep him alert. Sleep makes him mentally vulnerable - it would be easy to peer into his mind when he’s dreaming. Also, he hasn’t been a deep sleeper ever since the Mando Wars - he’s experienced too many nighttime attacks/ambushes to ever truly relax again when he’s that vulnerable.
Despite the fact he has notoriously bad personal hygiene (which, y'know, is due to his untreated depression), he oddly is kind of a neat freak when it comes to keeping up the Ebon Hawk. He often spends his free time wiping down surfaces and keeping things in order. Maybe a leftover from his military days, wanting things to be up to snuff.
He was hired by Coorta and the other miners to smuggle the Exile off the Peragus station. Atton thought the job was suspicious and Coorta’s men were vague on the details, but at the end of the day Atton didn’t really care. It wasn’t until Atton was arrested that he learned the miners planned to smuggle a person - let alone a Jedi. But the main, irresistible draw for Atton was how dangerous Peragus was. Peragus was a literal floating minefield. Atton in the game literally will give the Exile a thorough explaination on why Peragus is a death trap, down to scientific detail. Atton didn’t really ask too many questions when he took the job because, well… Atton genuinely didn’t care and he was taking increasingly risky jobs because Atton had a death wish. Peragus was just another on a long list of risky, shady, increasingly dangerous jobs Atton took on.
Once upon a time there was an old video game about Jedi and ancient wars. And two people who met writing stories about that game and found they were magic together. You just never know what the universe….or the comments on your fanfic…might send you.
And sorry @arturas-writes I never want to hear “I can’t really paint” again after this birthday gift
Here’s an amazing commission of my Jedi Exile and Atton Rand that I got from @pxkibu back in 2020. KotOR isn’t normally Kibu’s jam, but she rocked this adorable piece. Thank you again, Kibu! :)
If I had to list my favorite Star Wars costumes, third place would go to Luke’s dad-rescuing goth number and runner-up to Padme’s meadow dress, but first place would go to something way more obscure: Atton Rand’s jacket.
An image seared into my mind.
KotOR II’s Atton Rand is Star Wars’ baddest Han Solo knockoff, and he’s got the duds to prove it. He’s wearing the same exact pair of pants and sexy cowboy holster, but like any good knockoff he’s added his own little something-something: fingerless gloves, a side part, and of course, those three extra sleeve layers onto the vest. Something about this jacket is so fun and spacey, so silly but so flattering, so dangerous but so approachable – in a word, handsome. It’s such a shame that you can only find it in one video game…
Or can you? KotORs I and II (2003-4) are clearly inspired by the Star Wars movies that immediately preceded them, Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002), with their shared themes of a corrupt Republic, a hypocritical Jedi Order, a cursed Chosen One, capitalist violence, and forbidden love. But the KotORs also had a weirder, more plot-significant influence: those 90s comics I’m always going on about, Tales of the Jedi! In fact, the KotORs are set one generation after TotJ and reference many TotJ characters by name, especially Exar Kun and various Siths.
But back to the jacket – did Atton make such a beautiful thing himself, or did that no-good pirate steal it right off the corpse of noble comic book character Andur Sunrider?!
The long sleeves and pocket were lost in the confusion.
The resemblance could be a coincidence, but it’s fun to imagine the black market shenanigans that might have transpired between Andur’s murder and Atton’s acquisition. I also love the parallel of the two men: Andur the gallant Jedi teacher, honorable husband and tragic father, versus Atton the AWOL murderer and romantic wastrel who humbles himself as your student and (sometimes) learns his lesson. They even have similar names. Anyway, you know I love to argue that Star Wars comicsdid it first.
But after Atton followed the Jedi Exile to the ends of the galaxy, what happened to the jacket?
Well, 4000 years passed, and it ended up with someone new:
The sleeves grew back.
DJ from The Last Jedi is the next character, timeline-wise, who has that excessive sleeve thing going on, and he’s exactly the sort of mysterious, debonair trickster who deserves this ancient hand-me-down. I’m sure Andur would not approve, but personally I can think of no more fitting fate for such a legendary garment than with someone who doesn’t join either side.
I’ll add onto this post if I ever find more instances of this sexy design in Star Wars, and I’ll try to imagine how each new owner got it, and how their stories align with the rest of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Jacket.
But let’s give three cheers for Andur Sunrider, who wore it first, and four cheers for Janine Johnston, who designed it.
Addendum:
Snoke’s ribbed robe is a bit too off-model to convince even me that it could be the same jacket, but it’s fun to imagine that DJ could have stolen it right out of the Supreme Leader’s closet. Perhaps the jacket has limited shape-shifting abilities?
The picture of Andur is from “Tales of the Jedi, issue 3: The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, part 1.” Dark Horse. December 1, 1993. Writer: Tom Veitch. Penciller: Janine Johnston. Inker: Mike Barreiro. Letterer: Willie Schubert. Colorist: Pamela Rambo.
Concept art of DJ by Jock (Mark Simpson), from The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, written by Phil Szostak, published 2017.
The picture of Snoke is from “The Rise of Kylo Ren” trade paperback. Marvel. August 11, 2020. Writer: Charles Soule. Penciller and Inker: Will Sliney. Letterer: Travis Lanham. Colorist: Guru-eFX.
atton rand did everything wrong and probably spent years battling depression and ptsd alone on nar shadda and then gave himself a new name as a reminder to “atone” and finds a beacon of light and redemption through the exile and goes on to be a founding pillar in the new jedi order and i cry about it constantly
