- "I'm Mira. I'm the best bounty hunter in this system—and that's not me bragging, that's fact."
- ―Mira
Mira was a human female Mandalorian Neo-Crusader and bounty hunter-turned Jedi Sentinel and one of the Lost Jedi from the moon Nar Shaddaa, serving as one of the followers of Meetra Surik, the Jedi Exile, during her search for lost Jedi Masters in 3951 BBY.
Biography[]
- "She was not born to be a predator, despite her true father and the life she lived within the shadow of Nar Shaddaa."
- ―Darth Traya
Mira was born in 3974 BBY.[2] As Mandalorians raided worlds on the Outer Rim during the Mandalorian Wars, Mira was taken in as a slave when her home was sacked. Mira was raised by the Mandalorians from a young age but they later accepted her into a Mandalorian squad, and she was taught how to fight, hunt, and survive like a Mandalorian, and was treated as a part of the unit. However, at the age of fourteen, the Battle of Malachor V erupted. Mira lost her adopted family when the Mass Shadow Generator activated.
With the Mandalorians crushed at Malachor V, the Galactic Republic was flooding with refugees, and many of them—including Mira—ended up in the refugee sector of Nar Shaddaa. To survive in the hostile environment, she became a bounty hunter. While she worked for credits, she recognized that the Mandalorian Wars left people scattered and lost. Her wish was to find these people and begin to piece the galaxy back together and then perhaps find herself or a new family. Her provocative clothing was a device to distract male opponents so that she could defeat them and check any outstanding bounties on them. Unlike other bounty hunters, who enjoyed killing their victims, Mira believed that a good bounty hunter did not need to kill their targets—especially if they knew their targets well. Despite her strange beliefs, she soon became successful, and that success predictably led her enemies to envy. Eventually, she gained the attention of an unknown being who employed the Wookiee Hanharr to hunt her.
Hanharr planned to ambush Mira in vents beneath the Nar Shaddaa docks and drive her into some mines he placed in escape tunnels, but Mira outwitted him by remotely disabling the mines and re-enabling them when Hanharr was pursuing her. Hanharr survived the explosion—barely—and begged Mira to end his torment by killing him. However, Mira felt pity for him and saved his life. Unknown to Mira, this caused Hanharr to owe Mira a Wookiee life debt.
According to the Wookiee code, a Wookiee should pledge a life debt to his savior. However, Hanharr possessed a hatred for humans so extreme that it drove him to insanity. While Hanharr respected the life debt he owed to Mira, his madness caused his interpretation of that life debt to become twisted and evil. Hanharr considered it a form of 'living death' to owe a life debt to a human such as Mira. Consequently Hanharr focused all of his hatred for humanity upon Mira and instead of guarding Mira's life, Hanharr continually hunted Mira and threatened to kill her. Hanharr would often stalk Mira, grab her by the throat and promise to derive pleasure from killing her sometime in the future, when the time was right. Mira often told Hanharr that she didn't want his life debt but Hanharr's insanity meant that he could see no way out other than to kill Mira.
The conflict reached its culmination when Goto, an elusive crime lord, announced Meetra Surik's arrival on Nar Shaddaa. Hanharr, as well as a number of other bounty hunters, started looking for Surik, each hoping to receive the bounty Goto had put for every remaining Jedi. Mira, however, was hired by Zez-Kai Ell – who was a former Jedi Master and Council member living in self-imposed exile on Nar Shaddaa – to secretly watch over Surik and keep Goto off her back until he could speak with her.
Mira tracked Surik's actions, who was helping Nar Shaddaa's refugees and undermining the Exchange's business. When Visquis, the local Exchange boss, tried to lure Surik into a trap in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, Mira stole her envirosuit (which was supposed to protect Surik from the Jekk'Jekk Tarr's atmosphere, toxic to Humans) and allowed Visquis to capture her. Unknown to her, however, Hanharr had collaborated with the Quarren. While Surik was trapped in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr tunnels, Visquis allowed Hanharr to kill Mira in his arena. However, Mira proved herself tough to kill. She defeated Hanharr and left him apparently dead in the arena, and fought her way through Visquis's Ubese bounty hunters, and let Surik in, escaping through the tunnels herself. After that, Mira joined the Ebon Hawk crew in their quest to free Surik from Goto's yacht.
She remained loyal to Surik, accompanying her during her adventures on the Ebon Hawk. However, in Surik's presence, she did not hold back and killed her opponents though she did not understand why. Surik recognized the Force-sensitivity in Mira when she described the natural flow of life on Nar Shaddaa, Surik taught Mira to feel and use the Force on Nar Shaddaa, allowing her to become a Jedi Sentinel. Because she was unused to feeling the Force, Mira was initially overwhelmed by all the rush of life and activity, but Surik helped her to learn to shut it out and calm her mind.
On Malachor V, Mira confronted and defeated an enemy she did not expect to ever meet again: Hanharr, who had been saved from death by Kreia on the proviso that Hanharr continue to hunt down and kill Mira. Despite being on his knees defeated, Hanharr's irrational hatred for Mira remained because she once saved his life. With Hanharr's hate fueled madness not in the least bit diminished, Hanharr begged Mira to kill him because he would rather die than endure the 'living death' he would suffer again if Mira spared his life a second time. Tired of constantly having to live her life in fear and realizing that Hanharr would always hunt her for the rest of her life if allowed to live, Mira granted Hanharr's request to die and killed him. After the final confrontation with Surik, Darth Traya predicted that Mira would stop hunting life and instead live it. "She was not born to be a predator," said Darth Traya among her last words. "Her death will occur in many years time on a forgotten planet, saving the lives of others. But it will be her choice, and she will have no regrets."
Personality and traits[]
- "I'm looking for a red-haired girl. Leather, lots of attitude..."
- ―Meetra Surik
Mira was a fast-talking, no-nonsense woman, with a dry wit and, in the words of Meetra Surik, "lots of attitude." Despite this, she had sympathy for all life and due to this, never killed unless absolutely necessary. All of this due to the fact she related to them and knew what it would be like to lose family like she had lost on Malachor V. When she joined with Surik, she began to kill more easily and did not find it comforting in the very least.
Mira dressed in tight, revealing leather ballistic mesh jacket, which she said helped to distract her targets. She was described as "shapely" by Vogga the Hutt, which implies that her physical features were considered attractive for a human female. She was good at what she did, and joked that if she became a Jedi, she would have to turn herself in for the credits.
Mira was an exceptional tracker and demolitionist. When given a target, she would "listen" for her target and get a feel for him. Due to her Force-sensitivity, she felt the natural flow of life on Nar Shaddaa and knew where her targets were going to be even before they did. Her demolition skills derive from her entire youth as a Mandalorian slave hauling around mines and munitions, learning how they work. Her knowledge with mines and other man-portable explosives granted her the uncanny ability to safely navigate minefields if she was given the chance to survey the area ahead.
Behind the scenes[]
Mira was created by Obsidian Entertainment as one of the companions for the 2004 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.[1] Like most companions, she was written by Chris Avellone.[5] She was voiced by Emily Berry.[1] The concept art that cemented what she would look like in the game was drawn by Brian Menze. Mira's hair in a released concept image was far more unruly than how it ended up appearing in the game. This was because of limitations of the game's engine.[6]
Both Mira and Hanharr are encountered on the moon of Nar Shaddaa, and one of them will join Meetra Surik's party, as determined by the player's alignment at the time they infiltrate Visquis's hideout below the Jekk'Jekk Tarr. Light side-aligned or Neutral players are joined by Mira, dark side-aligned players by Hanharr after he kills Mira in an arena fight. Another option includes Mira falling to the dark side later on, and, after living a long life as all but a "predator", according to Darth Traya's predictions, being assassinated on Ord Mantell by other bounty hunters "before they, too, meet their end."[1]
Surik would gain her respect if she followed the dark side path and agreed to get rid of the three captains in Iziz for Anda, for the large amount of credits offered by Anda. Mira is Force-sensitive; players with high enough influence with her can have Surik train Mira in the ways of the Force, making her into a Jedi Sentinel. This involves Surik showing her how to "listen," imitating a lesson that the Exile received from Kreia at Nar Shaddaa's central hub.[1]
If the player decides to take the non-canon option and have Surik as male, he can show a romantic interest in Mira, but she is unreceptive to his advances. She states that he is too old for her tastes, and that she doesn't want to compete with the Handmaiden Brianna and Visas Marr for his affections, not to mention that she would prove too much for him to handle. There is also a chance for a conversation in a cut scene where Brianna asks Mira if she "understands men". If the player is set to female, Surik can ask her the same question, with the same answers.[1]
On Malachor V, Mira can refuse to kill Hanharr if the player considers this to be more merciful. According to cut material, Mira would be one of the members to attack Kreia on Malachor V, only to be defeated and imprisoned by Darth Sion. Thus, Surik would be forced to either rescue them or not. Mira can also be slain on Malachor V by Hanharr.
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (First appearance)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Cartel Market
Sources[]
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords - Characters on LucasArts.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Special Edition
- Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 318 ("Mira (1)")
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
- ↑ The character of the Jedi Exile, the protagonist of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, was later confirmed to have been known as Meetra Surik in the novel The Old Republic: Revan.
- ↑ Knights of the Old Republic II Developer Chris Avellone Discusses the Game's Impact 15 Years Later by Maison, Jordan on Cinelinx (December 6, 2019): "I had to write almost all the companions, except for Mandalore and Bao-Dur (who was written by Michael Chu[)]" (archived from the original on December 8, 2019)
- ↑ Comment on Mira by Brenze on Brian Menze's profile on DeviantArt (backup link)
External links[]
- Mira on Brian Menze's profile on DeviantArt (backup link)