KOTOR 1 Trask Mastermind

Trask Ulgo introduces himself as an "ensign with the Republic Fleet". But he's clearly much, much more. He's at least Revan's psychotherapist. He may well be the chief Republic operative in the Revan Rehabilitation Plan.

This is supported by background information we learn about Trask from other sources. It is confirmed in Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO that Trask is a member of an influential family from Alderaan. While it wouldn't be unheard of for someone of noble background to work their way up from Ensign, Trask had the connections to be more advantageously placed. And a closer look at his behavior on the Endar Spire show that he not only knew exactly what was going on, but was both a master of psychology, and fully dedicated to the Revan mission.

Here's the most likely scenario: Trask and Bastila were assigned to work as a team in rebuilding Revan to suit the Republic's and Jedi's purposes. Trask is in charge of Revan's medical condition and progress, and probably also to oversee the entire mission from the Republic's point of view. Bastila is there to represent the Jedi and to ensure that Revan doesn't go ... well ... all "Revan" without a Jedi there to stop it. Revan is rightfully seen as dangerous and unpredictable, so naturally some safeguards are in place. But Trask, not Bastila, is Revan's main handler. Had things gone differently, Trask would likely have accompanied Revan on the entire mission as at least a participant, if not the leader.

Despite Trask's claim, he and Revan don't work opposite shifts. The reason Revan hasn't seen Trask before is because this is the first time Revan has gained consciousness since the attack by Malak. Trask was forced to awaken Revan early because of the surprise attack. And while Trask is improvising, he also has a plan.

The very first thing Trask does is make sure Revan knows how important Bastila is. Knowing Revan's past, he even invents an "oath" that Revan supposedly swore to make Revan feel compelled to find her. This is a little risky. - Revan valued loyalty, but also broke many oaths. He did, however, always throw himself fully into whatever he considered his mission. Trask is hoping that the "oath" suggestion will resonate with this part of Revan, and that by imprinting him with a mission, that part of Revan's personality will take over. Trask does all this because he knows there's a good chance he won't survive to make it off the ship, and Trask wants to make sure Revan is passed off to Bastila one way or another, even if Trask isn't there to do it personally.

I mean - seriously - a starship the size of the Endar Spire has crew numbering in the hundreds (Hammerhead-class_cruiser). Trask claims that "everyone else on this mission" swore this oath. They really had the guy who washes the dishes swear an oath to "guarantee her survival in the event of an enemy attack"? That's not only silly, but that wording is way too overly specific for an oath that "everyone" took. Fortunately for Trask, Revan is too disoriented and vulnerable to notice how ridiculous this is.

Trask then gives Revan a quick throwaway line to lock in the new false identity. Presumably, Revan has already been imprinted with this identity while unconscious, and Trask is just trying to give it external validation so that Revan will accept the programming. That much appears to work, as Revan never seems to question it until much, much later when Revan's actual past is revealed.

Next up is the dead giveaway about who Trask is. Trask literally has to tell Revan how to perform the basic life skills that any healthy toddler has mastered. Revan doesn't even know how to do simple things like walk around and open containers. This is evidence of both how badly broken Revan's mind was, and how masterful a physician Trask really is. Trask must have expected to have weeks if not months to rebuild Revan. Trask likely would have had an entirely different cover story that would have better explained Revan's condition. He'd have bonded with Revan himself, and made some convincing excuse of why Bastila was interested in Revan's situation so that Revan could bond with her as well. But circumstances dictated otherwise, so Trask manages to compress all this therapy into a few moments of instruction.

Think about this from the perspective of a normal crewperson on the Endar Spire. If your bunkmate didn't know how to walk, you'd check them for injuries. You wouldn't helpfully tell them how to move around. But there's no surprise on Trask's part, or any indication that Revan's limitations are abnormal. Trask just efficiently and methodically teaches Revan fundamental life skills, and Revan accepts this as perfectly natural.

Trask's approach is brilliant. Whether this was a predetermined fallback or a spur-of-the-moment move, Trask explains what Revan needs to do in incredibly simplified and almost disembodied terms. Rather than telling Revan how arms and legs work, Trask poses things in terms of computer keystrokes and gestures. His hope must have been that by separating Revan's conscious mind from the details of what needed to physically happen, Revan's instincts would kick in and Revan's unconscious mind would remember things like how limbs work. It is very impressive how well it worked, and how quickly Revan picked things back up. It isn't a completely instant recovery, though. After Revan collects the equipment, Trask has to remind Revan to get dressed. This is further evidence of how broken Revan was. Revan would have walked out to fight the Sith dressed in only underwear if Trask hadn't intervened.

When you think about it, getting dressed is pretty complicated. There are various garments, all of whose function isn't immediately obvious. Which way is the front on a shirt or a pair of pants? How do the various zippers and buttons work? Fortunately, Trask is well enough in touch with the tactical nature of Revan's mind to implant suggestions that allow Revan to overcome this quickly. Trask uses the brilliant metaphor of an "EQUIP" screen, allowing Revan's conscious and unconscious mind to connect and quickly relearn. Perhaps unfortunately, Revan's formative new mind latches onto this metaphor so strongly that Revan is thereafter unable to think about basic tasks in any other way. Revan now sees the world as if it is the user interface of a computer system, even to the extent that when needing to do some quick thinking in the middle of a confrontation, Revan imagines the world "pausing". Trask probably didn't intend to implant this metaphor so deeply, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The ability of Revan's mind to so quickly create and utilize such a detailed internal representation of this metaphor is also evidence of Revan's incredible innate capabilities. Most people would not have been able to even function, much less successfully fight. But Revan does it almost effortlessly. Revan truly is an incredible individual, which (moral questions aside) helps explain all the efforts that Trask, Bastila, the Republic, and the Jedi Council put into the rebuilding.

Trask's final advice before he and Revan leave the bunk is "stick together; you'll have more success with a party than on your own.". Trask is still angling to make sure Revan meets up with Bastila. He's terrified of what a partially-rebuilt Revan, perhaps unhinged and unpredictable but with all Revan's inherent talents, might do if unleashed alone on the galaxy. Trask's commitment to the mission is commendable, even if his participation in such blatant manipulation are questionable.

Trask then does something extremely curious. He tell Revan to "use him" to unlock the door. Trask obviously knows how to open doors - he's the one that tells Revan how. Why does he force (pun intended) Revan to "use him" to do it? This goes far beyond a lesson in manners. Trask doesn't have Revan ask him politely to open the door. Trask trains Revan to assume direct control over Trask's body and actions. My best guess is that Trask is familiar enough with the Jedi to have some knowledge of their abilities. But Trask goes so far as to implant the idea that Revan is the "leader" of the "party", suggesting that other people are "followers" who Revan has the right to control in this way. But why would Trask awaken this particular ability in Revan at this time? And it gets even crazier.

After the door is opened, Trask has Revan "take the lead" again. It seems a shift has occurred, and there's not an obvious reason why. Trask could have positioned himself as "leader", thereby prepping Revan to be Bastila's follower in the likely event of Trask's death. This seems more appropriate. Instead, he preps Revan to be Bastila's commander, by giving Revan the sense that Revan is in charge.

This is a stunning unilateral decision. Surely neither Bastila or the Jedi Council would have preauthorized this course of action. Maybe Trask realizes what Revan is about to be up against and, knowing what's at stake, decided a more passive Revan would be unlikely to succeed. Maybe Trask knows this is likely his last few moments with the greatest patient he'll even have, and his curiosity at how fast Revan can progress gets the better of him. In any case, Revan learns this lesson extremely quickly and extremely well, frequently and almost casually controlling people's bodies throughout the rest of the events that follow, all the way to the Star Forge. It is one of Revan's most impressive abilities. Perhaps Revan's almost effortless mastery of it explains some of how Revan originally gained power.

It is worth noting that Revan doesn't even question how he's able to "use" Trask in this way. This is further evidence of how badly Revan's mind is damaged, and how tenuous Revan's grasp on reality is. Revan doesn't perceive "using" people as a Force Power, even though there seems to be very little other explanation for how Revan can accomplish this. Revan simply accepts the ability to do this.

After Trask and Revan leave the bunk, Carth broadcasts a shipwide message for all hands to get to the bridge. Trask briefly explains who Carth is, but quickly refocuses on Bastila. Revan never questions not having heard of Carth, even though Revan's false past would suggest that Revan should know who Carth is. Revan is displaying both incredible talent and power, and also an almost childlike acceptance of discongruent events. This has to be the Jedi's worst nightmare: all the power of Revan with no understanding of how to properly use it. But Trask simply doesn't have time to train Revan in mental discipline. All he can do is point Revan toward Bastila and hope for the best.

Revan is in fact completely confused about how to remember Carth's message and how to use a map. This is understandable, given that Revan only relearned how to walk a few seconds ago. But it must be a reminder to Trask how vulnerable Revan is. Trask doubles down on the computer interface metaphor, quickly training Revan to think in terms of journals and quests. This is an effective choice as Revan almost immediately is able to process all new information in this way.

Next is a brief recap on how to open doors, with Trask explaining things like hacking electronic locks in terms of menus and clicks. It is notable that Trask uses the phrase "the SECURITY icon only appears if you're controlling a character with the SECURITY skill". Not only has Trask fully committed to the computer interface metaphor, he's now talking about other people as if they were "characters" to be "controlled".

At this point, I really wondered if Trask was a plant by Darth Malak, because we're veering pretty far into Dark Side territory. But I think that Trask was just panicking, trying to describe things in terms that Revan's shattered mind could relate to. It might be necessary for Revan to "use" and "control" people to get out of this mess, and thinking of them as "characters" might make it easier. But it also set Revan up to be clinically insane. Check out the clinical description of Psychopathy. Trask is literally teaching Revan to be a psychopath.

This is indescribably risky. By some probably-pretty-accurate descriptions that we encounter both in and out of game, this is EXACTLY the Revan that almost took over the galaxy. Surely Trask is supposed to be rebuilding a different sort of Revan. But Trask seems to have abandoned that plan. Maybe Trask sees Revan's survival as paramount and is hoping that Bastila can fix everything later with a second Jedi mind-wipe, Maybe Trask really is a Sith plant after all. But Trask is clearly implanting some very unhealthy thought patterns into a mind that has already proven to be dangerously accepting of them.

Revan and Trask fight their way to the bridge, only to discover that Bastila and everyone else has abandoned ship via the escape pods. While trying to get to the escape pods themselves, they encounter a Dark Jedi. Trask volunteers to "hold him off" on his own, encouraging Revan to get to the escape pods. If this isn't a clear giveaway that Revan is someone special, I don't know what would be. If Revan were just another crewperson, then the obvious thing to do is for Revan and Trask to try to defeat the Dark Jedi together. Even if Trask would sacrifice himself for a bunkmate that he hasn't even met before today, why wouldn't he expect a fellow soldier to join him in the fight? The whole point that Trask has been hammering home is to protect Bastila at all costs. This Dark Jedi is almost certainly going after Bastila. Surely they should attack together, giving them the best odds to at least wound the Dark Jedi and thereby help Bastila. But Trask doesn't hesitate, not only taking on the Dark Jedi solo, but even sealing the door behind him.

Trask has done everything he possibly can for Revan. With full knowledge of what is to come, we can choose to see that as benevolent or manipulative. But whatever we decide, one thing is clear: Trask Ulgo was much more than he seemed, and was fully committed to his mission.

KOTOR 1 - Trask Ulgo is a Mastermind