“Star Wars” fans are using the expanded universe — er, “Star Wars Legends” — character Darth Revan to measure fandom, and it’s created a heavy social media backlash.
Who is Darth Revan?
Darth Revan is a Dark Lord of the Sith in the “Star Wars” universe who existed during the Old Republic area. Specifically, the character appeared during the “Knights of the Old Republic” video game series, becoming a central character.
- Revan has been a central character in the pre-Disney “Star Wars” lore. When referencing old Sith Lords, Revan is always near the top of the list, along with Darth Bane. The two have been the face of the expanded universe when it comes to Sith Lords.
But the character became a “legends” character for a short time once Disney bought Lucasfilm and eliminated all expanded universe content from the canon. In more recent years, Revan was added back into the canon.
Why are ‘Star Wars’ fans arguing about Darth Revan?
Social media has been going wild over Darth Revan in the last few days. It started with one tweet or post — it’s unclear where it came from — that suggested “Star Wars” fans who don’t know Darth Revan aren’t real “Star Wars” fans.
Fans argued back against the claim, saying you can be a fan of “Star Wars” without knowing one of its older characters.
Fans turned the debate into a question around gatekeeping, explaining that there shouldn’t be any reason to stop someone from being a “Star Wars” fan at all. Some people who have been “Star Wars” fans since the beginning of the Skywalker Saga don’t even know who Darth Revan is, either.
The social media discussion also raised questions about when Revan might appear in the modern “Star Wars” products, and if the character will ever return. There were also questions about Revan’s gender as it was never made clear whether the character was a female or a male. In fact, Revan often wore a mask in all images. In the “KOTOR” video game, gamers chose their gender, which would impact Revan’s gender. So a true identity was never established.