Final Analysis

Introduction:
In this analysis I am going to look at the Star Wars: The Old Republic "Return" cinematic trailer.  I will examine how video game companies who are redoing famous stories can build ethos with gamers and fans of the original stories. I will give a brief summary on the artifact, explain my method of analysis, then move straight into the analysis portion of this project, and finish with a summary on what we have learned.  We will find out specifically with this artifact how a video game company can build its ethos with both gamers and Star Wars fans.


A description of the artifact and its context:
This artifact is an opening sequence from the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic.  It was first shown as a cinematic trailer at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 2011.  It was the final installment of a three part cinematic trailer trilogy telling the story of how the Great Galactic War was started. 
Although this was the last of the three trailers released it is chronologically the first of the three.  It is the first time the Sith Empire has been seen in over 300 years after they were supposedly destroyed in the last war. This entire game was set nearly 2,700 years before the original Star Wars Saga.


A description of your method of analysis:
I have chosen to take a narrative analysis standpoint to criticize this artifact.  "Characteristics of a narrative were defined as early as Aristotle in his Poetics (Aristotle)...".  A narrative analysis takes the pieces of a story and breaks it down so one can more effectively look at the rhetoric of the story.


Your thorough findings in your analysis:

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this video was to maintain current fans and gain additional fans to openly support the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. While keeping to the rules and statutes of the Star Wars Universe.

SETTING
The setting is on an orbital station surrounding the Ancient Sith home world of Korriban. The orbital station is under attack and we move from the halls to the hanger bay.  The setting changes later on to a space battle that is raging on the outside of the orbital station.  The setting is built to be detailed and more realistic looking (for a space station).  It is built to be in depth and engaging, but at the same time built almost monotone as to not distract from the storytelling and main characters in the foreground.

CHARACTERS

Kao Cen Darach:
Race: Zabrak
Gender: Male
Rank: Jedi Master

"The Zabrak Jedi Master was held sacred his own rigid belief system, which stipulated that the dark side of the Force needed to be confronted and defeated, no matter what form it may take. This unique, hardline approach to matters of the Force made him an unpopular figure in the upper echelons of the Jedi Order on Coruscant..."

Setele Shan:
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Rank: Jedi Padawan

"Satele Shan ... was born during the decades leading up to the Great Galactic War. Descended from the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan—who fought against Darth Revan and Darth Malak's Sith Empire during the Jedi Civil War— She was also a descendant of Revan, who had married Bastila after his redemption, and their son Vaner Shan. Shan hailed from the planet Brentaal IV. She was deemed suitable for Jedi training, becoming the Padawan of Ngani Zho, although she later came under tutelage of the Zabrak Jedi Master Kao Cen Darach. During this time, the resurgent Sith Empire attacked the Galactic Republic, initiating the Great Galactic War."

Vindican:
Race: Sith Pureblood
Gender: Male
Rank: Sith Lord

"A male Pureblood^, Sith Lord, and Inquisitor, Vindican served the Sith Empire during the early years of the Great Galactic War."

Malgus:
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Rank: Sith Apprentice

"[Malgus] was born under the name Veradun within Imperial space, and raised by his adoptive father. While still young, Veradun killed a Twi'lek servant on his father's estate, revealing the dark will behind his sensitivity to the Force. The young boy was subsequently sent to the Sith Academy on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas, where he became a Sith Warrior and a successful commander of the Imperial Military. During a trip to the Outer Rim world of Geonosis, Veradun discovered the Twi'lek slave girl Eleena Daru and took her as his own. Although she was technically his slave, the two fell in love with one another and fought side by side in many battles during the Great Galactic War against the Galactic Republic. Veradun later eschewed his birth name and adopted the Sith moniker of Darth Malgus."

Jace Molcolm:
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Rank: Colonel
"Jace Malcom was extremely loyal to the Republic, and was willing to give his life to defend his government. He believed that, despite the strength of the enemy, hope for peace could be restored to the Republic and the galaxy through simple acts of courage in the face of those overwhelming odds."

Nico Okarr:
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Rank: Smuggler

"It was no coincidence that Captain Okarr had come to Korriban that day. It was the Force. No other pilot could have so deftly maneuvered us through that maelstrom. I owe him as much as I owe Master Kao."

―Grand Master Satele Shan

NARRATOR
The narrator in this video is Setele Shan.  They use her to give context to the video.  She gave location and why it was important.  She was a good choice for the narrator, for she is one of the few who survives this Sith attack. She has a strong ethos with the audience due to the fact that she is a main character throughout all the trailers and the entire game.

EVENTS
Kernels:
The Sith Empire came out of hiding and attacked the space station.
Lord Vindican and Malgus boarded the space station and engaged the Jedi.
Setele, Nico, and Jace escaped the attack and were able to warn the Republic




Satellites:
Setele, Kao, and Jace took Nico into custody.
This gave a reason for Nico to be on the orbital station; therefore, giving the means to escape the onslaught of Imperial ships.


Setele senses the Sith Empires attack.
This builds up to the battle that is about to happen.  Gives a small suspense where we knows something is going to happen, but we're not sure what.


They make it to the hanger and Captain Okarr goes in to prep is ship.
This opens it for the later part when Setele jumps onto the already flying ship out of the battle to escape and warn the republic.

Kao saves Seteles life and then tells her to leave the battle.
Kao right here is pretty much sacrificing himself to let Setele leave and warn to republic he is making the ultimate sacrifice so that many people can be saved.

Setele gives Kao her lightsaber.
This gives Kao the advantage he needs to critically wound Lord Vindican.  It wasn't enough to save him, but he took one Sith down with him.

Lord Vindican gets stabbed and Malgus steals his weapon.
Malgus knows that the fight is in his hands so he evens the ground by stealing his masters weapon.  Malgus goes full out rage on Kao and ends up cutting the Jedi Master down.

Kao dies.
Setele can feel the disturbance in the force when her Master dies.  She is at first saddened and looks as if she is on the edge of giving up until she decides to not let him die in vain and it gives her the added courage and focus she needs to finish the escape plans and warn the republic.

Malgus kills his master.
It shows the true ways of the Sith.  That they are evil, so evil they will kill their own masters, trainers, and superiors without a second thought.

TEMPORAL RELATIONS
This narrative is set out in real time.  The actions and what is going on in the screen is happening in perfect time with how it would have went.  The story happened in a brief six minutes and the narrative took six minutes to recount.

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS

They had the cause and effect of the Sith attacked and the Republic reacted to the attack and fought back, but I think the biggest cause and effect that took place in this artifact was when Lord Vindican let Setele escape.  This action lead the Sith Apprentice, Malgus, seeing his master as a failure and ultimately killing him for is failure.

AUDIENCE

The audience for this certain trailer was gamers, but more specifically, PC and MMORPG gamers.  It has a secondary audience of Star Wars fans, but one can clearly tell that the trailer was targeted at gamers. 

THEME

Many themes are present in this narrative.  A few I have found are we should always listen to our feelings, we should listen to those around us, we can and should make hard sacrifices for the greater good of others, and we must let go of those who pass on and move forward and stay focused in our lives.

TYPE OF NARRATIVE

I'm going to say the type of narrative for this certain artifact is a romance.  Although it does have the tragedy of Master Kao being killed by the enemies of the Republic, Setele was able to break through and warn the Republic resulting in a happy, enlightened end.

A discussion on how your findings help the human condition:
We have thoroughly examined this from a rhetorical criticism standpoint. This artifact appeals to gamers because of the action, story, and graphics of the video game trailer.  The action is probably the most appealing to the gamer community.  This trailer shows both good and bad characters pulling off some wicked sweet moves that if one would buy the game, they could be doing as well.  The story ends with both sides winning, but the bad comes off with a bigger win giving gamers a look at how difficult the enemy in the game is going to be and this will make them feel more accomplished when they beat the game and triumphing over these certain enemies.
Now onto why it attracts Star Wars fans. It gives off that classic Star Wars feel with good vs evil, Jedi vs Sith, epic lightsaber battles, and epic storytelling.  The story is what brings the Star Wars fans in so strong.  It gives even more background to the Star Wars universe.  It brings in more Star Wars characters and Star Wars lore to learn about.  Fans find the history of Star Wars most intriguing and this storytelling is exactly what the Star Wars fans are looking for.  Lastly, BioWare didn't break any rules of the Star Wars universe.  They used force moves that had been seen before and didn't change anything.  This is the biggest thing for fans of any old series.  They don't want big shot companies to come in a ruin what they loved, they want the companies to come in and extend what they love.  In conclusion, we can see that BioWare fully understands how to win over a crowd of both video gamers and Star Wars fans in one epic six minute video.
This can be carried out over to almost any video game or movie company that may be redoing an old beloved story.  The company should be careful to keep its understanding of the lore of the classic story in mind at all times.  This above all else will keep the ethos of the company in tact.