It’s interesting to me that SWTOR dropped a character who a) walks away from the Jedi and b) uses the Dark Side but c) does not go off the deep end into players’ laps, and it doesn’t seem to be noticed much. To be fair the character has been poorly used since the class story, but in the little we get from her, we see how she’s expanded her practices in the Force without becoming Darth Edgelord. Which again, shows it’s possible in canon to use both sides of the Force, just as the Revanites do; just as Zakuul does; just as the Voss do.
It’s your cue, Ashara Zavros.
Unlike Kira, Nadia or Jaesa, Ashara has been with the Jedi Order for her entire life. She doesn’t know her parents. She wasn’t in another situation before being discovered by the Jedi. She’s been there for the duration. She is the one who knows how the Jedi Order operates, backward and forward.
If you pay attention on Taris when you look at the recordings of Ashara’s lessons, you find that she’s questioned some of the things she’s learning, despite having grown up in the Order. She says as much later on. She doesn’t understand why she can’t learn certain things, and doesn’t necessarily see them as evil just because they are not Jedi. In fact, that is exactly how the Inquisitor gets her to engage: she offers Ashara a holocron.
Caption:
Ashara Zavros: The Jedi never talked to me about Yavin. There were stories, and I asked about them, but I was always told I wasn’t ready. Am I ready now, my lord?
Ashara doesn’t go with the Inquisitor because she really wants to. She goes because she’s burned all the bridges with the Jedi on Taris and she feels she has no other recourse. And she’s not happy about it. She tells the Inquisitor she will never respect them. She gets angry with them for the actions of other Sith.
But she talks.
She questions.
She learns.
She doesn’t delude herself that the Inquisitor is on a secret quest to turn the Sith to the light, the way LS Jaesa is. She doesn’t go off the deep end and decide to abandon everything she knows like DS Jaesa. She doesn’t want to kill all the Sith like Kira.
Instead, she learns more. She makes it clear she is intelligent and perceptive. If the Inquisitor warns Zash not to mess with Ashara, Zash scoffs and says that Ashara’s way too sharp for head games.
If the Inquisitor doesn’t blow her off, she can have conversations with Ashara where they basically pick apart her world view, little by little. By the end of the class story, it seems she’s adopted philosophies from both sides of the Force, she agrees with the “peace is a lie” part of the Sith Code, and she ends up reciting her own code that sounds a lot like that of the Grey Jedi. She doesn’t go full Dark Side. She doesn’t deny it, either.
Caption
Ashara Zavros: Passion, peace. Strength, knowledge. Power, serenity. Victory, harmony. Freedom, the Force.
Before Ashara returns post-KOTET, if you have Master Ranos, you can ask about her. Ranos tells you that she’s heard of Ashara…sometimes as the hero, and sometimes as the villain. When she’s located, she’s on Voss - a planet known for its own way of using the Force outside the parameters of the Jedi or Sith. At the beginning of her reunion with the Inquisitor, she is very obviously channeling the Dark Side. But if the Inquisitor attacks her, Ashara does not retaliate. She calmly deflects the lightning and walks away. Her lightsabers now have yellow blades, showing her changes and growth in the Force.
Back at the Alliance base on Odessen, Ashara can be found standing close to Darth Hexid, on the Sith side of the room - and she’s not exactly channeling light - so it’s not a writing lapse.
I wish this were pointed out more. Ashara’s got some fascinating stuff there, and I’d love to see her show up in the story again.