Wounds
The party members in KotOR 2: TSL all suffer from trauma in the aftermath of the Jedi Civil War. Among them are former soldiers (for both sides), orphans made by the war, and one of its secret instigators. Kreia was the last Master to teach Darth Revan, whose forces turned on the Republic. Her current and final student is the Jedi Exile, who followed Revan to war, and serves as the player character.
The Exile's trauma manifests monstrously in the loss of their connection to the Force. This not only causes them to lose the supernatural senses and powers they enjoyed as a Jedi, but also to unwittingly siphon the Force from their companions and victims alike. But the Exile became a monster long before that.
As Revan's general, the Exile gave the order to use a superweapon which destroyed the enemy fleet and their own at Malachor V. In the psychic backlash of its destruction, they cut themselves out of the Force to survive. The player doesn't know this for most of the game - the Exile will not speak of Malachor V until their hand is forced, in the endgame after the Jedi Council is gathered.
TSL is pervaded by themes of resonance, given voice by Kreia's metaphysics of echoes, wounds, and bonds:
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Echoes may represent a leader's influence on their followers, or the consequences of leading those followers to war. Echoes may be the sound of human voices, such as the screams of Malachor V, or the game's own voice acting, - such as Sara Kestelman's performance as Kreia, - whose richness serves to flesh out the companions as people.
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Wounds may represent trauma at ecological or individual scales - such as the destruction of a planet's ecosystem by orbital bombardment, or the grief and anger felt by Dantooine farmers betrayed by the Jedi, and Revanchist soldiers betrayed by the Republic.
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Bonds reflect both ongoing relationships, and the potential for the relationship to exist. The Exile is not only bound to Kreia by tutelage, but also by literally feeling her pain, and is repeatedly threatened by dangers to Kreia's life. Kreia suggests that the companion NPCs are unnaturally loyal to the Exile, which is metafictionally true - the companions are under player control in combat, and will act against their better judgement if the player orders them to.
