"
When the romances in Baldur's Gate 2
were made, I didn't even think to suggest we should include same-sex romances … because why would you? It just wasn't done. The first time it came up was on Knights of the Old Republic
, with Juhani, and that wasn't my doing. I was, in fact, completely startled by the idea that, not only was this a thing that could happen, but moreso that my fellow developers — the vast majority of whom are straight men — would not only be okay with it but actually want
to include it. I'm not sure I can express how that made me feel."―David Gaider, co-developer of
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, on how Juhani impacted his writing
[11]
Juhani first appeared in the
2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and was voiced by
Courtenay Taylor.
[1] The character's name was originally going to be "Bastila Shan," with early concept art depicting Juhani wearing the color scheme that Bastila wears in the final game.
[12] Juhani is technically an optional companion, as players can choose the dark side dialogue options that end with the player having to kill Juhani; however, the
2012 novel
The Old Republic: Revan by
Drew Karpyshyn confirmed that Juhani was
canonically redeemed and joined Revan's party, and continued to serve as a Jedi after the events of
Knights of the Old Republic.
[13]
Juhani was the first character in the
Star Wars universe to be portrayed as
LGBTQ+, one of the earliest positive representations of LGBTQ+ characters in video games,
[14] and the first gay character of any gender in a video game developed by
BioWare.
Knights of the Old Republic co-designer
David Gaider was surprised when his fellow developers, most of whom were straight men, proposed taking the risk. A gay man himself, he had never suggested a same-gender romance option because he believed fellow developers and audiences would not accept the idea.
[11] Juhani's storyline as a lesbian character helped him realize he could include LGBTQ+ characters in his own work, such as when he later helmed the
Dragon Age franchise.
[15]
Because Juhani would be the first LGBTQ+ character in
Star Wars,
Knights of the Old Republic co-writer Drew Karpyshyn said the team had to "tread pretty carefully." The resulting subtlety left some players unaware that Juhani was written to be lesbian.
[14] The writing team did not seek anyone's permission to include Juhani's storyline,
[16] and they were never told they could not or instructed to do otherwise. However, because the team's assumptions about the player base led them to censor themselves, Juhani never came out and explicitly said how she felt.
[17] At the first
GaymerX convention, Gaider said, "We kind of hid it in the game a little bit because she never comes out and actually says 'I love you.' She talks around it. There's another character she mentions in the game who was her lover in the past, but she never says, 'She was my lover.' She just says, 'We were very close,' things like that."
[16] In a question-and-answer series on
LucasArts' now-defunct LucasForums, Gaider wrote of Dantooine and Korriban that the player "could run into Juhani's former lover as well (and she would attack you if you killed Juhani),"
[18] a description of events that only matches her friend Belaya.
[1]
