(Character) Jun Jin-Wa, the Prodigal Jedi

“When Galak Fyaar put on a big shiny suit of cortosis, Katarn didn't beat him by hitting him with his lightsaber. Nah, he shot him with the biggest gun he had, as many times as he could. Then he hit him with his lightsaber. There’s a lesson for you.”

Jun Jin-Wa is a Knight of the Jedi Order, and one of the Ator Hollos Monastery’s three Jedi instructors.

A wayward survivor of the Jedi Purge, Jun is a cunning warrior with a lackadaisical sense of humor and a cynical perspective of both the galaxy and the Order. He’s fond of comforts, especially some strong drink and a relaxing smoke. To some, he is a comfort. To others, he's dangerously irresponsible. 

Once a Padawan on Coruscant, Jun escaped the purge by way of sheer luck. For years he chased a downward spiral into the darkest parts of the galaxy and his own mind, scraping out a living until he found his true talent; violence, and learned to leverage his skills for his own profit. For years he worked as a wandering bounty hunter, the so-called "Dogged Man,” hunting his prey relentlessly. While his outward face was a ragged, cynical, unserious personality with an unhealthy attachment reliance on indulgent comforts, Jun found himself pulled more and more frequently by a deep, inconvenient impulse to protect and help the innocents around him. This unwanted altruism bothered the bounty hunter much more than his appetite for hard spirits. Try as he might, he could not reconcile his desire to do good with the person he had let himself become. Hoping to numb the contradiction, he continued to drink, hunt, kill, and do the occasional good deed to try and ease his conscious. It rarely helped.

Over time, Jun forged loose connections to Jedi sympathizers and friends of the Order, particularly the Honn family and Admiral Odiya Yima of the Freedom Fighters. He served members of the Honn family as personal bodyguard under the name Esno Bo'Barbi, especially on Iridonia. It was at Admiral Yima's request that Jun (under the name Junjin Kanda) fought alongside the Freedom Fighters at the Battle of Telos IV. 

Looking to recruit the bounty hunter for the New Jedi Order, Kyle Katarn found him passed out and half-naked in a Selvaris bungalow, surrounded by the dead bodies of a criminal hit squad. To Jun's surprise, Kyle informed him that Luke Skywalker hoped that he would serve the new Enclave on Ator Hollos as battle instructor. His immediate refusal was ignored.
"Skywalker sees something in you," he was told. "He's good at seeing the best in people. Seeing what they could be."
Trapped between the Grandmaster's unexpected faith and his own dim view of himself, Jun hesitantly agreed. 

One last fateful night in the bottle followed, at which point it became obvious to Jun that he had to begin a new trajectory. At Kyle's advice he spent some time taking the long way to Sullust for the Jedi Gathering, opening himself up to trusting the will of the Force. It was during his travel that he discovered Meego, a Rodian delivery boy, and discerned potential in him as a Jedi recruit. Together, they traveled to Sullust to meet with the rest of the Jedi. 

Jun tried his best to fit in with the other Jedi, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was an outsider. In truth, he was. Unlike most of the others at the meeting, Jun had been a Jedi since he was a toddler, and yet, he alone had rejected that path as an adult. He had heard of these Jedi, though. He had been invited once before to take part in the ill-fated Yavin IV praxeum, an offer he had turned down. His fellow instructors could not be more different from one another: in Nokori Imani, he found a curious lack of judgement, and a wisdom beyond her years. In Aemos Suurm-Xachus, however, he found his inner self-critiques spoken aloud. Snarling accusations of his unworthiness for the role, or even the title of Jedi, claims of disgrace and dishonor. Jun did not handle this well; it was his manner to deflect and provoke, and so the relationship between he and Aemos began on rocky ground. Nonetheless, as the summit came to a close, Luke spoke to him in private. He reiterated his faith in the wandering warrior, how he trusted that he would be used for the good of the students and his fellow Jedi.  Something about the way he talked made Jun almost believe it.

Their first impression of Ator Hollos--meant to be the home of the new Jedi Enclave--was not a happy one. After a catastrophic crash-landing (NJO Book 1, Chapter 1) saw their ship destroyed and Kyle Katarn captured by local cultists, Jun fought alongside his colleagues and helped deliver their batch of students safely to the ancient Monastery that was to house the academy. As the others launched into the daily work of farming, cleaning, and training, Jun spent the first few weeks isolating himself. It was the jovial droid RU-D4 who managed to break through his loner attitude, and Jun found himself slowly drawn into the community life of the Enclave. Two weeks in, he began drilling the students in the ways of combat. His methods grated on Aemos, with whom his relationship had scarcely improved, but Jun found his first true friend in Ma-Riki, the mischievous old Lannik shaman who had come along as the Enclave's herbalist. (Lesson IV: Combat). Slowly but surely, Jun found a place among the others. However, a particularly bitter disagreement in front of the students proved that he and Aemos had a long way to go before they could peacefully coexist. 

At the beginning of Summer, a pack of Orrllgg riders appeared on the hills outside the Monastery. Mistaking them for the cultists who had taken Kyle on the day they'd arrived, Jun met them with hostility and threats, overcome with anger. It was then that they revealed they were scouts from the nearby town of Ossar Kolv, led by the guard captain Gonng Zall, and Jun's method of greeting posed the risk of a diplomatic incident.

In response, Nokori and Jun led a peace delegation to try and repair any damage. For Jun, this meant an apology was in order. He wasn't happy about it, but he regretted his mistake, and understood the importance of the moment and what it meant for their future relationship with Ossar Kolv. (NJO Book II, Chapter I)

The visit to Ossar Kolv was full of revelations. They found a society deeply divided, gripped by fear and oppressed by their own people. Their arrival happened to coincide with a sacred ceremony, officiated by the hermit called Oku, who the town regarded as a Prophet. It was said that the ceremony was centered around the dedication of a force-sensitive youngling whom Oku would take to help him repair the spirit of the planet. The ceremony was disrupted by the sudden appearance of a monstrous creature, who tried to kill Oku. Jun, with the help of the Jedi initiates, formed a telepathic link with the creature (one of the "Blinded"), calming and briefly communicating with it, before it was struck down by Gonng Zall. Oku declared that the ceremony would reconvene in a month's time, and disappeared. The Jedi met with the Elders of Ossar Kolv to try and begin a peaceful partnership, but were met with proud resistance. In an ironic turn, Jun found it easier to stomach the Elder's posturing than Nokori. After some negotiating, they were finally given an ultimatum--hunt down the remaining Blinded, or never return.
Left with many questions, the Jedi returned to the Monastery. (Book II, Chapter IV)

(To be Continued)