‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ Tie-In Book Author Reveals Nightsister Merrin Is Pansexual, Says Character’s Identity Came From Respawn And Lucasfilm
John F. Trent
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Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars author Sam Maggs recently claimed that the Nightsister Merrin is pansexual. Not only is the character pansexual according to Maggs, but she was instructed to make it canonical by Respawn and Lucasfilm.
Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars (2023), Random House Worlds
In an interview with Popverse at the beginning of March, Maggs first detailed what she loved about the character after playing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
She told the outlet, “I thought Merrin was the most interesting character in the game. I thought her story held a ton of potential. I wanted to know exactly how she was feeling. I love an anti-hero. I love a complicated sort of lady, which we don’t get to see a lot in fiction who’s still a good guy. I love everything about her. And so I immediately wanted to dive into her perspective, and her thoughts, and her story, and expand it.”
Merrin and Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn Entertainment
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“Merrin was originally envisioned as pansexual by the team at Respawn,” Maggs then revealed. “So, that was an established thing when I came on to writing this book, something that the Respawn team wanted to explore with this book, and wanted to establish with this book was Merrin’s pansexuality so that it would be clear, canonical, and also is something that the book gives us a unique opportunity to explore.”
She continued, “Not a lot of time in video games to do romance with extraneous characters. We got stuff going on. And also, again, the games being from Cal’s perspective, this was a really unique opportunity to get Merrin’s thoughts and establish the way she feels about people in a really intimate way.”
Merrin and Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn Entertainment
After claiming it is hard to find time for romantic subplots in AAA action-focused video games for supporting characters, Maggs again reiterated the instruction to make Merrin pansexual came from Respawn, and not only did it come from Respawn, but Lucasfilm as well, “I am a queer author. It’s really important for me to tell queer stories, and to have that representation for people who might be fans, like myself, of Star Wars. So this was an established thing about her, I just really had the opportunity from Lucasfilm and the Respawn team to make it clear and canonical.”
Popverse’s Alex Jaffe would then comment, “That’s so cool. So you were like, ‘I want to write the Merrin book,’ and then they said, ‘Great. Also, she’s pansexual.’”
Maggs confirmed this version of events, “Totally. And I was like, ‘This is dope. This is the best thing that could possibly happen to me.’”
Cal Kestis, Merrin, and Greez Dritus in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn Entertainment
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As the interview progressed, Maggs made the claim she does not have an agenda while at the same time immediately describing herself as an “unapologetic feminist.”
She said, “It’s not that I have an agenda. But something that people know about my work, and when they approach me to write something for them, is that my work is probably going to be unapologetically feminist, it’s going to involve women working together, it’s going to have a feeling of hopefulness, it’s going to have a feeling of humor, and most often is going to have queer representation.”
“So I think it’s not surprising that given that this was something they wanted to tackle with this book that I was a choice to write it,” she speculated.
Merrin in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn Entertainment
Maggs would then be asked how she tastefully adds in sex to Star Wars. She responded, “I think for me it was really important that Merrin’s relationship with this woman in this book, that it was overtly queer. We get to see other people have romantic relationships. Straight couples have kissed in Star Wars, and even on Andor things got a little spicy.”
“So I thought it was only fair and also kind of necessary to do that here,” she continued. I mean, that being said, I like a little spice in my books! And Merrin deserves it. Merrin deserves to get some. [Laughs]”
Maggs concluded, “I think that Star Wars as a whole is becoming more open to being spicier in general. And, you know, the girls should have a little bit of that.”
Merrin and Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), Respawn Entertainment
The novel currently has a 3.3 out of 5 on Amazon with the top rated review taking issue with Maggs’ characterization of Merrin.
It states in part, “The first half of the novel focuses largely on the relationship between Merrin and Fret, which for me personally seemed very out of character for Merrin. I get what the author was going for in that Fret was supposed to remind Merrin of an ex-lover on Dathomir which in turned reignited her fire and magick use that she had been having trouble connecting with of late.”
The second rated review also takes issue with Merrin’s characterization, “Merrin is one of my favorite characters in the game, but in the book… she was either absolutely intense and the Merrin we all love, or she was this weird, Wattpad-y, lovesick, green-blushing conglomerate mess. 5/10.”
Greeze Dritus greets Cal via Star Wars Jedi Survivor (2023), EA
What do you make of Maggs’ comments about Merrin?
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