Mission Vao

Mission Vao was Catherine Taber's first voice acting role.

The character originated in pen and paper sessions of West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game held by the game's lead designer, James Ohlen.[2] In an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly, Art Director Derek Watts said Mission has been altered from the character's original concept as a young Twi'lek male who is a teenager or a young adult in his early 20s.[3] It was later decided that the character would be slightly younger, and her personality should be emphasized as a "cute teen" as opposed to a delinquent youth like John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.[4]

Catherine Taber's role as Mission Vao served as a starting point for her career in the voice acting industry.[5] Taber, a self-described Star Wars fan, noted that the audition for Mission was her career's second, and felt that her enthusiasm for the intellectual property helped her secure the role.[6][7] She said the role earned her some credibility as a voice actor, which helped her agent during negotiations with casting directors, and she felt fortunate that it opened up more opportunities for the progression of her career.[8]

Taber alluded Mission's dynamic with Zaalbar to the relationship between Han Solo and Chewbacca.[1] She applied her knowledge of Mission's past, which she said gives context into how it shaped her personality as an orphaned child who is alone in the world and wants to appear "cool and tough" to others, as part of her preparation for the character.[6] She occasionally ad-libbed some of the character's mannerisms, including references to other works in the Star Wars universe.[6][7] For Taber, Mission and other Twi'lek characters she would later portray such as Vette share some inherent traits, which include a "natural optimism in the face of adversity, a "can-do" attitude and especially, an undeniable feistiness".[7] Drawing from her own cultural experiences, Taber opined that the Twi'lek people, who are often portrayed as a marginalized minority in the Star Wars franchise, have a "common cultural thread" to their shared history.[7] She cited the Ryloth arc in The Clone Wars television show as an example which provided insight into the Twi'lek people's history as "one of occupation and hardship, ending with a revolt".[7]

Mission Vao has received a positive critical reception, and is considered a fan favorite. Catherine Taber noted in a number of interviews that she still received fan mail about Mission years after the release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.[7][8][6] Among the game's cast of characters, she is the favorite companion of Mike Fahey from Kotaku,[11] John Walker from Eurogamer,[12] and Abigail Holden from SA Gamer.[13] Walker in particular praised Mission as "pitch perfect, both over-enthusiastic and endearing while a whining, complaining mess, and horribly over-dependent", and considered her to be "brilliantly written", who is "funny and annoying in equal measure". He formed the view that Mission is "possibly the most notorious character from KOTOR, famously loved or loathed, simply because BioWare did such a splendid job of writing a 14-year-old girl".[12] Valerie Estelle Frankel praised the character as a "cool female Han" who is not presented as a stereotypical Twi'lek sex slave, as well as her visual design of being fully dressed in nondescript colors with vest and googles like an actual smuggler.[14] Anthony Gramuglia from CBR said the best female characters of the Star Wars franchise are in its licensed video games, and cited Mission as an example.[15] Megan Crouse from Den of Geek praised Mission, a Twi'lek female who is "a street-smart thief who would fit in perfectly with the smugglers and scoundrels of the galaxy", as a nuanced alien character who is not typecast as typical of the Star Wars franchise.[16] In his book Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic which explored the developmental history of the eponymous game, Alex Kane highlighted an anecdote by BioWare general manager Casey Hudson discussing one of his favorite memories of the game, a conversation with Mission, as an example of the sense of agency that the game afforded players.[17]

Mission has appeared in multiple "top character" lists. Mission is considered by Gamestm to be one of Bioware's eight most memorable party companions.[18] App Trigger ranked Mission No. 9 in their 2017 list of the 10 Best BioWare Companions.[19] Alana Joli Abbott from Den of Geek said she is the most unique character among the "several badass women" in Knights of the Old Republic, and rated her as among the 25 best female characters of the Star Wars media franchise.[20] Mission was included in Gamespot's 2019 list of "15 Great Star Wars Characters Who Came From Video Games".[21]

The decision for players to kill Mission as part of the gameplay experience of roleplaying an evil character has generated discussion. Walker repeatedly expressed regret and reservation about treating Mission badly throughout the game; regarding the act of forcing Zaalbar to murder Mission, he did not think there is a more evil moment, not only in the game but in any other video game.[12] PC Gamer described the act of compelling Zaalbar to murder Mission as "twisted", and one of most profoundly malevolent player decisions in PC gaming.[22]

• Mission Vao on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki