Jonathan Bac

"Every citizen of this Republic must work together or else we will have failed. We are here tonight, together in this new galactic dome, but coming together is just the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."

- Jonathan Bac

Jonathan Bac was a legendary Alderaanian Admiral, Ambassador to the Coalition of Planets and the first Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. In the role of Admiral of the Alderaanian fleet, he was responsible for the decisive final campaign against the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets that brought the Unification War to a close. As the Ambassador to the Coalition of Planets, he worked closely with the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi to ensure a smooth transition between numerous regional governments and one galactic democracy. In his role as ambassador, he also drafted the Galactic Charter and was the first to sign it at the ceremony that witnessed the founding of the Galactic Republic.

One of the most important politicians in the early history of the Galactic Republic, Jonathan was credited with saving the House of Organa and the Corellian Empire from destruction and for paving the way to the founding of the Galactic Republic. He was also responsible for allowing the Jedi Bendu, and later the Jedi, to become a major presence in the day-to-day affairs of the Galactic Republic. It was also foretold that his descendants were those spoken of in the Prophecies of The Skywalker. During the Ashlan Civil War, the Great Sovereign Crusades and the Galactic Civil War, that foretelling was proved correct when [[Ussej Padric Bac, Ussej Padric Bac II, Ussej Padric Bac III and Ussej Padric Bac LXIV fulfilled passages within the prophecies. Jonathan was also well-remembered and revered for literally setting up the brilliant democratic system that lasted for twenty-five thousand years after the beginning of his term in office.

History
Jonathan Bac was born during the monarchy of the House of Organa on Alderaan to General Conrad Bac and his wife, Tella Crel. As a youth, Jonathan was involved with the Alderaanian youth organization called “Becoming Soldiers of Alderaan”, B.S.A. for short. He earned the organizations highest award, known as the Falcon Medal, when he was fifteen years old.

When he was seventeen, his father was believed to have been assassinated by the forces of the Corellian Empire, though the case was never solved. Although the Organian Empire and the Corellian Empire were attempting to form a lasting peace, the assassination led to a sharp divide between the two and a great mistrust of the two peoples. Although the evidence seemed to point to the Corellians, Jonathan was unsure if they truly did assassinate his father, given that they had nothing to gain from it. He did, however, have a very hard time trusting them.

During his youth, he came to greatly respect the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi. They had maintained the peace between the Corellians and the Alderaanians for years, despite the many differences between the two peoples. He studied the culture, philosophies and history of the Jedi Bendu for years and part of him wished that he had been sensitive to the Force of Others so he could have been a member of the noble and monastic peacekeeping organization. Despite his inability to use the Force of Others, he always made sure that he was up to date on the happenings of the order.

When he entered the military, he broke from his families army tradition and entered into the Alderaanian Navy. Though he did not know how his father would feel about him breaking tradition, he could only assume that he would be proud of him. Jonathan quickly rose the ranks and, as he did, realized that many of the horrid things that his government said about Corellia was nothing more than propaganda. When he confronted his superiors about it, he was nearly dismissed. It was only through a direct order from King Organa that he was able to retain his commission. He was given a promotion at the behest of the king, though he superiors were less than thrilled about giving it to him.

When he was a brash young captain, he met a woman named Talura Rheli, the daughter of one of Alderaan’s regional governors. Though her father’s position was relatively powerless, she had made a name for herself as she tried to spotlight humanitarian efforts across the planet. The two fell and love and wed one another in a small ceremony just outside a villa on the shores of Lake Aldera. Nine months later, Talura gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth. Through the years, both of them wanted Jonathan to leave the military, though he knew that it was his one true calling aside from being a father and a husband.

Fifteen years after he joined the navy, he had been promoted to the rank of Admiral. He watched as many galactic organizations joined together in what they called the Coalition of Planets, a lose federation that promised to draft a Galactic Charter and create one galactic government that encompassed all of the democratic governments of the galaxy. Despite his pleas, Jonathan watched as King Organa and the king of Corellia refused to join. Both of the governments wanted to maintain their sovereignty, as they believed that they needed to protect themselves from their so-called enemies. Jonathan could only imagine what the Jedi Bendu thought about what was happening, though he could not bring himself to ask them.

It did not take long for insurgent attacks to break out across Alderaan and Corellia, both governments blaming the other for them. Though they both denied that they attacked the other, the small conflict erupted into a full-scale war. Jonathan could not believe that he had been ordered to fight the Corellians, though he did so despite his disagreements with his government. Despite fighting, he asked the king to appoint him as a diplomatic ambassador to the Coalition of Planets. After weeks of thought, the king approved and allowed him to travel to Coruscant, a small and neutral city-world that had become the meeting place of the Jedi Bendu and the Coalition of Planets.

When he arrived on Coruscant, Jonathan did not waste any time. He immediately begged the Jedi Bendu to become involved in the conflict, as he believed they could easily stop it with their superior fighting skills, though they could only help negotiate as their philosophies prevented them from becoming involved. Despite their disagreements, the Jedi Bendu and Jonathan made fast friends out of one another, as each felt the other was a level-headed and fair-minded man or group. Jonathan agreed to stay on Coruscant for some time and he told the king that it was to help in the negotiation process. Though he told the truth, it was also because he could not bring himself to fight in a war that he did not agree with, despite the fact that it was possible that the Corellians had murdered his father.

Months into the war, the Jedi Bendu shared intelligence with Jonathan that pointed to a covert organization feeding false information and rumors to the Alderaanian and Corellian governments. With Jonathan’s help, the Jedi Bendu launched an investigation that found out that their information was true. The organization was called the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets, a lose organization of anarchists that reluctantly banned together to prevent the drafting of a charter and the creation of a galactic government. With the blessing of the Jedi Bendu, Jonathan took command of the Alderaanian fleet and shared his information with the Corellian government. Allying himself with them, they launched the final battle of the Unification War and destroyed the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets, but not before finding out that they were responsible for the assassination of Conrad Bac.

After the battle, Alderaan and Corellia put aside their differences and officially became members of the Coalition of Planets. The Jedi Bendu recommended that Jonathan be given the right to draft the charter, as they believed he would be best equipped to do so. The other governments agreed with their assessment. The Jedi Bendu also saw an aura of prophecy surrounding Jonathan, feeling that he would somehow be indirectly involved with the Prophecies of The Skywalker. After much deliberation, they shared their beliefs that his descendants would fulfill one or more of the prophecies. Though he was flattered, Jonathan was far too humble to believe that anyone in his family would be a prophetic figure.

After he completed the Galactic Charter, the date for its signing and the official founding of the Galactic Republic was set. Each government, including the Jedi Bendu, was given one vote as to who would be the Supreme Chancellor, the position that would serve as President of the Galactic Senate. The Jedi Bendu did not put any of their own members up, as they did not believe it was their place as they were not a government, but instead gave Jonathan the second vote he needed, as each government voted for their own member, and was elected Supreme Chancellor. When the founding came, Jonathan was the first to sign the charter as well as the first to stand and address the galaxy as the first Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.

The first thing he said in his speech was the offering of thanks to the Jedi Bendu for everything that they had done for the galaxy and the newly formed Galactic Republic. In his speech, he also formally requested that the Jedi Bendu take on the mandate of guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. They accepted his proposal and were given permission to build a monastery on Coruscant near the chambers of the Galactic Senate.

In his eight years in office, Jonathan helped to create the policies of the Galactic Republic and formally set up the democratic system that he pledged would be used for millennia to come. He was fortunate enough to have high approval ratings throughout his term and ended on a spectacular high note, feeling that he had accomplished something great during his time in office. When he left Coruscant, he returned to Alderaan with Talura and retired to the small villa on the shores of Lake Aldera where their wedding had been held years earlier.

The Supreme Chancellors that succeeded him in his declining years constantly contacted him for advice and he graciously gave it. He did the same for any politician that contacted him, agreeing to meet with many of them depending upon the situation. When he was seventy years old, he became ill and was brought to Aldera for medical tests. Two months later, he passed away peacefully in his sleep with Talura, Elizabeth, her husband and her two children at his side. Days later, he was given a state funeral on the shores of Lake Aldera. Supreme Chancellors, Senators, planetary leaders and thousands of citizens attended to pay their final respects to their trusted leader.

Legacy
According to some scholars and historians, Jonathan was one of the most important politicians in the early history of the Old Republic, if not the entire history. Despite the claims, he would never have admitted to such a feat, as he was far too modest and humble. His family had requested that he not be given a state funeral, as he would not have wished for one, though after a few days the Republic was able to convince them that the best way to remember him was to memorialize him in the form of a grand funeral.

Jonathan was credited with saving Alderaan and Corellia from destruction, as he was the one who ultimately brought down the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets with the intelligence given to him by the Jedi Bendu. He was also credited for being responsible for the formation of the Galactic Republic, not counting the Charter and the fact that he was the first Supreme Chancellor. Most historians agreed that if it hadn’t been for his quick thinking after being given the Jedi Bendu intelligence, the Brotherhood could have succeeded in preventing the formation of the Republic.

Jonathan was memorialized by the Jedi Bendu and was well remembered by them until the schism broke them into the Jedi Order and the Bendu Order. The Jedi reduced him to a footnote in history. Though he was still highly respected by the Jedi and the Republic after the schism, they downplayed his achievements as those who knew the truth about the Jedi Bendu did not want too much information on the early days of the government to spread. The Bendu, however, continued to credit him with setting up the brilliant democratic system that lasted for twenty-five thousand years.

Perhaps the sole reason that attention was brought back to Jonathan’s accomplishments during the Great Territorial War and it’s aftermath was the fact that his descendant Ussej Padric Bac had gone on to become a war hero. After his death, Ussej did just what the Jedi Bendu had predicted. He fulfilled one of the Prophecies of The Skywalker and became the Shaman of the Whills. Ussej Padric Bac II, Ussej Padric Bac III and Ussej Padric Bac LXIV became Prophets of the Whills and Patrick Keylan Bac fulfilled the Prophecy of the Last Son. Had it not been for Jonathan and his wife, the Great Territorial War and the Great Sovereign Crusades would have been won by the Sith, the Galactic Empire would have won the Galactic Civil War and the Dark Guardians of Lettow would have reigned supreme for thousands of years.

Personality and traits
Jonathan was a highly humble man who never truly wanted to take too much credit for anything, even if credit towards him was due. For example, he insisted that historians focus more on the efforts of the Coalition of Planets in the creation of the Republic than his own personal involvement. He felt it was best to share in the credit, as he believed that when one person took credit for something large they were shunning a great deal of people from praise and historical remembrance.

Jonathan was a staunch supporter of the Jedi Bendu, which was one of many reasons he formally requested that they adopt the mandate of guardians of peace and justice in the Republic. Though he disagreed with the Jedi Bendu philosophy that they should not go to war, including the Unification War, he still held a great deal of respect for their ways. Had he been sensitive to the Force of Others, he would have undoubtedly requested training in the ways of the Jedi Bendu.

Jonathan was also a very skilled tactician. He led the successful campaign against the Anarchic Brotherhood of Planets, though he never wanted to be remembered as a soldier. Instead, he wanted to be remembered as a politician who remembered his oath of office and did not give into personal temptation, as well as a politician who dedicated his life to serving, protecting and helping the common man both before and after the formation of the Republic.

Behind the scenes

 * In Brandon Rhea's vision, he is portrayed by actor Scott Bakula.
 * The character is based upon Jonathan Archer, the leader character from Star Trek: Enterprise. It is one of many reasons why Bakula, who played Archer, was chosen to portray Jonathan Bac.
 * The name "Jonathan Bac" is an homage to "Jonathan Archer".

Appearances

 * The Beginning: Dawn of a Republic
 * Shadows of the Jedi: The Legend of Ussej Padric Bac
 * Shadows of the Jedi: The Legend of Ussej Padric Bac II
 * Shadows of the Jedi: The Legend of Ussej Padric Bac III
 * Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Beginning