Cal Kestis is not the last Jedi, but he is the last ginger (probably)

I have to start this post by saying that I, Maddy Myers, have red hair. It’s a dye job on my natural golden blonde, which some people call “strawberry blonde,” depending on the stages of the natural bleaching I get from the sun in the summer.

You can look at mine Instagram and decide how mad you want to be with me about the fact that I personally think it’s funny to replace the word “Jedi” with the word “ginger” in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Many fans have labeled Cal Kestis as a “boringcharacter, but I disagree. He’s gentle but playful, maybe not as funny as Nathan Drake – but bless him for that, because that shit can get annoying. And he has something that few other (perhaps zero??) Star Wars leading men have ever had. I am, of course, talking about his hair.

In video games, it’s very common for female protagonists to have red hair, often an unrealistically vibrant shade of crimson. That includes the default female version of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect trilogy, as well as Joanna Dark from Perfectly dark, or – more recently – Aloy in the Horizon games. Of those famous examples, Aloy is the only one whose red hair appears natural, and she has freckles.

It’s also more common in the world of Star Wars to see redheaded ladies instead of dudes – Mon Mothma and Aurra Sing, for example. Of the male cast members, there’s Domhnall Gleeson as Hux, but of course Hux isn’t a hero.

Likewise, male redheads — let alone freckled redheads — rarely become heroes in video games. That’s Reno from Final Fantasy 7, a side character and a bit of a bad boy. Secondary protagonist Atreus in God of war Ragnarok has red hair, but it’s not nearly as vibrant as Reno’s. Then there’s Ganondorf, a problematic favorite. All three are of the trickster type, with Atreus being the most heroic of the bunch…although he also uses “Loki”. (Cal Kestis actor Cameron Monaghan also played a trickster villain himself Gotham.)

Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

But in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cal Kestis is a hero – no doubt about it! – and he was inside Fallen order, at. I loved that Cal was a redhead back then, and I still love it now. Is this a form of representation that I really think is a big deal? No. Prejudice against redheads and redheads exist, but few people would argue that it is a serious social disease. Still, Cal’s hair is something that makes him a little different from the norm. As far as I can remember, no one in the games ever talks about his hair or his other ginger-adjacent traits (translucent eyelashes, freckles, etc). And because he’s so unusual, as both a red protagonist and especially one in the world of Star Wars, I personally like replacing the word “Jedi” with “ginger.”

The Star Wars Jedi games are set in the aftermath of Order 66, so the Jedi are all killed – except for a few who escaped capture, like Cal. There are beautiful ones obvious cultural analogues for Order 66 from our world history. However, discrimination against gingers is not one of them.

Image: Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts via Polygon

Unfortunately, my enjoyment has diminished somewhat now that I learned that someone made a mod for it Star Wars Jedi: Survivor that recolors Cal’s hair. In a now-deleted Twitter thread, Monaghan expressed apparent frustration at the existence of such a mod. According to pop culture. com‘s article on his thread, he had written, “Seriously, ginger hatred is still a thing? We must be one of the few groups where it’s not taboo to shit on us because we were born or look a certain way, right?” He then backtracked on this statement, saying the thread was a “light hearted joke”, continuing: “People who look different from the norm are great. Redheads are great. If someone tells you you’re not great because you are different from what is considered ‘standard’, know that you rock.”

That’s a great attitude in Monaghan’s latest post, even if it’s been deleted. And if someone makes a mod for it Star Wars Jedi: Survivor that replaces the word “Jedi” with “ginger,” but… maybe don’t tell Cameron Monaghan.