#this truly unbreakable blade has tempered itself in the gentlest of waters...

[eorzeashan]

Funny you say that, Marr. So has Eight.

I'd also very much argue Arcann is definitely acting through passion: his fueled rage and hatred towards his father who he hardly worships. Unfortunately another flaw of KOTFE where they tried to make Zakuul be the grey area of the Force but there's no way to escape the confines of Dark and Light unless you are literally exempt from those forces.

AKA: a non-force user, or someone like the Voss.

Striking from the dark within is specifically what he does-- and Eight knew from the start he had no chance at freedom, never wanted it, never pursued it, and that drove his entire motivation for making himself invaluable to Jadus, who was power incarnate. The power to protect Intelligence and act with authority he didn't have.

The narrative here is notorious for being mostly relevant to Force-users, but the binding subplot really helps it along.

Gets dialogue option, slams [ATTACK]

Speaking through battle is the Echani way! I believe in this- I mean, fists!

THE BAD BITCHES IN THE GOLD EMBROIDERED LEATHER WITH HOODS ARE FIGHTINGGGG

Sidenote, I adore how it looks like he's taunting her with his free hand to come and get 'im.

Double-cheeked up on a Taungsday afternoon hella ass,

Darth Marr: The weapon you wield was built for a different war. A different enemy. It must change, as you have.

This section leads to building a rather junk-y looking gun that....brings to mind Splatoon metaphors, but given Eight's background and how an Echani chooses a weapon at some point that ultimately reveals who they are at their core, this part actually felt fitting.

I headcanon'd that Marr was more or less implying he was the weapon himself to be rebuilt and reforged, as he always has, and in turn, he needs to embrace that lost part of himself that would flourish in wartime like this.

I've already written about his family's vibrosword before, but in my mind's eye I've replaced the gun building section with retrieving that, and in turn, creating that Echani warrior/warlord alias he wears as the Outlander. I'm 50/50 on that sword's origins since I still like the idea of it not actually being anything special save for a tool in the right hands, but there was the background of his family on Eshan being vibroblade producers/swordsmiths who made this prototype that required a rather deft style to wield which they tried to make popular by inventing their own dueling style to accompany it but it fell out of favor over time with the surge of the Galactic War.

Eight either makes a cheap copy of it because it's a fake and an imitation just like him, or he takes a trip down memory lane and revisits his abandoned home to remember his roots, and the path he has to carve forward.

A blade is just a blade. What matters is what it is willing to spill blood for. Helluva symbol, though.

Eight: There's no limit I can't surpass...

Limit break protocol activated.

Eight: If you accept that death has no power over you, it stops being your enemy...and becomes your ally.

Eight: When that happens...you don't have to fight.

This part was so bittersweet. When the Shade Stalker matriarch came out, I realized through Eight's eyes that he saw it like Jadus: something terrible and fearsome through nature, and one that he felt a resonance with because of that. So he chose to acknowledge it. It's what lets him endure what drives others to madness. He'll never be afraid of the unknown again.

Replace death with fear, and it's the same meaning.

Darth Marr: Your alliance will collapse if you do not know yourself-- and the ideals you serve. Do you understand?

He does. Not in the way you're implying Marr, but he does. He has no self to know, and his ideals will never be his own, but that is exactly why he fights. He travels the galaxy to know the ideals of others-- to someday know himself, to reach that ideal that Keeper once saw for him.