The final act of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor featured some major twists and turns in the story, including a surprise betrayal from Bode that led to the destruction of Cal Kestis’ original plans for Tanalorr with Jedi Masters Eno Cordova and Cere Junda. But one question that many players left with was, how did everyone fail to see Bode’s true identity during their time with him?
Early in Jedi: Survivor we learn that Cal Kestis has been working alongside Saw Gerrera’s militia in the battle against the Empire, during the period of Jedi: Fallen Order. Starting the journey on Coruscant to gather intel from Senator Daho Sejan on the Empire’s outpost locations around the Galaxy.
Bode was introduced as the new addition to the team, who is skilled in combat and has high mastery in jetpack movement. Become quite close with Cal over the course of the story but, we find out later that he has been hiding a secret identity the entire time
Did Cal know Bode was a Jedi?
No, Cal was completely unaware of the fact that Bode Akuna was another survivor of Order 66. And that he had also abandoned the Jedi code and taken a darker turn, much like Dagan Gera. Bode was instrumental in helping Cal unlock the keys to Tanalorr, and to defeating the High Republic Jedi. But it was all clearly for his own personal gain.
Once it was revealed that Eno Cordova was able to fix the compass to this safe haven planet, the Empire’s forces, who were tipped off by Bode, immediately sent them into panic with a full-scale attack on their base. The Imperial forces, led by Vader himself, invaded the hidden temple on Jedha and laid ruin to all of the artifacts and knowledge that Cere had gathered over the years.
Bode took this window of opportunity to snatch the compass for himself, and his daughter. As if that was bad enough, he also chose to prevent all possibilities of being tracked down, and refused Cal’s plans for the Hidden Path, by brutally eliminating one of the only people who could possibly replicate the tech, Master Eno Cordova.
This obviously came as a major shock to Cal, both the betrayal of Bode and the consequences of it leading to Cordova and Cere’s demise. While there were some subtle clues about Bode’s true intent along the way, such as him staying back with Dagan’s body to retrieve the lightsaber, there was nothing overwhelmingly obvious that would have tipped him off as a Jedi.
Why Cere and Cordova didn’t know Bode
There are some possible explanations as to why Bode wasn’t recognized by the other Jedi. Bode would have been much younger in appearance, and although it was not confirmed in-game, he may have also been in the order under a different identity or name. While most of the Jedi Masters knew one another, there were simply too many Jedi Knights and Padawans. The order was said to have around 10,000 Jedi uring the Clone Wars and him going unnoticed may have been a stroke of luck rather than some grand plan.
As we learned in Fallen Order, Cordova spent much time off-world during the final years before Order 66, he was tracking down leads about the Zeffo and other ancient force users to validate and produce evidence for the council that his feeling about the Jedi’s downfall would come through. This heavy obsession likely made him less observant compared to most other Jedi.
As for Cere Junda, she probably would have had the best chance at recognizing a younger Bode Akuna, as she was seen to be protecting padawans and younglings during Order 66. But, apparently Bode did not cross her path. Bode seems similar in age to Trilla, a few years older than Cal, so you would expect them to know each other but as the Clone Wars were underway. The Jedi Order was also quite spread out during this time which could explain why Bode went unnoticed.