HK 47

Development

A BioWare developer posted to the company's forum that HK-47 is named in homage of a dropship in Shattered Steel. However, Knights of the Old Republic lead writer Drew Karpyshyn claimed the name derived from his billiards team's name, which in turn was partially derived from the AK-47.

Appearances

In Knights of the Old Republic, the player's character purchases HK-47 on Tatooine. Dialogue establishes that Revan built the bloodthirsty droid, which characteristically refers to organic lifeforms as "meatbags".

HK-47 is disabled at the beginning of The Sith Lords; the player's character recovers material from damaged droids to repair HK-47. Dialogue in The Sith Lords expands on the droid's backstory and purpose, establishing that Revan used the droid to kill people who destabilized or weakened the galaxy.

In the time frame of the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion to Star Wars Galaxies, HK-47's artificial intelligence has transferred into a computer on a Galactic Republic cruiser that later crashed on Mustafar. The droid calls on players to complete several quests to return him to a droid body.

HK-47 returns in Star Wars: The Old Republic as a boss battle in two separate flashpoints and as a mini boss in a level 60 operation.

HK-47 is an unlockable guest character in the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.

Promotion and reception

HK-47 was included as an action figure in the Champions of the Force line of Star Wars figures.

At the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards, the HK-47 character won the category of "Original Game Character of the Year". The character also won Computer Gaming World's 2003 "NPC of the Year" award. GameSpot called the character one of the coolest characters of 2003, saying he was possibly the most original Star Wars character in years. GamesRadar listed HK-47 as the 3rd best conceived character in video gaming, calling him "cheerfully insane" and saying he was "[e]asily the highlight of the [Knights of the Old Republic] series". IGN chose the character as the 13th top Star Wars hero. GameDaily's Robert Workman called HK-47 one of his favourite characters from Star Wars video games. GameDaily's Chris Buffa also listed the droid as one of their top 25 video game robots, praising its humour and in-game value. UGO Networks listed the character as one of the top 50 Star Wars expanded universe characters, noting his sarcastic personality made him unique among droids. GamesRadar listed it as one of the 25 best new characters of the decade, stating that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic had some of the best characterization in Star Wars history, adding that HK-47 was one of the most memorable characters in the game.

Empire listed HK-47 as the 43rd greatest video game character, calling him "brilliantly twisted". Dakota Grabowski of GameZone listed HK-47 as the second top BioWare created teammate, commenting that he delivered some of the best lines in Knights of the Old Republic. Game Informer's Kimberley Wallace considered him to be one of the best BioWare characters, saying that "While BioWare's games have always had comic-relief characters, none have come close to the simple wisdom and mean-spiritedness of HK-47." Matt Miller from the same magazine called HK-47 the second top AI character of the decade, commenting that if the player chose to go light-side, then "he is a perfect counter to your heroic actions". In 2010, Game Informer ranked HK-47 at #15 in "The Top 30 Characters who Defined a Decade" list, who called him the best character in Knights of the Old Republic. The magazine noted that his personality and humour "[held] a mirror to Revan's dual history with both sides of the Force", saying that he highlighted the overarching Star Wars theme of everyone having both good and evil in them. HK-47 was also voted as the 18th top character of the decade by Game Informer's readers. GameSpy's Mike Sharkey called HK-47 a noticeable omission from the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition's top 50 video game characters.