Scourge (Sith)

"The betrayer always strikes with the best of intentions."

- Meetra Surik

Scourge was a male Pureblood Sith who served as a Lord of the resurgent Sith Empire. He slew Meetra Surik and orchestrated the capture of Revan prior to the Sith invasion of the Galactic Republic. Holding the title of Emperor's Wrath, he was widely seen as the Sith Emperor's most powerful and loyal servant. In reality, Scourge had worked with Revan and Surik to kill the Emperor, and was using his position to ensure the Emperor would be defeated.

Biography
In 3,964 BBY, when Scourge first arrived on Dromund Kaas, he saw the citadel where the Dark Council and their Emperor ruled over the Sith and vowed to one day set foot inside its walls, as acolytes were not permitted inside. When he graduated from the Sith Academy, Scourge expected to be posted on Dromund Kaas. Instead, he was dispatched to quell minor rebellions on recently conquered worlds. Scourge suspected that one of his instructors, jealous of his talent and willing to curb attempts to ascend in Sith politics, was responsible. After two years, Scourge returned as a Lord of the Sith.

In Darth Nyriss' service
In 3,954 BBY, Scourge was recalled to the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas by the Dark Councilor Darth Nyriss, to find and eliminate the perpetrators of several recent assassination attempts on the Sith Lord's life.

While working for Nyriss, he found out that the person responsible for the assassination attempts on her life was fellow Dark Councilor Darth Xedrix, who was in reality a traitor in league with a human separatist movement, trying to move against the Emperor to save himself. Though they did had not have enough evidence to implicate Xedrix and force the Emperor to take action, Nyriss figured to lure Xedrix to Bosthirda, where he could be killed. Scourge was hesitant to face a member of the Dark Council, knowing that he would be killed. Nyriss assured him that the dark side had ravaged Xedrix, leaving him a hollow shell of what he once was, only surviving this long through wit and cunning. Scourge realized the truth of Nyriss' statements when he confronted Xedrix and eliminated the traitorous Lord and his human allies, but not before Xedrix revealed that Scourge has become a pawn in a larger game.

Scourge returned to Nyriss' palace and confronted her adviser Sechel, demanding answers. Nyriss intervened before Scourge could do any harm. She promised to answer his questions, but warned him not to harm Sechel again. Nyriss asked Scourge if he was loyal to the Emperor or to the Empire. She reveals that the Emperor is mad, plotting to pit the Empire against the Republic. Many know that it would be suicidal, as the Jedi always push the Sith back and would eventually exterminate them. Nyriss and several other members of the Dark Council had been plotting against their Emperor, hoping to bring them down. Xedrix was part of the conspiracy, but had to been eliminated to distract the Emperor.

To gain Scourge's trust in light of these revelations, Nyriss brought Scourge to the Sith Emperor's homeworld Nathema and explained his history. There she was able to show Scourge how the planet that had been stripped of all life, and even the Force itself, by a Sith ritual undertaken by the Emperor in the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War. It was here, experiencing the horror of the Void, that Scourge came to believe his master's assertion that the Emperor was insane.

While leaving Nathema, the pair tracked an unknown vessel arriving in orbit. Not recognizing the ship as the Ebon Hawk, and fearing her duplicity could be exposed to the Emperor prematurely, Nyriss fired her ship's ion cannon on the intruder. The crippled Ebon Hawk crashed on the surface, and Scourge went back down to capture or kill any survivors. There he found only one; Revan, who was taken captive. Nyriss identified Revan as a Jedi and Republic spy. Scourge panicked, assuming that the Jedi know of the Sith's survival and would finish the extermination of their species as what happened during the Great Hyperspace War. Nyriss allayed his fears, stating that Revan and his partner Malak were captured trying to infiltrate the Empire and officially executed.

When Revan regained consciousness, Scourge and Nyriss found that he had no memory of who he was. Scourge tried torturing information out of him to no avail, as that Jedi was strong willed and in the Force. Nyriss theorized that instead of being executed, Revan and Malak were brainwashed by the Emperor into his servants and sent back to the Republic to gather information, indicating that he's closer to invading the Republic. Nyriss decided to study Revan to learn what enabled him to break free of the Emperor's control, thinking that it might help in freeing the Emperor's devote servants: the Imperial Guard, his Voice and his Hands.

Alliance with Revan
Revan could only tell them what he could remember but could not grant answers to Nyriss' questions. After six months, Nyriss lost interest in her Jedi prisoner, though Scourge felt Revan's unique connection to the Force and continued to interrogate the prisoner, intrigued with how he experienced both sides of the Force. Over the next three years, Scourge formed a relationship of sorts with his captive. His trust in Revan, though never absolute, was slowly increased as the captive Jedi doled out small insights into the Force. He also confided in Revan his misgivings about Nyriss, who refuses to take action against the Emperor, instead wasting her energy fighting her rivals. Revan stated that Malak betrayed him and the same thing could happen to Nyriss if she were to take charge of the conspiracy. Scourge could admit to himself that he might be right. In what would turn out to be their final solo interrogation session, Revan attempted to deceive Scourge into believing that help was on its way.

Some time later, Sechel came by Scourge's quarters, informing him that while running his freelance information business, a Human woman came by and produced a perfect holoimage of Scourge, though she had no idea of the connection between him and Sechel, asking to arrange a meeting. Sechel speculated that perhaps this Human may have been the victim of one of Scourge's assassinations and may be seeking revenge. Therefore, Scourge arranged an ambush in a cave outside Kaas City, with Nyriss' chief of security, Murtog. What he didn't expect was that the Human was in fact a Jedi, who had come to Dromund Kaas to rescue Revan. Scourge was amazed how she was able to take down Murtog and his men. She wasn't afraid to kill but took no pleasure in it. Instead of feeding off her emotions, she kept them at arms' reach so the Force could flow through her unhindered.

Rather than attack, Scourge began to believe that Revan spoke truly about help about to arrive. He promised the Jedi that he would help free Revan but she was hesitant to trust him. Scourge then learned that she had been to Nathema in her search for Revan, which he reasoned is a reason to unify against a common enemy, given what the Emperor is capable of.

After concluding that she and Revan were the keys to killing the Emperor and stopping his self-destructive plan to invade the Republic, Scourge tracked down Sechel and forced him to relinquish the details on the Dark Council conspiracy. He then is forced to kill Sechel as he was a loose end. He then presented the evidence to the Jedi, earning her trust. She introduced herself as Meetra Surik and joined in an alliance of convenience to free Revan. To this end, Scourge sought an audience with the Emperor himself in order to expose his master's treachery with Sechel's evidence, though T3-M4 doctored out Scourge's involvement in the conspiracy, so that he and Surik could use the ensuing chaos as cover to rescue the third member of their party.

Scourge and Surik infiltrated Nyriss' compound posing as master and slave, but their ruse soon proved to be unnecessary as the Imperial Guard descended on the property in force. Amid the chaos and combat, the pair were able to easily make their way to the detention area.

While in the process of freeing Revan, Darth Nyriss descended on the trio. She unleashed her wrath on her traitorous underling, quickly and easily overwhelming both Scourge and Surik. In their moment of defeat, Revan emerged from his cell and rescued them by turning Nyriss' power back upon her, killing her with ease.

After escaping the compound, Scourge learned that the Emperor's wrath had gone far beyond punishing Nyriss--the entire Dark Council and their servants were in the process of being hunted down, while Dromund Kaas itself was placed under martial law. Revan then theorized that the Emperor may use the massacre as an excuse to invade the Republic. Scourge and his unlikely allies decided to wait the night out in the cave where he had first met Surik, both to avoid the chaos and to take advantage of the tired patrols on the following morning.

The night before their fateful mission, Scourge attempted to meditate on the Force. During Revan's captivity he had learned much, but he wanted to try to expand his understanding of it. There he experienced his first Force vision, foreseeing himself and his two Jedi companions broken and defeated at the feet of the Emperor. This formed the first seed of doubt in his mind.

Scourge and the Jedi set out the following morning and were allowed entry into the Emperor's Citadel without incident. As the catalyst for the Emperor's purge, Scourge had earned himself preferential status at least for the time being. They were not stopped until reaching the doors of the throne room itself. Battle erupted there, because the captain of the Imperial Guard recognized Revan's mask.

During the course of the ensuing battle, Scourge's doubt about the outcome inspired another Force vision, in which he witnessed another Jedi destroying the Emperor. The desire to defeat his Emperor, even at the cost of his current allies, quickly took shape. Scourge betrayed his Jedi allies, stabbing Surik in the back and killing her instantly. This distracted Revan long enough for the Emperor to unleash a powerful display of Force lightning that incapacitated him.

Believing Scourge's betrayal as an act of loyalty, the Emperor made him an immortal attendant known as the "Emperor's Wrath". After acquiring the same immortality as his master, Scourge awaited the arrival of the one who will destroy the Emperor, as foretold by the vision. However, his immortality was not without a price: the ritual caused intense pain to Scourge that would remain with him forever. Eventually, as he becomes accustomed to the pain, he would become numb, unable to feel anything at all.

Siding with the Jedi
Approximately three centuries later, Scourge encountered a young Jedi Knight while he was partaking in a mission to execute the former Dark Council member Sajar on Quesh. Scourge arrived to find the ray shields blocking his way. While he could have forced his way through, he recognized the Jedi Knight's face and decided to back down and depart instead, revealing that they would meet again. As for Sajar, he concluded that his own weakness would be his undoing.

Scourge then returned to the Emperor's space fortress where he met the Jedi Knight once again. After being fought to a standstill, the Emperor dominated the minds of Tol Braga's strike team who arrived to capture him and redeem him to the light side, including the Knight. As soon as the Knight was freed from the Emperor's thrall by the ghost of Orgus Din, Scourge had already freed the Knight's companions. Though the Knight exhibited hostility towards Scourge, the Sith states that he had foreseen that the Knight would challenge the Emperor and that vision is what drives his current actions. He journeyed with the Jedi to Tython, where he revealed to the Jedi Council that in all his years of service to the Emperor, he has learned that he intends to perform an even greater dark side ritual that would consume all life in the galaxy until there's nothing left. However it requires billions of simultaneous deaths, centered on Belsavis. Though some Council members were wary of Scourge's intentions, Grand Master Satele Shan, (ironically Revan's descendant,) saw the truth in his words and consented to an alliance. Though officially part of the Jedi Knight's team, Scourge made it clear that he viewed it as an alliance of convenience (though he did try to persuade the Jedi Knight to open up to the Sith way.) As soon as Belsavis is saved from Executor Krannus' madness, Scourge concludes that the Emperor would not just devote resources to one world, for he would have a backup plan.

After seemingly defeating the Emperor, Scourge was awarded the Republic Cross of Glory. Though he could not return to the Sith for betraying the Emperor nor did not desire to become a Jedi, Scourge stated that he would stay until he was certain that the Emperor hadn't left any surprises.

Powers and abilities
"You have a special gift. You do not just feed on the raw emotions of your foe; you gorge yourself on them. You feast on their primal fear. It amplifies your hate and anger. It fuels the power of the Force. It transforms you into an instrument of death and destruction."

- Darth Nyriss to Scourge.

Scourge was versed in at least three forms of lightsaber combat. During his time in Darth Nyriss's stronghold, Scourge employed Juyo during a training exercise, and later used both Ataru and Soresu in his duel with Darth Xedrix's apprentices. Like all users of the dark side, Scourge was capable of drawing upon the raw emotions of his enemies in order to empower himself, only to a much greater degree. Darth Nyriss praised his special skill with this ability, claiming that he doesn't just feed on these emotions, he 'gorges' himself on them. However, this ability also proved to be his weakness. Since he had grown too accustomed to relying solely on the emotions of his opponents to fuel his power, he would neglect using his own emotions to strengthen his abilities. As a result, whenever he would battle against droids he would unintentionally try to feed off their nonexistent emotions and would only end up weakening himself in the process. Scourge was also exceptionally skilled at torture.

Behind the scenes
Lord Scourge is a companion character for the Jedi Knight in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Scourge is voiced by Joseph Gatt in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic