Darth Nihilus

"Power? Do you think so? There is no strength in the hunger he possesses..."

- Kreia

{{quote|You are the darkness in which all life dies my lord. I beg you, please kill me.|Visas Mar

Darth Nihilus was a Sith Lord around the time after the Jedi Civil War. Apprentice of Darth Traya, he was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Malachor V. He was a shadowy figure that wore a red and white mask and was dressed in a black cloak.

Darth Nihilus consumed the Force from Force-sensitives in order to stay alive. He even consumed entire Force-sensitive planets. Besides his terrible hunger, Darth Nihilus wielded a lightsaber, and fought in an aggressive one-handed style somewhat similar to Makashi.

Biography
Little is known of the true beginnings of Darth Nihilus, other than the fact that he was once a human male and a survivor of the Mandalorian Wars. Although his role in the Mandalorian Wars is a mystery, it is possible that he may have been one of the Jedi that defied the Jedi Council to follow Revan into the wars. After the war he was found by Darth Traya to be Force-sensitive, and she began training him in the ways of the Sith at the Trayus Academy on Malachor V. Disagreeing with his master's teaching methods, Nihilus, along with fellow apprentice, Darth Sion, plotted and turned against their dark mistress Traya. They cast Traya down, stripped her of her power, and expelled her from the Sith Order. Nihilus and Sion had begun their shadow war against the remnants of the Jedi Order, hunting Jedi to the brink of extinction.



Darth Nihilus ravaged and consumed numerous beings, several of those who were not consumed to death becoming mindless slaves aboard the bridge of his flagship, the Ravager. Nihilus's nature was all-consuming, which may be related to the thought bomb technique used by Kaan and the Brotherhood of Darkness three thousand years later. His hunger was an insatiable appetite for all things living; indeed, it consumed him to the point where he ceased being a man of flesh. His flesh remained, but only in the form of a shell encasing the dark gaping void that swallowed all life it came into contact with. Nihilus viewed the galaxy as simply a platter to feed his insatiable appetite.

One servant of Nihilus was Visas Marr, a Miraluka female from Katarr, a planet consumed and destroyed by Nihilus. The Sith Lord sent Visas on a mission to find and bring the last of the Jedi before him, so that he could consume his power and essence. However, this would be the Sith Lord's undoing, for the Jedi Exile broke her from Nihilus's bonds, and she turned against her former master. During the Battle of Telos IV, along with the Exile and Canderous Ordo, Visas defeated him on board the bridge of the Ravager. When Nihilus tried to feed on the Exile, he exhausted himself, leaving himself temporarily vulnerable, for the Exile had previously lost his connection to the Force, shielding him from the leeching hunger of Nihilus. After a short but brutal fight, the Exile finally slew Darth Nihilus, thus eliminating one of three reigning Sith Lords. After his death, his body dissolved in an aura of dark side energies.

Behind the scenes



 * Like most of the Sith Lords, Darth Nihilus's name has some meaning (nihil is Latin for "nothing"). He has no loyalties to anyone but himself, and will consume both Sith and Jedi with his hunger, which notes that his name fits his current personality quite well. Nihilus is also derived from the term "nihilism", or "belief in nothing", most notably concepts of truth and purpose.
 * It should be noted that Nihilus never speaks a clear word in the game, he simply emits patterns of sounds similar to the Sith Holocrons found on Telos.
 * It should also be noted that the same style of lightsaber combat used by Nihilus during the player's encounter with him is used by another main villain of the Knights of the Old Republic series, Darth Malak.
 * Darth Nihilus was going to face off with Darth Sion at some point in the original uncut game on the Ravager, after the Exile supposedly dies.
 * Another possible outcome to the battle is to convince Visas to sacrifice herself, thus shattering the bond she had with Darth Nihilus. Severely wounded, he is no match for the Jedi Exile. This was sometimes thought to be cut content.
 * Darth Nihilus's mask can be obtained if the Exile asks Visas Marr to do. It can not be worn but give the player a force point boost
 * In promotional material for the game, Nihilus is seen as the personfication of the dark side, an opposite to Atris (Although she represented the light, Atris had been corrupted all along). Concept art shows a confrontation between the two, but Atris never actually interacts with Nihilus during the game.
 * In a bug that might occur when Nihilus dies, his body is surrounded by dark side energies but the body itself does not disappear. A lightsaber, a Dark Jedi Master Robe and a Kaiburr crystal may then be found in his remains.

Appearances

 * Unseen, Unheard
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords