Darth Nihilus

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

- Kreia

"You... you are the darkness, in which all life dies, my lord."

- Visas Marr

"One cannot hold a power of that magnitude and still perceive the universe as we do."

- Kreia

Darth Nihilus was a Dark Lord of the Sith in the time after the Jedi Civil War. Ally of Darth Traya, he was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Malachor V and a member of the Sith Triumvirate. 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.

Biography
"He is a wound in the Force, more presence than flesh, and in his wake life dies... sacrificing itself to his hunger."

- Visas Marr to the Jedi Exile



Little is known of the true beginnings of Darth Nihilus, other than the fact that he was a survivor of the Mandalorian Wars. Although his role in the wars is a mystery, it is very likely that he may have been one of the Jedi that defied the Jedi Council to follow Revan. 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. They cast Traya down, stripped her of her power, and expelled her from the Sith Order. Nihilus and Sion then begun their shadow war against the remnants of the Jedi Order, hunting Jedi to the brink of extinction. Nihilus also took Sion as his apprentice.



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 and/or to Palpatine's consuming Force Storms. 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 her power and essence. However, this would be the Sith Lord's undoing, for the Jedi Exile broke Visas free from Nihilus's bonds, and she turned against her former master. During the Battle of Telos IV, along with the Exile and Mandalore, Visas defeated him on board the bridge of Ravager. When Nihilus tried to feed on the Exile, he exhausted himself, leaving himself temporarily vulnerable. Since the Exile had previously lost her connection to the Force, she was shielded 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 all 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 has been theorized that he speaks in the Sith language, for it is stated that Darth Nihilus is so corrupt, when he speaks, it causes death around him (the statement can be found in the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords strategy guide, under Darth Nihilus).
 * 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. This is due to Darth Nihilus' model using Darth Malak's model from the first game as a base.
 * 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 cannot be worn but gives 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 by the dark side 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.
 * Some fans believe that Darth Nihilus is actualy Squint from the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, due the fact that they both were captured by Mandalorians. Others suspect that Zayne Carrick and Darth Nihilus were actually the same person, because the Jedi Masters of Zayne believe that the boy was destined to be the Destroyer of Worlds, just like Nihilus. A yet another theory says that Nihilus is Zayne's master, Lucien Draay. However, none of the suspection has been confirmed to be canon.

Appearances

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