Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

"It does not matter where we go. It is not the destination that matters. It is the journey."

- Kreia

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is the sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was widely regarded as a major commercial and critical success. The original game, however, was developed by a different company, BioWare. According to the game's producers, the change of developers was primarily due to BioWare's occupation with other titles, such as Jade Empire and Dragon Age. BioWare is understood to have recommended Obsidian Entertainment as an alternative developer, having worked with many of Obsidian's key members when they were part of the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. The Sith Lords was constructed using an updated version of the original Knights of the Old Republic Odyssey engine, which Obsidian obtained from BioWare.

Conception
"The first story draft was pretty terrible, mostly because we weren't allowed to play K1 before drafting it, so we really knew nothing about the first game and were writing in the dark (Revan who?)."

- Chris Avellone, Lead Designer for The Sith Lords at Obsidian Entertainment, talking about story development.

Development of The Sith Lords began at approximately the same time that the original Knights of the Old Republic was released for the Xbox, on July 15, 2003. From the beginning, the production team had decided that the general atmosphere of the universe would be much darker than in Knights of the Old Republic and that the situation for the Jedi would be grim. Chris Avellone, Lead designer for the project, felt that it would be a challenging task to create a sequel to what he felt was an amazing story that BioWare had developed for the original Knights of the Old Republic and that there would be a lot of pressure created for the team. He began with determining what was considered fun in the gameplay elements and what kind of story would have to be developed to complement those elements. The next step was to watch every Star Wars movie, read every book and comic book about the Expanded Universe and even sitting through The Star Wars Holiday Special. To him, it was vital to understand what adventures had already been created, the parameters of the EU, and which bad ideas it was prudent to stay away from. Only then did he feel it was time to look at the overall vision of the project.

The first phase involved distinguishing the character, or the hero's motivation, from player motivation and how the story would develop to integrate the two. In The Sith Lords, the character was a disgraced veteran of the Mandalorian Wars who was the last known Jedi in the galaxy and the target of dark side assassins who were determined to eradicate all Jedi. Certain circumstances had severed the hero's connection to the Force, but the character was being given a chance to slowly regain that connection and rediscover what it meant to be a Jedi or Sith. The player motivation involved providing the teasers that would stimulate the player into wanting to continue the game and encourage the player to explore the story and locations fully. For example, this could have been accomplished by revealing critical information, introducing a new companion or acquiring new special abilities. It was felt that each stage of the game should ask and answer the question "Why should the player care?"

The following phase involved devising the critical story points and filling in the story to link those points together. The purpose was to throw the player for a loop, but allow enough foreshadowing so that the player would stay interested. After the overall story had been developed, the game outline was divided up between the designers who would then go about filling in the details of their particular section of the storyline. The main goal was to give the player high adventure, lots of alien races and new worlds to visit. The development team also wanted to create a story that would pull the player into seriously thinking about the difference in using the Force for good and evil and the consequences of those actions.

Plot summary
The game takes place approximately five years after the conclusion of the first game, and during the times of the Dark Wars, and focuses on a mostly different set of characters. The conclusion of the first game varied depending on the choices of the player, with either the light side or dark side of the Force emerging triumphant&mdash;at the beginning of The Sith Lords, players specify which of these outcomes they wish the sequel to follow. Regardless of how the original game ended, however, the beginning of The Sith Lords sees the Sith having almost completely destroyed the Jedi Order. The character whom the player takes control of is a Jedi Knight banished from the Order after she went to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. The Sith believe her to be the last remaining Jedi, though in the beginning known simply as the Exile or Jedi Exile by characters in the game due to a customizable name. Although the Exile is by default a female character, players can also choose to set the Exile as a male character.

Among the characters who join the main character are Kreia, who acts as a mentor to the Exile; Mira, a bounty hunter (she only joins if the player is light-side aligned on Nar Shaddaa); Hanharr, a Wookiee bounty hunter (he joins only if the player is dark-side aligned on Nar Shaddaa); Atton Rand, a former elite operative for the Sith during the Jedi Civil War who turned to smuggling after leaving the Sith, having found out that he was Force-sensitive (Atton is the love interest of a female Exile); Bao-Dur, a Zabrak engineer; Brianna, an Echani Handmaiden (she only joins if the Exile is male and is one of the two love interests of a male Exile); Mical, a former Jedi Initiate turned historian (another love interest for a female Exile); Visas Marr, a Miraluka Dark Jedi apprentice to Darth Nihilus (she is the other love interest of a male Exile); and G0-T0, an interrogation droid. Several characters featured in the first game are also brought into this sequel, and a few can join the main character's party: T3-M4, an astromech droid; HK-47, an assassin droid; and Canderous Ordo (as Mandalore the Preserver), a Mandalorian. Enemies include Darth Sion, a Sith Lord with a shattered body, held together with the Force and Darth Nihilus, a being of hunger that fed on Force-sensitive energy. The new planets which the character may visit include Telos IV, the environmentally destroyed home of Carth Onasi; Nar Shaddaa, the Smugglers' Moon; the planet of Onderon; Onderon's jungle moon Dxun; and Peragus II. Korriban and Dantooine, which also appeared in the original KotOR, are also revisited. The Ebon Hawk, the ship used by the main character in the first game, once again is the main method of transportation.

Major characters
This is based on the canonical female light side version of the game.

Meetra Surik
Meetra Surik (also known as the Jedi Exile) is the protagonist of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Ten years before the events of the story, Surik fought as a Jedi General alongside Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. At the climactic Battle of Malachor V, she activated the Mass Shadow Generator, which caused over a thousand instantaneous deaths. Although this event ended the war, the trauma of sensing so many deaths through the Force caused Surik to instinctively sever her connection to the Force, and she was subsequently banished from the Jedi Order. After wandering the periphery of the galaxy for a decade, Surik is drawn into the conflict between the Republic and the Sith. Gathering companions and healing the dying Jedi Order in her journey, Surik ultimately eliminates the Lords of the Sith Triumvirate, encountering the shadows of her past along the way and conquering her inner demons. She eventually defeats Kreia in the Trayus Core on Malachor V, thus ending the threat she posed.

Darth Sion
Darth Sion (also known as the Lord of Pain) is one of the three Sith Lords in the Sith Triumvirate. Formerly a warrior serving under Exar Kun, he was killed in battle during the Great Sith War. However, he resurrected himself by harnessing his hatred through the Force, thereby allowing him to rise from the dead whenever he is defeated. His immortality comes at a great cost, however, because his wounds never heal and he constantly suffers from pain. During the Jedi Civil War, Sion sided with the Sith against the Republic and formed the Sith Triumvirate with Darth Traya. However, he betrayed Traya when he believed that she was growing too weak for the Sith, and led his forces on a five-year long extermination of the Jedi. When Meetra Surik returns to the galaxy after ten years of absence, Sion becomes obsessed with hunting her down. She evades him during each encounter. Eventually, Surik confronts Sion in the Trayus Academy on Malachor V, where she overcomes the Sith Lord and convinces him to abandon his hatred and willingly accept his death.

Darth Nihilus
Darth Nihilus (also known as the Lord of Hunger) is one of the three Sith Lords in the Sith Triumvirate. His past life is almost completely shrouded in mystery, apart from the fact that he was a former Jedi who fought under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. During the catastrophic end of the Battle of Malachor V, the man who became Nihilus miraculously survived Meetra Surik's activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, though the experience left him scarred. The strain of sensing so many deaths through the Force caused Nihilus to crave Force energy, and he kept himself alive on the dead planet by draining the Force from whatever vessel he came across. This misuse of Force power caused his physical form to degenerate until he has to encase his spirit inside his mask and armor in order to stay alive. He was eventually found by Darth Traya, who trained him and Darth Sion as her apprentices. The Sith Triumvirate then led a five-year long galactic extermination of the Jedi. Nihilus later aided Sion in overthrowing Traya, and then detached himself from Sion, causing major destruction and taking on an apprentice of his own, Visas Marr. Nihilus is later lured to Telos IV by Traya under the pretense that there are Jedi on the planet for him to consume. He is drawn into a confrontation with Meetra Surik and a redeemed Marr, who fight him on board the Ravager and eventually slay him.

Kreia (Darth Traya)
Kreia is a mysterious old woman whom Meetra Surik meets in the Peragus Mining Facility after eluding Darth Sion and his Sith assassins. A powerful Force sensitive, Kreia serves as Surik's mentor through her journey to restore order to the Republic, helping her reestablish her connection to the Force. While her motives are initially shrouded in mystery, Surik gradually learns of Kreia's origins as Revan's original master. She was blamed for Revan's fall after the Mandalorian Wars and banished from the Jedi Order as punishment. Turning to the dark side, Kreia became Darth Traya, took control of the remnants of Revan's Sith Empire, and formed the Sith Triumvirate. Before she could take revenge against the Jedi, Kreia was betrayed by her two apprentices, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, who cut off her connection to the Force. A maddened Kreia attempts to use Surik as a wound to destroy the Force, thus ending both the Jedi and the Sith. Her plan fails when she is slain by Surik in the Trayus Core on Malachor V.

Atton Rand
Atton Rand is a former Republic soldier who served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. After the wars, he became a smuggler. At one point in time, he was captured and imprisoned in the Peragus Mining Facility until Meetra Surik frees him. After escaping from Peragus on the Ebon Hawk, Rand travels around the galaxy with Surik as the ship's pilot. Along the journey, Surik learns more about Rand's past and his aversion to the Jedi; he has past experience in killing Jedi. She also discovers that Rand is Force-sensitive and decides to train him to be a Jedi Sentinel.

Bao-Dur
Bao-Dur is a Zabrak mechanical expert from Iridonia. He served under Meetra Surik during the Mandalorian Wars and was responsible for creating the Mass Shadow Generator during the Battle of Malachor V. He carries with him the guilt and shame of being ultimately responsible for so many deaths—both on the surface and in the orbiting fleets—when the device was activated to end the battle.

After the war was over, Bao-Dur wanted to use his skills to help people as a means of redeeming himself, so he participated in the Republic-sponsored Restoration Project on Telos IV. He meets Surik again when she crash-lands en route to a Restoration Zone, and decides to follow her around the galaxy. During their travels, Surik discovers that Bao-Dur is Force-sensitive, so she trains him to be a Jedi Guardian.

Bao-Dur has replaced his left arm with an energy-arm that allows him to break through force shields and deal more damage. He is also accompanied by a small, spherical remote droid which helps him with repairs.

Mical (Disciple)
Mical (also known as Disciple) is a Force-sensitive Human who was briefly trained in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine as a Jedi youngling. By the time he was ready for further training, the Jedi Order had fallen apart due to the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War, so his training was discontinued. He sought to preserve the Jedi's legacy by becoming a historian and soldier in the service of the Republic. He also picked up some medical skills.

While exploring the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Disciple encounters Meetra Surik, who is searching for the surviving Jedi Masters. She welcomes him to join her when he offers to use his knowledge and skills to help her. Although Disciple is initially reluctant to reveal his past, he eventually tells her about his Jedi training and how he met her before in his childhood. He accepts her offer to train him again and becomes a Jedi Consular.

Visas Marr
Visas Marr is a Miraluka, a race of Force-sensitives who can "see" through the Force, but are otherwise effectively blind. During the Dark Wars, the Jedi Order tried to hold a meeting on Katarr (Marr's homeworld), hoping that their presence would be masked by the Miralukas' strong Force sensitivity. However, the meeting was disrupted when Darth Nihilus showed up and used his Force drain to destroy all life on Katarr. Marr, the sole survivor, was taken prisoner by Nihilus, who forced her to become his apprentice.

As Meetra Surik rebuilds her connection to the Force, Nihilus senses her growing presence and sends Marr to hunt down and kill her. Marr ambushes Surik on the Ebon Hawk but Surik defeats her and spares her. Impressed by Surik's skill and her perceived destiny, Marr abandons the dark side and pledges allegiance to Surik.

Mira
Mira is a Human female raised and trained by the Mandalorians, who destroyed her home and enslaved her during the Mandalorian Wars. She lost her adopted family when the Mass Shadow Generator was activated during the Battle of Malachor V. After the battle, she ended up on Nar Shaddaa, where she became a bounty hunter. During this time, she got into a conflict with the Wookiee bounty hunter Hanharr, who relentlessly tries to hunt down and kill her.

After Meetra Surik arrives on Nar Shaddaa, Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell secretly engages Mira to protect Surik from the other bounty hunters, who are seeking to collect Goto's bounty on Jedi. When Visquis, the local Exchange boss, tries to lure Surik into a trap, Mira knocks out Surik and goes in place of her. However, she gets captured by Visquis, who forces her to fight Hanharr in the arena. She defeats Hanharr and leaves him apparently dead before escaping. She then joins Surik's companions in rescuing Surik from G0-T0's yacht and accompanies Surik on her quest after that. Surik discovers Mira's Force sensitivity later and trains her to be a Jedi Sentinel.

G0-T0 (Goto)
G0-T0 is a planning droid created by the Aratech Repulsor Company to assist in rebuilding the Republic after the Jedi Civil War. After some time, the droid found itself unable to follow both of its directives—rebuild the Republic and follow all Republic laws—at the same time, so it chose to follow only the former. It set up a smuggling ring on Nar Shaddaa and pretended to be a proxy for a man called Goto, who does not exist in reality and appears only in holograms.

G0-T0 placed a bounty on live Jedi with the intention of getting them to help rebuild and stabilize the Republic. However, the bounty hunters misinterpreted G0-T0's intentions and simply killed Jedi. G0-T0 also reactivated a hidden HK Manufacturing Plant on Telos IV which started producing HK-50 series assassin droids to hunt and kill Jedi.

When Meetra Surik comes to Nar Shaddaa, she is captured and taken on board G0-T0's yacht, where the droid reveals its plans for the Republic and asks for her help. After Surik escapes, G0-T0 presents itself on the Ebon Hawk as "Goto's gift" and insists on accompanying Surik and watching her stabilize Telos, Dantooine, and Onderon. Surik later deduces that "Goto" is in fact a droid pretending to be a person.

T3-M4
T3-M4 is a utility droid which accompanied Revan on his search for the Star Forge. After the Battle of Rakata Prime, Revan left for the Unknown Regions and gave T3-M4 special instructions to seek any Jedi for help if they lost contact with each other.

Five years later, T3-M4 finds an injured Meetra Surik on board the heavily damaged Ebon Hawk. It manages to repair and navigate the ship to the nearby Peragus Mining Facility. After Surik awakens in the medical bay, T3-M4 helps her gain access to the fuel depot before it is attacked and disabled by a HK-50 assassin droid. Surik saves T3-M4 and they escape from Peragus together just before the system is destroyed. Since then, T3-M4 has remained in Surik's team and followed her on her journey across the galaxy.

HK-47
HK-47 is an assassin droid created by Revan after the Battle of Malachor V to assassinate his rivals. The droid was damaged and captured on a mission shortly before Revan was captured and rehabilitated by the Jedi Order. HK-47 reunited with its master on Tatooine later and accompanied him on his search for the Star Forge.

Some time after Revan left for the Unknown Regions, HK-47 was damaged and left on board the Ebon Hawk, which eventually comes into the possession of Meetra Surik and her companions. Surik repairs HK-47, who recognizes her as its new master and follows her around the galaxy.

Canderous Ordo (Mandalore)
Canderous Ordo (also known as Mandalore) is a Mandalorian who fought in the Mandalorian Wars against the Republic. He joined a redeemed Revan on his quest for the Star Forge and fought at the Battle of Rakata Prime against Darth Malak.

After the Jedi Civil War ended, Ordo claimed the position of Mandalore (leader of the Mandalorians) with Revan's help. He built his base on the forest moon of Dxun and started working on reuniting the scattered Mandalorian clans and rebuilding Mandalorian power.

When Meetra Surik is forced to land on Dxun en route to Onderon, she comes across the Mandalorian base and meets Mandalore. Mandalore promises to help her secure passage to Iziz (Onderon's capital) if she can prove herself worthy. Surik manages to impress the Mandalorians through her achievements on Dxun and earns their respect. In return, Mandalore keeps his word and accompanies her to Iziz to find Jedi Master Kavar. After that, he decides to join Surik on her quest to reunite the surviving Jedi and defeat the Sith.

Brianna (Handmaiden)
Brianna (also known as Handmaiden) is a Human-Echani female who served as a handmaiden to Jedi Master Atris at the secret Jedi academy on Telos IV. She has five Echani half-sisters, who also serve as Atris's handmaidens.

When Meetra Surik arrives at Citadel Station, Atris sends Handmaiden to steal the Ebon Hawk and lure Surik to the academy. Surik shows up and convinces Atris to join the fight against the Sith and find the other surviving Jedi Masters. Before Surik leaves, Handmaiden speaks to her and expresses her interest in the ways of the Force.

If the player sets Surik as a male character, Handmaiden will sneak on board the Ebon Hawk and accompany him on his quest. After gaining sufficient influence with Handmaiden, the player can train her to be a Jedi Guardian.

Hanharr
Hanharr is a Wookiee male from Kashyyyk. A ruthless hunter and brutal sociopath, he slaughtered his entire village in cold blood, believing that this would prevent them from being enslaved by the Czerka Corporation. He eventually ended up on Nar Shaddaa and became a bounty hunter. He also got into a conflict with Mira.

When Meetra Surik arrives in Nar Shaddaa and is about to walk into a trap set by Visquis, the local Exchange boss, Mira knocks out Surik and goes in place of her. Visquis captures Mira and forces her to fight Hanharr in the arena. She defeats Hanharr and leaves him apparently dead. Hanharr is secretly revived by Kreia, who manipulates him to do her bidding. He appears for the last time on Malachor V, where he fights Mira again and dies by her hand.

If the player sets Surik as a dark side character, Hanharr will kill Mira and join Surik's party.

Atris
Atris is a Jedi Master who served as a member of the Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. She was deeply committed to the Jedi Code and felt betrayed when Meetra Surik defied the Council and followed Revan to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. When Surik returned after the Battle of Malachor V to face the Council's judgment, Atris was the first to condemn her and call for her to be banished.

During the Dark Wars, Atris called the Jedi to attend a secret meeting on Katarr. She then leaked out information about the meeting and hoped that doing so would lure the Sith out of the shadows. However, her plan backfired when Darth Nihilus showed up and used his Force drain to destroy all life on Katarr—leaving only Visas Marr alive.

Atris retreated into seclusion on Telos IV, where she established a secret Jedi academy in the polar regions and recruited the Handmaiden Sisters to be her bodyguards. Gradually and unknowingly, she fell to the dark side as she immersed herself in studying the Sith holocrons she had collected in order to better understand the ways of the Sith.

When Surik arrives at Citadel Station, Atris sends Handmaiden to steal the Ebon Hawk and lure Surik to the academy. She initially blames Surik for the destruction of Peragus, but later reluctantly accepts Surik's offer to help her defeat the Sith. She instructs Surik to find the other surviving Jedi Masters and reunite them in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.

Synopsis
(Note: This is based on the canonical female light side version of the game. Gender, Force alignment, order of planets visited and other variables can differ depending on the input of the player.)

Escape from Peragus
The story is set in 3951 BBY, four years after Revan, the protagonist of Knights of the Old Republic, departed for the Unknown Regions. Revan's ship, the Ebon Hawk, emerges badly damaged in the Peragus system, with six passengers on board: two droids that belonged to Revan (T3-M4 and a disassembled HK-47), two other droids (3C-FD and a HK-50 assassin droid), and two unconscious Humans (Meetra Surik and Kreia). T3-M4 manages to dock the ship into the Peragus Mining Facility, where Surik is put into a kolto tank in the medical bay, while Kreia, assumed to be dead, is placed in the morgue.

After regaining consciousness, Surik finds Kreia, who wakes up from her trance. She explores her surroundings and finds a smuggler, Atton Rand, whom she frees from a prison cell. The three of them seem to be the only persons alive in the entire facility, which is covered with dead miners and crawling with assault-programmed mining droids that are "mining" organics. Surik eventually learns that the HK-50 assassin droid is responsible for all the deaths and damage at the facility, and destroys the droid.

In the meantime, another ship arrives at Peragus: the Harbinger, the Republic capital ship transporting Surik to Telos IV before they ended up at Peragus. When Surik, Kreia, and Rand&mdash;in an attempt to escape from Peragus&mdash;boarded the Harbinger, they discover that the ship has been overrun by the Sith under Darth Sion. As Kreia approaches Sion in an attempt to distract him, Surik and Rand escape through one of the ship's fuel pipes.

Meanwhile, as Sion cuts off Kreia's hand with his lightsaber, Surik discovers her newly formed Force bond with Kreia when she unexpectedly feels Kreia's pain. Surik and Rand continue moving and meet up with T3-M4. Upon reaching the hangar bay, they board the Ebon Hawk and fend off attacks from the Sith while Kreia, who has escaped from Sion, catches up with them and gets on board too. As they fly into an asteroid field surrounding Peragus II, the Harbinger fires at the Ebon Hawk but misses and hits one of the asteroids, causing a series of explosions that completely destroy the mining facility, asteroid field, and the Peragus system itself.

Refuge on Telos
Using the astrogation charts recovered from the Harbinger, Surik and her companions make their way to Citadel Station, the space station orbiting the war-ravaged Telos system. Upon their arrival, they are immediately disarmed and detained by the Telos Security Force under Lieutenant Dol Grenn for the duration of the investigation of the destruction of Peragus&mdash;not coincidentally, the main fuel supplier for Citadel Station, without which the station cannot maintain its orbit around Telos. During the investigation, a mysterious woman steals the Ebon Hawk with T3-M4 on board.

Chodo Habat, the leader of the Ithorian team responsible for the restoration efforts on Telos, offers to help Surik restore her lost connection to the Force and provide her a shuttle off Citadel Station in exchange for dealing with their rivals, Czerka Corporation. Despite Kreia's disapproval of an alliance with the Ithorians, Surik accepts Habat's offer, exposes some of Czerka's illegal activities, and flies to the surface of Telos IV.

On Telos IV, the shuttle gets attacked and damaged by a Czerka air defense turret. Surik and her companions manage to crash-land in a restoration zone near the Zabrak mechanic Bao-Dur, who served under Surik during the Mandalorian Wars. He has been working with the Ithorians to restore Telos IV after the wars.

Surik allows Bao-Dur to join them and lead them to an abandoned Republic military base. Along the way, they fight some Czerka mercenaries and some hostile creatures. At the base, Bao-Dur points out a breach in the planetary defense system in the polar regions as the most likely location of the Ebon Hawk. Surik and her companions then board another shuttle from the base to the polar regions.

Hidden Academy


The shuttle crash-lands on a polar plateau after being shot at by three HK-50 assassin droids. After destroying the droids, Surik discovers a Jedi academy hidden beneath the plateau.

Upon entering, they are surrounded by the Handmaiden Sisters, who disarm and arrest them. Surik is brought before Atris, one of the Jedi Masters who previously banished her from the Jedi Order for defying the Jedi Council's order to stay out of the Mandalorian Wars. Surik offers to help Atris deal with the new Sith threat, and find any Jedi who may have survived the Jedi Purge. Impressed that Surik holds no grudge against her, Atris allows Surik to take back the Ebon Hawk and leave with her companions.

When the group assembles again on the Ebon Hawk, T3-M4 informs Surik that it has secretly downloaded a holorecord of her trial from Atris' archives. It turns out that there are four Jedi Masters in hiding—Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, Vrook Lamar, and Lonna Vash. She decides to find them to discuss a plan of action against the Sith and maybe even figure out why she lost her connection to the Force.

Nar Shaddaa
Their first stop is Nar Shaddaa, a moon of Nal Hutta. The massive population and large cityscape of the moon make it easy for anyone to hide and lay low for a while. In her attempt to find Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell, Surik actively provokes the Exchange, a galactic-wide criminal organization, and tries to fend off some Jedi-hunting bounty hunters.

When Surik is captured by the Exchange, the bounty hunter Mira teams up with Surik's companions to save her on G0-T0's yacht. During the rescue, the yacht's cloaking gets sabotaged and Vogga, a local Hutt crime lord whose freighters had been raided by G0-T0's yacht, quickly seizes the opportunity to take his revenge. Surik and her companions manage to escape in time on the Ebon Hawk just as the yacht explodes. G0-T0 survives the explosion and joins Surik's group.

After returning to Nar Shaddaa, Surik finally finds Zez-Kai Ell, who answers her questions and teaches her a lightsaber form. He also agrees to go to Dantooine and wait there while Surik finds the other missing Jedi Masters.

Dxun
After leaving Nar Shaddaa, Surik seeks Jedi Master Kavar on Onderon. As the Ebon Hawk enters the Onderon system and joins the long queue into the starport on Iziz (Onderon's capital), Onderon starfighters under Colonel Tobin's command open fire at the Ebon Hawk and start a space battle above Iziz. The Ebon Hawk suffers heavy damage during the battle and has to crash-land on Dxun, a nearby jungle moon.

While exploring Dxun in search of a way out, Surik encounters a group of Mandalorians led by Canderous Ordo, who is now known as Mandalore. Mandalore promises to provide her passage to Iziz if she can impress them. Surik does so and gains the Mandalorians' trust and respect. Mandalore then accompanies Surik to Iziz on his personal shuttle.

Onderon
Once Surik lands on Iziz, she becomes aware of the political crisis in the city. General Vaklu has declared martial law and has been rallying support for a coup against his cousin, Queen Talia. Surik finds Mandalore's friend, Dhagon Ghent, and helps him get cleared of charges for the murder of Captain Sullio. In return, Ghent arranges for Surik to meet Jedi Master Kavar, who has been secretly serving as a bodyguard and advisor to Queen Talia.

Surik and Kavar's meeting at the cantina is cut short when Colonel Tobin and his soldiers show up. Before fleeing, Kavar tells Surik he will contact her later; Surik and her companions fight their way out of Iziz and return to Dxun.

Dantooine
Surik leaves Dxun on the repaired Ebon Hawk and travels to the grassland planet Dantooine, which is still recovering from the Sith attack on the Jedi Enclave four years ago. The surviving populace have established Khoonda, a makeshift government based in the former Matale residence, under the leadership of their Administrator, Terena Adare. Because of the damage done to Dantooine by the Jedi Civil War, the people are suspicious and distrustful of the Jedi, or simply any lightsaber-wielding person.

Concealing her Jedi identity, Surik interacts with the people and hears rumors that Adare has connections to the Jedi. Adare reveals to Surik that she is indeed maintaining contact with Jedi Master Vrook Lamar because she needs his help to protect the people; the Khoonda Militia is too small. Adare also grants Surik permission to search the ruins of the Jedi Enclave. After fighting several laigreks in the ruins, Surik finds Mical, a former Jedi Initiate whose training was disrupted by the Mandalorian Wars. Now a historian and soldier in the service of the Republic, Mical has been sent by Carth Onasi to protect any Jedi artifacts he can find in the ruins. He joins her team and agrees to help her find the missing Jedi Masters. Surik later finds a datapad in the library that shows that Lamar has been captured by mercenaries.

Surik goes to the mercenary enclave in the crystal cave, where she overhears their plan to sell Lamar to the Exchange. After she tries to save Lamar by force, the Jedi Master reprimands her for acting on impulse: he had deliberately allowed himself to be captured so that he can infiltrate the mercenaries and stop them from attacking Khoonda. Just as Surik exits the cave, she meets Azkul, the mercenary leader, who asks her to help them destroy Khoonda. Surik refuses and fights her way back to Khoonda.

At Khoonda, Surik bolsters the stronghold's defenses by activating droids and security systems, as well as recruiting more people to join the militia. The Battle of Khoonda ultimately ends with the mercenaries' defeat and Azkul's death. After the battle, Lamar answers Surik's questions and teaches her a new lightsaber form. Through her courageous actions, Surik has not only gained the gratitude of the people of Dantooine, but also restored their faith in the Jedi.

Return to Dxun
As Surik leaves Dantooine, she receives word from the Mandalorians on Dxun that Jedi Master Kavar has made contact and wants her to meet him in Iziz. On the same day, General Vaklu declares Queen Talia guilty of treason and starts the Onderon Civil War. The situation becomes more complicated when the Sith and Mandalorians get involved too by supporting Vaklu and Talia respectively.

The Sith are using the tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun as their base. Surik handpicks members from her group to form a separate team to join the Mandalorians in launching an attack on the tomb; she would lead another team to Iziz to stop Vaklu and save the queen. Surik's companions and the Mandalorians fight their way into the tomb, and defeat all the Sith forces there.

Return to Onderon
Surik, along with Kreia, fly a salvaged Basilisk war droid into Iziz and participate in the battle. They fight their way up the Sky Ramp and into the Royal Palace. With Kavar's help, they defeat Vaklu and his forces, and save Queen Talia, thereby ending the Onderon Civil War.

After the battle, Kreia secretly revives Colonel Tobin, who was knocked unconscious, and orders him to deliver a message to Darth Nihilus to go to Telos IV and destroy the last of the Jedi.

Korriban
Surik goes to Korriban to find Jedi Master Lonna Vash in the Sith Academy at the Valley of the Dark Lords. However, she shows up too late as Vash is already dead. She also encounters Darth Sion and briefly duels him until Kreia telepathically advises her to escape. Surik also explores a cave that leads her to Ludo Kressh's tomb, where she has visions of her companions and Revan.

Rebuilding the Republic
Throughout her journey across the galaxy, Surik learns much about her companions' past, discovers that some of them are Force-sensitive, and trains them in the ways of the Jedi. Her apprentices would later restore the Jedi Order. She also learns that Kreia was Revan's first master, that Kreia was banished by the Jedi and later betrayed by the Sith, and that Revan has gone to the Unknown Regions to counter an unseen threat from beyond the Outer Rim.

When visiting Dantooine and Onderon, Surik is caught up in conflicts between the weakened Republic and two powers aiming to weaken it further—the Exchange and Onderon separatists. Following G0-T0's request, she restores order and stability in the two systems, and prevents the Republic from losing them.

Kreia's fall
When the three surviving Jedi Masters&mdash;Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook&mdash;finally gather at the rebuilt Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Surik learns from them that the Jedi Council did not cut off her connection to the Force. In fact, she did so herself when she created a wound in the Force by activating the Mass Shadow Generator during the Battle of Malachor V; the trauma of sensing so many deaths through the Force caused her to instinctively break her connection to the Force.

Surik fails to persuade the Jedi Masters to unite against the Sith. The Masters explain that the new Sith threat, which caught them off guard, fed on Force users, and caused widespread death and destruction wherever the Jedi are present. That was what happened during the Jedi conclave at Katarr, Visas Marr's homeworld. The Masters are worried that Surik will lead the Sith to them and eventually cause the death of the Force, hence they decided to expel her from the Jedi Order.

At the moment, Kreia shows up, berates the Jedi Masters for their arrogance and ignorance, and uses an extreme form of Force drain to make them undergo the same loss Surik felt at Malachor V. The Jedi Masters, unable to live without the Force, die almost immediately. Although Surik retains her connection to the Force, she becomes unconscious while Atris' Handmaidens dash into the Enclave and take Kreia to their mistress as a prisoner.

When Surik comes to, she finds out from her companions about what happened, and returns to the Jedi academy on Telos IV to find Kreia. She figures out that the Force bond between her and Kreia is lethal; this means that if Kreia dies, Surik will die as well.

In the meantime, Kreia reveals to Atris her true identity: Darth Traya. She also points out that Atris, in the process of studying Sith holocrons to better understand the ways of the Sith, has unknowingly fallen to the dark side. Kreia then leaves.

When Surik arrives at the Jedi academy, she learns from Atris that Darth Nihilus and his Sith forces are about to attack Telos. She also confronts the fallen Atris, defeats her in a lightsaber duel, but spares her life. Atris then further reveals to Surik that Kreia has threatened to destroy the Force by killing herself in the Trayus Core on Malachor V. Surik goes off to deal with Nihilus first.

Battle of Telos


Surik arrives at Citadel Station and sees that the Sith attack has already begun. Fighting their way through the station, Surik and her companions manage to reach an orbital shuttle, which they use to board Darth Nihilus's ship, the Ravager. Once on board, Surik, accompanied by Mandalore and Visas Marr, plants charges on the ship before heading to the bridge to confront Nihilus.

During their duel, Nihilus attempts to consume Surik in the same way he did to other Jedi, but it proves to be his undoing—rather than draining the Force from Surik, he becomes weakened by the echoes of the wound in the Force that she carries with her. With Marr's help, Surik ultimately defeats Nihilus and claims his mask. Surik and her companions then escape from the Ravager just before it blows up. Telos is safe.

Upon Surik's return to Citadel Station, Carth Onasi has a private conversation with her, tells her the story of how he met Revan, and asks her to find Revan in the Unknown Regions. After Surik leaves, Onasi meets Bastila Shan and talks to her about Revan.

The final battle: Malachor V


Surik and her companions travel to Malachor V, where the war-torn planet's unstable environment causes the Ebon Hawk to crash-land. Surik fights her way across the planet's inhospitable landscape into the Trayus Academy. After defeating the Sith forces along the way, she encounters Darth Sion and duels him. Despite Sion's regenerative abilities, Surik erodes his will through words and convinces him to willingly accept death, thus ending his immortality.

Surik then confronts Kreia in the Trayus Core. Kreia refuses redemption and challenges Surik to kill her and silence the echoes of Malachor V. Surik then duels Traya and emerges victorious.

Upon her defeat, Kreia gazes into the future, revealing the future of Surik's companions, of the planets they visited, of the Mandalorians, and of the Republic. She also says that Revan came to Malachor V after the Mandalorian Wars and again after the Jedi Civil War, and that he discovered evidence of the "true Sith," whom he had gone to fight "in his own way."

Meanwhile, on Malachor V's surface, Bao-Dur's remote powers up and reactivates the Mass Shadow Generator despite G0-T0's attempts to stop it. As Malachor V collapses upon itself once again, the Ebon Hawk arrives in time to save Surik while Kreia plunges to her death in the Trayus Core. Surik then heads off to the Unknown Regions to search for Revan.

Crew

 * CEO and Executive Producer - Feargus Urquhart
 * Producer - Chris Parker, Michael Gallo
 * Lead Designer - Chris Avellone
 * Design Team - Ferret Baudoin, Michael Chu, Tony Evans, Scott Everts, John Morgan, Kevin Saunders, David Maldonado
 * Composer - Mark Griskey

Art

 * Lead Artist - Aaron J. Meyers
 * Art Team - Aaron Brown, Trent Campbell, Doug Cope, Tim Cox, David Espinoza, Mustazar Essa, Lucas Feld, William Harper, Edward Lacabanne, Brian Menze, Dennis Presnell, Glenn Price
 * Additional Concept Art - T.J. Frame, Chris Appelhans
 * Additional Modeling and Texturing - Robert Giampa

Programming

 * Lead Programmer - Chris Jones
 * Programming Team - Adam Brennecke, Anthony Davis, Jay Fong, Frank Kowalkowski, Ben Ma, Dan Spitzley, Richard Taylor

Appearances
An asterisk ( * ) indicates a character who is essential to forwarding the game's plot. Two asterisks ( ** ) denote a character whose first appearance or mention was elsewhere in Star Wars continuity.

Alternative stories
If the player chooses to follow the dark side, they can throw Kreia into the core of Malachor V and assume the throne of headmistress of Trayus Academy. Meanwhile, G0-T0 destroys Bao-Dur's remote and deactivates the Mass Shadow Generator, keeping the planet intact.

Sequels
Both Obsidian and LucasArts have expressed a desire to yet again expand upon the franchise, LucasArts' representatives stating they have no intention of abandoning Knights of the Old Republic. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 was in development, but was cancelled sometime in 2004 due to a difficult period for LucasArts. In March 2007, news of a spin-off was made official when "Aristotle," owner of a Knights fansite, interviewed several staff members of LucasArts.

Later in the year, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported in the rumors section of their May 2007 issue that BioWare had hired an online team for work on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Knights of the Old Republic series. The game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, was finally and officially announced in July 2008 by EA CEO John Riccitiello. It was finally released December 20th, 2011, and was generally well received by the critics.

Behind the scenes
In June 2009, in Kotaku Australia interview Chris Avellone revealed the "true Sith" planned to be remnants of Naga Sadow's Sith Empire, "orchestrating the collapse of the Republic from behind the scenes, interfering with key events to cause echoes through the Force and leave it ripe for invasion – hopefully without a shot even being fired."

Although the game did allow the game character be named freely, The Old Republic: Revan&mdash;Drew Karpyshyn novel released November 2011&mdash;did reveal her canonical name to be Meetra Surik, and appearance that didn't match any of the available female appearances on the game.

On July 21st 2015, over ten years after the original release of The Sith Lords, Aspyr Media released a port of the game for both Mac and Linux. Aspyr also added several new features to the game including: These features were also passed onto the PC Windows version.
 * 37 Achievements for both Steam and Game Center
 * Gamepad support
 * Support for widescreen and native resolutions, including Retina/4k/5k resolutions
 * Steam Cloud saves (Steam only)
 * Steam Workshop support (Steam only)
 * A number of bug fixes.

An official petition has been started on Aspyr's website for those interested in a potential mobile version of the game.

Game mods
Because of the flexibility of the game's Odyssey game engine, The Sith Lords is often a subject of modding in the gaming community. A number of modding groups have attempted to recreate and restore missing or cut content left in the game files.

Team Gizka's project was the first of these, founded in 2004 to promise restored content and save the cut M4-78 Droid planet. In early 2008 their project reached closed beta stage. Other modders, using the handles DarthStoney and Zbyl, created a restoration mod inspired by Team Gizka which accomplished all of Team Gizka's initial goals, including a restored HK factory and various bug fixes. As of late 2010, the Team Gizka site was disbanded.

However, in 2014, a full-scale mod known as The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod was released that restores most of the cut content.

Gaming sites

 * IGN review
 * X-Play review
 * Game Informer review

Modding

 * The Sith Lords Restoration Project which aims to restore the cut content to the PC version of the game
 * M4-78 Enhancement Project &mdash; expansion of the original M4-78 mod, created by modder Darth Stoney, which restores the cut planet M4-78
 * Download KotOR II mods on the FileFront Network
 * The Sith Lords modding tools
 * Download KotOR II mods on the FileFront Network
 * The Sith Lords modding tools