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 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.

Among the characters who join the main character are Kreia, who acts as a mentor to the main character; 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 the female Jedi 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 main protagonist of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Ten years before the events of the story, Surik was the general in Revan and Malak's crusade against the Mandalorians in the Mandalorian Wars. During the climactic Battle of Malachor V, Surik activated the Mass Shadow Generator, which caused over a thousand instantaneous deaths during the fight. While this event ended the war, the traumatic strain of experiencing so many deaths through the Force caused Surik to instinctively sever her connection, and she was subsequently exiled from the Jedi Order. After wandering the periphery of the galaxy for a decade, Surik is pulled into the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Triumvirate. Gathering companions and healing the dying Jedi Order in her journey, Surik one by one slays the members of the Triumvirate, encountering the shadows of her past along the way and conquering her inner demons. She eventually defeats Kreia on Malachor V, thus ending the threat she posed.

Darth Sion
Darth Sion (also known as the Lord of Pain) is one of the leaders of the Sith Triumvirate. Sion was an infamous Sith warrior who served under the Sith Lord Exar Kun during the Great Sith War until he was killed in battle. However, Sion harnessed his hatred through the Force, allowing him to rise from the dead whenever he is defeated. This talent comes at great cost, however, as Sion's wounds from his defeats never heal, and he is forced to endure constant pain and agony. In the Jedi Civil War, Sion sided with the Sith against the Republic, and helped form the Sith Triumvirate with Darth Traya. However, he betrayed her when he believed 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, yet she evades him during each encounter. Eventually, Sion confronts Surik on Malachor V, where she is able to convince the Sith Lord to abandon his hatred, causing him to die willingly.

Darth Nihilus
Darth Nihilus (also known as the Lord of Hunger) is a leader of the Sith Triumvirate alongside Darth Sion and Darth Traya. His past life is almost completely shrouded in mystery, sans the fact that he was once a Jedi Knight who served under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. During the catastrophic end at the Battle of Malachor V, the man who became Darth Nihilus miraculously survived Meetra Surik's activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, though the experience left him scarred. The strain of experiencing 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 ravaged Nihilus' form until he became a wound in the Force. He was eventually found by Darth Traya, who trained him and Sion as her apprentices and led a galactic extermination of the Jedi. Nihilus later aided Sion in overthrowing Traya, and actually detached from Sion later on, causing major destruction, and taking on an apprentice of his own, Visas Marr. Nihilus is later lured to Telos IV by Traya under the false pretense that there are Jedi on the planet for him to consume, and he is drawn into a confrontation with Meetra Surik and a redeemed Visas Marr, who do battle with Nihilus and slay him.

Kreia
Kreia is a mysterious old woman that Meetra Surik meets on Peragus II after eluding Darth Sion and his Sith assassins. A powerful Force sensitive, Kreia acts as Surik's mentor throughout her journey to restore order to the Galactic Republic, helping her reestablish her connection to the Force. While her motives are at first a mystery, Surik gradually discovers Kreia's origins. Kreia was in fact the original teacher of Revan, and was blamed for his fall after the Mandalorian Wars and was exiled from the Jedi Order as punishment. Turning to the dark side, Kreia took on the title of Darth Traya and took control of the remnants of Revan's Sith Empire, forming the Sith Triumvirate. Before she could begin her revenge against the Jedi, Kreia was betrayed by her two conspirators, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus. Now exiled from the Sith as well, 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 in the end, and Kreia is slain by Surik on Malachor V.

Atton Rand
Atton Rand, is a former soldier of the Galactic Republic military who served under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. He is one of the first to join Meetra Surik in her quest to defeat the Sith Triumvirate. Loyal to Revan, Atton would follow him again in the Jedi Civil War. After that war, Atton became a smuggler, eventually finding himself imprisoned in the Peragus mining colony where Surik finds him. After escaping Peragus on the Ebon Hawk, Atton continues to travel with Surik as the ship's pilot. Over the course of the journey, Surik learns more about Atton's past as well as his aversion to Jedi, who he was once quite experienced in killing. Surik eventually uncovers Atton's own Force sensitivity, training him as one of the Lost Jedi. After the destruction of Malachor V, Atton helps the rest of Surik's followers in rebuilding the Jedi Order.

Bao-Dur
Bao-Dur, is an Iridonian Zabrak mechanical and technical expert who was responsible for the creation of Darth Revan's Mass Shadow Generator on the planet Malachor V. He carries with him the guilt and shame for being ultimately responsible for the deaths of so many people, both on the surface and in the orbiting fleets, at one time.

He is encountered in the game once the Exile and her companions Atton and Kreia crash land on the surface of Telos IV. Bao-Dur and his small guardian/tinker droid (which strongly resembles the "training drone" Jedi Padawan Luke Skywalker duels with on the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: A New Hope) stand watch over the fallen trio until they regain consciousness. He re-introduces himself to the Exile, noting it was unlikely he would be remembered, even though he was the only Zabrak engineer in the fleet.

Bao-Dur has replaced his left arm with a mechanical one that has a large capacitor energy storage in it. This energized compartment allows him to do considerable hand to hand damage in combat as well as to overload various forms of stationary deflector shields he encounters.

If the Exile spends time conversing with Bao-Dur, a light-side Jedi can help him come to terms with the death he has caused and release him from his guilt, unlocking the Lost Light Jedi inside of him, or as a dark-side Jedi, teach him to accept and revel in the power and destruction he has caused, and unlock the Lost Dark Jedi inside of him.

Visas Marr
Visas Marr is a Miraluka, a race of Force-sensitives that can "see" through the Force, but are otherwise effectively blind. The Last Council of the Jedi tried to meet on the Miraluka colony world of Katarr, hoping that the Force-sensitive nature of the Miraluka would hide them from the prying eyes of the Force-devouring creature Darth Nihlus. It did not work and Nihlus descended on the planet and rendered it entirely barren, killing absolutely everything except for one survivor, Visas Marr. The Sith Lord forced Visas to look upon her world with her Force sight and, sensing the utter destruction of all life around her, plummeted her into despair and led to her fall to the Dark Side and she became the apprentice (slave, to be honest) of Darth Nihlus.

As the Exile rebuilds her connection to the Force, Nihlus is made aware of her existence (once the player reaches 25% on either the Light or Dark side point totals) and dispatches Visas to find and kill the Exile. After this cutscene plays, the next time you enter the Ebon Hawk, you will immediately be dragged into another cutscene in which the Exile makes her way to the Starboard Dormitory and engage in a brief (one-sided) dialogue with Visas before she attacks you.

Once you defeat her, she is taken to the medical bay where her obscure race and extensive injuries are revealed. As she is already a Jedi (Sith) she does not need to be unlocked as some of the others do, but she can be redeemed to the Light (much to Kreia's scorn and ridicule) and her powers and abilities make her a formidable ally through the remainder of the game.

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
It is the year 3951 BBY, five years after the Jedi Civil War, and four years after redeemed ex-Dark Lord of the Sith Revan's departure to the Unknown Regions. Revan's ship, the Ebon Hawk, badly damaged, emerged in the Peragus system, with six passengers on-board: two droids that formerly belonged to Revan, T3-M4 and disassembled HK-47, two other droids, 3C-FD and an HK-50, and two Humans, Meetra Surik, and an old woman named Kreia, both unconscious. T3-M4 managed to dock the ship into the Peragus Mining Facility, where Surik was put into the medical bay of the Administration level, and Kreia, mistaken for dead because she was in a deep trance to survive the flight, into the morgue.

After awakening, Surik found Kreia, as well as a smuggler by the name of Atton Rand locked in a prison cell. The three of them seemed to be the only beings alive in the entire facility, which was covered with dead miners and crawling with assault-programmed mining droids, which started "mining" organics. Eventually, Surik discovered that HK-50 was responsible for the damage done to the facility, and destroyed the droid.

Meanwhile, another ship arrived at Peragus: the Harbinger, the Galactic Republic capital ship that was transporting Meetra to Telos IV before a series of events that resulted in them ending up in the facility. When Surik, Kreia, and Atton&mdash;in an attempt to escape Peragus&mdash;boarded the Harbinger, they discovered that the ship had been overrun by the Sith, led by Darth Sion. As Kreia approached Sion, in an attempt to distract him, Surik and Atton escaped through one of the ship's fuel pipes. Meanwhile, Sion severed Kreia's hand with his lightsaber, and Surik discovered her newly formed Force bond with Kreia when she unexpectedly felt her pain. Meetra and Atton continued and met up with T3-M4, and after reaching the hangar bay, boarded the Ebon Hawk. As they were trying to stop the Sith from boarding, Kreia caught up with them after escaping from Sion, despite the loss of her hand. As they tried to escape the Peragus system, flying through an asteroid field surrounding the planet Peragus II, the Harbinger fired at the Ebon Hawk and missed, hitting one of the asteroids, which caused a sequence of explosions that completely destroyed the mining facility, asteroid field, and the planet itself.

Refuge on Telos
With the Peragus astrogation charts recovered from the Harbinger containing only the planet Telos, which is slowly recovering after Saul Karath's bombardment during the Jedi Civil War, the three had no choice but to board Citadel Station. There, they were immediately disarmed and detained by the Telos Security Force for the duration of the investigation on the destruction of the Peragus mining facility&mdash;not coincidentally, the main fuel supplier for Citadel Station, without which the station would not be able to maintain its orbit around Telos. During the investigation, a mysterious woman stole the Ebon Hawk with T3-M4 locked on-board. Chodo Habat, the leader of the Ithorian team responsible for the restoration efforts on Telos, offered Surik to restore some of her lost connection with the Force, and provided a shuttle off Citadel Station in exchange for eliminating their rivals, Czerka Corporation. Despite Kreia's disapproval of an alliance with Chodo, Meetra accepted his offer, uncovered some details about Czerka's illegal business (certainly enough for the Telosian Council to drive them off the planet) and, together with her companions, flew to the surface of Telos.

On Telos, the shuttle was attacked and damaged by a Czerka air defense turret and crash-landed in a restoration zone, miraculously near a Zabrak named Bao-Dur who was a former technician under Surik in the Mandalorian Wars. He refused to call her anything but "General". He also designed the Mass Shadow Generator, which played a significant role in the Mandalorians' ultimate defeat in the Battle of Malachor V, and currently worked for the Ithorians. Fighting their way through Czerka mercenaries, Surik and her companions reached an abandoned Republic military base, where Bao-Dur pinpointed a breach in the planetary defense system in the polar region as the most likely location of the Ebon Hawk. Having boarded a yet another shuttle (in the process discovering the base was swarming with hostile droids), Surik, Kreia, Atton and Bao-Dur headed to the polar region of Telos.

Hidden Academy


Upon arrival, the shuttle once again crash-landed on a polar plateau as a result of being shot down by three HK-50 droids. After dealing with them, Meetra discovered a Jedi Academy hidden within the plateau. When they entered it, Surik's companions were locked in prison cells, and she was brought before Atris, one of the Jedi Masters (and, in fact, the only Jedi in the academy) who previously banished Meetra from the Jedi Order for fighting in the Mandalorian Wars. Surik offered her help against the new Sith threat that had revealed itself on Peragus by finding any Jedi who may have survived the purge after the Jedi Civil War. Impressed that Surik held no evil against her, Atris allowed her to take back to the Ebon Hawk (which Surik learned was stolen by one of Atris' handmaidens) and freed her companions.

When the party assembled once again on the Ebon Hawk, T3-M4 "told" Surik that he downloaded a holorecord of her trial from Atris' archives. It turned out that there were Jedi Masters in hiding - the Jedi Council members that exiled her, namely Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, Vrook Lamar and Lonna Vash. She decided to find them to discuss a plan of action against the new Sith and maybe even figure out why she lost her connection to the Force.

Nar Shaddaa
The first stop on their search was the planet of Nar Shaddaa. Nar Shaddaa was the "gaping maw of Nal Hutta." The massive population and large cityscape of the planet made it easy for one to hide and lay low for a while. Unfortunately, Surik did just the opposite. In her attempt to find Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell, Surik made an effort to cause much anger and distress to the Exchange, and get the bounty hunters off her back. When Meetra was captured, the famous bounty hunter Mira joined up with Meetra's party and they rescued her on G0-T0's yacht. During the rescue, the yacht's cloaking was sabotaged and Vogga, one of the local Hutts whose freighters were being raided by G0-T0's yacht, quickly seized the opportunity and destroyed it, right as the Ebon Hawk escaped.

Finally, Surik came back to Nar Shaddaa and found the Jedi Master. The Master confessed that he felt that the Jedi Order had much to take responsibility for, and their inability to do so at Surik's trial caused him to leave. He answered her questions and taught her a lightsaber form. He then agreed to go to Dantooine and wait for her there.

Dxun
Immediately after Nar Shaddaa, Surik sought out Jedi Master Kavar on Onderon. As the Ebon Hawk entered the Onderon system and joined the long line into Iziz Starport, Colonel Tobin fired on the ship and began a massive space battle above the planet. The Ebon Hawk took damage during the battle and was forced to crash land on the jungle moon Dxun. In their explorations of the moon in search of passage, the Exile encountered a large group of Mandalorians, led by Mandalore the Preserver, also known as Canderous Ordo. Mandalore accompanied Surik to Onderon on his own shuttle.

Onderon
Once Surik landed on Onderon, she grew knowledgeable of the crisis that was brewing in Iziz. Onderon military General Vaklu declared martial law in the city and began subtly rallying support for his revolution against his cousin, Queen Talia. Mandalore's personal friend Dr. Dagon Ghent, after being cleared of charges for the murder of Captain Sullio, thanks to Meetra's investigation, found Master Kavar and made contact. At the time, Kavar was serving as a Jedi bodyguard and adviser to the queen, and he left the palace walls to meet with Surik in the cantina.

Their meeting was immediately interrupted by Colonel Tobin and a squad of Onderon military soldiers. Kavar helped Meetra escape the cantina, and she then retreated back to Dxun.

Dantooine
Surik left Dxun on the repaired Ebon Hawk and departed the Onderon System, to be away until Kavar reattempted contact. The third stop on their search was the grassland planet of Dantooine. Dantooine was devastated by the Attack on Dantooine perpetrated by Darth Malak several years before. The surviving populace had established a government in the former home of the Matale family which they named Khoonda, with Terena Adare at its head. The people of Khoonda were fearful of the Jedi, who they associated with the Dark Jedi responsible for attacking them in the past.

Surik came to the world in search of Vrook Lamar, a Human Jedi Council member. Once on Dantooine, she heard rumors that Terena Adare was in contact with a Jedi, and she approached Adare to inquire about his whereabouts. Adare realized some time ago that the Khoonda Militia would not provide sufficient protection, so she had maintained secret contacts with the Jedi Master. The administrator granted Surik permission to search the Enclave ruins for Lamar. In the ruins, she fought through several waves of laigreks, but found no trace of the master. She ran into Mical, a former Jedi Initiate who was going to be her Padawan before she left for the Mandalorian Wars. He had been sent by Carth Onasi to find and protect any Jedi artifacts he can find. He agreed to join her group and help find the masters with her. Surik also found the corpses of several mercenaries in the library, and a datapad found on one of their bodies indicated that Vrook had been captured.

Surik led her party to the Mercenary enclave in the crystal caves not far from Khoonda, where they found the mercenaries preparing to sell Lamar to the Exchange. Surik approached the group and asked for his release, but her pleas fell on deaf ears and she was forced to defeat the mercenaries to rescue Lamar. Unexpectedly, the freed Vrook chastised her, telling her her that her actions just caused an all-out war, and revealing that he had allowed the mercenaries to capture him so that they would not attack Khoonda. As Surik left the caves to return to Khoonda, she met Azkul, the leader of the mercenary groups. He asked her to join him in his campaign against Khoonda, but Surik refused and dispatched Akzul's mercenaries.

Back at Khoonda, Surik bolstered the stronghold's defenses by activating droids and security systems, as well as gathering extra members for the Militia. Akzul's mercenaries attacked, precipitating a long and hard-fought battle that culminated with the defeat of Akzul at the hands of Surik and Lamar. With the mercenary threat averted, Vrook Lamar answered Surik's questions and taught her a new lightsaber form. Surik departed the planet, taking the gratitude of its people with her.

Return to Dxun
As Surik departed Dantooine, she received word from the Mandalorians on Dxun that Kavar had just made contact, and that she was needed back immediately. The morning of that day, General Vaklu declared Queen Talia guilty of treason and began the revolt against her. But the situation had now become far more complicated, because the Sith, led by Darth Nihilus had become involved and offered aid to Vaklu's Separatists. The Onderon Civil War had begun.

The Sith were using the Tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun as their main base. After repairing the telecommunications array, the Mandalorians had finally found it. Surik handpicked a group of her party members to infiltrate the tomb and destroy the Sith forces there, while she would go to Onderon and help turn the tide of the Civil War.

The group hiked through the jungle, engaged the Sith on the field, and cleansed the tomb.

Return to Onderon
Surik, along with Kreia took a salvaged Basilisk war droid into Iziz and interfered in the battle. They fought their way up the Sky Ramp and into the palace. With the help of Master Kavar, they got to the Queen before General Vaklu could kill her, and ended the Onderon Civil War. Immediately afterward, Kreia secretly revived Colonel Tobin from his state of unconsciousness and had him deliver a message to Darth Nihilus, informing him to go to Telos IV, and destroy the last of the Jedi.

Korriban
After ending the Onderon Civil War Meetra went to Korriban, the last world she needed to visit, in an effort to find Master Lonna Vash, in the Sith Academy, located in the Valley of the Dark Lords. Unfortunately, Surik was too late to save her from Darth Sion. Sion sealed the door to the academy and tried to have Surik killed. With Kreia's help, Meetra escaped.

Rebuilding the Republic
Surik learned much about her companions' past, learning that many of them were Force-sensitive, and trained them in the ways of the Jedi. Surik's apprentices who would later restore the Jedi Order known as the Lost Jedi. Furthermore, she discovered that Kreia was Revan's first teacher, exiled by the Jedi and later by the Sith, and that Revan himself left known space to fight an unknown threat from his Sith days that continued its existence beyond the Outer Rim.

When visiting Dantooine and Onderon, Surik was caught in the middle of conflicts between the weakened Republic and two powers aiming to weaken it further—the Exchange and Onderon separatists, respectively. By G0-T0's request (and having no other choice if they needed to contact the Jedi Masters), she stabilized the political situations on these planets, preventing them from being lost for the Republic, even though the resolutions led to two bloody conflicts known as the Battle of Dantooine and the Onderon Civil War.

Kreia's fall
Finally, three of the surviving Masters&mdash;Kavar, Vrook and Zez-Kai Ell&mdash;gathered on Dantooine, in the rebuilt Jedi Enclave. Surik learned from the Masters that the Council did not cut her off from the Force (as Kreia led her to believe). She instinctively caused herself to become deaf to the Force after activating the Mass Shadow Generator on Malachor V and being unable to withstand the Wound in the Force that she created by doing this.

However, Surik failed to persuade the Jedi Masters to unite against the Sith. The Jedi Masters explained that this new Sith threat, which caught them unprepared, fed on Force users, so that whenever Jedi gathered, they inevitably died, and everyone and everything around them shared the same fate. This was what happened on Katarr, Visas Marr's home world and the location of the previous Jedi Conclave. The Jedi Masters explained to Meetra, that they believe she would eventually cause the death of the Force, and they feared that Surik would lead the Sith to the Enclave. Therefore, the Jedi Masters refused to accept Surik back into the Order and decided to separate Surik from the Force; this time, forever.

Kreia then intervened, forcing the three Masters away from Surik and declaring their arrogance and lack of understanding, before forcing them to undergo the same loss Surik had felt on Malachor with a powerful force drain. The masters, unable to live without the Force, died. Surik retained her connection to the Force, but remained unconscious as Atris' handmaidens ran into the Enclave and took Kreia to her mistress as a prisoner (If Surik is male, Brianna will take Kreia to the academy). This left Surik no choice but to return to the secret Telosian academy, as she believed that the Force bond between her and Kreia was fatal and, should Atris execute Kreia, she would die as well.

However, Atris did not execute Kreia, for while Kreia revealed her Sith name, Darth Traya, she also revealed to Atris that she had already, without realizing it, fallen to the dark side, studying the knowledge of Sith holocrons. Kreia departed for Malachor V; when Meetra arrived, she found only Atris, who revealed that Darth Nihilus was about to attack Telos, an event also orchestrated by Kreia through her manipulation of Colonel Tobin. Surik confronted the now fully fallen Atris and defeated her, but spared her life. Atris told Surik that Kreia threatened to destroy the Force by sacrificing herself at the Trayus Core on Malachor V, and Surik departed to face the more immediate threat of Darth Nihilus.

Battle of Telos


Surik arrived on Citadel Station to discover that the Battle of Telos IV had already begun. Fighting through Citadel Station, Surik and her companions managed to reach an orbital shuttle which they used to board the Ravager, with the help of the Mandalorians led by Canderous. Once on board, Surik, along with Canderous and Visas Marr, planted charges on the Ravager, Nihilus' flagship, before heading to the bridge to confront Nihilus himself.

During their duel, Nihilus attempted to consume Meetra as he did other Jedi, but it proved to be his undoing - rather than draining the Force from Surik, he was weakened by the void in the Force, the echo of the Mandalorian wars that she carried, and was defeated in combat. Surik and her companions departed the Ravager, which was destroyed, saving Citadel station and Telos.

Upon her return, Carth Onasi arranged an appointment with Meetra, and retold the story of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and asked her to search for Revan, to tell him that "Admiral Onasi is following his orders" to keep the Republic safe. After meeting Surik, Carth met with Bastila Shan, who followed Carth to Telos.

The final battle: Malachor V


Surik left Telos, heading to Malachor V, where she found and fought through the Trayus Academy to reach the two remaining Sith Lords&mdash;Kreia, now as Darth Traya, the headmistress of the academy, and Darth Sion, his will broken. Despite Sion's regenerative abilities, Surik eroded his will through words, and during their duel convinced him to give up the Force, and his pain, as she had, thus ending his immortality.

She then confronted Darth Traya at the core, who refused redemption, challenging Surik to silence the echoes of Malachor, to kill her former master, lest all she had accomplished "be as nothing, as empty, and as violent as Malachor itself." Surik dueled Kreia, and emerged victorious.

Upon defeat, Kreia gazed into the future from the Trayus Core, revealing the future of Surik's companions, of the planets they had visited, of the Mandalorians, and even of the Republic itself. She also revealed that Revan had come to Malachor, after the Mandalorian wars and again after the Jedi Civil War, where he discovered evidence of the "true Sith," whom he had gone to fight, "in his own way." Meanwhile, on Malachor's surface, Bao-Dur's remote powered up and reactivated the Mass Shadow Generator, despite G0-T0's attempts to stop him, destroying them both. As Malachor V collapsed upon itself once again, the Ebon Hawk arrived in time to rescue Surik, while Kreia died with Malachor. Surik left Malachor for the last time, heading 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, erected in 2004 to promise restored content, save the cut M4-78 Droid planet and 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, as recent as 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 - 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.