Darth Nihl

"My Master will not make Palpatine's mistake. All Jedi must die."

- Darth Nihl

Darth Nihl was a Nagai male Sith Lord serving in Darth Krayt's Sith Empire during the Sith-Imperial War and the Anti-Sith Insurgency. A former Nagai warlord, he had been recruited into the One Sith by Darth Krayt, and was made into his fist, or military leader. However, this changed with Krayt's hand, or enforcer died, and Nihl was promoted to the position in 130 ABY as a result. One of the first missions Nihl had as a hand was leading the Assault on the Jedi Praxeum at Ossus, in which he killed the Jedi Master, Kol Skywalker, and mortally wounded the Zabrak Jedi Master Wolf Sazen. Nihl returned to Coruscant to watch Krayt's ascension to Emperor of the galaxy, in which the former Emperor of the Fel Empire, Roan Fel, was thought to be slain, but survived.

Over the next seven years, Nihl acted as Krayt's top enforcer over the galaxy, until the Dark Lord promoted another, Darth Talon, to the position of hand. This hand was sent to capture Fel's daughter, Marasiah, and Nihl was sent to reinforce her during the confrontation on Vendaxa between the Sith, Fel, Imperial Knights, and the Jedi who aided them. Skywalker's son, the bounty hunter Cade was among those aided Fel, and confronted Nihl during the battle on Vendaxa, hoping to kill Nihl for revenge over his father's death. While Nihl did not defeat Skywalker, he captured the bounty hunter when he infiltrated the Temple of the Sith to rescue the Bothan Jedi Master Hosk Trey'lis. While Krayt began to try to turn Skywalker to the Dark side of the Force, Nihl began to doubt Krayt's decisions, especially his obsession over Skywalker. Skywalker escaped, though, and Nihl was sent to defeat him in combat, though he was bested in a duel, had his right arm chopped off, and Skywalker escaped. Nihl was stripped of his title of hand for his failure to defeat Skywalker, and was put under Maladi's charge so that she could perform experiments on him using Yuuzhan Vong biots.

Nagai Warlord
"You were not born Sith."

- Darth Maladi

Darth Nihl, a male Nagai who originated from the planet Nagi, was a warlord on his homeworld before he joined Darth Krayt and the One Sith. He was known to be Krayt's top enforcer during his service with Krayt's Sith Order. In 130 ABY, Nihl was promoted to the position of hand by Darth Krayt after his predecessor died during the war, in which the Sith allied themselves with the Fel Empire in order to bring down the current galactic government, the Galactic Alliance.

Ossus
"I earned my place as a Hand. I slew many Jedi that day, including Kol Skywalker."

- Darth Nihl



Two standard days after the Empire captured Coruscant, the capital of the Galactic Alliance, Nihl led the Sith in an attack on the Jedi Temple at Ossus&mdash;with orders from Krayt to leave no Jedi alive. However, in the midst of carrying out his Lord's mandate, Nihl and his legion of Sith were confronted and attacked by Kol Skywalker, a Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order, in an attempt to provide a group of padawans a means to escape Ossus. While Skywalker and his former Padawan, Zabrak Wolf Sazen, had some initial success against the Sith, it was in vain. Nihl engaged Sazen in combat, and used his lightsaber staff to defeat the Jedi Master. Sazen's weapon arm was severed, and afterwards, he was impaled by Nihl, mortally wounding the Zabrak. After Sazen's defeat, Skywalker directly fought and injured Nihl in hopes of a last stand; Skywalker fought alone against Nihl, who had Stormtroopers and Sith under his command.

Skywalker's son, Cade soon arrived to help his father in combat, who had become momentarily distracted from his duel with Nihl. The elder Skwalker commanded Cade to take the wounded Sazen to the Jedi's escape shuttle, thus preventing Nihl from slaying the wounded Jedi Master. Skywalker continued his stand against Nihl and his Sith, but to no avail; Nihl unleashed his Force lightning to kill Skywalker. With the majority of the Jedi on Ossus dead, Nihl left the planet victorious over the New Jedi Order, and traveled to Coruscant where he witnessed Krayt's ascension as Emperor of a newly created Sith Empire by killing a decoy of Emperor Roan Fel in order to take control over the Fel Empire, in which the Moffs swore fealty to Krayt.

Vendaxa
"You should have stayed dead on Ossus, one-arm! I dislike having to kill my opponents twice."

- Darth Nihl to Wolf Sazen

Seven years later, no longer did Nihl find himself Krayt's only hand. Darth Talon, a Twi'lek Sith, was named Krayt's second hand, and she was sent to Socorro for her first mission: to capture and use Princess Marasiah Fel to lure her father, the former Emperor Roan Fel, to Talon so that she could eliminate him to allow Krayt full control over the galaxy. However, Talon was prevented from capturing Marasiah by the intervention of Cade Skywalker, who had turned to a career of bounty hunting after Nihl had killed his father. Skywalker and his companions, the Zeltron Engineer Deliah Blue and Human co-pilot Jariah Syn, transported Marasiah and her aide, Astraal Vao, to Vendaxa in order to meet with Vao's brother, Jedi Knight Shado, and the Jedi Nihl had presumed deceased, Wolf Sazen. Talon attacked them there, albeit unsuccessfully, and called for Nihl's help to help eliminate the Jedi and capture Marasiah. Nihl was commanded by Talon to silently send troops to her position, wait for the former Emperor to appear, and then ambush the Jedi and Imperials so as to kill them all.



Fel arrived with an escort of two Imperial fighters, which were quickly shot down by the Sith troops positioned by Nihl and Talon. However, Fel and his accompanying Imperial Knights escaped the destroyed ships only to be confronted by Talon. At that moment, Fel revealed himself to be Imperial Knight Antares Draco. In her confusion at the decption, Talon was forced to flee back to Nihl and his troops. Back at his position, Nihl planned to attack the Jedi and Imperials once more, hoping to capture Marasiah and kill the others. As they attacked, Nihl started a duel with Sazen, and mocked the Jedi Master, stating that he hated to kill his opponents twice. Skywalker, seeing Nihl dueling Sazen once more, and Marasiah mortally wounded by a Zabrak Sith, joined Sazen in his duel with Nihl, hoping to avenge his father. Sazen attempted to stop Skywalker's attack on Nihl, who believed that Sazen was right to stop Skywalker. Nihl told h that wielding a lightsaber did not make one a Jedi. Skywalker, though, told the hand of how the Sith killed Kol, but Nihl rebutted him, explaining that vengeance wasn't a Jedi trait. Sazen agreed, though Skywalker did not care, and continued his duel with Nihl.

Sazen continued in his attempts to stop Nihl's duel with Skywalker, but was sent to bring Marasiah onto Cade's ship, the Mynock, while Skywalker continued his fight with the Sith. Nihl, convinced that the bounty hunter could not defeat him, offered him a quick death like his father's, but Skywalker simply continued his duel with Nihl, uncontent with any result besides Nihl's death. The Sith was shot though, by Syn, allowing Skywalker some time to gather himself together, but his companion was soon pushed away using the Force by Nihl. This gave Skywalker an opening to defeat Nihl, and escape with his companions, including the Imperials and Jedi, on the Mynock. With Talon's mission to capture Marasiah deemed a failure, Nihl explained to the Twi'lek that he would soon be the only hand once again; Nihl believed Talon was to be killed by Krayt for the mission's failure.

Capture of Cade Skywalker
"His father's son&hellip;weak and too easily defeated by darkness."

- Darth Nihl on Cade Skywalker

To Nihl's disappointment, Talon was not killed for her actions on Vendaxa. Instead, a search was warranted for Skywalker, in whom Krayt had an interest because of his potential to use the Force. This search, once begun, was easier than expected; Skywalker came to the Sith Temple on Coruscant to save Hosk Trey'lis, a Bothan Jedi Master whom Skywalker had handed to the Sith for a bounty. Skywalker was attacked by Talon, whom he defeated using the Dark Side of the Force. Before Skywalker finished off Talon, Nihl Force choked him with the intent of killing the last Skywalker. However, Talon informed Nihl that Skywalker was wanted alive, and that she was sent to capture him. Unable to disobey Krayt's orders, Nihl obliged, and informed Krayt of Skywalker's capture.



With Skywalker captured, Krayt hoped to turn the former Jedi to the dark side. By threatening to kill Syn and Blue, the Sith Lord was able to persuade Skywalker to listen to his offer and reconsider being a Sith. Krayt brought Skywalker to his chambers, but when Nihl attempted to enter, Darth Wyyrlok III, Krayt's chief servant, barred him from entering. Nihl attempted to argue, believing his status as a hand was enough. Wyyrlok did not comply, and questioned Nihl's loyalty to Krayt, causing Nihl to step back. Darth Maladi, the head of Sith Intelligence and Assassination, explained to Nihl why he wasn't allowed entry; Nihl was not born a Sith. Krayt had wanted Nihl to become his Sith military leader, and only promoted Nihl to hand because Talon had not been ready at the time of his predecessor's death. When Nihl questioned Maladi as to why she wasn't allowed to enter even though she was born Sith, she stated her complete loyalty to Krayt. However, both she and Nihl wondered at Krayt's fascination with Skywalker.

Krayt's attention to Skywalker paid off, and Skywalker agreed to become a Sith, trained by Talon. As Skywalker fell further and further down the dark side, Krayt became convinced that Skywalker would be able to heal him of the Yorik-kul implants that were causing his body to fail. As Skywalker began to realize his power under the training of Krayt and Talon, the Sith Lord became obsessed with Skywalker and his potential ability to heal him. This obsession Nihl disagreed with, and told Maladi of this. She began to wonder to herself if Skywalker was capable of healing Krayt, and what would happen should he die. Nihl firmly believed in the old ways of the Sith; because Krayt had named no heir, there would be a power struggle. Therefore, Nihl believed that should Krayt fail to be healed, then Skywalker would be named his heir.

Fighting another Skywalker
"Slay the one who killed your father! Destroy Nihl&mdash;take your revenge!"

- Darth Krayt to Cade Skywalker

However, Skywalker had different plans; he lied about his eagerness to be trained as a Sith, and attempted to escape the Temple of the Sith. This escape attempt was foiled by Talon, and Skywalker was brought to Krayt to kill Trey'lis, so that he could become a Sith in truth. Nihl watched as Krayt commanded him to kill Trey'lis or be killed himself, but Skywalker refused. Krayt attempted to stir Skywalker's hatred of people dying for him as motivation to kill Trey'lis, but the Bothan Jedi intervened, expressing his hope that he would not be used as a weapon of the Sith. For his interference, Krayt struck him down and a skirmish between Nihl, Talon, Krayt, and Skywalker occurred when the latter had a vision of his father. Using the Force, Skywalker pulled his father's lightsaber towards him, impaling Talon with it, and engaged Nihl in combat.

As Nihl defended himself from Skywalker, he was betrayed by Krayt; the Sith Lord encouraged the former bounty hunter to use his anger to take his revenge on Nihl. Skywalker, using his rage, continued his duel with Nihl, and eventually severed the arm of the former Nagai Warlord. Nihl, defeated and unconscious, was attacked by Skywalker using Force lightning with the intention of killing Nihl as revenge for his father's death. However, upon Krayt's beckoning, Skywalker engaged the leader of the Sith instead of killing Nihl. While they fought, Skywalker's mother, Morrigan Corde, blew up modified Yuuzhan Vong Thud bugs in the temple to distract Krayt, allowing Skywalker to escape the Temple of the Sith. Both Nihl and Talon had failed Krayt in their duty to keep Skywalker from escaping the Sith, and would pay for their failure.

Replacement
"You were my hand, Nihl! The extension of my will! If you cannot execute my will, then what are you!"

- Darth Krayt



Immediately after Skywalker's escape, Maladi and Wyyrlok came to tend to Nihl, Talon, and Krayt. Though the latter was not injured, Nihl and Talon were hurt extensively, and Maladi was put in charge of their healing. Since Nihl's arm was cleanly cut, Maladi offered to have it reattached, but Krayt refused; Nihl's incompetence had failed the Sith, and he wasn't worthy of his arm as a result. What Krayt did offer to Nihl, was to be part of an experiment that researched Yuuzhan bioforms that could form a new arm for Nihl. Krayt had originally wanted to kill Nihl for his failure, but Wyyrlok convinced him otherwise, explaining that while he was no longer able to continue his position as a hand, Nihl still had use to the Dark Lord. Krayt then replaced Nihl and Talon with Darth Stryfe, his fist, as his new hand, and sent the former hands to be healed. Maladi took the two to her laboratory, and healed Nihl and Talon using a Bacta tank.

Personality and traits
"I do not do this to assist you. I do it because this one interests me."

- Darth Nihl to Darth Talon, referring to his capture of Skywalker

Darth Nihl originally was a warlord on his home planet of Nagi, and later joined Darth Krayt as a Sith under unknown circumstances. As a member of the One Sith, Nihl loyally followed Krayt's every command, though sometimes, he doubted the decisions the Sith Lord made; for example, Nihl did not agree with Krayt's obsession and insistence to try to make Skywalker a Sith. Nihl had studied the old ways of the Sith, which was that the strongest Sith should take control of the the Order rather than an heir. Nihl believed Skywalker was to become this heir of Krayt, and wondered why Skywalker was being given privileges that Nihl had not been given, such as entry to Krayt's chambers, when he had proven his loyalty to Krayt at Ossus and as a hand.

Before Krayt's obsession with Skywalker, Nihl had taken a personal interest with him. Nihl had killed his father at Ossus, and Skywalker's lust for revenge against Nihl cause him to take notice of the former bounty hunter. Nihl was ambitious as well; he wanted to be the only hand, and hoped that Krayt would kill Darth Talon, his companion as a hand, for her failures. Nihl had to take commands from Talon, such as when she commanded the confrontation with Fel on Vendaxa, and when she stopped Nihl from killing Skywalker, an action Nihl disagreed with. Nihl also believed in his own abilities as a Sith made him superior to others; Nihl mocked Sazen's talent as a Jedi because the Sith had chopped off his arm using his lightsaber, and mocked at the amount of Skywalker's tutelage as a Jedi, believing that just because Skywalker was able to use a lightsaber, it did not make him a Jedi.

Powers and abilities
"I killed many Jedi that day. Perhaps your father was one."

- Darth Nihl mocking Skywalker

Darth Nihl, as a Sith, knew basic Force techniques such as Force push and pull, which he utilized against Jariah Syn in a confrontation on Vendaxa. Nihl also knew the Sith skill of Force lighting, which he used to kill Kol Skywalker on Ossus. These abilities, combined with Nihl's usage of a lightsaber staff, proved him to be a skilled duelist; he was able to kill a member of the Skywalker lineage, Kol Skywalker, proven to be strong in the Force, and was able to defeat Wolf Sazen, a Jedi Master in combat. Yet another ability Nihl utilized was Force choke, which he used to subdue and capture Cade Skywalker when he infiltrated the Temple of the Sith. However, Nihl could not used his prowess in dueling to defeat Skywalker in a second duel when he attempted to escape the Sith temple, in which Nihl was defeated and lost his arm.

Behind the scenes
Darth Nihl first appeared in the Legacy series of Star Wars Comic books, in which he was a major character and antagonist in the storyline. While he was first mentioned briefly in the pre-release issue of Legacy, 0, Nihl appeared frequently in the Broken story arc, in which he killed Cade Skywalker's father Kol, fueling Cade's revenge for his father's death, and causing Cade to fall to the dark side. Nihl then briefly appeared in Allies, in which he played a minor role, and did not appear again until the next major story arc, Claws of the Dragon, in which Nihl captured Skywalker, but was defeated when the latter escaped the Sith. Since then, Nihl has only appeared in two issues, Star Wars Legacy 23: Loyalties, Part 1, and Star Wars Legacy 27: Into the Core, that detailed Nihl's replacement at hand by Darth Stryfe for his failure. Since Nihl was considered a major character for the first nineteen issues of Legacy, he garnered a mention in several sourcebooks, ads, and action figures, including The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, a miniature set for Legacy of the Force, and an ad for the miniature set.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 6: Broken, Part 5
 * Star Wars Legacy 7: Broken, Part 6
 * Star Wars Legacy 14: Claws of the Dragon, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 15: Claws of the Dragon, Part 2
 * Star Wars Legacy 16: Claws of the Dragon, Part 3
 * Star Wars Legacy 17: Claws of the Dragon, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 18: Claws of the Dragon, Part 5
 * Star Wars Legacy 19: Claws of the Dragon, Part 6
 * Star Wars Legacy 23: Loyalties, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 27: Into the Core
 * Star Wars Miniatures: Legacy of the Force ad

Notes and references
Darth Nihl Darth Nihl Darth Nihl