Darth Nihilus

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

- Visas Marr

Darth Nihilus was a Human male who reigned as a Dark Lord of the Sith during the era of strife following the Jedi Civil War. Before becoming a Sith Lord, he lost everything during the Galactic Republic's war against the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. He survived the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator superweapon during the war's final battle at the planet of Malachor V, which surrounded the planet with a destructive spacial phenomenon known as a mass shadow. Experiencing the shadow that obliterated almost everything on and around the planet made Nihilus crave Force energy. The affliction, which rendered him a wound in the Force, painfully ravaged his body until he was found by a seeker of such things, the Sith Lord Darth Traya, who told him that she could teach him to feed his endless hunger. He accepted her offer of apprenticeship at the Trayus Academy on Malachor V, and, over time, he became one of three concurrent Dark Lords of the Sith.

Together, the three formed a triumvirate with Traya at its head and her other apprentice, Darth Sion, as the third member. The trio chose individual names for themselves, with Darth Nihilus becoming the Lord of Hunger. The apprentices grew in strength during their training and eventually overpowered their Master. Sion defeated Traya, while Nihilus sapped her energy, before the two Sith exiled her and combined their powers to sever her ties to the Force. Nihilus's affliction developed to the point where the Dark Lord was forced to call upon the dark side of the Force to encase his spirit within his mask and armor to stay alive. Sion and he then began a Jedi purge, causing the virtual extinction of the Jedi Order. Nihilus was responsible for the devastation of the planet Katarr, killing and absorbing the Force energy of the Jedi at the Conclave on Katarr, along with every other living thing on the world save one Miraluka woman named Visas Marr. Marr was collected from the surface and Nihilus began to train her as his Shadow Hand.

One year later, Nihilus sensed a growing presence in the Force and sent Marr out to eliminate it. That presence was a female Jedi, Meetra Surik, who was on a quest to find the few Jedi Masters who had survived the Purge. When Marr attempted to assassinate the woman, Surik defeated her and convinced her to turn to the light side of the Force in the process. Although Nihilus returned to lurking the fringes of known space, the man was eventually tricked by Traya into initiating the Battle of Telos IV in an attempt to absorb a Jedi Academy that actually lacked any Force-sensitives aside from the headmistress. Nihilus met a large fleet comprised of Republic and Mandalorian forces at Telos that distracted him while his flagship, the Ravager, was secretly boarded by a small force consisting of Surik, Marr, Mandalore the Preserver, and his Mandalorians. The trio confronted and slew Nihilus in the ensuing duel while the Mandalorians rigged explosives that destroyed the ship. The Sith Lord's armor maintained his spirit and was collected for burial on the Sith homeworld of Korriban, where his soul could be contacted with a holocron of his own creation.

Origins
"The less said of that one, the better&mdash;even a stray thought may draw him."

- Kreia

The Human male who would one day be known as Darth Nihilus was alive at the conclusion of the Mandalorian Wars, a galaxy-wide conflict between the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and the Galactic Republic. Amidst those battles, he lost everything, including his family, friends, as well his will to live. During the final battle of the war, which took place on the planet of Malachor V, Jedi General Meetra Surik gave the order to activate the Mass Shadow Generator. The Generator, a superweapon conceived by the Zabrak tech specialist Bao-Dur, killed almost everyone on the planet's surface and in orbit nearby.

This man survived the superweapon's destruction of the surface of Malachor and in his grief over his losses during the war he assumed a dark persona, in part as a means of survival. He was trapped on the planet by the artificially-created mass shadows along with the bulk of the opposing, disabled fleets that filled space around the planet&mdash;where the Mandalorians had committed all of their forces in a last attempt at defeating the Republic&mdash;and took ill suddenly due to the shadows' effects. An emptiness swept over the man's idle body and it soon began to manifest as an intense "hunger." Without intent, he drained the life-force of another survivor. The act was an unpleasant experience for him, but for a brief moment the hunger ceased. nonetheless, the emptiness returned more relentless and severe than before. He indulged in absorbing the energy of other survivors, but, the more he fed, the shorter the hunger was appeased and the more powerful it became.

After the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak was killed at the Jedi Civil War's conclusion, the Sith Empire became divided and its followers turned on each other, with many factions rising to stake claim to what little power could be garnered. The man was eventually discovered by the Dark Lord Darth Traya, who had sensed him as a wound in the Force. After locating him, Traya explained that it was the Force that fueled his hunger and offered to train him to devour entire worlds to help appease the hunger at her Sith Academy on the planet. He followed her to the Trayus Academy and learned the ways of the Sith alongside another prospective Sith. Traya's hungry pupil and her other apprentice each honed different aspects and skills of the dark side of the Force, until they both became Sith Lords. The man took up the name Nihilus, while the second apprentice became known as Darth Sion, and they joined with Traya in the creation of a Sith Triumvirate. In addition, the three each took a unique title, with Nihilus selecting "Lord of Hunger."

Darth Traya perceived Nihilus's hunger for the Force as detrimental to the Sith's goals. Nevertheless, she taught him how to harness that hunger to make him stronger for a time, as she had promised. Nihilus consumed planets on several occasions, caring only to appease his hunger, allowing the dark side to consume him more and more each time he indulged his ever-intensifying hunger. Alongside his hunger, his power also grew dramatically, until he eventually surpassed his Master. Their views on how to destroy the Jedi also became divided, with he and Sion wanting to destroy them outright while Traya desired a more subtle and time consuming approach. This strained the Triumvirate's already fragile alliance to the breaking point. Nihilus and Sion combined forces to challenge Traya, confronting their teacher in the center of her own Academy. Sion and Nihilus entered the Core and ambushed Traya. Nihilus Force-pushed her into a feature of the platform, after which Sion larrupped her into submission. Sion combined his power with Nihilus's to sap Traya's Force energy, cutting her off from the Force before casting her out into exile.

With Traya gone, the Sith were left with no defined leadership and her followers fractured into many factions once again, all seeking to take what little remained. Nihilus and Sion, having been the ones who defeated Traya, reunited the fractured Sith. The Dark Lords took control and focused them on a common goal: the elimination of the Jedi Order. The Sith Lords had different vehicles for doing so, but they launched an extensive assassination campaign against the Jedi together. On the one hand, Sion killed as many Jedi he could find. On the other, Nihilus traveled the fringes of known space with a large fleet of ships that he had ripped from the mass shadows surrounding Malachor V. He made one such vessel, the Ravager, his flagship and led his flotilla to the largest deposits of Force energies he could find, whereupon he sated the hunger within him and further increased his power. Both Nihilus and Sion were successful in their pursuits and they extinguished the Jedi.

Nihilus became so absorbed by the dark side of the Force and his hunger that his physical body began to erode. Knowing that he would succumb to death if he did not act soon, Nihilus ripped his spirit from his body and encased it in the armor he wore, thus allowing the dark side to consume his useless body. Using the Force, the Sith Lord was able to keep his robes, armor and mask together, giving him some form while allowing him to use his Force powers as well as a lightsaber. Apart from that, he no longer had a physical form and became simple, primitive intent.

Encounter with Visas Marr
"There is no strength in the hunger he possesses&hellip; and the will behind his power is a primal thing. And it devours him as he devours others&mdash;his mere presence kills all around him, slowly, feeding him. He is already dead, it is simply a question of how many he kills before he falls."

- Kreia

The Trayus Academy continued producing legions of Sith Lords, assassins and marauders, with Sion and Nihilus at its head. They spread death throughout the galaxy and turned many other Force-sensitives to their cause. What his followers experienced while simply being in Nihilus' vicinity allowed them to leech off other Force-sensitives' Force energy, increasing their own power. He also taught them how to sense their prey across the vastness of space.

In 3,952 BBY, the Jedi Master Atris organized a large gathering of Jedi on the Miraluka colony world of Katarr, which most of the remaining Jedi were expected to attend. After organizing the event, she then leaked the location as a ploy to lure a dark presence that she had sensed through the Force so that she could destroy it. Atris' plan worked, drawing Nihilus toward Katarr. However, when Nihilus neared the planet, he spoke, his voice a great hunger that the Miraluka could see and feel through the Force. The Sith Lord's hunger overwhelmed them and obliterated the surface of Katarr, wiping out the entire colony and anything else touched by the Force. Nihilus destroyed much of what remained of the Jedi Order, including the Jedi Masters Zhar Lestin, Dorak and Vandar Tokare; Atris herself did not actually attend the conclave, though she was reported to have done so.

As he walked on the surface of Katarr, Nihilus found only a single living being, an injured Miraluka woman named Visas Marr. He put her in a deep sleep and brought her aboard his ship. Days later, Marr awoke, completely healed aboard the Ravager, and approached the Dark Lord. When she asked him why the wave of death had spared her, the Sith Lord did not speak. Instead, he showed her a vision of the galaxy as he saw it through his senses: beings on other planets unable to feel the Force, disconnected from one another and lost in the crush of humanity. To this chaos, the Dark Lord brought order. The vision crippled her ability to see through the Force and carved out the flesh of her vestigial eye sockets. Marr agreed to be trained by the Sith Lord as his Shadow Hand and developed a powerful Force bond with Nihilus that strengthened both; further, they could support or weaken each other in battle.

Downfall
"You&hellip; you are the darkness in which all life dies, milord. All life&hellip; exists to feed your power, and my life&hellip; my life is yours. I beg you&hellip; please&hellip; let me die. [&hellip;] Yes&hellip; this disturbance&hellip; echoes through the Force. I can follow it to its source&hellip; and bring it to you. I will leave at once, my lord."

- Visas Marr, to Nihilus

In another part of the galaxy, Meetra Surik, by then known as the Jedi Exile returned to Republic space after being banished from the Jedi Order for following the Jedi Knight Revan to the Mandalorian Wars. She had begun to re-establish her connection to the Force, which had been severed during the Battle of Malachor V. Surik became a factor in Republic politics when Atris, intent on using her as bait for Nihilus, arranged for her return in 3,951 BBY aboard the Republic warship Harbinger, and broadcast knowledge of her presence through the core ward databases. When the Peragus Mining Facility was destroyed, as a result of Darth Sion's pursuit of Surik there, the Telosian Restoration Project, a pilot program for all potential restorative efforts in the wake of the Mandalorian Wars, lost its main supply of fuel and the Republic secessionist movements on planets like Onderon gained a great deal of support. Surik came under the tutelage of Nihilus's former Master, who had forsaken her Sith identity of Darth Traya and retaken her original name, Kreia, following her exile. Kreia now planned to use Surik against the Lords of the Sith to achieve her revenge.

Nihilus eventually felt a disturbance in the Force that only his apprentice could identify. As a result, Marr was sent to defeat its source, Surik, and bring the woman before Nihilus so that he could consume her. When Surik defeated Marr instead, the Miraluka began to question her conclusions to what her Master had once shown her. She was then swayed to serve Surik against Nihilus, the slayer of her people.

Alliance with General Vaklu
"General Vaklu and I&hellip; when it seemed that we would need more to take Onderon&hellip; make it strong again&hellip; he came. With his power, his soldiers, it seemed as if there was nothing we could not do&mdash;nothing the Queen could do to stop us. I have served the wrong Master&hellip; he cares nothing for Onderon, its soldiers, its people. Everything exists&hellip; to feed his will."

- Tobin, to Surik regarding Nihilus

Nihilus allied himself with General Vaklu, the leader of the Onderon separatists that wanted the planet to leave the Galactic Republic, just before Surik's return to Republic space. He wanted to aid Vaklu in breaking away from the Republic so the planet would fall under his influence and become a staging ground for the Sith. Colonel Tobin, Vaklu's second-in-command, became Nihilus' contact. The Sith Lord also established a base on Onderon's moon, Dxun, inside the tomb of an ancient Dark Lord of the Sith. The tomb contained a dark energy Force nexus that Nihilus hoped to feed upon after his underlings performed a dark side ritual to influence the instigation of the Onderon Civil War between the separatists and the Royalists, who wanted to remain a part of the galactic government.

With help from the Mandalorian leader, Mandalore the Preserver, and his clan that secretly lived on Onderon's moon, Surik intervened in the Dark Lord's plans. When Surik was warned of the dark side ritual in Nadd's tomb, she sent a team to infiltrate Nadd's tomb that halted it. Meanwhile, Surik headed to Iziz to support Onderon's queen, Talia, the Royalist leader. There, the Triumvirate's Sith Lords and Dark Jedi had joined the separatists in a march on the Iziz Royal Palace. Surik fought Vaklu's forces until she reached the Royal Palace's throne room, where she helped end the war by defeating General Vaklu. With the defeat of the separatists and the General, who was executed summarily, Nihilus's plans for Onderon were thwarted.

Assault on Telos IV
"Your path&hellip; ends here, Sith Lord."

- Meetra Surik, to Darth Nihilus

Afterward, Nihilus was informed by Colonel Tobin that there was a Jedi Academy on the planet of Telos IV. This was actually a ruse by Kreia to draw her former pupil there while she traveled to reclaim her academy on Malachor. When Nihilus's fleet arrived near the planet, the Republic Navy was there to meet him, working with the Mandalorians who were there to assist Surik and their Mandalore. This began the Battle of Telos IV, a large conflict with fronts on both Citadel Station, the planet's orbiting satellite, and in space. Nihilus realized too late that there were actually no Force-sensitives in the Academy, but his ravaging hunger drove him to attempt to consume Telos anyway.

Nihilus's ship was assaulted and boarded by the Mandalorians in a coordinated final strike against Nihilus. Mandalore led his troops to board the Ravager, while covered by the Republic forces, to assist Surik and Visas Marr in their advance on the warship's bridge. Four proton bombs were set in strategic locations throughout the ship along their way. Colonel Tobin, his body twisted by exposure to Nihilus's dark powers by this point, attacked the raiders in an attempt to impede them. However, the Onderonian patriot relented when they pointed out that it would only be a matter of time until his homeworld would meet the same fate as Telos if Nihilus succeeded.

During his confrontation with the Exile, Marr, and Mandalore, Nihilus attempted to absorb Surik's Force energy, but failed and exhausted himself because of Surik's ability to draw on the Force energy of those around her. They engaged in a brief duel, with the Dark Lord seemingly too strong to defeat. Then Surik learned of his aversion to her Force energy signature and pressed her advantage. Marr entered a trance and disrupted her link with her former Master, undermining his connection to the Force through their Force bond. This weakened Nihilus enough that the trio was able to kill him. Before leaving in the orbital shuttle she and her companions had used to board the ship, Marr felt compelled to remove the Dark Lord's mask, wanting to see the face of the one who had wounded her. Nihilus' body then erupted in an aura of dark side energies as the trio left the bridge. Shortly thereafter, the bombs aboard the Ravager exploded and the rest of the Sith fleet was decimated by the Republic. Nihilus's spirit was able to survive inside his armor, which survived the destruction of the Ravager. When it was taken to Korriban for burial, Nihilus's spirit came in contact with the planet's dark side Force nexus, which allowed his spirit to maintain contact with the physical world.

Legacy
"Lord Nihilus, you escaped death by containing your consciousness within your armor. How?!"

- Darth Krayt

After Nihilus' death, Meetra Surik traveled to Malachor V and killed both Kreia, who had reclaimed her place as Darth Traya along with the Academy, and Sion. Nonetheless, the Sith lived on after the fall of the Sith Triumvirate. At least one Dark Lord of the Sith rose and succeeded Nihilus, quietly ruling as the Republic began to thrive anew. Similarly, the Jedi Order rebounded as well, with Marr and other Force-sensitive companions of the Exile rebuilding it. In 3,681 BBY, the Sith and Jedi would once again clash during the Great Galactic War that pitted the Republic against a resurgent Sith Empire. In the aftermath of that conflict, the two shared an uneasy coexistance during the Cold War that began in 3,653 BBY.

Darth Nihilus had made a cubic holocron at some point, which would allow someone to commune with his spirit. The centuries-old artifact contained many Sith secrets and it came into the possession of the crime lord Diago Hixan, who kept it in a cavern on the planet of Tatooine called the Lightspring during the Cold War. A Sith, Vaverone Zare, learned that Hixan had the box and she aimed to claim it for the Sith Empire. To do this, she tried to enlist the aid of a smuggler known as "Voidhound," without revealing its true nature. However, the smuggler supported the Galactic Republic and told a Jedi Knight, Nariel Pridence, that Zare was seeking the box. The Jedi set out to take the box alone and was captured by Hixan, but Ace had followed her. In the ensuing confrontation, Hixan and Zare, who had arrived as well, the latter two were killed by the Smuggler and the Jedi. Pridence was able to determine the origin of the holocron and she set off to ensure the Empire would never see it.

Sometime after the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, three groups tracked Nihilus's mask to the planet of Volik in the Unknown Regions, stored aboard a Dynamic-class freighter called the Nashuaga. The parties&mdash;a group of spacers, Sith cultists known as the Apex Society, and a band of pirates called Sando's Boys&mdash;all convened in and around the cove where the ship resided. After dispatching the other two groups, the spacers claimed the mask for their own.

The founder of the One Sith Order, Darth Krayt, came upon Nihilus's holocron. In 137 ABY, Krayt traveled to Korriban and accessed it along with two others, belonging to Darth Andeddu and Darth Bane, seeking their advice on how to stop Yuuzhan Vong creatures from consuming his body. The only response he received from Nihilus was a statement in the Sith Lord's language, which his comrades did not attempt to translate, but the three were in agreement. They believed that Krayt was unworthy of being a Sith as they say his Rule of One as a dilution of the Sith ways.

Personality and traits
"He cares nothing for the Sith or its teachings&hellip; or the Jedi. And when the Jedi are dead, he will feed on the galaxy, the Republic, and eventually, consume the Sith as well."

- Kreia

Darth Nihilus was a man who always craved greater power. However, unlike most Sith Lords, he cared very little for the Sith as an organization. Nihilus saw death as the sole purpose of life, and power as the means to achieve it. He was cautious, as his actions during the campaign against the Jedi showed, and was known as an aggressive, dominant figure who would not abide a threat to his power. Nihilus was a Human male, but after he indulged his hunger for the dark side he lost his corporeal form, preserving his existence only by having his spirit linger within his mask and armor. The Dark Lord fully embraced his condition, as the mysterious and monstrous facets of it instilled in people who met him a deep-rooted fear he could prey upon. Ceasing to feel fear and other emotions, he became an entity of pure intent. Nonetheless, Nihilus was still Human enough to have some feelings, as his bond with Marr persisted until their confrontation on the Ravager. She was his only apprentice, and her betrayal was met with much anger. Darth Nihilus wielded a self-built lightsaber containing a red crystal.

Powers and abilities
"The extent of his power cannot be put into words&hellip; and his perceptions have grown as well. To him&hellip;"'' "''You are dust motes in a storm&hellip; a grain upon the beach&hellip; and as insignificant as a body that orbits the graveyard of Malachor."

- Tobin and Visas Marr, regarding Nihilus

During combat, Darth Nihilus fought in an aggressive, one-handed style. He had learned some of the greatest of the Sith teachings, but such practices took the form of dependence. They would make him stronger, but only for a time, and he would have to feed upon Force energy to replenish his strength. For this reason, Force-sensitives and worlds rich in the Force would draw him. His reach in the Force eventually extended to a point where he could feel Force users throughout the galaxy to find planets he would then cleanse entirely, killing everything that was touched by the Force. Prolonged use of this power made him a threat to all life, as his craving grew more intense with each feeding. Eventually, Nihilus's hunger controlled him, not the other way around, and the Sith Lord would instinctively feed upon those around him, slowly killing them. Nihilus's very speech caused pain and death to all who heard it, and those who served him became utter slaves in time. His ability was somewhat similar to Surik's influence upon others: the reconvened Jedi Council in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine inferred that the Sith had somehow learned this ability to feed on the Force from her.

Darth Nihilus was adept in many aspects of the Force. He used his dark variant of the Sever Force ability to betray Darth Traya with Darth Sion by stripping her of the Force and casting her out of the Sith Order. Nihilus could also use the Force to lift starships, as he did on Malachor V with the Ravager. He tore it from the mass shadows that surrounded the planet and kept it together even though it had suffered extensive structural damage. Through the Force, Darth Nihilus was able to escape death by containing his consciousness in his armor&mdash;an ability that Darth Krayt would inquire of Nihilus's holocron millennia later. He was also proficient in Dark rage, Farsight, Force lightning, Force resistance, Force scream, and Force whirlwind, among others, such as a dark variant of Force healing called Dark Healing. Nihilus was aware of some secret faculties of the dark side such as devastating power, used to increase the intensity of an offensive Force technique either by half of its power or to double its power, and distant power, which gave him the ability to increase the range of a Force power to span a star system. His knowledge also extended to Sith alchemy: during the second battle of Onderon, Nihilus's sect of Sith followers used techniques that would bend tame beasts to their will.

Behind the scenes
Darth Nihilus was created by Obsidian Entertainment as one of the primary antagonists for the 2005 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. His story was later elaborated upon in a comic, Unseen, Unheard, featured in Star Wars Tales 24. This was written by Chris Avellone, &mdash;the lead writer of The Sith Lords &mdash;and was drawn by Dustin Weaver. Nihilus' background was further explored in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide and he received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Nihilus's name and the pronunciation therof were derived from the words "nihilist," meaning one who "believes in nothing;" and "annihilate," meaning "to destroy completely" or "reduce to nonexistence." In an interview conducted by a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic fan website, Avellone was asked what his intentions for Darth Nihilus were. Though he did state that his origin story is non-canon, Avellone said he thought of Nihilus as Meetra Surik's "other half," pursuing a different path after Malachor V was torn apart.

In-game, Nihilus never spoke a clear word, he simply emitted patterns of sounds similar to the Sith holocrons found on Telos IV. Alien languages such as Huttese were subtitled, while Nihilus's words were not. Marr seemed to understand at least some portions of what Nihilus said to her. In promotional material for the game, Nihilus was seen as an opposite to Atris. Concept art showed a confrontation between the two, but Atris never actually interacted with Nihilus during the game. In a bug that occasionally occurs when Nihilus dies, his body is surrounded by dark side energies but the body itself does not disappear. A Sith lightsaber, a Dark Jedi Master robe, and a lightsaber crystal may then be found in his remains. The mask Marr recovered from his remains could not be worn; however, the mask did give Surik bonus Force points. If Surik did not ask for the mask, it disappeared with his body. In Hasbro's Star Wars Evolutions action figure set, The Sith Legacy, Nihilus was featured with Darth Bane and another Sith, Darth Maul. He had a removable hood that revealed that Nihilus had black hair and styled it in dreadlocks. In The Sith Lords, Nihilus's name was never spoken aloud, but was viewable during the fight with him and in certain written materials. The smuggler's storyline from 2011's Star Wars: The Old Republic included a section on Tatooine that dealt with Nihilus's Sith holocron, in which his name was spoken for the first time. Nihilus's name was also used for the name of one of The Old Republic servers.

Alternate stories
"Her death was worthy of a Mandalorian.''" "''She did not die a fool or a coward, so be silent."

- Mandalorian the Preserver and Meetra Surik

Though Nihilus's background and motives did not change based on Surik's Force orientation, the way his story unfolded could vary slightly. A possible outcome to the final battle with Nihilus was to convince Marr to sacrifice herself, thus shattering the bond she shared with Darth Nihilus and severely wounding the Dark Lord's spirit. This rendered him no match for Surik, but this opition was only available if Marr was equipped with regular clothing and was wielding a melee weapon.

Surik could choose whether or not Visas Marr looked upon her Master's face. If Surik allowed Marr, she could also have also asked Marr to bring his mask to her. The mask could not be worn; however, it did give Surik bonus Force points in the game. Not asking for the mask resulted in it disappearing with his body. Dialogue options after this caused Marr to describe Nihilus's face in two alternative ways. She either responded by saying, "A man, nothing more." or "I saw a graveyard world, surrounded by a fleet of dead ships. I felt it through him&hellip; as I feel it through you."

Continuity
Both Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide and Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, written from an in-universe point of view, featured three conflicting records about Darth Nihilus's death. According to the first, he was slain by the Echani Handmaiden Brianna, an attendant to Jedi Master Atris. Another record indicated that Visas Marr was involved in defeating Nihilus, while the third suggested that Nihilus was able to kill the Miraluka before he died. It should be noted that while the second and the third records respectively described light and dark side options in the game, the first record contradicted the game directly: even though, canonically, Brianna joined Surik's party, despite this only occurring if the player chose to be male, she is unable to accompany Surik to the Ravager because only Visas Marr and Mandalore are taken on the mission to defeat Nihilus. Additionally, The Ultimate Visual Guide stated that Darth Sion was the apprentice of Darth Nihilus, though they were both apprentices of Darth Traya as stated in the game.

Sources differ on the time at which Nihilus lost his physical body. The Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide states that he lost his physical body due to his use of the dark side, encasing it in his armor to save himself, after deposing Darth Traya. Meanwhile, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that he lost his body when the Ravager was destroyed, preserving himself in the same way before being found and buried. This article assumes that the former is correct and that his spirit was already inside his armor when he fought Surik. However, the Encyclopedia entry cast doubt on whether or not Marr was allowed to look upon Nihilus's face before leaving the bridge. Because The Sith Lords had Nihilus's armor destroyed in an explosion of Force energy, it formerly stood to reason that Marr was allowed to look and brought Nihilus's mask to Surik. It would not have been able to appear thousands of years later in a Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Roleplaying Game suppliment, Mask of Darth Nihilus, otherwise. Now that his armor was established as surviving the explosion and being recovered later, this is no longer certain.

Cut content
The Jekk'Jekk Tarr, a cantina on the moon Nar Shaddaa, was originally going to be destroyed by Dessicus&mdash;the leader of the faction of the GenoHaradan bounty hunter guild active on the moon&mdash;with Surik inside. Everyone believed Surik to be dead, which was not the case, and Sion approached Nihilus. He told Nihilus that their partnership was over and that he never needed him at all before attacking him and being rebuffed by a surge of the Force that also killed several people around Sion. Sion limped away from this encounter and left the Ravager.

During the final battle against Nihilus, Surik was going to have the option to claim that she wanted to become Nihilus's apprentice. She could either lie or tell the truth, and if this were true Surik would have fought and killed Marr, weakening Nihilus through their bond before turning on him in order to kill him as well. If this was false, Nihilus would have let his guard down only to have Surik attack him without killing Marr.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Darth Bane: Rule of Two
 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Star Wars: Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4