Darth Nihilus

Darth Nihilus is a fictional character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, introduced in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Darth Nihilius's name may have been derived from the latin word, "Nihil", meaning "Nothing".

In the game

Nihilus' is a shadowy figure who wears a red and white mask and is dressed in a black cloak, which is displayed on the game's cover art. His origin is never explained. All that is revealed of his early life is that he was found by Darth Traya after the Mandalorian War. Traya discovered him to be Force-sensitive, and she began training him in the ways of the Sith at the Trayus Academy on Malachor V.

Through a vision Traya shares with the player, it is revealed that after his true powers and potential are realized, Nihilus, along with fellow Sith student Darth Sion, plots and turns against their dark mistress. They cast Traya down, strip her of her power, and expel her from the Sith Order. Nihilus then destroys the Force-sensitive planet of Katarr (and much of the remaining Jedi Order with it); Sion leads his sect of assassins in destroying the remaining Jedi.

Darth Nihilus ravages and consumes whole worlds to feed his insatiable appetite for power. This is conducted from the bridge of his flagship, the Ravager, which appears as a playable location later in the game. Nihilus' powers are so all-consuming that all those who encounter the Sith Lord become slaves, as seen in the crew of the Ravager when the player finds the ship. It is suggested that he drains the Force from these formerly living beings to enslave them.

One such servant of Nihilus is Visas Marr, a Miraluka female from Katarr, a planet consumed and destroyed by Nihilus. The Sith Lord sends Visas on a mission to find and bring the last of the Jedi before him, so that he can consume his power and essence. The Jedi Exile free her from Nihilus' bonds after she boards his ship, the Ebon Hawk, and she subsequently turns against her former master.

Nihilus is then informed of hundreds of Jedi on the planet Telos. Setting his fleet out to the planet, Nihilus finds out that no "Jedi" are on the planet. His ship is subsequently invaded. On the bridge of the Ravager, Nihilus attempts to absorb the Exile's Force energies, only to weaken himself. The Exile, together with Mandalore Canderous Ordo and Visas, defeats the Sith Lord on board the bridge of the Ravager. After his death, his body dissolves in an aura of dark side energies. Visas also gives the player the chance to take the Sith Lord's mask after he is defeated.

Other appearances

In issue #5 of the Legacy series, Sith Lord Darth Krayt contacts Nihilus's spirit and reveals that the ancient Sith had escaped death by storing his consciousness in his armor. Along with fellow ancient Sith Darth Bane and Darth Andeddu, Nihilus denounces Krayt as a "pretender" to the Sith lineage.

Name

Like most of the Sith Lords, Darth Nihilus' name is rooted in an actual word: "nihil", which is Latin for "nothing."

Trivia

• Nihilus never speaks a clear word in the game, he simply emits patterns of sounds.
• The game's initial plot, written by Obsidian Entertainment, stated that his mask was made out of Darth Revan's skull, but the developers scrapped the idea to leave the fate of the character open.
• A patron at a recent Star Wars convention dressed in a full Darth Nihilus costume was interviewed by The Howard Stern Show's Gary Garver. Sound clips from this interview were used for various song parodies created by Dan The Song Parody Man and Sal the Stockbroker and prank phone calls made by Richard Christy and Sal the Stockbroker. Howard 100 News reporter Steve Langford reported that the Howard 100 news team is searching for “Darth Nihilus,” or at least the guy who dressed as him and talked to Gary Garver at a recent Star Wars convention.
• Darth Nihilus also appeared in the Fiesta Bowl Half-Time Show in 2002 in a salute to action movies. Darth Nihilus was played by Ryan Bagley of Wethersfield, CT.

External links

• Darth Nihilus on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki