Darth Nihilus

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

{{{caption}}}
Character

Darth Nihilus
Gender	Male
Date of birth	{{{birth}}}
House	{{{house}}}
Occupation	{{{job}}}
Parentage	{{{blood}}}
Loyalty	{{{loyalty}}}
Film portrayer	{{{portrayer}}}
First appearance	{{{appearance}}}

"He is no longer a human... One cannot have power of that magnitude and still perceive the universe as we do."

– Jedi Master Kreia

Darth Nihilus was a Sith Lord around the time after the Jedi Civil War. Apprentice of Darth Traya, he was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Malachor V. He was a shadowy figure that wore a red and white mask and was dressed in a black cloak.

Darth Nihilus consumed the Force from Force-sensitives in order to stay alive. He could even consume entire Force-sensitive planets.

Biography

Little is known of Nihilus's true beginnings, other than the fact that he was a survivor of the Mandalorian Wars, and may or may not have at one point been a prisoner of the Mandalorians. Although his role in the Mandalorian wars is a mystery, it is possible that he may have been one of the Jedi that defied the Jedi Council to follow Revan into the wars. After the war he was found by Darth Traya to be Force-sensitive, and she began training him in the ways of the Sith at the Trayus Academy on Malachor V. After his true powers and potential were realized, Nihilus, along with fellow Sith student Darth Sion, plotted and turned against their dark mistress Traya. They cast Traya down, stripped her of her power, and expelled her from the Sith Order. Nihilus and Sion had now begun their shadow war against the remnants of the Jedi Order. They hunted Jedi to the brink of extinction.

Darth Nihilus ravaged and consumed whole worlds, to feed his insatiable appetite for power, from the bridge of his flagship,

Image:Nihilus.jpg

Nihilus duels the Jedi Exile on the bridge of the Ravager (The Exile's gender is just a user interface element)

the Ravager. Nihilus's powers were so all-consuming that all those who came into contact with the Sith Lord became slaves, mindless servants to his will. Nihilus had learned his terrible powers under the watchful eye of Darth Traya, his hunger for power was what gave birth to his insatiable appetite for all things living, he became so powerful, that he ceased being a man of flesh. His flesh remained, but it was only a shell encasing the dark gaping void, that swallowed all life it came into contact with. Nihilus viewed the galaxy as a tool to feed his insatiable appetitie. He believed that the purpose of all life was to feed his powers.

One such servant of Nihilus was Visas Marr, a Miraluka female from Katarr, a planet consumed and destroyed by Nihilus. The Sith Lord sent Visas on a mission to find and bring the last of the Jedi before him, so that he could consume his power and essence. However, this would be the mighty Sith Lord's undoing, for the Jedi exile broke her from Nihilus's bonds, and she turned against her former master. Along with the Exile and Canderous Ordo, she defeated him on board the bridge of the Ravager. After his death, his body dissolved in an aura of dark side energies. The Exile was able to survive the Dark Lords terrible power, for he had previous lost his connection to the force, and this shielded him from certain death at the hands of Nihilus. When Nihilus tried to feed on The Exile, he exhausted himself, leaving him temporarily vulnerable.

What happened to Nihilus after his body dissolved is unknown. Whether he was truly gone, or returned again to challenge the Jedi and the Republic, remains a mystery.

Besides his terrible powers of hunger, Darth Nihilus was also a master in lightsaber combat, and fought in an elegant yet aggressive one handed style.

[edit]

Behind the Scenes

Like most of the Sith Lords, Darth Nihilus' name has some meaning (nihil is Latin for "not anything"). He has no loyalties to anyone but himself, and will consume both Sith and Jedi with his hunger, which notes that his name fits his current personality quite well. Nihilus is also derived from the term "nihilism", or "belief in nothing", most notably concepts of truth and purpose.
It should be noted that Nihilius never speaks a clear word in the game, he simply emits patterns of sounds.

[edit]