Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

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.
==Plot summary==
===Opening crawl===
===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====
In 3951 BBY, four years after the end of the Jedi Civil War, Revan's ship, the Ebon Hawk, emerges badly damaged in the Peragus system, with six passengers on board: two droids that belonged to Revan (T3-M4 and a disassembled HK-47), two other droids (3C-FD and a HK-50 assassin droid), and two unconscious Humans (Meetra Surik and Kreia). With 3C-FD's help, T3-M4 manages to dock the ship into the Peragus Mining Facility, where Surik is put into a kolto tank in the medical bay, while Kreia, assumed to be dead, is placed in the morgue.
After regaining consciousness, Surik finds Kreia, who wakes up from her trance. She explores her surroundings and finds a smuggler, Atton Rand, whom she frees from a force cage. The three of them seem to be the only persons alive in the entire facility, which is covered with dead miners and crawling with assault-programmed mining droids that are "mining" organics. Surik eventually learns that the HK-50 assassin droid is after her because of a bounty placed by the Exchange on living Jedi since the collapse of the Jedi Order. The HK-50 assassin droid, which claims responsibility for all the deaths and damage at the facility, tries to stop Surik from leaving but she destroys it.
In the meantime, another ship arrives at Peragus: the Harbinger, the Republic capital ship transporting Surik to Telos IV before they ended up at Peragus. When Surik, Kreia, and Rand—in an attempt to escape from Peragus—board the Harbinger, they discover that the ship has been overrun by the Sith under Darth Sion. As Kreia approaches the Sith Lord in an attempt to distract him, Surik and Rand escape through one of the ship's fuel lines.
Meanwhile, when Sion cuts off Kreia's hand with his lightsaber, Surik discovers her newly formed Force bond with Kreia when she unexpectedly feels Kreia's pain through the Force. Surik and Rand continue moving and meet up with T3-M4, which has been disabled earlier by the HK-50 assassin droid. Upon reaching the hangar bay, they board the Ebon Hawk and fend off attacks from Sith troopers. Kreia, who has managed to escape from Sion, catches up with them and gets on board too. As they fly into an asteroid field surrounding Peragus II, the Harbinger fires at the Ebon Hawk but misses and hits one of the asteroids, triggering a series of explosions which completely destroy the mining facility, asteroid field, and the Peragus system itself.
====Refuge on Telos====
Using the astrogation charts recovered from the Harbinger, Surik and her companions make their way to Citadel Station, the space station orbiting the war-ravaged Telos system. Upon their arrival, they are immediately disarmed and detained by the Telos Security Force under Lieutenant Dol Grenn for their apparent involvement in the destruction of Peragus—not coincidentally, the main fuel supplier for Citadel Station, without which the station cannot maintain its orbit around Telos. During the investigation, a mysterious woman steals the Ebon Hawk with T3-M4 on board.
Chodo Habat, the leader of the Ithorian herd responsible for the Republic restoration efforts on Telos, offers to help Surik restore her lost connection to the Force in exchange for dealing with their rival, Czerka Corporation. Despite Kreia's disapproval, Surik accepts Habat's offer and protects the Ithorians' interests from Czerka and the Exchange. In return, the Ithorians also provide her a shuttle to fly to the surface of Telos IV.
En route to the restoration zone on the surface, their shuttle is shot down by a Czerka air defense turret. Surik and her companions manage to crash-land near the Zabrak mechanic Bao-Dur, who served under Surik during the Mandalorian Wars. He has been working with the Ithorians to restore Telos IV after the wars.
Bao-Dur joins Surik and her companions and leads them to an abandoned Republic military base. Along the way, they fight some Czerka mercenaries and cannoks. Once they are at the base, Bao-Dur points out a breach in the planetary defense system in the polar regions as the most likely location of the Ebon Hawk. Surik and her companions then board another shuttle from the base to the polar regions.
====Hidden Academy====
The shuttle crash-lands on a polar plateau after being shot down by three HK-50 assassin droids. After destroying the droids, Surik discovers a Jedi academy hidden beneath the plateau.
Upon entering, they are surrounded by the Handmaiden Sisters, who disarm and arrest them. Surik is brought before Atris, one of the Jedi Masters who previously exiled her from the Jedi Order for defying the Jedi Council's order to stay out of the Mandalorian Wars. Surik offers to help Atris deal with the new Sith threat and find any surviving Jedi. Impressed that Surik holds no grudge against her, Atris allows Surik to take back the Ebon Hawk and leave with her companions.
When the group assembles again on the Ebon Hawk, T3-M4 informs Surik that it has secretly downloaded a holorecord of her trial from Atris' archives. It turns out that there are four Jedi Masters in hiding—Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, Vrook Lamar, and Lonna Vash. She decides to find them to discuss a plan of action against the Sith and figure out why she has lost her connection to the Force.
====Nar Shaddaa====
Their first stop is Nar Shaddaa, a moon of Nal Hutta. The massive population and large cityscape of the moon makes it easy for anyone to hide and lay low for a while. In her attempt to find Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell, Surik actively provokes the Exchange by helping the refugees in the Refugee Sector who are being exploited by the Exchange. She and her companions also fend off some Jedi-hunting bounty hunters and Red Eclipse slavers. At one point, Surik is ambushed by Visas Marr, a Miraluka assassin working for the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus. After defeating Marr, she shows kindness toward Marr, who, in return, pledges allegiance to Surik.
After Surik is lured into a trap in the Jekk'Jekk Tarr and captured by the Exchange boss Goto, the bounty hunter Mira teams up with Surik's companions to infiltrate Goto's yacht and rescue her. During their escape, Surik and her companions sabotage the yacht's cloaking device and expose its position. Goto's rivals and Republic forces seize the opportunity to attack and destroy the yacht, while Surik and her companions escape on the Ebon Hawk. Goto apparently survives and orders his droid, G0-T0, to join Surik's team. Surik later deduces that "Goto" is actually a hologram constructed by G0-T0 to mask its true identity as a Republic planning droid which has gone rogue.
After returning to Nar Shaddaa, Surik meets Zez-Kai Ell, who answers her questions and teaches her a new lightsaber form or new Force power. He also agrees to go to the former Jedi Enclave on Dantooine and wait there while Surik continues searching for the other Jedi Masters.
====Dxun====
After leaving Nar Shaddaa, Surik seeks Jedi Master Kavar on Onderon. As the Ebon Hawk enters the Onderon system and joins the long queue into the starport on Onderon's capital Iziz, Onderon starfighters under Colonel Tobin open fire at the Ebon Hawk and start a space battle above Iziz. The Ebon Hawk suffers heavy damage during the battle and is forced to land on Dxun, one of Onderon's moons.
While exploring Dxun in search of a way out, Surik discovers a covert Mandalorian camp deep in the jungle and encounters Canderous Ordo, who has claimed the title of Mandalore and currently seeks to unite the scattered Mandalorian clans under his leadership. Ordo promises to provide Surik passage to Iziz if she impresses him and his Mandalorian followers. After performing a number of feats, Surik gains the Mandalorians' trust and respect. Just as Surik is about to leave for Iziz with Ordo on his personal shuttle, the camp comes under attack by Sith assassins, who are swiftly dealt with by Surik and the Mandalorians.
====Iziz====
Once Surik arrives in Iziz, she becomes aware of an ongoing political crisis in the capital. General Vaklu has declared martial law and has been rallying support for a coup against his cousin, Queen Talia. There are also many people demanding that Onderon secedes from the Republic. The Onderon armed forces have also split into two factions, with one side championing Vaklu and the other side remaining loyal to the Queen. Although Ordo wants Surik to support Vaklu in the power struggle, Surik is more inclined to side with Queen Talia. In the midst of all the political unrest, Surik tracks down Ordo's contact in Iziz, Dhagon Ghent, and learns that he has been arrested as a suspect for the murder of Captain Sullio. After Surik helps Ghent clear his name, he arranges for her to meet Jedi Master Kavar, who has been secretly serving as an adviser to the Queen.
Surik and Kavar's meeting at the cantina is cut short when Colonel Tobin and his soldiers show up to capture Kavar. Before fleeing the cantina, Kavar uses Force Stasis to stun Tobin's soldiers and tells Surik that he will contact her later. While Tobin goes off in pursuit of the Jedi Master, Surik and her companions make their way out of Iziz and fight Vaklu's men who try to kill them.
====Dantooine====
Surik leaves Dxun on the repaired Ebon Hawk and travels to the grassland planet of Dantooine, which is still recovering from the Sith attack during the Jedi Civil War. The surviving populace have established Khoonda, a makeshift government based in the former Matale residence, under the leadership of their Administrator, Terena Adare. Due to the damage caused by the Jedi Civil War, many people on Dantooine are suspicious and distrustful of the Jedi, or simply any lightsaber-wielding person.
Concealing her Jedi identity, Surik interacts with the local settlers and hears rumors that Adare had met a Jedi. Adare later reveals to Surik that she is in contact with Jedi Master Vrook Lamar because she needs his help to protect the settlers; the Khoonda Militia is too small and weak to resist aggression from a group of mercenaries. Adare also grants Surik permission to search the ruins of the Jedi Enclave.
After fighting several laigreks in the Enclave sublevel, Surik encounters Mical, a former Jedi Initiate whose training had been disrupted by the Mandalorian Wars. Now a historian and soldier in the service of the Republic, Mical has been sent by Admiral Carth Onasi to protect any Jedi artifacts he can find in the ruins. Mical becomes one of Surik's companions. Surik discovers a datapad in the library which shows that Lamar has been captured by the mercenaries and is being held captive in the crystal cave.
Surik goes to the cave and tries to save Lamar by fighting the mercenaries, but the Jedi Master reprimands her for acting on impulse. It turns out that he had deliberately allowed himself to be captured so that he can find out how the mercenaries are planning to attack Khoonda; Surik's "rescue" had complicated matters. Just as Surik exits the cave, she meets Azkul, the mercenary leader, who asks her to help them in conquering Khoonda. Surik refuses and fights her way back to Khoonda.
At Khoonda, Surik strengthens the stronghold's defenses by activating droids and security systems, as well as recruiting more people to join the Khoonda Militia, in preparation for an impending attack by the mercenaries. The Battle of Khoonda ultimately ends with the settlers' victory. After the battle, Lamar answers Surik's questions and teaches her a new lightsaber form or new Force power. Through her courageous deeds, Surik not only gains the gratitude of the people of Dantooine, but also restores their faith in the Jedi.
====Return to Dxun====
After Surik leaves Dantooine, she receives word from the Mandalorians on Dxun that Jedi Master Kavar has made contact and wants her to meet him in Iziz. On the same day, General Vaklu denounces Queen Talia as a traitor and declares war against her. Thus begins the Onderon Civil War.
The Sith, who have joined the civil war on Vaklu's side, are using the tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun as their base of operations. Surik's companions join forces with the Mandalorians to launch an attack on the Sith at the tomb and manage to defeat them.
====Return to Iziz====
In the meantime, Surik flies on a salvaged Basilisk war droid into Iziz and participates in the civil war. With support from forces loyal to Queen Talia, she fights her way up the Sky Ramp and into the Royal Palace. In the palace, she teams up with Kavar and the loyalists to defeat Vaklu's forces and their Sith allies. In the throne room, Surik assists Queen Talia in a duel against Vaklu and defeats him; Vaklu is captured and his fate will be decided by the Queen. This marks the end of the civil war.
After the battle, Kavar answers Surik's questions and teaches her a new lightsaber form or new Force power. Then, he leaves for the former Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, where all the missing Jedi Masters are to be reunited. In the meantime, Kreia secretly revives Colonel Tobin, who has been knocked unconscious during the battle, and orders him to deliver a message to Darth Nihilus to go to Telos IV.
====Korriban====
Surik's final stop during her search for the missing Jedi Masters is the Sith homeworld of Korriban. While exploring the ruins of the Sith Academy at the Valley of the Dark Lords, Surik finds the dead body of the last missing Jedi Master, Lonna Vash. She also encounters Darth Sion, and briefly duels him until Kreia telepathically advises her to escape. Surik then explores the shyrack cave and enters the tomb of Ludo Kressh. In the tomb, she experiences visions of her past, her companions and Revan, and gains a deeper understanding of the Force.
====Eyes of the Exile====
Throughout her journey across the galaxy, Surik regains her connection to the Force and, under Kreia's guidance, starts her journey toward becoming a Jedi Master. She also learns much about her companions' backstories. After discovering that Rand, Bao-Dur, Mira, and Mical are Force-sensitive, she trains them to eventually form a new generation of Jedi, whom Kreia refers to as the Lost Jedi—the true Jedi—disciples of Surik who will later form the basis of a new Jedi Order. Surik also learns from Kreia that Revan was Kreia's Padawan at one point in time, and that he has gone to the Unknown Regions to counter an unseen threat from beyond the Outer Rim.
When the three surviving Jedi Masters—Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook—finally gather at the rebuilt Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Surik learns from them that the Jedi Council did not cut off her connection to the Force. In fact, she did so herself when she created a wound in the Force by activating the Mass Shadow Generator during the Battle of Malachor V; the trauma of sensing so many deaths through the Force caused her to instinctively sever her connection to the Force.
After Surik fails to persuade the Jedi Masters to unite against the Sith, they explain that the new Sith threat, in the form of Darth Nihilus, had caught them off guard. As Nihilus feeds on the Force, he causes widespread death and destruction to worlds which have a strong connection to the Force. That was what happened during the Jedi conclave at Katarr when Nihilus showed up and destroyed all the the Jedi who were present, along with the Force-sensitive Miraluka species by draining the Force from the planet, although the Miraluka Visas Marr survived.
The Jedi Masters conclude that Surik has regained her connection to the Force by feeding on the life energy of her companions through her ability to form Force bonds with them. As they are worried that the Exile will, through the Force, lead the Sith to them and eventually cause the death of the Force, they want to strip her of her connection to the Force against her will.
At that moment, Kreia appears, berates the Jedi Masters for their arrogance and ignorance, and uses an extreme form of Force drain to make them undergo the same loss Surik felt at Malachor V. Unable to live without the Force, the three Jedi Masters die almost immediately. Although Surik retains her connection to the Force, she becomes unconscious. In the meantime, the Handmaiden Sisters dash into the Enclave and take Kreia prisoner before delivering her to their mistress, Atris.
====Admission of Atris====
When Surik regains consciousness, she finds out from her companions about what had happened, and returns to the Jedi academy on Telos IV to find Kreia. She figures out that the Force bond between her and Kreia is lethal; this meant that if Kreia dies, Surik will die as well.
In the meantime, Kreia reveals to Atris that she has fallen to the dark side and become Darth Traya. The irony is that Atris, in her attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order and prevent any future Jedi from falling to the ways of the Sith, has been corrupted by her studies of the ways of the Sith. After Kreia exposes her, Atris fully embraces her persona of Darth Traya and admits her fall to darkness. Kreia then leaves.
Shortly after, Surik shows up to confront the fallen Jedi Master and defeats her. However, against Atris's expectations, Surik does not kill her and spares her life instead. Realizing that perhaps she can find her true self if she will simply let go of her flawed ideas about the Jedi, Atris awaits judgement at her sanctum of Sith holocrons within the Telos academy. She also tells Surik that the Sith are about to attack Telos, and that Kreia has left for Malachor V, where she will wait for the Exile to finish what she has begun there.
====The Battle of Telos====
When Surik arrives at Citadel Station, she sees that the Sith attack has already begun. Along with the Telos Security Force and reinforcements from the Republic, Dantooine and Onderon, Surik and her companions fight the Sith and clear the station of enemy forces.
Surik then teams up with Marr, Ordo and the Mandalorians to board an orbital shuttle and infiltrate Darth Nihilus's ship, the Ravager. Once on board, they plant proton charges on the ship and head to the bridge to confront the Sith Lord.
During their duel, Nihilus attempts to drain the Force from Surik in the same way he did to other Jedi, but it proves to be his undoing—instead of feeding on Surik's connection to the Force, he is weakened by the echoes of the wound in the Force that she carries with her. With Marr helping to distract the Sith Lord, Surik ultimately defeats Nihilus and claims his mask. Surik and her companions then escape from the Ravager just before it blows up. The remaining Sith forces either flee or are destroyed, thus bringing an end to the battle.
Upon Surik's return to Citadel Station, Admiral Carth Onasi has a private meeting with her, during which he relates to her the story of how he met Revan, and enlists her help in finding Revan in the Unknown Regions. After Surik leaves, Onasi meets Bastila Shan and talks to her about Revan.
====Exile of the echoes====
Surik and her companions travel to Malachor V, where the war-torn planet's unstable environment causes the Ebon Hawk to crash. Surik navigates her way on foot across the planet's inhospitable landscape and reaches the Trayus Academy.
In the Trayus Academy, Surik defeats the Sith forces and duels Darth Sion. Despite the Sith Lord's regenerative abilities, Surik convinces him to let go of his pain and willingly accept death, thus ending his immortality.
Surik then confronts Kreia in the Trayus Core. Kreia refuses redemption and forces Surik to either kill her, to let go of the echoes of Malachor V, or be killed and allow death to consume the galaxy. Kreia is ultimately defeated by the Exile.
Upon her defeat, Kreia gazes into the future, revealing the future of Surik's companions, of the planets they had visited, of the Mandalorians, and of the Republic. She also says that Revan came to Malachor V after the Mandalorian Wars and again after the Jedi Civil War, and that he has discovered evidence of the "True Sith," whom he has gone to fight "in his own way."
Meanwhile, on Malachor V's surface, Bao-Dur's remote powers up and reactivates the Mass Shadow Generator despite G0-T0's attempt to stop it. As Malachor V collapses upon itself once again, the Ebon Hawk arrives in time to save Surik while Kreia plunges to her death in the Trayus Core. Surik then heads off to the Unknown Regions in search of Revan.
==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 protagonist of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Ten years before the events of the story, Surik fought as a Jedi General alongside Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. At the climactic Battle of Malachor V, she activated the Mass Shadow Generator, which caused over a thousand instantaneous deaths. Although this event ended the war, the trauma of sensing so many deaths through the Force caused Surik to instinctively sever her connection to the Force, and she was subsequently banished from the Jedi Order. After wandering the periphery of the galaxy for a decade, Surik is drawn into the conflict between the Republic and the Sith. Gathering companions and healing the dying Jedi Order in her journey, Surik ultimately eliminates the Lords of the Sith Triumvirate, encountering the shadows of her past along the way and conquering her inner demons. She eventually defeats Kreia in the Trayus Core on Malachor V, thus ending the threat she posed.
===Darth Sion===
Darth Sion (also known as the Lord of Pain) is one of the three Sith Lords of the Sith Triumvirate. Formerly a warrior serving under Exar Kun, he was killed in battle during the Great Sith War. However, he resurrected himself by harnessing his hatred through the Force, thereby allowing him to rise from the dead whenever he is defeated. His immortality comes at a great cost, however, because his wounds never heal and he constantly suffers from pain. During the Jedi Civil War, Sion sided with the Sith against the Republic and formed the Sith Triumvirate with Darth Traya. However, he betrayed Traya when he believed that 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. She evades him during each encounter. Eventually, Surik confronts Sion in the Trayus Academy on Malachor V, where she overcomes the Sith Lord and convinces him to abandon his hatred and willingly accept his death. Sion might have also died willingly as to end his pain.
===Darth Nihilus===
Darth Nihilus (also known as the Lord of Hunger) is one of the three Sith Lords of the Sith Triumvirate. His past life is almost completely shrouded in mystery, apart from the fact that he was a former Jedi who fought under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. During the catastrophic end of the Battle of Malachor V, the man who became Nihilus miraculously survived Meetra Surik's activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, though the experience left him scarred. The strain of sensing 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 caused his physical form to degenerate until he had to encase his spirit inside his mask and armor in order to stay alive. He was eventually found by Darth Traya, who trained him and Darth Sion as her apprentices. The Sith Triumvirate then led a five-year long galactic extermination of the Jedi. Nihilus later aided Sion in overthrowing Traya, and then detached himself from Sion, causing major destruction and taking on an apprentice of his own, Visas Marr. Nihilus is later lured to Telos IV by Kreia, the former Darth Traya, under the pretense that there are Jedi on the planet for him to consume. He is drawn into a confrontation with Meetra Surik and a redeemed Marr, who fight him on board the Ravager and eventually slay him.
===Kreia===
Kreia is a mysterious old woman whom Meetra Surik meets in the Peragus Mining Facility after eluding Darth Sion and his Sith assassins. A powerful Force sensitive, Kreia serves as Surik's mentor through her journey to restore order to the Republic, helping her reestablish her connection to the Force. While her motives are initially shrouded in mystery, Surik gradually learns of Kreia's origins as Revan's original master. She was blamed for Revan's fall after the Mandalorian Wars and banished from the Jedi Order as punishment. Turning to the dark side, Kreia became Darth Traya, took control of the remnants of Darth Revan's Sith Empire, and formed the Sith Triumvirate. Before she could take revenge against the Jedi, Kreia was betrayed by her two apprentices, Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, who cut off her connection to the Force. Kreia then takes Surik as her new apprentice, seeing her potential as a wound in the Force to remove the influence of the will of the Force from sentients, allowing individuals to let go of their instinctual dependency on the higher power and be themselves. Her plan succeeds when she is killed by Meetra Surik in the Trayus Core on Malachor V—the Jedi Exile has let her bond to Kreia die, and is freed from the tragedy of Malachor V that echoed throughout her journey thereafter.
===Atton Rand===
Atton Rand is a former Republic soldier who served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. After the wars, he became a smuggler. At one point in time, he was captured and imprisoned in the Peragus Mining Facility until Meetra Surik frees him. After escaping from Peragus on the Ebon Hawk, Rand travels around the galaxy with Surik as the ship's pilot. Along the journey, Surik learns more about Rand's past and his aversion to the Jedi; he has past experience in killing Jedi. She also discovers that Rand is Force-sensitive and decides to train him to be a Jedi Sentinel.
===Bao-Dur===
Bao-Dur is a Zabrak mechanical expert from Iridonia. He served under Meetra Surik during the Mandalorian Wars and was responsible for creating the Mass Shadow Generator during the Battle of Malachor V. He carries with him the guilt and shame of being ultimately responsible for so many deaths—both on the surface and in the orbiting fleets—when the device was activated to end the battle.
After the war was over, Bao-Dur wanted to use his skills to help people as a means of redeeming himself, so he participated in the Republic-sponsored Restoration Project on Telos IV. He meets Surik again when she crash-lands en route to a Restoration Zone, and decides to follow her around the galaxy. During their travels, Surik discovers that Bao-Dur is Force-sensitive, so she trains him to be a Jedi Guardian.
Bao-Dur has replaced his left arm with an energy-arm that allows him to break through force shields and deal more damage. He is also accompanied by a small, spherical remote droid which helps him with repairs.
===Mical (Disciple)===
Mical (also known as Disciple) is a Force-sensitive Human who was briefly trained in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine as a Jedi youngling. By the time he was ready for further training, the Jedi Order had fallen apart due to the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War, so his training was discontinued. He sought to preserve the Jedi's legacy by becoming a historian and soldier in the service of the Republic. He also picked up some medical skills.
While exploring the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Mical encounters Meetra Surik, who is searching for the surviving Jedi Masters. She welcomes him to join her when he offers to use his knowledge and skills to help her. Although Mical is initially reluctant to reveal his past, he eventually tells her about his Jedi training and how he met her before in his childhood. He accepts her offer to train him again and becomes a Jedi Consular.
===Visas Marr===
Visas Marr is a Miraluka, a race of Force-sensitives who can "see" through the Force, but are otherwise effectively blind. During the Dark Wars, the Jedi Order tried to hold a meeting on Katarr (Marr's homeworld), hoping that their presence would be masked by the Miralukas' strong Force sensitivity. However, the meeting was disrupted when Darth Nihilus showed up and used his Force drain to destroy all life on Katarr. Marr, the sole survivor, was taken prisoner by Nihilus, who forced her to become his apprentice.
As Meetra Surik rebuilds her connection to the Force, Nihilus senses her growing presence and sends Marr to hunt down and kill her. Marr ambushes Surik on the Ebon Hawk but Surik defeats her and spares her. Impressed by Surik's skill and her perceived destiny, Marr abandons the dark side and pledges allegiance to Surik.
===Mira===
Mira is a Human female raised and trained by the Mandalorians, who destroyed her home and enslaved her during the Mandalorian Wars. She lost her adopted family when the Mass Shadow Generator was activated during the Battle of Malachor V. After the battle, she ended up on Nar Shaddaa, where she became a bounty hunter. During this time, she got into a conflict with the Wookiee bounty hunter Hanharr, who relentlessly tries to hunt down and kill her.
After Meetra Surik arrives on Nar Shaddaa, Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell secretly engages Mira to protect Surik from the other bounty hunters, who are seeking to collect Goto's bounty on Jedi. When Visquis, the local Exchange boss, tries to lure Surik into a trap, Mira knocks out Surik and goes in place of her. However, she gets captured by Visquis, who forces her to fight Hanharr in the arena. She defeats Hanharr and leaves him apparently dead before escaping. She then joins Surik's companions in rescuing Surik from G0-T0's yacht and accompanies Surik on her quest after that. Surik discovers Mira's Force sensitivity later and trains her to be a Jedi Sentinel.
===G0-T0 (Goto)===
G0-T0 is a planning droid created by the Aratech Repulsor Company to assist in rebuilding the Republic after the Jedi Civil War. After some time, the droid found itself unable to follow both of its directives—rebuild the Republic and follow all Republic laws—at the same time, so it chose to follow only the former. It set up a smuggling ring on Nar Shaddaa and pretended to be a proxy for a man called Goto, who does not exist in reality and appears only in holograms.
G0-T0 placed a bounty on live Jedi with the intention of getting them to help rebuild and stabilize the Republic. However, the bounty hunters misinterpreted G0-T0's intentions and simply killed Jedi. G0-T0 also reactivated a hidden HK Manufacturing Plant on Telos IV which started producing HK-50 series assassin droids to hunt and kill Jedi.
When Meetra Surik comes to Nar Shaddaa, she is captured and taken on board G0-T0's yacht, where the droid reveals its plans for the Republic and asks for her help. After Surik escapes, G0-T0 presents itself on the Ebon Hawk as "Goto's gift" and insists on accompanying Surik and watching her stabilize Telos, Dantooine, and Onderon. Surik later deduces that "Goto" is in fact a droid pretending to be a person.
===T3-M4===
T3-M4 is a utility droid which accompanied Revan on his search for the Star Forge. After the Battle of Rakata Prime, Revan left for the Unknown Regions and gave T3-M4 special instructions to seek any Jedi for help if they lost contact with each other.
Five years later, T3-M4 finds an injured Meetra Surik on board the heavily damaged Ebon Hawk. It manages to repair and navigate the ship to the nearby Peragus Mining Facility. After Surik awakens in the medical bay, T3-M4 helps her gain access to the fuel depot before it is attacked and disabled by a HK-50 assassin droid. Surik saves T3-M4 and they escape from Peragus together just before the system is destroyed. Since then, T3-M4 has remained in Surik's team and followed her on her journey across the galaxy.
===HK-47===
HK-47 is an assassin droid created by Revan after the Battle of Malachor V to assassinate his rivals. The droid was damaged and captured on a mission shortly before Revan was captured and rehabilitated by the Jedi Order. HK-47 reunited with its master on Tatooine later and accompanied him on his search for the Star Forge.
Some time after Revan left for the Unknown Regions, HK-47 was damaged and left on board the Ebon Hawk, which eventually comes into the possession of Meetra Surik and her companions. Surik repairs HK-47, who recognizes her as its new master and follows her around the galaxy.
===Canderous Ordo (Mandalore)===
Canderous Ordo (also known as Mandalore) is a Mandalorian who fought in the Mandalorian Wars against the Republic. He joined a redeemed Revan on his quest for the Star Forge and fought at the Battle of Rakata Prime against Darth Malak.
After the Jedi Civil War ended, Ordo claimed the position of Mandalore (leader of the Mandalorians) with Revan's help. He built his base on the forest moon of Dxun and started working on reuniting the scattered Mandalorian clans and rebuilding Mandalorian power.
When Meetra Surik is forced to land on Dxun en route to Onderon, she comes across the Mandalorian base and meets Mandalore. Mandalore promises to help her secure passage to Iziz if she can prove herself worthy. Surik manages to impress the Mandalorians through her achievements on Dxun and earns their respect. In return, Mandalore keeps his word and accompanies her to Iziz to find Jedi Master Kavar. After that, he decides to join Surik on her quest to reunite the surviving Jedi and defeat the Sith.
===Brianna (Handmaiden)===
Brianna (also known as Handmaiden) is a Human-Echani female who served as a handmaiden to Jedi Master Atris at the secret Jedi academy on Telos IV. She has five Echani half-sisters, who also serve as Atris's handmaidens.
When Meetra Surik arrives at Citadel Station, Atris sends Handmaiden to steal the Ebon Hawk and lure Surik to the academy. Surik shows up and convinces Atris to join the fight against the Sith and find the other surviving Jedi Masters. Before Surik leaves, Handmaiden speaks to her and expresses her interest in the ways of the Jedi.
If the player sets Surik as a male character, Handmaiden will sneak on board the Ebon Hawk and accompany him on his quest. After gaining sufficient influence with Handmaiden, the player can train her to be a Jedi Guardian.
===Hanharr===
Hanharr is a Wookiee male from Kashyyyk. A ruthless hunter and brutal sociopath, he slaughtered his entire village in cold blood, believing that this would prevent them from being enslaved by the Czerka Corporation. He eventually ended up on Nar Shaddaa and became a bounty hunter. He also got into a conflict with Mira.
When Meetra Surik arrives in Nar Shaddaa and is about to walk into a trap set by Visquis, the local Exchange boss, Mira knocks out Surik and goes in place of her. Visquis captures Mira and forces her to fight Hanharr in the arena. She defeats Hanharr and leaves him apparently dead. Hanharr is secretly revived by Kreia, who manipulates him to do her bidding. He appears for the last time on Malachor V, where he fights Mira again and dies by her hand (although she can choose to spare him).
If the player sets Surik as a dark side character, Hanharr will kill Mira and join Surik's party.
===Atris===
Atris is a Jedi Master who served as a member of the Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. She was deeply committed to the Jedi Code and felt betrayed when Meetra Surik defied the Council and followed Revan to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. When Surik returned after the Battle of Malachor V to face the Council's judgment, Atris was the first to condemn her and call for her to be banished.
During the Dark Wars, Atris called the Jedi to attend a secret meeting on Katarr. She then leaked out information about the meeting and hoped that doing so would lure the Sith out of the shadows. However, her plan backfired when Darth Nihilus showed up and used his Force drain to destroy all life on Katarr—leaving only Visas Marr alive.
Atris retreated into seclusion on Telos IV, where she established a secret Jedi academy in the polar regions and recruited the Handmaiden Sisters to be her bodyguards. Gradually and unknowingly, she fell to the dark side as she immersed herself in studying the Sith holocrons she had collected in order to better understand the ways of the Sith, betraying herself and effectively becoming a Darth Traya.
When Surik arrives at Citadel Station, Atris sends Handmaiden to steal the Ebon Hawk and lure Surik to the academy. She blames Surik for the destruction of Peragus, but later reluctantly accepts Surik's offer to help her defeat the Sith. She instructs Surik to find the other surviving Jedi Masters and reunite them in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.
==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 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.
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."
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:
*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.
These features were also passed onto the PC Windows version. Url accessed on July 25 2015
==Continuity==
Although the game did allow the game character be named freely, The Old Republic: Revan—Drew Karpyshyn novel released November 2011—did reveal her canonical name to be Meetra Surik, and appearance that didn't match any of the available female appearances on the game.The Old Republic: Revan
===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.
==Legacy==
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, founded in 2004 to promise restored content and save the cut M4-78 Droid planet. 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.
Between 2009 and 2014, a full-scale mod known as The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod saw several releases that restored most of the cut content.
==Credits==
===Voice cast===
===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.
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Legends computer games
Category:Legends console video games
Category:LucasArts games
Category:Role-playing video games