Darth Nihilus

> "He is a wound in the Force, more presence than flesh, and in his wake life dies… sacrificing itself to his hunger."
> ― Visas Marr
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**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 spatial 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 painfully ravaged his body while rendering him a Wound in the Force. He was found by a seeker of these, 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 I, where he, over time, became one of three concurrent Dark Lords of the Sith.

Together, they formed a triumvirate with Traya at its head and her other apprentice, Darth Sion, as the third member. The trio chose individual titles for themselves, Darth Nihilus becoming the **Lord of Hunger**. The apprentices grew in strength throughout their training and eventually overpowered their Master, with Sion defeating Traya while Nihilus sapped her energy. The two Sith then combined power to sever her connection to the Force and sent her into exile. Nihilus' 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. He and Sion 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 back to the light side of the Force in the process. Although Nihilus returned to lurking the fringes of known space, he was eventually tricked by Traya into initiating the Battle of Telos IV in an attempt to absorb a Jedi Academy that lacked any Force-sensitives aside from the headmistress. Nihilus met a large Republic and Mandalorian fleet at Telos that distracted him. Meanwhile, 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 Sith holocron of his own creation.

## **Personality and traits**

> "He cares nothing for the Sith or its teachings… 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
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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 once a human male with black hair coiled finely into strips that he tied together behind his head. 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 upon which he could prey. 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.

## **Powers and abilities**

> "The extent of his power cannot be put into words… and his perceptions have grown as well. To him…"
> "You are dust motes in a storm… a grain upon the beach… and as insignificant as a body that orbits the graveyard of Malachor."
> ― Visas Marr and Tobin, regarding Nihilus
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As a Sith Lord, Darth Nihilus 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 who was touched by the Force. Nihilus's prolonged use of this power made him a threat to all life, as his craving grew more intense with each feeding. Eventually, Nihilus' hunger controlled him, not the other way around, and the Sith Lord would instinctively feed upon those around him, slowly killing them. Nihilus' very speech caused pain and death to all who heard it, and those who served him became utter slaves in time.

Darth Nihilus was adept in many aspects of the Force. He used his dark variant of the Sever Force ability to betray Darth Traya alongside Darth Sion by stripping her of the Force and casting her out of the Sith Order. Through the Force, Darth Nihilus was able to escape death by containing his consciousness in his mask and armor. He was also proficient in a multitude of Force abilities such as Dark rage, Farsight, Force lightning, Force resistance, Force scream, Force plague and Force whirlwind, among others. His knowledge also extended to Sith alchemy, and he was capable of converting energy he had drained from others into a deadly variant of Force fire. Nihilus could increase the strength of Force powers he used greatly, if he wished, and he was capable of reaching through the Force at a range as far as a star system.

Despite his terrifyingly immense power in Force drain, Nihilus's skill during combat was much more moderate, which proved to be a deadly weakness to him when facing Meetra Surik. Like him, Surik was also a Wound in the Force, which rendered him incapable of siphoning her Force energy and resulted in him growing weaker and more vulnerable, at which Surik and her companions were able to vanquish him.

## **Appearances**

* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 88: Shroud of Darkness Pt 1" (first mentioned)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 93: The Mystery of Chopper Base" (mentioned only)
* *Sun and Moon* — "The Prophet" (indirect mention only)