"My life spans millennia. Legions have risen to test me… My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium—it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars. Your striving is insignificant. Let your death be the same."
―The Sith Emperor[src]

Tenebrae—known to the Old Sith Empire as Vitiate, his reconstituted Sith Empire as the Sith Emperor, and his Eternal Empire as Valkorion—was an ancient dark side entity of enormous power who manipulated galactic affairs for 1,500 years.

Born in 5113 BBY as the illegitimate Sith son of Lord Dramath, Tenebrae carved a path of destruction across the planet Medriaas, torturing and massacring thousands by the age of ten. When Dramath confronted him, Tenebrae severed his father's power and imprisoned his spirit for millennia of torment. Eventually, the Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos recognized Tenebrae's power and christened him as Lord Vitiate—the new ruler of Medriaas. Vitiate renamed the world Nathema and ruled it for the next century, distancing himself from Sith power struggles. Following Naga Sadow's defeat in the Great Hyperspace War, Vitiate lured the remaining Sith Lords to Nathema and, in an elaborate ritual, drained their life essence and that of the entire planet, increasing his powers and prolonging his life.

Shedding his identity as Lord Vitiate, the self-proclaimed Sith Emperor led the scattered Sith survivors to Dromund Kaas and established a new Sith Empire. As the Empire secretly expanded over the next thousand years, the Emperor discovered the lost world of Zakuul and the Eternal Fleet—an ancient armada with unmatched technology. Dissatisfied with Sith ideology, the Emperor divided his consciousness into a Zakuulan warrior named Valkorion and created a vast civilization known as the Eternal Empire. The Emperor desired absolute immortality to experience and expand his new creation across galaxies, so he plotted to initiate a war between his Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. The deaths caused by the conflict would fuel a new ritual that would allow him to consume almost everything in the galaxy and become an all-powerful god.

As the Emperor's plans neared completion, he orchestrated the Mandalorian Wars as a preliminary invasion of the Republic, but two powerful Jedi KnightsRevan and Malak—defeated the Mandalorians and tracked down his Sith Empire. The Emperor dominated their minds, but the pair soon broke free from his control and betrayed him—and each other—in the resultant Jedi Civil War that nearly destroyed the Jedi Order. A redeemed Revan waged a mental war against the Emperor, delaying his Great Galactic War by three centuries. The Sith Empire still nearly conquered the Republic, but Revan further influenced Vitiate—further distracted by the births of his three children to the Zakuul Knight Senya Tirall—to sue for peace instead, prompting a decade-long Treaty of Coruscant.

As hostilities resumed, Dark Councillor Darth Baras lured the Emperor to the planet Voss, trapping him in the domain of the dark side entity Sel-Makor until he was rescued by the Emperor's Wrath. Freed, the Emperor attempted to initiate his galaxy-wide ritual, but a powerful Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython thwarted his efforts and destroyed his host body in battle on Dromund Kaas. His wounded spirit went into slumber on Yavin IV until a returned and crazed Revan attempted to resurrect the weakened Emperor to a physical form to permanently destroy him. Although Revan's plans were foiled, the Emperor's spirit fed off the battle and reawakened, then struck against his former Sith Empire and consumed the planet of Ziost to return to full power.

Reassuming the visage of Valkorion, he revealed the Eternal Empire to the galaxy as his twin sons—Arcann and Thexaninvaded the known galaxy and captured a famous champion later known as the Outlander. Judging the Outlander alone to be a worthy adversary, Valkorion orchestrated his death at the hands of Arcann and embedded his consciousness within the Outlander's mind. Valkorion counseled and shaped the Outlander into a vessel of supreme power as the champion defeated Arcann, then his daughter Vaylin, and disabled the Eternal Fleet. However, Valkorion revealed that he had allowed his children to conquer the galaxy so that, once overthrown by the Outlander, he would take over the champion's body and rule as a heroic liberator. In a final clash of wills, the Outlander, aided by Valkorion's own family, banished the ancient entity into oblivion.


Early life and reign

Childhood on Medriaas

"Have you ever heard tales of the Emperor's childhood?"
"I don't even know what planet he's from."
―Darth Nyriss and Lord Scourge[src]
Sith Quad-Sun





Sith Lord of Nathema

―Darth Nyriss[src]




Broadcasting speeches across the Empire[1] in 4999 BBY[2] describing how the Jedi Order would destroy the Empire and massacre its people once they discovered the rest of the Sith, Vitiate stoked the Empire's fears and carefully drove the people into a panic[1]—a sensation that only increased when the Republic invaded the Empire and destroy any Sith sacred sites[12] and artifacts[13] it could find[14] on the orders of Supreme Chancellor Pultimo.[15][16] Assuming a leadership role, Vitiate called all remaining Sith Lords to Nathema in order to aid him in performing a ritual, promising them that it would unleash the full power of the dark side beyond anything they could possibly imagine. At the same time, Vitiate's historians and scientists searched for the location of Dromund Kaas, one of the Empire's original colonies.[1]


Hidden empire

Rebuilding an empire

―Lord Scourge[src]
Dromund Kaas rally


Blaming the destruction of Nathema on the Jedi,[1] the self-declared Emperor[17] drove the people of the Empire further into a panic while simultaneously offering them hope. Traveling to Korriban, he promised to lead his people to salvation and safety from the Jedi, and he soon led a great exodus from the Sith Worlds into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Despite knowing the location of Dromund Kaas, the Emperor led his people in a series of blind hyperspace jumps,[1] causing the exodus to last for twenty years[18] while the Sith people became more and more dependent on his guidance.[1] Finally, in 4980 BBY,[18] a scout vessel under orders of the Emperor located Dromund Kaas. When the vessel returned to the Sith fleet,[19] the Emperor led his people to the long-lost world, and upon reaching the surface he addressed the Sith.[20] Amidst the wild jungles of Dromund Kaas, he declared a new Empire that would rise from the ashes of the old,[21] and offered both the Sith people and their non-Sith servants the chance to build an orderly and powerful society: an Empire that would one day return and gain their revenge upon the Republic.[20]


The Emperor spent that time studying even further into the mysteries of the Force, unlocking powerful secrets of the dark side.[22] In the early years after the arrival on Dromund Kaas,[23] the Emperor ordered the expansion of the edifice known as the Dark Temple on the outskirts of Kaas City.[22] An ancient structure that contained the tombs of pre–Hyperspace War Sith Lords such as Aloysius Kallig,[24] the Temple was originally intended as a burial place for the Emperor's enemies, but the Emperor performed powerful dark side rituals to steal the knowledge and life essences of his enemies in the structure's depths and transformed the area into a nexus of dark Force energy.[22] Those rituals soon also affected Dromund Kaas's atmosphere, causing the skies to be filled with perpetual rain storms and lightning.[20] One of the Sithspawn created during the rituals escaped deep underground, becoming known as Akure, the Ghost in the Darkness.[25] The Emperor also maintained chambers within the Sith Sanctum, the headquarters of the Sith Order in the Imperial Citadel, though only the Dark Council and the Emperor's personal guard were allowed into the lower levels of the Sanctum.[26]

Emperor Kaas holo


The Imperial Guard, as those elite warriors who served the Emperor were called, were a group of non–Force-sensitives who served the Emperor with fanatic loyalty and unmatched combat prowess.[27] Trained in academies on dark side worlds,[28] each member of the Guard was brought before the Emperor himself and bound to his will, making their loyalty absolute. Moreover, the Guard answered only to the Emperor—the Dark Council had no control over the group's activities, despite the Guard's roles as protectors of the Sith Sanctum. Once the Empire reclaimed the Sith Academy on Korriban over a thousand years later, the Guard also took on the role of guardians for the Academy.[27] Sometime during his reign, the Emperor also ordered the construction of a personal space station in orbit of Dromund Kaas, which he used as a temple fortress for meditation and experimenting with the dark side.[29]



The Emperor delivers his orders to the Dark Council via hologram.



Testing the Republic

"Who used you?"
"The Sith."
Mandalore the Ultimate with flamesgold

Mandalore the Ultimate, the Emperor's unknowing pawn




Revan Malak Sith Emperor

Revan and Malak confront the Emperor.




―Revan explains how he manipulated the Emperor[src]
Sith Emperor






Revan attacks the Emperor.




Return to the known galaxy

Final preparations and a new empire

―Lord Scourge[src]

The Emperor's Voice during the early Great Galactic War


Around this time, the Emperor decided that he was tired of the galaxy as it existed, and of the limits that Sith teachings and his empire placed upon him. Resolving to free himself of such restraints,[41] Vitiate heard rumors of an ancient and unstoppable fleet of warships operated by sentient droids that had nearly wiped out all of Wild Space.[42] A powerful ship known as the Gravestone purportedly stopped the entire "Eternal Fleet" at a backwater planet called Zakuul,[43] and so Vitiate chose Zakuul as the world upon which he would build a new empire—a truly Eternal Empire.[42] Vitiate took on a Human male body as a new Voice that went by the name "Valkorion," though he split his mind and energy between the Valkorion body and the numerous Voices that oversaw the Sith Empire's march to war.[44] Zakuul's native Humans were a superstitious and nihilistic people who worshipped the ruthless Old Gods, and so "Valkorion" claimed to be the Demon Savior of Zakuulan prophecy—an immortal god of gods who would topple Izax the Ultimate Devourer and the rest of the Old Gods, and thus usher in a new age.[45]

Uniting the nomadic tribes of Zakuul, Valkorion declared himself the Immortal Emperor of a new Eternal Empire,[46] and established a city amid the swamps as he accelerated the Zakuulans' technological advancement. However, the city was not grand enough for Valkorion, and his rapidly-growing civilization became based in the Spire, a golden metropolis that sprawled outwards from atop the Old World, as the first city became known.[47] He repurposed the three tribal leadership roles—Matriarch, Champion, and High Shaman—into the Knights of Zakuul, an order of Force-users that were considered protectors of the people and were fanatical in their devotion to their Immortal Emperor.[46] A subgroup of the Knights, the Scions of Zakuul, specialized in seeing the future and were obsessed with the idea of fate.[48] Valkorion used this to his advantage, using the Scions' Force visions to find the location of the dormant fleet.[42] To control the fleet, he gathered Zakuul's greatest minds and set them to work building the Eternal Throne: a throne in the starscraper that topped the Spire whose technology gave the Immortal Emperor control over[49] the GEMINI units that operated the fleet.[42] The throne took generations to complete, finishing around two centuries after the Jedi Civil War,[49] but for some reason Valkorion kept the Eternal Fleet within the Unknown Regions for the centuries that followed.[50]


With Naga Sadow's spirit vanquished, the Emperor took Yavin 4 for his own, and established the Imperial Guard Academy[28] there to guard the Temple of Sacrifice, an ancient Sith edifice that held a powerful Sith artifact. With the accompanying ritual, the artifact would allow the Emperor to absorb all life on the moon, and thus it was kept as a failsafe plan in case the Voice was slain.[53] One of the Imperial Guardsmen who underwent training at Yavin 4 was the hardened slave Iven, whose unchecked, murderous rage allowed him to resist the Emperor's indoctrination process longer than any other Guardsman—but his resistance caused his mind to snap. Now permanently in the Emperor's thrall, the insane Iven became the most ruthless and devoted of the Emperor's Guard.[54]

Around the turn of the thirteenth century of his rule, the Emperor became the Sith Master of Exal Kressh, a hybrid Human–Sith descendant of Ludo Kressh.[11] He also began to experiment with learning and combining different Force techniques[55] in an effort to extend his reach and sight beyond the capabilities of his Hand alone.[2] During her apprenticeship, Kressh was sent to a monastery on Ambria, where the Emperor experimented on her and prepared to make her a vessel for his mind.[55] He also spent decades installing infiltrators in positions of power throughout the galaxy.[56] Throughout all of this, Vitiate secretly maintained two Voices: the Human Valkorion body in the Unknown Regions, and the various bodies that served as the Voice in the Sith Empire.[6]

A renewed war

―Jedi Master Gnost-Dural[src]
Exel Kressh

Exal Kressh, the Emperor's apprentice

Finally, in 3681 BBY, the Emperor himself announced that the Sith Empire would return to the known galaxy and launch their assault on the Republic.[2] His meticulously calculated plans, in collaboration with the Imperial Military, resulted in a series of victories against the Republic in the Outer Rim Territories, including the successful capture of the Aparo sector[57] following his activation of his agents in the governments of Ruuria, Sernpidal, and Belkadan.[56] As the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy conquered planets such as Sluis Van, Imperial troops massacred anyone who would not swear loyalty to their new Emperor, and troopers of the Republic Military were simply killed on sight.[58]




Emperor&#039;s machines


At the orders of the Emperor, Force-sensitive children of many species[61] were taken from their families and entered into a special group at the Sith Academy.[62] Those children came from many different places and backgrounds: Syo Bakarn was a member of a noble house on Corellia,[63] Augin Blaesus was from the Core World of Erigorm,[64] and Kira Carsen was born on Dromund Kaas itself.[62] At different points during their training, each of the children spent weeks undergoing various rituals and processes in the depths of the Academy,[59] culminating in an audience with the Emperor himself where they were infused with the Emperor's strength and bound to his mind and will. Bakarn became the Emperor's First Son, shielding the other Children from detection while also serving on the Jedi High Council, and the Children were sent out into the galaxy as the ultimate undercover agents.[65]

Unless the Emperor willed it, his Children knew nothing of their connection to the Sith or even their Force-sensitivity, and they became high-ranking individuals with influence across the galaxy. Some were planetary representatives,[64] others members of the Republic Military,[66] and some even became members of the Jedi Order itself.[65] Kira Carsen managed to escape Imperial space before the process could be completed when the ten-year-old realized what the Emperor was doing to her, though she would eventually draw the Emperor's attention during her time as a member of the Jedi Order.[62]

As the war continued, the Empire scored victory after victory against an unprepared Republic, claiming worlds such as Utapau and Agamar in their second main offensive.[67] The Imperial capture of the Seswenna sector in 3671 BBY was countered when the Republic won a resounding victory at the First Battle of Bothawui, and the heroic last stand of Jedi Master Belth Allusis and his men at the second battle inspired the Republic to fight back against the seemingly unstoppable Imperial advance.[68] Only a few years later, a Republic strike team led by Jedi Knight Jaric Kaedan captured the Dread Masters, depriving him of his advisors' powerful fear-inducing battle meditation abilities.[58] A further blow to the Imperial war effort came when a much smaller Republic force defeated the Imperial invasion forces at the Battle of Alderaan in 3667 BBY, but the Republic's resurgence was broken with the disastrous naval conflict known as the Battle of Hoth in 3665 BBY.[58]


Sith Emperor plotting


As the war neared the end of its third decade, Revan's influence on the Emperor[38] resulted in something that many Sith found surprising: plans for peace.[70] Both the Emperor and the Dark Council were desperate for an end to the brutal war, which as it dragged on was forcing the Empire to strip entire worlds of their resources and peoples to fuel the Imperial war machine.[71] Around the same time, Tirall gave birth to a daughter she named Vaylin, but the child inherited her father's immense power—she made furniture move while still in the womb, and tore apart droids as a toddler. Tirall was horrified when her daughter crippled a guard after dropping a ball she had tossed, and went to Valkorion for help.[47] Though distracted, Valkorion had been paying some attention to his children, and the similarities between himself and his favorite child both pleased and frightened the Sith entity.[72]



Cold War

Voss Mystic


The signing of the treaty began a period that soon came to be called the Cold War, where both the Empire and the Republic rebuilt their strength and engaged in various minor proxy engagements to test their enemy's readiness. The Emperor retained an iron grip on the hearts and minds of his people despite his seemingly apathetic role in governing them, and the Dark Council continued their typical power plays and maneuvering as they ran the Empire.[75] Several years before 3641 BBY[76] a new world named Voss was discovered by the Empire, and reports delivered by Darth Baras on the Force-sensitive Voss species intrigued the Emperor.[77] The species was ruled by a group of Mystics whose prophecies were always accurate,[78] and the Emperor desired to have one of them as his Voice. As a result, an Imperial force attacked the planet while the Emperor's Hand kidnapped a Mystic from the surface. The Hand was successful in capturing the Mystic, although the Voss annihilated the attacking force. The Emperor studied his captive's abilities throughout the Cold War, utilizing the Voss's prophetic powers to see visions of the future.[77]


On the Emperor's orders, Valis lured Carsen and her Master to an abandoned mining facility and battled the pair in an attempt to recapture Carsen.[62] When Carsen and the Knight finally faced Angral aboard his flagship Oppressor, the Emperor chose that moment to take control of her. On the Emperor's orders, Angral battled the Knight to the death, and the Emperor took full control of Carsen when Angral fell to the Jedi's blade. However, with help from her Master, Carsen was able to summon a wall of light to permanently sever her connection to the Emperor.[80] The loss of Carsen angered the Emperor, but he soon became suspicious of the Knight, who became known as the Hero of Tython after the battle with Angral,[80] and grew wary of the Jedi's power[81] over the next year.[3]

A new war

The Jedi threat

Emperor&#039;s Fortress

The Emperor's ancient space station above Dromund Kaas


Lord Scourge failed, however, when he encountered the Hero of Tython and recognized the Jedi as the one he had seen in his visions three hundred years ago. Knowing of the Emperor's interest in the Hero, Scourge returned empty-handed to his master and delivered the news[81] that the Knight had joined a strike team that Tol Braga was assembling—a strike team with the purpose of capturing and redeeming the Emperor.[83] The Emperor sent a detachment of the Imperial Guard, under the command of Guardsman Lassicar,[84] to follow the Jedi to the planet Hoth, and Lassicar soon reported that the strike team intended to infiltrate the Emperor's space station.[83] On Balmorra, the Hero and Jedi Master Warren Sedoru had already recovered the prototype of the cloaking device shielding the fortress,[85] and Lassicar's men failed in their attempts to capture the Hero and prevent the acquisition of the fortress' schematics on Hoth.[86] The Emperor also activated one of his Children, Augin Blaesus, in an attempt to kill the royal family of Sarkhai—an action that would have severely damaged the Republic's relationship with the Rift Alliance splinter government and harmed the Republic's war effort—but Blaesus' efforts were foiled by the Jedi Master known as the Barsen'thor.[64]


Emperor chair

The Emperor easily overpowered Master Braga's strike team.



Voices and pawns

Voice of the Emperor Voss



The Emperor's last instruction was for the Hand to recruit the apprentice of Darth Baras as his new Wrath. Baras' apprentice had been betrayed by the Sith Lord on the planet Quesh,[92] and the Hand sent the new Wrath to eliminate Baras' sister Darth Ekkage before she could escape her prison on Belsavis.[93] In a moment of strength, the Emperor was able to send a message to the Hand that explained his predicament.[77] As a result, the Emperor's Wrath was able to locate him in the Dark Heart, and after driving Sel-Makor from the Emperor's host, the Wrath fulfilled the Emperor's request and killed the Voice.[91] That allowed the essence of the Emperor to return to his Hand, who aided their master in inhabiting the body of a Human male.[94] Sometime after the Wrath's appointment, the Emperor had his servants construct droids known as the Opticrons—arcane fusions of ancient and modern technology that were hidden from sight—in order to keep track of his Wrath's every move in order to prevent another betrayal like that of Scourge.[95]

One of the Emperor's first actions after being freed was to send the Sith Lord Fulminiss, a renowned Sith sorcerer who excelled at mass extinction through Sith magic, to Voss so that he could start the ritual.[96] On the Emperor's orders, the fallen Narezz set a trap for the Hero of Tython using her lover Jomar Chul on the Korriban's Flame space station, but the Hero was able to defeat the Nautolan Jedi and break the Emperor's control over her.[97] Through the eyes of another Child named Sophia Farash, the Emperor learned that the Barsen'thor was securing the aid of the Voss species, but Farash's attempt to kill the Jedi Master ended with the Child's death.[98]

The Hero also succeeded in halting Fulminiss' plans on Voss, preventing the Sith from using Sel-Makor to unleash a plague of madness across the planet,[99] and defeated Warren Sedoru after the fallen Jedi Master captured the Republic flagship Valiant.[100] Unconcerned with the recent losses, the Emperor dispatched Tol Braga to the embattled world of Corellia, where the Kel Dor Dark Jedi began to aid the Imperial military in the Battle of Corellia. However, Braga's true assignment was to cause massive civilian casualties in order to start the Emperor's ritual, and the Jedi Order soon marshaled all available Jedi and placed them under the Hero's command on Corellia to combat Braga's plans.[101] Upon learning from his First Son that the Jedi had entrusted the Guardian Holds, several vital fortresses on Corellia, to his unknowing Children, the Emperor also activated those Children in order to take control of the Holds and damage the Republic's war efforts on Corellia.[102]

Emperor on his throne



Final confrontation

―The Emperor's last words to the Hero[src]
Emperor lightning saber

One of the Emperor's duplicates charges the Hero.






A restless sleep

Emperor&#039;s death throes


The Emperor's essence returned to the care of the Hand and entered a deep slumber[106] on Yavin 4[51] in order to recuperate, as the battle with the Hero had grievously wounded his spirit.[106] Yet the rest of the Empire believed that their leader had fallen. Darth Malgus took advantage of his absence to steal the Emperor's space station and declare his own New Empire, though the false Emperor would be defeated in battle with both Republic and Imperial forces on Ilum.[107] Hidden among the dark side energies of Yavin 4,[108] Vitiate slowly recovered from the injuries his essence had sustained during the battle with the Hero of Tython.


Without the Emperor's commands directing their actions, the Dread Masters[110]—who had recently been freed from their prison on Belsavis[111] after twenty-seven years of confinement[58]—decided to become independent, as they considered the Emperor as the only one worthy of their loyalty. Manipulating the Trandoshan warlord Kephess on Denova as well as other events across the galaxy, the six turned against both the Empire and the Republic to become a third power in the new war.[110] During that time, the Emperor's Hand was instructed to appoint Darth Acina as the successor to Darth Karrid, the head of the Sphere of Technology, and Acina was ordered by the Hand to oversee the Arcanum—the Emperor's storehouse of powerful Sith artifacts.[112]

Awakened once more

―The Emperor returns[src]

Not long after the Dread Masters' defeat at the hands of the Empire and the Republic, a new power arose in the ongoing war—the Order of Revan, a fanatical cult dedicated to the return Force-user Revan, who had returned from death after being defeated by the Empire in an earlier battle. Driven mad with hatred, Revan became determined to rid the galaxy of the Emperor,[113] and learned of both the Emperor's presence on Yavin 4 and the ritual that could restore him to a physical form.[53] After his attempts to remove the Republic and the Empire from the battlefield failed, Revan decided to proceed with his plans anyway, and his Revanite forces quickly took control of Yavin 4.[113]




The Outlander



Assassination of Valkorion

The assassination of Valkorion


Sensing his father's survival, Arcann quickly had his father's newest host body frozen in carbonite to contain him, and publicly blamed the "Outlander" for Valkorion's death.[6] Claiming the throne of the Eternal Empire, Arcann took control of the Eternal Fleet and launched a campaign that overran both the Republic and the Sith Empire.[50] Though he was locked within the Outlander's mind, Valkorion did not possess his host's body. He instead manipulated the Outlander's dreams within their shared carbonite prison, attempting to convince the Outlander that he sought only to aid his host in taking the galaxy for their own and continuing to offer to share his power.[41] The Outlander was imprisoned for five years until Lana Beniko and her allies launched a rescue mission,[122] and Valkorion watched as the Outlander and Beniko's group escaped the Spire and discovered the Gravestone—the ship that could battle the Eternal Fleet—in the Endless Swamp.[50]

Valkorion was intrigued when Senya Tirall joined the Outlander and Beniko's group, helping to raise the Gravestone so that the group could escape Zakuul,[123] and his presence within the Outlander was revealed to the Outlander's companions when the remaining Scions of Zakuul put the Outlander through a series of trials on the shadowport Asylum.[124] As the Outlander gathered allies to fight against Zakuul, Valkorion continued to offer his power and aid to his host, seemingly sincere in his claims that he wanted only to aid the Outlander; the Force entity sought to stop Arcann from destroying all that he had built.[41] After a confrontation with Arcann at the Battle of Asylum, the Outlander's team escaped the Eternal Fleet[125] and journeyed to the remote planet of Odessen, where the Outlander established an Alliance against Arcann's Eternal Empire with support from elements in the Republic and the Sith Empire.[126]



Reclaiming the Eternal Throne

―Valkorion's master plan comes to fruition[src]



Final death

"Remember me when your Alliance burns to ash!"
―Valkorion's last words[src]
The Death of the Immortal Emperor

The end of the Immortal Emperor


Reeling, Valkorion turned towards the throne only to be confronted by Senya, who declared that Valkorion had turned his back on his family for the last time and struck him with her lightsaber. Raving that "a god has no family", and that without him, they were nothing, Valkorion rose to strike at the Outlander, only to be immobilized by Senya and their children. Valkorion tried to lash out one last time, and was struck down on the spot by the Outlander. With a great burst of dark side energy, the Immortal Emperor was no more.[8][132]

The Sith Plague

Due to his obsession with immortality and the subsequent use of the Emperor's Voice, Vitiate kept his original body locked in stasis where it could not be harmed either by nature or outside interference and its location kept secret to only his most trusted servants including the first and former Emperor's Wrath: Lord Scourge.

Vitiate, at an unknown period, carved an ancient Sith ritual into his original body to act as a last resort in the event his body was harmed, which would immobilize the attacker(s) by putting them into a coma. The plague would spawn an entity that would feed on the victims by connecting their minds and merging into an even stronger entity.

However, despite the effectiveness of the plague, anybody who was previously granted a portion of Vitiate's power was rendered immune to the plague's effects due to the past power acting as a vaccine.

Lord Scourge and Kira Carsen discovered the location of Vitate's original body and they destroyed it at practically the same time the Alliance Commander destroyed Valkorion's spirit in their mind during the Battle for Zakuul. This event led to the plague being released and rendering Scourge and Kira comatose for more than a year. Satele Shan and her followers learnt of this and rescued the duo, however they unknowingly doomed themselves in the process without having any sort of vaccine similar to what Scourge and Kira possessed. The duo trapped the, now plagued, Satele Shan and her followers in a transport programmed to travel a random course throughout unsettled sectors of the Outer Rim with a few medi-droids to tend to them. Scourge and Kira later learned that the plague unleashed an entity that was connecting the minds of Satele and her followers and merging into a stronger, united hivemind.

They sought the aid of the Alliance Commander first by testing them on Mek-Sha to ensure that Valkorion was truly dead and no trace of his power remained in their mind, mainly due to the Emperor being a master deceiver. Upon the Commander passing their test, Scourge and Kira revealed their plan to the Commander: they would send a signal to the transport in order to bring it to an empty sector closer to Odessen. Upon its arrival, they would board the transport, connect their minds through the Force, and attempt to destroy the entity. If this did not work, their last resort would be destroying the transport.

The Commander agreed to this proposal and Kira stated that it would be a while before the transport came into range. Until then, Scourge and Kira offered their aid in any mission the Commander requested.


"The future is not a river to carry us. It is the ocean in which we drown, if we are not prepared."

The Emperor ruled the Empire for over 1300 years, and during that time he exerted an enormous psychological influence on his people. In the Empire, he was viewed as both a god and king—almost every citizen of the Empire was more than willing to sacrifice his or her life in the service of their Emperor. He was the source of many common phrases and utterances in Imperial culture, such as "Glory to the Emperor,"[133] "Long Live the Emperor,"[134] and "It's enough to wake the Emperor."[135] He had a similar effect on the citizens of the Eternal Empire; Valkorion was considered to be essentially a god to his people, having toppled Zakuul's original religion. Zakuulans believed Valkorion to be truly immortal, guiding the Eternal Empire to prosperity for centuries.[47]


Personality and traits

―The Hero of Tython and the Emperor[src]
Emperor Vitiate




The ritual performed on Nathema affected the Emperor beyond just his strength in the Force; the price of immortality meant that he no longer experienced any of the senses that normal people possessed. Taste, touch, smell, color, and even emotion meant nothing to him, as he lacked the capacity to experience any of them. He did not care, however, as such mortal concerns were now beneath him.[136] His servant Lord Scourge, whom he subjected to a scientific recreation of his immortality ritual,[137] came to realize during his three centuries of service that the Sith ruler had transcended his humanity and mortality even within his own mind—the Emperor sacrificed the ability to feel anything, separating himself from the rest of the universe in the most fundamental ways and convincing himself that he was like a god.[136] Later in his life, his belief that he was above all things led him to desire an escape from Sith teachings and the trappings of his Sith Empire, and so he began anew in the Unknown Regions on Zakuul.[41]

In his search for a way to completely escape death, the one thing he truly feared,[138] the Emperor delved into many arcane and lost techniques of the dark side. Developing ways to link his consciousness with those of other beings, he soon gained a significant number of servants who were fanatically loyal to and intricately linked with their master.[1] As the reach of his consciousness grew ever greater, he became capable of dividing his focus among multiple agents of his will across the galaxy[59][80] while still maintaining complete possession of his current Voice.[4] Because of that ability, those who received audiences with the Emperor often gained the correct impression that the Sith was listening to other conversations even while speaking.[4]

Force wave Emperor


The Emperor who ruled the Sith Empire was motivated by the only two emotions he could still feel:[136] hunger for power[1] and fear of losing it.[138] Revan's subconscious manipulations of the Emperor while he was imprisoned further augmented the Sith's fear of death, pushing it to the point of irrationality and fueling his desire to become truly and utterly immortal.[1] As his spirit had been rendered immortal by the ritual, his perception of time and his patience extended as well[136]—something that allowed him to carefully work for centuries toward his goals.[52][56] The hopes, desires, and concerns of living beings meant nothing to him,[137] and to him all other beings were like ants; his will was utter and absolute. If the Emperor's ritual had been completed, the Sith would have spent eternity fulfilling any desire that he had. Over the course of his life, he came to desire peace for the galaxy, but peace in the form of utter and complete emptiness.[94] When he touched Scourge with his mind, the mental contact drove the Sith Lord nearly insane despite only lasting less than a second. Scourge's perception of the Emperor's mind was one filled with indescribable horrors, with the emptiness of complete annihilation lurking beneath its surface.[1]

When the Hero of Tython began to oppose him, the Emperor professed a lack of concern for the Knight's successes against his agents,[87] but over the course of his service, Scourge had come to recognize what little emotion remained in his master, and that the emotions that the Emperor was feeling were fear and hatred.[34] Using the powers of Revan[38] and his Voss host[91] to gaze into the future, the Emperor saw the possibility[80] of his own death at the hands of that Jedi.[34] That threat terrified the immortal ruler, and he became more and more anxious to complete the dark ritual again to ensure his survival, but the Hero was ultimately able to strike down the Emperor in battle just as he had foreseen.[94] However, the Emperor's personality as Valkorion was remarkably different; while still relatively emotionless and supremely confident in his actions, Valkorion experienced a degree of fondness for Senya Tirall, and the two were happy for a time before his sons were born. Valkorion retained his near-universal indifference even with his children, expressing no affection for them other than designating Vaylin his favorite, although he repeatedly expressed contempt for the volatile behavior exhibited by her and her brother Arcann. Valkorion also showed no concern at the prospect of losing his children, displaying no reaction upon the death of Thexan and using Vaylin's death to his advantage by turning her spirit into his puppet. He even encouraged the Outlander to try and kill Arcann on multiple occasions.[47][8]


Powers and abilities

―The Sith Emperor[src]




Emperor lightning

The Emperor made extensive use of Force lightning during combat.

As Emperor, he spent much of his rule experimenting even further with the dark side, discovering many lost techniques and increasing his immense power even more.[20] While his body was harmed by the ravaging effects of the dark side, the technique of transfer essence allowed him to move his consciousness, which had been made immortal as a result of the ritual on Nathema, between bodies and sustain his life indefinitely.[4] By combining various Force techniques, the Emperor was also able to imbue portions of his consciousness into infants, transforming those Children of the Emperor into extensions of his will. He could suppress his Children's personas and even their Force-sensitivity, making them the ultimate covert operatives, and further possess them like puppets.[61] His mind-control powers at this point was strong enough to completely overwhelm the extremely strong will of both Revan and Malak.

The Emperor's rituals on Dromund Kaas warped the planet's very atmosphere, creating perpetual lightning storms,[20] and he became vastly skilled in Telekinesis and defensive techniques. He could conjure force barriers easily strong enough to block T3-M4's flamethrower and even strong lightsaber blows from his son Arcann and can conjure protection bubbles to protect himself from oncoming force assault. His telekinetic prowess and power was so great that he can effortlessly perform great telekinetic feats without using hand gestures as commonly needed, even able to send the extremely powerful Revan flying across his throne room with barely an effort and he effortlessly disintegrated T3-M4 with just a thought by blasting the astromech droid into shrapnel.[1] The Emperor was also extremely proficient in the use of Force Lightning, utilizing it in the form of cackling bolts of energy and even being proficient enough to single-handedly summon Force Storms strong enough to overwhelm Revan's Tutaminis and severely injure him. The Emperor was able to summon Sith magic, which enabled him to create physical duplicates of himself while battling the Hero of Tython. When necessary, the Emperor would utilize his red-bladed lightsaber in combat and displayed adequate proficiency with it despite being so powerful that he rarely used it.[94]

Behind the scenes

―Senior writer Hall Hood[src]
Emperor Vision


The Sith Emperor and his Empire were first mentioned, albeit indirectly, in the 2004 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords as the mysterious threat that Revan had left to confront after the end of the previous game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.[139] His first true appearance was in The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 1: Shades of the Sith, an issue in the 2010 Star Wars: The Old Republic series of comics that served as backstory for the 2011 massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic.[11] He appeared repeatedly in the Galactic Timeline series of in-universe history videos, which explained the history of the Great Galactic War as well as the history of the reconstituted Sith Empire,[21][52] and is also mentioned on several pages of the Holonet division of the game's official site.[67][140][141]

When The Old Republic was first announced in 2008, the entertainment site IGN mistakenly reported that the identity of the Sith Emperor was actually Naga Sadow,[142] though the official website was more vague on the subject.[67] Comments by Daniel Erickson, one of the lead writers for the game, led many to believe that the Emperor had in fact been Emperor during the Great Hyperspace War,[143] though this was later debunked and the Emperor's backstory explained in the 2011 novel The Old Republic: Revan. Written by Drew Karpyshyn, the book revealed the Emperor had been born Tenebrae on the planet Medriaas, and explained both Tenebrae's rise to power as Lord Vitiate and the origins of Vitiate's Empire itself.[1] The 2012 reference guide Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia gave further information on the Sith Emperor, revealing that the position of Emperor's Voice and the creation of the Children were results of Revan's attack on the Emperor. It also gave more information on the early Empire, though it also referred to him as "Darth Vitiate"—however, the Encyclopedia was also incorrect on several other details.[2] Jason Fry similarly applied the title of Darth to Naga Sadow in his 2012 guide book The Essential Guide to Warfare, though he confirmed that it was not intended.[144] The rest of the Encyclopedia refers to the Emperor only as "Lord Vitiate" in the few places it uses the name, so it is unclear if the use of the Darth title was simply an error.[2] 2012's The Essential Reader's Companion mistakenly stated that the Emperor was Human,[145] though Drew Karpysyshyn confirmed that the Emperor's original body was that of a pure Sith.[10]

The name "Tenebrae" is Latin for darkness, gloom or obscurity,[146] while his Sith title of Vitiate is also Latin: in this case, it means "having been corrupted, defiled, or voided."[147] The English word vitiate means to spoil, impair, weaken, or corrupt.[148] Daniel Wallace, author of the 2012 reference book Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, originally planned to have the Sith Emperor author a section of the book, which is represented in-universe by a group of Sith texts compiled by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. However, the lack of information on the Emperor led Wallace to decide that Darth Malgus would author that section.[149]

While he is mentioned throughout The Old Republic, the Emperor only appears in "person" in the Sith Warrior[91] and Jedi Knight class storylines,[87][94] and is voiced by Doug Bradley,[150] who played the character Pinhead in the Hellraiser movie franchise. Hall Hood, the main writer for the Jedi Knight class, brought up YouTube videos of Bradley's performance as Pinhead when the writers were discussing who they wanted to voice the Emperor, and the team decided on Bradley.[151] He appears in "Descent," the final mission of Act II for the Jedi Knight, where the Knight boards the Emperor's space station. The attempt to capture him fails, and the Emperor turns the player to the dark side in a cutscene.[87] However, the Sith Warrior mission "The Voice of Darkness" on Voss explains the role of the Emperor's Voice, and confirms that the Emperor had been utilizing a Voss Mystic as his Voice throughout the Cold War. In the mission, the player is forced to battle the Emperor's Voice—which had been possessed by Sel-Makor—before killing the Voice and freeing the Emperor's essence.[91] The Emperor can also appear in a vision to Jedi Knight players if they choose to complete the mission "The Trials" on Voss, while players of other classes will receive visions of their enemies taken from their respective finales.[152]





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At some point during his reign, the Emperor also discovered the three Phobis devices—powerful Sith artifacts that allowed their users to command fear itself. The devices' mere presence was enough to instill crippling fear in the minds of many Sith,[153] and it was not until six Sith Lords—Raptus, Bestia, Brontes, Calphayus, Styrak, and Tyrans—meditated together on the Phobis devices that the power of the artifacts was harnessed.[32] However, the Emperor acknowledged their power as a potential threat, and locked one of three Phobis devices—the Phobis Core—away in the depths of the Dark Temple as a way of limiting the six's powers.[153]



Wookieepedia has 35 images related to Vitiate.


Notes and references

  7. The events of Knights of the Eternal Throne can be placed in approximately 3631 BBY as companion conversations at the end of the story state that the carbon freezing events, established to happen in 3637 BBY, happened 6 years prior.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne—Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Darth Plagueis
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 TwitterLogo Drew Karpyshyn (@DrewKarpyshyn) on Twitter (screenshot)
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 1: Shades of the Sith
  12. Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia, p. 110
  13. Jedi Academy Training Manual, p. 69
  14. Timeline 12: The Great Hyperspace War
  15. The Essential Atlas
  16. The Essential Guide to Warfare, p. 37
  18. 18.0 18.1 Fate of the Jedi: Ascension
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "Galactic History 33: Dromund Kaas"
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Timeline 11: Rebirth of the Sith Empire
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "The Dark Temple"
  28. 28.0 28.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan—Codex Entry: "Imperial Guard Academy"
  31. SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Flashpoint: "Athiss"
  32. 32.0 32.1 32.2 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "The Dread Masters"
  35. 35.0 35.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "The Citadel"
  36. 36.0 36.1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  38. 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Flashpoint: "Maelstrom Prison"
  39. Dark Empire 5: Emperor Reborn
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan—Mission: "The Enemy Within" on Yavin 4
  41. 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 41.7 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire—Chapter II: A Dream of Empire
  42. 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire—Codex Entry: "The Eternal Fleet"
  49. 49.0 49.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire—Codex Entry: "The Eternal Throne"
  50. 50.0 50.1 50.2 50.3 50.4 50.5 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire—Chapter IV: The Gravestone
  51. 51.0 51.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan—Mission: "Confederacy" on Yavin 4
  52. 52.0 52.1 52.2 Timeline 7: Peace for the Republic?
  53. 53.0 53.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan—Mission: "The Devoted Ones" on Yavin 4
  55. 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 2: The Broken World
  56. 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
  57. Timeline 6: Onslaught of the Sith Empire
  58. 58.0 58.1 58.2 58.3 The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural
  59. 59.0 59.1 59.2 59.3 The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 3: Burn the Future
  61. 61.0 61.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "Children of the Emperor (Consular)"
  62. 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 62.4 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "The Defector" on the Abandoned Mining Facility
  64. 64.0 64.1 64.2 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Consular Mission: "To Serve the King" on Waypoint Station Three
  65. 65.0 65.1 65.2 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Consular Mission: "Chaos and Harmony" on Corellia
  67. 67.0 67.1 67.2 67.3 SWTOR icon The Sith Empire on The Old Republic Holonet (original version) (backup link)
  68. Timeline 5: The Battle of Bothawui
  69. Timeline 2: The Mandalorian Blockade is Broken
  70. 70.0 70.1 The Old Republic, Threat of Peace Act 1: Treaty of Coruscant
  71. The Old Republic—The Lost Suns 1
  72. 72.0 72.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire—Codex Entry: "Vaylin"
  73. 73.0 73.1 SWTOR mini Brothers on The Old Republic's official website (article) (backup link)
  74. Timeline 1: Treaty of Coruscant
  75. The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance
  77. 77.0 77.1 77.2 77.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Sith Warrior Mission: "Request An Audience" on Voss
  78. SWTOR icon Voss on The Old Republic Holonet (original version) (backup link)
  80. 80.0 80.1 80.2 80.3 80.4 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "Fate of the Jedi" on the Oppressor
  81. 81.0 81.1 81.2 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "The Emperor's Wrath" on Quesh
  82. The Old Republic: Annihilation
  83. 83.0 83.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "Guided By the Force" on Tatooine
  87. 87.0 87.1 87.2 87.3 87.4 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "Descent" on the Emperor's Fortress
  91. 91.0 91.1 91.2 91.3 91.4 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Sith Warrior Mission: "The Voice of Darkness" on Voss
  94. 94.00 94.01 94.02 94.03 94.04 94.05 94.06 94.07 94.08 94.09 94.10 94.11 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "Doomsday" on Dromund Kaas
  105. 105.0 105.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Jedi Knight Mission: "Mutual Assured Destruction" on Corellia
  106. 106.0 106.1 106.2 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old RepublicThe Emperor's Absence from Servant One of the Emperor's Hand
  110. 110.0 110.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Operation: "Explosive Conflict"
  113. 113.0 113.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan—Mission: "Frontal Assault" on Rishi
  117. 117.0 117.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Mission: "Dead Center" on Ziost
  118. 118.0 118.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Mission: "The End of It All" on Ziost
  119. SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "Monoliths"
  136. 136.0 136.1 136.2 136.3 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Conversation with Lord Scourge: "Eternal Emptiness"
  137. 137.0 137.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Conversation with Lord Scourge: "What Was Lost"
  138. 138.0 138.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "The Emperor's Plan (Knight)"
  139. 139.0 139.1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
  140. SWTOR icon Taral V on The Old Republic Holonet (backup link)
  141. SWTOR icon The Red Reaper on The Old Republic Holonet (original version) (backup link)
  145. The Essential Reader's Companion
  150. IMDb favicon Doug Bradley at the Internet Movie Database
  151. TwitterLogo Hall Hood (@hallhood) on Twitter (screenshot)
  153. 153.0 153.1 SWTOR mini Star Wars: The Old Republic—Codex Entry: "The Phobis Devices"
  156. Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith 6: Jedi Assault
  157. The New Essential Chronology
  159. Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force

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