Wookieepedia says that the Mass Shadow Generator caused somebody to become Darth Nihilius. Who was she/he before the Generator was activated?
No one knows, the originally intention for Kotor 2 though was that Nihilius was manifestation of the Exile born from the mass slaughter she caused at Malachor, which sadly was one of the many things cut from the game.
KOTOR 2 created holes in the timeline bigger than the Wound in The Force. There IS one last hope... "The Essential Characters" P.S. Are interviews and/or cut content canon in the EU?
Here's the relevant stuff from Avellone: Chris Avellone: I cannot speak for the story arc in the Knights of the Old Republic comic (obviously, Zayne Carrick didn’t exist at the time of the K2 storyline, but that’s not to say there isn’t a connection). Nihilus’ exact identity is never specified in K2 - I had a specific origin in mind, but not a name, if that makes sense, and what I say here is not canon: He was created when Malachor V was torn apart, and he was intended as the Exile’s other half, one that took a more self-destructive path rather than denying the Force during that battle that ended the Mandalorian Wars. As much as Nihilus embraced the Dark Side’s Force talent of consuming force sensitives (and other life, such as the mass Mandalorian slaughter), the Exile took the higher ground and cut himself off from the pull of such power. As powerful as Nihilus’ ability is in the short term, the drawback is that it robs the user of almost identity but hunger, which is why is never employed by the Sith Lords of old... who had no wish to sublimate their identities for any reason. From this interview. Still, I don't think the above implies Nihilus was literally meant to be the manifestation of a part of the Exile (though it would certainly in keeping with the Planescape:Torment feel of the game!), but rather a guy in the same situation who took the opposite path. The... Smith to her Neo, or whatever. Nothing about it was "cut", as far as I can tell. It's just the backstory Avellone had in mind.
So hard to believe... Perhaps Nihilus is a metaphor for the extremes that people will go to in order to survive?
Okay really depends how you read it, I took it as that Nihilus was some kind of force incarnation created by the Exile cutting herself off from the force. The game never tells as any of this, so it looks like it was cut or they just did not get around to adding it.
Yes, but like PG reminds us, upon unmasking he's "A man, nothing more" (irrespective of the Exile's own gender) -- and Avellone says nothing to suggests that his imagined backstory is incompatible with this revelation.
Here is Darth Nihilus unmasked: from behind: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Nihilus?file=Nihilus_Dreads.jpg
I know, still the game is just way to smart here again, with only Visas "seeing" him, and as she can’t “see” Sure the Kotor Saga Guide gave as his background as a male human with a strange force power, but I always figured the original plan by the Kotor 2 design team was something that went a little deeper, just like the interview hints at, as well as the fact that the Exile is the only thing that Nihilus can’t feed on.
Nihilus doesn't have to be anyone significant under the mask. In fact, that's partially the point. It doesn't matter who he was before. He gave that up to the Force. All we know, from the KOTOR Campaign Guide is that he's a "victim of the Mandalorian Wars" He could have been a high ranked general that Revan saw as a threat and sent to Malachor, he could be a lowly padawan. He could have been a Mandalorian who awoke to the Force and somehow survived. But in the end, he's just a shell of a man hiding behind a mask, unable to quench his insatiable hunger. The Force has reduced him to something closer to an animal. Side note, Avellone gives a bit of insight into Nihilus in his Design Akido talk in '09: "What we wanted to did was sort of give Darth Nihilus the feeling of being a very nebulous figure. And we thought that would make him a much more evil presence and reflective of the dark side of the Force than an actual, living person." There's more from there. He talks about how he wanted to make sure that Nihilus had no discernible facial features in his design. He also states that while they have answers about his origins, the more nebulous he is, the more the player can fill in the blanks vis a vis his history: "Another reason that we chose a sort of living black hole, the unceasing hunger is because Darth Nihilus was spawned from the tragedy that the player created." It's a good watch. If you move back to part three, Avellone talks about his purposes with the game in general.
Darth Nihilus was a normal black Human male, under his armor was a physical organic body (can be seen through the eye holes on many pictures, also the Hasbro action figure features a Human body), no "manifestation of the Dark Side" or a spirit encased in an armor. Once he was a Jedi but lost everything during the Mandalorian Wars. He was on Malachor where he survived the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, but it caused an enormous hunger for Force energy in him.
According to the KOTOR campaign setting book, his use of the Dark Side ravaged his body- forcing him to transfer his spirit into his armour. Krayt even mentions it in the first Legacy book: Broken: "Lord Nihilus -- you escaped death by containing your consciousness within your armor. How?!"
I hadn't thought of him that way before. I've always been curious as to who he was, but now I wonder if his identity should be kept a mystery. However, I do admit I would love to see more of the Sith Lords from KOTOR II. Even just a book (or more) detailing the events that led to their creation through the Mandalorian Wars would be awesome. In my opinion, these are some of the most interesting characters that have been untouched. Nihilus's loss of identity could be so much more tragic if we knew more about his previous life (or even if just several possibilities of a previous identity were offered, such as several minor characters who somewhat resemble him).[/quote]
