#darth sion

[yzur02]

Darth Revan: uses mandalorian mask;

Darth Malak: has a replacement jaw that covers part of his face;

Darth Vader: uses life support mask;

Darth Nihilus: uses mask;

Darth Sion: his face is so disfigured you can't tell what his real face was like;

Darth Sidius: his face is so disfigured you can't tell his real face was like, and before that he used deceit to mask himself;

Darth Traya: used lies and betrayal to mask herself and her objective until the end.

Every sith wears a mask to hide their true, hurt and scared self: it represents their lies, the way they refuse to acknowledge themselves and how they hide their "weakness" and shame.

I can't put in words how much I love this detail and how it contrast with the Jedi who always have their faces out in the open.

[whyamiheredude3]

Tried out a new brush and had some fun

[star-wars-forever]

Sith Lord Darth Sion

by artildawn

[backonmystarwarsbullshit]

STAR WARS APPRECIATION WEEK -> DAY: 4

Expanded Universe: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004)

video credit

[incorrect-kotor-quotes]

I’m pretty sure Sion is a tactical genius on Revan’s level, but none of us ever realized it. For example, at the Trayus Academy, he spread out all his minions into fifty little groups and included just enough useful equipment drops compelling me to search every corner and loot every body until I’m dead from boredom before reaching his boss fight. Seeing another long hallway filled with assassin squads came closer to breaking my spirit than any of Kreia’s bullshit because there’s definitely a good lightsaber crystal at the end and I need to go get it.

[youre-late]

Check this out Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 fans!

[jediexilemeetra]

“And I hate you as I hate her. I hate you because you crawl within my head as she does. But your presence holds no thoughts, no teachings. You are just there. Unspoken. I hate you because you are beautiful to me. And in that weakness, lies death.”

- Darth Sion, Knights of The Old Republic: The Sith Lords

[tobyig]

Also, can we talk more about the relationship Darth Sion and Meetra Surik (fExile) in KOTOR 2?

You as the exile go to fight him in Trayus Academy and he talks of how much he hates Darth Traya, then says

"I hate you because you crawl within my head as she does, but your presence holds no thoughts, no teachings, you are just… there, unspoken. I hate you because you are beautiful to me. And in that weakness lies death."

Like he watched you throughout the whole game--the beginning when he finds you on the harbinger, then he finds you again on Korriban, and of course the final fight. He has been following you so much. Of course he falls in love.

So many times during the game, especially at the end, it is hinted at/stated that Meetra Surik has an unavoidable call to her through the Force. A part of the very end before you land on Malachor V is debating whether your companions are here with you because they want to be, or because you want them to be.

So yes, of course Sion falls in love. And of course it ends in us killing him. How else could it end?

[inthegardenpraying]

"It is not possible to walk away from such things unscarred, to keep living when the universe dies around you..." it's my single favorite quote from Sion and I think it's because it made me realize the motif of trauma. Most major characters in KOTOR II experience an extremely traumatic event in their lifetime. Hanharr can't handle owing a lifedebt to Mira and goes insane. Bao-Dur still feels immense guilt over his activation of the Mass Shadow Generator. Same with Atton and his guilt over being an assassin. Sion was defeated in battle, literally dying. Visas had her planet destroyed by Nihilus, who in turn was murdered by the Mass Shadow Generator. Kreia was exiled and eventually betrayed by her sith apprentices. Even though G0-T0 is a droid, his purpose is to fix the mass trauma of an entire civilization. Lastly, Meetra Surik (or just the exile) cut off from the force to survive the stress of the Mass Shadow Generator. As an exception, I'd say Disciple and Handmaiden don't necessarily have personal trauma but this is because they are introduced to the exile as a novice and will grow alongside you and reflect your decisions. The entire galaxy underwent trauma in the Mandalorian wars, and the story of KOTOR II is how react to your own trauma, the trauma of your companions, and ultimately the trauma of the republic.

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I see the light side and dark side choices in game as the way you dealt with your trauma and how you help others through theirs, rather than explicit rejections or embraces of Jedi/Sith teachings. After all, you aren't even a member of the Jedi Order anymore and you left a long time ago because you didn't agree with them. Think about it like the restoration project on Telos, but with the emotional and mental health of every character in the game. When Sion tells you that nobody could walk away from such things "unscarred" its up to you whether or not that's even true. Do you walk the path of the light side and find redemption/healing through community, altruism, and self sacrifice? Or do you walk the path of the dark side: hardening yourself for protection and seeking power at the expense of others' wellbeing? Sion and Nihilus chose the latter and take take the idea to its apex. Neither can survive without the force and they are restricted by their relationship to it. Kreia makes a point to say that Nihilus does not know true power as he cannot control himself, or his abilities. He is completely beholden to a primal urge to feed. Sion loses to you in the very clip because you have the stronger will. While they survived their trauma, they are weaker because they never healed. They are "scarred" as Sion says.

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Kreia offers a third way, based off your own survival at Malachor. Reliance upon the self, upon willpower and strength of mind is the only way to survive. After all, you did survive Malachor not because of your connection to the force, but because you were strong without it. It is the synthesis of Sith and Jedi ideas, which she combined after spending time as a great master of both orders. But is this a true way to heal from trauma? It may never be possible to heal from trauma, but look at how far your companions come and only after YOU took the time to influence them. They are strong on their own, surviving years on dangerous planets or designing weapons that bring armies to their knees, but through their connection to YOU, to a community, they unlock their true potential.

(I added more in the comments of what he said)

[kaoribriefs]

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Consider your consequences carefully because Dave Filoni is going to modify them as he sees fit

Reblog for visibility!

[emilyisfictional]

AHSOKA SPOILERS

the eye of sion 🤝 the eye of the nihil

being a little too close in name to a member of to the sith triumvirate for it to be not a coincidence.

[dairine-bonnet]

On Korriban:

Darth Sion: ...You are her apprentice in name only. I am the Master, and that is why you will die!

The Exile: And it is time to find out who is better at mastering Force speed!

[incorrect-kotor-quotes]

Sion’s character design is pretty damn effective. Well done.

Of course, the first thing you notice about him is the Everything. He doesn’t need to go shirtless, he does it as a challenge. Take a look at him and ask yourself, how do you expect to kill him when he looks like that and is walking around? I used to focus on his good eye, but made the mistake of examining all the damage around the blind one, and now I can’t stop looking at it. Despite all the scarring and necrosis, he is still impressively muscular, and wears a guard for his sword arm. Clearly, this animate corpse is ready to fight and he will beat you into the ground. I bet he smells awful.

[gugullig]

Kreia, her ideology, kotor 2 and trauma.

So I've been thinking a lot about Kreia and kotor 2 recently. I noticed how Nihilus and Sion are both widely discussed in how they relate to trauma, both being warning and ways you should not go about dealing with your trauma. Nihilus has let trauma consume him, he's become uncaring about his place in the world, empty almost and nihilistic. He consumes and consumes other eating away at those around him instead. This doesn't close the wound trauma left in him he only grows emptier, falling deeper into nihilism. On the other hand we have Sion who exists on the other side of the spectrum, he has refused to acknowledge his trauma, he's in denial. He just keeps soldiering on. You can't meaningfully heal while refusing to acknowledge what has happened. You can't move on no matter how much you fight or run. Travelling with us on the Ebon Hawk is Atton, Sion's mirror. Just like The Exile and Sion Atton has a lot of trauma behind him, trauma which he runs away from. In the quest to make Atton a jedi you help Atton heal is by helping him address his past, his trauma and help him find a way to move on. Both Nihilus and Sion are warnings, how not to deal with trauma and that is something I see a lot of people have already talked about, but I think discussions on Kreia's warning are missing. Sure there are a lot of discussions about Kreia's ideology in general but not in how it relates to trauma. So here's my take on it. I've tried to make things as accessible as possible so if some things are over explained I'm sorry.

Just like the other sith lords we face in Kotor 2 Kreia is a commentary on trauma and how we deal with it. A warning just like the others. Kreia's ideology is objectivist to say the least, enough to make Ayn Rand blush. Her foremost value is self reliance and so she despises all acts of charity and kindnesses in a similar vain. By helping someone you're robbing them of their struggle, weakening them and so help and pity simply becomes another form of domination over another. The only difference between contempt and pity is that you feel sad for the victim you're elevating yourself above. That is why she despises the force. The force is a crutch that sith and jedi make themselves dependent on, early on Kreia talks about how the jedi are often overestimated, they might seem strong but they're weak without the force. I'm going to indulge myself and quote a scene at length here, it's just after you arrived in house arrest on Telos.

Atton: Explain something to me.

Kreia: I do not have the years required - nor the desire to indulge you.

Atton: If she served in the war... well Jedi are supposed to be tough, capable.

Kreia: Yes... and what are they without the force? Take the greatest jedi knight, strip away the force, and what remains? They rely on it, depend on it, more than they know. Watch as one tries to hold a blaster, as they try to hold a lightsaber, and you will see nothing more than a woman - or a man. A child.

Atton: But to lose so much. I guess I didn't realise how much they relied on it.

Kreia: Do not be surprised, in many ways, even you are more capable than a jedi. You could survive where they could not simply because you do not hear the force as they do. It is irony of a sort - and it is why I tolerate your presence now

Atton: But such a loss of ability - for a jedi, it seems so extreme.

Kreia: She has been gone from war for some time. It is conflict that strengthens us... and isolation that weakens us, erodes us. Add to that that she turned away from war, did all she could to forget it and the last piece clicks into place. But we have spoken enough of this - and we do her a disservice by not speaking of this while she is present.

This conversation between her and Atton hopefully demonstrates firmly the degree to which she despises dependency and how that translates into a dislike of the force. A dislike that would become much more obvious later on.

So according to Kreia, the force binds and dominates millions through its influence. Through its eternal desire for balance of the force for example it creates eternal conflict between light and dark. It pushes the jedi to charity and self limitation, to ascetic life and in the sith it created a people of war, hate, murder and essentially everything bad. The sith code created for the previous game was based on mein kampf. It worships victory and so the sith are ready to kill and dominate however many it takes to reach what they consider victory.

However, while deeply explored and thought through, Kreia's Ideology isn't perfect or free from internal contradiction, even discounting the objectivism. She believes that those who are dependent in ways deserve their subjugation. Just by the nature of the Star Wars universe they're all dependent on it, it "binds all living things". If the dependent are deserving of their subjugation what does that say of Kreia's quest to destroy the force? Kreia especially is dependent on the force, among the most dependent of all the exile meets in her journey. Her eyes have withered away due to lack of use because she has chosen to see through the force instead. (There’s a first person view you can enter with all your party members and Kreia's and Visas' views who both see through the force are adapted to match this. A lot of people miss this but it's cute). 

Looking back at what I said about Kreia being a commentary on trauma and how we deal with it, this is the game showing her teachings' failings. Kreia believes that you can only grow from your trauma by struggle, by fighting for it, with absolutely no dependency. Your companions are your tools, not your friends, not your support network. The contradiction of her view of dependency and the force including her extensive use of it is a microcosm of this. She has grown dependent on her force sight because it has benefits. It allows her to see things she wouldn't otherwise. Just like with a support network of friends, dependency isn't always bad. The primary difference between a lot of the light or dark side choices is the degree to which you view other people, especially your companions, as either friends or tools. By accepting some degree of dependency, by surrounding yourself with friends, giving kindnesses and sometimes receiving kindnesses in turn you grow. By making these light side decisions you get the light side ending where you heal from your trauma and leave Malachor behind for good. You heal from your trauma by rejecting Kreia's view on life. In this way she's a warning just like Sion and just like Nihilus.