- "You failed to see what was right before your eyes. Darth Nul was no Child of the Emperor. She was the first. The Mother of them all. Darth Nul created the Children of the Emperor. She hunted the quarry, broke them. Indoctrinated them. His power, his will, but her methods, her inventions… until the Emperor no longer found her useful"
- ―Darth Malgus
Darth Nul, born Raniah, was a female Sith Lord of the reconstituted Sith Empire whose records were erased from history by the time of the third Galactic War. She was the co-creator of the Children of the Emperor alongside the Sith Emperor.
Biography[]
Jedi[]
- "In those who did not recognize their own abilities, she awakened that realization. She was looked down upon for this, by those who believed she shared power with the unworthy. She could find no favor among her kind. Darth Nul took those who would follow her to an empty world in Wild Space where they could do as they pleased, without judgment. Nul taught her disciples how to forge mental bonds as she did. They called out to others and invited them to their sanctuary."
- ―Sana-Rae, to the Alliance Commander
The individual who became Nul was born centuries before the Great Galactic War as "Raniah", a Jedi Master. Despite her rank, she roused uneasiness from other Jedi mainly due to her beliefs including her belief that anyone who could feel the Force deserved to be trained in its use.[4]
Raniah and her adepts were captured by the Sith
Raniah was able to locate other Force-sensitives using an unknown technique involving mental connections which not only earned the praise of several Jedi Knights, Padawans, and even a member of the Jedi Council but she also earned suspicion from the remaining Jedi which prompted the Jedi Council to expel Raniah and her followers with the purpose of not allowing Raniah's dangerous ideas to continue.[4]
Exiled, Raniah and her followers took refuge on an uninhabited planet in Wild Space. There, the former Jedi Master and her adepts were free to experiment their own philosophy of the Force and Raniah taught her disciples how to create Force bonds. Through mental connections forged with other Force-sensitives throughout the galaxy, they recruited new adepts and invited them to join their Wild Space sanctuary.[3] Unfortunately, Raniah later mistakenly made contact with the Sith Emperor Vitiate through the Force which she found that she could not withstand the Emperor's formidable power to dominate minds and ended with Raniah and her followers being pursued, captured, and enslaved.[4]
Sith[]
- "Nul made a connection with someone she did not intend. A being of dark malevolence... the Sith Emperor. He hunted her down, using her own power against her. Before the Emperor could reach her followers, Nul locked many of their secrets away, in the ruins my team discovered. Nul and the others fought back against their captors, but their fate was sealed. The emperor dominated the minds of her disciples, bent them to his will--enslaved them. After that day, Nul's followers became Servants of the Emperor, and she... became Darth Nul."
- ―Sana-Rae, to the Alliance Commander
Raniah, who was now under the Emperor's control, became the Sith Lord Darth Nul, and was responsible for the creating awful mind-control techniques to subjugate and punish enemies of the Sith.[4]
The Temple of Nul on Elom
Darth Nul assisted the Emperor in creating the first Children of the Emperor, where she was tasked with locating the subjects and indoctrinating them to unconditionally serve him. Nul's inventions and designs were key to creating a Child and in conjunction with the Emperor's power she succeeded, therefore dubbing her as "the Mother" of the Children.[2]
Darth Nul had a temple on the remote Outer Rim planet of Elom.[1] At some point, a relic created by Darth Nul was recovered by the Jedi Order and stored in a vault inside the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine.[5] Darth Malgus had theorized that with Darth Nul's cunning, she must have had more than one location to house her inventions, aside from the Temple on Elom.[2]
After an uncertain amount of time, Darth Nul's usefulness to the Emperor came at an end and he purged her existence from the Sith Empire's records.[2]
Legacy[]
- "She has no ornate tomb, there are no statues or grand murals that depict her deeds. She was a scientist, and her story will be told through the designs of her inventions."
- ―Talos Drellik
Sith Lord Lana Beniko theorized that Nul's erasure from history had been done intentionally by either the Dark Council or by the Emperor himself[1] with the latter case being confirmed.[2]
The Emperor was able to create more Children, who he used to infiltrate the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, acting as his eyes and ears within the enemy's camp for decades, with some attaining prominent ranks within the Republic Military[7] and the Jedi Council.[8] During the Galactic War, the Children were exposed to the galaxy with the defeat of the First Son and were left to fend for themselves, with some renouncing their ties to both the Emperor and the Sith.[9]
Sa'har Kateen delivered Darth Nul's holocron to Heta Kol
In 3626 BBY,[10] during the third Galactic War, the rogue Sith Lord Darth Malgus, through unknown means, managed to learn not only about the existence of Darth Nul but her role as "the Mother" of the Children, as well as her unique inventions which Malgus sought for his own plans. Malgus began his plans with looting Nul's relic from the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine[5] before traveling to Nul's Temple on Elom to locate a holocron which could be used to find "unworthy" Force-sensitive children. Malgus was subsequently defeated by members of the Eternal Alliance and the Jedi Order, but he secretly left the holocron to be found by the Jedi Padawan Sa'har Kateen.[1] Kateen later offered the holocron to Heta Kol, the leader of the Mandalorian splinter group Hidden Chain.[3] Kol quickly realized that she could use the holocron to create an army of Force-sensitive soldiers.[11]
After Malgus' capture, the Jedi Gnost-Dural, Tau Idair and Arn Peralun went to explore the galaxy to investigate the identity of Darth Nul.[3] Meanwhile, the archaeologist Talos Drellik was recruited to study Nul's temples and design due to his extensive career in Sith lore.[2] After performing an extensive study, Talos found that Nul's devices including the "Regnant" device and the various traps the strike team encountered bear a striking, yet intriguing, similarities to the Phobis devices[6] which were used to create the Dread Masters[12] and the Ravager,[6] a device used by the Sith Emperor to painfully extract secrets from his victims mind.[13]
Around 3624 BBY,[14] Jedi Knight Tau Idair finally discovered Darth Nul's lightsaber in Nul's secret archive. The weapon revealed to the Jedi and the Eternal Alliance that Darth Nul had been a Jedi before becoming a Sith. A short time later, Sana-Rae and Arcann of the Eternal Alliance found the ruins of Raniah's camp in Wild Space. There, they discovered a holorecord of the capture of Raniah and her adepts by the Sith, revealing the fate of Master Raniah and her transformation in Darth Nul.[3] Around 3623 BBY,[14] the Eternal Alliance eventually recovered Darth Nul's holocron from the Hidden Chain, destroying in the process the machine created by the Mandalorians to exploit the power of the holocron.[15]
Powers and abilities[]
- "Darth Nul possessed a talent that was unique among her kind. Through the Force, she could connect her mind to another's. Darth Nul could speak to someone's most hidden desires, reach depths of their thoughts they could not reach themselves. Over great distances, she could mentally bond with anyone who could feel the Force."
- ―Sana-Rae, to the Alliance Commander
Darth Nul possessed a strong connection with the Force. As a Jedi, she developed her innate gift for Force empathy to levels never seen in the Jedi Order. As she mastered this skill, she became able to create Force bonds with any Force-sensitive, even over great distances. She was therefore capable to actively read a person's deepest thoughts and feel their emotions. In addition, she was also able to awaken Force sensation in individuals who ignored their own connection with the Force.[3] Later, as a Sith, she intensified her study of the Force and extended her skills to dark motives. She became an expert of mind manipulation and developed some of the most treacherous mind-control techniques.[4]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Cartel Market (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: Onslaught (First mentioned)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
Mission Abstract: Investigate link between Darth Malgus and the planet Elom on The Old Republic's official website (article) (backup link) (Mentioned only)- Celebrating 10 Years and Looking Forward on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.1: Digging Deeper on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.3 "Old Wounds" is live! on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Cartel Market Additions: Game Update 7.3 on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Old Wounds Teaser on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.4 "Chains in the Dark" Livestream recap on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.4 "Chains in the Dark" is coming December 5th! on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Cartel Market Additions: Game Update 7.4 on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- 12 Years With Star Wars™: The Old Republic on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.5 "Desperate Defiance" Recap and VOD on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.5 "Desperate Defiance" is now live! on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Executive Producer Letter - Q2 2024 on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
- Game Update 7.6 "Galactic Threads" Recap on The Old Republic's official website (backup link)
Notes and references[]
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