Kreia

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Kreia was a blind Human female who served as a Jedi Master and a Jedi Historian during the years prior to the outbreak of the Mandalorian Wars. She was exiled by the Jedi Council due to the fact that her former students followed the Jedi Knight Revan, who was also her former Padawan, into battle against the invading Mandalorians. After she withdrew from the Jedi Order, she retraced Revan's footsteps to the ancient Sith world of Malachor V, being drawn to its Force echoes. After discovering the Trayus Academy on Malachor V, Kreia turned to the dark side of the Force, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Traya, the Lord of Betrayal. She searched for other Force-wounds, discovering and allying with the Sith apprentices Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, forming a triumvirate intent on wiping out the Jedi.

Eventually, Sion and Nihilus overthrew Traya, stripping her of the Force. After having been exiled by both the Jedi and the Sith, she held in a growing abhorrence of how both Orders were used by the Force to its own ends, and harbored delusions of freeing the galaxy of its influence. Going under the guise of "Kreia" once more, Traya located the Jedi Exile, a unique human female whom she saw as having the potential to bring her purpose to fruition. Traya took it upon herself to "rescue" the Exile and retrain her in her own views. Even as she orchestrated the First Jedi Purge, she continued in her attempts to mold the Exile, and those she traveled with aboard the Ebon Hawk, into her own image.

After the Exile found the Jedi Masters Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook Lamar and convinced them to reconvene at the ruins of the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, Traya murdered them in the remains of the Jedi Academy, openly revealing her true identity as a Sith Lord. Shortly after the Battle of Telos IV, the Exile journeyed to Malachor V to finally confront Darth Traya, dueling and ultimately killing her in the depths of the Trayus Academy.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Fall to the dark side 1.3 Teaching on Malachor V 1.4 Kreia and the Jedi Exile 1.4.1 Encounter with the Exile 1.4.2 Finding the Lost Jedi 1.4.3 Downfall 2 Personality and traits 3 Powers and abilities 4 Teachings 5 Behind the scenes 5.1 Cut content 5.2 A mysterious past 6 Appearances 7 Sources 8 External links 9 Notes and references

Biography

Early life

Much of Kreia's early life is shrouded in mystery. However, it is known that she was a Jedi Historian^[2], and that she had worked her way to the rank of Jedi Master, training many students. Her eyesight went unused as she depended on meditations in an attempt to penetrate the galaxy's mysteries. For decades, she challenged her students with difficult questions, such as whether a lightsaber was still a lightsaber if it lost its power, or if a Jedi was still a Jedi if she lost her powers. Her peers, who called her teachings "Kreia's conundrums", viewed them as quaint, but her students were spellbound.^[3]

Among her many Padawans was none other than Revan, a highly-gifted apprentice. Her teachings, however, were looked upon with concern by the Jedi Council. After Revan left her tutelage, he sought other masters to round out his education, apprenticing himself to Masters Zhar Lestin and Dorak,^[4] but eventually he came back to her to seek her guidance regarding the Jedi Council's stance of inaction, and made up his mind to openly defy the Council. By the end of her time with the Jedi Order, Kreia's students were believed to be failures by the Jedi Master Atris and the Jedi Council, because they followed Revan into the Mandalorian Wars, and either fell to the dark side or abandoned their training. The Council denounced both her and her rhetoric.^[2][3]

Fall to the dark side

After having been exiled by the Jedi for her role in training Revan^[2], Kreia, questioning her beliefs, silently withdrew from the Order. Some believed that she had followed Revan and his Jedi to war, but she instead traced her former Padawan's footsteps, searching for an answer that she alone could provide, eventually being drawn to the Force echoes of Malachor V, a nexus of dark side energies and part of the ancient Sith Empire.^[3]

On the surface, Kreia found Darth Revan's former stronghold, the Trayus Academy, an ancient dark side Praxeum that contained the deepest and most intimate secrets of the Sith. She encountered assassins left by Revan, but instead of attacking her, they presented her with Sith hermetica. These Sith manuscripts intimated that the truths of the cosmos were not intended for the sane. Intrigued, Kreia scoured through them using the Force, suspecting their authors were pureblooded descendants of the ancient Sith species.^[3]

The Sith sorcerers claimed that they had privileged insight into secret realities, arguing that even though the contradictory and aimless nature of existence appeared oblivious to all intelligent beings, awareness of the Force exposed this obvious "fact" as a lie, further stating that the Force betrayed Force-sensitives, making them live in a compromised, chaotic universe–to live the lie. As much as she wanted to denounce them and their arguments, she fell under their seductive spell, and became Darth Traya, the Lord of Betrayal.^[3] Traya also learned of a forgotten legacy of the Sith that had lurked in the Unknown Regions for thousands of years. From that moment, she firmly believed that Revan had never "fallen" to the dark side^[2], and that a greater cause had come that called for certain actions to be done.^[5]

Teaching on Malachor V

Continuing the legacy of her former Padawan, Revan, Darth Traya re-established the Trayus Academy to train, convert, and create a generation of Sith who would act as a gadfly to the Republic. Because she came to the Sith Empire's remnants as Revan's former master, the remaining Sith troopers pledged their loyalty to her. She began to hunt for Force-wounds, eventually discovering Darths Sion and Nihilus, who were interested in rebuilding the deteriorating Sith Order. Nihilus, the Lord of Hunger, and Sion, the Lord of Pain, joined her in the creation of the Sith triumvirate, intending on wiping out Traya's Jedi betrayers.^[3]

However, as time passed by, the Sith Lords' ideals became divergent. Traya and Revan's legacy fell far from Darth Nihilus' destructive hunger and Sion's bitter crusade against the Jedi. Traya underestimated her pupils' depravity. After she taught Nihilus the ability to devour entire worlds, and after Sion started to grow weary of her abstract teachings, the apprenctices conspired against her. Afterwards, Darth Nihilus became the Dark Lord of the Sith. Once again, Traya had been betrayed.^[2][3]

Kreia and the Jedi Exile

After casting Traya out of the Sith Order, Sion and Nihilus began a massive assassination campaign against the Jedi, unwittingly aiding Traya in the process.^[3] Because of this, the Jedi, who were either killed by the Sith or in hiding, were nearly gone from the galaxy. Traya, now going by her former name, had left Malachor V with T3-M4 and returned to Republic space aboard the Ebon Hawk, seeking the last known Jedi, the Jedi Exile, a human female^[3][6][7] who served as a general under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars, and who helped utterly defeat the Mandalorians at the Battle of Malachor V by ordering the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, a devastating weapon which left a wound in the Force. Beneath layers of hearsay and unconfirmed reports, Kreia had found a means to deafen the galaxy to the Force. She sought to exploit the Exile's talent in Force bonding and to create another wound, greater than the one before, the echoes of which would travel forever, never reaching their destination.^[2]

Encounter with the Exile

The Jedi Master Atris arranged for the Exile's return to the Republic, and exposed her presence in the coreward databases in the hopes of using her as bait for the Sith. On the Republic warship Harbinger, the Exile was found by an HK-50 Jedi hunter and drugged into unconsciousness. Kreia found her and took her to the Ebon Hawk, barely escaping a Sith ambush in which Darth Sion nearly destroyed the freighter.^[2]

Both unconscious, Kreia and the Exile arrived safely on Peragus thanks to T3-M4, who was able to get the ship working well enough to get to the colony. They subconsciously reached out to each other, both strengthening each other in the knowledge that they had survived the void that had befallen them, and eventually formed a Force bond, which seemingly intertwined their lives. As they attempted to escape the mining facility along with Atton Rand, the Sith arrived aboard the Harbinger and Kreia encountered her former apprentice, Sion. The master and student fought, and Kreia, hardly at her full power, lost her left hand to Sion's lightsaber.^[2]

Because of her bond with Kreia, the Exile felt the pain of losing the limb herself. After they escaped, the Exile asked Kreia why she had felt her pain. Kreia used the opportunity to convince the Exile that the bond between them could be fatal; if one of them died, the other would too. This forced the Exile to keep the old woman at her side, though the actual validity of such a claim was questionable. Bound by the hands of death, Kreia intruded upon the company of the Exile, but remained vague on her ties to her former Padawan, Revan, and Malachor V until the end. The Exile also had no way of knowing where the ship had come from, since Kreia had the only means of accessing the Ebon Hawk's navicomputer.^[2]

Finding the Lost Jedi

While the Exile was slowly reconnecting to the Force, Kreia began to shape the Jedi as her new pupil. She taught the Exile to carefully choose between actions, asking the Jedi to view the ethical implications of all quests undertaken. Kreia seemed to show that the galaxy and its inhabitants' morals were far more complicated than the basic tenets of the light and dark sides of the Force. As the Exile grew in power, Kreia watched as the struggling Republic was unknowingly strengthened through the Jedi's search.^[2]

During these adventures, many people came into the company of the Exile, most of them sensitive to the Force. Although many of them were wary of Kreia, she was able to manipulate most of them to do her bidding. Because of the ease with which the Exile had "called" upon these companions, the old Master had seen the Exile's ability to transmit extreme echoes to those the Jedi was bound with. With the Exile's power and with the knowledge of Darth Nihilus's damaged condition, Kreia intended to bring her plans into finality.^[2]

Early in her travels with the Exile, when the party was only beginning to form on Telos IV, Kreia probed Atton Rand and invaded his mind, which she said had powerful shields indeed. She discovered his many secrets. She blackmailed him, telling him that she would not reveal his secrets to the Exile as long as he followed and served the Exile. On Dxun, when the crew of the Ebon Hawk required the assistance of Mandalore the Preserver, she manipulated him into protecting the Exile. When the group was joined by the former Jedi Mical, known as the Disciple, Kreia manipulated his mind, playing tricks on his sight throughout their travels so that he was often unaware of her presence. She finally revealed her true nature to him after he discovered the truth behind her motives and the darkness moving across the galaxy, consuming all life. However, Kreia made it so he would not remember her or what he discovered until the time was right.^[2]

While on Nar Shaddaa, Kreia bound the Wookiee bounty hunter Hanharr to a life-debt after his defeat at the hands of Mira, whom Kreia called "the huntress." Kreia sent Hanharr to Malachor V where if he survived he would become stronger, promising to end the debt he owed her when he killed Mira, although as fate would turn out, Hanharr would be defeated by Mira again on Malachor V. During the Onderon Civil War, a dynastic conflict, Kreia tried to convince the Exile to have Queen Talia execute her cousin, General Vaklu, who was unarmed at the time, claiming he was too dangerous to be left alive. The Exile, while respecting her council, said that the decision was the queen's to make, not hers.^[2] Talia ordered her troops to execute Vaklu, ending the war.^[8] After the battle, Kreia revived one of Vaklu's commanders, Colonel Tobin, who had been killed by a drexl larva when Tobin and his forces tried to breach the queen's throne room. Kreia convinced Tobin that the Onderon Civil War was still going on and that she served General Vaklu. She knew that Vaklu and Tobin served her former Sith apprentice, Darth Nihilus, so she fed him false information about a Jedi Enclave on Telos, when if fact there was only one Jedi on Telos, and he went to the Ravager to inform Nihilus of this.^[2]

By the end of her adventures with the Exile, Kreia had devised a method to kill the Force with what she called "echoes"; tragedies that left persistent wounds in the universe, which made the Force difficult and sometimes impossible to hear and use. Her discovery of these "echoes" and her avenue of attack on the Force was made possible entirely by the Exile, who provided the first "echo" that she could study through her actions on the planet of Malachor V. By Kreia's reasoning, people who died of these echoes when they could not bear to voluntarily sever themselves from the Force, as the Exile did, were not strong enough to deserve to live in the first place. Her hatred of the Force was the overriding goal, for in her mind, if she did not kill it, even more lives would be lost in the future.^[2]

Downfall

When the truth was revealed—that the Exile had unconsciously deafened herself to the Force in order to survive, as opposed to being cut off from it by the Jedi Council as the Exile previously believed—Kreia confronted the reassembled Jedi Council in the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. As the Jedi Masters Vrook Lamar, Kavar and Zez-Kai Ell tried to strip the Force from the Exile, whom they believed to be a wound in the Force and a danger that could lure the Sith—Kreia drained their connection to the Force, killing them^[2], and once again assumed her Sith identity of Darth Traya.^[3]

She was then led to Jedi Master Atris for judgment by Brianna while the Exile laid unconscious. Journeying to the Telos Academy, the reborn Darth Traya revealed that Atris had herself been corrupted and turned to the dark side by the Sith holocrons she gathered, but could not admit it even to herself. Atris then embraced the dark side openly, but was soon confronted and defeated by the Exile.^[2]

Traya then returned to Malachor V, where she intended to sacrifice herself to open up the larger wound in the Force in order to destroy it. After their brief duel, Atris told the Exile that such an act would undoubtedly kill the Exile and destroy the Force but she couldn't fathom why Traya would want to make such a move. However, Traya would wait for the Exile to come to her for answers and final confrontation. After the Exile vanquished Darth Nihilus during the Battle of Telos IV, she journeyed to Malachor V, where Traya and Sion were hidden in the depths of the Trayus Academy.^[2]

The Exile confronted Sion first, eroding his will and releasing him from all his pain in the process. By giving up the pain, and therefore the Force, Sion was finally able to die—but not before warning the Exile that Traya would try to do to her what she had done to Sion himself. The Exile found Traya in the core of the academy. After trying to reason with her, the Exile and Traya engaged in a duel, which ended with the Exile slicing her remaining hand off. Traya tried to convince the Exile to kill her, but she refused. Angered, Traya then used the Force to control three lightsabers against the Exile, but the Jedi bested the lightsabers.^[2]

Despite so many betrayals, so many deceptions, the Exile forgave Traya for everything that had happened, and just wished her heart put to rest. She still tried to save Traya, who then told her she already had, and that by killing her, the Exile had awarded Traya, more than she could possibly know. She confessed that she truly loved the Exile, not only because she was by Traya's own words, "her greatest student", but because she was not a Jedi, not truly. Before dying from the wounds dealt to her by the Exile, Kreia chose to honor her with one last gift; she drew upon the Force that radiated from Malachor V and cast a prediction of the future of the galaxy and its inhabitants, and that of the Exile's friends.^[2]

Traya told the Exile that she hoped that she follow Revan's path, but said that she and Revan were different. She said she could follow Revan to the Unknown Regions, she could take one of the ships in Malachor's orbit and depart the planet, or remain on Malachor to wait for the "others", those who were touched by the Force, who would come in time. She also said that the Jedi could also return to her exile, where her presence could no longer affect the actions of others and said that there was no dishonor in any of those choices, and asked the Exile that she make her choice without any regret. After the Exile told her that she would follow Revan as she did years before, Traya finally surrendered her life to what she once despised—the Force. Her body was destroyed shortly afterwards along with Malachor V when the Mass Shadow Generator was activated for the last time by Bao-Dur's remote.^[2]

Personality and traits

As a Jedi, Kreia wore a simple set of Jedi robes. Before she lost her hand on Peragus, she used a self built^[3] green double-bladed lightsaber.^[9] After she revealed her true identity as Darth Traya, she exchanged her Jedi robes for a pair of Sith robes, and used a lightsaber containing a red crystal. She also kept three lightsabers containing violet crystals at hand; in her duel with the Exile, she used the Force to control these lightsabers.^[2]

As a person, Kreia was self-reliant, manipulative, and constantly wary of the intentions of others. She often remonstrated the Exile for taking away the challenges of others. She argued that indiscriminate compassion weakened the benefactors by disallowing them the mental and physical enrichment that life's challenges inherently procure. Ultimately, she said, such compassion thus weakened the very people it was intended to help, cheapening their experience and leaving them more ill-prepared for dealing with things on their own. After being betrayed by those closest to her, Kreia expected the worst from the people around her. As the Exile's circle of companions grew, Kreia came to see how these companions could be used for her own ends, and sometimes ensured their loyalty using methods of questionable morality; for example, she read Atton Rand's mind and learned of his dark history, using that to blackmail him into the Exile's service. She also tempted Mandalore the Preserver with knowledge of Revan's fate in order to ensure that he would not betray the Exile. A master of manipulation, Kreia used betrayal and deception to achieve her goals. She lied to the Exile at the beginning of their quest, claiming that the Jedi Council had stripped her of the Force. Kreia knew this would lead the Exile to seek out the surviving members of the Jedi Council, in hopes that she, or the Exile, would prove them wrong on their teachings. On Onderon, Traya lied to Colonel Tobin about the existence of many Jedi in a Jedi academy on Telos, knowing that Tobin would relay this to his true Master, Darth Nihilus, who would not be able to resist the chance to replenish himself and would recklessly assault Telos. This left Nihilus vulnerable to the assault of the Mandalorians and the Exile. Also, Kreia would commend the Exile if she succeeded in manipulating others during her travels.^[2]

Despite these traits, Kreia was not the cruel, cold-hearted manipulator that many had dismissed her as. She had a softer side to her personality that was more apparent when she was around the Jedi Exile. After the Exile defeated Traya, she told the Exile that she would have gone so far as to let the entire galaxy die in order to ensure the Exile's life^[10], and lived up to her word; during her travels, the Exile was the only person she really cared about, viewing everyone else as expendable. Though Kreia was intelligent and quite powerful in her own right, she also realized that her philosophies would be regarded as fanatical by both the Jedi and the Sith. Because of this, she preferred to fly beneath the radar, often using her own power to shield her identity from other Force-sensitives who might have known her, and could have otherwise detected her. She was not outspoken about her convictions. An odd trait that Kreia possessed was her habit to rarely refer to any of the Exile's companions by name, calling them by titles. She would refer to Atton Rand as "the fool", Mical as a "tiny Jedi", Brianna the Handmaiden as the "servant of Atris", Visas Marr as "the blinded one" or "the seer", Mira as "the huntress", and Bao-Dur as "the alien". Traya also referred to the droids who travelled with the Exile, T3-M4, HK-47, and G0-T0, as "machines".^[2]

Although Kreia was, in many ways, a very pragmatic woman, she was not without her own set of preferences and prejudices. For example, she admitted to Atton that while she regarded him as a complete and utter fool, she did respect him to a certain degree, because he was able to survive without the Force, whereas Jedi who had lost their connection to the Force would seem almost completely helpless without the powers which they relied on. This sort of irony amused Kreia, yet this was before she discovered that Atton was Force sensitive. As for her prejudices, Kreia openly displayed emotions of contempt for the Mandalorians. As she despised the arrogance of the Jedi High Council, she detested the Mandalorians, who she believed to be arrogant for once believing that they could stand up against those who command the Force. During the Exile's alliance with Mandalore the Preserver, Kreia took every opportunity to bring the warriors down a peg, stating how their "military tactics" were nothing compared to the Force, which was precisely why in her opinion the Mandalorians could have never defeated the Jedi, let alone Revan himself.^[2]

Kreia also seemed to hold droids at a low regard. When the Exile threatened to destroy the Trayus Academy, Traya mentioned that it was more talk of machines and threats. In a conversation with the Exile regarding T3-M4, Kreia said that she did not understand Revan's fascination with machines and technology, going so far as to say that his passion for things dead to the Force defied her. She believed that her former Padawan's interest in droids stemmed from his preference for followers who obeyed his orders without question. Kreia also told the Exile that Revan would have loved nothing more than to have a "human droid", such as the Exile, that was dead to the Force, a shell that would carry out his orders without question. Further evidence of Kreia's distaste in droids are shown in the way she treated T3-M4 with contempt and begrudging tolerance.^[11] Almost 4,000 years later, her eventual successor, Darth Sidious, succeeded in creating such soldiers in the form of clone troopers.^[12]

Aside from droids, Kreia displayed emotions of prejudice and contempt for non-human species. She referred to the Exchange crime boss Visquis as "the alien". She was also particularly hostile towards Bao-Dur, whom she also mockingly referred to as "the alien". During one of her conversations with Bao-Dur, she chastised and berated him for his part in the Mandalorian Wars, especially his personal involvement in the creation and activation of the Mass Shadow Generator. She asked the guilt-ridden and remorseful Iridonian mechanic what could possibly create such a terrible weapon of unimaginable and complete destruction–and finished by stating "certainly nothing human".^[2] Ironically, Kreia would be proven wrong when, nearly four millennia later, the human-ruled Galactic Empire used the first Death Star to destroy the planet Alderaan.^[13] She also held the Twi'lek Jedi Master Zhar Lestin at a low regard, in a conversation with the Exile regarding Revan, she referred to Lestin as "that fool".^[14]

Kreia strongly believed that a person that did much evil and had fallen far into the dark side did not deserve redemption. She shared this view with the Exile on Korriban in front of the tomb of the ancient Sith Lord Ajunta Pall, while she was telepathically guiding her through the Valley of the Dark Lords. She disapproved of Revan's redemption of Pall, saying that, in a way, such a turning from one's nature was cowardly, a betrayal of the self. When the Exile told her that no one was beyond redemption, Kreia further explained her beliefs, saying that redemption was a form of spiritual collapse, a fall that few recovered from.^[2]

Powers and abilities

Force mastery

Darth Traya was a master manipulator, having used this skill to maneuver herself into a position of power at the Trayus Academy and, later, trick the Jedi and Sith into revealing themselves, allowing her and her accomplices to destroy them. As a Jedi Consular^[2], she used a variety of Force powers, including Force horror, Force speed, Force cloak, Energy resistance, Force scream, Force lightning, Force wound and the Mind trick.^[3] She also was capable of using the Force to trick beasts, a power that she would teach the Exile during her travels on Dxun. She was known to have used an advanced Force technique known as Force Channel.^[2]

Traya was also a master of Dark Healing^[3], which she used to kill dozens of Sith Assassins instantaneously and simultaneously on Malachor V. She obliterated the last three members of the reconvened Jedi Council, by showing them the Force "through the eyes of the Exile", supposedly consuming their connection to the Force in a way similar to that of Darth Nihilus, denying them even the means to become one with the Force. The Exile would later behold them as "worse than lifeless, like an absence in the Force".^[2]

Before her death at the Trayus Core, she was also able to glimpse far into the future, predicting isolated events with incredible accuracy. Traya was able to predict the death of Jango Fett at the hands of Mace Windu approximately 4,000 years later, in a prophecy relating to the fate of the Mandalorians.^[2]

Lightsaber duelist

Darth Traya was a master of telekinetic lightsaber combat, which allowed her to wield at least three lightsabers in combat, holding each of them aloft with the Force and having them fight with a will of their own. She was skilled with the lightsaber, using the combat forms Shii-Cho, Makashi, and Soresu.^[2] She was also known to have used a rare lightsaber technique known as Tràkata.^[3]

When the Exile asked Kreia about each different form of lightsaber combat, she knew enough about each form to give the Exile an accurate description.^[2]

Jedi Historian

Kreia had once been a Jedi historian, and on her way through the path of knowledge the Jedi Code became unfit for her idea of teaching and learning the ways of the Force. She came to realize that the Force defied the simplistic tenets of the Order, that one who is to truly understand would need the contrast, not adherence to a single idea. During this time she would search and gather relics of the Force. On Korriban she indulged the Exile in a tour of the tombs and excavation sites in the Valley of the Dark Lords while showing her a profound knowledge of their history, a contempt for ignorance, and a care for truth that survived to her last days.^[2]

Healer

In her journey with the Exile, Kreia spoke of healing during a lesson related to skills, as something about which she was knowledgeable. When asked about her eyes, she claimed to be able to heal her own damaged eyes—which were atrophied from disuse— yet she refused to do so, as she had the Force Sight ability and regarded her natural sight as a distraction. She could go into a Hibernation Trance that would slow down biological functions and make her appear perfectly dead. She used this ability on the Ebon Hawk when the Harbinger tractor beamed the freighter, and again when the Republic warship fired on it. She also used some variant of this ability on Atton Rand, when she learned of his former allegiances in the Telosian Jedi Academy.^[2]

She further knew the ability of Breath Control, which made her immune to most poisons, and she taught it to the Exile as well, telepathically, when she was in danger of dying from the toxic fumes of the Jekk'Jekk Tarr during a meeting with local Exchange boss Visquis on Nar Shaddaa. In the Jekk'Jekk Tarr she would also use her healing powers to revive the Wookiee Hanharr, after he was left for dead by Mira. On Onderon she revived Colonel Tobin after he was killed by a Drexl larva.^[2]

Mind Breaker

Kreia was an expert at breaking into other's minds and reading them. She did this to Atton Rand, who was skilled at preventing such break-ins to his mind. She also was able to sedate him.^[2] Her power may also have been used to hide her presence from others by removing her image from their minds. She used this to evade Darth Sion, who could only perceive her for a moment and cut off hand.^[2]

Aside from forceful entry, Kreia was capable of Telepathy. She used this often to communicate with the Exile, though this may have been easy because of their bond.^[2]She also telepathically transmitted the word "Betrayal" to Atris when the Handmaiden broke her oath and learned the Jedi ways from the Exile. With this single word, she communicated to Atris all of Handmaiden's actions.^[2]

Absence in the Force

Kreia was rather proficient at using the Force to hide her presence from whomever she chose. Her skill with this ability was demonstrated on the Ebon Hawk as she whispered to Mical, making him believe he was hearing things, taunting at Jedi awareness that she thought would never cruise beyond what she allowed. She also used a variation of this ability that enabled her to be seen but remain entirely unnoticed, to cloud the memory of others so they would forget her presence or even her existence.^[2]

When the Exile asked Kreia why none of the Jedi Masters they encountered mentioned her, she lied to her, claiming that they perhaps did not remember or care. She described her ability as making herself "very small", a talent she claimed not to use on the Exile, and that was even more effective on the worlds where they traveled, where sensing Force-users was difficult.^[2]

On Dantooine, Jedi Master Vrook Lamar would speak of the Sith threat and their ability to mask their presence, but he did not believe that mere Force-cloaking techniques alone would be sufficient to hide the one responsible for what had befallen the Jedi. Eventually the Exile would learn more about this; when Kreia was revealed as one of the Lords of the Sith, Atris explained that much of the reason she succeeded in hiding her dark persona lay actually in the fact that the Force had been stripped from her.^[2]

Teachings

Among Kreia's allies were her students, Darths Sion and Nihilus, and the Jedi Exile. Even when she a Sith Lord, Kreia had some notion that neither the light nor dark side of the Force was truly superior to the other. Due to the fact her teachings incorporated light side concepts, Sion and Nihilus grew weary of her. They betrayed her, stripped her of powers, and exiled her. Darth Traya would refine her beliefs while wandering the galaxy, eventually coming to view the Force as being a sort of uncaring, insidious god that used the lives of sentients as pawns in a pernicious game of balance. This, she thought, was evidenced by the widespread occurrences of destruction and death that had persistently transpired throughout the galaxy to that point, many of which could be traced to a conflict between Force-sensitives. Yet, Traya blamed neither the Jedi nor the Sith, but rather, the very thing they had both come to draw and rely upon: the Force itself.^[2]

After being exiled from the Jedi Order when she was forced to shoulder the blame for Revan's corruption and again after she was exiled from Malachor V by her Sith students Sion and Nihilus, Darth Traya had experienced betrayals from, and saw the flaws of, both the light and dark sides of the Force. These unique experiences disillusioned her and forced her to refine her ways of thinking. When she heard about the Jedi Exile, she saw proof that life could exist without the Force, which she saw as disproof of the traditional dogma of both the Sith and Jedi that the Force and life itself were inseparable by nature. This renewed Traya's confidence in her personal beliefs and fueled her desire to learn more of the Exile's personal motivations.^[2]

By the end of her adventures with the Exile, during which time she went by the name of Kreia, Traya had discovered that certain tragedies could leave wounds in the Force, which sometimes made it difficult to hear and be used. These "echoes," as Traya called them, provided a possible avenue through which it was possible to attack the Force. Her discovery was due in no small part to the Exile, as her experience at Malachor V, where she cut herself off from the Force, created an echo large enough that Traya was able to connect the tragedy to the wound created in the Force. According to Traya, those who had chosen death, or the Jedi who chose the dark side, over a life devoid of the Force were not strong enough to deserve life. Her desire to prevent unnecessary death in the future was the overbearing motivation that cultivated her hatred for the Force.^[2]

Despite her loathing of the Force, she still used it; she explained it by comparing herself to one who uses poison. Just as such a person would strive to understand the lethality behind poison, so she strived to understand the particularities of the Force, thereby enabling her to destroy it. Traya envisioned a galaxy that would choose not to acquiesce to the will of the Force. She thought she could achieve this by showing how one could willingly abnegate the Force and eventually become stronger for it, and it was the Exile who was a living testament to this. In her teachings with the Jedi Exile, she emphasized how dependent the Jedi and Sith were on the Force, and how they had become flawed for it. By making the Exile her protégé, she hoped her message would resonate with future Force-sensitives so they would choose to use the Force without necessarily bending to either extreme, and certainly not to the point where they would choose death over life without the Force. Ultimately, though, she dreamed of a galaxy lacking of the Force altogether, as it was her belief that the galaxy would be better off that way.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Kreia was a character created by Obsidian Entertainment for the 2005 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.^[2] She was voiced by the actress Sara Kestelman.^[15] GameSpy declared Kreia to be the best video-game character of 2005.^[16] Kreia's Sith name, Traya, was derived from the word "betrayer".^[17] In both The New Essential Chronology^[18] and Jedi vs. Sith: Essential Guide to the Force^[19] Darth Traya was mistakenly referred to as being a separate person from an erroneously-named "Darth Kreia".

When the Exile encounters Kreia's apparation in the tomb of the ancient Sith Lord Ludo Kressh, she used a blue lightsaber. On Dxun, Kreia tells Mandalore the Preserver, "The future is always in motion, it is a difficult thing to see."^[2] This statement mirrors what Yoda said to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.^[20] If the Exile is dark-sided, there is an option to throw the deceased Traya into the Trayus Core.^[21] This scene mirrors Palpatine's first death aboard the second Death Star.^[22]

The entry for Kreia in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that she used a double-bladed lightsaber that used green crystals.^[9] However, in The Sith Lords, lightsabers are not available for use on Peragus, and Darth Sion cut off her left hand^[2], making it unlikely that she used a double-bladed lightsaber. After Kreia lost her left hand on Peragus, there are a few errors in her actions and movements while lacking it throughout the rest of the game, such as putting her left fist on her waist, holding her lightsaber in a two-handed grip, and using her Force powers in battle. Also, in the cutscene depicting Kreia's betrayal at the hands of Darths Sion and Nihilus, she is shown without her hand, though she did not lose it until years later.^[2]

Cut content

In unused dialogue and discarded plot events, Kreia revealed that she had been manipulating the mind of Atris for years, and through her orchestrated the Jedi Exile's trial and sentence. A single alternative line in the "Kreia's Fall" scene from the game revealed that the catalyst for Sion and Nihilus's betrayal was that Kreia decreed that the Jedi Exile was not to be harmed. After Kreia slew the three Jedi Masters on Dantooine, Visas would take Kreia before Nihilus instead of Atris if Brianna the Handmaiden was not part of the Exile's party,

The screenshot that shows Kreia with her hood removed was taken with a modified game; while such a scene never takes place in the game, it was supposed to take place during the Rebuilt Enclave scene, when Kreia reveals herself to the three Jedi Masters; however, in the official release, Kreia stays hooded due to a scripting glitch. This has been fixed by The Sith Lords Restoration Project developers. The official player's guide to the game showed that Kreia had actual dark side transitions, and that her alignment would change depending on the Exile's alignment and level of influence with her, like the rest of the crew.^[23] The decision to remove them and set Kreia's alignment to "true neutral" permanently must have been made late in production.

Kreia was not always intended to be the only Traya and final boss in the game. Before the content was cut out, the choices the Exile made could have her or Atris become Traya at the end. Screenshots of Atris as Darth Traya in the official strategy guide seem to support this notion.^[23] In that scenario, Kreia sacrifices her life to protect the Jedi Exile from her. However, those plot twists were cut out of the final release. The New Essential Chronology introduced even more confusion, as it mistakenly referred to "Darth Kreia" and "Darth Traya" as two separate characters.^[18] This error was later addressed by author Dan Wallace,^[24] but it was too late, as the book was already out. The error was again repeated in the book Jedi vs. Sith: Essential Guide to the Force.^[19]

A mysterious past

There is an ongoing dispute concerning true identity of Kreia. One theory holds that the Jedi Arren Kae and Kreia are the same person. While available material, cut or not, indicates that it may indeed have been Obsidian Entertainment's original intent, there is no conclusive evidence that could either prove or disprove this theory within Star Wars canon. The main source cited is that at one point in the game Mical the Disciple said that the first and also the last of the many trainers of Revan was Arren Kae,^[25] and at another point Kreia said she was the first and last trainer of Revan.^[14] When asked about the relationship between Kreia and Kae, Chris Avellone ambiguously responded "Can’t comment, but good catch. Sorry."^[26]

According to the game, Arren Kae is the mother of Brianna. Kreia only mentions her to the male Exile who chooses to romance the Echani Handmaiden. While Brianna herself never knew Kae, Kreia seemed to know much about her, but disapproved of speaking of this to Brianna, for the same reason Jedi separate children from their parents: because "family exerts a powerful influence on one's development." Brianna and Kreia share the same views on conflict and its effects, and while Brianna fought long to prove that she, unlike her parents, would not betray her oath, she eventually did when she asked the Jedi Exile to train her in the Jedi ways.^[27]

Others believed that Kreia was instead Krynda Draay, one of the prime antagonists in the recently published Knights of the Old Republic comic book series, which is set about a decade before the events of The Sith Lords. Commentators pointed to the numerous similarities between the two women: their amazing powers of prognostication, secluded lifestyles, distinctive appearance and profound belief in the virtues of Force Sight. Both were Jedi Sage Masters who before the Mandalorian Wars taught numerous apprentices using unorthodox philosophies, and through their teachings both were held responsible for the crimes and failures of their Padawans. However, this was not conclusive evidence, and the theory was never confirmed or denied by writer John Jackson Miller. The theory, however, is now impossible, due to Draay's death in the 34th issue of the series.^[28]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Sources

• "Heritage of the Sith" - Star Wars Insider 88
• Chronicles of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide
• The New Essential Chronology
• Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
• Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide

External links

•  Darth Traya in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia
•  Kreia in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and references

The companions of the Jedi Exile
Atton Rand · Bao-Dur · Brianna · Canderous Ordo · G0-T0 HK-47 · Kreia · Mical · Mira · T3-M4 · Visas Marr

Owner of the Ebon Hawk[1]
Unknown, eventually Revan[2] ← —3,951 BBY[1] Jedi Exile[1] →
Leader of the Sith triumvirate[1]
Darth Malak as Dark Lord of the Sith[2] ← 3,956 BBY–3,955 BBY[3] Darth Nihilus as Dark Lord of the Sith[1] →