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Scourge
Biographical information
Born	Well before 3,964 BBY[1]
Physical description
Species	Sith[1]
Gender	Male[1]
Height	≈ 2 meters[2]
Hair color	None[3]
Eye color	Red[3]
Skin color	Dark red[1]
Cybernetics	Significant cybernetic and biochemical enhancements[4]
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Old Republic era[1]
Affiliation	Sith Empire[1] Nathema conspiracy[1] Sith Emperor's power base[1] Hero of Tython[5]
Known masters	Revan (informal)[1][6]

[Source]

Scourge was a pureblood Sith male who served as a Sith Lord of the reconstituted Sith Empire and later the Emperor's Wrath, the personal enforcer of the Sith Emperor, before he allied with the Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython in order to prevent the Emperor from destroying the galaxy. Born several decades before the Jedi Civil War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire under the Sith Lord Darth Revan, Scourge excelled during his time as a student at the Sith Academy on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas. After two years of service in the outer reaches of the Empire, Scourge was recalled to Dromund Kaas in order to uncover the person responsible for the recent string of assassination attempts against Darth Nyriss of the Empire's ruling Dark Council.

Battling political intrigue and rivals in his search for the truth, Scourge was led to believe that Nyriss's fellow Dark Councilor Darth Xedrix was responsible, and he killed the Human Sith—only to learn how he was being manipulated by Nyriss. Nyriss revealed the existence of a conspiracy against the Emperor, showing the younger Sith how the Emperor had stripped the Force his homeworld Nathema and killed millions in order to become immortal. Convinced that the Emperor needed to be stopped, Scourge allied himself with the Jedi Masters Revan and Meetra Surik in order to confront the Emperor—but when he witnessed the future and saw that it was another Jedi who was destined to destroy the Emperor, Scourge turned on his allies to ensure his own survival.

Rendered immortal and appointed as the Emperor's Wrath, Scourge served the Emperor loyally for over three centuries, killing the Emperor's enemies and carrying out his will. It was not until renewed war began to break out between the Empire and the Republic that Scourge encountered the Hero of Tython, the Jedi from his vision, and set in motion his plans to aid the Jedi. Scourge watched as the Hero was forced to become a servant of the Emperor when a strike team of Jedi failed to capture the Sith ruler, but when the Knight broke free from the Emperor's control, Scourge betrayed the Sith to helped the Jedi escape. Pledging his loyalty to the Hero, Scourge aided the Knight and the Jedi's crew in foiling the Emperor's plans to repeat the dark side ritual that he had used to devastate Nathema but on a galactic scale. With Scourge's aid, the Hero defeated the Emperor's servants and battled the Sith ruler in a final confrontation, and Scourge was awarded the Republic's Cross of Glory for his role in stopping the Emperor's plans.

BiographyEdit

Early lifeEdit

The Sith pureblood Scourge was born several decades before the Jedi Civil War of 3,959–3,956 BBY, a conflict that pitted the Galactic Republic against the Sith Empire under the control of the Sith Lord Darth Revan. However, Scourge was born in the territory of the reconstituted Empire, which had been in hiding in the Unknown Regions for almost a thousand years.^[1] In his youth, Scourge was often threatened with fearsome legends of the Jedi when he was disobedient, leading him to become a strong believer in the idea that the Jedi Order would gladly exterminate the Sith if given the chance again.^[7] Found to be Force-sensitive in 3,964 BBY, Scourge was sent to the Empire's capital planet of Dromund Kaas, where he was enrolled in the Sith Academy as a young acolyte. Upon arriving on Dromund Kaas, the young Scourge sensed the power of the dark side that emanated from the Imperial Citadel, the structure that housed the the Imperial government and the Empire's ruling Dark Council, and he swore to himself that he would one day set foot inside the building.^[1] At some point, Scourge also fell in love with another individual, though the relationship did not proceed very far.^[8]

Scourge spent eight years at the Academy, leaning the ways of the Force, showing a knack for interrogation and torture early on in his time at the Academy. One of the top students, Scourge was praised for both his strength in the Force and his devotion to Sith philosophy, and he drew upon the dark side power within the Citadel to sustain himself during training sessions. By the end of his time at the Academy, Scourge was considered to be a master in the art of interrogation, but his hopes for a posting on the Imperial capital were quashed when he was unexpectedly assigned to the fringes of the Empire in order to quell a series of rebellions there in 3,956 BBY. Scourge suspected that one of his instructors had recommended him for the posting out of jealousy or spite, but he was unable to prove his theory. Despite his posting, however, Scourge was able to craft a powerful reputation by crushing the resistance groups and pursuing their leaders, earning the attention of several influential figures in the Imperial Military.^[1]

In Nyriss's serviceEdit

Political machinationsEdit

In 3,954 BBY, Scourge was granted the title of Sith Lord, and he was ordered to return to Dromund Kaas at the personal request of Darth Nyriss, one of the Dark Council's most senior members. Given the assignment of discovering who was behind the recent string of assassination attempts against Nyriss, Scourge arrived in Kaas City and was greeted by Nyriss's aide Sechel—a Sith pureblood whose paltry strength in the Force earned Scourge's immediate disgust. Brushing aside Sechel's servile attempts to placate him, Scourge ordered the aide to bring him to Darth Nyriss's stronghold, and the two set off through the rain was constantly falling on Dromund Kaas. However, two mercenaries refused to get out of Scourge's way, as was expected of the Subjugate caste within the Empire, and it was only Sechel's hurried attempts to get them to move aside that prevented Scourge from having the two Humans arrested. However, as Sechel drove Scourge to Nyriss's compound in a speeder, the Sith Lord grew confused as to why Nyriss had not sent an entire honor guard to receive him, as his presence would be a public statement that the attempts on her life were being dealt with.^[1]

Upon reaching Nyriss's stronghold, Scourge was enraged when her chief of security, a Human named Murtog, refused to allow him entry until he confirmed Scourge's identity. Furious, Scourge gripped Sechel by the throat with the Force and interrogated him as to the reasons behind Murtog's impudence, only to learn that he had been misinformed—Nyriss had not requested Scourge's presence, the Sith Emperor himself had. Scourge's assignment was viewed as an intrusion by Nyriss and her subordinates. The Sith Lord was considering his new situation when he became aware of an approaching speeder and sensed a threat through the Force. Drawing his lightsaber, Scourge reached out to the newcomers and confirmed his suspicions—they were coming to kill him—before he was forced to leap aside in order to avoid blasterfire. Using the Force to augment his speed, Scourge raced across the entrance courtyard of Nyriss's compound in order to avoid the speeder's automated blaster cannon before disabling the weapon with a toss of his lightsaber. Avoiding a falling statue that had been damaged by his attackers, Scourge then charged the downed speeder only to recognize the same two mercenaries from earlier. The Sith leapt to avoid one of the mercenaries's blaster fire and killed the second attacker by slicing him in half, though his attempt to charge the first mercenary saw him struck by several blaster bolts.^[1]

Despite this, Scourge fed off of the pain and used it to strike the female mercenary with the Force, sending her flying into one of the courtyard statues. The woman recovered quickly enough to draw an electrorod before Scourge could reach her, and the two began to circle each other as the Sith offered to hire her if she told him who had arranged for the attack. However, the mercenary was suddenly killed by Murtog and several security guards, who had just arrived in the courtyard. Murtog then informed Scourge that Darth Nyriss would now receive him, and the Human led the Sith Lord through Nyriss's stronghold as Scourge ignored the pain from his recent wounds. Ignoring Sechel's running commentary on the artwork present in the building, Scourge began to contemplate the reasoning behind the attempt on his life, and he came to realize any number of parties might be responsible—a jealous rival, Sechel, Murtog, or any combination of the three. Scourge's musings were ended when the group arrived at Nyriss's chambers, and the Sith was surprised to discover how much of a toll the dark side had taken on the Dark Councilor's physical form.^[1]

Nyriss informed Scourge that she was impressed with how he had handled the mercenaries, and the elder Sith dismissed both Murtog and Sechel after Scourge made it clear that Murtog's killing of the female mercenary had been a mistake. Once they were alone, he explained his suspicions as to who had hired the assassins, but Nyriss surprised him by revealing she had arranged the attack as a test for him. The Dark Councilor then informed her new vassal of a lead that he could follow up on in the investigation of who was trying to kill her—the droid used in the latest attempt had been traced to the Uxiol Droid Manufacturing plant on the planet Hallion. Nyriss wanted Scourge to accompany Sechel to the plant so that Sechel could hack into the facility's computer systems, but the two would not depart for several days. Dismissed from Nyriss's presence, Scourge was escorted to his own room in the compound by Secheol, where he received treatment from a medical droid for his shoulder.^[1]

Searching for answersEdit

By the time they arrived at Hallion, Scourge had learned that Sechel's previous persona of a servile aide had been nothing more than a ruse; the man was actually an accomplished former operative of Imperial Intelligence. However, Sechel's mission planning failed to account for the three-meter high security fence that surrounded the Uxiol plant, and the error only served to exacerbate Scourge's growing sense of uneasiness. Despite this, Scourge proceeded with the mission and leapt the fence in a single bound, relying on the Force to lift him the extra centimeters necessary to avoid the electrified metal, and after ensuring he was not being watched Scourge headed for the nearby gate to let Sechel in. Dispatching the single patrol drone guarding the gate, the Sith Lord let Sechel into the compound, and the two broke into the plant itself.^[1]

However, Sechel was unable to open the door to the records room, and a frustrated Scourge destroyed the security panel with his lightsaber—only to trigger a facility-wide alarm that drew the attention of more patrol drones. Scourge charged the first two drones to appear and quickly destroyed them, and then dispatched another probe droid with a toss of his lightsaber before smashing a fourth second into the floor with the Force repeatedly. However, Scourge was then confronted with a three-meter-tall UDM assault droid equipped with two heavy blaster cannons, and the Sith Lord was forced to find cover as it opened fire and charged. Making use of the manufacturing plant's catwalks, Scourge ascended the room and was spared further attacks from the assault drone on account of the droid's limited range of mobility.^[1]

Scourge took advantage of that reprieve to dispatch two of the five patrol drones following him by using the Force to make them collide, sending both crashing down into one of the nearby vats of molten metal. The Sith then raced along the catwalk until he was above the assault droid and leaped down onto the top of it, chopping into the armor plating with his lightsaber. Tossed off of the droid, Scourge attacked his opponent on its blind side, cutting deep into the droid with two strikes before it lashed out with one of its legs—a blow that cracked several of Scourge's ribs and sent him crashing to the ground. However, he recovered quickly enough to get underneath the droid before it resumed firing, and he dealt his opponent two more strikes to its underside that sent the droid toppling to the ground.^[1]

Scourge's satisfaction was cut short as a swarm of patrol drones entered the room alongside two more assault droids, but the Sith was prepared to go down fighting when the room suddenly went dark. Using his night goggles, Scourge realized that the entire factory had been shut down, and he contacted Sechel to find out what had happened. The other man reported that he had copied the files they were looking for before shutting down the facility's power grid. However, Sechel warned him that the trivium generators that powered the vats had been destabilized, and the pair raced out of the building just in time to avoid the massive explosion that destroyed the factory just as they passed through the perimeter fence. Injured, but able to walk, Scourge and Sechel limped back to their shuttle and departed Hallion, returning to Darth Nyriss's compound on Dromund Kaas.^[1]

Over the next week, Scourge's wounds were healed by daily doses of kolto, but the Sith Lord was angry with himself at how the mission to Hallion had gone awry. Scourge was practicing lightsaber combat in the courtyard when Darth Nyriss's Twi'lek slave came to bring him to Nyriss, and as they walked to Nyriss's chambers, he contemplated whether or not Sechel had tried to kill him in the factory on Hallion—the fact that Sechel had not contacted Scourge to warn him about the trivium generators, as well as Sechel's assurances that UDM did not possess assault droids, led Scourge to suspect that Nyriss's aide had tried to kill him. During his meeting with Nyriss, Scourge was irritated when the elder Sith had him recite the Sith Code and then reprimanded him on his lack of understanding of the basic Sith tenets. Nyriss continued her lecture by explaining that Scourge had what she described as a "special gift"—the ability to draw strength from living opponents by gorging himself on their emotions, amplifying his powers beyond the normal levels of a Sith. However, as Nyriss explained, Scourge's ability came with a drawback, as he weakened himself by trying to feed off of the emotions of droids in combat.^[1]

Thanking Nyriss for her counsel, Scourge listened as the Dark Councilor discussed Sechel's findings at Bosthirda. Her aide had traced the payment for the custom assassin droid used against her to a Human separatist movement on the planet Bosthirda, which was a long-standing member world of the Empire. The two discussed the possible reasoning behind the attacks on her life, and why the separatists would target her instead of the Human Darth Xedrix, who had served on the Council longer than she had. Nyriss then announced that she would be sending Sechel, Scourge, Murtog, and her soldiers to Bosthirda that night in order to wipe out the separatists and find out more information. Despite his reservations about Sechel, Scourge bowed to Nyriss and departed the room in order to prepare.^[1]

Testing limitsEdit

As Bosthirda's sun began to set, Scourge waited in the alleyways of Jerunga, the planet's capital, while surveying the separatists' base in a two-story building. When night finally fell, Murtog contacted Scourge via his comlink, informing the Sith that his team was in position. Scourge ordered the soldier to wait until his signal so that he could disable the cameras, and he brushed off Sechel's attempts to taunt him before ordering Murtog to keep Secehl out of the fighting. The Sith Lord then crept around a nearby building and climbed the utility ladder to the roof, where he leapt the ten meters across the street onto the roof of the separatists' building. Rolling to his feet, Scourge drew his lightsaber and dispatched the four security cameras with telekinesis, and then ordered Murtog's soldiers to make their move. Waiting until they had begun to launch their flash-bangs and stun grenades into the building, Scourge crossed the rooftop to the hatch down into the building—just before a pair of separatists climbed out of the hatch.^[1]

Cutting down the first separatist with his saber, Scourge grabbed the second Human by his collar and hurled him off of the rooftop, feeding off of the young man's fear. Scourge then leapt down through the hatch into the second floor's wide open room and in the midst of twenty unprepared separatists. The Sith Lord proceed to butcher the Humans, slashing with his lightsaber and using the Force to send bodies frlying into the walls. Savoring the terror and confusion of his opponents, Scourge cut down the only two women who attempted to fight back, and both Scourge's battle and the soldiers' battle were over in a matter of minutes. But when the Sith Lord ordered Murtog to bring in Sechel, he was furious to learn that the two were already in the building despite his orders. Finding the two in the building's command center, Scourge expressed his fury at Sechel and Murtog, though an amused Sechel explained that he had entered the building in order to ensure that he could retrieve information from the separatists' computers before they deleted anything. Scourge let the matter drop for the time so that they could examine Sechel's findings, and the three were surprised to find a partial recording of a communication between the separatists and the Dark Councilor Darth Xedrix. Scourge then ordered Murtog and his soldiers to load up all of the computer terminals so that Sechel could get better results back on Dromund Kaas, and the team departed for the Imperial capital not long afterwards.^[1]

Sechel, Scourge, and Murtog were greeted by Nyriss's personal slave upon their return to the palace, and Scourge's attempt to have Sechel work on the datafiles was countermanded by the Twi'lek slave, who informed the Sith Lord that Nyriss wished to speak with all three of them. However, when the trio began to discuss Xedrix's treachery with the Dark Councilor, Scourge felt confident enough in his analysis to voice his opinion that Xedrix's betrayal did not seem legitimate. Nyriss assured him that Xedrix had more than enough reason to betray the Emperor and the Dark Council, but Scourge was uncomfortable to learn that she had no intention to report Xedrix's treachery to the Emperor. Nyriss then proposed that Scourge himself assassinate Xedrix, and when the Sith Lord sensed Scourge's reluctance, she dismissed Sechel and Murtog in order to speak with him privately. The Dark Councilor then explained how Xedrix's age and infirmity were weaknesses that Scourge could take advantages of, and the younger Sith gradually came to the decision to accept Nyirss's proposal in order to test himself and gain prestige.

Some time later, Scourge was waiting in a cave on Bosthirda for the arrival of Darth Xedrix, with whom Sechel had arranged a meeting by posing as the separatist leaders in his message. Scourge had been waiting almost an hour when Xedrix finally arrived with two Sith acolytes. When Xedrix passed Scourge's hiding place, the Sith pureblood struck at the elder Human, and Scourge found that he was unable to draw on Xedrix's emotions because the Dark Councilor's emotions were too controlled. Drawing on his own emotions to fuel his strength, Scourge prepared to fight Xedrix and his acolytes, but was surprised when Xedrix backed away and let his subordinates fight alone. Scourge drew further strength from his opponents as he ducked the female's attack and parried the male's low strike with his lightsaber. Rolling between the two acolytes, Scourge took advantage of their inexperience and delivered a kick to the man's knee before attempting to land a killing blow—only to have the woman throw herself in front and block the attack. Realizing that the female acolyte cared for the male acolyte, Scourge changed from the defensive Soresu lightsaber form to the acrobatic and offensive Ataru form.^[1]

Leaping at the cavern wall and pushing off into a spinning flip over the male acolyte, Scourge exploited the woman's attempt to protect the other acolyte and tricked her into colliding with the man in the limited space of the tunnel. When the two fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs, Scourge killed the woman by stamping on her face and then dispatched his second opponent with a toss of his lightsaber that decapitated the stunned acolyte. Scourge then turned to face Xedrix, trading banter with the elder Sith before realizing that Xedrix was charging up a massive storm of Force lightning. Scourge was unable to block the entire attack, which severely injured the Sith and threw him to the floor, and Xedrix gloated about how Nyriss was manipulating Scourge as his opponent struggled to rise to his feet. But suddenly, Scourge realized that Xedrix was manipulating him as well—the Dark Councilor had used all of his power in that one attack. Marching forward, Scourge snorted in contempt when Xedrix began to beg for his life, and he sliced the Dark Lord from shoulder to hip with a single strike before decapitating Xedrix in order to keep his head as proof for Nyriss. However, Scourge sensed the truth in Xedrix's words about Nyriss, and he decided to corner Sechel in order to gain answers.^[1]

Conspiracy revealedEdit

Returning to Nyriss's estate, Scourge proceeded to sneak into Sechel's room and placed his hand over the aide's mouth. He proceeded to interrogate Sechel, cutting off the man's facial tendrils when he did not answer Scourge's questions. From Sechel, he learned that Xedrix had not been behind the assassination attempts and that Nyriss herself had hired the assassins—but further questioning were forestalled when Nyriss herself entered the room. Taking Scourge to her chambers, Nyriss promised to answer his questions, but asked him whether he was loyal to the Empire—and informed him that the Emperor himself was not loyal to the Empire. According to Nyriss, the Emperor intended to start another war with the Republic, and she revealed that she and Xedrix had been part of an conspiracy to unseat the Emperor. The assassination attempts against herself had been to draw suspicion away from the conspiracy, and Xedrix had been sacrificed in order to distance the group from the separatist movement and keep the alliance secret. The Dark Councilor then explained that she was telling all of this to Scourge so that he could join their cause—though if he refused, he would be implicated in the conspiracy itself and was thus unable to reveal its existence. In order to ensure that Scourge truly believed in their cause, Nyriss announced that she would take him to Nathema, the Emperor's homeworld, so that he could see the Emperor's crimes for himself.^[1]

A week later, Nyriss and Scourge boarded a private shuttle and departed Dromund Kaas for the remote planet of Nathema. During their journey, Nyriss relayed the story of the Emperor to Scourge: how the Emperor had been born in 5,113 BBY as Tenebrae, the illegitimate child of Lord Dramath of the planet Medriaas, and how he had murdered his mother and adoptive father at the age of six. Tenebrae conquered Medriaas's northern continent over the next four years before he killed Lord Dramath, and he was appointed Lord Vitiate, ruler of Medriaas—which he renamed Nathema—by the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, Marka Ragnos. A century later, as the first Empire collapsed in the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War, Vitiate had convinced thousands of Sith Lords to join him in a ritual of Sith magic on Nathema. However, the ritual had stripped the Force itself from Nathema, killing every living thing on the world and rendering Vitiate immortal.^[1]

Scourge was skeptical of the truth of Nyriss's story, though the Dark Councilor told him that he would see for himself when they arrived on Nathema. When they finally arrived in the Nathema system, Scourge realized that the star system lacked the Force—and the alien sensation grew only stronger as they approached the planet. On the surface, Scourge was horrified by the overwhelming sensation of death that surrounded them, and he came to truly understand why Nyriss and her fellow Councilors had decided to oppose the Emperor—if the Sith ruler had his way, all life would be snuffed out, and the galaxy itself would be wiped from existence. Scourge fought the urge to vomit as they lifted off from Nathema, but as his ability to sense the Force returned, both he and Nyriss became aware of a strong presence in the Force. Locating a newly-arrived ship, Nyriss fired the shuttle's ion cannon at the light freighter and sent it crashing into Nathema's surface.^[1]

Returning to Nathema's surface, the two Sith scanned the crashed freighter and Nyriss dispatched Scourge to search the interior of the ship after she detected a life-form. Scourge discovered an unconscious man of about forty in brown robes in the cockpit, and he was astonished to see that he carried a lightsaber. Taking the weapon, Scourge carried the man out of the wrecked ship and to Nyriss, who recognized him as Revan—a Jedi. Revan and his friend Malak had discovered Dromund Kaas five years ago, but they had been captured and supposedly executed by the Emperor. Nyriss and Scourge realized that the Emperor must have let them go for some reason, and the Dark Councilor decided that they would take Revan back to her stronghold for interrogation.^[1]

Scourge and Nyriss imprisoned Revan in one of the cells beneath Nyriss's fortress, and Scourge was placed in charge of his interrogation when the man finally awoke. Nyriss was surprised to realize that Revan's memory had been wiped since he had last been on Dromund Kaas, and Scourge utilized an interrogation droid to aid him over the next four hours before he was ordered to take a break by Nyriss. When questioned as to how much longer it would take to break Revan, Scourge admitted that there wouldn't be a purpose—Revan lacked the information they sought. Despite this, Nyriss ordered Scourge to continue his interrogation of Revan, as she sought to learn how the Jedi had broken free from the Emperor's mental control so that she could break the Emperor's control over his servants, such as the Emperor's Hand and the Imperial Guard.^[1]

Over the next three years, Scourge continued to question Revan, learning that the Jedi's mind had been wiped by the Jedi High Council and that he had come to Nathema in order to recover his lost memories. Nyriss had lost interest in Revan after six months, but Scourge had gradually become obsessed with the Jedi prisoner—Revan's incredible strength in the Force was palpable even through he was constantly drugged, and his unique perspective on the Force, having utilized both the light and the dark sides, made Scourge eager to learn from the Jedi. Over the years, Scourge utilized his expertise at interrogation to take advantage of Revan's isolation, gradually building a relationship with his prisoner and learning bits and pieces of Revan's knowledge of the Force. Revan manipulated Scourge in return, and upon learning that Nyriss and Scourge wanted to overthrow the Emperor, and the Jedi had gradually worked to build trust with his captoir. Scourge was also sent on missions for Nyriss, and the Dark Councilor had quickly realized not to send Scourge and Sechel on assignments together.^[1]

Enemies and alliesEdit

Allying with the JediEdit

In 3,950 BBY, Scourge was making yet another visit to Revan, for whom he had developed a great deal of respect, and he admitted to Revan that he was frustrated with Nyriss's refusal to take action against the Emperor. During their conversation, Revan implied that he might be an ally against the Emperor, but his clumsy attempt was too obvious to Scourge and the Sith Lord laughed openly at the suggestion. However, Scourge was interested when Revan claimed to have witnessed a vision that he would be freed soon, and Scourge's curiosity was only heightened by Revan's cryptic warnings. Curious but irritated, Scourge departed the prison cell.^[1]

However, Revan's words continued to haunt Scourge almost a week later, and he was contemplating Revan's proposal of an alliance in his quarters when Sechel knocked on the door. Barring the other Sith pureblood entry to his quarters, Scourge listened as Sechel informed him that he had met with a Human woman earlier in the Nexus Room cantina. The woman had a hologram of Scourge and was searching for the Sith Lord, but when Sechel refused to come into Scourge's quarters to further discuss the matter, Scourge briefly grasped Sechel's throat with the Force to give him incentive to finish his story. The woman wished to meet Scourge in person, but Sechel suggested that Scourge take Murtog and his soldiers along to the meeting. Realizing that Sechel had backed him into a corner—he couldn't refuse the meeting, as he had to deal with the woman in case she was a threat—Scourge accepted Sechel's proposal and told him to set up the meeting.^[1]

At the cave which was the arranged meeting place, Murtog and three soldiers attempted to capture the woman and her utility droid as Scourge waited in the back of the cave, but the woman—actually a Jedi named Meetra Surik—quickly defeated the four soldiers while Scourge watched in silence. When Surik began to cautiously approach him, Scourge realized that Revan had been telling the truth about his freedom, and he explained that Revan had told him of her coming. Surik demanded that Scourge to tell her where Revan was being captured, but Scourge countered by offering to take her and her droid to see Revan. However, the woman refused, believing the offer to be a trap, forcing Scourge to explain that he wanted to work with Revan and the Jedi against the Emperor. When he learned that the Jedi had been to Nathema, Scourge informed her of the world's history, and he promised to return with proof of his story the next day.^[1]

Taking his speeder back to Kaas City, Scourge immediately began calculating what he had to do to ensure Sechel's silence. Locating the adviser at the Nexus Room, Scourge sent a young slave to tell Sechel that Murtog wanted to meet with him, and he then hid himself in a nearby alleyway until Sechel left the cantina. Scourge followed the adviser for several blocks until Sechel arrived at a small apartment building, and the Sith Lord cut his way into the building in order to pursue Sechel. Upon finding Sechel in one of the upper suites, Scourge struck the adviser in his windpipe before he could make a sound and warned the man to remain quiet. After confirming that Nyriss remained unaware of the meeting between Scourge and the Jedi, and that Scourge had approximately three days before the Dark Councilor realized Murtog was dead, Scourge demanded Sechel's files on the conspirators—and once the adviser had retrieved a set of data disks from a wall safe, Scourge broke Sechel's neck with his bare hands.^[1]

Returning to the cave where Surik was waiting, Scourge gave the files to her droid T3-M4 in order to prove his sincerity, and then promised to return in another three hours. When he finally returned, the Jedi informed Scourge that she believed him, but the Sith Lord announced that he would be unable to free Revan with only Surik's help. However, Scourge had a plan: he was going to enlist the aid of the Emperor himself by revealing the conspiracy. Traveling to the Imperial Citadel, Scourge demanded an audience with the Emperor from the two members of the Imperial Guard who stood at the Citadel's entrance, claiming that he possessed information on a threat to the Emperor himself. Scourge was then escorted into the depths of the Citadel by Captain Yarri of the Guard, though he almost started a brawl with some of the Guard when Yarri denied his request for an audience with the Emperor. The Sith Lord was finally able to convince the woman to take him to the Emperor, and though she warned him that he would pay with his life if the information was not worth disturbing the Emperor, she brought him to the Sith ruler's throne room.^[1]

Scourge was unnerved over the Guardsmen's apparent lack of concern over allowing an armed Sith Lord speak with the Emperor alone, as their evident trust in the Emperor's immense power sparked doubt in Scourge's mind as to whether or not they could truly defeat the Sith ruler. Steeling himself, Scourge entered the throne room and approached the Emperor's throne, which swiveled around to face the Sith as he crossed the enormous chamber. As the Emperor rose to his feet, the doors swung shut behind Scourge, and the Sith Lord dropped to one knee upon reaching the foot of the throne's dais. It took Scourge several moments before he could overcome his hesitation and fear in order to speak to the Emperor, but he gave the Emperor a brief summary of his service to Darth Nyriss over the last few years. The Emperor's voice gave Scourge further pause, as it seemed to be composed a great number of voices speaking in harmony, but he continued speaking and delivered an altered version of recent events: that Scourge had killed Sechel because he had been allied with the separatists.^[1]

However, the Emperor made it clear to Scourge that such a story was beneath his concern, forcing Scourge to come to the point quickly. Handing over Sechel's data disks—which had been altered to remove evidence of his involvement—he informed the Emperor of the existence of Nyriss's conspiracy. Though the Emperor did not visibly react, the air around him seemed to grow cold, and the Emperor briefly questioned Scourge further before telepathically summoning Captain Yarri and a Sith to take the disks from Scourge. When the Emperor ordered Captain Yarri to take Scourge in custody, Scourge quickly told the Sith ruler that Nyriss was expecting his return, and though the Emperor allowed him to leave, he briefly touched Scourge's mind with his own consciousness, and Scourge collapsed in agony at the mental contact. Recovering only moments later, Scourge was then escorted out of the Citadel by Captain Yarri, who informed him that the traitors on the Dark Council would be purged by the Imperial Guard if Scourge's information was correct. Yarri promised that the Guard would be ordered not to harm Scourge, but warned the Sith Lord to stay out of the way just to be safe.^[1]

Rescuing RevanEdit

A day later, Scourge, Surik, and T3-M4 made their move to free Revan. Surik posed as Scourge's newly-purchased slave and T3-M4 as his droid, and the trio entered Nyriss's stronghold without incident—though a guard informed Scourge that Nyriss was searching for Murtog and Sechel. Concerned, Scourge informed Surik that he would likely have to meet with Nyriss in order to allay her suspicions, but the Jedi refused to let him out of her sight, and the two had begun to argue about Surik's suggestion that they free Revan immediately when the entire fortress was rocked by an explosion. Realizing the Imperial Guard had begun their attack, the trio raced to the dungeons amidst the battle, though Scourge pulled Surik out of the way when they encountered a group of attacking Guardsmen. True to Yarri's word, the Guard ignored Scourge and his companions, and the two soon reached the dungeons.^[1]

However, Scourge's passcode did not work, as the system was in emergency lockdown, and he ordered T3-M4 to slice into the door as quickly as possible because he believed that Revan's guards had been ordered to execute him. Fortunately for Revan, the Jedi had convinced his guards to surrender, and Scourge and Surik encountered no opposition upon entering the dungeons. Scourge was astonished to learn that Revan had promised to protect his guards, but when the Jedi nearly collapsed on account of the drugs in his system, Scourge set aside his disbelief and retrieved the antidote for Revan. However, Revan collapsed into unconsciousness when Surik returned Revan's mask to him, as it caused his memories to return and overwhelm him.^[1]

Scourge and Surik had little time to worry, however, when T3-M4 detected someone approaching. At Scourge's orders, Revan's guards retrieved their weapons and scouted the stairway, but the two were killed by a blast of Force lightning when Darth Nyriss herself descended into the dungeons. The furious Dark Councilor laughed when Surik emerged from Revan's cell with her lightsaber drawn, and Nyriss unleashed another blast of lightning that the two dodged before she drew her own lightsaber and leapt into battle with them. The Dark Lord of the Sith proved more than a match for her opponents, and after their bout ended with her throwing the two across the room with the power of the Force, Nyriss approached her fallen enemies and prepared to unleash a storm of lighting that would kill them.^[1]

However, Revan emerged from his cell just at that moment, intercepting Nyriss's lightning with his bare hands before he redirected it against her and literally incinerated the Sith. Astonished by Revan's immense power, Scourge became confident in his choice to ally with the Jedi against the Emperor, and he handed Revan his lightsaber before the four of them raced out of Nyriss's crumbling fortress to his waiting landspeeder. The group fled back to the same cave where Scourge and Surik had first met, and Scourge dropped the two Jedi and T3-M4 off before he returned to Kaas City in order to learn more about the Emperor's attack against the conspirators.^[1]

In Kaas City, Scourge was surprised to learn that not only Nyriss, but all twelve members of the Council—including the seven Councilors who had not been part of the conspiracy—had been killed. The Emperor had summoned nine of the Councilors to the Citadel, excluding Nyriss and the two traitors whom he had believed would not respond to his summons, and killed them mere hours before he sent the Imperial Guard to assault the other three Councilors. Riots had broken out across city, causing the Emperor to declare martial law and a curfew that was enforced by the Imperial Guard. The Emperor had also effectively quarantined the planet, forbidding any ships to land on or depart from Dromund Kaas and also shutting down all offworld communications.^[1]

When he returned to the cave a few hours later, Scourge found Revan and Surik watching a hologram of a Human woman and her child, but T3-M4 quickly shut off the recording when Scourge approached. Curious, Scourge questioned Revan as to their identity, and was surprised to learn that it had been his wife and son. However, Scourge quickly realized that though they were allies, he and Revan were not friends, and he let the matter drop before explaining his findings. Revan then explained his own findings, as he had been examining his newly-returned memories, and he told both Surik and Scourge about how he and Malak had been tricked by a member of the Imperial Guard into a trap where the Emperor crushed their wills and turned them into puppets. The two had been sent back as Sith Lords in order to form the vanguard of his invasion, and they had been ordered to report back once they had achieved victory—but Revan and Malak had broken free of the Emperor's control and pursued power for themselves.^[1]

Realizing that Surik believed that Scourge would betray them, he assured his allies that his contact with the Emperor's mind and the devastation of Nathema had convinced him that the Emperor needed to be stopped. When Surik adopted a horrified look later in their discussion, Scourge misread her expression as disbelief, leading Surik to explain what she was really thinking: with the planetary quarantine, the Emperor might be planning to repeat the Nathema ritual on Dromund Kaas. However, Revan dissented, believing that Dromund Kaas was too vital for the Emperor's plans for him to repeat the ritual. Scourge then proposed that they strike at the Emperor at dawn, as the Imperial Guard were stretched thin enforcing the curfew, and the three settled down to try and sleep.^[1]

Scourge was unable to meditate as his Jedi companions did, though he attempted to center himself and open his mind to the Force, just as Revan had spoken of earlier. His attempts brought on a vision of their upcoming battle in which the three of them lay defeated at the Emperor's feet, and the vision ended with the Emperor placing his hand upon Scourge's forehead and causing him to scream in terror and pain. Snapping back to reality, Scourge considered the vision's implications and ultimately decided to speak with Revan in order to gain answers as to its meaning. Approaching the Jedi Master, who was once again watching the hologram of his family, Scourge began to question him about the nature of Force visions, and he was surprised to learn that Revan's "vision" of Surik earlier had been a bluff. Revan admitted that he did have a vision of Surik almost right afterwards, and Scourge continued to question Revan about the future and the Force while also working to keep his own vision secret from the Jedi.^[1]

The pair's discussion soon turned to the light and dark sides of the Force, and Scourge was outraged to learn that Revan had accepted the possibility that they would fail—but the Jedi believed that even if they failed, their efforts would still halt the Emperor's efforts. Revan then spoke of his belief that the Force would bring forth another champion to stop the Emperor if they failed, and a confused Scourge spent the next several hours struggling to make sense of his vision as he waited for dawn.^[1]

Confronting the EmperorEdit

When the sky began to brighten slightly, signifying that the sun had begun to rise behind the perpetual storm clouds in Dromund Kaas's sky, the two Jedi, Scourge, and T3-M4 departed their cave. The four rode Scourge's speeder through the drizzling rain to Kaas City in silence, as Surik had gone into what she called a warrior's trance and Revan was thinking of his past. Scourge parked the speeder on the edges of the city, and the four of them evaded the Imperial Guardsmen patrolling the streets as they made their way to the Imperial Citadel. Warning his companions to let him do the talking, Scourge led the others up the steps to the entrance to the Emperor's wing of the building, but they were suddenly confronted by a number of Guardsmen who ordered them to surrender for breaking the curfew. Scourge demanded a meeting with the Emperor, and one of the Guardsmen grudgingly allowed the four to enter the Citadel but called for the captain to meet them at the throne room.^[1]

However, the captain was nowhere to be found when they reached the throne room, and Scourge demanded that the Guardsmen allow him entry—but before they could do so, Captain Yarri arrived and ordered Scourge's companions to step away from the entrance. When Revan turned around to face Yarri, she recognized him, for she was the same Guard who had lured him and Malak into a trap years earlier, and the hallway erupted into battle. While Revan, Surik, and T3-M4 began to battle the Guardsmen, Scourge drew his lightsaber and engaged Captain Yarri in combat. The woman quickly realized she was at a disadvantage and adopted a defensive style to ward off Scourge until another Guard joined her in the fighting, forcing Scourge to defend himself from two attackers as he backed into the throne room after Revan broke open the doors.^[1]

Scourge was briefly distracted by thoughts of his vision when he realized Revan had not come to his and Surik's aid, allowing Yarri to score a blow on his right shoulder with her electrostaff and forcing him to switch his blade to his left hand. Once all four allies were in the throne room itself, T3-M4 began sealing the doors with an adhesive used to repair starships as Scourge and Surik battled Yarri and the three remaining Guardsmen. Calling on the dark side, Scourge overwhelmed his second opponent with a pair of powerful strikes, and he quickly wounded Yarri with a blow to her hip after a series of four moves left her right side unprotected. Dispatching the second Guard with a sweeping slash across his chest, Scourge stomped on Yarri's hand before decapitating his fallen opponent.^[1]

Answering Surik's cry for them to aid Revan, Scourge spun to find that Revan was losing his battle against the Emperor. The Emperor's storm of lightning had overwhelmed the Jedi, and T3-M4 had been destroyed by the Sith. Surik threw her lightsaber, knocking Revan's own weapon from the Emperor's hands and preventing him from killing Revan—but Scourge realized that had she aimed for the Emperor, she would have killed the Sith at the expense of her friend's life. As the Sith Lord joined Surik next to a recovered Revan, the Emperor expressed his disappointment with Scourge, but Scourge's mind became filled with thousands of possible futures as Revan spoke to their opponent. Overwhelmed and unable to decide what course of action to take, Scourge suddenly experienced a moment of clarity in which he foresaw a powerful young Jedi standing victorious above a fallen Emperor—but it was neither Revan and Jedi.^[1]

Realizing what he needed to do, Scourge stepped behind Surik and slid his lightsaber between her shoulders. A shocked Revan quickly fell to the Emperor's lightning, and Scourge fell to his knee before the Emperor. When questioned, Scourge lied that he had lured the two Jedi into a confrontation with the Emperor, as he had been unable to defeat them alone, and he had killed Surik in order to prove his loyalty. At the Emperor's command, Scourge ripped off Revan's helmet and prepared to kill the unconscious Jedi, though the Emperor stopped Scourge's blade before he could perform the act and informed the Sith Lord that the Jedi could still be of use. Bowing low, Scourge reminded the Emperor of his loyalty before departing.^[1]

Against the EmperorEdit

Wrath of the EmperorEdit

Days later, Scourge was rewarded by the Emperor by appointing him the Emperor's Wrath, the Emperor's personal enforcer and executioner. Additionally, the Emperor performed a scientific and alchemical version of the immortality ritual upon Scourge, rendering him immortaly as well—but the gift of immortality came with a cost. Scourge would suffer intense and unending pain for the rest of his life, and he would eventually become immune to the pain, sacrificing his emotions, senses, and humanity for power and eternal life.^[1]

Over the next three centuries, Scourge served the Emperor faithfully, bringing the Emperor's fury to bear upon his enemies as the Wrath. Scourge eliminated hundreds of ambitious Sith in his career,^[9] and the Wrath was dispatched to kill those Jedi whom the Emperor believed were growing to powerful in the decades before Empire returned to the larger galaxy in 3,681 BBY. Even the members of the Dark Council had many theories on how Scourge managed to endure well beyond his natural lifespan, and some lesser Sith believed that "Scourge" was actually a title—that the role of the Emperor's Wrath had been filled over the centuries by dozens of individuals who had been surgically altered to resemble the original Scourge. However, the members of the Dark Council were well aware of the fact that he was the same individual,^[10] and even their most powerful members avoided offending him for fear of losing their lives.^[9]

During the Great Galactic War between the Empire and the Republic, the number of Jedi and Sith slain by the Emperor's Wrath continued to rise,^[9] and Scourge was amused when the Dark Councilor Darth Vowrawn began to study him in order to learn how to neutralize the Wrath if the need ever arose. Scourge took a vindictive pleasure in feeding Vowrawn cryptic hints over the years that only clouded Vowrawn's understanding of his motives.^[10] By the time renewed war with the Republic had broken out in 3,642 BBY^[11] Scourge had encountered the pureblood Sith Praven, who was the apprentice of Darth Angral.^[12] Scourge had also had contact with the eminent Sith sorcerer Lord Fulminiss and the non–Force-sensitive pureblood Sith Krannus, who headed a death cult within the Imperial Military that worshiped the Emperor and included officers such as Colonel Hareth and Rayfel.^[13]

In 3,642 BBY,^[11] the Empire invaded the resource-rich planet of Quesh as part of their plan to draw the Republic fully into open war. However, an Imperial commander identified a Jedi Padawan who was defending a Republic research facility as Darth Sajar, a former Dark Councilor who had been converted to the light side of the Force during the Great Galactic War. Upon learning of this, the Emperor dispatched his Wrath to eliminate the traitor Sajar, whose personal battle with the dark side prevented him from defending the facility alongside the Republic's 86th Infantry Division. However, when Scourge arrived, the Wrath found that the facility's defenders had pushed back the Imperial forces thanks to the aid of a young Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython. Scourge approached the facility's entrance just as the Knight and Lieutenant Gundo of the 86th Infantry activated ray shields, and he was surprised to recognize the young Jedi as the Knight from his vision three centuries earlier. Musing over the strange mysteries of the Force, Scourge realized that the fulfillment of his vision was approaching, and he told the Knight that the Jedi could keep Sajar before departing.^[4]

When he returned to the Emperor, Scourge informed his master that he had encountered the same Knight whom the Emperor had learned of months earlier during the recent conflict between Darth Angral and the Republic. The Knight had helped Kira Carsen, a former Child of the Emperor—an extension of the Emperor's will—break free from the Emperor's control, and the Emperor feared what the Jedi's future meant for his plans.^[4] Days later, the Knight and the rest of a strike team led by Master Tol Braga boarded the Emperor's space station above Dromund Kaas. Scourge was aboard the space station at the time, and he guarded the Emperor in his throne room as five Jedi—Tol Braga, Warren Sedoru, Leeha Narezz, the Hero of Tython, and the Knight's former apprentice Kira Carsen—fought their way to the chamber. The Knight and Carsen arrived in the throne room first, and the Wrath drew his lightsaber and barred their path. Warning the two Jedi that their companions had died, Scourge engaged the pair in a duel.^[14]

Battling back and forth across the chamber as the Emperor watched dispassionately from his throne, Scourge was eventually driven to defeat by the powerful young Jedi and fell to his knees just as Braga, Sedoru, and Narezz reached the throne room. Braga's arrival led the Emperor to leap down from his throne and mock the Jedi Master for his pride, and as the Emperor unleashed a storm of Force lightning at the five Jedi, Scourge walked away from the Jedi while the Emperor bent his attacks so that they passed around his Wrath. The Sith Lord then watched as the Emperor sent his opponents crashing to the floor with a final blast of lightning and then, proclaiming the Jedi to be his servants and slaves, dominated their minds and twisted them to the dark side of the Force.^[14]

Shifting loyaltiesEdit

The Jedi were placed in kolto tanks in order to heal their wounds, and Scourge visited the Hero at least once in order to observe the young Jedi. When the Hero recovered, Scourge led the Jedi to Overseer Chaskar, who served as the now-Dark Jedi's teacher in the ways of the dark side for several months. Scourge frequently observed the Hero's training sessions, but it was only until the Knight broke free of the Emepror's mental control that the Wrath became confident that the Jedi was the one he had foreseen. The Hero's freedom came just in time, as Scourge had recently learned that the Emperor's agents were preparing to commit genocide on the recently-discovered Republic prison world of Belsavis in order to start the Emperor's ritual. The Knight freed a captive Carsen from the station's interrogation chambers before the two headed to their ship, which still remained in the station's hangars along with the Jedi's other caged companions.^[5]

Unable to find the other members of the strike team, Scourge made his way to the hangar and dispatched the guards before freeing the Jedi's companions: the astromech droid T7-O1, the Chagrian soldier Fideltin Rusk, and the medic Doc. Scourge had just released the three when the Hero and Carsen arrived in the hangar, and the Knight immediately ordered the Sith Lord to back away. Ignoring the Knight's threats, Scourge calmly informed the Hero that they should depart before they were discovered, and revealed that he had been waiting centuries for the arrival of the young Jedi. In order to prove himself, Scourge knelt before the Knight and pledged his loyalty, proclaiming that the Hero and Carsen were special and that only a few had ever broken free of the Emperor's hold before. At Scourge's urging, the Knight agreed to take the former Emperor's Wrath to Tython to speak with the Jedi Council, and the six boarded the ship and departed the station.^[5]

On Tython, Scourge was immediately brought before the few members of the Jedi Council who were on-planet: Masters Bela Kiwiiks and Jaric Kaedan, and Grand Master Satele Shan. As promised, Scourge recounted both his vision and the Emperor's plans to destroy the galaxy, explaining how the Emperor intended to repeat the same ritual he performed on Nathema but on a galactic scale in order to become a god. Informing the Jedi that the ritual required a sacrifice of billions of lives to begin, Scourge relayed his findings as to the Emperor's plans for Belsavis—but his inclusion of himself in the Jedi's plans drew the ire of Master Kaedan, who drew his lightsaber and was ready to kill the Sith before the Hero intervened. Despite her reservations, Grand Master Shan agreed with Scourge and the Hero that the Sith Lord's help was necessary, and she instructed the two to travel with the rest of their companions to Belsavis.^[5]

With Scourge as an uneasy ally, the Hero and crew traveled to Belsavis, and the Sith Lord met with the Knight in the ship's main conference room upon arrival in order to speak with Master Shan. The Grand Master informed the two that the Empire had just launched an attack upon the prison world, and that her agent on the surface—a Jedi named Enna Tabord—had determined that Executor Krannus had recently arrived on Belsavis. Scourge immediately determined that the fanatically loyal Krannus was acting on the Emperor's orders, and the Hero and crew landed on the surface.^[13] The Knight and a companion were able to foil Krannus's forces and prevent him from detonating the planet's hyperspace power core, ensuring that Belsavis would not begin the Emperor's ritual.^[15]

The Knight, Scourge, and the rest of their group were then sent to the Korriban's Flame space station, where a Jedi Knight named Jomar Chul had gone missing while investigating rumors of a meeting between Sith Lords on the Emperor's orders. Scourge bluffed the station's personnel into believing that their ship was carrying Grand Moff Resh, allowing the group to land on the station without incident. On the station, the Jedi discovered the entire affair to be a trap set by a corrupted Leeha Narezz, though the Knight defeated the Nautolan Jedi and broke the Emperor's hold over her.^[16]

From Narezz and Chul, the Jedi learned that Lord Fulminiss had been sent to the planet Voss, and the group immediately set course for the world.^[16] In conference with Grand Master Shan and the Hero, Scourge explained that Fulminiss was a powerful Sith sorcerer who had years of experience at twisting life with the power of the dark side.^[17] On Voss, the Hero pursued Fulminiss across Voss's surface and defeated him, prevented him from releasing the malevolent entity known as Sel-Makor and spreading a plague of madness across the planet.^[18] Shan next sent the Hero and crew to defeat the fallen Jedi Master Warren Sedoru when he captured the Republic cruiser Valiant, and Sedoru revealed to the group that Master Braga had been sent to the embattled planet Corellia in order to ensure that the Emperor's plans were completed.^[19]

March to doomsdayEdit

In light of the revelation about Braga's involvement on Corellia, the Hero was appointed Supreme Commander of all Jedi forces in the Battle of Corellia. Scourge and the rest of the Jedi's crew accompanied the Knight as the group joined forces with General Var Suthra of the Republic Military in order to combat the Sith and Imperial under Braga's command across Corellia's capital of Coronet City.^[12] In a final battle with Braga above the city's government district, the Hero defeated and redeemed the Kel Dor Jedi Master and also learned of the Emperor's location on Dromund Kaas.^[20] When the group contacted Grand Master Shan, she decided to launch an all-out assault on Dromund Kaas with the Republic Navy so that the Hero could engage the Emperor in a final confrontation.^[21]

Once the Republic Navy began their attack, Scourge used his knowledge of Dromund Kaas's defense network to aid the Hero and Carsen in flying their ship to the surface, where they landed on the outskirts of Kaas City and met in the ship's secondary conference room. Having examined Braga's coordinates, Scourge determined that the Emperor was deep in the jungle at the ancient structure known as the Dark Temple, and he recommended that they acquire one of the Emperor's private shuttles in order to access the highly restricted location. On Sergeant Rusk's advice, the six of them split into groups of two, and while the Knight and T7-O1 made their way through the city to the shuttle, Scourge, Rusk, Doc, and Carsen broke into pairs and traveled through the city separately. As the city was under military lockdown, Scourge and his companion fought their way to the shuttlepad and arrived just as the other four reached it.^[21]

Scourge informed the Knight that none of them could accompany the Jedi in battle for fear of falling under the Emperor's influence, though T7-O1 volunteered to go on account of the Emperor's inability to control droids. The Sith Lord then proceeded to fly the six of them to the Dark Temple, and he, Rusk, Carsen, and Doc departed the shuttle before the Hero and T7-O1 in order to engage the Temple's defenders. As the four battled the Imperial Guard, Sith acolytes, and guard droids, the Knight and T7-O1 fought through the Temple's defenders and engaged in the Emperor in combat in the depths of the Dark Temple. The Jedi emerged victorious in the battle and contacted Lord Scourge to report that the Emperor had been defeated. However, as he had not sensed the Emperor's death, Scourge correctly surmised that the Sith ruler was not truly defeated and urged the Hero to strike the final blow—but before the Knight could do anything, the Emperor proclaimed that the Jedi would die with him, and his dying energies began to collapse the Dark Temple.^[21]

Scourge and the others raced out of the collapsing structure and back to the Emperor's shuttle, which they used to return to Kaas City and their waiting vessel. Upon contacting the Grand Master and reporting the success of the mission, the group was ordered to rendezvous with the Valiant in the Core Worlds. There, Scourge, Carsen, and the Hero followed their other companions into the Valiant's main hangar. There, dozens of people had gathered to celebrate the Hero's victory, and Scourge reluctantly followed his Jedi companions to the far end of the hangar where Admiral Dabrin, Grand Master Shan, and the Hero's other companions were waiting. In the ceremony that followed, the Hero was awarded the rank of Jedi Master by Grand Master Shan, and Admiral Dabrin awarded all six of them—including Scourge—the Cross of Glory, the Republic's highest honor. Unable to return to the Sith but unwilling to join the Jedi, Scourge remained a wary ally of the Hero as the Jedi Master traveled the galaxy amid the war between the Republic and the Empire.^[21]

Personality and traitsEdit

A pureblood Sith with crimson skin and facial tendrils, Scourge had bright red eyes^[3] and stood approximately two meters tall with a thick-chested torso.^[2] Scourge was ambitious and power-hungry in the years before he became immortal,^[1] and his arrogance and pride were among the few emotions^[10] that remained after the Emperor's immortality ritual stripped him of his senses and humanity. The ritual warped Scourge's ability to process his environment in the fashion that others did; the Sith was physically incapable of feeling simple pleasures such as the scent of his favorite foods or the warmth of sunlight, though not to the point where his physical abilities were compromised.^[8] Scourge was sardonic and grimly fatalistic,^[10] and he developed a uniquely cynical viewpoint during his centuries of service as he observed how his fellow Sith seemed unable to change their self-destructive ways.^[6]

Unlike many of his fellow Sith, Scourge was willing to devote himself to a cause other than his own personal gain, though his Sith mentality made him more than willing to sacrifice his allies in order to advance his cause as he did to Revan and Surik.^[22] Scourge was intelligent and cunning,^[10] and he enjoyed using power^[9] and also manipulating others to his own ends.^[10] He disliked greed and selfishness, but was also disgusted by mercy and other Jedi sentiments that he viewed as weakness.^[9] However, the Sith Lord acknowledged the fact that the strengths of the Jedi were not necessarily lesser than those of the Sith.^[7] While he respected strength and power, the Emperor's desire to sacrifice all other life just to gain power horrified Scourge, and he devoted himself to stopping the Emperor through any means necessary.^[1] His duties as the Emperor's Wrath prevented Scourge from ever taking an apprentice, and because of the effects of the immortality ritual, the Sith was unable and unwilling to enter romantic relationships or begin a family.^[23]

Powers and abilitiesEdit

An expert swordsman, Scourge was exceptionally powerful in the Force, and the Jedi Master Revan believed that he had incredible potential. As a Sith Lord, he wielded a blood-red lightsaber with a spiked crossguard and fang-like hilt, and he was proficient in at least three forms of lightsaber combat: the defensive Soresu form, the overwhelmingly offensive Juyo form, and the acrobatic Ataru form.^[1] In battle, Scourge made use of both powerful two-handed strikes and strong sweeping blows with his lightsaber, and he also utilized unarmed combat in conjunction with his lightsaber. In combat, Scourge often enveloped his fist with lightning and delivered punches to his opponents.^[24] Scourge's skill with the blade, regardless of whether he wielded it with his dominant right hand or his left hand, was such that even his instructors at the Sith Academy had been reluctant to battle him while he was still an apprentice.^[1] Scourge's primary gift was the ability to draw strength from the emotions of his opponents, gorging himself on their fear and anger to bolster the strength of the dark side within himself. While his ability initially put him at a disadvantage when facing non-living opponents, as he weakened himself by trying to draw on nonexistent emotions, Scourge learned to overcome his weakness and became just as proficient in fighting droids as any other Sith.^[1]

Scourge was skilled in using the Force to sense enemies in his surroundings, and he made frequent use of telekinesis in combat and as a tool of intimidation. The Sith bolstered his physical abilities with the Force in order to increase his speed and agility, and could guide a thrown lightsaber with the Force in order to strike his intended target in the heat of battle. Another skill of Scourge's was the ability to wrap the dark side around himself, concealing his presence from others and also keeping him warm. After becoming the Emperor's Wrath,^[1] Scourge received extensive biochemical enhancements throughout his body, which further increased his strength^[4] and worked to sustain the effects of the immortality ritual that Scourge underwent at the Emperor's hands.^[1] Scourge was classified as a heavily-armored close-combat assassin,^[10] wearing a suit of heavy black spiked armor and utilizing a personal energy shield generator to protect himself from blaster fire and most attacks.^[24]

Early in his time at the Sith Academy, Scourge showed a natural affinity for interrogation and torture. He had an innate skill at discerning the truth and instinctively knew which questions to ask in order to get the answers he wanted. A master in the art of interrogation, Scourge could also bolster his skills with the power of the dark side, enabling him to dominate the minds of the weak-willed and undermine strong-willed individuals.^[1] His centuries of service to the Emperor gave him a unique perspective on his fellow Sith; Scourge's skill in interrogation eventually developed to the point where he was able to analyze a person's flaws and personality after only a short period of observation.^[9]

Behind the scenesEdit

Scourge first appeared in the 2011 novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn, a tie-in book to the BioWare-LucasArts video game Star Wars: The Old Republic that was released later that year. The novel introduced Scourge and much of the Sith Empire and Emperor's backstory, while also continuing the storylines of Revan and Meetra Surik, who were the player characters in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its 2004 sequel The Sith Lords respectively. The novel also established the backstory of the storyline for Jedi Knight class in The Old Republic, in which Scourge is a companion character for the Jedi Knight who is acquired at the beginning of Act III in the class storyline.

Scourge is voiced by Joseph Gatt in The Old Republic,^[25] and like all companion characters in the game, the player can gain or lose affection with Scourge depending on their actions and choices in cutscenes. Scourge gains affection when the player uses power against the weak or expresses anger, revenge, or spite, and loses affection whenever the player makes decisions that are greedy or merciful and when they submit to Jedi or Republic authorities.^[3] Scourge was excluded as a romance option for the Knight because of a variety of reason, including budget, practicality, and creative direction.^[26]

As a companion character, Lord Scourge is one of six characters that can be utilized by player characters. Unlike companions such as Kira Carsen and T7-O1, he is not required to accompany the player character on any class missions. Therefore, this article assumes only that one of the companions accompanies the Knight on the class missions but does not specify which one. Also, as a Republic character, the Jedi Knight is assumed to be a light side character, and therefore the Hero of Tython (the in-game title for the character) is assumed to choose only options that result in the maximum light side points.^[27]

Scourge has received mentions in The Old Republic's official site and the 2012 reference guide The Essential Reader's Companion, and the Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia gave further information on Scourge's history and motivations in its summary of the Knight's companions. Scourge also appears as a companion character for the Jedi Knight in The Old Republic's paid expansion Rise of the Hutt Cartel, but as the expansion can be played by any of the four Republic classes, it is uncertain as to who canonically performed the events of the expansion, and as such this article excludes information from the expansion.

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel

SourcesEdit

Wookieepedia has 10 images related to Scourge (Sith).

• Lord Scourge on The Old Republic Holonet
• The Essential Reader's Companion
• Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia

Notes and referencesEdit

External linksEdit

• Scourge on Star Wars: The Old Republic Wiki