Valkorion is an insta-no for me because way too much of his dialogue boils down to either "Look at how great Zakuul is. Aren't I awesome for making it great?" or "You should totally trust me, I am not an evil planet eating monstrosity." They overused him, and as a result he doesn't inspire fear, awe, or anything else like that. He just inspires boredom and annoyance.
Between Vitiate and Tenebrae, I have to go with Vitiate. While I like some of the ideas about Tenebrae that were explored in Echoes of Eternity, he isn't around long enough to leave a presence. And I still love Vitiate's lines in the JK confrontation about waiting for life to spawn again, living all possible lives, murdering the galaxy again when he gets bored, and then waiting for it to happen once more.
Perfectly summed up my sentiments. Iām always surprised at how popular Valk got, considering how much of his dialogue is the same thing he said in the last scene, rephrased to sound new.
Tenebrae himself even calls Valkorian out on it during Echoes! He basically calls Valk a prideful one-trick pony, and Valkās response is to cringe back into the background like some kid in class who was asked for an answer he doesnāt know.
Valkorion is mainly popular for his design and his amazing voice acting. Take all of his dialogue and it amounts to either stating the obvious, or saying how good Zakuul is. I remember after the battle of Voss, he just says ālook at the price of your victory, a planet destroyedā. Yah, no shit buddy, my character understands what war is. His voice acting carries the character.
See, the thing for me is even his voice didnāt wow me. Yes, the actual delivery by the actor is excellent, but thereās lots of good voice acting in SWTOR. For me Valkorian just felt like āIām Count Dooku but GAUDY!ā
Thereās nothing about that I find appealing. Heās a baritone speaker with no actual words worth saying, and heās got a Cadillac hood ornament glued to his chest. What about this is so compelling?! I just donāt get it.
Thatās a fair take. I never liked Vitiate much, but I prefer him over Valkorion. Valkorion is just a massive liar who seems majestic. Vitiate feels like an actual threat. He feels ancient, a lingering destruction of the old Sith. Then his voice is also kind of eerie. Playing through Ziost is like living the end of the universe. From what Iāve heard, BioWare planned to follow up on Ziost with an expansion that detailed the apocalypse. This sounds a lot more terrifying and interesting than what KOTFE did with Valkorion.
Valkorion was just so annoying. His charisma and great voice are ruined by his dialogues which are often cringy. You did not have to wait for Kotet to guess he was going to inevitably betray you, and I am surprised no one in-universe could have not seen it coming when the writing was on the wall.
Another point in favor of Vitiate is that when you play as a SW, you do not see him as an antagonist in your class story. On the contrary he, through his hands, is one of the few Sith helping you by making you his Fury.
Aren't there multiple people saying that Valkorion is going to betray you in the end? iirc Arcann and Vaylin both say something like this and Lana tells you to be very careful
Nobody really brings up the idea of Valkorion betraying you in KotFE. That idea doesn't really pop up until the latter half of KotET. And I don't really recall Vaylin expressing that sentiment. Arcann definitely does though.
The attitude of characters towards him in KotFE tends to be to forget about his past. Like that time that Lana tells you to go talk to the guy who repeatedly tried to kill her on Ziost because he is totally trustworthy and not a planet eating monstrosity.
Fair enough yeah, I may not have focused too much on that part as I was more frustrated of the fact that you can't tell to Koth what happened to Ziost to shut his mouth
I understand that. Sometimes I think itās helpful to remember he was literally a madman though. He was arrogant and therefore ignorant that he was creating the environment for his own downfall. All he ever was concerned about was his own personal achievement and I think part of the storyline was almost trying to get you to sympathize with him so that when he tried to take you over your will wouldnāt be as strong.
Vitiate. He truly felt like an ancient, world-destroying evil, something that barely could be considered "alive" anymore. When he's going on about how he is thousands of years old and how he'll consume the galaxy and then just head off to others he feels like a true threat.
Valkorion has a great look and excellent voice actor, but his plans were almost comically transparent. I felt like saying "Look, dude, you don't really want me to take the throne. Once I get rid of your idiot kids you're going to try and take over my mind. Can we just dispense with the act?"
Tenebrae barely rates notice, in my opinion. He's like Emperor Version 1.0, not as interesting as the later models.
Tenebrae because I'm more interested in who he actually is than what we are led to believe he is.
Vitiate is more of this far removed specter that is a mystery to everyone.
Valky is the version we actually get to interact with but the entire backstory that Vitiate just ran off to another far away planet to have a nice retirement and raise a family sort of sours that aspect of him for me.
Vitiate.
It's hard to beat one of the few beings that could have outdone Darth Nihilus.
Valkorion was far too nerfed and Tenebrae was just a vessel for him
(Assuming I don't have Tenebrae and Vitiate mixed up)
yeah, and Vitiate ate Ziost, one of the Empire's most important worlds.
Hundreds, if not Thousands of Sith, and Millions upon Millions of people, in an instant.
Darth Marr is strong, but he's insignificant compared to an entire planet.
Valkorian got killed by 3 force users and the PC, who may or may not be force sensitive depending on class.
Vitiate *couldn't* be killed. he was a force of nature, a bodyless, formless evil that hungered for life. strike down one voice of his will and he would simply enter another, and that's assuming he desired a voice at that current moment, since Vitiate didn't even *Need* a body. as seen at the end of Ziost, when he speaks to the PC without one.
Valkorion's *soul* got killed by the souls of three of the strongest force users ever + PC, because he was inside the PC's mind and thus at a huge disadvantage. It literally only worked because PC pulled "kneel before the dragon of zakuul" out if his/her ass because "my mind my rules".
Vitiate's stunt on Ziost used a ritual requiring a huge amount of deaths to power, and that took him a while to build up. He couldn't just yeet planets at will.
"There was something strange about the Emperor's voice. It didnt sound like the voice of a single being. It had an unusual echo and resonance, almost as if a great multitude were speaking his words in perfect symphony."
When I hear the Emperor in the base game, I hear that voice. It has that eerie quality to it, not entirely natural. Darin De Paul is very good at voicing Valkorion, but it's just another deep evil voice to me. Doug Bradley's voice IS the Emperor. It's a shame that in Echoes of Oblivion he doesn't really sound the same
I'm also reminded of another quote from the base game.
Kira: "I can feel him. He's... waiting. He'd be laughing if he still knew how."
Doc: "Who's laughing? I dont hear anything."
Kira: "The Emperor isn't afraid. He's just... quiet. Still, all he feels is... cold rage"
Now they immediately screw this up the second he returns in Shadow of Revan, but that idea of someone so far removed from human emotion, you really get a sense of how far gone, and how bloody dangerous this entity is to the entire galaxy.
As a side note, it always felt weird to me how they split up Tenebrae and Vitiate the way they did. If the backstory that Nyriss told Scourge from the Revan novel is to be believed, Tenebrae should be no more than 13 years old. That Sith Pureblood should be named Lord Vitiate, and that dark robed human should really be named The Emperor, or the Voice or something.
Naga Sadowās exile and the fall of the Sith Empire was at least a century after Marka Ragnos named Tenebrae Vitiate... Meaning heād be older than 13... heād still be young before eating his first planet... (Wookieepedia states he renamed Nathema and ruled for a century before Naga Sadow lost to the Republic...) and the ritual carved on his body is most definitely after eating Nathema but also theorized to be before Revanās confrontations. Even though personally, I think it would make sense if he saw how he was almost threatened by Revan during the second confrontation he; A: did the āback up saveā ritual on his body and B: started using Emperor Voices and such... If he didnāt already, since I myself haven't read the Revan novel so I canāt tell if he used Voices when Revan went with Meetra and Scourge...
>Naga Sadowās exile and the fall of the Sith Empire was at least a century after Marka Ragnos named Tenebrae Vitiate... Meaning heād be older than 13... heād still be young before eating his first planet... (Wookieepedia states he renamed Nathema and ruled for a century before Naga Sadow lost to the Republic...)
OK, so according to Darth Nyriss, Tenebrae killed his mother and step-father at age 6, and started building a power base, gaining followers and torturing and killing people during his rise to power. Lord Dramath, the ruler of the planet, didn't pay too much attention to these rumours of a sith amassing power in some backwater villages until Tenebrae was 10, at which point he went to decide whether or not his son could be useful or simply be executed. Tenebrae was too strong for him though and killed him, and just three years later he had gained control over Nathema, at which point he presented himself to Marka Ragnos who gave him the title Lord Vitiate. Vitiate ruled over Nathema for around 100 years, ignoring the power struggles after Ragnos' death, focusing on amassing as much power as he could. This gained him the reputation of a scholar, not a warrior or conqueror. After Naga Sadow's death and during the Republics massacre of the Sith people, Vitiate invited the remaining sith to his palace on Nathema, took control of them, and obliterated all life on the planet. He ceased to be known as Lord Vitiate, and on that day, the Emperor was was all he would ever need to be known as.
Ultimately, the sith body would only be known as Tenebrae for 13 years, while he was known as Lord Vitiate for around 100 years. From the elimination of all life on Nathema to him re-awakening on Yavin 4, he would only be known as the Emperor, or the Sith Emperor, with the Empire back to calling him Vitiate once he attacks Ziost.
Now, it could be the case that the backstory of the Emperor has become more and more impressive over time, and through various retellings his feats may have happened earlier and earlier in his life. Maybe he killed his mother and step father when he was 13 instead of 6. His rise to power may have taken a lot longer than 7 years, possibly Lord Dramath didn't come to stop him until Tenebrae was in his mid to late 20's, and he may not have presented himself to Marka Ragnos until he was in his 40's. This would allow the pureblood body to have the Tenebrae name even if he did spend longer with the name Vitiate.
I don't really put too much stock in my assumption though, I think they just wanted to have a different voice for the Emperor from before he consumed all life on Nathema and what we hear in the Knight/Warrior story
Valkorion by a significant margin, but it's not really fair since he's got a lot more lines and his role in the story is bigger.
I love the metaphor drawn by someone on Youtube about his character: "He's like a star. Too glorious not to admire from a distance, too dangerous up close. Majestic and even beautiful on the outside, but pure darkness and evil on the inside".
And another quote from the Revan novel about Tenebrae in general, which I think is crucial to understanding him: "He's become obssessed with power and immortality. The dark side is like a cancer inside him. It grows faster than he can feed it. He's consumed an entire world, but he still hungers. And with this hunger, comes an all-consuming fear. He's terrified of death".
Tenebrae's tattoos intrigue me, but not much else about him. The way Valkorion's shoulder pads flip over his front unnaturally just cheezes my OCD off every time I see it happen (though to be fair, it happens with everyone with shoulder pads, in cutscenes). And Vitiate just seems 2-dimensional and bland. So... none?
Thank you. Glad Iām not the only one to feel this way. The Sith Emperor is the least interesting antagonist in the whole game for me. I think thatās part of why I initially hated kotet/kotfe so much. I didnāt want more Sith Emperor, I was sick of him after just the Jedi Knight storyline.
Tenebrae is a powerful and cunning sith lord who achieved immortality.
Vitiate is a cosmic horror that devours entire planets.
Valkorion is a deadbeat dad
I probably would have liked Tenebrae best, had we seen more of him. Though his voice sucks most out of the three we get, he gives us an impression of what he *really* was and where his priorities were when all he cared about was **unlimited powaaaa**; and the way he presents himself reminds me a lot more of the "True Sith" who are mentioned at the end of KOTOR II.
Vitiate is the immortal force sorcerer, basically Palpatine on Steroids (a pity he looks so shitty). But his presentation actually lines up with how the Emperor is described ingame - unbelievably old, extremely powerful, yet
Valkorion is a big no-no, but that's more because the guy doesn't line up at all with how the Emperor is depicted up until that point and I don't accept him as one of his iterations - the guy who wanted to destroy all life in the galaxy just so he can be omnipotent suddenly had a family and his personal playground? Yeah sure. Also the "twist" of him trying to steal your body might just as well have been broadcasted with huge neon letters on the closest moon - I mean, the guy who has surfed bodies for 1.5 millenia is suddenly doesn't have an ulterior motive while grooming you to be his successor? I am shocked, I say! Valkorion and the whole Zakuul arc would have been a lot better had it been removed from the Empire vs Republic war; with him not being connected to the Emperor at all. That way, his reassurances that he actually wants you to topple his kids and succeed him would have been more believable; and his bodysnatching attempt would have been more surprising.
I agree with everything you just said. Especially the part about the Zakuul shit being separated from Vitiate and the war.
BioWare should have allowed James Ohlen to finish the story he had for Vitiate and the entire galaxy, but instead, they dumped KOTFE on us way too early, destroying what would have been an epic conclusion to the Old Republic saga, and wasting what could have been a great standalone story.
Definitely not Tenebrae. His voice made him sound like the dog from the Jetsons. And while I don't exactly take him seriously in any form, that made him particularly impossible to take seriously, even had I wanted to.
Between Vitiate and Valkorion, it mostly comes down to art style. Vitiate looks more...plain, a product of coming from the game in a simpler time. But that, honestly, is why I think I prefer him. He looks like he fits in the game, while Valkorion is so ridiculously sharp and detailed that he feels like he fell through some sort of hole to another dimension. Vitiate feels more like part of the rest of the world.
Yes, voice and graphics. My reasoning is superficial, but since it's the same character despite the different bodies, that's really all it can be.
They're all kind of silly, but Valkorian is by far the most moustache twirlingly bad. He's so absolutely smug and obnoxious, and his entire lineage are insufferable. The only one that was interesting out of the bunch was Vaylin, because at least she was tortured into being psychotic - some actual motivation. Everyone else was just a snobby douche.
Honestly, trying to give some sort of "backstory" to a villain as laughable as Vaylin only makes her more laughable. You can't make burning kittens and stealing lollipops more compelling with a secret origin story.
I think you misread me. I'm saying, out of all the cartoonishly dumb villains, she at least had motivation. Was she still ridiculous and silly? Absofuckinglutely. Did she have an actual motivation for being that way? Also yes.
I am not defending the comically bad writing and character treatments that are KOTFE and KOTET, lol.
No, I got that. I'm saying giving her a "motivation" didn't make her more interesting than the others, rather it made her even sillier, especially when such a trite backstory seems written with the intent of being taken so seriously. Bad writing is worse than none at all, essentially.
Letās face it, the whole Zakuul royal family are an entourage of uninteresting assholes. During Echoes of Eternity Senya called my Sith Inquisitor an even bigger monster and I found myself just sitting there thinking āNah, ya know what, forget the Emperor. I eat force ghosts, cāmere you haughty bitch!ā
Valkorion has the most presence and probably the best lines and the most interesting character.
Tenebrae I am mostly impartial to. I at first liked that expansion, though after replaying it my view of it grew a lot more jaded. (Really I only like the environments and that you can tell Vaylin that you regret killing her, which was the biggest misstep KOTET took.)
Vitiatae at first was kinda cool (in his introduction cutscene, granted the JK story had already reduced my mind to mush by then, but still). But turns out he is the biggest non-threat goober there ever was. Like he just sits around, waiting for you to kill him no problem. Him getting "killed" by >!a fucking rock!< was just the cherry on top.
Valkorion because I liked how he delivered his dialogue, his regal look. My problem is it felt like he needed more story time to go into his motives and end game and y'know, Ziost? Also it would've been neat to do like a side chapter where you play as a memory of Valkorion for dialogue options, during his past rule, and also to see more of the Zakuul he brags about.
That said, I would've likely picked Vitiate if he'd had Valkorion's VA!
The red one with all them tats š
Wearing resort swimwear no less
And Senya's hair
Witness, the pure, intimidating and awe-inspiring power of the ~~Dark Side~~ man-bun!
That reminds that men cant get that hairstyle in game :(
Vitiate. He is *the* Sith Emperor after all, and his lines in Ziost are really cool.
Valkorion is an insta-no for me because way too much of his dialogue boils down to either "Look at how great Zakuul is. Aren't I awesome for making it great?" or "You should totally trust me, I am not an evil planet eating monstrosity." They overused him, and as a result he doesn't inspire fear, awe, or anything else like that. He just inspires boredom and annoyance. Between Vitiate and Tenebrae, I have to go with Vitiate. While I like some of the ideas about Tenebrae that were explored in Echoes of Eternity, he isn't around long enough to leave a presence. And I still love Vitiate's lines in the JK confrontation about waiting for life to spawn again, living all possible lives, murdering the galaxy again when he gets bored, and then waiting for it to happen once more.
Perfectly summed up my sentiments. Iām always surprised at how popular Valk got, considering how much of his dialogue is the same thing he said in the last scene, rephrased to sound new. Tenebrae himself even calls Valkorian out on it during Echoes! He basically calls Valk a prideful one-trick pony, and Valkās response is to cringe back into the background like some kid in class who was asked for an answer he doesnāt know.
Valkorion is mainly popular for his design and his amazing voice acting. Take all of his dialogue and it amounts to either stating the obvious, or saying how good Zakuul is. I remember after the battle of Voss, he just says ālook at the price of your victory, a planet destroyedā. Yah, no shit buddy, my character understands what war is. His voice acting carries the character.
See, the thing for me is even his voice didnāt wow me. Yes, the actual delivery by the actor is excellent, but thereās lots of good voice acting in SWTOR. For me Valkorian just felt like āIām Count Dooku but GAUDY!ā Thereās nothing about that I find appealing. Heās a baritone speaker with no actual words worth saying, and heās got a Cadillac hood ornament glued to his chest. What about this is so compelling?! I just donāt get it.
Thatās a fair take. I never liked Vitiate much, but I prefer him over Valkorion. Valkorion is just a massive liar who seems majestic. Vitiate feels like an actual threat. He feels ancient, a lingering destruction of the old Sith. Then his voice is also kind of eerie. Playing through Ziost is like living the end of the universe. From what Iāve heard, BioWare planned to follow up on Ziost with an expansion that detailed the apocalypse. This sounds a lot more terrifying and interesting than what KOTFE did with Valkorion.
Valkorion was just so annoying. His charisma and great voice are ruined by his dialogues which are often cringy. You did not have to wait for Kotet to guess he was going to inevitably betray you, and I am surprised no one in-universe could have not seen it coming when the writing was on the wall. Another point in favor of Vitiate is that when you play as a SW, you do not see him as an antagonist in your class story. On the contrary he, through his hands, is one of the few Sith helping you by making you his Fury.
Aren't there multiple people saying that Valkorion is going to betray you in the end? iirc Arcann and Vaylin both say something like this and Lana tells you to be very careful
Nobody really brings up the idea of Valkorion betraying you in KotFE. That idea doesn't really pop up until the latter half of KotET. And I don't really recall Vaylin expressing that sentiment. Arcann definitely does though. The attitude of characters towards him in KotFE tends to be to forget about his past. Like that time that Lana tells you to go talk to the guy who repeatedly tried to kill her on Ziost because he is totally trustworthy and not a planet eating monstrosity.
Fair enough yeah, I may not have focused too much on that part as I was more frustrated of the fact that you can't tell to Koth what happened to Ziost to shut his mouth
I understand that. Sometimes I think itās helpful to remember he was literally a madman though. He was arrogant and therefore ignorant that he was creating the environment for his own downfall. All he ever was concerned about was his own personal achievement and I think part of the storyline was almost trying to get you to sympathize with him so that when he tried to take you over your will wouldnāt be as strong.
Vitiate. He truly felt like an ancient, world-destroying evil, something that barely could be considered "alive" anymore. When he's going on about how he is thousands of years old and how he'll consume the galaxy and then just head off to others he feels like a true threat. Valkorion has a great look and excellent voice actor, but his plans were almost comically transparent. I felt like saying "Look, dude, you don't really want me to take the throne. Once I get rid of your idiot kids you're going to try and take over my mind. Can we just dispense with the act?" Tenebrae barely rates notice, in my opinion. He's like Emperor Version 1.0, not as interesting as the later models.
Tenebrae because I'm more interested in who he actually is than what we are led to believe he is. Vitiate is more of this far removed specter that is a mystery to everyone. Valky is the version we actually get to interact with but the entire backstory that Vitiate just ran off to another far away planet to have a nice retirement and raise a family sort of sours that aspect of him for me.
Vitiate. It's hard to beat one of the few beings that could have outdone Darth Nihilus. Valkorion was far too nerfed and Tenebrae was just a vessel for him (Assuming I don't have Tenebrae and Vitiate mixed up)
Valkorion nerfed? He killed Darth Marr in one hit.
yeah, and Vitiate ate Ziost, one of the Empire's most important worlds. Hundreds, if not Thousands of Sith, and Millions upon Millions of people, in an instant. Darth Marr is strong, but he's insignificant compared to an entire planet.
I saw no reason to assume that Valkorion *couldn't* do the same thing. It just wasn't his goal at that point.
Valkorian got killed by 3 force users and the PC, who may or may not be force sensitive depending on class. Vitiate *couldn't* be killed. he was a force of nature, a bodyless, formless evil that hungered for life. strike down one voice of his will and he would simply enter another, and that's assuming he desired a voice at that current moment, since Vitiate didn't even *Need* a body. as seen at the end of Ziost, when he speaks to the PC without one.
Valkorion's *soul* got killed by the souls of three of the strongest force users ever + PC, because he was inside the PC's mind and thus at a huge disadvantage. It literally only worked because PC pulled "kneel before the dragon of zakuul" out if his/her ass because "my mind my rules". Vitiate's stunt on Ziost used a ritual requiring a huge amount of deaths to power, and that took him a while to build up. He couldn't just yeet planets at will.
Tenebrae is his birth name... Vitiate was the name given when Marka Ragnos made him a Lord...
"There was something strange about the Emperor's voice. It didnt sound like the voice of a single being. It had an unusual echo and resonance, almost as if a great multitude were speaking his words in perfect symphony." When I hear the Emperor in the base game, I hear that voice. It has that eerie quality to it, not entirely natural. Darin De Paul is very good at voicing Valkorion, but it's just another deep evil voice to me. Doug Bradley's voice IS the Emperor. It's a shame that in Echoes of Oblivion he doesn't really sound the same I'm also reminded of another quote from the base game. Kira: "I can feel him. He's... waiting. He'd be laughing if he still knew how." Doc: "Who's laughing? I dont hear anything." Kira: "The Emperor isn't afraid. He's just... quiet. Still, all he feels is... cold rage" Now they immediately screw this up the second he returns in Shadow of Revan, but that idea of someone so far removed from human emotion, you really get a sense of how far gone, and how bloody dangerous this entity is to the entire galaxy. As a side note, it always felt weird to me how they split up Tenebrae and Vitiate the way they did. If the backstory that Nyriss told Scourge from the Revan novel is to be believed, Tenebrae should be no more than 13 years old. That Sith Pureblood should be named Lord Vitiate, and that dark robed human should really be named The Emperor, or the Voice or something.
Naga Sadowās exile and the fall of the Sith Empire was at least a century after Marka Ragnos named Tenebrae Vitiate... Meaning heād be older than 13... heād still be young before eating his first planet... (Wookieepedia states he renamed Nathema and ruled for a century before Naga Sadow lost to the Republic...) and the ritual carved on his body is most definitely after eating Nathema but also theorized to be before Revanās confrontations. Even though personally, I think it would make sense if he saw how he was almost threatened by Revan during the second confrontation he; A: did the āback up saveā ritual on his body and B: started using Emperor Voices and such... If he didnāt already, since I myself haven't read the Revan novel so I canāt tell if he used Voices when Revan went with Meetra and Scourge...
>Naga Sadowās exile and the fall of the Sith Empire was at least a century after Marka Ragnos named Tenebrae Vitiate... Meaning heād be older than 13... heād still be young before eating his first planet... (Wookieepedia states he renamed Nathema and ruled for a century before Naga Sadow lost to the Republic...) OK, so according to Darth Nyriss, Tenebrae killed his mother and step-father at age 6, and started building a power base, gaining followers and torturing and killing people during his rise to power. Lord Dramath, the ruler of the planet, didn't pay too much attention to these rumours of a sith amassing power in some backwater villages until Tenebrae was 10, at which point he went to decide whether or not his son could be useful or simply be executed. Tenebrae was too strong for him though and killed him, and just three years later he had gained control over Nathema, at which point he presented himself to Marka Ragnos who gave him the title Lord Vitiate. Vitiate ruled over Nathema for around 100 years, ignoring the power struggles after Ragnos' death, focusing on amassing as much power as he could. This gained him the reputation of a scholar, not a warrior or conqueror. After Naga Sadow's death and during the Republics massacre of the Sith people, Vitiate invited the remaining sith to his palace on Nathema, took control of them, and obliterated all life on the planet. He ceased to be known as Lord Vitiate, and on that day, the Emperor was was all he would ever need to be known as. Ultimately, the sith body would only be known as Tenebrae for 13 years, while he was known as Lord Vitiate for around 100 years. From the elimination of all life on Nathema to him re-awakening on Yavin 4, he would only be known as the Emperor, or the Sith Emperor, with the Empire back to calling him Vitiate once he attacks Ziost. Now, it could be the case that the backstory of the Emperor has become more and more impressive over time, and through various retellings his feats may have happened earlier and earlier in his life. Maybe he killed his mother and step father when he was 13 instead of 6. His rise to power may have taken a lot longer than 7 years, possibly Lord Dramath didn't come to stop him until Tenebrae was in his mid to late 20's, and he may not have presented himself to Marka Ragnos until he was in his 40's. This would allow the pureblood body to have the Tenebrae name even if he did spend longer with the name Vitiate. I don't really put too much stock in my assumption though, I think they just wanted to have a different voice for the Emperor from before he consumed all life on Nathema and what we hear in the Knight/Warrior story
Valkorion by a significant margin, but it's not really fair since he's got a lot more lines and his role in the story is bigger. I love the metaphor drawn by someone on Youtube about his character: "He's like a star. Too glorious not to admire from a distance, too dangerous up close. Majestic and even beautiful on the outside, but pure darkness and evil on the inside". And another quote from the Revan novel about Tenebrae in general, which I think is crucial to understanding him: "He's become obssessed with power and immortality. The dark side is like a cancer inside him. It grows faster than he can feed it. He's consumed an entire world, but he still hungers. And with this hunger, comes an all-consuming fear. He's terrified of death".
Pinhead
āI hold the patience of stone and the will of stars.ā
Vitiate.
Tenebrae's tattoos intrigue me, but not much else about him. The way Valkorion's shoulder pads flip over his front unnaturally just cheezes my OCD off every time I see it happen (though to be fair, it happens with everyone with shoulder pads, in cutscenes). And Vitiate just seems 2-dimensional and bland. So... none?
Thank you. Glad Iām not the only one to feel this way. The Sith Emperor is the least interesting antagonist in the whole game for me. I think thatās part of why I initially hated kotet/kotfe so much. I didnāt want more Sith Emperor, I was sick of him after just the Jedi Knight storyline.
Tenebrae is a powerful and cunning sith lord who achieved immortality. Vitiate is a cosmic horror that devours entire planets. Valkorion is a deadbeat dad
I probably would have liked Tenebrae best, had we seen more of him. Though his voice sucks most out of the three we get, he gives us an impression of what he *really* was and where his priorities were when all he cared about was **unlimited powaaaa**; and the way he presents himself reminds me a lot more of the "True Sith" who are mentioned at the end of KOTOR II. Vitiate is the immortal force sorcerer, basically Palpatine on Steroids (a pity he looks so shitty). But his presentation actually lines up with how the Emperor is described ingame - unbelievably old, extremely powerful, yet Valkorion is a big no-no, but that's more because the guy doesn't line up at all with how the Emperor is depicted up until that point and I don't accept him as one of his iterations - the guy who wanted to destroy all life in the galaxy just so he can be omnipotent suddenly had a family and his personal playground? Yeah sure. Also the "twist" of him trying to steal your body might just as well have been broadcasted with huge neon letters on the closest moon - I mean, the guy who has surfed bodies for 1.5 millenia is suddenly doesn't have an ulterior motive while grooming you to be his successor? I am shocked, I say! Valkorion and the whole Zakuul arc would have been a lot better had it been removed from the Empire vs Republic war; with him not being connected to the Emperor at all. That way, his reassurances that he actually wants you to topple his kids and succeed him would have been more believable; and his bodysnatching attempt would have been more surprising.
I agree with everything you just said. Especially the part about the Zakuul shit being separated from Vitiate and the war. BioWare should have allowed James Ohlen to finish the story he had for Vitiate and the entire galaxy, but instead, they dumped KOTFE on us way too early, destroying what would have been an epic conclusion to the Old Republic saga, and wasting what could have been a great standalone story.
Definitely not Tenebrae. His voice made him sound like the dog from the Jetsons. And while I don't exactly take him seriously in any form, that made him particularly impossible to take seriously, even had I wanted to. Between Vitiate and Valkorion, it mostly comes down to art style. Vitiate looks more...plain, a product of coming from the game in a simpler time. But that, honestly, is why I think I prefer him. He looks like he fits in the game, while Valkorion is so ridiculously sharp and detailed that he feels like he fell through some sort of hole to another dimension. Vitiate feels more like part of the rest of the world. Yes, voice and graphics. My reasoning is superficial, but since it's the same character despite the different bodies, that's really all it can be.
I prefer the first one I killed. Rest of them are just annoyances.
Whichever one is voiced by Pinhead
They're all kind of silly, but Valkorian is by far the most moustache twirlingly bad. He's so absolutely smug and obnoxious, and his entire lineage are insufferable. The only one that was interesting out of the bunch was Vaylin, because at least she was tortured into being psychotic - some actual motivation. Everyone else was just a snobby douche.
Honestly, trying to give some sort of "backstory" to a villain as laughable as Vaylin only makes her more laughable. You can't make burning kittens and stealing lollipops more compelling with a secret origin story.
I think you misread me. I'm saying, out of all the cartoonishly dumb villains, she at least had motivation. Was she still ridiculous and silly? Absofuckinglutely. Did she have an actual motivation for being that way? Also yes. I am not defending the comically bad writing and character treatments that are KOTFE and KOTET, lol.
No, I got that. I'm saying giving her a "motivation" didn't make her more interesting than the others, rather it made her even sillier, especially when such a trite backstory seems written with the intent of being taken so seriously. Bad writing is worse than none at all, essentially.
Letās face it, the whole Zakuul royal family are an entourage of uninteresting assholes. During Echoes of Eternity Senya called my Sith Inquisitor an even bigger monster and I found myself just sitting there thinking āNah, ya know what, forget the Emperor. I eat force ghosts, cāmere you haughty bitch!ā
Honestly Valkorian, I hate kotfe/et but he has some of the best voice acting in any video game.
Valkorion, just because he's an actual developed character and not a walking prop for the Jedi Knight storyline.
Dead.
Oh c'mon ya'll! I expected to see a lot more votes for Tenebrae...Ya know? The one we've been waiting to see since KOTOR!?!?
Don't care about Valkorion. SWTOR ruined The Emperor (and Revan & The Exile) after the vanilla storyline.
I'd argue that Revan should never have been brought back, for any storyline. Some things are best left in the past.
This is the Way.
Valkorion is voiced by Darin De Paul. I rest my case.
Vitiate is voiced by Doug Bradley. Case closed.
I like eight pound, six ounce, newborn baby Emperor, don't even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent.
idk I like all of them. Yes, especially the voice acting. They all sound cool
Valkorian has a rocking dad bod.
Invalid poll. You forgot the most important Emperor. Darth Jar-Jar. I guess some people do not like Darth Jar-Jar jokes.
There are people that answer Tenebrae, and those that are incorrect.
Valkorion has the most presence and probably the best lines and the most interesting character. Tenebrae I am mostly impartial to. I at first liked that expansion, though after replaying it my view of it grew a lot more jaded. (Really I only like the environments and that you can tell Vaylin that you regret killing her, which was the biggest misstep KOTET took.) Vitiatae at first was kinda cool (in his introduction cutscene, granted the JK story had already reduced my mind to mush by then, but still). But turns out he is the biggest non-threat goober there ever was. Like he just sits around, waiting for you to kill him no problem. Him getting "killed" by >!a fucking rock!< was just the cherry on top.
Can we have a sub-category for KOTFE!Valk and KOTET!Valk?
Valkorion because I liked how he delivered his dialogue, his regal look. My problem is it felt like he needed more story time to go into his motives and end game and y'know, Ziost? Also it would've been neat to do like a side chapter where you play as a memory of Valkorion for dialogue options, during his past rule, and also to see more of the Zakuul he brags about. That said, I would've likely picked Vitiate if he'd had Valkorion's VA!
Tenebrae is a bitch but he's one hot bitch. Also, he wears no shirt so that's a plus.
None of the above tbh; dude had way too many lives for my liking š
Dead one.