Battle of Belief 

"Space man literally too angry to die."

"You seek to erode my will! You will not succeed!" *Sion's will has dropped*

Aww you are beautiful too Darth Sion. ❤

To all people who didn't play this game the player actualy responds to Sion. It is not just Sion talking for a few minutes.

"i hate you because you are beautiful to me. and in that weakness lies death" me at every first (last) date

"It is not possible to walk away from such things unscarred, to keep living when the universe dies around you..." it's my single favorite quote from Sion and I think it's because it made me realize the motif of trauma. Most major characters in KOTOR II experience an extremely traumatic event in their lifetime. Hanharr can't handle owing a lifedebt to Mira and goes insane. Bao-Dur still feels immense guilt over his activation of the Mass Shadow Generator. Same with Atton and his guilt over being an assassin. Sion was defeated in battle, literally dying. Visas had her planet destroyed by Nihilus, who in turn was murdered by the Mass Shadow Generator. Kreia was exiled and eventually betrayed by her sith apprentices. Even though G0-T0 is a droid, his purpose is to fix the mass trauma of an entire civilization. Lastly, Meetra Surik (or just the exile) cut off from the force to survive the stress of the Mass Shadow Generator. As an exception, I'd say Disciple and Handmaiden don't necessarily have personal trauma but this is because they are introduced to the exile as a novice and will grow alongside you and reflect your decisions. The entire galaxy underwent trauma in the Mandalorian wars, and the story of KOTOR II is how react to your own trauma, the trauma of your companions, and ultimately the trauma of the republic. I see the light side and dark side choices in game as the way you dealt with your trauma and how you help others through theirs, rather than explicit rejections or embraces of Jedi/Sith teachings. After all, you aren't even a member of the Jedi Order anymore and you left a long time ago because you didn't agree with them. Think about it like the restoration project on Telos, but with the emotional and mental health of every character in the game. When Sion tells you that nobody could walk away from such things "unscarred" its up to you whether or not that's even true. Do you walk the path of the light side and find redemption/healing through community, altruism, and self sacrifice? Or do you walk the path of the dark side: hardening yourself for protection and seeking power at the expense of others' wellbeing? Sion and Nihilus chose the latter and take take the idea to its apex. Neither can survive without the force and they are restricted by their relationship to it. Kreia makes a point to say that Nihilus does not know true power as he cannot control himself, or his abilities. He is completely beholden to a primal urge to feed. Sion loses to you in the very clip because you have the stronger will. While they survived their trauma, they are weaker because they never healed. They are "scarred" as Sion says. Kreia offers a third way, based off your own survival at Malachor. Reliance upon the self, upon willpower and strength of mind is the only way to survive. After all, you did survive Malachor not because of your connection to the force, but because you were strong without it. It is the synthesis of Sith and Jedi ideas, which she combined after spending time as a great master of both orders. But is this a true way to heal from trauma? It may never be possible to heal from trauma, but look at how far your companions come and only after YOU took the time to influence them. They are strong on their own, surviving years on dangerous planets or designing weapons that bring armies to their knees, but through their connection to YOU, to a community, they unlock their true potential. You can have a profound effect on whether or not your companions unlock their potential for force sensitivity. Notice how it's always after an important breakthrough in conversation. Atton becomes force sensitive after he discloses his assassin past, and will only unlock his sensitivity depending on how you respond. Bao-Dur's confession to Meetra that he still thinks about the repercussions of activating a weapon of Mass Destruction is followed by him becoming a Jedi Guardian, if you choose to train him. You can defeat and restore Visas to her former self, saving her from her servitude and lose of identity. Sion himself is willing to let go of his trauma when YOU convince him, healing him and freeing him from the force. Even though Kreia is eloquent and a mastermind and her philosophy is seductive, her path will bring only survival but not true strength. Could you have beat the game without any companions? Maybe if you cheese it, but I don't think most people could. And yet Kreia is the final boss. Her strength is undeniable. Her philosophy may not be wrong after all, but it is up to the player to decide. Have you learned from her, or are you stuck in the old ways of thinking? She might blame you for not understanding her "lessons" but you might understand them and choose not to learn from them. Of course the Jedi order is flawed, of course it needs reform or destruction. Kreia is not wrong about this. But could you heal a galaxy with Kreia's philosphy? She would rather it not be healed if it could not save itself. But is it not true power to bring the dead back to life? Telos restored or Telos ravaged. The choice is up to you whether or not you heal youself, your companions, and the galaxy. That's exactly what this scene made me realize. Sion spelled out in plain language exactly what ties everything in this game together, what the story of KOTOR II really is: you are destined to be a great healer, or a great divider.

"I hate you because you are beautiful to me, and in that weakness lies death" -Darth Sion, Simp Lord

When sion states that he can finally leave "this place at last" one could infer that he's not referring to the trayas academy or malachor v, but rather reality itself. He'd been feeding on all of the pain and suffering that reality had to offer and he probably wanted to die, deep down, for a very long time

"This is not a battle of words" Okay Darth Sion.

What I love about Darth Sion and Nihilis, isn’t the power they wield. It isn’t how many Jedi they’ve killed or how close they got to ruling the galaxy. What I love about them is that both of them represent the flaws of the Sith code, they’re very existence an embodiment of it. Darth Sion represents the flaw with the last line of the code, “the Force shall set me free.” The sith, for being so focused on personal power, rely on the force to grant them this power almost exclusively. But because of this, they effectively become a slave to the forces will. They can never let go of their hatred or passions, they can never let themselves feel peace, for to do so would be to forfeit their power, and in the case of Darth Sion, their life. The second flaw of the sith is shown quite clearly with Darth Nihilis. The masked Sith Lord is a black hole in the force, an ever hungering maw that eats all around it, but never stops eating. The problem with this is that eventually, there will be nothing left to consume, and at that end, Nihilis will still never have been sated. This parallels the sith’s tendency to seek power for power’s sake, to always become stronger and stronger, but ultimately, to never use the power they gain. For all of the strength that the many sith empires obtain, rarely if at all do they manage to enact permanent change. They might destroy a planet sure, but the war between sith and Jedi has still never found an end. The galaxy still shifts between empires and republics like hats. Darth Sidious has always been a joy to watch on screen, but damn I wish we could get villains like this in the main movies, and not ambiguous pseudo sith that die with only a few minutes of screen time.

"It was not. No matter how many I killed, there was no end to the pain... the blades, the force, tore through my flesh. You... have defeated me, flesh and belief, both cast down... I am glad to leave this place. At last..."

"I hate you because you crawl within my head as she does, but your presence holds no thoughts, no teachings. You are just...there, unspoken." Translation: I can't stop thinking about you and I hate it.

See, when Canderous Ordo said in KOTOR 2 that the coming war was a war of belief, I wish it was something deep like this.

I love how Sion just excludes Revan out of the convo. Even he doesn't wanna compare himself with the dude. Revan was truly a beast.

Sion was right. After you face Darth Traya, you are changed forever, broken to what you were before. Light or Dark, you leave Malachor V, and exile yourself to unknown places.

_"I am glad to leave this place at last..."_ The Dark Side may be a short, quick way to power, but all that power brings is pain, suffering, death, and destruction. Nothing good ever comes from it. All of Sion's power, all of his rage, and his hate, his countless returns from death, and what did it bring him in the end? Nothing but endless suffering.

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I loved that when Sion is trying to kill you, the camera angle shows the more deformed side of his face, but when finally excepts defeat, the camera angle shows the less deformed side of his face

I beginning to think that Sion is far more tragic as a character....

“It’s not possible to walk away from such thing unscarred, to keep living as the universe dies around you”

"The force fills an empty, shattered shell. There is little left of the man you once were. You know this." The force is a hell of a drug. Without Meetra's responses accompanying it, it almost feels like Sion is just internally answering his own questions, reflecting on what he has done...

"I'm glad to leave this place ... at last."

My favorite line in this entire fight is right at the end, you can ask him if the killing, the destruction of the Jedi, ever gave him relief. And he just takes it and admits "It did not." As much as people shit on the Jedi for the hypocrisy and how their rigid code seems to cause more problems then it solves, the Sith are no better. Sion was as pure a Sith as anyone could ever be, a being composed purely of hatred and malice, unable, *unwilling,* to die. And he achieved most everything a Sith could desire, all but destroying the Jedi, usurping his master, and acquiring immense power, but gained not one ounce of joy or relief from it. All that ambition, for *nothing.*

I truly loved this game. I stumbled upon it as a teen quite by accident, I hadn't even played the first one either. I played it during a time where my parents had split and everything I knew about the world peeled apart as a sad lie. This game helped me in ways I thought were impossible for a game to do. I felt as much a student to Kreia's teachings as the Exile was. The amount of wisdom within this game is very precious and it's clear there are others out there who feel it's importance too. Which is why I worry with Disney at the helm when people want these games made into films. If the Sequels are anything to go by, they would never be able to replicate this story. KOTOR 2 was a fictional masterpiece. They would never be able to understand it.

2:14 I love how when you do this part in game immediately after his dialogue text pops up saying that you eroded his will lmao

This video shows the perfect juxtaposition of one who let their trauma consume them totally vs one who turned their trauma into unparalleled strength. Sion was so entrenched in hate that it confused him when he felt love. That love began to overpower the hate he spent his whole existence clinging to, which he didn't seem to understand. He saw a healed reflection of himself in the Exile and saw how she took her traumas and made them into strengths. He admired and respected it, which in turn healed him through this conversation and allowed him to surrender to peace, which made him die. It's beautiful.

It's sad really Sion is a variation of what you (the exile) might've become, were you a different person. It is the simple point exemplified here just as on Dantooine, that neither the true "sith" or "jedi" understand that life is pain or evolution (more specifically I would say love itself is life and creation, that evolution is a part of that love, only when you deny it does it become pain or if you are incapable of it, hollow, or lesser, slight digression) that you needn't have to ignore or deny aspects of yourself, and to do so is to lie in the face of truth. To be whole, to be true, to be complete and universal is to accept we are darkness and light, these are not inherently evil concepts. Kreia's failed apprentices were not failures as the dogmatic jedi masters were, they did not deny war or pain or the realities there of. They were failures because they became consumed by them, unable to move on, to heal and become whole once more. To accept love in equal measure with righteous anger, to have temperance and discipline and yet still love war and the hunt. These things do not make one evil or arrogant as much as accepting our own virtues or power does not, they do when we lack compassion and restraint and measure all in relatives and or absolutes as the jedi and sith are so inclined to do, just as they worship and obey an entity in the "force" itself without ever truly understanding it's intention. I understand Kreia I really do, I can see why she felt as she did about all things but especially about the force, why worship it, why cow to it, when you don't truly understand it. But regardless Sion is like a gravestone for Malachor and thus the exile showing the pain of being unable to move on to be obsessed. Where as the exile does and can, he can't, he is a shallow reflection of you, unable to see the force as it actually is and why Kreia truly loved and chose you. The tragedy being he recognizes this on some level, and his own failings, but lacks the conscience and cognizance to ever truly understand those things in there depth and entirety. He lacks what I would call universality and nobility yet he is still more noble and universal than the jedi masters who cast judgement on you. Thus the irony and tragedy. A final thought there are many allusions and parallels to wars and ideology, in this series in particular this game is like looking at the aftermath of the world after the Russo Japanese war, Franco Prussian war, WWI, WWII, and Korea, and you a survivor of many of them seeing what they wrought in their wake. To see so many wars in so short a time, and to have such great empathy which is part of your power in forming bonds thus weighs heavily upon you, and why you initially walked away I think. There are many parallels to PTSD as well, that the total causality of your actions and your experiences come crashing down on you and you must literally carry places like Malachor around with you. I think it's why the jedi masters said you are Malachor because you are that pain that memory and potentially that is also why you're beautiful to Sion who's obsession is pain itself. And the jedi not seeing beyond the pain as well but instead of loving it they feared it, and tried to kill it, deny it, and say it was all you were but it wasn't, and it shows their true ignorance, and their true weakness. You are not that pain it is but a part of you, even if staring into you was like a wound in the force. It didn't make you death or hunger itself you didn't behave as Nihilus did. You were something else, something more, something universal and noble.

I just realised that you could interpret this in context of Buddhism. Sion's relation to power of the force is that of attachment - making him weaker. What Kreia preaches and Meetra embodies is lack of attachment, willingness to let go of it and as such being able to use it without being ruled by it.

Sion: Don't let Kreia manipulate you Me: i helped all the little guys. So already done.

"What males you able to defeat me?" Me using immortality cheat: "You know Sion, i am something of a lord of pain myself"

I like to imagine that Sion's cracked flesh was slowly starting to come apart at the final speech of his. Bits of his jaw, remaining teeth, his right eye going loose, his face melting and "shlopping" apart as he gradually accepts the new belief. And yet somehow, through the skill of animation, you can see the relief it brings to him, and would make it beautiful. A nice touch would be if his corpse continued to fall apart on the ground after it collapses.

Admit it Sion, you have a hard-on for Surik!

Anybody else thinks that screenply to this is basically genial?Those of the latest films are nothing compared to this.And design of Sion,Nihilus and Traya are also perfect as well as depiction of their complicated relationships.Together with Mysteries of the Sith this game have best ever Sith/dark side atmosphere-at least in my opinion.

"I can die a hundred times, Exile, and still I will rise again as strong as before." "Then a hundred times, I shall strike you down."

This dude takes monologuing to another level.

Kreia Sion and Nihlus are all deconstructions. Hunger for power. Perseverance through pain. And constant scheming. There are other aspects to each, which are also taken apart, but most of all Kreia herself is a deconstruction of morally gray characters. Her obsession with seeing fault in every action someone takes, regardless of intent, has rendered her isolated and broken. Pushed away by almost every student she had, the ones she didn't break. All because she can't let go of her perception of the Force, whatever wisdom she shares is either in spite herself, or simply to serve her own ends. She is a mentor archetype who cannot teach any other way, and has grown so disillusioned with life she despises the very embodiment of it.

Sion is a biological Malachor V. Scarred, cracked, broken, in endless agony, with no real reason to live, causing nothing but pain and better off gone.

Y'all ever think about how bad Sion would smell?

May you rest in peace at last, Lord Sion.

Darth sion the Scottish Sith Lord

It's crazy to think that someone can see doom in beauty. Yet, that is the exact situation for Lord Sion. His complete immersion in the dark side is all that keeps what's left of his mangled body breathing. But the beauty of Meetra Surik tugs on that part of his heart that is still human, and he knows that if that persists, the dark side will lose its grip on him just enough to kill him. How tragic that his ability to admire or enjoy beauty clashes directly with his self-preservation instinct.

I get that books and games have a lot more freedom than The movies can but come on the characters like Sion and nihilus (I hope I spelt that right) are a great depiction on how deep the dark side can be, and all without ruining Vader’s precious image of being the dark bad ass he is

" Let's turn off our lightsabers from time to time and engange in monologues "

0:27 Is no one gonna mention how this exact quote was used in Fallout New Vegas by Ulysses at the beginning of Lonesome Road?

SWKOTOR2 NPCs: *talking shit* Meetra: cool story bro

I love your videos. So simple and they reveal the more deeper meaning of the kotor 2 plot and character motives

Rest in Peace Sion. Seriously...i felt so sorry for him when he died.

"You and her are alike, yet different in all the ways that matter. And I hate you as I hate her. I hate you because you crawl within my head as she does, but your presence holds no thoughts--no teachings. You are just there: unspoken. I hate you because you are beautiful to me, and in that weakness lies death. Perhaps in that weakness is the death of my master as well." Obsidian is capable of conjuring up more emotional nuance from a 'Sith Lord' in one minute than the entire garbage SW lore. It's too bad that without mods Sion is a pale imitation of this character for the male Exile, which far too many gamers would choose by default. (Additionally: PartySwap allows a person to have both Discipline and Handmaiden--and boy is the game far more complete that way.)

when you max out speech, and finally have a use for it other then to avoid combat

The duel between the Exile and Darth Sion is what a lightsaber battle should be and it's up there among my favorite duels of all time. A duel is more than a fight between two combatants to see who is the strongest, it's as the title of the video says a battle of wills, a test of one's convictions and character. I love that you don't defeat Sion because you are the most powerful but because you are finally able to grant him that which he needs the most, a release from the pain of living.

As static as the dialogue sections are visually, this scene is more Star Wars-y than probably any other game I've played, and feels like something out of the movies; just a flat out duel with some clashing philosophy in between. My personal favorite dialogue after Sion collapses was always "Get up, Sith Lord, and I'll prove to you that you can die"

Love all of your Kotor 2 video edits, keep them coming!!

In a very contradicting way if a jedi loves and loses their love they can fall to the dark side, while Sith if they love they create a weakness in their defense, a way to strike at them directly. For Sion I think it was not only because he was consumed by anger and darkness for years and that anger keep him from falling, but losing that anger to something you love , something you didn't know you needed that thing was indeed death to him. Just goes to show how Jolie was right about love, love saved Sion from the infinite darkness, and loved kept Anakin with the jedi because Padme was the one bright spot in all that darkness until he was tricked and betrayed, and still love brought him back from the dark side in the end knowing fully well that leaving his suit would kill him but he preferred to be at peace for his son. In a way they are alike, in many ways Anakin Vader was like Sion but more mechanical, always fueling his hatred with the pain of his defeat at the hands of his former master, never willing to let go .

Darts Sion has a cool voice as well as wicked scars he should join a rock band

That first line is so powerfully spoken

He thrives through pain and lives because of it. He seeks pain to live and gives pain to everyone around him, and a life in continous pain and suffering is a worthless one. His life is torture.

Back in 2005 Part of me was always curious to see how this battle of belief would've unfolded in the potential KOTOR III considering what was spoken about here. I just assumed it would've just been a bunch of Jedi and Sith sitting in a council chamber bickering about philosophy until they died of boredom and old age.

I live for these.

*This is not a battle of words exile* Exile wins the battle of words.

I feel as though, in a another life Sion and the Exile could have had a life together.

I came around to this fight as one of my favorite boss fights ever for this as well as something I think some might miss, I could be misremembering though so take this with a grain of salt. My first playthrough I went Dark Side cause I knew Light would be canon and made a rather impressive mistake due to my age and misunderstanding of RPGs. I was a Guardian and, instead of going Marauder like I should have, I went for Sith Lord, not knowing that prestiging my class was ment to work one way best. Yes, the option to mix classes is there but it can be a struggle....... it was for me as my melee fighter now favored Force moves so I had to adjust stats. Turns out, it benefited me in the Sion duel. My newly buffed Int, Wis, and Charisma played into my favor as I more easily talked him down after a couple bouts. Now, I see this as two Sith, with differing ideals, seeing who'll prove the better Dark Sider as I used my mind and logic to wear this long time warrior down to giving up his stubborn way. My Light Side playthrough was different. I knew my mistake and went full Weapon Master, untouchable and unstoppable...... then the Sion duel. I remembered I wasn't the savy, tactful Sith Lord now but a battle hardened Jedi Weapon Master, fighting the purest form of a Sith Marauder. Unstoppable force vs immovable object as Light and Dark clashed. My view on the duel changed as it showed not just a battle of beliefs but wills too. The stalwart Light Side warrior that couldn't be touched against the Dark Sider warrior that refused to die through his pure hate and raw will. It took far more duels but each ended fast due to my pure fighter and tuned sabers but I literally started forcing my will over his as his dialog changed down towards where he'd give in, instead of through cunning words of a Sith, through the unmatched prowess of a Jedi and fellow warrior. Sion is the warrior of the three, the one that keeps coming back to fight again. When he fought that last time, it was tough now, actually knocking my health to half before I beat him. I felt respect for him since we literally fought to get to were he'd have his last battle, I could even imaging him crumbling to ash and dust after holding his body together for so long. finally bested by his long time enemy. Most underrated boss battle ever.

0:03 me after failing no but November

We need more Darth Sion and Nilihus

Sion had much to say. He was a repressed man who had found someone, without a choice but to listen.

what a masterpiece of a game

Extremely powerful voice acting and superb writing in the form of well defined characters and exquisite dialogue allows the incredibly dated and terrible animation and presentation of this game to remain strong despite it's modern failings.

After that fucking giant storm lizard in the surface of malachor i can assure you that my anger is way bigger than yours

I'm currently playing the KOTOR 2 mobile app and I'm facing Darth Sion in the Trayus Academy. So far I haven't been able to beat him but it's an amazing game. Listening to Sion talking to the Exile...it's obvious he has feelings for her but Meetra never would have been involved with him. I would have preferred seeing Meetra and Atton Rand as a couple

Were you inspired by Knights&Darths for the way you structure and edit music in these videos?

"my chains are broken...".

Nice vid, so much better with the restored content.

Nice timing with thumbnail with lightsaber grow red (technically red light on the floor)

"I hate you because you are beautiful." Sure it makes sense

Darth Scion is pretty merciful for a Sith.

It's a bit hard to see the "battle of belief" without seeing the Exile's part of the conversation

Darth Sion, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Traya each could of been their own amazing bad guy in each of their own Kotor game, but no, we were gifted and SPOILED to have all 3 in the SAME game, aptly titled : The Sith Lords. Ill never forget this game(s)/storyline(s)

What mod did you use to improve the resolution?

"Get out ASAP! While I give you a long speech about philosophy!"

Malachor V one of my favorite planets revan used this planet to kill not his strongest suppoters as hk47 stated this

Broken will = defeat.

The writing is great.

Something I noticed is that Scion was only able to move on after caring about other people.

Oh Sion

what do U KNOW OF PAIN BOUND AT MALAHCORE OR OTHER NEXUS POINTS

Now we need The exile to do the same thing to SCP 682

Nice

There are techniques within the force against which there is no defense force crush & buying time ie running is very effective against kreias 3 lightsaber technique ( you eroded sions will )

Probably should have included your responses to him, somehow

The Lord Revan could have made the galaxy strong, instead he surrendered it to weakness.

Daddy Sion

0:00 YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME

Why do not show the dialogue options? :/

So did Sion return to the light?

Top ten anime battles

5:40 Damn..

i love u too sion

Where Kotor 1 became boring and repetitive, Kotor 2 was amazing and beautiful. A splendid game, the best Star Wars game.

How did you get that hair or i need restored content

*Darth Sion*

Ow the edge!

Sion was from the Old Sith Wars, before Exar Kun even?