Kreia (pronounced /ˈkreɪə/) was an unconventional and highly controversial Force-sensitive who took upon herself to build a new Jedi Order of her vision in freeing the galaxy's sentient beings from being enslaved to the Force. A Human female Jedi Master and historian, Kreia wished to gain a full understanding of the Force, but her unconventional and novel approaches—including her training of the Jedi Knight Revan, who turned against the Jedi and founded a new Sith Empire—prompted a perturbed Jedi Council to exile her from the Jedi Order. Kreia's quest indeed led her astray; she sought contrast with the Jedi ways by opening herself up to the dark side of the Force, but she was overwhelmed by the darkness on the Sith world of Malachor V, where the Mandalorian Wars that Revan waged culminated in the deadly activation of the Mass Shadow Generator superweapon. The echoes of the Malachor tragedy proved overbearing, transforming Kreia into the bitter Sith Lord Darth Traya (pronounced /ˈtreɪə/).
While Revan had reclaimed his Jedi identity, helping to dismantle the Sith Empire of his own creation in the Jedi Civil War before setting for the Unknown Regions in search of the True Sith, Darth Traya consolidated a Sith Order of her own. And yet, she was betrayed once more by her own Sith apprentices, Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion—both ever-slavishly hungry for power and eager to spread death and suffering (respectively, to a certain degree) across the universe. Watching powerlessly as the two Sith Lords then led The First Jedi Purge, thereby reducing the entirety of The Jedi Order to all but a handful of individuals scattered throughout the known galaxy, Traya soon came to believe that neither the Jedi nor the Sith deserved to win their seemingly-endless war, as both groups stripped their members of all individuality and reduced them to mere dependents of The Force who then ceaselessly wrought war and devastation across the galaxy. But most of all, her experiences caused her to develop a deep-seated hatred for The Force itself and all that it represented on a philosophical level and yearn for its destruction, as she felt this would emancipate the universe from the sort of existential enslavement she believed The Force subjected it, and all its inhabitants, to. Thus Darth Traya renounced her Sith title and persona and reverted once more to her previous identity of "Kreia"—now neither Sith nor Jedi nor anything in between, but rather something altogether outside that simplistic dichotomy.
She then found "the Jedi Exile," a Human female named Meetra Surik whom Kreia saw was the opposite of Revan and his mighty power in the Force. Surik the Exile was instead a void of sorts, a wound in The Force itself, having unconsciously severed her connection to it in the climax of The Battle of Malachor V, carrying with her the countless deaths and unmitigated suffering she undeniably helped wreak in its wake. As The Jedi Council, believing to have seen "The Death of The Force" within Surik, cast her out of The Order, Kreia decided to seize upon this serendipitous opportunity and take her on as a student. Through the Exile, Kreia intended to rid the universe of The Force and its will, beginning with the extermination of Darths Nihilus and Sion as well as the 3 Jedi Council members who survived the purge. As Kreia and Surik the Exile grew acquainted with each other, the latter—who easily formed powerful bonds in The Force with others—grew increasingly attached to her new mentor, to the extent that the two became symbionts; so bonded to one another through The Force that they felt each other's pain and their lives became permanently intertwined. Aboard the light freighter Ebon Hawk, Kreia also manipulated those who would soon find themselves traveling alongside Surik and herself as part of her plans for Surik.
Kreia would aid Surik in locating Jedi Masters Vrook Lamar, Kavar, and Zez-Kai Ell—who had been the ones to originally exile Surik after refusing to fight both the Mandalorians and the Sith, partly out of fear and partly out of a zealous devotion to the prevailing Jedi dogma of their era. Surik convinced the Masters to convene within the ruins of The Dantooine Jedi Enclave, although they would deny that Surik, in letting go of the Force, had become master of her own destiny and was thus able to make her own choices independent of The Force and its seemingly inevitable Will; and declare that Surik's ability to so effortlessly bond with others meant that others grew far too easily attached to her, and would likewise carry all the pain and suffering and death of Malachor V, thereby becoming susceptible to becoming imbalanced themselves, sharing their fates with the fate of Surik herself.
Frustrated at what she percieved to be the Masters' blindness, Kreia revealed her identity as the Jedi Outcast Kreia and former-Sith Lord Darth Traya and passed her judgment on the Jedi Masters, severing their own bonds to The Force. However, as they were themselves far too attached to The Force to survive without it, the Jedi died, passing on from the Living Force to The Cosmic Force. Shortly after, Kreia traveled to the secret Jedi Academy on Telos IV and exposed Jedi Master Atris' fall to the dark side, who was then confronted by Surik. After Surik persuaded Atris to let go of her Dark Side teachings and leave to find her human self once more, she confronted and destroyed Darth Nihilus over Telos. With the last echoes of her past laid to rest, Surik journeyed to Malachor V to confront Kreia and face her final test.
On Malachor V, Kreia once more assumed the role of Darth Traya. Asserting her dominance over Darth Sion, Traya made preparations for Surik's final test—the death of the past itself. After Surik made her way through the numerous Sith minions on Malachor V, she found Traya within the Trayus Core. Traya explained her overall goal to free the universe from The Force and its influence, as well as her hatred for it and its control over every single being's destiny. Traya told Surik that she must let go of everything other than herself to achieve her full potential: to be a truly freed individual—to live and be herself in the most pure form possible. Traya then delivered unto Surik an ultimatum: either kill her, or Traya would kill Surik. Thus, Surik was forced to betray her now-former master as her now-former master did her, thus severing their ties and letting go of each other. Ultimately, Surik would defeat Traya in the depths of The Trayus Academy, granting her death per the mentor's will. But before Traya died, she imparted a final gift—seeing through the fabrics of the Force, she told Surik of her visions of her, her companions', and indeed the entire galaxy's future.
Surik then proceeded to destroy the Trayus Academy, bringing an end to its call of darkness before leaving to The Unknown Regions in seach of Kreia's former student, Revan. Together, they would face the True Sith Emperor, Vitiate. Although they would be killed by the Sith's enforcers, Surik and Revan clung on as spirits before eventually choosing to let go of themselves for the fate of the galaxy. As Force ghosts, they passed on their legacies to the Commander of the Eternal Alliance, an individual whose organization became independent of the Force-based dogma of the Jedi and Sith Orders, uniting people of differing allegiances to forge a new galaxy free of authorities such as Emperors and wars such as the war against Zakuul. However, this apparent progress would be undone by the Third Galactic War and the New Sith Wars, as well as the era of the Sith Rule of Two. Thus, despite Kreia's ambition, the galaxy would inevitably find itself embroiled in a series of highly destructive conflicts between the light and dark sides of the Force once more.
A female Human, Kreia (pronounced /ˈkreɪə/) was a Jedi historian and Consular who achieved the rank of Jedi Master. During her time as a member of the Jedi Order, Kreia attempted to uncover the galaxy's mysteries through meditation. Although this atrophied her easily repairable eyesight, Kreia let go of her eyesight as the historian decided that she no longer had use for it. For decades, Kreia trained many students, constantly challenging their minds with questions regarding the concept of power. Her fellow Jedi, who called her teachings "Kreia's conundrums," viewed them as quaint, whilst Kreia's students were mystified.
One of Kreia's Padawans was a highly gifted Jedi who eventually became known as Revan. However, her teachings were looked upon with concern by the Jedi Council. After Revan left Kreia's tutelage, he sought out other Jedi Masters to continue his education, apprenticing himself to Jedi Masters Zhar Lestin and Dorak.
Around this time, in 3964 BBY, Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, a group of the Mandalorian warrior culture that originated on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore, attacked the Galactic Republic. As what became known as the Mandalorian Wars waged on, Revan, who by then had attained the position of Jedi Knight, came back to Kreia as he found the Jedi teachings lacking, and sought her guidance regarding the Jedi Council, which preached care and caution as it feared the true threat to the galaxy had not yet revealed itself, and its stance of inaction against the Mandalorians. Subsequent to this, Kreia's former student decided to openly defy the Council, leading other rogue Jedi, including Meetra Surik, to battle the invading Mandalorians.
Revan eventually took up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith, building a new Sith Empire of his own to counter the Jedi and the Republic. Kreia believed that Revan had never "fallen" to the dark side, and that he had become the new Sith Lord—the face of the dark side as Darth Revan—and started the Jedi Civil War out of his own volition to prevent a greater evil; that as Revan was the "heart of the Force," a greater cause had come that called for certain actions to be done.
As many of Kreia's students left the Jedi Order and joined the Mandalorian Wars, Kreia's teachings were believed to breed failures by the Jedi Council, including Jedi Master Atris. Because of her strong admiration for Surik and her adamant position in not entering the Mandalorian conflict, Atris felt personally betrayed by what she saw as the warring Jedi's rejection of her own beliefs. With the correlation of discovering that all of Kreia's pupils either fell to the dark side of the Force or abandoned their Jedi training, Atris led the Council in denouncing Kreia and condemning her "freethinking" teachings. By the Jedi Council's word, Kreia was exiled from the Jedi Order.
Silently withdrawing from the Jedi Order, Kreia began to question her own beliefs as she took those who followed her teachings with her away from the Jedi. Some believed that she had followed Revan and his Jedi to war, but she instead traced her former Padawan's footsteps, searching for an answer that she alone could provide.
Kreia was eventually drawn to the Force echoes of the Sith world Malachor V, a nexus of dark side energies and part of the ancient Sith Empire. On the surface, Kreia found Darth Revan's former stronghold, the Trayus Academy, an ancient dark side praxeum that contained the deepest and most intimate secrets of the Sith. She encountered Sith assassins left by Revan, but rather than attack the Jedi Master, they presented Kreia with Sith hermetica. The Sith manuscripts that Kreia read indicated that the truths of the cosmos were not intended for the sane. Kreia believed that the manuscripts' authors were pureblooded descendants of the ancient Sith species.
The Sith sorcerers claimed that they had privileged insight into secret realities, arguing that even though the contradictory and aimless nature of existence appeared obvious to all intelligent beings, awareness of the Force exposed this obvious "fact" as a lie, further stating that the Force betrayed Force-sensitives, making them live in a compromised, chaotic universe—to live the lie. She fell to the dark side of the Force and became Darth Traya, (pronounced /ˈtreɪə/) the Lord of Betrayal. Traya also learned of a forgotten legacy of the Sith that had lurked in the Unknown Regions for thousands of years; she found that the "True Sith," a greater evil to the galaxy that descended from ancient exiled Jedi, existed still in the far reaches of the galaxy.
Traya at the time of her second betrayal.
Intent on continuing Revan's legacy, Traya re-established the Trayus Academy to train, convert, and create a generation of "Sith" who would act as a gadfly to the Republic. Because she came to the remnants of Darth Revan's Sith Empire as his former Master, the remaining Sith troopers pledged their fealty to her as the Dark Lord of the Sith. She began to hunt for Force-wounds, eventually discovering Darths Sion and Nihilus, who were interested in rebuilding the deteriorating Sith Order. Nihilus, the Lord of Hunger, and Sion, the Lord of Pain, joined her in the creation of the Sith Triumvirate, intending on eliminating Traya's Jedi betrayers. However, as time passed by, the Sith Lords' ideals became divergent. Traya and Revan's legacy fell far from Darth Nihilus' slavery to hunger and Sion's chaining to his intent on chanelling his pain on to others; his crusade against the Jedi. Traya underestimated her pupils' depravity. After she taught Nihilus the ability to devour entire worlds, and after Sion started to grow weary of her whispers in his skull and teachings that he deemed to weaken the Sith, the apprentices plotted against her. Sion and Nihilus confronted her in the Trayus Core, stripped her of the Force, and exiled her. Afterwards, Darth Nihilus became the Dark Lord of the Sith, and once again, Traya had been betrayed.
After casting Traya out of the Sith Order, Sion and Nihilus began an assassination campaign against the Jedi, unaware that they were aiding their former Sith Master. Because of this the Jedi, who were either killed by the Sith or in hiding, were nearly gone from the galaxy. Traya, who assumed her former identity of Kreia, had left Malachor V and returned to Republic space, masterminding a plot of revenge. Kreia sought Meetra Surik, also known as the Jedi Exile, a former Jedi student of Traya's who served as a general under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars. Surik helped defeat the Mandalorians during the final battle at Malachor V by ordering the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, a devastating weapon which left a wound in the Force. Beneath numerous rumors and unconfirmed reports, Kreia had found a means to deafen the galaxy to the Force. She sought to exploit her former student's talent in Force bonding in order to create another wound, greater than the one before. This wound's echoes would travel forever, never reaching their destination.
The Jedi Master Atris arranged for Surik's return to the Republic, and exposed her presence in the coreward databases in the hopes of using her as bait for the Sith. On the Republic warship Harbinger, Surik was found by an HK-50 Jedi hunter and drugged into unconsciousness. Kreia found her and took her to the Ebon Hawk, barely escaping a Sith ambush in which Darth Sion nearly destroyed the freighter. Both unconscious, Kreia and Surik arrived safely on Peragus II thanks to T3-M4, who was able to get the ship working well enough to get to the colony. They subconsciously reached out to each other, both strengthening each other in the knowledge that they had survived the void that had befallen them, and eventually formed a Force bond, which seemingly intertwined their lives.
Meetra Surik regained consciousness and attempted to escape the mining facility, discovering and recruiting Kreia and Atton Rand whilst doing so. The Republic warship Harbinger soon arrived, and Kreia provided her insight to Surik that it was under the control of an enemy, one who would not let them go without bloodshed. Kreia said that the assassins aboard were those who attacked the Ebon Hawk, and they arrived quicker than she expected. Together with Atton Rand, the exile deduced that the docked ship must possess the asteroid orbital drift charts to needed to plot a safe course through the Peragus asteroid field, and the trio boarded the Harbinger to take the codes, desperate to escape death. Once aboard the Harbinger, the trio took to its bridge per Rand's plan, though not before Kreia reprimanded the exile for being distracted at the airlock and thus not being mindful of the present, allowing their enemies to gather while they wasted time. Fighting their way to the warship's bridge through the occasional Sith assassins, they took the drift charts from the Harbingers navicomputer left. However, the exile stopped by at the quarter she formerly inhabited. Telling Surik to move with haste, Kreia allowed the exile to salvage her possessions before moving on together. The exile and her companions stopped again at the ship's medical bay, finding a holorecording of a scarred man breaking out of a kolto tank there.
Proceeding to the engine deck, Atton Rand had a "bad feeling," and the trio were approached by the scarred man soon after. A Sith Lord, he said he had come to warn the exile that she knew not what path she would walk, and Kreia drew her weapon, telling the exile that this battle was hers alone, and that she was not defenseless. Before engaging the scarred man, Kreia stated that he could not kill what he could not see, and that power had blinded him long ago, and instructed the exile to run, telling her that she herself would join her shortly. A door sealed between Kreia and the exile, and the scarred man—Darth Sion—confronted his former master. To Kreia, Sion spoke of his sensing that she was faint in the Force, weak, although Kreia retorted that his senses betrayed him. She further told Sion that his failing was to have fallen so far and learnt nothing, yet the Sith Lord placed the failure on his former master. Sion told Kreia that her cause to seek the Jedi was a lost one, since they were mostly eliminated and whose hopes for survival lay in the exile, but Kreia remained staunch in her position. A duel ensued, and Kreia lost her left hand to Sion's blade.
Because of her bond with Kreia, Surik felt the great pain of losing the limb herself while making her way to the Ebon Hawk alongside Atton Rand and later T3-M4. After joining the exile's party at the Ebon Hawk, Kreia said that either they trigger a chain reaction that would destroy the surrounding asteroid field and thereby escape the Sith forces, or die. As the Harbinger attempted to bring down the Ebon Hawk, it fired upon a nearby asteroid, bringing the field and the Peragus mining colony to flames. The exile's craft narrowly escaped a fiery doom and managed to jump into hyperspace, drawing past hours' series of dangers to a close.
In the safety of hyperspace, Kreia explained before the crew of the Ebon Hawk that the Republic warship that fired upon them moments ago was the Harbinger, which was originally set for Telos IV but was seized by Sith seeking to hunt down the exile, the last of the Jedi regardless of her status of being exiled; survivors of the Jedi Civil war were Jedi no longer, and they would not help Meetra Surik. Observing that many roads led to Telos, including theirs as a result of the limited range of the Peragus astrogation charts, and that a series of coincidences led to their meeting at Peragus despite the rarity of true coincidences as a result of the influence of the Force, Kreia then left to the crew quarters, and Atton Rand advised the exile to tend to Kreia, telling her that he sensed great pain rolling off Kreia, and speculating that the elder woman was too proud to show any weakness, especially to her. Furthermore, Rand told the exile his observation that what she thought mattered much to Kreia, and Kreia wanted herself to be respected by her student. On why she had felt her pain, Kreia replied to Surik that the bond between them could be fatal; if one of them died, the other would too. Bound by the hands of death, Kreia intruded upon the company of Surik, but remained vague on her ties to her former Padawan, Revan. Surik also had no way of knowing where the ship had come from, since Kreia had the only means of accessing the Ebon Hawks navicomputer.
Kreia while traveling with Meetra Surik.
While Surik was slowly reconnecting to the Force, Kreia began to shape the younger woman as her new pupil. She taught Surik to carefully choose between actions, asking the Jedi to view the ethical implications of all quests undertaken. Kreia seemed to show that the galaxy and its inhabitants' morals were far more complicated than the basic tenets of the light and dark sides of the Force. As Surik grew in power, Kreia watched as the struggling Republic was unknowingly strengthened through the Jedi's search. During these adventures, many people came into the company of Surik, most of them sensitive to the Force. Although they were wary of Kreia, she was able to manipulate most of them to do her bidding. Because of the ease with which Surik had "called" upon these companions, the old Master had seen Surik's ability to transmit extreme echoes to those the Jedi was bound with. With Meetra Surik's power and with the knowledge of Darth Nihilus' damaged condition, Kreia intended to bring her plans into fruition.
Early in her travels with the Jedi Exile, when the party was beginning to form in the secret Jedi Academy on the planet Telos IV, Kreia probed and invaded Atton Rand's mind, discovering his secrets. She blackmailed Rand, telling him that she would not reveal his secrets to Surik as long as he followed and served the Jedi. After Meetra Surik spoke with Jedi Master Atris at the Telosian Academy, she, Rand, Kreia, the Zabrak tech specialist Bao-Dur, and T3-M4 departed the Academy aboard the Ebon Hawk. T3-M4 showed Surik's crew information he downloaded from Atris's archives, in which they learned the locations of Masters Zez-Kai Ell, Vrook Lamar, Kavar, and Lonna Vash. Surik set a course for Nar Shaddaa, where Master Ell could be found. While on the moon of Nal Hutta, Kreia bound the Wookiee bounty hunter Hanharr to a life debt after his defeat at the hands of Mira, whom Kreia called "the huntress." Kreia sent Hanharr to Malachor V, where if he survived he would become stronger, and promised to end the debt the Wookiee owed the Sith Lord when he killed Mira. After Surik located Ell and convinced him to return to Dantooine, the Ebon Hawks crew departed Nar Shaddaa, and set a course for the planet Onderon.
When the Ebon Hawk made it to Onderon, they encountered a blockade of the planet. After fending off a group of Onderonian starfighters sent by Colonel Tobin to intercept the Ebon Hawk, Meetra Surik and her crew were forced to crash-land on Onderon's jungle moon Dxun. After they landed, Kreia reminded the crew that Dxun was where the Mandalorian Wars truly began. They ventured into the Dxun jungle in search for an alternative route to Onderon. Surik managed to enlist the assistance of Mandalore the Preserver and his Mandalorians. Before they left for Onderon, Kreia manipulated Mandalore into protecting Surik. She assisted Surik and Mandalore in defending the Mandalorian camp when a group of Sith assassins attacked the camp. Meetra Surik managed to locate Kavar on Iziz, the capital of Onderon. However, Kreia was unable to speak to him long, having been interrupted by Colonel Tobin, one of General Vaklu's commanders. After Surik made it back to Dxun, they departed the moon and went to Dantooine. The Jedi Exile successfully helped defend the Khoonda outpost against the mercenary Azkul, and spoke with Lamar. When the group was joined by the former Jedi Mical, whom Kreia referred to as "the Disciple," the Exile's teacher manipulated Mical's mind, playing tricks on his sight throughout their travels so that he was often unaware of her presence. Kreia finally revealed her true nature to him after he discovered the truth behind her motives and the darkness moving across the galaxy, consuming all life. However, Kreia made it so that Mical would not remember her, or what he had discovered, until the time was right.
Kreia uses the Force to drain Vrook Lamar's, Kavar's and Zez-Kai Ell's life-forces.
When the Ebon Hawks crew made it back to Dxun, Kreia sensed a Sith outpost nearby, and Surik, in coordination with Mandalore's forces, dispatched three members of her party to deal with the Sith threat. Kreia, Meetra Surik, and one other party member traveled to Iziz aboard a Basilisk war droid. Kreia, along with Surik, then participated in the Onderon Civil War. After the Jedi Exile defeated General Vaklu and his forces in the royal palace, Kreia tried to convince the Exile to have Queen Talia execute her unarmed cousin, Kreia claiming that Vaklu was too dangerous to be left alive. Meetra Surik, while respecting her counsel, said that the decision was the queen's to make, not hers. Talia ordered her troops to execute Vaklu, ending the war. After the battle, Kreia realized that Surik would be a threat to her former Sith Triumvirate. She revived the deceased Tobin, who had been killed by a drexl larva when Tobin and his forces tried to breach the queen's throne room. Kreia convinced Tobin that the Onderon Civil War was still being fought, and that she served Vaklu. She knew that Vaklu and Tobin served her former Sith apprentice Darth Nihilus, so she fed Tobin false information about many Jedi on Telos, when if fact there was only one Jedi on Telos. Tobin went to the Nihilus' flagship, the Ravager, to inform the Dark Lord of this. After Meetra Surik spoke with Jedi Master Kavar, the Exile and Kreia returned to Dxun, where Surik was told by her teacher that they needed to go to Dantooine and meet the Jedi Masters at the Jedi Academy's ruins.
When the truth was revealed—that Surik had unconsciously deafened herself to the Force in order to survive, as opposed to being cut off from it by the Jedi Council as Surik previously believed—Kreia confronted the reassembled Jedi Council in the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. As Masters Lamar, Kavar and Ell tried to strip the Force from Surik, whom they believed to be a wound in the Force and a danger that could lure the Sith, Kreia stormed in and used the Force to drain their link to it, turning them.
While Surik lay unconscious, Kreia was led to Jedi Master Atris for judgment by one of Surik's companions, the Echani Handmaiden Brianna. Journeying to the Telosian Jedi Academy, Kreia revealed that Atris had herself fallen to the dark side by the Sith relics she gathered, but could not admit it even to herself; that Atris bathed in the knowledge of the Sith, however limited the truth such teachings held; that Atris took a step Kreia herself once took, betrayed by herself after hearing the echoes of Malachor V.
Exposed by Kreia's words, Atris then asked the former Jedi where Meetra Surik was, to which Kreia replied that the exiled Jedi would come, asserting that the one Atris exiled could still be saved, though also remarking that it was too late for herself and Atris to be saved.
Leaving the fallen Jedi Master at her chamber of Sith relics, Kreia left before Meetra Surik arrived to confront Atris. Between the departure of Kreia and the coming of Surik, Atris fully embraced the dark side within her, but was soon defeated by Surik. Thus, through Atris, Kreia manipulated the Exile to end the fallen Jedi Master's corrupted teachings, and forced Surik to confront, and defeat, her unresolved past to progress towards the completion of her training.
Darth Traya wielded three lightsabers telekinetically against her student on Malachor V.
Kreia then returned to Malachor V, where she confronted Darth Sion and forced him to submit to her will. Kreia reclaimed her mantle of Darth Traya and took command of what remained of the forces of the Sith Triumvirate on Malachor V. Traya intended to sacrifice herself to open up the larger wound in the Force in order to destroy it. However, Traya elected to wait for Meetra Surik to come to her for answers and a final confrontation. After Surik vanquished Darth Nihilus during the ensuing battle above Telos, she journeyed to Malachor V, where Traya and Darth Sion were hidden in the depths of the Trayus Academy. Sion forced Surik to confront him first, although the Jedi Exile demonstrated her stronger will in defeating him to reach Traya and convinced the fallen Jedi to let go of his pain. By giving up the pain, and therefore the Force, Sion was finally able to die—but not before warning Surik that Traya would try to do to her what she had done to Sion himself. Meetra Surik then found Traya in the core of the Academy. Traya resolved that only one could leave alive, engaging Surik in a duel which ended with her student slicing her remaining hand off. Traya then tried to convince Surik to kill her, to let her die, but the Exile refused. Angered, Traya used the Force to control three lightsabers against Surik, but the Jedi bested the lightsabers.
Despite Kreia's betrayals and deceptions, Surik forgave the Sith Lord for everything that had happened. She still tried to save Kreia, who told her she already had, and that by killing her, Surik had awarded Kreia, more than she could possibly know. She confessed that she truly loved Surik, not only because she felt the Jedi was her greatest student, but because she was a true Jedi. Before dying from the wounds dealt to her by Surik, Kreia chose to give her one last gift; drawing upon the Force that radiated from Malachor V and casting a prediction of both the future of the galaxy and that of Surik's friends, her disciples. Kreia told Surik that her followers were the Lost Jedi, the true Jedi, upon which a new Jedi Order would be built.
Kreia then told her student of her hopes that she would follow Revan's path, but said that Surik and Revan were different; one being the death of the Force, the other being its heart. Kreia said that Meetra Surik could follow Revan to the Unknown Regions, or take one of the ships in Malachor's orbit and depart the planet, or remain on Malachor to wait for the "others", those who were touched by the Force, who would come in time. Kreia also said that Surik could also return to her exile, where her presence could no longer affect the actions of others, and said that there was no dishonor in any of those choices, asking Surik that she make her choice without any regret. After Surik told her that she would follow Revan as she did a decade before, Kreia finally surrendered her life to what she once despised—the Force. Her body was destroyed shortly afterwards along with Malachor V when the Mass Shadow Generator was activated for the last time by Bao-Dur's remote.
Although her eyes had atrophied and appeared completely white from disuse, Kreia's connection to the Force enabled her to "see" without relying on her natural sight. As Darth Traya, Kreia appeared with pitch black eyes and pale skin.
As an individual, Kreia was self-reliant, manipulative, and wary of the intentions of others. She used her skills at manipulation to maneuver herself into a position of power at the Trayus Academy, and later used these skills to control several of Meetra Surik's companions in order to further her own agenda. As Surik's circle of companions grew, Kreia came to see how their newfound allies could be used for her own ends, and sometimes ensured their loyalty by coaxing them through blackmail. After probing Atton Rand's mind against his will and learning of his dark deeds, Kreia used the knowledge of Atton's past to blackmail him into Meetra Surik's service. She also tempted Mandalore the Preserver with information of Revan's fate in order to ensure that he would not betray Surik.
Additionally, the former Sith Triumvirate leader demonstrated an exceptional talent at manipulation and deception that she used to further her own agenda. Kreia lied to Surik at the beginning of their quest, claiming that the Jedi Council had stripped her of the Force. She knew that the lie would lead Surik to seek out the surviving members of the Jedi Council, in hopes that she herself, or Surik, would prove them wrong on their teachings. On Onderon, Kreia lied to Tobin about the existence of many Jedi in the Jedi Academy on Telos. She knew that Tobin secretly served Darth Nihilus, and thus she lied to him so that Nihilus would be tricked into assaulting Telos to replenish his power, successfully maneuvering her former Sith apprentice into a vulnerable position against an assault from Surik and the Mandalorians. Although Surik's ability to draw others into serving her was not intentional, Kreia was impressed by her pupil's natural gifts for manipulation and control.
Kreia, hood raised to cover her eyes.
Kreia told the Jedi Exile that her true loyalties were to herself and the galaxy. On intimate relationships, Kreia saw that such passions were not strength, but erosion, though she withheld ultimate judgement on the matter. She also remonstrated Surik for taking on the challenges of others, arguing that compassion weakened the benefactors by depriving them of the mental and physical enrichment that life's challenges procure. Not only did Kreia find acts of compassion committed without regards to consequence to be pathetic, to her it was also ironic since it weakened the very people it was intended to help, "cheapening" their experiences and leaving them more ill-prepared for dealing with difficulties on their own. This showed an additional depth to her beliefs, as although advocating for leaving others to deal with their own problems, it was in the service of the belief that this would serve to elevate and empower them further. Despite her cold and callous persona, Kreia possessed a softer side to her personality that was more apparent when she was mentoring Surik.
Kreia loved Meetra Surik as a person to the point where she would have been willing to sacrifice the entire galaxy if it meant preserving her. During their time together as master and apprentice, Surik was the only person that Kreia truly cared for; everyone else in their group was an expendable asset in her eyes.
Due to her disdain of others who were either weak-willed or utterly blind to the Force's control, she often belittled Meetra Surik's allies by using nicknames whenever addressing or referring to them. She would refer to Atton Rand as "the fool," Mical as a "tiny Jedi," Brianna the Handmaiden as the "servant of Atris," Visas Marr as "the blinded one" or "the seer," Mira as "the huntress", and Bao-Dur as "the alien". Kreia also referred to the droids who traveled with Surik—T3-M4, HK-47, and G0-T0—as "machines." Before Atton Rand's Force-sensitivity was discovered by Surik, Kreia possessed a small amount of respect for him. Although the exiled Sith regarded Atton as an idiotic fool, she was amused by the irony of how he could survive without the Force, whereas Jedi would be rendered almost helpless without their connection to the Force.
Aside from showing disparagement for Meetra Surik's friends, Kreia made public a contempt of Mandalorians. As she despised the Jedi Council for its hubris, she detested the Mandalorians for possessing the arrogance to believe that they could defeat those who made use of the Force. During Surik's alliance with Mandalore the Preserver, Kreia took every opportunity to remind the Mandalorians of their inferiority against the Forceful Jedi and Sith. She saw them as simple-minded fools for constantly underestimating the Force. Ultimately, Kreia perceived the Mandalorians as nothing more than common soldiers who could never triumph over the Jedi, for their military "tactics" were nothing in comparison to the power of the Force.
Kreia also displayed skepticism of artificial intelligence. Although she regarded Revan as "power itself" and one of her finest pupils, Kreia could not understand Revan's fascination with "things dead to the Force" such as machines and technology. She believed that her former Padawan's interest in droids stemmed from his preference for followers who obeyed his orders without question. Hence, she felt that Revan would have loved nothing more than to have "human droids" like Surik in service to him—one who was dead to the Force, an empty shell that would carry out his orders without question. Due to her lack of trust in droids, Kreia treated T3-M4 with disdain and begrudging tolerance.
Aside from droids, Kreia put up a distinctive mask of mild intolerance towards non-Human species. Aside from Bao-Dur, she referred to the Exchange criminal syndicate boss Visquis as "the alien". She also regarded Zhar Lestin, a Twi'lek Jedi Master, as a fool.
Kreia disapproved of Revan's "redemption" of Ajunta Pall, believing it to be cowardly by turning away from one's own nature—a betrayal of the self. Rather than believe that dying in peace and passing on to the Force could belong to anyone who truly wanted it, Kreia felt that redemption was a form of spiritual collapse, a fall that few recovered from.
At some point between Revan taking up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith and encountering Surik, the one thing that fueled Kreia's hatred the most was the Force itself. She strongly believed in the will of the Force, viewing it as a conscious entity that controlled the destiny of all living beings. Thus, she knew the Force as a deity that gave no regard to individual wills, and sought to rid all sentients from its control. However, with her power and connection to the Force stripped away by Sion and Nihilus, who have been consumed by the dark side of the Force, Kreia turned to Meetra Surik. The fact that Surik was virtually the exact opposite of Revan had been what drew Kreia to the Exile. Whereas Revan was "the heart of the Force" in Kreia's eyes, Surik was "the death of the Force." Thus, Kreia hoped to use the Exile to destroy both the Jedi and the Sith and form a synthesis of both dichotomous idealogies. At the end of the Exile's quest to find the Lost Jedi, Kreia stripped away their bonds to the Force, thus killing them in their inability to let go. In orchestrating her student's confrontation with Atris, the fallen Jedi Master's teachings are foiled, and along with the defeat of Darth Nihilus over Telos, the Sith Revan formed were no more save for those on Malachor V, who were dispatched by Surik as she convinced Darth Sion to let go of his suffering and life. Ultimately, Kreia wanted to pass on her teachings to the Exile, allowing her and her followers—the Lost Jedi, the true Jedi—to form a new Jedi Order.
Kreia returns to Malachor V in the guise of Darth Traya.
When Sion and Nihilus grew weary of Kreia's teachings, they betrayed her, stripped her of powers, and exiled her. Even during her years as a Jedi, Kreia's views were perceived as unorthodox, and she often put forth questions that challenged and deconstructed the traditional interpretations of both the Jedi and the Force itself. While wandering the galaxy, Kreia refined her beliefs, eventually coming to view the Force as being a power that, by nature, used everything as pawns in a pernicious game of balance without regard to sentient lives. This, Kreia thought, was evidenced by the widespread occurrences of destruction and death that had persistently transpired throughout the galaxy to that point, many of which could be traced to a conflict between Force-sensitives. Yet, Kreia blamed neither the Jedi nor the Sith, but rather, the very thing they had both come to draw and rely upon: the Force itself.
After being exiled from the Jedi Order, when she was forced to shoulder the blame for Revan's corruption, and again after she as Darth Traya was exiled from Malachor V by Sion and Nihilus, Kreia had experienced betrayals from, and saw the flaws of both the Jedi and the Sith. These unique experiences disillusioned her, forcing her to refine her ways of thinking. When she heard about Meetra Surik, she saw proof that life could exist without the Force, which she saw as disproof of the traditional dogma of both the Sith and Jedi that the Force and life itself were inseparable by nature. This renewed Kreia's confidence in her personal beliefs, and fueled her desire to learn more of the Exile's personal motivations. In her adventures with Surik, Kreia had discovered that certain tragedies could leave wounds in the Force, which sometimes made it difficult to hear and be used. These "echoes," as Kreia called them. Her discovery was due in no small part to Surik, as her experience at Malachor V, where she cut herself off from the Force, created an echo large enough that Kreia was able to connect the tragedy to the wound created in the Force. In Surik's disconnection, she saw an opportunity to liberate the galaxy from the Force's control over the fates of all living things. According to Kreia, those who had chosen death, or the Jedi who chose the dark side, over a life devoid of the Force were not strong enough to deserve life. Her desire to prevent the spiritual death of the individual in the future was the motivation that cultivated her hatred for the Force.
Kreia teaches the Jedi exile aboard the Ebon Hawk
Despite her loathing of the Force's influence over sentients, she still used it; she explained it by comparing herself to one who would use poison. Just as such a person would strive to understand the lethality behind poison, so she strived to understand the particularities of the Force, thereby enabling her to destroy it; however, she admitted it was possible that that may have really been just an excuse for her having to come to depend on something she hated. Kreia envisioned a galaxy that would choose not to acquiesce to the will of the Force. She thought she could achieve this by showing how one could willingly abnegate the Force and eventually become stronger for it, and it was Meetra Surik who was a living testament to this. In her teachings with Surik, she emphasized how dependent the Jedi and Sith were on the Force, and how they had become flawed for it. By making Surik her protégé, she hoped her message would resonate with future Force-sensitives so they would choose to use the Force without relying on it. Ultimately, though, she dreamed of a galaxy lacking of the Force altogether, as it was her belief that the galaxy would be better off without it imposing its will.
Although Kreia was intelligent and powerful, she realized that her philosophies would be regarded as fanatical by both the Jedi and the Sith. Hence, she preferred to operate from within the shadows, often using her own power to shield her identity from other Force-sensitives who might have known her, and could have otherwise detected her. She was not outspoken about her convictions, but simply stated her opinions as the correct way of thinking, although the exiled Sith did not enforce her own beliefs upon others. Nevertheless, Kreia was adament in her views that many others were wrong and misguided in their thinking.
What the Sith Lords Nihilus and Sion knew of evil, they learned from Kreia.
A Force-sensitive of prodigious skill and power, Kreia used a wide variety of Force abilities, including Force horror, Force speed, Force Crush, Force cloak, energy resistance, Force scream, Force lightning, Force Choke and the mind trick. She also was capable of using the Force to control beasts, a power that she would teach Meetra Surik during her travels on Dxun. She was known to have used an advanced Force technique known as Force Channel. Kreia was also a master of Dark Healing, which she used to kill dozens of Sith Assassins instantaneously and simultaneously on Malachor V. She was able to sever Jedi Masters' connection to the Force. Meetra Surik would later behold them as "worse than lifeless, like an absence in the Force."
Kreia also possessed the rare ability to perceive shatterpoints which she described as "fractures". In her last moments, Kreia was also skilled at predicting the future and was able to foresee the death of Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett at the hands of Jedi Master Mace Windu approximately 4,000 years later, in a prophecy relating to the fate of the Mandalorians. She was also skilled in telepathy, being able to communicate with others over large distances. She demonstrated this when she telepathically spoke to Meetra Surik on Korriban. She telepathically informed Atris of Brianna's betrayal despite her being several light years away from Telos, while she was on the Ebon Hawk.
Kreia knew the ability of breath control, which made her immune to most gaseous poisons. She taught it to the Exile when she was in danger of dying from the toxic fumes of the Jekk'Jekk Tarr cantina during a meeting with local Exchange boss Visquis on Nar Shaddaa. Kreia also used her healing powers to revive the Wookiee Hanharr, after he was left for dead by Mira. On Onderon, she revived Colonel Tobin after he was killed by a drexl larva. Kreia was rather proficient at using the Force to hide her presence from whomever she chose. Her skill with this ability was demonstrated on the Ebon Hawk as she whispered to Mical, making him believe he was hearing things. Kreia also used a variation of this ability that enabled her to be seen but remain entirely unnoticed, to cloud the memory of others so they would forget her presence or even her existence. She was capable of modifying the memories of even Jedi; for instance, selectively modifying the memories of the Jedi Mical. When he discovered the true scale of Kreia's plans, she altered his memory to make him forget her completely. Kreia then modified his memory of what he had discovered; burying it so that he could remember what he had discovered about her plans at a time that suited her better. Kreia's skill with this technique was such that she could render herself completely invisible to Jedi, even ones that were in close proximity to her. When Surik asked Kreia why none of the Jedi Masters they encountered mentioned her, she lied to Surik, claiming that they perhaps did not remember or care. She described her ability as making herself "very small", a talent she claimed not to use on Surik, and that was even more effective on the worlds where they traveled, where sensing Force-users was difficult. On Dantooine, Jedi Master Vrook Lamar told Surik about the Sith threat, and told her of their ability to mask their presence, but he did not believe that mere Force-cloaking techniques alone would be sufficient to hide the one responsible for what had befallen the Jedi. Eventually, Surik would learn more about this; when Kreia was revealed as one of the Lords of the Sith in the past, Atris explained that much of the reason she succeeded in hiding her dark persona lay actually in the fact that the Force had been stripped from her. Kreia had extreme power over the workings of the mind and while she was a naturally talented manipulator, she could use the Force to confuse others, or reach into their minds and find their darkest secrets.
Kreia wielded three lightsabers at the end of her life.
Kreia was skilled at telekinetic lightsaber combat, which allowed her to wield at least three lightsabers in combat, holding each of them aloft with the Force and having them fight with a will of their own. She was also skilled at physically wielding a lightsaber, using the combat forms Shii-Cho, Makashi, and Soresu. She was also known to have used a rare lightsaber technique known as Tràkata. When the Exile would ask Kreia about each different form of lightsaber combat, the exiled Jedi Master and former Sith Lord knew enough about each form to give Surik an accurate description.
Kreia had once been a Jedi historian, and on her way through the path of knowledge the Jedi Code became unfit for her idea of teaching and learning the ways of the Force. She came to realize that the Force defied the tenets of the Order, that one who was to truly understand would need the contrast, not adherence to a single idea. During this time, Kreia searched and gathered relics of the dark side. On Korriban, Kreia indulged Surik in a tour of the tombs and excavation sites in the Valley of the Dark Lords while showing her a profound knowledge of their history, a contempt for ignorance, and a care for truth that survived to her last days. In her journey with Surik, Kreia spoke of healing during a lesson related to skills as something about which she was knowledgeable. When asked about her eyes, Kreia claimed to be able to heal her own damaged eyes—which were atrophied from disuse—yet she refused to do so, as she had the ability to see through the Force, and regarded her natural sight as a distraction. She could use the Force to enter a hibernation trance that would slow down her biological functions and make her appear dead. She used this ability on the Ebon Hawk when the Harbinger tractor beamed the freighter, and again when the Republic warship fired on it.
As an exiled Jedi and former Sith, Kreia wore a simple set of brown Jedi robes. During her adventures with Meetra Surik, she used a self-built double-bladed lightsaber, which contained a green crystal. Masking as Darth Traya after departing Dantooine and Telos, Kreia discarded her Jedi attire for a set of black robes, and used a red-bladed lightsaber. Kreia also kept three lightsabers containing violet crystals, which she utilized against Surik on Malachor V by controlling all three lightsabers through the Force.
Concept art of Kreia.
Kreia was created by Obsidian Entertainment as one of the companions, and also the deuteragonist, for the 2004 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. As with most companions, the character was written by Chris Avellone and was produced concept art by Brian Menze. Kreia was voiced by the actress Sara Kestelman, and had her own musical motif composed by Mark Griskey.
Developer Chris Avellone stated on the Obsidian Entertainment forum that a casting doc was sent to LucasArts that said Kreia looks 50, but "like Yoda, who knows." However, due to ambiguity of the statement and the fact that it was from a casting doc that should not be taken as canon it cannot be used to establish her age.
Kreia's Sith name, Traya, was derived from the word "betrayer".
Writer Chris Avellone stated that a crucial lesson he hoped that players took from The Sith Lords was that "it's okay to question the [Star Wars] franchise; you [artists] don't have to answer those questions for the player nor should you. You can get people's perspectives in that world and why they question certain things, but asking questions of the franchise, if they lead somewhere interesting, I feel that's always worthwhile."
Chris Avellone also stated that the main motivation for developing the narrative in The Sith Lords was that he was bothered by what he perceived of the prequel trilogy's presentation of the Force; that the Force seemingly had a will and controlled the destinies of individuals in the Star Wars universe, preventing those individuals from making their own choices over their own lives. However, since The Sith Lords was released in 2004, and the final installment of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, was not released until 2005, Avellone could not have known of the events of Revenge of the Sith when he wrote The Sith Lords. Additionally, George Lucas, the writer of the prequel trilogy, said in the making of Revenge of the Sith in 2003 that his personal motivation for writing his Star Wars films was to showcase how an individual becomes "bad," and concluded that what made a person fall to evil was the inability to let go of emotional attachments when "the reality of life's passages and changes" struck.
On Nar Shaddaa, when accompanied by Kreia as the active companion, the player has the option to offer Kreia as one of Vogga the Hutt's dancers. However, Vogga's majordomo rejects the offer, clarifying that while he means no offense to the august woman, Vogga preferred dancers of a younger age. Kreia thus responds that she was not offended by the majordomo's words.
Concept art of Kreia without her hood.
In unused dialogue and discarded plot events, Kreia revealed that she had been manipulating the mind of Atris for years, and through her orchestrated Meetra Surik's trial and sentence. A single alternative line in the "Kreia's Fall" scene from the game revealed that the catalyst for Sion and Nihilus's betrayal was that Traya decreed that Surik was not to be harmed. After Kreia slew the three Jedi Masters on Dantooine, Visas Marr would take Kreia before Nihilus instead of Atris if Brianna the Handmaiden was not part of Surik's party. The screenshot that shows Kreia with her hood removed was taken with a modified game; while such a scene never takes place in the game, it was supposed to take place during the Rebuilt Enclave scene, Kreia reveals herself to the three Jedi Masters; however, in the official release, Kreia stays hooded due to a scripting glitch. This has been fixed by The Sith Lords Restoration Project developers. The official player's guide to the game showed that Kreia had actual dark side transitions, and that her alignment would change depending on Surik's alignment and level of influence with her, like the rest of the crew.
There was an ongoing dispute concerning the true identity of Kreia. One theory held that the Jedi Arren Kae and Kreia were the same person. While available material, cut or not, indicates that it may indeed have been Obsidian Entertainment's original intent, there is no conclusive evidence that could either prove or disprove this theory within Star Wars canon. The main source cited is that at one point in the game Mical the Disciple said that Arren Kae was the first and also the last of Revan's many trainers, and at another point Kreia said she was the first and last trainer of Revan. When asked about the relationship between Kreia and Kae, Chris Avellone ambiguously responded "Can't comment, but good catch. Sorry."
According to the game, Arren Kae is the mother of the Echani Handmaiden Brianna. Kreia only mentions her to the male Jedi Exile who chooses to romance Brianna. While Brianna herself never knew Kae, Kreia seemed to know much about her, but disapproved of speaking of this to Brianna, for the same reason Jedi separate children from their parents: because "family exerts a powerful influence on one's development." Brianna and Kreia share the same views on conflict and its effects, and while Brianna fought long to prove that she, unlike her parents, would not betray her oath, she eventually did when she asked the male Exile to train her in the Jedi ways.
A miniature of Kreia was featured in the Knights of the Old Republic set of Star Wars Miniatures, released on August 19, 2008. She received entries as both Kreia and Darth Traya in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Traya was later added to the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes as both an enemy non-player character boss in the "Sith Triumvirate Raid", a Knight of the Old Republic II-inspired raid, and an unlockable playable character.
In The New Essential Chronology, Kreia was mistakenly referred to as "Darth Kreia." The error was later addressed by author Daniel Wallace, although the book was already released. The error was repeated once more in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force. "Darth Traya" was mistakenly spelt as "Darth Treya" in an EA Star Wars Twitter post announcing the character's addition to Galaxy of Heroes.
The Darth Traya model from The Sith Lords
In the section on Jedi Temples and Academies in the guide Jedi Academy Training Manual, it incorrectly states that the Dantooine Jedi Enclave was in use a few decades after the end of the Jedi Civil War. The source book also states that it was abandoned by the Jedi after Kreia killed the remaining members of the Jedi Council. While Kreia did kill the last three Council members, the Jedi did not rebuild the Enclave until after 3951 BBY, five years after the Jedi Civil War's end. After Kreia lost her left hand on Peragus, there are a few errors in her actions and movements while lacking it throughout the rest of the game, such as holding her lightsaber in a two-handed grip. Also, in the cutscene depicting Darth Traya's betrayal at the hands of Darths Sion and Nihilus, she is shown without her hand, though she did not lose it until years later.
Although the Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that Kreia uses a double-bladed lightsaber, and the Star Wars Miniatures model of Kreia has the character wielding such blade. This is not possible in The Sith Lords as Kreia cannot use dual weapons. This is similar to other retcons such has the Handmaiden traveling with the female Exile, which is also impossible in the game.
A miniature model of Kreia.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Prima Official Game Guide
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- The New Essential Chronology
- "Heritage of the Sith" — Star Wars Insider 88
- Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
- Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Jedi Academy Training Manual
- The Essential Atlas
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: Force and Destiny Core Rulebook