The Voice of the Emperor, officially known as the Emperor's Voice by fellow Sith, and also dubbed the Voice of Darkness, was a role within the re-established Sith Empire. This role was occupied by the physical form housing the Sith Emperor. Its creation stemmed from a thwarted attempt on the Emperor's life in 3950 BBY. This position enabled the Emperor to safeguard his true essence as a Force entity while continuing to issue directives to his followers and execute his designs. Throughout his existence, the Emperor made use of numerous Voices from diverse species, genders, and age groups, transferring his consciousness and abilities between bodies as his hosts succumbed to the destructive influence of the dark side.
As the Galactic War erupted between the Empire and the Galactic Republic in 3642 BBY, Darth Baras, a member of the Dark Council, initiated a coup that had been brewing for years. His aim was to usurp the Voice's position, thereby gaining supreme power within the Empire. By trapping the actual Voice on the planet Voss with the help of the dark entity Sel-Makor, Baras solidified his power base and declared himself the Emperor's Voice before the Dark Council. However, Baras' former student, newly appointed as the Emperor's Wrath, killed the true Voice to liberate the Emperor's essence and then eliminated Baras for his treachery.
The subsequent Voice of the Emperor met its end in combat against the renowned Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython. This forced the Emperor's essence to retreat and led to the abolishment of the Emperor's Voice position while his essence recuperated. While not a formal Voice within the Sith Empire's structure, the Human body of Valkorion served as the Emperor's secondary vessel for centuries. He governed the Eternal Empire of Zakuul through this form, even as he manipulated the Sith Empire via his Voice. Ultimately, the Emperor was destroyed by the Commander of the Eternal Alliance.
The role of Emperor's Voice, also known as the 'Voice of Darkness,' extended beyond a mere title. Through Sith magic, specifically the ancient technique of transfer essence, the Sith Emperor could transfer his consciousness and vitality into a host body. This allowed him to interact with the physical world in a form beyond his true existence as a being of pure Force energy. The host's own mind was completely overwhelmed, crushed by the immense power of the Emperor's consciousness, effectively turning their body into the Sith's own. This process also bestowed the Emperor's considerable strength in the Force upon the Voice. Furthermore, the Voice's abilities could be enhanced by the host's inherent powers. For instance, the Emperor utilized a Voss Mystic as his Voice during the Cold War to capitalize on the Voss' precognitive talents.
Upon the death of the host Voice, the Emperor's essence would be released and returned to the care of his Hand—the twelve Servants responsible for carrying out their master's directives across the galaxy. Servant Two, a member of the Emperor's Hand, possessed a stronger mental link to the Emperor than any other agent. Consequently, this prophetic Servant was always aware of the Voice's presence and location, even during periods of dormancy. Upon receiving their master's essence, the Hand would secure a new Voice for the Emperor and assist him in establishing control over the host body. Unbeknownst to most, Vitiate—the name the Sith Emperor reclaimed after distancing himself from the Sith Empire near the end of his life—also maintained a second host body alongside the Voice: the Human Valkorion. He used this form to govern the Eternal Empire of the planet Zakuul for centuries.
Around 3950 BBY, following a failed assassination attempt by Jedi Master Revan and his allies that brought the Emperor's physical form dangerously close to harm, the Emperor established his first Voice. The Emperor imprisoned Revan after capturing him. However, the near-death experience terrified the Emperor, who feared only death. Consequently, the supreme ruler of the Empire delved deeper into the study of the dark side to preserve his physical form. His body had been rendered ageless, but not invulnerable, by the dark ritual he had performed over a millennium prior. Upon discovering how to transfer his consciousness and powers into other beings, he selected his first host and designated them as the Voice of the Emperor—the literal embodiment of his absolute will and his representative to the Dark Council.
The Dark Council soon realized that the various individuals appearing over the next three centuries were, in fact, the Emperor's host bodies. They obeyed the Voice's commands as if they were the Emperor's own. Serving as a conduit for the Emperor's energies, the Voice enabled his consciousness to extend across the galaxy, directing his agents and observing his adversaries. Among the beings used by the Emperor were a young Human female and an elderly Sith Pureblood. During the early stages of the Great Galactic War with the Galactic Republic, a Human male held the position of Voice. However, the Dark Council and the wider Sith Empire remained unaware that the Voice was not their ruler's only host. Growing weary of the galaxy and the restrictive Sith doctrines, the Emperor established a new kingdom—an Eternal Empire based on Zakuul in Wild Space—and ruled through the host body of Valkorion. Unlike the Voices, the Emperor ensured the Valkorion body's longevity, shielding it from the dark side's corrosive effects. The Emperor divided his consciousness and attention between the two Empires, gradually shifting his focus from the Sith Empire to Zakuul over time.
Around 3645 BBY, the Empire discovered the planet Voss. Intrigued by the prophetic abilities of the native species, the Emperor orchestrated an attack on the planet by Imperial forces while his Hand abducted a male Voss Mystic from the surface.
Over the next few years, the Emperor experimented with the Voss' powers, utilizing the abilities of his host and a captive Revan to peer into the future. He made preparations to replicate the ritual that had granted him immortality on a galactic scale. However, Darth Baras of the Dark Council had been manipulating the Emperor, providing him with information about the enigmatic dark side entity Sel-Makor residing within the Dark Heart on Voss. In 3640 BBY, the Emperor decided to investigate Sel-Makor, considering its potential usefulness in his ongoing plans.
Upon entering the Ancient Halls of the Dark Heart, the Emperor discovered he was trapped, as no Voss could ever leave the Ancient Halls, just as Baras had anticipated. Before the Emperor could contact his Hand to expose Baras' treachery, Sel-Makor seized control of the Voice, initiating a battle for dominance over both the host and the Sith's Force powers. With the true Voice incapacitated, Baras launched his attempt to proclaim himself the Voice, betraying his apprentice in the process. However, acting on fragmented instructions received from the Emperor during his struggle, the Hand appointed Baras' apprentice as the new Emperor's Wrath and unleashed the Sith Warrior against Baras' allies. The Wrath eventually located the true Voice on Voss. After defeating it in battle when Sel-Makor seized control, the Wrath was ordered to kill the Voss host, freeing the Emperor's essence. With the death of his host, the Emperor's essence returned to his Hand, who secured a Human male as his new host.
This Voice ultimately fell in battle against the Emperor's adversary, the Jedi Knight known as the Hero of Tython, during a confrontation in the depths of the Dark Temple on the Imperial capital of Dromund Kaas. Despite the Emperor's immense power, the Knight managed to strike him down, killing the Voice and severely wounding the Emperor's essence with the power of the light side. Forced from the host, the Emperor's energies, lacking an anchor, fell into a deep slumber from the shock. This injury also weakened his control over the Valkorion body, causing the mental barriers within his daughter Vaylin's mind to collapse.
The Emperor's incorporeal essence sought refuge in the dark side energies of the moon Yavin 4. When the Sith Empire turned against their former ruler upon discovering his plans to destroy the galaxy, the position of Voice was completely abandoned. Now known as Vitiate, the former Emperor refrained from taking a new host and instead ravaged the planet Ziost before fully consolidating himself within the Valkorion host body. Shortly thereafter, the Yavin Coalition, a joint task force of the Empire and the Republic aimed at thwarting Vitiate's plans, located Valkorion, who was killed in the ensuing conflict. Vitiate was then forced to bond himself to the Outlander, the leader of the Yavin Coalition, though he sought an alliance rather than transforming the Outlander into a true Voice. However, the Outlander rejected Valkorion's offer and, as Commander of the Eternal Alliance, ultimately destroyed the Emperor's true body in 3626 BBY.
The Emperor's Voice was initially mentioned in the 2011 novel The Old Republic: Revan by Darth Nyriss of the Dark Council. However, the 2012 reference book Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia directly contradicted this, stating that the Emperor created his first Voice after Revan's attack in 3950 BBY. This implies that the position did not exist when Nyriss mentioned it to Lord Scourge in 3954 BBY.