Characters / Star Wars: The Old Republic - Sith Emperor

Tenebrae / Darth Vitiate / The Sith Emperor / Valkorion

Voiced by: Doug Bradley as Vitiate, Darin De Paul as Valkorion, Anthony Skordi as Tenebrae

The Three Faces of Darkness

"My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium—it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars."

The reigning Dark Lord of the Sith and leader of the revitalized Sith Empire from Naga Sadow's era. Vitiate was born Tenebrae, the bastard son of a minor Sith Lord who lived during the reign of Marka Ragnos. Upon learning the truth of his father, the young Tenebrae slew both his adoptive father and his birth parents and claimed the throne. This gained the attention of Ragnos, who took him in as an apprentice, Darth Vitiate. After Ragnos' death and the Sith's devastating defeat during the Great Hyperspace War, Vitiate gathered the remaining Sith Lords at his homeworld and performed a terrible ritual, wiping them all out and draining the planet of the very Force itself to become immortal. When the dust settled, the being that arose from the surface of the planet was no longer Tenebrae, but the Sith Emperor.

For over a thousand years, Vitiate rebuilt the Sith in secret, occasionally making preparations for their eventual reconquest of the galaxy by weakening the Republic. With time, however, he retreated from the public view, and left most of the governing to the Dark Council. Some over the centuries believed this was due to him planning the destruction of all life in the galaxy so he could ascend to godhood.

Knights of the Fallen Empire reveals the true reason, however; the Sith Empire was never more than a means to an end for Vitiate. In secret, he had diverted funds to a small planet in Wild Space, known as Zakuul, where he had built an empire using technology far beyond any seen in the galaxy at the time, an empire fanatically loyal to their Immortal Emperor. In the guise of the benevolent Emperor Valkorion, Vitiate ruled justly and fairly for centuries, even finding love and fathering three children, but always preparing to take over the galaxy once the Sith and Republic had wiped each other out.

---

As Tenebrae

”You cannot succeed - only die alone.”

• Antagonistic Offspring: To his biological father, Lord Dramath. At age ten, Tenebrae drove Dramath to madness and killed him. When they get to confront each other at the climax of Eternal Throne, Dramath tells him that his mother should have drowned him as he ordered, and the tone of Valkorion's voice is filled with nothing but hatred.
• Bastard Bastard: He was the result of an affair between the sith lord Dramath and a farmer's wife.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Tenebrae was born with eyes as black as space, and his father went mad just by looking into them.
• Cain and Abel: Was the Cain to his legitimate half-brother Lord Dramath II, who he forced into exile in a frozen wasteland. That said, Dramath II was probably not all that nice either, but everyone is comparatively better than Tenebrae.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: He enjoys it as a passtime, getting his start on his own mother. He's spent thousands of years torturing his father's spirit for shits and giggles.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Tortured his own mother to death for her adultery.
• Enfant Terrible: He brutally murdered his mother and fake dad at the tender age of six, then became a warlord and tortured his biological father to death at age ten.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: His mother loved him, and could not bear to drown him as a newborn as Dramath ordered. It's unknown if she came to regret this.
• Eviler than Thou: He expresses disappointment in his two other incarnations, claiming that they became too complacent.
• Meaningful Name: Tenebrae means "Darkness" in Latin.
• Randomly Gifted: Tenebrae was born to a peasant and an unimportant minor Sith Lord, with no legacy worth speaking of. Despite this, he was extremely gifted in both force power and cruelty from the start, and murdered his family at the age of six.
• Remember the New Guy?: He was apparently a student of Marka Ragnos, but is not mentioned at any point in Tales of the Jedi, despite it dealing with a succession crisis following Ragnos' death.
• Self-Made Orphan: He killed his stepfather when he attacked his mother, then went on to torture his mother until she told him who his real father was, then killed him too.
  Valkorion: I ended mother's suffering long ago.
• Start of Darkness: He was probably not a pleasant child, but from what we know the act that got him started was killing his stepfather in defense of his mother. That alone can be considered self-defense, but he went on to torture said mother to death.
• Teens Are Monsters: He had conquered his entire planet by the time he was 13.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He wore a traditional Sith robe, which shows off most of his chest.

As Vitiate

”My life spans millennia, legions have risen to test me!”

• Abusive Parents: Unsurprisingly, he treats his children (both literal and figuratively) like complete shit.
• Ancient Evil: Vitiate was already a thousand years old by the time Revan fought him, and had a reputation as an extremely powerful and evil force wielder.
• And I Must Scream: Revan implies that the method he used to attain immortality leaves him in constant and agonizing pain.
• Apocalypse How: At the end of the Rise of the Emperor storyline, Vitiate consumes all life on Ziost, leaving it a giant husk filled with creatures of Sith alchemy.
  • He pulled it of even worse on his homeworld of Medriaas (now Nathema). Not only did he consume all life on the planet, he consumed the very Force itself, leaving Nathema a complete void. Force users have been known to go insane if they spend too much time there.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Of all the Player Classes, he has the most personal relationship with the Hero of Tython. After Ziost, he actually admits that he considers them a worthy adversary.
  • He is one to Revan too, due to years of torture and suffering, it caused his mind to split in two halves, one light and one dark. Revan even states his spirit will not rest until the Emperor is defeated for good.
• Ax-Crazy: It's quite clear Vitiate is a twisted sadist who has an unbridled taste for killing and torturing.
• Badass Boast: Guy spits'em out at a rate higher than Palpatine.
  "You mistake me for your own weak flesh. I do not end."
  "You stand there because I allow it. Because I do not fear."
  "You are mine: servants, slaves, weapons... and you will obey."
  "My life spans millennia. Legions have risen to test me. [...] My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium — it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars. Your striving is insignificant. Let your death be the same."
  "There is no death, there is only the Force. And I am its master."
• Big Bad: For the Jedi Knight storyline, and ultimately the game as a whole until Echoes of Oblivion.
• Black Cloak: Since he's a recluse, in-universe depictions of him tend to have him wear a black cloak that conceals all of his facial features.
• Blind Obedience: His most dedicated followers display a loyalty to him that can only be described as batshit insane. This is most clearly seen in Act 3 of the Jedi Knight's storyline, after Scourge reveals that Vitiate is an Omnicidal Maniac who's a threat to the entire galaxy, not just the Republic. Despite this, you'll encounter people who are all too happy to aid him in his quest to annihilate almost all life in the galaxy, themselves included, and their motivations stem from having their own delusions of grandeur where they believe that they'll somehow be rewarded with a glorious afterlife, being utterly broken by the Emperor to the point of losing all hope for the future, or simply having no free will of their own thanks to the comprehensive Mind Rape they were subjected to. This is also why it's impossible to continue siding with the Emperor even if you play as an Imperial, as all the Imperial classes will eventually realize that the Emperor just wants them to roll over and die for him, which they will not stand for.
• Broken Pedestal: To the Empire, he was less a ruler and more a deity who saved them from being exterminated by the Republic after the Great Hyperspace War. The reveal he planned to consume the galaxy caused even the Sith to turn on him. For example, the Emperor's Wrath was renamed the Empire's Wrath after the Revan crisis by Darth Marr, due to the split in allegiances between Emperor and Empire.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Vitiate openly revels in his immorality. He also openly states that he can't be redeemed.
• The Chessmaster: Plays Revan of all people like a chump.
• Classic Villain: Vitiate represents Gluttony, Pride and Lust. He's already immortal (thanks to absorbing all life on his home plant) But he aims to absorb all life in the galaxy just to be sure. He sees himself above all others like they were mere ants. And as for Lust see The Hedonist below.
• Cloning Gambit: Even when slain for real, his original body was essentially booby trapped with a psychic weapon that would rebuild his mind inside whoever managed to kill him.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
  • To Darth Malak. Both are leaders of their own Sith Empires and seek to conquer the galaxy but that’s where the similarities end. Malak was once a Jedi turned Sith, while Vitiate was born a pure blooded Sith and never experienced life as a Jedi. Malak was a Sith apprentice who betrayed his master, Darth Revan and became the new leader of his Sith Empire, but Vitiate was the founder and leader of the True Sith Empire.
  • To Darth Traya. Both are immensely powerful Force users, they both have a connection to Revan, with Traya being his Jedi Master and Vitiate for turning him to the dark side, and both are founders of their own Sith factions. But while Traya was betrayed and tried to destroy the Force itself, Vitiate used his own followers as pawns, secretly created new empires and tried to become a god by committing genocide.
  • He also plays this with himself, through his multiple personas:
    • Darth Vitiate orchestrates events atop a lofty, shadowed throne, instilling fear through mere presence and the extent of his empire and machinations. Once confronted, he is dismissive of any threats, and sees even death as just a setback.
    • Valkorion is more in-touch with humanity and how to manipulate it, playing brother against brother against sister, all the while presenting a respectable facade to the host of his spirit. This is all an act, of course, and once they all challenge him, he is particularly wrathful in attacking their emotional weaknesses.
    • The reconstructed Tenebrae, "purified" of his original self's detachment and distractions, is the most straight-forward—a true Sith in his grasp at power. He discards manipulation for simply attempting to overwhelm his captives' minds, and while he is complimentary of the Outlander's accomplishments, he doesn't waste time when trying to consume them too. As a result of his overconfidence, he is the most shocked, outraged, and cornered of the personalities when his resurrection is revealed to have been a trap all along.
• The Corrupter: As shown in the Ziost storyline, his very presence causes a Hate Plague to engulf a planet.
• Crazy-Prepared: As shown in Onslaught, he had placed a curse on his original body as Tenebrae that would create a Mystical Plague Mind Hive if destroyed, as a means to come back even if he suffers from a final death. Unfortunately, he does not account for his own sadism, which ends up ruining it for him.
• Deader than Dead: Dies at the end of Knights of the Eternal Throne, and judging by reactions, he's really, truly, finally dead this time. The difference was: 1. he was weakened by the holocron he'd used to imprison his father's spirit; and, 2. his real body had been slain by Lord Scourge and Kira at the exact same time. He nearly comes back from even this in Onslaught's "Echoes of Oblivion" by way of his backup plan curse, but his sadistic need to infect as many people as possible with his Mind Hive curse (thereby spreading his influence rather than concentrating it), coupled with having created a lot of enemies through all he had done, including those he betrayed, manipulated, and murdered, leads to his defeat, seemingly once and for all with no outstanding backup plans.
• The Dreaded: At the end of Chapter 3 of the Jedi Knight story, we get this gem:
  Corrupted Jedi Master Tol Braga: He's more than darkness; he is... a void...
• Demonic Possession: He has the ability to possess others, which is a major plot point in several storylines.
• Determinator: No matter how many times he's beaten, Vitiate always returns to threaten the galaxy. That is until the end of Knights of the Eternal Throne were he (seemly) dies for good. And even then, the end of Onslaught reveals that he made sure he had contingencies in place in case he did die.
• The Ending Changes Everything: Rise of the Emperor reveals the entire Omnicidal Maniac A God Am I persona which Revan and the rest of the game had been operating on was a ruse and the Emperor really was just keeping everyone chasing their own tails for his actual plans that were sort of a mix between the aforementioned and Take Over the World. Word of God is that both plots were real and he could direct the ritual better than players (and the other characters) assumed, see Godhood Seeker for his original plans.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Most call him the Sith Emperor. In the Ziost storyline however, characters simply call him Vitiate since the Imperials under Lana's command no longer consider him their emperor. Dramath is the only one who consistently calls him Tenebrae.
• Evil Sounds Deep: As befits a Sith Big Bad. It turns out this applies to all his bodies, as Valkorion has a different but still very deep voice.
• Evil Overlord: He is the Dark Lord of the Sith.
• Evil Virtues: While not redeeming, Vitiate displays great Determination and Patience.
  "My ascendance is inevitable. A day, a year, a millennium—it matters not. I hold the patience of stone and the will of stars."
• Exotic Eye Designs: In each of his forms. As Vitiate, he has the traditional yellow eyes of Dark Side force users, and so does he as Valkorion. In his original Sith body as Tenebrae however, where such an eye color would be perfectly ordinary, his eyeballs are jet-black instead.
• Fighting a Shadow: The Jedi Knight only succeeds in killing his Voice, a physical avatar. His actual soul is still out there.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: He uses the body of another sentient being as his mouthpiece, dubbed the Voice of the Emperor. This becomes a plot point in the Sith Warrior storyline.
• For Want Of A Nail: When his father Dramath heard about him, he ordered Tenebrae's mother to drown the bastard. She didn't because she couldn't stand to kill her own son, and the rest is history.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The bastard son of a minor sith lord, raised by a farmer and his wife, became arguably the most powerful sith in history.
• A God Am I: He's an incredibly powerful Force user and he knows it. He is more of a deity than a ruler to the Imperial citizenry and he prefers it that way. However, he knows he is not a god, and wants to fix that.
• Godhood Seeker: Doesn't even begin to describe his original goals, at least before the Jedi Knight slew his Voice and derailed his plans a bit. He planned to use a galactic-scale version of his Ritual of Nathema to wipe out the vast majority of the galaxy's life except for certain locales and peoples of interest to him, like the world of Zakuul. He'd then repopulate the galaxy to his liking and turn it into his personal sandbox in which he would possess whoever he wished and live whatever lives he felt like in a galaxy where he was totally unopposed.
• Greater-Scope Villain: For every other storyline, including all comics, novels and games taking place during the Knights of the Old Republic era. Following his final destruction, he becomes this due to the dark plague he unleashed, which infected Satele Shan and several others.
• I Have Many Names: Tenebrae, Vitiate, the Emperor, and Valkorion.
• Hate Sink: Vitiate is basically Darth Sidious if the latter replaced his absolute sadism with complete apathy. This is a man who tortured his true father to death, killed billions of people, was an utter dick to anyone, and was so evil that even other Sith held him in contempt, among many other things. In fact, he is so loathed that he eventually leads to aligned goals between the Sith and Republic forces whenever he resurfaced in content after the base game.
• The Hedonist: This appears to be his main motivation. Vitiate loves life and every experience that comes with it and seeks to spend eternity becoming everything from a farmer, to an artist, to a simple man.
• He's Back!: He returns at the end of the Shadow of Revan questline.
  "The scores of dead have nourished me; I am awakened, and I bring with me... DEATH!"
• Hidden Depths: In spite of his massive ego. Vitiate's response to the Hero of Tython's "And Then What?" speech indicts that he is perfectly willing to live out eternity as just a "simple man". And unlike most Sith, Vitiate only seems to value power as a means to an end and doesn't seek power for its own sake. None of this is at all redeeming however.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Not only is he the true threat behind Shadow of Revan, it turns out that Emperor Valkorion is another of his identities.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His final scheme might have worked if his duplicate only focused on attacking one of Satele's group at a time. Since he arrogantly believed he could take them all on at once, he was delayed long enough for his enemies to all unite and put him down for good.
• How Would You Like to Die?: In the Ziost story arc, Vitiate would ask the player how they would like to die. In combat or on their knees.
• Humanoid Abomination: He was born a Sith, but eventually discarded his old body to become an incorporeal abomination.
• Immortals Fear Death: He has drained his entire home planet of life in order to achieve immortality. However, he is still theoretically mortal, so a large part of the storyline deals with his attempts to do the same to the entire galaxy, just to be safe.
• Immortality Immorality: Vitiate is both immortal and one of the most evil beings in the galaxy. And to achieve this immortality he had to sacrifice all life on his home world. and aims to do the same to the rest of the galaxy just to be sure.
• Invincible Villain: Vitiate is less a character and more of a force of nature/plot device that's constantly keeping the galaxy teetering towards destruction. He finally meets his end at the end of Echoes of Oblivion.
• It's All About Me: Perfectly willing to end all life in the galaxy just to insure his immortality.
• Jerkass: Even leaving aside his atrocities, he's also an utter dick to various people.
• Kneel Before Zod: Forces the Jedi Knight and his/her allies to become his servants.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Not literally, but he reveals himself through his Voss Mystic Voice to the Sith Warrior in this fashion.
  Emperor: Wrath, come to me. I am your Emperor.
• The Man Behind the Man: His influence is so widespread that Gnost-Dural considers his lack of involvement in the Exar Kun War to be of immense interest.
• Meaningful Name: His Sith lord title "vitiate" means to spoil, violate or morally corrupt. It's also similar to vita, which is Latin for life. Presumably this is a nod to his immortality.
• Me's a Crowd: He is capable of possessing multiple bodies at once, which he demonstrates on Ziost. After latching onto the minds of Satele and her students, his reborn consciousness manifests separately as Tenebrae, Vitiate, and Valkorion at once.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His birth name, Tenebrae, is Latin for Darkness, as if there weren't a more blatant indication that he would become one of the most feared Sith Lords in history.
• Never Found the Body: The whereabouts of his original Sith body is unknown. We later learn it was killed by Kira and Scourge at the same time the player killed Valkorion.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Enough that the Dark Council plotted to overthrow him for it.
• Orcus on His Throne: He almost never takes direct action, letting his various minions do most of the work. Fallen Empire reveals this is because the Sith Empire is essentially a feint while he manages his real empire in person; as long as it weakens the Republic before tearing itself apart he doesn't care what happens.
• Physical God: He is basically the most powerful Sith of his time and has his dark side powers to back this up.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He's a genuine and incredibly helpful ally in the Sith Warrior class storyline, not because he gives a damn about the Player Character in any real way, but because they've proven themselves a far more competent and reliable tool than Darth Baras, who's both trying to kill the Sith Warrior and usurp the Emperor.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: The Sith Emperor that stands above even the Dark Council, being even more powerful than Revan, who was able to take on the combined forces of the Sith and Jedi while at half his full power. Of the Jedi and Sith, only The Player Character pose anything resembling a threat to his throne, with Marr warning that no one Jedi or Sith poses a chance against Vitiate's might. He proves his superiority when he kills Darth Marr with ease.
• Really 700 Years Old: Tenebrae was 1,483 years old by the time of his final death, with his spiritual imprint dying three years later. This potentially makes him one of the oldest characters in Star Wars Legends.
• The Reveal: For a long time, you're led to believe that the Sith Emperor is just another dark sider and can be treated as a normal man, like his eventual successor Palpatine. The ending of Chapter 2 for the Jedi Knight campaign, and 3 of the Sith Warrior campaign make it clear that Vitiate is not a normal Sith Lord. He's more like an Energy Being made of the dark side that rules the Empire as a god.
• Self-Made Orphan: He killed his mother and father upon learning he's the result of an affair, and his real father later on. He was only a child at the time.
  I ended mother's suffering long ago, but your torment has only just begun.
• Shadow Dictator: For much of the Empire's history he's largely been a behind-the-scenes figure, letting the Dark Council do the actual running of the Empire. Fallen Empire reveals that this is because he was spending most of that time building the Eternal Empire as Valkorion while the Empire was merely to distract the rest of the galaxy.
• Shrouded in Myth: Not much is known about him, other than the broad details.
• The Sociopath: Vitiate was born without (or at least limited) emotions, killed both his parents when he was still a child, uses people as a means to an end only to kill them horribly, is willing to let trillions of people die just so he doesn't have to worry about dying, sees himself above other people, The list goes on.
• Taking You with Me: Tried this after the Jedi Knight defeats him by collapsing the temple. It didn't work.
• Time Stands Still: He can freeze peoples' perception of time, effectively making them living statues next to him.
• Villain Ball: Key to his defeat in "Echoes of Oblivion", as explained by Satele Shan. Despite nearly coming back, he couldn’t help but sate his sadism, giving her enough time to enact her plan to wipe him out permanently.
  Satele Shan: Look at my students. Each of them shaken to their core by the death and chaos you helped create. Eager for help, guidance, strength. Had you focused on any one of them, you might have succeeded. But your ego wouldn't allow it. Why settle for one student when you could assault them all? And why limit yourself to the students when their master was close at hand? I never needed to beat you. I only had to let you think you were invincible. Until now. Until every person who knows your weakness firsthand could come to face you. Until the one person who proved you could be defeated came here to destroy you, once and for all.
• Villainous Breakdown: He, as Tenebrae, Vitiate, and Valkorion, despairs as he is drained completely and turned to nothing in the midst of an attempted resurrection in the mission "Echoes of Oblivion" in Onslaught.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: There are several points in the Sith Warrior questline, Knights of the Fallen Empire, and Knights of the Eternal Throne where he'll advise the Player Character. Most of the time he's either manipulating you or genuinely looking out for your well-being, so how shameful it is to earn his approval is completely subjective. However, there is an instance on Ziost where he's clearly invoking this; when you encounter a pair of possessed Jedi warriors that Theron has explicitly said he wants to save, Vitiate will ask you to kill them once they're defeated, mockingly noting that you're both going against Theron's wishes and empowering him as a result. Take the dark side option and do as he says, and he congratulates you in a tone dripping with contempt.
• You Will Be Spared:
  • At the end of Shadow of Revan, he tells the Sith Warrior that as his Wrath, he'll kill them last.
  • At the end of the Rise of the Emperor storyline, he lets the protagonists walk away alive because he thinks life is more interesting with them alive and he wants them to be there for the very end. In the beginning of the Knights of the Fallen Empire story we find out why: he wants to offer them a job.
• World's Strongest Man: The most powerful Force user of his time and one of the most powerful of all time.

As Valkorion

"A man can have anything if he is willing to sacrifice."

• Abusive Parents: Valkorion sees his children as a means to further his legacy. A lifetime is spent forging his sons into warriors and leaders. The fact he barely recognizes their victories and achievements fosters a great resentment in Arcann over the years. He does eventually show recognition to Arcann... but only after he slays his other son, Thexan. Apparently one son emerging as the sole heir was the goal all along. Despite this, when their mother tried to take them from him when they were younger, all three mocked her and refused to go. His treatment of Vaylin was even worse, as after she proved too powerful for him to control, he sent her into the care of a Mad Scientist living on a Force-void world.
• A God Am I: "A god has no family,"
• A Hero to His Hometown: Most of the people in the Eternal Empire revere him greatly; even Koth still thinks the Empire would have been better if he still lived. All are unaware of who he really is and what he wants to do. By contrast, once the people of his original Empire, the Sith, learn what he had done, they turn on him by the billions.
• Antagonistic Offspring: His own children, obviously. But also to his father, Dramath. The amount of venom in his voice when talking about him could kill a krayt dragon.
  Valkorion: Father.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Effortlessly parries Arcann's lightsaber blows with his bare hands. Of course, he's using the Force while doing so.
• Broken Pedestal: An Imperial character has several opportunities to call him out on treating the Sith as nothing more than a distraction for his real Empire.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: His Fatal Flaw. For all his accomplishments, Valkorion is undone by his pervasive habit of turning against anyone and everyone, no matter how loyally they served him, or even if they genuinely loved him. His betrayal of the Sith Empire in "Shadow of Revan" and "Rise of the Emperor" already starts him off on a bad footing with even the most reprehensible and ruthless Imperial you can play as, to say nothing of actually acting as his top enforcer in the Sith Warrior questline. His abuse and neglect of his family costs him the very Eternal Throne he was willing to sacrifice everything else for, and his attempt to screw over the Outlander at the end of Knights of the Eternal Throne pretty much seals his fate and robs him of every remaining ally who he hasn't outright indoctrinated.
• Death by Irony: The Outlander weakens Valkorion with the holocron Valkorion used to torture his father and the trigger phrase he used to restrain Vaylin. The Outlander then finishes Valkorion off with the help of the family Valkorion abused. Tenebrae, who only viewed other people in terms of how he could use them or as distractions, is brought low by those he had abused.
• Democracy Is Bad: Valkorion calls democracy "overrated".
  Republic Outlander: I wouldn't bother explaining democracy to a Sith.
  Valkorion: I am no Sith. And democracy is overrated.
• Demonic Possession: A comment in Eternal Throne implies that Valkorion was once a separate person from Vitiate before having his body hollowed out.
• Did Not Think This Through: When his initial attempt to overwhelm the Outlander's mind all at once (which usually works for him) fails, he fights a classic Battle in the Center of the Mind instead. The problem is that since it is the Outlander's mind the Outlander can change the rules at will; Valkorion is defeated and nearly annihilated almost instantly once the Outlander figures this out.
• Dying Curse: His final words to the Outlander are to remember him when their Alliance turns to ash. This might not even have been a necessary reminder, as the events that precipitate the Alliance losing most of its military might take place on Nathema, facing Zildrog, the last of the Machine Gods, whom Valkorion at some point sealed away on the dead world for safe keeping.
• Enemy Within: After his body is killed by Arcann, his spirit finds his way into the Outlander's head and offers occasional advice along with offers of his power.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He claims to have genuinely loved Senya, even after the two grew distant, and regrets their parting. Given that he is a manipulative and remorseless sociopath who has already discarded his real family by this point, he may have just been saying what the listener wanted to hear. Especially given his statement that "A god has no family," which is delivered to Senya as well as his children. He then tells all of them that they were "motes of filth, drowning in the chaos of the void," before he "graced" them with his presence.
• Evil Mentor: Tries to be this to the Outlander while his spirit is in their mind. How successful he is depends on the player's choices.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He has a very deep voice and has killed billions as Vitiate.
• False Friend: He repeatedly emphasizes his full support for the Outlander taking over the Eternal Throne, takes many opportunities to stroke their ego and remind them how they're the most worthy of his legacy, and if you directly question him on any ulterior motives such as, say, betraying you and taking the throne for himself, he flat-out states that his time as ruler has passed, and if he wanted to destroy you, he'd have already done so. Unsurprisingly, once you actually do claim the Eternal Throne, he betrays you and tries to take it for himself.
• Faux Affably Evil: In contrast to his previous much more openly evil attitude as Vitiate, Valkorion occasionally tries to present himself as a reasonable, wise, even caring man. It's transparently a manipulation and the Outlander has many chances to call it out as such.
• Final Boss Preview: He kills Darth Marr with a single powerful blast of Force Lightning.
• First-Episode Twist: He's none other than the Sith Emperor himself. Also, he dies (although his spirit hangs around) and the Outlander is accused of his murder, regardless of the actual circumstances.
• God-Emperor: He is openly deified among the people of Zakuul and considering that he is a nigh-immortal Eldritch Abomination, he has a proper claim to this title.
• The Good King: According to Koth and Senya, Valkorion was for the most part a wise and benevolent ruler who brought order and stability to Zakuul, which causes arguments with Lana since she still sees him as Vitiate, who is the total opposite of all those things.
• Grand Theft Me: He takes over the Outlander's body necessitating the use of a Holocron Relic to take back control from him. Vitiate can all but state on Nathema that Valkorion was a separate person — a proud knight of Zakuul — before Vitiate had him "hollowed out" and took over his body.
• Greater-Scope Villain: His primary goal throughout the expansions to make the Outlander strong enough to take the Throne and become a worthwhile vessel for his spirit.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His plan is to groom the Outlander into someone worthy of assuming the Eternal Throne, through instruction, challenge and just plain beating them around, forcing them to become more powerful, all so he can take over their body and rule again upon the Eternal Throne. In the process he creates someone with the power and the will to resist his takeover and actually destroy his spirit. In addition, the Trigger Phrase he used to keep Vaylin in check gets used against him.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: In Chapter 12 of Fallen Empire you face his spirit with no companion and a limited source of healing(unless you are a healing class). He has a lot of health and his attacks are very powerful and he cannot be stunned or interrupted. When you are in low health, you watch him defeat you in a cutscene. Even if you successfully manage to lower his health, the same cutscene will play anyway.
• In the Back: How he was killed—either by the Outlander's hands or by Arcann.
• I Have No Son!:
  • Inverted when in Eternal Throne, if the player saves Senya in Chapter I, Valkorion is aghast at Arcann agreeing to serve the Alliance. "I did not raise my son to serve." Arcann says, without even looking at him, "You have no son."
  • Valkorion plays this straighter when he declares that "A god has no family,".
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Along with treating his children with cold distaste, Valkorion as a constant air of superiority over everyone and frequently mocks and belittles various different people. There are also several moments where it looks like Valkorion is not as bad as seems, only to later prove that no, he is. One of the best examples is his relationship with Senya. He claims that she was the one person he ever loved and even seems to have a twinge of regret when he sees her in the Outlander's mind, only to declare that "A god has no family," and "Before I graced you with my presence, you were nothing but motes of filth, drowning in the chaos of the void."
• Kneel Before Zod: In the final chapter of Eternal Throne, the Outlander finally makes it to the Eternal Throne. Valkorion attempts to take control of the Outlander by initially forcing them to kneel before him.
• Light Is Not Good: He's always wearing his silvery-white armor, and is about as evil as they come.
• Necessarily Evil: Any time the Outlander calls him out on how he raised Vaylin (sending her to a Mad Scientist on a Force-void world to be tortured into insanity and have a Trigger Phrase installed), he blithely brushes it off as a necessary precaution since "she needed to be contained." (However, given some of the horrific instructions he gave to her caretakers encouraging them to use any kind of torture and experimentation just short of killing her), his words ring incredibly hollow.
• Never My Fault: Many times he laments the failings of his children and Sith Empire. The Outlander can point out each time that it's his own fault for how horribly he raised/ruled them, which he always brushes off.
• Obviously Evil: Ironically, despite his overall less intimidating appearance and attempts to feign normalcy, he is this. Even an Outlander who takes his advice and uses his power seems to brace themselves for his inevitable betrayal, knowing full well from Ziost what he is capable of.
• Oh, Crap!: His expression on his face says this if the Outlander summons Tenebrae's father, Lord Dramath, to assist the Outlander in taking down Valkorion. And again when they use Vaylin's Trigger Phrase against him.
• Put on a Bus: In Chapter XII, he gets annoyed with the Outlander's lack of progress against Arcann and decides to leave them, eventually returning at the very end. Subverted when he tries to bodyjack you; he reveals he never left and has spent the time whittling away at the Outlander's mind.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • He's patient enough to wait for the Republic and Sith Empire to fight one another to exhaustion before beginning his invasion.
  • Valkorion is aware of how powerful the Outlander is, so he attempts to recruit them to stop them from interfering with his plans. Very heavily implied by the game and confirmed per Word of God that he actually aimed to bodyjack them from the get-go, arranging for the death of his current body so he could possess and eventually take over the Outlander.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When one of his sons kills the other, his eyes noticeably take on a Sith tint when he extends an arm to Arcann afterwards. It's a sign of his true identity.
• Shock and Awe: Is capable of shooting lightning which is how he kills Darth Marr.
• Social Darwinist: Emperor Valkorion has taken this approach to parenting. His twin sons are made to endure harsh training and earn everything the hard way. When Arcann kills his own brother, Thexan, Valkorion extends a hand of approval. He had always desired one to rise above the other as the strongest heir. Furthermore, he only sees Arcann's envy as a weakness, rather than an evil that he encouraged to fester.
• The Sociopath: He built up an image of benevolence with the people he was ruling, but in reality cares very little for them or his family all while having aspirations of godhood.
• Spirit Advisor: After his bodily death, his spirit latches on to the Outlander's mind and takes to offering advice, whether the Outlander wants it or not.
• Thanatos Gambit: In Chapter XII, he admits that his death was all part of his plan.
• Training from Hell:
  • He subjects his sons to this from pretty much the moment they can hold weapons. It's implied their entire lives are a means of forging one of them into a worthy heir willing to make any and all sacrifices for their ambition.
  • In Chapter XII, he gets annoyed with the Outlander's lack of progress against Arcann, so he kidnaps them and forces them to fight their way through the Odessen wilderness to prove that they have the strength to defeat Arcann.
• Treacherous Advisor: As soon as the Outlander claims the Eternal Throne, Valkorion attempts to steal his/her body. All of the assistance and advice Valkorion offered the Outlander was just a means to get a stronger body on the Eternal Throne to host his spirit (who the galaxy will still believe is the hero who saved them!) while using the Outlander to also rid himself of his other problems like his family.
• Villain Respect: Shows this to the Outlander as a result of being someone worthy of his respect.
• Villain with Good Publicity: There's no indication that he or his regime are unpopular with the people of Zakuul. Especially surprising, considering who his alter ego is, but given Zakuul's relative isolation from the rest of the galaxy and the general unlikelihood of even Force-users having multiple bodies, this could be justified. Furthermore, his centuries of leadership of his birth world and the Sith Remnant Empire afterwards have given him all the experience he would need to rule a relatively small and obscenely wealthy government like Zakuul.
• Villainous Breakdown: When faced with the prospect of a true death, Valkorion is reduced to insisting that his family and the Outlander can't kill him because their lives would be meaningless without him.
  Valkorion: Before I graced you with my presence, you were nothing but motes of filth, drowning in the chaos of the void. [variable note about the specified class of the Commander] I forged you into a being worthy of the Eternal Throne. Without me, you are nothing.
• Visionary Villain: Very much so, and the primary reason he considers Arcann and Vaylin unsuitable successors. To Valkorion, one of the greatest personal failings one can suffer is to have great power and ability but never see beyond personal, short-term desires and goals. None of his children ever displayed the long-term thinking and clarity of vision he most desired in an heir (even Thexan, the most stable of the three, seemed mostly driven by a desire to please his father).
• We Can Rule Together: Offers to give the Outlander great power if s/he kneels to him, having dubbed them worthy of his attention after the events of Yavin 4 and Ziost. The Outlander has the option to accept, but Arcann intervenes.