Galactic Threads Story

The Galactic Threads Story in Star Wars: The Old Republic was released in Update 7.8. It is a continuation of the main storyline, and is a part of the Legacy of the Sith expansion. This story update ties multiple threads together, including helping a defector of the Hidden Chain on Tatooine with Akaavi Spar, track down one of Shae’s new associates with Ras Ordo on Hoth, and join Talos Drellik on Nar Shaddaa. After, you join Talos Drellik and Arn Peralun (or Major Anri, Imperial-side) on Elom, where you explore the Temple of Nul together, uncovering ancient recordings from Darth Nul about her machine. Finally, you go to Ilum to the ruins of Darth Malgus’s crashed fortress, and discover an ancient Mind Trap, with the spirit of Darth Nul trapped within….

Cutscenes

I have also put together some of the conversations that I found most interesting in this story update in text form. Your play through may be different depending on your character’s class, and which conversation choices you choose during the cutscenes.  

Efforts on Elom

Lana Beniko: Unfortunately, Imperial representatives have gotten wind of our stalled efforts on Elom.

Lana Beniko: They want to know more about what’s inside Darth Nul’s temple, and they want to know it now.

Lana Beniko: I’m afraid “now” is a bit impossible at the moment. Not until you assist Talos in gaining access to the unreachable areas of the ruins.

Talos Drellik: Oh, wonderful! I was so hoping to hear from you soon. I had intended to have this little issue resolved by now.

Talos Drellik: We’ve run into a bit of trouble with the security measures in Nul’s temple. For all her remarkable inventions, it seems her most prized holdings are safeguarded by a simple droid.

Talos Drellik: A droid that has been rendered inoperable by a missing part of extreme importance.

Lana Beniko: Have you had any luck with the antiques dealer we identified on Nar Shaddaa?

Talos Drellik: Not in the slightest. I was rather unprepared for the sheer size and complexity of this world, and I’m having some difficulty locating her.

Talos Drellik: I… would appreciate any assistance in making contact. I am feeling quite out of my depth.

Talos Drellik: Once this is all sorted, whatever is hidden in the recesses of Darth Nul’s temple will be revealed!

Lana Beniko: I suppose a lifetime of studying history is hardly adequate preparation for navigating Nar Shaddaa’s streets.

Lana Beniko: Once you acquire the part Talos needs for the droid, he’ll walk you through the rest. Good luck.

Following up on Elom

Player: What did we find on Elom?

Lana Beniko: From what I read in Talos Drellik’s report, the dig teams have finally cleared a path into Darth Nul’s temple.

Lana Beniko: What they’ve found is promising, but there is one final obstacle impeding their way into the heart of the ruins.

Lana Beniko: Talos is currently looking into a solution. He has requested that you bring Nul’s holocron to Elom in the event of his success.

Player: We need to see exactly what Malgus was after on Elom. If there’s more to uncover there, I want to see it.

[The player meets Talos on Elom, who explains there is trouble getting into the temple. You help him enter, and find a hologram of an ancient Sith.]

Temple of Nul on Elom

Darth Nul: Only a clear mind can see the truth. Calm thoughts, at peace, like the waters of a still lake.

Arn Peralun: It’s… it’s the start of a Sith riddle. Master Gnost-Dural told me about these.

Player: A Sith riddle?

Arn Peralun: A logical paradox. The Sith use them to make Jedi question their devotion to the light.

Arn Peralun: But this one seems like a different kind of test….

Darth Nul: You have altered the flow of the water, changed its very nature to be still. But the truth you reveal is a hologram. An illusion.

Darth Nul: What wisdom have you gained?

—

Talos Drellik: One moment… the scroll you recovered is attempting to play a holorecording. There!

Darth Nul: I didn’t think it possible, but I may have found a way to replicate my ability to touch the minds of others.

Darth Nul: The designs for this machine are underway, but it will require the creation of a holocron, imbued with the essence of my gifts.

Arn Peralun: Well, that tells us something about the holocron’s purpose.

—

Darth Nul: The scales balance, but they are not of equal worth.

Darth Nul: Balance is a construct, disguised as a law of nature. An ethical judgement of those who wish to hide truths.

Arn Peralun: See? Balance. Just a less… straightforward lesson than what I was expecting. And it got us another datascroll.

—

Talos Drellik: You found another of the datascrolls? Excellent, plug it in, and let’s see what else our mysterious Sith has to say.

Darth Nul: The results of my tests are very promising, but I need the machine to extend my reach.

Darth Nul: Further, and more in-depth, experimentation is necessary. Several of my acolytes will make exceptional subjects.

Arn Peralun: I really shouldn’t be surprised that she experimented on her own followers….

—

Darth Nul: There is harmony, and there is chaos.

Darth Nul: Here, harmony has destroyed, created chaos. But in chaos, we rebuild. We reshape. We grow stronger than we were.

Arn Peralun: Is it me, or did her lessons start taking a turn for the peculiar?

—

Darth Nul: For all my attempts at secrecy, I should have known that there is no hiding from him. Not really.

Darth Nul: I do not know which of my acolytes succumbed to the promises he offered them, or the torture he subjected them to. But it does not matter.

Darth Nul: As long as this machine exists, as long as the potential to awaken the gift of the Force within others is a reality, my life will be in danger.

Darth Nul: I will employ the measures I have developed for this eventuality, activate security measures, conceal my experiments.

Darth Nul: I will do what I can to turn the Emperor’s gaze from Elom, from what I have built here. When I have soothed his doubts with some new toy, I will return.

Darth Nul: My holocron must remain. It is safest here, with the very device it was meant for, not in the hands of those who wish to find the machine.

Arn Peralun: Wait a minute. Where are you sending the data from that droid?

Talos Drellik: Me? I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about….

Player: What’s going on?

Talos Drellik: Oh no… something has activated the uplink connection in the droid, and it wasn’t us.

Player: You said there was a failsafe. Stop the connection, Talos.

Talos Drellik: I’ve been attempting to. Nothing is working!

Arn Peralun: Shut it down!

Talos Drellik: Wait! We don’t know what will happen to the holocron if you destroy the droid! Who knows what information we stand to lose?

Player: Then we wait until it’s finished.

Darth Nul: It is imperative that the machine be completed. Without it, the signal cannot be dispatched on the scale necessary to–

Talos Drellik: No!

[Creatures attack.]

Darth Jadus, via unexpected holocall after returning to Odessan

Darth Jadus:

You know now what Malgus intends. Nul’s machine, utilized on a grand scale. Reawakening a connection to the Force in many.

Enough to fundamentally disrupt the order of things. To overwhelm the Jedi and the Sith and their weakening grasp of control.

And the Hidden Chain–their leader blind to all but her own desire to refashion the galaxy–are hastening toward making Malgus’s vision a reality.

But you… you and the young Jedi have taken the key, the piece of Darth Nul’s machine required for its success… or its failure. The holocron.

It seems those who aid you are just as resilient. [A picture of Sa’har and Ri’kan is shown.]

You stand in the way of the inevitable. Delaying it achieves nothing.

You have a choice. We can continue this stalemate, this back and forth, never-ending disruption of plans.

Or, you can have a say in what is inescapable. You can heed my counsel, and have control in what is to come.

Consider carefully. I will contact you again.

Once more, you interfere with something that is beyond your understanding.

Lana Beniko: Darth Jadus… truthfully, he was the last person I expected to have a hand in this.

Lana Beniko: And I’m not entirely certain there’s any way of knowing just how involved he is.

Lana Beniko: Do not underestimate him.

Lana Beniko: You know better than anyone what he is capable of.

Lana Beniko: He was formidable enough before his disappearance. Who knows how far his reach extends now?

Player: Why would he offer me any kind of help?

Lana Beniko: Perhaps he seeks revenge? A way to punish the rest of the Sith for his exile? All the better if it takes the Jedi down too….

Lana Beniko: Why he would seek your help in this endeavor would be anyone’s guess.

Lana Beniko: But I’m sure you would prefer if we weren’t caught unawares again.

Player: You’re right.

Player: If no one knew of his existence for as long as you say, he’s had time to stay lay the groundwork for this.

Player: But he can’t hide forever….

Darth Nul in the Rakata Mind Trap

Darth Nul: You are not him. The one who came before.

Player: “Him?” You mean Malgus?

Darth Nul: The one who deceives. The one who seeks a false dominion.

Player: …Darth Nul?

Darth Nul: I am no one.

Lana Beniko: Not so. You left your mark on the galaxy. Someone will attempt to use your ideas in service of burning it down.

Darth Nul: They cannot. He stopped it. Eradicated my work.

Darth Nul: The Emperor. His great punishment. He slaughtered my disciples, he corrupted my creations, but he could not break me.

Darth Nul: My mind… my mind. My most treasured possession, locked away… useless.

Player: The Emperor took you, made you a Sith. He used your inventions. What turned him against you?

Darth Nul: A threat. To him. To his reign. His control. His dominance.

Darth Nul: I offer power. Share it. Illuminate darkness.

Darth Nul: But if too many have power, who is left to rule over? If too many possess a god’s strength, what use is a god?

Player: That’s what the Emperor did. Put down anyone who challenged his rule and grew stronger each time.

Darth Nul: Until you.

Darth Nul: The one who came before. He spoke of you, your strength. That you might desire the same things.

Darth Nul: To truly see the way of Jedi and Sith.

Darth Nul: The way they were. The way they are. The way they always will be.

Darth Nul: They deny. Destroy. Withhold the Force’s gifts.

Darth Nul: He understood. What must be done.

Darth Nul: To design their doom. To free others of their manipulation.

Lana Beniko: Malgus is no liberator.

Darth Nul: He will see potential fulfilled. His. Everyone’s. It is the only way to be free.

Darth Nul: Freedom… I told him how to achieve it, in exchange for… mine.

Darth Nul: A promise made. I answered his questions, yet I remain. A promise broken. Unless….

Darth Nul: He sent you? My liberation, what he promised? You… you will be my vessel.

Player: I’m sorry, but… there’s nothing I can do to free you from this.

Darth Nul: My work must be finished. The one who came before will do this.

Darth Nul: The scales must be unbalanced. The galaxy freed from its pair of shackles. From refusal and ruin.

Darth Nul: I would see it. I must….

Lana Beniko: We need to leave. Now.

Player: I don’t care about any of that. Tell me everything that you told Malgus.

Darth Nul: He wanted the truth. To learn the nature of Jedi and Sith.

[The player fights Darth Nul inside the Mind Trap.]

Darth Nul: My work must be finished, my work must be done….

Lana Beniko: Are you all right?

Player: What Malgus wants, if Nul is to be believed, will change everything. We can’t possibly know how far-reaching the consequences will be.

Lana Beniko: To say the least.

Player: Everything Nul said… she really did build that machine to dismantle the Jedi and the Sith.

Player: And in the end, it destroyed her.

Lana Beniko: She may be dead, but her legacy isn’t. As long as her holocron exists, someone could do what she failed to.

Lana Beniko: If even Heta Kol was able to rebuild Nul’s machine….

Lana Beniko: After all of that, I feel even more uneasy about the fact that Malgus roams free once more.

Player: He tried to destroy so much already. Now it feels like he’s preparing to do it again.

Lana Beniko: On a much grander scale, if we can trust the word of Darth Nul’s remains.

Player: Regardless, we need to move. I sense that there’s something we’re still missing….