10 Best Star Wars Villains Who Debuted In Video Games

Mentor. Traitor. Jedi. Sith.

Darth Traya wears many labels during the course of Knights of the Old Republic II, and it's this sense of ambiguity that makes her the most thought-provoking villain on this list.

15 years before The Last Jedi upended the tea table of Star Wars conventions, KOTOR II did the much the same thing. Yet while TLJ is widely castigated for its perceived disrespect towards Star Wars, KOTOR II is lauded by Star Wars fans for its similarly critical approach to the subject matter. The difference? One of them had Darth Traya, the other didn't. (KOTOR II also didn't take a massive dump on an iconic childhood hero, but that's another discussion.)

By spending the vast majority of KOTOR II's run-time as the player's mentor Traya has ample time to expound on her murky sense of morality, in the process forcing the player to question the validity of following either side of the Force - light or dark. Put simply, Traya imagines the Force as a tyrant, one that shapes - and occasionally obliterates - billions of lives in the name of some unknowable "Balance". As such, she feels wholly justified in her ultimate goal to rid the galaxy of it once and for all.

Unlike The Last Jedi's 'bull in a china shop' approach to critiquing Star Wars' conventions, KOTOR II's 40-50 hour run-time allows Traya to be a lot more nuanced in her criticism of the basic building blocks of the Star Wars mythos. The end result is a cerebral, unforgettable character who, 20 years later, still retains pride of place in the Rogues Gallery of Star Wars video games.