Originally posted by Nephthys
With high levels of darkside corruption the two races can be quite indistinguishable actually. And the same source that says he's a Sith Pureblood says that he's so corrupted by the darkside that he doesn't even resemble one any more and "had little in common with ordinary Sith."
As Janus has pointed out already: There aren't pure blood Sith without facial appendages in the time of Vitiate's birth, so we would see them, if that was his original body. And even a massive form of darkside corruption wouldn't magic them away.
We see him in possession of a Voss Mystic body in the Sith Warrior storyline. He had been in possession of it for some time, with no corruption to it noticeable. He's then killed during that storyline, very shortly before the Jedi Knight confronts him.
Urm. What?
We don't know how long he was in possession of the Voss Mystic body.
This is him, right before attacking the Jedi Strike Team. Doesn't look like a Voss Mystic to me. So he took that shape after this confrontation. And the entirety of the HoT Voss storyline happens after the Emperor is freed there by the new Wrath (who is logically just given that position after Scourge's betrayal). With additional time passing while the Hero is busy on Corellia. So he could have possessed the last body quite longer than the Voss Mystic.
Thanks for providing proof that the facial appendages don't fall off because of Dark Side corruption.
Vitiate could have only mastered that ability after he'd been corrupted. Karpyshan does mention that the darkside has corrupted his features over the centuries. Its probable that even if he used that alchemy it would be ineffective on him compared to them since his power eclipses theirs and he's lived a millennia longer than them.
Again, I can only point to the original source material concerning the Ancient Sith. The original Sith species has existed as a society of dark side using individuals for more than 100,000 years. It wouldn't be off the chart to suggest, that they have developed a collective resistance against it's "tainting" effects over that time span. Because, as we see in the comics, not a single Ancient Sith Lord suffers from any physical "Dark Side corruption", when all of them have survived for centuries.
Could it still have affected Vitiate in a very heavy fashion? Why, of course. But not in way that makes him indistinquishable from a human being. Perhabs the body that faces the strike team is his "original" one, given that is the only one that fits the description as not being recognizeable as either human or Sith.
Good theory. Perhaps that's why his eyes were red, huh?
Huh?
Not all Sith Pureblood's have facial appendages.
The original Ancient Sith all had facial appendages, as the only interbreeding happened with the (relatively few) Dark Jedi that joined the Sith 2,000 years before the fall of the Sith Empire. As Janus pointed out: That even applies to people with a almost pure Jedi lineage like Naga Sadow.
And SW:TOR itself offers various instances, in which it is made clear, that their is destinction between the playable "purebloods" and the one with an Ancient Sith lineage. The Inquisitor storyline has Overseer Harkun constantly talking down his apprentices, because of the pureblood Sith Ffon Althe, who is destined to overcome them all by virtue of his ancestry. There is also an individual in the Korriban Academy, that sents you on a quest to take blood samples of various instructors in the academy, to deterime whether they are "pureblood Sith" or not.
One. We see a Voice killed in the Sith Warrior campaign. He just falls over and dies easily. There is no spastic sparking nor is Vitiate bothered by the death at all. In contrast to his utter insanity and lengthy recovery after the JK kills him.
Because Vitiate wanted to be killed at that point in time and willfully relinquished the body that he used as host. Hardly an instance compareably to his battle against the HoT, is it?
1. I don't believe I've seen anything explicitly saying it was human. I direct you again to Karpyshan's point that he "had little in common with ordinary Sith."
He would still have the typical Sith features (facial appendages), that don't go away.
2. Easily explainable.
So why didn't you explain it?
3. Why would he use his Voice to absorb the power of the galaxy instead of his own body?
Because it is his essence that absorbs the power, making it completely irrelevant which body he was using for the task.
4. Why would he lie to the Emperor's Wrath about the Emperor not being dead? Gee, I don't know. It's fairly obvious that it would be in their best interests to lie about it, should he have actually died.
As we know that Vitiate hasn't died, this isn't a lie.
The point is, that it doesn't make any sense to lie regarding the Emperor's body. Whether or not it was the original one is entirely irrelevant, as long as the essence of the Emperor survived (which it did, as we all know).
Hardly speculation when the Lead Writer for Swtor confirms that it was the Emperor's body that died: "The Jedi Knight defeats the Emperor at the end, and the Emperor's body does die.”
And what "body" was he referring to? The host body or Vitiate's original body? Not that this question even matters, since the voiced opinion of some author is not considered canon and can be entirely ignored. I thought I have forced that lesson into the heads of people often enough by now.
Which doesn't apply to Vitiate since he loooong expanded his powers beyond his midi-chlorian count with his ritual on Nathema as well as his draining of his servants and Revan's power. If he can do that with his original body, he can do it with his Voice as well. And he has extensive experience with placing his power in other bodies. Also, remember that he was going to use whichever body it was to absorb the power of the galaxy, so either way that wouldn't be a factor. If it could contain that level of power, it could contain Vitiate's ordinary levels of power.
The power of Vitiate is not linked to his body, but to his essence. The body just determines how much of the power he could use. Do you honestly think that, if was capable of summoning the power of 8,000 Sith Lords in every instance we see him fighting, anybody would last even a second against him? So even his original body offered some limitations, but not as much as the weaker host bodies. There was a reason, why Sidious didn't see the essence transfer as the final solution to his quest for immortality.
The same mechanic can be observed at multiple instances in the mythos. Think about Jerec absorbing power from the Valley of the Jedi - just to get beaten by Kyle Katarn. Not to mention the weaker versions of force users possessing other people (e.g. Ragnos with Tavion).
So personally I don't see anything conclusive that it was his Voice nor any reason why it matters at all. The Voice possesses his power and is described as essentially being him. So this line of argument is rather pointless.
See above. For the Voice to be capable of handling the same amount of power Vitiate's original body could channel, it would have needed to be as powerful as his original body. I don't consider that likely.
Do you have any reason to doubt that it holds all his power? All sources say that the Voice possesses his power, not a portion of it. Unless you have a compelling reason to think it would only be a portion, I see no reason to humor you here.
Yes. Because his children hold a part of his power as well and are capable of "summoning" it (or Vitiate takes over there). This while he occupies his host body at the same time. There is a quote somewhere, that says, people talking to him have the - correct - feeling that he is listening to other conversations elsewere (through his children). So his essence is spread between his original body, his children and his Voice at least, making it impossible for the Voice to command all of it - especially in comparison to Vitiate before his confrontation with Revan.