Traya didn't teach the Exile everything. Besides, the only logical explanation of a variety of quotes places Peak Exile above Traya. Logically speaking, the power the Exile absorbed upon Traya's death pushed her above Traya in raw power.
In other words, Malachor Exile takes this handily. Karpyshyn's Surik (post wound) loses badly.
The Exile doesn't feed on death so killing Traya wouldn't push her over any edge whatsoever. That was an assumption made by the Council that was completely disproven when Nihilus tried to feed on her. The reason Nihilus failed was because the Exile was the "polar opposite of him." Ergo, if the Exile was in fact the exact same as him, it wouldn't work.
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
The Exile doesn't feed on death so killing Traya wouldn't push her over any edge whatsoever. That was an assumption made by the Council that was completely disproven when Nihilus tried to feed on her. The reason Nihilus failed was because the Exile was the "polar opposite of him." Ergo, if the Exile was in fact the exact same as him, it wouldn't work.
Except in the Dark Side path she realises she is feeding on death and chooses to exploit that fact. Just because she’s not doing it consciously in the Light Side path (and hunting targets to be more efficient) doesn’t mean she’s not doing it.
Granted, she also draws on the strength of living beings, but the fact she also feeds on death doesn’t really change. For the record, Nihilus fails to drain her when she becomes a mini Nihilus herself in the Dark Side path, so that logic doesn’t really compute.
Except in the Dark Side path she realises she is feeding on death and chooses to exploit that fact. Just because she’s not doing it consciously in the Light Side path (and hunting targets to be more efficient) doesn’t mean she’s not doing it.
Granted, she also draws on the strength of living beings, but the fact she also feeds on death doesn’t really change. For the record, Nihilus fails to drain her when she becomes a mini Nihilus herself in the Dark Side path, so that logic doesn’t really compute.
Originally posted by FreshestSlice
Really couldn't give a shit less about events that didn't happen. So while when Meetra is super bad and obsessed with power she can do these things, she didn't actually do these things when she faced Traya or Nihilus.
Super bad and obsessed with power? You make it seem as though her draining the masters was a conscious decision to steal their power. At first, it was not. Note what she asks Traya the first time she kills a master;
'What was that? I feel stronger ... what happened?'
To which Traya replies:
'Not all techniques in the force are learned through practice and training - this is something instinctual, born from experience. It is a way that they fill the hollow places where the force used to be.'
As for not giving a shit about 'events that didn't happen', nothing up to that point in the story has changed the mechanics of Meetra's wound in any way. The same thing would happen if she was Light Sided. Sure, the dialogue never does, but that's because The Exile never kills an individual as strong in the Force as Vrook, Kavar, Zez Kai El or Atris in the canon story.
It literally changes it completely and utterly, but to the latter point it's completely irrelevant. Meetra being super evil may have her feed on death but that isn't why she and Nihilis were opposites to begin with. They were opposites because he gave in utterly to the Force, and she separated herself utterly from the Force. This doesn't change regardless of events, which is why Meetra says, "Fool. I haven't lived with the Force for years."
A bold claim, care to source that? As far as any source I've seen goes, Meetra's wound is the same regardless of whether she herself aligns with the Light or Dark. I agree entirely that they're opposites because she isolates herself from the Force, doesn't chase power in the same way he does. That doesn't change the fact that while she is still a walking wound in the force, she draws power from everyone around her (like the Sith) and draws power from death (just like the Sith).
If you have sources that disagree, that show the Council were wrong, then I would like to hear them. Traya and a variety of other sources however agree with the council, that she instinctively feeds on death, and on her companions. While the Council see it as an inherently evil notion though, many others present it in a more nuanced light, a grey.
She distinctly doesn't become Nihilus because Kreia explains feeding off living beings is the pinnacle of the technique, when the hunger is fed so repeatedly and by increasingly more powerful targets. Passively feeding off her companions and those she is forced to kill is different, and uncontrollable for her. There is a reason she was attempting to heal her wound.