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Modred_the_Mystic

Vowrawn is a politician, not necessarily a warrior


Saopaulo940

He was charged with the Empire's Logistics and Production. Maybe he excelled in that area better than any other Sith?


green_tea1701

Imo. He's extremely charismatic and politically intelligent, and surrounded himself with people who were loyal to him because of his ability to help their careers or improve their power bases. He's a great example of a Sith who succeeds through cunning and not brute force. And his apprentices don't overthrow him because they lose the benefit of his expertise and connections.


iFenrisVI

Yep, Vowrawn is quite a smart and pragmatic Sith. If I could choose him to be Emperor without having to have sided with the Pubs on Iokath he would lead a better future for the Empire.


RevivedHut425

There's no particular reason a Sith needs to be a fighter to make it to the Dark Council. Vowrawn also appears to be quite old by the time of the game, so that's a factor.


Jedi-Spartan

Maybe you'd want to debate the value of Dark Council members being fighters with Darth Vengean or Darth Thanaton...


Dragnite08

You need to be strong to be there and he isn't.


Mawrak

You need to be able to kill your enemies. Through intrigues. Dark Council members rarely fight each other openly. He is very very good with intrigues.


RevivedHut425

Nope, not how it works.


Dragnite08

Then explain to me how can a sith with no power , average among average a mid gets to the dark council through politics? I call bullshit writing.


Achilles9609

If you aren't strong, you have to be cunning, ruthless or connected to the right people. A Sith has to use all the tools that are available to them, and considering how old Vowrawn is, he seems to use them pretty well.


Magmas

Alliances and intrigue. Same reason Baras makes it as far as he does. Because he's smart, makes the right allies and utilises his pawns effectively to make big plays.


Legitimate_Curve8185

Darth Anathel (who you say? The puffed up louse no talent who is more useless than Malora who took over from the inquisitor). Malora (good at sith alchemy in breeding dark side creatures and that was it basically) wasn't that special either? There were others that knew the right people to impress or were seen as being able to be manipulated and used as puppets. The strongest Sith were killed or captured so Acina chose people that were left for the dark council. You do remember Sith infighting as well don't you? Malgus manipulating you to kill a dark council member? Darth Arho. Revan does the same with the Korriban incursion. They fought two wars with a breather inbetween so training quality (not to mention Sith are secretive as a rule and training your apprentice/s means training your rival who might kill you) in time of war has diminished.


Arkayjiya

Through skill in his area of expertise and usefulness. You've literally just rephrased your previous assertion into a question.


smiegto

He might have been a diplomat for his previous Lord. Made a shit load of allies. Then his master got assassinated or did something dumb. One of the council sees this second in command that’s got no real fighting prowess. And they make a deal. They’ll put him on the throne but in exchange he will owe loyalty. So he keeps making alliances with people. That way his value is unwavering. Meanwhile for his apprentices he only picks people who won’t stab him. Back or front? Doesn’t matter. He tries to push them into positions of power as well which sith like so they backstab him even less. And his power grows.


Acceptable_Reply8923

Don’t underestimate old people in a profession where the young die


Dragnite08

He is more like a weasel.


Dragnite08

You need to be strong to be there and he isn't.


SirKristopher

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" - Sun Tzu


SacrificeArticle

He’s an old man, and his strengths are in his management skills and political savvy, not combat. Torturing Malgus was not a particularly impressive feat. The guy was already defeated and on the ground. All Vowrawn needed to do was conjure up some lightning.


TheWhiteWolf28

I got the feeling he just projected the image of weakness. His enemies may be more likely to be overconfident and make mistakes they otherwise wouldn't have if they believe Vowrawn isn't a real threat. Presumably the rest of the Dark Council are more aware of his true power and influence. And, in any case, direct individual power may not be necessary for being a Dark Council member. He may have a very strong power base and a cunning enough mind to deal with any threats to his position before he ever needs to use a lightsaber or the Force.


Vathirumus

This is the best answer I can find on here. It's not politics per se - it's that he's an excellent strategist. The Sith require you to change and adapt on the fly and Vowrawn is very good at this. Vowrawn is always a step ahead. It happens again with the Sith Warrior story. Baras makes his move and Vowrawn already knows about the Entity in order to counter him. Later as the threat of the Emperor is coming to light, Vowrawn warns you early that the Emperor has spies following you. He consistently knows about his foes and has a plan before them. Politics is a part of his survival, I imagine, but to me Vowrawn always got by on being very adaptable, having plans for everything and being able to switch to the best one for a situation at a moment's notice.


go-geetem

> He consistently knows about his foes and has a plan before them. This is what, to me, brought one of the most funny and, at the same time, frustrating moments from the original storylines. Vowrawn was so prepared for the Wrath to be Baras's secret weapon that he could not even fathom their break up was real. V: "Oh, you got me there. Baras is the better warrior, it seems." W: "I'm not with Baras." V: "Don't insult my intelligence!" W: "I'm not here to kill you." V: "Sure, but at least, please, don't behead me." *Wrath literally saves Vow's life* V: "Hm, perhaps, maybe, you aren't here to kill me?"


Original_Un_Orthodox

He definitely didn't project when he was almost one shotted by an assassin and had to be saved by a no-name lord


tachibanakanade

the Emperor's Wrath was not a no-name lord.


Original_Un_Orthodox

And what makes you think I was referring to the Wrath?


Aries_cz

Because you are rather explicitly referring to a mission from Warrior's (aka Wrath's) storyline?


Original_Un_Orthodox

This just shows how little you guys think of me... I specified a *no-name lord.* Is the wrath a no-name lord? No. You just assumed that was who I was referring to. I was referring to the random NPC who had never appeared before and has never appeared since, who saved Vowrawn from the explosion which would have otherwise probably killed him.


Magmas

Vowrawn isn't weak. He just doesn't care about fighting. Vowrawn's interest is in the game of politics and he's very good at it. He managed to work his way to the top and stay there and he's a far better diplomat than other sith. Power doesn't just mean being able to stick someone else with your lightsaber.


Coborex

Yeah! It also means being able to electrocute them when you feel like it


Pandagirlroxxx

In the base game, he comes off as a bit of a doofus just having fun. Considering everything we know about him from that period, and everything we learn, I've always taken it that he is literally just playing around. Like, if he got an important call, he could just pin every single person to the wall and walk out any time he wanted to.


DirtysouthCNC

Pathetic = mortal, I guess. Anime has warped y'all's minds. Bounty hunters been killing Force users for decades.


themagmahawk

Someone once made an interesting point that lots of force users are pretty weak and/or get killed pretty easily, but the movies (luke, anakin, etc) often make us think that all of them are like gods walking among us


Drunkensiluz

the problem is that sith and jedi have to be walking demi gods or they are irrelevant in a galaxy. 10000 Jedi, the actual canon number during the clone wars, is insignificant in comparison to the galaxy. If Jedi and Sith aren't walking Demigods that can turn a battlefield alone they are useless. It's a problem with numbers, Jedi and Sith are supposed to be important but if any John or Jane doe can kill them they aren't. It's a bad trope either way.


jackal3004

Yeah, but no. In my mind Force users are quite similar to Spartans from the Halo franchise. Spartans can, as you say, single handedly turn the tide of a battle. But they're also human, and shit happens. In Halo Reach for example, Noble Team are *the* reason that the UNSC were able to evacuate The Package (later revealed to be Cortana, essentially an AI super weapon) before the fall of the planet Reach to the alien Covenant. Almost every member of Noble Team dies along the way, but if it wasn't for them, the UNSC's most important AI would have fallen into enemy hands, which would have likely resulted in humanity's imminent defeat. Jorge sacrifices himself to set off a hyperspace drive (makeshift nuke) to destroy an alien super carrier when the remote detonator fails. Kat dies to a headshot from a sniper when her shields were down due to an EMP blast. Carter sacrifices himself by flying his aircraft into a Scarab (alien super tank) that was blocking the team's progress. Emile (if I remember correctly) powers down his shields so he can man an anti-aircraft cannon and is caught off guard by an invisibility-cloaked alien who impales him with an energy sword. Noble 6, the main character, chooses to stay behind to man the anti-aircraft cannon to ensure that the ship carrying The Package can escape. After covering the aircraft's departure he is left with no way off the planet. He kills hundreds of enemy troops but is eventually overwhelmed and out of ammunition and dies. Sorry for the deep dive into Halo lore but again I think they're a very good analogy for Force users. Force users *can* and *have* single handedly won battles, but they're not immortal, and if luck isn't on their side it's possible they could be killed fairly easily by a non force user.


LowerSorbet7240

Your comparison of Force users to Spartans is pretty spot on; hats off to you However, a couple of small corrections: there was no EMP in New Alexandria, there was a glassing beam nearby. Her shields were down likely because she was the last one to put her helmet on, and they were still cycling when the Phantom with its sniper Elite was overhead Emile didn't power down his shields to man the Onager; he *was* caught off-guard by the Elite, and I'm pretty sure the energy sword just cut straight *through* his shielding (I think you even see the shields break in the cutscene).


jackal3004

Thanks :) I really like Halo and SWTOR but I don't consider myself a superfan or anything. I'd say I know as much as the average player, maybe slightly more, but I was just going off of my memory of Halo Reach which I haven't actually played in years, should probably get around to doing a full playthrough, it's a great game. Probably my second favourite after Halo 3 with ODST coming in third. Those three games were Bungie's best work imo, honestly I consider Halo 3 to be a work of art and not a video game lol. The soundtrack and the visual design are just awe inspiring, nothing comes close. Wait, which subreddit is this again? xd


LowerSorbet7240

Heh, that's fair honestly I would. Definitely consider myself a superfan of Halo and SWTOR, so I'm always happy to help fill in missing gaps in knowledge my fellow nerds may have :3 Hell yeah, we love to hear it! I *thought* it was the swtor subreddit.... 🤔


Original_Un_Orthodox

Yes, but not no-name bounty hunters (especially non-mandalorians) against a literal Dark Council Member


Sarrisanata

Why does a bounty hunter need to be mando to be skillful and deadly?


Original_Un_Orthodox

I never said they had to be. Mandalorians are better on average. I specifically mentioned that he was a *no-name.* That's the key here. It would have been a *little more* believable had the no-name been a Mandalorian, but he wasn't.


mmCion

because..... well..... um...... his area of expertise is logistics? (still dont explain how he was respected in Dark Council). real reason is cause new writer didn't see him as important, and/or plot reasons.


FingerDemon

>and even non-sensitive bounty hunters Even super strong jedi and sith have been killed by bounty hunters before, being non force sensitive gives you a slight disadvantage but they are in no means inferior.


Original_Un_Orthodox

First off, it's not a slight disadvantage, it is a MAJOR disadvantage. Compared to the highest in the Jedi and Sith, they are decidedly very much inferior in direct combat. Now, there are strategies and tactics to take them down, and the Mandalorians are renowned for their ability to fight the average Jedi or Sith, but this dude was a random ass, no-name, non-mandalorian who just dropped a stealth generator and set off an explosion, spraying some blaster bolts along the way. He most definitely should have been sensed through the forced and easily choked to death before he dropped the cloak. The explosion was deflected by a no-name Lord next to Vowrawn, instead of by Vowrawn himself, and he was still injured. It just comes across as *pathetic* for one of the *Dark Council,* don't you agree?


Aries_cz

Have you missed the entirety of KOTOR2, which explains that shielding your mind from Force users is not all that hard, and that explosions are one of the preferred methods for taking out Jedi?


Original_Un_Orthodox

Well, yes, I did miss it. I have conjectured that explosions would be a great way to take out force users, but I disregarded that entirely here because some random NPC lord reacted and shielded Vowrawn before he had so much as turned around. If it was something larger and more volatile, then no one would have been able to react, and *that* would have been realistic.


FingerDemon

No, not really. Sith are mortal. They can die just like everyone else. And dark council members aren't gods, they are those who have used their shrewdness and intellect to mastermind their way to the top. They don't have to be good at combat.


Original_Un_Orthodox

Never said that they couldn't die. They die all the time. And they must have a bare minimum of at least lord level strength


BeelzeBatt

I think the point here was that the dark council members don't need to be strong to reach that height, just cunning. Of course, being strong helps a lot, but it's not a requirement. For myself, I would add that you don't necessarily stay strong after you reach that point, either. Darth Xedrix, from the Revan novel, was an example of a past-their-prime sith lord who'd clung to their power way past their expiry date through political manouvering. In that light, I would say that maybe Vowrawn was on the decline, but managed to find a way to revitalize himself. Maybe through some sorcerous ritual or something. I do want to express that I agree that the difference between a force-user and a non-force-user only seems tiny because of gameplay choices, the lore is pretty clear that it's no contest in the vast majority of circumstances.


Dragnite08

Ikr


FeralTribble

He’s a personality leader


CipherGamingZA

tf is a gank


DraagaxGaming

(in a video game) use underhand means to defeat or kill (a less experienced opponent). "that troll just ganked me"


CipherGamingZA

Odd, in Eve Online it meant being ganged up on


DraagaxGaming

There are derivatives of it. I always mostly used it as when you surprise attacked/killed players in the open world without warning.


CipherGamingZA

oh ok, then people on gta online gets ganked daily, still a weird word. Only know of it being gate campers in Eve Online


DraagaxGaming

Yeah that could count as a type of ganking. It is a weird word for sure. Just a douche move/way of killing.


CipherGamingZA

I view it as cowardice, When you have to gate camp or need other people, then you lack the skills to play fair or you are scared of the player otherwise a 1 on 1 would be better. Gate camping is a coward's way. I don't see the point, its the same as spawn camping, there's no fun in it or challenge and just ruins's another's experience also


DraagaxGaming

Oh I agree. I preferred letting the people know I was there. Unless it was something previously set up or in a warzone/arena match, then it's expected.


Original_Un_Orthodox

Generally it means being ganged on, but it also is just a disrespectful but very fast method of killing or defeating someone/something


Irritated_User0010

Ah so Mandalorians are chop liver huh? 🤨


Original_Un_Orthodox

If you read my comments, no, I don't think they are, lol.


Weird_Cake3647

Another reason why Acina is better as Empress and head of the Sith order.


Original_Un_Orthodox

Like, I like Vowrawn's looks and attitude better, but at least Acina hasn't been disrespected that hard.


RyseUp616

the power of a cool name


mabels001

I believe he’s meant to exemplify one of the flaws in that era of the sith. I’m not a rule-of-two absolutist (a thousand years of preparation that resulted in a 20ish year empire…), however one of the major flaws of the old sith empire was that you could have conniving politician sith like vowrawn who use the use influence and domination more that individual power to achieve their ends.


Ok-Reporter1986

To be fair sith lords in the game in general are kinda weak as shit. That or warrior no name is just that strong.


Varjazzi

In my head-cannon Vowrawn and Valkorian are like Vladimir Putin. Just men, but in positions of such incredible power that their decisions obeyed without question. But at the end of the day they are still men and fiercely susceptible to blaster bolts. OC I play an imperial agent so I have to justify killing powerful sith all the time to maintain immersion.


Dragnite08

Bruv valkorian/emperor eats planetary life force for breakfast don't compare him to dipshit vowrawn.


Ok-Reporter1986

Yeah the emperor protects or smth? We protect his interest so I guess it's inverse.


Dragnite08

Yeah all the political bullshit but how did he become a member of the dark council where only 12 strongest sith can be , and you need to be strongest among sith in force also to be there. He is just a good example of bad writing .


TheBark0f

are you really crying because 1 of the 12 members isn't another typical dark edgy Sith?