Hogan Reviews

Well, here we are, some four and a half years after I posted the review of Light of the Jedi we have reached the end of the High Republic… at least as it was planned out as there are clearly more stories to be told in this era (and not including the last Marvel comic story arc and the comic epilogue, I’ll review them when they’re on Marvel Unlimited…) Still, what of the Nameless, the Blight and Marchion Ro? What of the Jedi characters we’ve all come to love, like Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, Bell and Burryaga? How about the rivalry between Porter Engle and Abediah Viess? So many questions, and to my relief, so many extremely satisfying answers! Let’s take a look…

The story doesn’t take long to set things up as some of the plot threads from recent books, comics and manga all come together. Yoda now knows the Nameless wish to go home, Reath has one of the Rods that can control them, and thanks to the Nameless-resistant material that Reath was also responsible for bringing back two sets of nine suits of armour are created all for a single, crazy plan: bring the captured Nameless they have back to their home world, which thanks to Vernestra Rwoh’s meeting with Mari San Tekka a long-arse time ago they have the path to get there. The “Luminous Nine” are chosen to be Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, Bell Zettifar, Burryaga, Reath Silas, Azlin Rel, Arkoff, Terec (so he can keep in contact via his telepathic communication with Ceret) and… former Jedi Ty Yorrick. Yeah, this is where I think the TV show The Acolyte using Vernestra Rwoh has had a knock-on effect with the books/comics, as clearly Vern was supposed to be apart of the Nine and guide them the Path she was given to give that plotline its big pay-off, but as that would remove the “will they survive?” tension from the story she was swapped out, instead being part of what was essentially the “Back up Nine” for no satisfying reason. Other members of the Back Up Nine include Lily from the Manga (whose one of few lines includes her being somewhat resentful of being pulled away from Banchii) Terec (I guess to help find the original Nine should they need to be found), Indeera Stokes, Cohmac Vitus and Torban “Buckets of Blood” Buck. So among the 18 chosen all the different strands of the High Republic are well represented, which is nice for the big conclusion.

The front cover… which is only half of the wrap around you can see further below, so… hooray?

As everyone is beginning to prepare for the journey though things don’t go according to plan as a Nameless escapes captivity and heads towards some innocent civilians, so Arkoff dashes in and tackles the creature to the floor and wrestles with it until it can be subdued, losing one of his legs in the process. Obviously unable to continue Torban Buck is moved from Back Up to the fully fledge Luminous Nine member, which is a shame because they mention Arkoff was partially put on the group to keep Azlin Rel in check, which is a dynamic I liked in the Manga, but hey-ho, more Reath and Azlin will do me just fine as well. The Nine soon head off, and there are some fun chapters where these characters, who often didn’t directly interact (Avar/Elzar and Bell/Burry not included, obviously) get to talk to each other. As this is all going on the planet Eriadu, which is known for its no-nonsense warrior-like people, rises up in revolt against their Nihil occupiers after a random bar owner shoots some Nihil dead in his bar, which sparks one thing leading to another and ending with Marchion Ro sending his entire Nihil fleet to the planet, led by Abediah Viess. A large collection of Republic soldiers were hiding out on the planet too, leading to an all out war also involving a few other Jedi who were on the planet too (including Emerick Caphtor from the great one-off comic “Trail of Shadows” back in Phase 1) Speaking of Marchion, he tries to use his knowledge of the Blight to help the galaxy just because he craves that kind of control over everyone but Chancellor Lina Soh refuses his help despite the Blight husking more and more planets, something that shocks and annoys Ro. His personal politician Ghirra Starros is sent away to Coruscant and left alone Marchion finally figures out what the Jedi are planning to do with their captured Nameless and decides to head to “Planet X” as well.

It’s a rough landing but the Jedi land on Planet X and are baffled by the strong sense of the Force and the crazy fauna and flora on display, occasionally attacking them even. They’re even more surprised however to see Marchion Ro arrive, with more Nameless in tow, but the surprises don’t end there (for the Jedi or me, frankly) as Ro soon detonates the Gaze Electric in the atmosphere, declaring his new plan doesn’t involve going back to the galaxy. The destruction of the Gaze means the Stormwall shuts itself off, leading to a fresh injection of help for Eriadu, including the arrival of Porter Engle, who makes his way on board Viess’s ship and easily works his way to the Control Room to face off with his centuries-old enemy. Viess taunts him some more but Engle reveals his revelation: all this time he’s been holding back because Viess is perhaps the only person alive who remembers his old “sister” Barash and due to that he’d felt an unconscious reflex to keep her around as a last link to her. Sadly for Viess he recognises this as a selfish thing and that’s something a Jedi should never be, so he easily beats and pins Viess up against a wall with the Force and guides his lightsabre to her head, she taunts him by saying her previous declaration that Barash was alive was a hoax and that she’s dead, to which Engle replies “if that’s that case, tell her I said hello” before igniting his sabre and killing her. *chef’s kiss* Absolutely perfect. What a bad-ass line for a bad-ass character, is all I can say.

The placeholder cover, because… why not?

With Viess defeated and more and more help from Republic space Eriadu is freed and a good chunk of the Nihil fleet are destroyed, the Nihil are finally and thoroughly defeated. Back on Planet X though things go from bad to worse as Ro reveals his own revelation: he just can’t be arsed any more. He conquered a chunk of the galaxy, he brought the Jedi to their knees and its got him a whole lot of nothing, no feeling of happiness or success, just… boredom. So he confirms the Jedi theory that the Nameless being away from the planet, and especially dying, is what’s causing the Blight and uses his Rod to force all the Nameless to kill each other, starting a horror show on animals savaging each other and occasionally attacking the Jedi too. Ro walks away in glee, knowing that he’s just ended all life the galaxy, making him the most important person in history, even if that history will be short lived. Torban Buck is killed trying to get the Jedi’s Rod and even worse the sight of the Nameless causes Azlin Rel to freak out and run while holding the very Rod they need (this is the thing I mentioned in my Edge of Balance 3&4 review a few days ago that didn’t match up to that manga’s depiction of Rel bravely facing off against a Nameless and destroying it… Given Arkoff was supposed to be on this mission to keep him in line, I’m going with being by his old Master was how he was able to do it on Banchii, but not here…) The team soon breaks up into three, Bell, Burryaga and an injured Terec go after Ro, Reath and Ty go after Azlin and Avar and Elzar follow their instincts and go elsewhere. Meanwhile Yoda and the other Jedi suddenly have a hard time holding back the Blight under the Jedi temple as it grows in power…

I really can’t fault the book, as a long-time follower of this side-series. There are some insert chapters of a family living on a planet that becomes infected by the Blight, seeing how much they suffer as the effects of it increase that I felt weren’t needed, but beyond that. Nope. Perfect. Obviously if you pick this up with no prior knowledge of the High Republic you won’t get as much from it, but choosing the final book in a series as your first would be a pretty weird thing to do…

Overall Thoughts:

The entire wrap-around, as promised!

“Light of the Jedi” was a perfect kick off to a new era that introduced new characters, concepts and time period in a really satisfying way. “Trials of the Jedi” is a perfect way to end the era, tying up all the loose ends and bringing everything round to a satisfying conclusion, but leaving a few things dangling for future stories. Hats off to Charles Soule for those two books and everything else, and hats off to all the writers for all the different media this story has spanned. I’ll miss it, but I’m relieved that after these part few years’ worth of following it the story came to a great conclusion.

Let’s handle each of the three stories in turn, shall we? Reath and Ty manage to track down Azlin and Reath saves his life from Ty attempting to kill him, believing he can be saved despite the ex-Jedi pointing out he uses the Darkside and ran for it a few moments ago when they needed him the most. Soon though they discover a weird floating Force… orb thing and a large gathering of Nameless, still trying to kill each other and Reath convinces Rel to use the Rod to give them a counter-order, which he reluctantly does, eventually getting the help of Reath and Ty to do it. The other two fall unconscious due to the strain but Azlin doesn’t and suddenly realises after over a century of fearing the Nameless and trying to destroy them, by saving them he’s conquered his fear and for the first time since he was that regular Padawan during the Phase 2 manga stuff, he’s free to do what he wants. He finds an abandoned Jedi ship and flies off.

The Luminous Nine in all their white and gold glory.

Burryaga and Bell, along with his Charhound Ember and the unconscious body of Terec, catch up with Marchion Ro, who first deals with and knocks Ember off of a cliff, leading to Burry leaping off the cliff and catching fire as he cradles the dog-like creature until they hit the lake below, suffering greatly. This leaves Bell to duel with Ro, who gets out the lightsabre of Loden Greatstorm, Bell’s old Master the first victim of the Nameless, to do it. The two fight and Ro gets the upper hand until Bell suddenly feels a massive surge in the Force and uses it to pick Ro up high into the air and drop him on some jagged rocks. Then with the help of Terec they lift Burry and Ember away from some ravenous creatures down below and then all of them collapse due to exhaustion. Finally Avar and Elzar find their way into a weird “vergence in the Force” that leads to a cave system / other dimension possibly that is half steeped in the Lightside of the Force and half in the Dark. There they meet some of the Nameless, but not emaciated and aggressive, but walking and talking intelligent creatures who drop some big lore dumps on us all. They are the Shrikarai, just like the old Jedi nursery rhyme claimed, and their planet is actually called “Sophros” and it plays a key part in maintaining balance in the not just the Force but the galaxy itself, and while some of them may die there are always eggs ready to hatch more of them to keep the balance going, but thanks to Ro stealing so many of their eggs and now killing them they have no means to keep balance and the Galaxy is doomed to succumb to the Blight.

Sadly for them though both Avar and Elzar know what must be done: in order to save the Galaxy Avar must stay in the lightside area of Sophros and supply it with her power, and Elzar must do the same with the darkside he had touched a few times in the last few years. It will takes decades and consume their lives, and they’ll be doing this apart from each other, but they know it must be done. Romantic tragedy at its finest as they share a final kiss. The remaining six of the nine meet back up and Elzar appears before them as a Force … well, not ghost, projection I guess, to lay it all out and say that the existence of Sophros and how to reach it must be deleted from all records to stop something like this happening again, and then vanishes. The Back Up Nine soon arrive to pick up the six survivors and they all head back.

Torban Buck’s death, as depicted during on the later comics I haven’t read yet…

Time for some epilogue reveals! Ghirra Starros uses political side-dealing to get a place back in politics on Coruscant, feeling like she still “won” in the end but then finds out the daughter she had been constantly trying to reconnect with was declared dead and whether she said that so she couldn’t find her or whether she really was dead either way it meant she actually lost. Marchion, who survived his fall, was declared one of the worst criminals in history (I mean he did try and wipe out all life in the Galaxy, so that’s pretty on point, yeah…) and is sentenced to be taken by droids to a remote location few will know to live out the rest of his life in complete solitude unaware of anything happening in the galaxy. When I read that I thought “oo, so he’s still out there for future stories, eh?” but, um, nope! We hear the rest of Ro’s story and it’s him trying to find a way out, dismantling one of the droids and then fixing it because it was his only company, becoming bitter, then scared, desperately alone, sick and then finally dying an old man without ever seeing another soul. A fittingly horrifying end for a fantastic villain. Other Jedi characters are “seen” living normal lives, Arkoff has a new cybernetic leg, lots of name drops and all that good stuff. We then see Azlin finding a lightsabre in his new craft and bleeding it red, showing that he has embraced the darkside fully, and we also hear that Reath has made it his goal to track Rel down and “do what needs to be done if necessary”. That plot thread is left dangling, so I’m really happy to know there’s more Reath/Azlin in our future. We then get some passing words from Avar to bring the book, and the High Republic era, to a close (this long Saga of it anyway!)