WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm, Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows #1-5, Star Wars: The High Republic #10-15 and Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm #2, on sale now.
Throughout the third wave of the first phase of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, the Great Leveler, a creature from a species called the Nameless, has stalked the Jedi on the Nihil’s command. In Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star, the Nihil set many of the Nameless loose on the Starlight Beacon, killing multiple Jedi in the process. However, the Nameless still have been shrouded in mystery.
The final issues of Phase I of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries shed more light on the Nameless, though their full nature still remained a mystery. Examining the role of the Nameless in the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries so far also reveals possible hints to their role in the future of the Star Wars universe. For the Nameless to truly be defeated, the Jedi might need to look more into their own past in order the find the answers they need.
What Are the Nameless, and Why Are They a Major Threat to the Jedi?
From the Great Leveler’s first appearance in Cavan Scott’s Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm, the Nameless’ threat to the Jedi has been clear, even if the Great Leveler’s existence remained a mystery to the Jedi at first. Marchion Ro retrieved the Great Leveler from a shrine that had been guarded by his family for decades. Marchion only released the Leveler after he obtained an artifact that allowed him to control the Great Leveler and its attacks on the Jedi. The Great Leveler’s first victim was Udi Dis, a Force-sensitive Nihil that Marchion brought along to specifically test the Great Leveler’s abilities. The Great Leveler and the rest of the Nameless attacked Force sensitive people by psychically attacking their victims and feeding upon their fear. In the process, they calcified their victims, and their victims crumbled to ash at the slightest touch.
Marchion Ro revealed the Nameless and their home planet to the Nihil in Star Wars: The High Republic: The Eye of the Storm #2 by Charles Soule, Guillermo Sanna, Ariana Maher, Jim Campbell, Antonio Fabela, Ryan Brown and Danny Khazem. In this issue, Marchion Ro took an elite squad of Nihil to a mysterious planet surrounded by a veil of electric storms in order to find more of the Nameless. He knowingly sacrificed many of his own people yet again to obtain the creatures. The Nameless’ home planet also showed why they are so hungry and so willing to devour the Jedi. Their world was brimming with life and the Force, and the entire planet seemed connected psychically. By ripping the Nameless from their home, Marchion Ro and the Nihil basically began starving the Nameless. Therefore, while the Nameless were terrifying to the Jedi, the Nameless might not be intrinsically evil as they originally appeared to be.
While the Nihil have information on the Nameless, the Jedi remained in the dark. For most of wave two of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, the Jedi scrambled to learn more about the Nameless after the Great Leveler killed Loden Greatstorm in The Rising Storm and later severely wounded Terec and Ceret in Star Wars: The High Republic #11 by Cavan Scott, Georges Jeanty, Carlos Lopez, Jesus Aburtov, Karl Story, Victor Olazaba, Mark Morales, VC’s Travis Lanham. Emerick Caphtor and Sian Holt finally got some answers about the creature in Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows #5 by Daniel José Older, David Wachter, Giada Marchiso, VC’s Joe Sabino, David Lopez, David Baldeón, Israel Silva and Carlos Lao. In this issue, Dr. Uttersond, a Nihil scientist, revealed that the Great Leveler was one of the Nameless, also known as the “Shrii-Ka-Rai, eaters of the Force,” which suggested that the Nameless might actually possess the ability to devour the Force itself. While their actual abilities may not extend that far, their reputation still suggested that the Nameless might be the creatures in the galaxy that pose the greatest threat to Jedi specifically.
How Might the Jedi Defeat the Nameless?
While the Nameless seem to be unstoppable by the Jedi, they have key weaknesses that could allow the Jedi and their allies to defeat them in the future. First and foremost, the Nameless do not have an effect on people who are not Force sensitive. Sian Holt was able to guide Emerick Caphtor and provide important information on the Nameless’ actual appearance in Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows #5. Throughout the Star Wars franchise, the Jedi usually have been seen as the problem solvers and the people that the rest of the galaxy turned to for help. Therefore, the Jedi themselves often struggle with asking for help with their own problems. However, in the case of the Nameless, the Jedi may have to rely on their allies more than ever to protect them.
The Jedi’s connections with each other might also provide strong protection against the Nameless. Terec and Ceret were key in proving that the Jedi can defend themselves if they focus on their bonds. Terec and Ceret were Kotabi bond twins, which meant that they were more strongly bonded in the Force than other Jedi and remained connected to each other even when they were in different parts of the galaxy. Terec was the main focus of the Great Leveler’s attack in Star Wars: The High Republic #11, but Terec survived the assault because of their bond with their twin. Both Terec and Ceret were partially calcified, which showed that the Nameless could attack from a great distance if a psychic link was active, but the attack also showed that the Nameless individually only have the power to kill one victim at a time.
Terec and Ceret were gravely wounded and seemingly unreachable through the Force in the wake of the attack. However, Avar Kriss ultimately was able to reach them through her song of the Force in Star Wars: The High Republic #15 by Cavan Scott, Ario Anindito, Mark Morales, Victor Olazaba, Carlos Lopez, VC’s Ariana Maher, Phil Noto, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth, Rachelle Rosenberg and Carlos Lao. Terec and Ceret’s revival further showed that the Jedi ultimately will need their connections with each other to survive and triumph against the Nameless in the future.
The subseries also already showed that the Jedi are stronger when they welcome help from outside the Jedi Order. In Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows #5, Emerick Caphtor also was able to fight the Nameless armed with Sian Holt’s support and the knowledge about the Nameless’ abilities. In the process, he sliced off one of the Nameless’ arms. Therefore, while the Jedi’s connections with each other and their allies might save them, they also now have more concrete evidence to study to learn how the Nameless attack.
How Will the Nameless Factor in to the Star Wars: The High Republic Subseries’ Future?
Phase II will focus on an earlier time period of the High Republic era, 150 years before Charles Soule’s Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi. However, there have been multiple hints that the Nameless will play a role in the subseries’ second phase. First, Emerick Caphtor and Stellan Gios were both reminded of “Shrii Ka Rai Ka Rai,” a creepy nursery rhyme from their childhood in Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows #1 by by Daniel José Older, David Wachter, Giada Marchisio, and VC’s Joe Sabino. The nursery rhyme was evidence that the Jedi had in fact dealt with the Nameless before, even if the information on the Nameless was not readily available to the Jedi in Phase I. Marchion Ro also confirmed that the Jedi had fought the Nameless before in Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm #2. He mentioned that his ancestors had been involved in an attack on the Jedi using the Nameless before, and he also claimed that the Jedi suppressed information on the Nameless.
Therefore, the Nameless might also factor in to the events of the upcoming Phase II of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries. The Jedi’s past with the Nameless will be crucial in defending themselves against the Nameless’ future attacks. Also, since the Nameless are the heart of Marchion Ro’s attacks against the Jedi, if the Jedi are able to defeat the Nameless, they should also be able to finally defeat Marchion Ro and protect the galaxy from his tyranny.
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