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Star Wars is an ever-expanding, always growing franchise, primarily of movies and TV Shows. There are currently three trilogies of movies, each one set in a distinct time of the canon. Those being, The Fall of the Jedi (The Prequel Trilogy), The Age of Rebellion (The Original Trilogy), and The Rise of The First Order (The Sequel Trilogy).
There are other time periods in the Star Wars canon though. Those include, Dawn of the Jedi, The Old Republic, The High Republic, The Reign of the Empire, The New Republic, and The New Jedi Order. Many of which contain novels, comic books, TV Shows, Movies, and video games. The High Republic is one of the more expansive and continuously growing time periods of the Star Wars canon right now.
What Is The High Republic?
The High Republic is a period that spans approximately 350–50 years before the events of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. It’s also hundreds of years after The Old Republic period.
What sets this period apart from some of the others is the state of the galaxy and the Jedi. This is a period of peace and prosperity. The Galactic Republic and The Jedi Order are at the height of their power, with the former attempting to expand and grow into the Outer Rim regions of the galaxy.
Established in 2019, with an official reveal in 2020, The High Republic was intended to be a multimedia project helmed by a team of authors across comics and novels. They would come together to create this period, the characters in it, the setting, the villains, and the stories, all of which were to be unconnected to any prior movie or any upcoming ones.
The first of the novels, written by Charles Soule was Light of the Jedi, released in January 2021. There have since been many novels and comics spanning this period, plus expansions into different phases of The High Republic.
- Phase 1 of The High Republic consists of the main set up and establishment of the characters, the villains, and settings, and is entitled ‘Light of the Jedi.’
- Phase 2 goes back more than 150 years, showing a prequel set story of events that connects with those of Phase 1, and is titled ‘Quest of the Jedi.’
- Phase 3, known as 'Trials of the Jedi,' is intended to act as the final phase of the story.
Each phase consists of its own novels, and comics.
Who Are The Nihil?
The High Republic is set in a time of peace and prosperity, so the writers were limited in what they could do in terms of villains. The Sith cannot be a presence due to canonical quotes and claims in the movies and TV shows. That means there could be no lightsaber and force-wielding villains on the level of Darth Vader, Palpatine, Dooku or Maul.
To give the heroes and Jedi a foe worthy of their contention, the writers created a group known as The Nihil. The Nihil were marauders and pirates. They were aggressive, demanding, murderous people who operated within the Outer Rim regions. They were initially far away from the eyes and authority of the Galactic Republic and The Jedi Order.
What sets The Nihil apart from other pirate groups is their technology and knowledge. They have access to ‘The Paths’ method of hyperspace travel that bends the traditional rules of the galaxy. It allows them to travel virtually anywhere they want, whenever they want, causing havoc and chaos as they do so.
Phase 2 of The High Republic explored the origins of The Nihil. They were an aggressive offshoot of an anti-force using cult known as The Path of the Open Hand. They hated the use of the Force, believing such acts could have dire consequences elsewhere in the galaxy, and they protested the Jedi and the use of the Force.
When The Path of the Open Hand fell, in its shadows emerged The Nihil. It was led by members of the Ro family, a gray-skinned Evereni species with access to The Paths.
In Phase 1 of The High Republic, the last descendant of that family, Marchion Ro, assumed leadership over the Nihil. At that point however, the Nihil was divided into factions known as Storms, with each Storm having their own leader that reported to The Nihil as a whole.
The Nihil opposed the encroaching Galactic Republic and The Jedi Order because they feared losing what power they had in the region. Behind the scenes, though, Marchion Ro’s family history with the Jedi also provides a more personal motivation for the conflict.
What Are The Nameless?
You might wonder how a band of pirates and criminals can pose such a big threat to the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.
Not only were the Nihil given an edge by their access to technology, as well as the Jedi and Republic being away from their usual areas of operation, but also because the Nihil had access to a species known as The Nameless. Or Shri-Ka-Rai.
The Nameless were a species of monstrous creatures that fed on the Force users. When in proximity with a Nameless, Jedi would often hallucinate, and panic, losing touch with the force and their emotions.
The Nameless would then strike, feeding off them, and turning them into lifeless, dusty, ash husks.
Luckily for the Jedi, few Nameless exist in this period. But, they are a major threat to them, and a very effective method of balancing the scales of war for The Nihil.
What Are The Drengir?
Alongside the Nihil, another villainous group exists — the Drengir, a race of carnivorous plants with intelligence and sentience. They're intent on spreading across the galaxy, eating everyone in their way.
They utilized a shared consciousness, granting them greater knowledge and awareness in combat. Plus, they could seize control of living beings, burrowing their roots into victim’s minds and brains.
Not only were the Drengir a mental threat to their enemies, but they were also a very apt physical one. Due to their plant-like bodies, they were impervious to many forms of attack. Slicing off an arm or a leg would do very little, for it would either grow back or another would form.
When against a lightsaber, the Drengir would often be sliced into two pieces, only for both pieces to become active threats, spreading their chaos even further.
While the species was sentient and had a degree of intelligence, their primary goal was to feast on flesh. This, and their limited technology, meant that they were often used as tools and weapons by The Nihil and were rarely the masterminds of evil situations.
The High Republic In Other Media
While The High Republic primarily consists of novels and comic books, there are other forms of media that focus on the period.
- The Disney+ TV Series, The Acolyte, is set in the later days of The High Republic, a mere 150 years before the events of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
- Quantic Dream's video game, Star Wars Eclipse, is set sometime within The High Republic period.
The most significant non-book or comic book exploration of The High Republic thus far is in the video game, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
In it, Cal Kestis and his friends search for a mysterious planet that could potentially become a haven away from the approaching Galactic Civil War. They do this with the assistance of a droid from The High Republic, ZN-A4, aka Zee.
A rogue Jedi from The High Republic, Dagan Gera, is also seeking this planet and will stop at nothing to get there before Cal, or anyone else.
His encounters with The Nihil twisted and corrupted his views and made him more intent on finding what he believed was a place of peace. In the process, Dagan turned on the Jedi.