Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The High Republic #6
Star Wars is finally revealing a way for the Jedi to fight back against The High Republic’s ancient Force predators. Known as the Shrii Ka Rai or the Nameless, these powerful Force-draining creatures have become a major threat to the Jedi Order thanks to the Nihil marauders and their leader Marchion Ro who can control them at will. However, Marvel Comics’ current High Republic has shown a key way the Jedi can resist (though not without cost).
In The High Republic, #6 by Cavan Scott, Jim Towe, & Laura Braga, Keeve Trennis and her team of Jedi are still behind enemy lines within Nihil Space, hoping to find Keeve’s old master Sskeer. However, they quickly ran into one of the fearsome Nameless in The High Republic #5. Because of their ability to paralyze Force sensitives with pure terror and hallucinations, it seemed as though the Jedi were done for, only for the creature to get hit with a powerful blast of energy:
Now, The High Republic #6 has revealed who and what killed this Force predator, as well as what might be done to fight back against the Nameless in the future of this exciting era preceding the Skywalker saga.
Thanks to the efforts of the Sephi Tey Sirrek, a former Guardian of the Whills, the twin Jedi Knights Terec and Ceret were saved. Using the powerful relic known as the Hand of Siberus, it’s revealed via flashbacks that Tey recovered the dark side artifact following its use in Cavan Scott’s previous High Republic run which takes place 150 years before this new and ongoing series. That said, the gauntlet certainly seems to be quite corruptive as a weapon of the Sith.
Now, Tey Sirrek is still wielding the Hand of Siberus years later in The High Republic #6 as a much older Sephi. Remarkably, the gauntlet seems capable of killing the Nameless, confirming teases from the previous series. As such, this Sith gauntlet could become a key weapon that could finally give the Jedi the edge they need against the Nihil who’ve been using the Force predators to keep the Jedi Order at bay.
Sirrek claims that he’s since learned how to wield the Hand of Siberus for good. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not still fueled by the dark side of the Force. Seeing as how Keeve Trennis and her fellow Jedi have already gone rogue in defiance of the Jedi Council by entering Nihil Space, perhaps they’ll compromise themselves even further by wielding the glove in a bid to take on the Nameless directly.
Using this Sith artifact does seem to be a very slippery slope. Likewise, it could even contribute to the long-held theories that Keeve Trennis is destined to become the very same “Master Trennis” who leaves the Jedi Order as one of the Lost Twenty. At any rate, it should prove very exciting to see how the Hand of Siberus is used in future High Republic issues going forward.
Star Wars: The High Republic #6 by Marvel Comics is available now.