[Warning: Article contains minor spoilers for Light of the Jedi ~ Star Wars: The High Republic. Read on at your own risk, or check out our spoiler-free review HERE.] With today’s release we *officially* usher in a whole new era of Star Wars. The High Republic, set centuries before the events of the original trilogy, highlights the golden age of the Jedi and of Republic. Despite the dramatic time gap between these eras of storytelling, Light of the Jedi nonetheless reveals significant ties to the sequel trilogy. There’s a surprising connection to The Clone Wars, as well.
Author Charles Soule kicks things off with a bang, literally, as the story opens on a burgeoning disaster in the Outer Rim. The Jedi and the Republic leap into action as debris from a ship destroyed in hyperspace threaten to annihilate multiple systems in the Outer Rim. Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh closes the hyperspace lanes until they can determine the cause of the disaster. And that, dear readers, is where Light of the Jedi really gets interesting, and ties into the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Light of the Jedi and surprising connections to the Star Wars sequels and Clone Wars
For help in understanding the mysteries of hyperspace, the Jedi and Republic turn to the experts for help. Those experts are a family of hyperspace prospectors, if you will, who helped map the existing hyperspace lanes providing access to the Outer Rim. High Republic readers will be surprised to learn the name of the family: San Tekka. Of course this isn’t the first time we’ve heard that name, is it? The Force Awakens introduced us to Lor San Tekka, friend to Princess Leia and presumed Alderaanian. The family’s connection to something so crucial as hyperspace suddenly makes Lor, and the San Tekka family, all the more interesting.
(Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.)
The intrigue doesn’t stop there, however. You see, the marauding group known as the Nihil are responsible for the aforementioned disaster. How, you ask? They’ve found a way to use “Paths,” alternative hyperspace routes that actual traverse the known lanes used by the Republic. They’ve found these Paths with the help of a navigator, Mari San Tekka. Marchion Ro, leader of the Nihil, has enslaved the century-old San Tekka matriarch in Light of the Jedi. He’s connected her directly to his ship’s navigational computers to impart her knowledge of hyperspace. How she knows to find these Paths remains a bit of a mystery. The manner in which she delivers the information, however, is all too familiar.
Tying the High Republic to The Clone Wars
(Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.)
In Season 7 of The Clone Wars, we learn that Echo is alive, but hardly well. The Separatists have kept him in a medical pod, connected to their computers. In doing so they tap into his mind to create algorithms to predict Republic battle plans. Marchion Ro does essentially the same thing with Mari San Tekka in Light of the Jedi. Whether she’ll find herself recused, as Echo did, remains to be seen.
As vast as the galaxy far, far away may be, through the Force, all things remain connected.
Light of The Jedi ~ Star Wars: The High Republic, is on sale now.
