It was recently revealed that the first novel in the Star Wars: The High Republic series will kick off with a “Galaxy-Wide Disaster”
The Star Wars community is just about six months away from the first entry in the High Republic Era of books, comics and novels being released to the world.
For those unaware, Star Wars: The High Republic is set 200 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga, during a time of peace around the galaxy with the Republic at its peak before darkness inevitably creeps back into frame.
More from Star Wars Books
- Daniel José Older named a High Republic Adventures character after someone special
- New Star Wars comics this week: The High Republic Adventures and more
- Star Wars books and comics coming in December 2023
- Every time Boba Fett has escaped the Sarlacc Pit
- Vanessa Marshall wants to play Mara Jade in live action
Comprised of a collection of interconnecting books and comics, the first entry into this new series is called Light of the Jedi written by Charles Soule, author of various Marvel comics featuring the likes of Darth Vader, Obi-Wan and The Rise of Kylo Ren. In a recent interview with IGN, Soule offered some insight on the “explosive events of the opening chapter”.
If you’d rather go into this new story and era of Star Wars completely blind, I’d recommend you stop reading here, otherwise, you have been warned.
In the first chapter of the book, Soule explains that the High Republic experiences a “Galaxy-Wide Disaster”, when a cargo vessel known as the Legacy Run is destroyed while in hyperspace, sending debris shooting throughout the galaxy at super-accelerated speeds. This becomes a threat to the entirety of the galaxy, as deadly missiles of debris can appear anywhere around the galaxy, and the Republic turns to the guardians of Peace — the Jedi– for help.
Soule also notes in this interview that this event is similar to the “Holdo Maneuver” from the Last Jedi, where Vice Admiral Holdo destroyed the First Order Flagship with her Resistance Cruiser. The reason that this is a last-ditch tactic is because of what will be shown with the Legacy Run, that a crash in hyperspace flings debris all over the galaxy, making it a desperate effort even in wartime.
As for what causes this disaster, the released exert from the first chapter reveals that something was in the path of the ship’s hyperlane causing it to crash, but what the object was or if it was intentional remains to be seen, but from what has been revealed of The High Republic so far leads me to believe it was not.
Soule adds that this crisis is just the beginning of a much larger story which will span numerous books, leading to the High Republic Saga. For anyone interested, the opening crawl and the first chapter of Light of the Jedi is available on IGN.com.
Star Wars: The High Republic – Light of the Jedi is available for preorder now and will be released on January 5, 2021.