WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray and Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland, on sale now.
At the beginning of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, the Nihil seem to be a ruthlessly brutal band of space pirates. By the end of Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, Marchion Ro begins turning them into a more cult-like entity, with himself as their leader. One method of increasing his control is to recruit more members, and some of the Nihil's leadership see children as an excellent source for new blood in their ranks.
After the Battle of Kur, the Nihil lose an entire Tempest, or one third of their forces. Using carefully chosen footage from the battlefield, Marchion Ro frames this loss as a sacrifice engineered by the Tempest's leader, Kassav Milliko. Throughout his speech, he changes the narrative of the Nihil. According to Marchion Ro, the Nihil are no longer merely marauders, but instead, they fight for freedom against the alleged tyranny of the Republic. He orders his followers to begin to replace the Tempest they lost, and promises that glory will follow.
Unbeknownst to the majority of the rest of the Nihil, Marchion himself destroyed that particular Tempest, and at first, his motivation seemed to be mainly vengeance against Milliko. Contrary to Marchion's narrative, in his final moments, Milliko actually tried to broker a deal with the Republic to be spared, but Marchion Ro used a remote self-destruct feature embedded in the Tempest's ships' path engines to destroy them all from afar. Marchion's speech to the Nihil in the wake of the Battle of Kur shows that he targeted the entire Tempest for an additional purpose. The lost Tempest have been made martyrs for their cause, and their replacements will be even further indoctrinated into the Nihil way of life.
At the end of Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage, Justina Ireland sets up this recruitment drive. Kara Xoo, leader of a storm of Nihil, notes that her usual methods of recruitment are not increasing her Storm's numbers fast enough. Her agents' loss to the young survivors of the Steady Wing's destruction inspires her to take a new direction in her efforts and recruit children to the Nihil cause. She also deliberately targets Dalna, a rural planet connected to Honesty Weft. This act could be seen as an act of revenge; after all, Honesty was one of the meddling kids that escaped the Steady Wing. However, this recruitment choice further shows that the Nihil are moving away from being a mercenary band into the realm of a cult, seeking more malleable members who can be indoctrinated from a young age to lay down their lives for the Nihil.
While the subseries has already featured a young Nihil, Nan, in Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark, this move by Kara Xoo will increase those numbers. This development also could provide an interesting juxtaposition to the Jedi Order, which also recruits children from a very young age. Unlike the Jedi of the Clone Wars era, the Jedi of the High Republic seem far more reluctant to send children into battle. Most of the combat that Padawans and younger Jedi Knights have faced in the subseries so far has been inadvertent. As the Nihil and the Drengir increase their attacks in the Outer Rim and into Republic space, the Jedi might have to make some hard decisions about the role of their Padawans in the conflict.
0 Comments