Warning! This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight #2 Order 66 was the end of the Jedi Order as it stood for thousands of years in Star Wars canon, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t other events in the vast history of the Jedi where the Order faced potentially cataclysmic events. Indeed, one such event just took place in the latest Star Wars tale set within the era of the High Republic, and it features one Jedi who proved that she actually could have led the more modern Jedi through the fallout of Order 66 safely.
After Supreme Chancellor Palpatine successfully framed the Jedi for attempting to take control of the Galactic Senate, he executed Order 66, which is an order that triggers the inhibitor chips embedded within the brains of each Clone Trooper, compelling them to kill every Jedi they see without pause or reflection. Then, once the Jedi were effectively eradicated, a galactic campaign was launched, continuing the rhetoric of the ‘treacherous Jedi’, effectively making any Jedi who survived an outcast.
While the Jedi of the High Republic didn’t face such a total annihilation of both their forces and their reputation, they did suffer a detrimental attack that attempted both aspects of what Palpatine succeeded in doing. However, the Jedi persevered and managed to rebuild what they lost, including and especially one Jedi in particular: Avar Kriss.
Avar Kriss Is 1 Star Wars Jedi Who Would Have Survived Order 66
In Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight #2 by Charles Soule and Marika Cresta, Jedi Master Avar Kriss has ventured into a region of space controlled by the Nihil designated the Nihil Occlusion Zone. The Nihil is a group of organized anarchists who became a legitimate threat to the Jedi Order after they destroyed Starlight Beacon, and closed off the Occlusion Zone with an anti-hyperspace barrier called a Stormwall.
So, Avar Kriss thought the best way to undo the damage done by the Nihil, and free the planets now trapped under their regime, was to sneak into the Occlusion Zone and kill the leader of the Nihil. However, the Nihil has already begun the anti-Jedi campaign on their occupied worlds after effectively eradicating them from the Occlusion Zone, making it that much more difficult for Avar Kriss to move freely. Difficult, but not impossible, as Avar Kriss successfully maneuvered through a hostile area before launching a calculated attack against her enemy.
Star Wars’ Nihil Use Imperial & Sith Methods To Eliminate The Jedi
Not only did the Nihil conquer a portion of the galaxy the way the Empire conquered the entirety of it, but they also started flooding the citizens of the occupied planets with anti-Jedi propaganda and rhetoric. Plus, the methods of drawing out a Jedi were the same, as the Nihil were harming innocent civilians in an effort to exploit the Jedi’s well-noted heroism (which Darth Vader’s Inquisitors did regularly). Despite all that, Avar Kriss survived, and even managed to strike back against the Nihil in a meaningful way. In fact, Kriss’ survival tactics – if recorded and remembered – could have made the perfect playbook for Jedi if the galaxy ever turned on them like it did post-Order 66. But, the Jedi have oftentimes been unable to learn from the mistakes of their past, and by the time Order 66 was executed, it cost them the entire galaxy.
The Nihil launched their own ‘Order 66’ with the destruction of the Starlight Beacon, which killed a number of Jedi and forced the rest to flee to Coruscant, leaving them open to claim a portion of the galaxy they designated the Nihil Occlusion Zone. In every way that matters, the planets within the Occlusion Zone were just like every planet post-Order 66 under the Empire. And even so, Avar Kriss was able to survive, meaning if she was around during Order 66, it’s fair to say that she’s one Jedi who could have guided the Order safely through that cataclysmic Star Wars crisis.
Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight #2 by Marvel Comics is available now.
