Marvel’s “Dark Droids” crossover is proving to be a renaissance for Star Wars storytelling, bringing to life one of the most exciting concepts in the franchise’s recent history, providing the series with its most viable villainous alternative to the Galactic Empire and Palpatine’s Sith since the introduction of the Yuuzhan Vong in the controversial New Jedi Order book series.
As “Dark Droids” continues to expand the scope of its new its galaxy-wide threat, the Scourge, it has become clear that the villain, and the story, are deeply indebted to a classic science fiction novel, Vernor Vinge’s Hugo Award-winning A Fire Upon the Deep.
Published in 1992, A Fire Upon the Deep is a truly massive work of sci-fi, depicting a galaxy-spanning civilization overrun by a malevolent artificial intelligence, know as the Blight. The critically acclaimed book appears to have been a direct influence on many of the ideas in Marvel’s current Star Wars run, meaning it very well may provide insights into where “Dark Droids” and the Scourge are headed.
The Scourge Is Trying To Reach The Blight’s Level
Star Wars‘ Scourge is the combined form of two ancient artificial intelligences. The first is an unnamed AI, able to spread virally, which was defeated by the Sith thousands of years in the galaxy’s past, using the technology known as a Fermata Cage to imprison it. The second is the Spark Eternal, created by a cult known as the Ascendent as a means of substituting technology for the Force, which was likewise suppressed by the Sith. The two powerful nonbiological entities merged to become the Scourge, declaring “I am something new” in the pages of Dark Droids #1. In its original form, the Spark Eternal had the ability to inhabit organic beings, something it lost when it became the Scourge – an ability Dark Droids #2 makes clear the Scourge is desperately seeking to restore.
The Scourge’s Ultimate Goal is Transcendence
The creation of the Blight, as depicted in the prologue to Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep, is very similar to that of the Scourge. A group of scientists from a human civilization known as Straumli Realm discover an ancient database, said to be billions of years old, and set to work mining its data, using the technology to advance their society. Unbeknownst to them, their probing unleashes a deadly AI, which has been trapped in the database for eons. The unnamed ancient intelligence merges with the Straumers’ own computer systems, giving birth to a new entity called the Blight – which quickly destroys the scientists, moving on to consume all of Straumli Realm, before spreading out through space to menace the other civilizations of Vinge’s Milky Way.
Crucially, the Blight immediately exhibits the ability to inhabit and control organic life in A Fire Upon the Deep, moving swiftly to infect entire civilizations and put their resources, along with their populations, at its disposal. Dark Droids #2 shows that this is crucial to the Scourge’s long-term goals, as the issue opens with the evil entity’s internal monologue, stating: “I know that if I am to survive, if I am to quell this endless hunger that burns within me, I must move from the metal into the meat.” In effect, Star Wars’ Scourge is urgently attempting to raise itself up to the power level of Vinge’s Blight, giving it not only a story arc of its own – rather than simply being an unspeakable catastrophe for all sentient life, as in the novel – but also gives Star Wars‘ heroes, and villains alike, a shot at stopping it.
Vernor Vinge’s Ideas Could Redefine The Star Wars Universe
Taking a closer look at the Blight from A Fire Upon the Deep may also provide insights into how the story of “Dark Droids” will unfold, and where Marvel could take the Scourge as a threat to the future of the Star Wars galaxy. The crossover event’s place in the timeline occurs shortly before Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, meaning its new villain’s impact on the galaxy must remain somewhat limited. However, the means by which the Scourge is defeated, and the possibilities for its reappearance further down the timeline, remain to be seen, and Vinge’s novel could hold further clues.
One of Vinge’s most fascinating contributions to science fiction in A Fire Upon the Deep is the way his galaxy is partitioned. In the novel, the galaxy is divided into the “Zones of Thought” – closest to the core is known as the “Unthinking Depths,” a region where little to no technology is able to operate, meaning any planetary civilization that develops there will never be able to achieve interstellar travel; moving away from the core, each corresponding Zone allows for greater, more advanced levels of technology. The outermost Zone of the galaxy is known as “the Transcend,” and is populated entirely by hyper-advanced AIs called “Powers.”
A Fire Upon the Deep contains hints that the Zones were created as a defense against the ancient intelligence that would become the Blight during the events of the novel. While “Dark Droids” won’t end with the Star Wars galaxy sectioned off into Zones of Thought it is possible that a localized version of this solution could be a means to trap the Scourge. Should the means of doing so be discovered, a solar system, or sector of space, could be turned into an “Unthinking Depths” of sorts, a prison depriving the Scourge of its ability to spread. More likely, the Scourge will achieve the ability to spread into organic life before Dark Droids is over. Even if the threat is seemingly neutralized by the end of the crossover, only a single being, organic or mechanical, escaping with the Scourge’s consciousness intact would set the stage for its invariable return.
A return of the Scourge, with the ability to spread through organic beings, at a point further down the timeline – free from the constrictions of the films – would represent what could be Star Wars‘ greatest opportunity to redefine the nature of conflict in the franchise. The history of the Star Wars galaxy is a constant back-and-forth struggle between Light and Dark Force users. Making the Scourge a legitimate, ongoing threat would fundamentally change not only how the organic civilizations of Star Wars view their technology, but it would force the opposing ideologies of the galaxy to approach their endless battles differently. As Star Wars approaches its 50th anniversary, drawing influences from A Fire Upon the Deep and other more recent sci-fi classics are one way it will continue to keep its Expanded Universe vital and interesting.
