Star Wars has introduced a terrifying new enemy called the Drengir – and they seem to be more dangerous than even the Sith. Lucasfilm has launched an exciting transmedia initiative called Star Wars: The High Republic, which is set 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It launched in January 2020 with Charles Soule’s Light of the Jedi and Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage, to popular and critical acclaim – with both books becoming New York Times bestsellers.
Lucasfilm has suggested the main villains of Star Wars: The High Republic are a group of so-called space Vikings called the Nihil, but it’s long been clear there is more to the story than that. Teasers have hinted the Jedi of the High Republic Era will find themselves battling for control of the Force itself, and the Nihil aren’t particularly Force-sensitive, so the general assumption has been that there are still other threats lurking in the Outer Rim.
Claudia Gray’s novel Into The Dark is the latest chapter in the story of Star Wars: The High Republic. It introduces readers to a race of plant-like creatures called the Drengir, who are steeped in the dark side of the Force. In Into The Dark, a handful of Jedi stumble upon an ancient satellite where Drengir had actually been contained by the Sith – who had been unable to completely destroy them. Although the book comes to a close with the immediate threat of the Drengir apparently over, solicits for some of Marvel’s High Republic comics have suggested the aliens will return in force.
The Drengir are unlike any threat seen before in the Star Wars galaxy, whether in canon or in the old Expanded Universe. Because they are sentient plantlife, their whole way of thinking is completely different to that of mammals, and they have absolutely no ability to empathize with the “meat” they seek to conquer and devour. The Drengir possess a knowledge of toxins and poisons that is unparalleled, and in Into The Dark they are actually able to break the mind of a seasoned Jedi. The Drengir have already been set up in the Target edition of George Mann’s Star Wars: The Dark Legends, which contained a story set during the High Republic Era in which Drengir seeds were sown on fertile soil – and grew into a terrifying threat within just a day, drawing all nutrients from the soils and killing nearby crops. This corresponds with solicits for Star Wars: The High Republic #3, which reveal a horror lurking “in the darkness beneath the rotting crops” is driving Jedi insane. All the stories in Star Wars: The High Republic so far have established how dependent the galaxy is upon agricultural worlds of the Mid and Outer Rim, so a Drengir infestation across the region could be devastating.
Ironically, Into The Dark suggests the cause of all the problems is a mistake made by a Jedi – one made with the very best of intentions. In an attempt to defeat the Drengir, Padawan Reath Silas scatters a number of hyperspace pods across the galaxy. He does not, however, take the time to check whether all the pods are empty – and it’s reasonable to assume some of them contained seeds. That would explain where the seeds in Dark Legends came from, and why Drengir are suddenly growing on other worlds as well.
Into The Dark reveals the Sith themselves could not destroy the Drengir, instead using dark side sorcery to contain them; given the evolution of sentient plants appears unique in the galaxy, it is entirely possible the Sith actually created them, and then realized this was a force they could not control. It looks as though the Drengir are about to be unleashed upon the galaxy in Star Wars‘ High Republic Era – and the Jedi must find a way to achieve what the Sith cannot, and destroy them forever.
Key Release Dates
Rogue Squadron
Release Date:2023-12-22
