Star Wars is fulfilling the most shocking Jedi prophecy of all time – one that predicts the Force itself withering and dying. As Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, Master Yoda always taught his fellow Jedi to be wary of prophecy. In his view, the pursuit of prophecy and foresight was a potential route to the dark side of the Force; it was so easy for a Jedi to move from merely seeking the future, to trying to control it.
That is probably one major reason why the Jedi struggled to understand the Chosen One prophecy itself. An ancient prophecy of uncertain provenance, it foretold the coming of a Chosen One who would bring “ultimate balance” to the Force – whatever that can be taken as meaning. Claudia Gray’s novel Master & Apprentice revealed some of the other Jedi prophecies that can be found around this one, and the context isn’t exactly helpful; it’s now becoming clear many were connected to events at the height of the High Republic Era, some 200 years before Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
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The Darkest Prophecy Foretold A Sickness In The Force Itself
One of the strangest Jedi prophecies foretold a day when the Force would somehow sicken. “When the Force itself sickens,” it reads, “past and future must split and combine.“ The dark side has sometimes been compared to a sickness or cancer within the Force, so most readers guessed this must be somehow connected to Palpatine’s ascendance. But the latest book in the Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative suggests this is wrong; the sickness in the Force is connected to something even more sinister.
Creatures Called The Nameless Are Literally Killing The Force
The High Republic Era is a time when the light of the Jedi shone brighter than ever before. But the Jedi did not go unopposed; space pirates called the Nihil railed against the growing influence of the Republic and the Jedi, even successfully partitioning off a vast part of the Star Wars galaxy map using a superweapon called the Stormwall. Their leader, Marchion Ro, used Force predators called the Nameless – creatures that somehow consume the Force within a Jedi, reducing their bodies to calcifying husks.
Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton’s Defy the Storm reveals the true scale of the Nameless threat. During adventures in Nihil space, travelers visit the moon of Arli – and are shocked to discover the entire moon is dying. Everything on the moon is gradually calcifying, crumbling away just like the corpse of a Jedi killed by a Nameless. Understandably, the news leaves the Jedi Council shocked.
Even more troubling, though, is the fact this calcifying effect is horrifically contagious. It affects both organic and non-organic substances; anything that touches a calcifying substance is then at risk of being infected. Deny the Storm provides several vectors for this sickness of the Force to spread throughout Nihil space.
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Why Are The Nameless Killing The Force?
Star Wars has always been focused on the theme of balance, and each Force tradition has a different view of what this means. One possible explanation for the Nameless effect lies in the beliefs of an obscure Force cult called the Path of the Open Hand, who appeared in Star Wars: The High Republic Phase II. They believed the Force is not an inexhaustible resource; they opposed the Jedi for using the Force too much, arguing doing so would cause the Force to drain away from somewhere else in the galaxy.
The Path of the Open Hand’s doctrine is clearly wrong when it comes to Jedi or even most likely to Sith as well. But the Nameless literally consume the Force, leaving voids were they have fed – absences in the Force itself that can be sensed by other Jedi when they pass by the place where a Nameless found its prey. Nature abhors a vacuum, and it is reasonable to assume the Force will indeed try to flood into the void. This could potentially result in the energy field that is the Force growing too thin elsewhere in the galaxy.
Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong’s Escape from Valo subtly hinted that the mere presence of a Nameless on a planet has a profound effect. When a single Nameless is brought to the planet Valo, light and life begins to leech out of it, so much so a Jedi could have sensed it – if they had not been distracted. The implication is that Nameless feast on Jedi or other Force-sensitives, but they feed on the Force around them at all times. With Nameless breeding across Nihil space, their numbers increasing, the impact on the Force is clearly being felt on a grand scale.
How Will The Jedi Defeat The Nameless & Save The Force?
It’s too soon to say how the Nameless will be stopped – but the Jedi prophecies themselves contain some important clues. The comment about past and future splitting and combining is an odd one, perhaps hinting at the solution. One of the key figures in Star Wars: The High Republic is Jedi Padawan Vernestra Rwoh, who has begun experiencing strange hyperspace-induced visions of a Force-sensitive who worked for the Nihil. Defy the Storm subtly hints this is no Jedi Force Ghost, but rather that these are sendings across time.
Meanwhile, another prophecy hints at a tragic outcome to the conflict. “Only through the sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the Nameless,” it reads – a nod towards a historical event that’s been mentioned, the Nameless Purge. It seems likely the Jedi will only save the Force itself by committing an atrocity, one that will stain the Order forever – perhaps even setting up the main Star Wars saga itself, and Anakin Skywalker’s eradication of the Old Jedi Order.
