This article contains spoilers for Justina Ireland’s Path of Deceit.The last Star Wars: The High Republic novel may have secretly revealed the Sith Lord of the High Republic Era. The future of Star Wars lies in the past; specifically in the era of the High Republic, centuries before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. This was a time when the light of the Jedi shone at its brightest and the Sith was thought to be extinct. In reality, Darth Bane had redefined the Sith; they now operated in secret and manipulated events to bring about the ultimate demise of the Jedi.
Star Wars: The High Republic Phase II takes place 350 years before the prequel trilogy and may have just secretly introduced the Sith Lord of the time. Justina Ireland’s novel Path of Deceit introduces readers to a Force cult called the Path of the Open Hand, which believes that any use of the Force upsets the balance. They are now led by the Mother, a mysterious prophet who communicates with the Force and directs the cult members. She acquires a Force predator that only the Sith can survive, a creature that will become known as the “Unnamedfor its ability to inspire a nameless fear within Jedi. The Nameless, aka “Levelersby mother, consumes the power of all power sensitives, literally calcifying them; only a Sith can hide their presence from these creatures. And it is entirely possible that Mother is such a Sith.
Path Of Deceit Hints Mother Could Be A Secret Sith
The Path of the Open Hand believes that the Force should be free and have little interaction with Force users – understandable, as they believe that any use of the Force is a abto use. This, of course, means that they would not necessarily recognize a subtle use of the Force if they saw it, and there are indeed subtle hints that the Mother possesses dark side powers. She is unusually compelling, and those with a weaker will seem almost blinded by her presence. Some of her agents seem to have become almost dependent on her, as if she were some kind of drug they couldn’t live without; one of those agents is forced to return to his mother’s side because he is not comfortable being separated from her for too long.
The Path of the Open Hand is based on the planet Dalna. When the Jedi get there, they notice that something very strange is going on with the Mother; she avoids them, as if afraid of being identified or perhaps being recognized. This, of course, raises the possibility that she is a Sith, as the Sith remained hidden during the High Republic era. Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that Mother has her agents collect Force artifacts, including an ancient dagger used by the Sith to rid enemies of the Force; she claims to set them aside so they can’t be used, but she could easily have her own agenda.
If Mother is indeed Power Sensitive, then it is striking that the Nameless Ones do not respond to her. This would only work if she had the ability to hide her presence in the Force – a power associated with the Sith, particularly with Palpatine, who mastered the technique so much as to reveal the dark side in the Jedi Temple. could use without detection. Mother may not have been sure she could fool a Jedi by explaining her reluctance to see them.
Why would the Sith be behind the path of the open hand?
The Sith have always had a tendency to work through proxies, and the path of the open hand can be useful fools – agents who cause trouble in the galaxy, then are abandoned when no longer needed. The Nameless One could be much more important, however; they were first mentioned in Claudia Gray’s novel Master & Apprentice, which contains a prophecy apparently related to that of the Chosen One. “Only through the sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin inflicted on the Nameless,it says in words that seem to refer to Palpatine’s Order 66. It seems that the Jedi’s response to the Nameless will somehow create an imbalance in the Force, one that will only get worse as the ages go by and the dark side becomes dominant. If this is indeed the case, then the stories are told in Star Wars: The High Republic Phase II will greatly benefit the Sith – and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see that they were the ones responsible for engineering it.
