Star Wars: The High Republic Phase II introduced a new Force cult, the Path of the Open Hand, which could be more dangerous than the Sith. Centuries before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom MenaceLucasfilms Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative seems to tell the story of how the Force lost its balance. The Jedi are advancing towards star wars Outer Rim, but they face terrifying new threats, including a Force cult more dangerous than anything they’ve encountered before.
The Path of the Open Hand is introduced in Justina Ireland’s Path of deceit. They revere the Power, but they believe it to be limited in nature and magnitude; using the Force, using it, is stealing power from it. According to their doctrines, the Force is primarily looking for balance, and this means that even the most heroic actions of the Jedi are flawed. Whenever a Jedi saves a life, another person dies somewhere else in the galaxy; when a Jedi saves one world, another is lost elsewhere. Their leadership has decided that there is only one way to tackle the problem; by killing all Force users.
The path of the open hand could fulfill their mission
The Path of the Open Hand has acquired creatures called the Nameless One, the most dangerous predators in the galaxy. The Nameless prey on Force sensitives, losing the ability to use the Force, eventually reducing them to calcified chaff. For the path of the open hand, they represent the fulfillment of every hope and dream, for they provide a weapon that can be turned against even the Jedi. With the Nameless by their side, the Path of the Open Hand doesn’t even have to fear an army of Jedi. There are disturbing hints that the Path plans to use the Nameless Ones in direct attacks, perhaps even launching a mission to the planet Jedha, where numerous Force traditions converge in a Convocation.
The path of the open hand can accidentally destroy the power
The Path may believe they protect the balance of the Force, but in reality they threaten its very existence. Path of deceit reveals that the Jedi can feel permanent damage to the Force at the place where a Nameless One has partied; an absence, a vacuum in the Force. The Path believes that the Jedi create voids in the Force, causing them to damage the structure itself, but in reality the Nameless – their chosen weapons – are the cause of just that kind of damage. The Nameless Ones have been described as the Jedi’s greatest fear, and it’s easy to see why; their existence threatens the Force. It’s even more worrisome to imagine what the Nameless Ones might do if they were introduced to a Force vergence.
Only the Sith could potentially hide from the Nameless, as they have mastered techniques that allow them to hide their presence in the Force. But the Sith wouldn’t want the path of the open hand to succeed in their mission purely because the cost would be too high. The Sith wants to dominate, not destroy, the Force; the Sith are still trading in the shadows at the time of Star Wars: The High Republicand they would no doubt want the Jedi to succeed this time.
