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Character page for the Path of the Open Hand in the High Republic era, set 400 years before the Battle of Yavin.
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Path of the Open Hand
A religious cult based on Dalna — founded by Sachar Rold, a former Guardian of the Wills from Jedha — that was active 150 years before the Great Disaster and claimed to be seeking to liberate the Force from all who would misuse it. In General
- Anti-Magical Faction: Subverted. They acknowledge the Force and appreciate it, but only from a distance. This puts them at odds with religious groups who fully interact with it, such as the Jedi.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- To the Nihil. The Nihil were a large group of Space Pirates who had a tactical advantage over the Jedi and Republic Defense Coalition, but also had a charismatic leader that sought to defeat the Jedi and control a significant chunk of the galaxy. The Path of the Open Hand is very similar to them, but instead of being pirates, they are a religious cult. Amusingly, the Nihil have roots in this cult.
- To the Sith. The Sith were a religious group that followed the Dark Side of the Force, whereas the Path of the Open Hand is a Force cult mostly made up of non-Force users (with a Force-sensitive leader) that preaches against the use of the Force at all, but are nonetheless antagonistic towards the Jedi the same way the Sith are.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Their interpretation of the Force is that it should not be used at all, even if it is used to save lives, and that any tragedy that happens (such as death by illness or natural disaster) is simply the Force's will. This is reminiscent of how some real life religious cults reject scientifically-proven medical practices in favor of faith-based healing (often to disastrous results) or claim that natural disasters are God's judgment on a community as a pretense to refuse them aid in their wake.
- Light Is Not Good: Members of the Path wear robes that are usually a mix of white, blue and gold, colors that aren't dissimilar from what High Republic era Jedi would wear, but while they claim to be trying to liberate the Force, they are clearly a cult with a much more sinister agenda.
- Predecessor Villain: They are heavily implied to be this to the Nihil, as not only were two of Marchion Ro's ancestors, Marda and Yana part of this group, some of their assets belonged to them too. The Nihil were also explicitly said to be a Renegade Splinter Faction of the Elders of the Path, who shared a similar animosity to Force users with the Path of the Open Hand and possessed two of the Nameless control rods (with the Path of the Open Hand having stolen the Rod of Seasons from Hynestia Prime), which would imply the Elders are either a continuation or remnants of that cult (plus one of the Elders, Tromak, was part of the Path of the Open Hand when he was a child).
- Scam Religion: It's implied the Mother turned the Path into one after becoming its prophet, considering she's having them steal Force artifacts under the pretense of trying to liberate the Force when in reality, she's actually more interested in building up a power base and she seems to see other Force faiths as a threat to her.
Leadership
The Mother
Elecia Zeveron, "The Mother"
Species: Human
Appearances: Path of Deceit
The head religious figure and prophet of the Path of the Open Hand, also formally known as "The Mother".
- All There in the Script: She is only known by "the Mother" and her first name in Path of Deceit. Her surname wasn't revealed until her respective character video.
- Ambiguously Related: She shares her surname with the Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron, who was active at the time Elecia was the Mother. Their connections to the Force and similar appearances imply they are related, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is very charismatic and has a very motherly presence, but she's also the leader of a cult with an authoritarian agenda.
- Charm Person: It's suggested that she can manipulate and influence other people, like Sunshine Dobbs, who immediately becomes enamored and completely loyal to her within minutes of entering her presence without understanding why. Not everyone in the Path is affected like this, like the Herald and Yana.
- Cult of Personality: After she joined the Path, many of its members flocked to her and started treating her as an avatar of the Force itself, and stealing Force artifacts in her name under the pretense of liberating them.
- False Prophet: She presents herself as a messenger of the Force, but any other Force user outside the cult will tell you that she's just using the Force to prop herself up while discouraging others from doing so.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: She claims to want to set the Force free, but has her own ulterior motives against the Jedi.
- Hypocrite: She and her cult preach the importance of only giving to the Force and not taking from it, using this as a pretense to have the Children steal Force artifacts from the Jedi and other people. According to Elder Aris Ade, she does more taking than giving. Meanwhile, she preaches distance from the Force, but she uses her own Force sensitivity to prop herself up as a prophet.
- It's All About Me: She claims to represent the will of the Force, but one slip of the tongue towards Marda (saying she — not the Force — doesn't need her on Jedha) makes it clear to readers that she is actually using the cult and hoarding Force artifacts for her own personal gain, but Marda personally brushes it off as just a slip of the tongue.
- Mysterious Past: What she did before joining the Path and where she came from is unknown, with several members of the organization who distrust her planning on digging into it. Zallah and Kevmo are also suspicious of her avoiding meeting them, wondering if she fears the Jedi would recognize her, but when they do finally see her, they don't. However, the fact that she shares her surname with another Jedi implies she has a connection to them.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: She claims that she wants to liberate the Force by stealing artifacts from other Force-based faiths, but it becomes apparent by the end of Path of Faith that she's only using the cult and stealing artifacts to build up her own power base, and other Force users are just a threat to her power.
- Uriah Gambit: She sends the Children to Thelj to steal some Force artifacts with Sunshine Dobbs as their chauffer. However, as Yana showed interest in leaving the Path with Kor Plouth beforehand and intended Thelj to be her final job, Yana learns too late that the Mother was actually sending her and the rest of the Children to die, with Sunshine tipping off the Graf security force and leaving them to die. Yana ends up being the only one of the Children to survive the mission.
- Would Hurt a Child: In her crusade against Force users, she uses the Leveler against Kevmo, a Padawan who is implicitly a teenager, which results in him dying an agonizing death.
The Herald
Werth, "The Herald"
Species: Nautolan
Appearances: Path of Deceit | The High Republic (2022)
The previous leader of the Path of the Open Hand, now sharing his position with the Mother after her arrival.
- The Atoner: He is said to have had a violent past before joining the Path, hence where the cropped head tendrils come from.
- For Want Of A Nail: The core reason he preaches not to touch the Force is that taking from it - even if it is to do good like when Kevmo saves some of the Path members from a flood - may create a ripple effect and have disastrous consequences elsewhere.
- The Fundamentalist: He is unshakeable in his belief that the Force should not be touched, and that once you are part of the Path, you are part of it for life. He does not take kindly when Yana thinks about leaving with his daughter, Kor Plouth. However, word of his daughter's death on Thelj is enough to shake his loyalty to the Mother, and he only continues to feign loyalty to her to bide his time before overthrowing her.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: One of the most notable aspects of his appearance is that all of his head tentacles have been severed, and he's a leader of an incredibly shady cult.
- The Starscream: After he learns from Yana that the Mother sent the Children (including his daughter Kor) to die on the mission to Thelj, he plots alongside her to expose the Mother as a fraud and overthrow her. However, he plans to continue to play his role as The Dragon while he bides his time.
Children of the Path
Yana Ro
Yana Ro
Species: Evereni
Appearances: Path of Deceit | The High Republic (2022)
Marda Ro's older but more cynical cousin and the leader of the Children of the Path, a group within the Path of the Open Hand tasked with "liberating" Force artifacts and bringing them back to Dalna.
- The Cynic: As the older Ro cousin, she's more aware of the Evereni's history and why they are despised than Marda. As a result, she doesn't plan to stay in the Path of the Open Hand and at worst, is prepared to stab her allies in the back just to stay alive.
- Interspecies Romance: She (Evereni) is in a romantic relationship with the Herald's daughter, Kor Plouth (Nautolan).
- The Kid with the Remote Control: After the Leveler is born and kills the Jedi investigating the Path, Yana becomes its first champion while holding the Rod of Seasons and it follows her around like a lost cat. She plans to weaponize the Leveler against the Mother at some point.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: She doesn't actually care much for the Path's philosophy and is only part of the cult because her family brought her and Marda there as children. She only remains as part of the cult to look out for Marda and because of her relationship with Kor, and plans to leave as soon as she's sufficiently rewarded.
- Only Sane Woman: As one of the people tasked with stealing Force artifacts and proselytizing offworlders, Yana is one of the only people in the cult who suspects that the Mother's pretense for "liberating" these artifacts is a load of Bantha fodder. Unfortunately, her being so wary prompts the Mother to send her and the Children of the Path on a mission to get them killed, which ends up vindicating Yana when she's the only survivor.
- Revenge: She swears revenge on the Mother after she sends her and the Children on a suicide mission to Thelj, which also results in the death of her girlfriend, Kor.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: She suspects the Mother of actually being a grifter running a Scam Religion to have people steal Force artifacts so she can sell them for a profit. While the Mother is indeed a fraud, it's for much more sinister reasons.
- Sole Survivor: She is the only one of the Children to survive the Thelj "heist", which turned out to be Uriah Gambit set up by the Mother.
Other Members
Marda Ro
Marda Ro
Species: Evereni
Appearances: Path of Deceit | Path of Vengeance
A member of the Path of the Open Hand and ancestor to the Eye of the Nihil, Marchion Ro.
- Black-and-White Insanity: As someone who was raised in the Path at a very young and impressionable age, she is a fervent believer in the Path's teachings, thinks anyone who uses the Force must be wicked, and that the Mother is nothing but good. When Kevmo — the one Jedi she developed any liking towards — is killed by the Leveler, her belief that the Jedi are evil is only reinforced with further manipulation by the Mother by convincing Marda that Kevmo died as a consequence of the Jedi's teachings, and not the fact that she unleashed the Leveler on him.
- Break the Cutie: She suffers a lot of personal grief throughout Path of Deceit. First she falls in love with a Jedi despite their faiths being at odds with each other, which then makes it impossible for them to stay together. Then, she learns that Yana plans to leave the Path and desperately tries to barter to make her stay. Then her faith is shaken again when Yana claims that the Mother tried to have her and the Children killed on a mission for seemingly straying from the faith's MO, and finally, she watches Kevmo die an agonizing death in her arms. After further manipulation by her mother figure, she ends with the impression that the Jedi were ultimately responsible for Kevmo's death.
- Crisis of Faith: She is initially at odds with Kevmo Zink for how he uses the Force, but when he uses the Force to save her and some of her people from a flood on Dalna, she starts to have some second thoughts. By the end of Path of Deceit, her original belief that the Force should not be touched is only reinforced with some manipulation by the Mother after Kevmo is killed by the Leveler.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: After Kevmo is killed by having the Force sucked out of him by the Leveler, does she finally get that the Mother is actually a power-hungry fraud? No, and thanks to Yana getting roped back into the cult anyway (as a result of biding her time with the Herald) and more manipulation by the Mother, she's lead to believe that Kevmo died as a consequence of the Jedi's teachings, and seeks revenge on the Jedi as a result.
- Friend to All Children: She gets along really well with the children of Dalna and even gives flowers to them. The Mother takes advantage of this by using her to bring more children into her cult.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Evereni have a notorious reputation for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, and she and her cousin Yana are looked at with suspicion even among the ranks of the Path. While Yana is prepared to give in to this stereotype to protect herself and her cousin, Marda is a lot more innocent and accepting as a result of not knowing her people's history.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: She and Kevmo Zink develop strong feelings for each other despite their faiths being at odds with each other. This ends in tragedy, as not only does Kevmo get killed by the Great Leveler and dies in her arms, she ends up getting the impression that Jedi brought Kevmo's death upon him due to their teachings.
- Token Good Teammate: As one of those who grew up in the cult, Marda seems to be one of the only people in the Path who actually believes in its teachings without slipping into the worst excesses of fundamentalist zealotry and is willing to give even Jedi a chance to open up to it. Unfortunately, her belief that the Jedi are evil only deepens after the Mother manipulates her into believing that it was the Jedi Order that was responsible for Kevmo's death due to their teachings and not the Mother, who unleashed the Leveler on him.
- Tyke Bomb: As a result of being brought into the Path at a really young age, the Mother managed to mold her into a very fervent believer in the Path's teachings.
- White Sheep: In contrast with most of her descendants after the Nihil were formed, Marda is a genuinely good person all around, albeit one that is incredibly naïve and can be easily roped into nefarious causes.
Radicaz Dobbs
Radicaz "Sunshine" Dobbs
Species: Human
Homeworld: Eriadu
Appearances: Path of Deceit | The High Republic (2022)
A smuggler and treasure hunter who trafficed Force artifacts during the High Republic Era, 150 years before the Great Disaster. After an anonymous contract message brings him to Dalna, he winds up indoctrinated into the Path of the Open Hand.
- Collector of the Strange: He's a treasure hunter that dabbles in Force artifacts, and one of that is doing so illegally.
- Dirty Coward: When serving as the Children's pilot during the mission to Thelj, he alerts the Graf authorities to their presence and leaves them to die by flying away from the landing site. When Yana survives and catches up to him, it doesn't take much for her to make him cave and fly her back to Dalna for revenge on the Mother. The only reason Yana doesn't kill Sunshine right away is that she can't fly a ship.
- Fantastic Racism: Thanks to the Evereni's storied reputation, he is very distrustful and uncomfortable around Yana Ro.
- Turn to Religion: At first, Sunshine is just brokering information and collecting artifacts for the Path for credits, and had a strained relationship with his family on Eriadu. After a few more jobs, he finds himself hooked by the Mother and her cult.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: One of the first artifacts he gives to the Path of the Open Hand is a mysterious large red jewel which later turns out to be a Nameless egg, more specifically the one the Great Leveler hatched from. In trying to further ingratiate himself with the Path, he also gave them the location of a mysterious planet in Wild Space. This planet is the Nameless's homeworld, and thus, Sunshine unknowingly gave the Nihil information about a weapon that would allow them to deal a devastating blow to both the Republic and Jedi Order 150 years later.
