The Nihil are a machination by the Sith.
- Based on Light of the Jedi, this seems unlikely; the Nihil were apparently originally just a minor pirate gang until Marchion Ro's father Asgar gave them the Paths which allowed them to become much more powerful and dangerous. That said, Marchion repeatedly alludes to his family having some history and an old grudge with the Jedi, so there's still room for a Sith connection to the Ros, at least.
- It's also possible that the Sith don't have anything to do with creating the Nihil, but that the hidden Rule of Two Sith of the High Republic era will nonetheless find some way to profit from the chaos the Nihil and/or the Drengir cause.
We will explore Lothal's past through Sy.
Concept art shows Sy with a lothwolf, and the ancient Lothal paintings in Rebels showed figures that looked like Tholothians.The titular Acolyte is a Darksider, but is not a Sith
Although the most obvious choice is for a Sith or one's subordinate, it is also possible that "the acolyte" belongs to another branch of the dark side.Lina Soh will be assassinated.
Charles Soule did say the High Republic is partially based on the Kennedy administration...At least one of the characters will turn out to be in the same lineage as the main saga characters.
For example, it could turn out that Lula is the master of Thame, who will then train Dooku, who then goes on to train Qui-Gon, and so on.The Acolyte will explore the more ancient past of Star Wars
Assuming that the titular Acolyte is a Sith, it would be important for an organization of two members, no more, no less, to learn as much as they can of what came before, offering a chance to recanonize aspects of fan favorite Star Wars Legends characters, such as Darth Bane and Revan. Both are currently canon, with Bane being acknowledged as the creator of the Rule of Two, but not much is known about either.The Great Progenitor is Darth Krall
Keeve has been having visions of him following her tapping into the Drengir's root mind despite not having ever seen him before (and him supposedly being a dead Sith Lord), and the Sith will do anything to cheat death, including turning themselves into a Botanical Abomination. Deva Lompop will replace Zeetar as Tempest Runner
Deva has gotten quite a lot of promotion for someone who has so far been a very minor character during the High Republic era, having A Day in the Limelight comic and getting major press releases hyping up her High Republic appearances when she was introduced in Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters. This doesn't really make sense for someone who's basically The Brute for Kara Xoo, unless she's going to become an Ascended Extra in later High Republic material. Since Zeetar is dead at Avar Kriss's hands, this would be an opportunity for her to become a more relevant character. The Nameless are a Sith bio-weapon Gone Horribly Wrong
They are perfectly suited to killing Jedi, what their ability to feed to heighten and feed on their fear before killing them. Unfortunately, because these abilities are passive, they might have backfired on them, and may have been one of the reasons for the fall of the Sith Order. The Drengir are an offshoot of the Nameless
Not only are both Eldritch Abominations that can attack Jedi through the Force, the Edge of Balance manga introduced a Drengir variant that could turn beings into wood upon consuming their seeds, similar to the Nameless's calcification ability. And the Nihil have weaponized both creatures (however, the Drengir have proven much more difficult to control). Related to the above WMG, this connection might be another reason why even the Sith thought they were too much for them.Mari San Tekka's last hyperspace route will be key to the Nihil's defeat
With the Nihil setting up "stormseeds" on all the known hyperspace routes leading into their territory, Vernestra keeping this information to herself in Out of the Shadows will ultimately be to the Jedi's advantage since the Nihil had spies within the Republic, and the Jedi will use this information to get the drop on the Nihil since Marchion wouldn't have known about this last hyperspace route and thus couldn't have set up mines there.There is more than one OrbaLin as a result of division
Ugors are already among the stranger species in the Star Wars universe, and it might explain the Continuity Snarl of him being on Mulita and on Valo at the same time, and in Wave 3 of Phase I, being on Eiram and accompanying Avar to attack the Great Hall of the Nihil around the time Starlight Beacon fell (and they'd both be the same person as part of a gestalt consciousness). This could also be a potential way out of his apparent death at Lourna Dee's hands, who likely learned how to kill Ugors after their first fight at Valo.- Confirmed in Phase III. OrbaLin reveals that he's duplicated himself multiple times.
The Sith will have some role in defeating the Nihil
Nihil did cause bigger damage to the Republic in 2 years than Sith did in almost 800(as far as we know), they also have Nameless at their side. It definetely dosen’t sound like something Sith would be willing to let be. And it would just be interesting and fun way to bring the Sith in.Barash Silvain willfully cut herself off from the Force to combat the Nameless
The Barash Vow is a ritual stated to help Jedi re-commune with the Force (often as a form of atonement, such as when Dez Rydan had a taste of the Dark Side after being afflicted with Drengir poison). As the Nameless are one of the few antagonists where being Force-sensitive is an outright detriment, it would make sense that this ritual was made to rehabilitate her and other Jedi who had to cut themselves off from the Force as a drastic measure.- Jossed. The Vow came as a result of Barash horribly misjudging how to handle the Gansevor conflict.
The Nameless were once ordinary creatures that got corrupted by the Dark Side
The Quest of the Jedi one-shot comic reveals that the crystals inside of the Nameless control rods were previously shards of a Force-amplifier known as the Echo Stone, which not only made the people of Angcord more in touch with the Force, it slowly got them addicted to it. Which is similar to Planet X, which was also incredibly rich in the Force, made non-Force-sensitives suddenly feel it, and made people who came to it want to stay forever. Given the Nameless's insatiable hunger for the Force when away from home and how they become submissive to those wielding the rods in spite of their hunger, Planet X could have had its own Echo Stone that similarly corrupted its populace (bear in mind, one of the control rods was kept in a Dark Side artifact vault). General Viess is Mandalorian by creed.
We learn in the Eye of Darkness that her armor and spear are made of Beskar and that Nihil under her command responded to colony being unable to pay tribute to Nihil by, among other things, taking their children (granted, Kara Xoo’s Tempest also dealt in Child Soldiers). More warlike sects of Mandalorians also have tandency to resort to mercenary work when they aren’t able to wage war on the galaxy. Mandalorian showed that Mandalorian have no problem taking non-humans as their own and while her being foundling is unlikely since she does state she comes from priveleged bacround before becoming mercenary, she could have easily joined some warlike faction of Mandalorians. Of couse she dosen’t show much their iconography or code of honor, but she could simply decided they are to boring for her while taking some of their ways she liked as her own (ie Force resistant armor and idea of taking “outsider” kids to train as warriors).