Star Wars: The High Republic / YMMV

And You Thought It Would Fail:
- Predictably, The High Republic was met with backlash from the start, being the latest source of intense outrage from a crowd that wasn't going to read the books anyway. However, the novels have been among some of the highest-selling Star Wars books in recent years, with Light of the Jedi being one of six hardcover Star Wars novels to hit the #1 spot on The New York Times's list of bestsellers, with each consecutive installment of Phase One debuting in the top ten of the list.
- Whilst later installments have sold comparatively poorly (with the first Phase Two adult novel: Convergence only selling 7,000 more physical copies at its debut than a reprint collection of the Legends Thrawn trilogy), the series has overall been far more successful than much of those who partook in the initial backlash would have claimed, and has built and maintained a solid following.
Can't Un-Hear It: Marc Thompson's hauntingly charismatic performance as Marchion Ro in the audiobooks and Tempest Runner has cemented him as the voice of the Nihil's leader among fans. His performance in The Eye of Darkness is especially chilling, as he can be a Soft-Spoken Sadist one moment before completely losing his cool, showing what kind of Psychopathic Manchild he actually is.
Captain Obvious Reveal: Some readers already figured out that Oliviah Zeveron was related to the Path of the Open Hand's Mother months before Path of Vengeance released thanks to the latter's character trailer casually revealing her surname, the two characters looking alike, both having a connection to the Force, and the former having a reaction to the latter's presence in the main Phase II comic.
Catharsis Factor: After constantly being gaslit and manipulated throughout Phase II, it feels to good to see Marda Ro turn on the Mother when she catches her putting the Path's children in danger, choosing to help the Jedi in spite of her previous indoctrination, and for the cherry on top, feeding the Mother to the Leveler just when it seems like Marda might fall victim to her manipulation once more.
Complete Monster:
- Phase I: Light of the Jedi: Marchion Ro, "Eye" of the Nihil, was their chief navigator, torturing the near-comatose Mari San Tekka to provide information. Seeking to rule the Nihil, Marchion would engineer mass destruction of his own forces against the Republic to put the Nihil under his own thumb and forge them into an empire of his own. Capturing Jedi Master Loden, Marchion has him and seven innocent people tortured for almost a year in order to weaken Loden's connection to the Force. Leading brutal campaigns and raids that slaughtered countless along the Outer Rim, Marchion proceeds to unleash the monstrous Nameless on the Jedi while utilizing super weapons to devastate entire fleets and space stations. Consumed by an egotistical need to dominate and simply despising the notion of being told by anyone what to do, Marchion plans to annihilate the entire Republic and Jedi.
- Phase II: Quest of the Jedi: Elecia Zeveron, officially known as "the Mother", became the Path of the Open Hand's head prophet after falsely claiming that she had received messages from the Force validating their beliefs. Under her leadership, the Path went from simply abstaining from Force-usage to crusading against all those who would "abuse" it, an agenda she sought to enforce by unleashing the otherworldly and insatiably hungry Nameless upon them. Appearing as a charitable and nurturing figure, the Mother was, in truth, a cruel and self-centered manipulator who would, at worst, order the deaths of those she no longer saw of use to her. The Mother also did not really believe what she preached, as not only was she a Force user herself, but her desire to punish Force users was secretly born out of bitter jealousy and spite towards the Jedi Order for choosing her sister Oliviah for training over her. To that end, Elecia tried to perpetuate a Forever War between the twin planets Eiram and E'ronoh and reheated their war on Jedha when peace seemed imminent as a way to generate hatred towards the Jedi and gain more followers for her cult. Later rebranding her cult the Path of the Closed Fist, the Mother prepared them for war and declared anyone who wasn't with her an enemy, with not even unknowingly Force-sensitive Path members being safe.
Continuity Lockout: The writers have stated that the series averts this for the most part, being able to jump in on almost any entry, but you at least need to know some major story events, such as the Great Disaster or the Republic Fair. However, the later installments of Phase One (most prominently The Fallen Star) and Phase Two (the adult novels and The Battle of Jedha) have faced some criticism for playing this straight, particularly when it comes to sub-series crossing-over, usually as a result of a writer from one story in one book series bringing their characters into a later story in another series.
Creepy Awesome:
- He may not be a Sith Lord, but Marchion Ro is easily one of the most twisted villains to come out of the Disney-era of Star Wars, which is aided by Marc Thompson's Soft-Spoken Sadist delivery in the audiobooks.
- The Nameless are one of the only things that can scare the Jedi, and for good reasons. They've also become popular because of this and their terrifying designs in the comics, whether it be the Jedi's hallucinations or their true forms.
Creepy Cute: Baby Nameless. There is something weirdly endearing about seeing a pocket-sized version of a Jedi-eating Eldritch Abomination.
Crosses the Line Twice: From Trail of Shadows Issue 5: Torban Buck's possible Heroic Sacrifice to stall the Nameless while Emerick Caphtor helps Qort and some Jedi younglings escape from Starlight Beacon is mostly a Tear Jerker. What makes it loop into being funny is that Torban is making his possible Last Stand against a madness-inducing Eldritch Abomination that has killed several Jedi already in nothing but his underwear, having undressed in front of and given his robes to Emerick to study before that. Only someone like Torban "Buckets of Blood" can meet his possible end so tragically, so awesomely, and so hilariously.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Geode, for being a sentient slab of rock and setting up for some Surreal Humor about other characters (other than his colleague, Leox, who is usually high on spice) and the audience wondering whether he's really sentient or just a rock. He and the Vessel crew are also appreciated for being a source of levity in some of the darker stories of Phase I (with Into the Dark and The Fallen Star in particular pushing into Cosmic Horror Story territory).
- Lula's master, Kantam Sy. Despite their minimal role in the story so far, became well-liked for being the first nonbinary Jedi in the history of Star Wars. They are also well-liked for being a rare example of a human non-binary person in a speculative fiction work, especially at a time of increasing criticism over the majority of non-binary representation being non-human (with the other two non-binary Jedi introduced, Terec and Ceret, initially getting accusations of playing into this trope until Kantam was introduced). Fans were especially happy when they learned that Kantam would be getting a spotlight in the "Galactic Bakeoff" one-shot of The High Republic Adventures and Midnight Horizon.
- Despite his minor roles in both The Rising Storm and the main Phase I comic, OrbaLin has achieved some popularity for not only being a Badass Bookworm who can talk your ear off, but the first Ugor Jedi in the franchise (bear in mind the species originated in early Legends RPG sourcebooks and was normally relegated to them), showing just how potent such a species would be as a Jedi.
Evil Is Cool: The Nihil get a bit of this for their Mad Max-esque space Viking aesthetic and the variety of aliens among their ranks leading to some interesting designs even among the Mooks. Marchion Ro, the Eye of the Nihil, is particularly memorable for not only his intimidating design, but his chilling and calculating personality, and coming out on top at the end of Phase I by playing the Jedi, the Republic, and even the Tempest Runners he grudgingly works with.
Epileptic Trees: Many theorize that the Nihil are either being manipulated by, controlled by, or have history with the Sith.
Estrogen Brigade: Marchion Ro has quite the following on Twitter.
Fandom Rivalry: Within the Star Wars fandom itself, over which is better for the future of the franchise between The Mandalorian and the other Disney+ series it will spawn and this multimedia initiative (the two sub-franchises don't have the same creative leads within Lucasfilm). It should be noted that it's not the first time Lucasfilm has explored different Star Wars projects and eras simultaneously with different creative teams (like in the aforementioned New Jedi Order, Star Wars: Legacy, Tales of the Jedi, Dawn of the Jedi, etc.). Likewise, one of the shows, The Acolyte, will be set in the later period of the High Republic.
Friendly Fandoms: Fans of Thrawn (mostly the Estrogen Brigade) were quickly endeared to Marchion Ro, presumably because both are mysterious, good looking, villainous masterminds. Further sealed when Marchion unmasked himself and turned out to look like a Chiss, except with grey skin, sharp teeth and black eyes.
He's Just Hiding: OrbaLin's last appearance in Phase I sees him getting shot in the back of the head by Lourna Dee. However, because of his species' unique physiology and he has previously survived Lourna lodging an ax in his "head" and being without his suit for some time, not many readers are convinced that OrbaLin is actually dead and either he might be playing dead while Lourna's Tempest hijacks the Ataraxia, or there is a second OrbaLin that he had split himself into (which would also amend the potential Continuity Snarl of him being at both the Republic Fair and the Battle of Mulita, which happened at the same time). Phase III reveals that both of these were correct: not only did OrbaLin survive because of his physiology, he has duplicated himself multiple times in the past.
LGBT Fanbase: Lula's master, Kantam Sy, is nonbinary, making them one of the first LGBT Jedi in the history of the franchise, which has been happily welcomed by LGBT fans. And this is without mentioning the plethora of other LGBT characters introduced in The High Republic.
Like You Would Really Do It: Given the franchise's history of Never Found the Body often resulting in characters still being alive, many readers were skeptical of main cast characters who went missing during the destruction of Starlight Beacon at the end of Phase I being dead, even if a few of the characters were Jedi Masters. Come Phase III, several characters that were presumed dead in story were confirmed to be alive, with Burryaga's survival being confirmed before the Phase began. As of this posting, all of The High Republic Adventures main cast are confirmed to have survived, as well as Sskeer and Imri Cantaros.
Love to Hate:
- Marchion Ro goes above and beyond your standard space pirate in regards to villainy, and is later revealed to be doing it for the pettiest reasons imaginable. However, the fact that he manages to succeed in his goals and does it with such gusto makes him entertaining to watch as he plays everyone (including his own colleagues) for fools.
- The Mother is a cult leader with borderline-genocidal ambitions against Force users who, like Marchion, is also doing it for incredibly petty reasons. However, the fact that she has a lot in common with real-world cult leaders and religious extremists (being charismatic and charitable on the surface, while being secretly cruel and manipulative) makes readers want to see her fall hard.
Memetic Badass: Thanks to his rather unassuming appearance (and Leox claiming him to be both a party animal and having black market connections), many fans have joked that Geode (and maybe some other Vintians) was actually present for many key events in galactic history. This has gone even further in The Fallen Star, where it's shown that Geode is not only Immune to Bullets, he is also capable of reflecting them on his own whim. This results in a delirious spacer accidentally killing himself when he tries to gun Geode down in a fit of rage, despite having been told about Geode's capabilities.
Misaimed Hatedom:
- There was some Vocal Minority backlash against "anti-war" messages being on the writers' checklist in the announcement video for being Political Overcorrectness, even though Star Wars has always been obvious about being against war and other violent conflicts.
- The series gets flack by some fans of Knights of the Old Republic, The Sith Lords, and Star Wars: The Old Republic and all their associated works for trying to "replace" the KOTOR/TOR content in the canon. TOR is one of the only Legends works or series that wasn't explicitly discontinued after the Disney purchase, or the fact that The High Republic was never conceived as being a replacement — the opposite, in fact, since the stories being told were ones meant to explore an era previously unexplored in either continuity. Furthermore, it was explicitly confirmed by Lucasfilm's own Pablo Hidalgo that the people at Lucasfilm are actually letting BioWare work with TOR for as long as they have stories to tell, and that they won't start exploring that specific era in the canon timeline until they are finished.
- Making this backlash even more bizzare is that the series is one of the few pieces of new canon media to reference and recanonise material "from" The Old Republic era.
Older Than They Think: The announcement showing “space dinosaurs” as a item on the writers’ checklist prompted some backlash, even though this would obviously be referring to creatures similar to the Krayt dragon or the varactyl.
Rainbow Lens:
- While being a lesbian is incidental in her case, Zeen Mrala's story of leaving a religious community that discouraged her from using the Force before finding a more accepting community in the Jedi Order has been compared to those in the LGBT+ community finding acceptance in new communities after being discouraged from being themselves in heteronormative religious communities.
- On the darker end, the Path of the Open Hand (which Zeen's original religious community was descended from) has been compared to heteronormative churches despite the Path having a few LGBT+ characters among them (amusingly enough, some of the characters in question are among the saner members of the cult). Points of comparison are that they persecute people for something that is actually part of who they are and not a thing that one simply controls (being Force-sensitive in the Path's case), to the point of having those they deem as deviants killed at worst or trying to influence governments to criminalize their existence (with the Mother trying to make one of the Supreme Chancellors her political puppet).
Tainted by the Preview:
- Due to leaks and rumors that only said that Lucasfilm was working on an Old Republic-type project, many fans expected to be a reimagining of the fan-favorite Legends Old Republic-era that would adapt Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic's stories into the post-Legends canon. Instead, many were mixed upon learning The High Republic was a new era that — many believe — is meant to take The Old Republic's place as the official "ancient" era of the Star Wars universe. However, this ignores official statements from Lucasfilm indicating that they have plans to explore 25,000 years of Star Wars history eventually, which includes the era previously depicted in Legends.
- Some fans were not pleased to discover that the "Great Disaster" that kickstarts the plot revolves around lightspeed crashing similar to the Holdo Maneuver from The Last Jedi, an event that many Original Trilogy and Expanded Universe fans hate for breaking established rules about space travel just for a Rule of Cool scene. Alleviated when Light of the Jedi actually took the time to explain how this was possible, and fans generally accepted the explanation.
Tear Jerker:
- Keeve Trennis is described as being a freshly promoted Jedi Knight who is so starstruck by being in the ranks of her older, legendary contemporaries that she fails to realize that she’s just as talented as them. We know from Dooku Jedi Lost that she becomes one of the Lost Twenty.
- The ending of The Rising Storm. After having just gotten his master back, Bell can only watch helplessly as he witnesses Loden getting the life sucked out of him as he's petrified by the Great Leveler, crumbling into dust upon his body collapsing to the ground. As we see when we immediately follow this up at the beginning of Trail of Shadows, the masterless padawan is reduced to a sobbing, curled-up mess.
- The end of Phase I. Starlight Beacon, a major symbol of hope and the Jedi's home base in the Outer Rim throughout Phase I, has fallen. Many Jedi have died during the fall, including Stellan Gios, Orla Jareni, Nib Assek, Estala Maru, Nooranbakarakana, and possibly OrbaLin. Some are unaccounted for such as Burryaga, Lula Talisola, Farzala Tarabal, and Vernestra Rwoh. Others like Torban Buck and Sskeer were last seen buying time fending off the Nameless, with their fates uncertain. To pour further salt in the Republic's wounds, Marchion Ro makes it difficult for them to retaliate, as his deployment of stormseeds on the hyperspace routes effectively locks them out of the Outer Rim and he has creatures that can (both physically and psychologically) break Jedi at his beck and call. Effectively, the Nihil have won.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans were annoyed with the setting's implications that the Outer Rim hadn't been explored during this era with many feeling it contradicted the idea of most of the universe being already explored and colonized before the formation of the Galactic Republic post-Ruusan reformation (1032 BBY - 19 BBY) as had been stated in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

YMMV / Star Wars: The High Republic

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