SPOILERS: Hidden Empire #1 has a few very interesting first appearances…

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Hello and good day everywookiee! I got my hands on next week’s Star Wars comics early and figured it’s a beautiful morning for some spoilers for my favorite of the bunch, Star Wars: Hidden Empire #1 by Charles Soule.

Check it out…

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck1RknuvBjI/

Before we get into spoilers I just wanted to say that I loved this issue. It appears Charles Soule is taking a big swing with the Hidden Empire story arc by including a whole gang of canon characters from TV shows, movies, books, and EU content and creating a large believable conflict.

He’s also teasing content that takes place post Return of the Jedi. Ill touch on that a bit below.

Last thing before we dive in, don’t forget to check out the Drunk Wooky Star Wars Hidden Empire reading order and variant checklist for details on the series, all crossover issues, and every variant you could ever want.

BEWARE! SPOILERS ABOUND AFTER THIS SENTENCE!

Quick Note: I wont be posting every page of the comic. Just big pages and key events. This post is not intended to give you a free read of the issue. You should 100% still go buy it.

The issue starts similar to how Star Wars Crimson Reign started with Madelin Sun aka The Archivist telling Qi’ra’s story via hologram. I assume she ends up dying and this was her recording the events for the history archives before the end so that the story would live on. Similar to a Jedi or Sith recording events and teaching in a holocron before becoming one with the force.

The most interesting part about this page is the two blacked out characters who appear to be wearing hoods. So who are they?!? The issue doesn’t tell us but we based on the dialogue and the outline of the characters I have some ideas.

1. They are sitting cross legged and wearing hoods listening to a story about Qi’ra’s attack on the Sith. This makes me think they are Jedi.
2. They appear to be familiar with Qi’ra and her personality.

There is really only one Jedi who would know Qi’ra (that we know of) and he has a sister that he trains as a Jedi after the fall of the Empire.

My guess is that this is Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and his Padawan Leia Organa (maybe Solo). Because Leia deals with Qi’ra directly in the War of The Bounty Hunters arc and would know about her personality from conversations with her current/future husband Han.

My one issue with this idea is that I have no idea why they would be blacking out the characters if it was Luke and Leia. The only reason I can think of is that this scene takes place AFTER Return of the Jedi and they are planning on announcing a post ROTJ series that comes after Star Wars Hidden Empire.

Next the Archivist talks about how Qi’ra got her mission to destroy the Sith from her master and former

eader of Crimson Dawn, Maul. We know that Maul was not powerful enough to take down Sidious or Vader on his own but he was in constant search of secrets that would help him destroy his former mentor. As his right hand, Qi’ra was privvy to everything Maul knew about the Sith. He even trained her in the ancient combat style of Teräs Käsi that was designed to specifically work well against force users.

One of the weapons that Maul came across in his travels was an ancient Sith Artifact called the Fermata Cage. The issue was that to activate this artifact one needed a powerful Dark Side user. Which Qi’ra and the Archivist did not have. They only had the Knights of Ren and Ko Phon Farrus using The Ascendant technology.

This next page is wild. It appears The Archivist was cutting people up to build up pain and suffering to help fuel the Dark Side enough to activate the Fermata Cage.

This next page is wild. It appears The Archivist was cutting people up to build up pain and suffering to help fuel the Dark Side enough to activate the Fermata Cage.

Then we cut to Palpatine letting the leaders of The Hutts, Pykes, Black Sun, Droid Gotra, and Zerek Besh know that Qi’ra has manipulated them into fighting each other for her benefit.

After being name dropped in Crimson Reign it appears we finally get our first look at Prince Xizor, leader of the Black Sun syndicate in canon! Xizor is a huge name from legends who is best known from the Star Wars Shadows of the Empire books, games, and comics.

Since he’s not named (it’s him though… see the image below) and is in only one panel many collectors will likely consider this a cameo first appearance rather than a full first appearance. Xizor’s story in legends is very connected to story after the Empire falls. To me this is more evidence that the comics will be moving past the destruction of the 2nd Death Star sooner than later.

Then we get this…

Iden Versio and Inferno Squad!! If you don’t know who they are be sure to open this post in a new tab and read it next. But Iden Versio, Gideon Hask, and Del Meeko are some of the main characters in Star Wars Battlefront II (and prime candidates to show up in a Mandalorian Era show in my opinion) that are very popular characters.

Like Xizor, since they are only in one panel this will likely go down as their first cameo appearance. I anticipate Star Wars Revelations #1 one-shot will include their first “full appearance” and would not be surprised if they became main players in one of the comic runs for 2023.

This page was in the art preview for Star Wars Relations #1.

After a few pages we get the confrontation between Qi’ra and Emperor Palpatine that we saw in the official preview of the issue from Starwars.com.

During that conversation we find out what Qi’ra’s plans with the Fermata Cage are…

The Fermata Cage can freeze time, events, and event people and store it in itself. But as Qi’ra says, like anything that can be frozen, the contents can be “thawed.”

Qi’ra’s plan is to activate the Fermata Cage and release an ancient Sith Lord that has been “frozen” inside knowing that this Sith will hunt down both Darth Sidious and Darth Vader because of The Rule of Two.

To me this is HUGE! I really hope it’s not a red herring and Qi’ra eventually fails. Also her mention of the Rule of Two narrows down the list of Sith this could be. Since Darth Bane instituted the Rule of Two the Sith Qi’ra mentions its logical to think that this Sith will be no older than he is.

We don’t know who they will be or if they will even show up. That being said it would be pretty disappointing and anticlimactic if this entire story was told just to show it fail. I believe that the Fermata Cage will work and that Palpatine and Vader will end up destroying the Sith that is unleashed when they challenge the master and apprentice. Cementing Sidious as the most powerful Sith lord of all time.

Here are a list of Sith (some Legends) that are a part of Darth Bane’s Rule of two legacy:

• Darth Bane (Killed by Zannah)
• Darth Zannah (Manner of Death Unknown)
• Darth Cognus (Manner of Death Unknown)
• Darth Millennial (Manner of Death Unknown)
• Darth Vectivus (Died of Old Age)
• Darth Gravid (I know nothing about them)
• Darth Gean (I know nothing about them)
• Darth Guile (I know nothing about them)
• Darth Ramage (I know nothing about them)
• Darth Tenebrous (Killed by Plagueis)
• Darth Plagueis (Killed by Sidious)

My personal choice of who I think this could be is Darth Zannah. While she’s not been in any canon content her name ahs been mentioned in both animation and in books. And we don’t know how she died so it’s possible she never did die and has been trapped in the Fermata cage like a kriffin genie in a bottle for the last millenia.

I also believe that the story of the Fermata cage is stied to why Maul was on Malachor in Rebels. We know he wanted a Sith holocron to find out how to destroy the Sith and that he Needed Ezra’s help.

The voice that came from the holocron when they opened it briefly in the Sith temple was female. Which, if connected, would be another nod to being Zannah. Though this is just me speculating. It’s likely I’m way off but who cares speculating is fun.

That’s all for now. I have a day job I need to get to and you have the key parts of the issue all laid out.

All in all this is probably my favorite issue of 2022. If the ending is as good as the beginning then we are in for a treat.

You can check out all of the variants of Star Wars Hidden Empire #1 below.