How The High Republic Affects Our View Of The New Republic

In the second issue of The Rise of Kylo Ren, Lor San Tekka traveled to the world of Elphrona in the Outer Rim together with Luke Skywalker and his nephew Ben Solo, roughly a decade after Return of The Jedi. They were searching for the Jedi Outpost from the time of the High Republic. To date, this is the most direct connection between the High Republic and the New Republic. The time gap between these two eras of Star Wars may only be a little over 300 years, only a blink in the overall timeline. At first glance it appeared that the High Republic and the New Republic could not be further apart. On one hand, we had a galaxy at its peak, growing and prospering, with thousands of Jedi available to protect it. On the other hand, we had a galaxy that had been living under the tyranny of an evil Empire with its gigantic war machine, ruled by two merciless Sith Lords who would not hesitate to wipe out entire planets. Now that this Empire had been defeated and the Sith seemingly gone, those who survived the Galactic Civil War struggled to rebuild democracy and peace.

Luke’s quest for the Jedi Outpost not only showed his constant search for new ways to learn about the Force and its history, but also his willingness to rebuild the Jedi Order like the one that had existed 200 years before Order 66, not like it had been at the fall of the Republic. The leaders of the New Republic, Mon Mothma and Princess Leia also knew about the High Republic and they too strived to not recreate the bloated and inflexible organization that was the Republic at the end of its existence. There were in fact some similarities and connections between these two democracies, some of which we are going to look at today.

Smaller In Scope

During the time of the High Republic, the Outer Rim regions were still more or less uncharted. Travels there were difficult and dangerous, and the Republic itself and the Jedi had no presence there. This was why Starlight Beacon was created.

After the end of the Galactic Civil War, the area that the New Republic controlled was far smaller than that of the former Empire. Even still, it had difficulties extending its power to the far outlying systems. The heart of the New Republic consisted of a few systems mainly within the galactic Core and the Inner Rim. This was why the First Order was able to stay hidden in the Unknown Regions for so long.

No Mighty Military Force

The High Republic did not have a big military fleet, just an organization called Republic Defense Coalition, which was mainly used for small peacekeeping missions. As there had not been a major conflict for a long time, there was no need for a mighty armada.

After the Rebel Alliance had finally defeated the remnants of the Empire at the Battle of Jakku, and the Galactic Concordance was signed, the leaders of the New Republic too saw no need to keep an enormous war machine that would only remind the citizens of the cruel past they wanted to leave behind. Of course, this would change only a few years later.

No Major Enemies

The story of the High Republic was still quite young and we do not know what threats will be presented in future publications. For now it seemed that the Republic was not facing a major enemy as the Separatists or the Empire. The threat of the Nihil might grow into such a foe, but they are not at that level as of yet.

The New Republic, on the other hand, had just defeated it biggest nemesis and was now seemingly free to recover. It could take its time to heal its wounds, oblivious to a new enemy that was getting stronger day by day.

The Principle of Democracy

Unlike many politicians who would come after her, it seemed that Lina Soh did not need intrigue or political backstabbing to rule the galaxy. She simply did what she thought was best for the galaxy and the people trusted her.

Mon Mothma and Leia were both war heroes who had lost so much in their fight against the Empire, and they wanted to rebuild a democracy that that was not based on a single person, but where every planet and system had their own voice that was heard equally. Unfortunately, it only took the true identity of Leia’s father to trash these principles and split the New Republic into two factions who deeply distrusted one another.

No Sith

So far there had not been any Sith appearances in the High Republic (although an ancient Sith Lord could be featured in issue 7 of the High Republic comic series, as hinted by a variant cover). They were still in hiding at this point, playing the long game, and carefully plotting the destruction of the Jedi. This did not mean that there were no Dark Side powers at play, as seen in the mysterious plant-like Drengir. Without the Sith influence clouding their minds, the Jedi were able to flourish, and deepen their connection to the Force.

When Darth Vader died after throwing his master into the reactor shaft, it seemed that the Sith were gone for good. Luke had the opportunity to not only continue his studies and strengthen his Force abilities, but also rebuild the Jedi Order mostly unhindered by the Dark Side. If he had only known of the turmoil raging within his nephew.

From what we have seen thus far of the High Republic, it seemed that there were aspects that the New Republic shared with its predecessor. With future publications about the time period, we hope to see more ways that the High Republic influence the time after the fall of the Empire as the New Republic tries to emulate the golden age of the known galaxy.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Syndicated From Culture Slate

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