014 - Spoiler Packed Marvel THR 6-7

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi everybody and welcome to the Starlight Archive, the best Griffin High Republic podcast this side of Moolida. Today we are visited with our guest host, Rachel of Jakku, who also has a podcast on print media in Star wars is primarily focused on the High Republic, which is called the Sacred Texts. I'm Bryce Rankins, this is Brian Romero. Hello. And this is Rachel. [00:00:34] Speaker B: Hello. Thank you so much for having me on today. [00:00:37] Speaker A: Yeah, we are so excited to have you here. We haven't gotten to talk to you really in other than I don't think we've actually talked with our voices really since our WonderCon recap on sneaky Geek. [00:00:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Besides the Acolyte and the screening. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Podcast, we have seen each other in [00:00:57] Speaker C: the last Skeleton Crew. Yeah, yeah. [00:00:59] Speaker A: And we saw each other for Skeleton Crew. Okay. We saw each other in like December. Okay. We're terrible. [00:01:05] Speaker B: What is time? We have a podcast to do this time that is true together. [00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:09] Speaker B: Totally different thing. I'm like segmenting my brain apparently. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm like, yeah, that's not High Republic. But that does. That doesn't exist. [00:01:17] Speaker B: Acolyte is High Republic adjacent. [00:01:19] Speaker C: Totally. [00:01:20] Speaker A: That's true. Yeah. And Skeleton Crew was just December. But like you've been to Japan since then. [00:01:26] Speaker B: It's true. Yep. [00:01:27] Speaker A: So. And you can hear all about that in our little one off episode about Rachel and how cool she is. Today, however, we are talking about the High Republic comics produced by Marvel. And we're going to talk about those that happen in Wave two in Phase one, and they're kind of a kickoff of wave two, the Starlight story notwithstanding. And the first two that we're going to talk about, issue six and issue seven happen before the events of the Rising Storm. We're not going to go into all of the. Like, here's all the things you need to know and be spoiler free. This is a spoiler packed episode. Beware here. There be spoilers. So if you are looking to read this and don't want to be spoiled, don't listen to this episode until afterwards and then do and you can be part of our lovely conversation about how much we liked it and all the other things. Before you go into these comics, however, you should probably have read Marvel Comics issues three through five, if not one through five. I'm one through five guy Bryan and I had a full argument about whether or not issue one and two. So I think issues one and two are part of act one. [00:02:38] Speaker C: Ah, you said Drengir story of the overall Drengir story. [00:02:43] Speaker B: Okay. [00:02:43] Speaker A: In the same way that you need to see Luke whining about Tashi Station before we start really looking at the Death Star. We don't see the Death Star until, like, a third of the way through the movie. It's all part of the act. It's the end of Act 1 of this three act structure. My argument is that issues 1, 2, and 3 are Act 1 of the Drengir story, and issues 4 and 5 are Act 2. And this issues 6, 7, and 8 are Act 3. [00:03:15] Speaker B: Definitely 6, 7, and 8 are more cohesive out of the. The bundle. Yeah. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Brian. I, however, felt that it's because I'm like, no Drangir story. [00:03:24] Speaker C: I'm like, no. Part one of the Drengir story is into the Dark. [00:03:27] Speaker A: Into the dark, sure. But like part one of the Drengir arc in the comics to Brian, which [00:03:32] Speaker C: I didn't realize because he didn't say that at first. So I was off on a different tangent. We were both on different tangents. [00:03:36] Speaker A: Okay, so we wanted your opinion on this. [00:03:40] Speaker B: My God. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Neither of us are that married to our own idea that you have to side one way or the other. But obviously, if you side with Brian, I'll hate you forever. But do you think Skier knighting Keev and then having his realization that he can't feel the Force, and then the subsequent episode with Keev, the issue two, do you think those are part of the overall Drangir story? [00:04:06] Speaker B: So I don't. I would say it differently. I would say that the Drengier is a different thing than, like, the character development between Skier and Kiev, because to me, like, 1 and 2 play very important roles to what happens in 3, 4, and 5. [00:04:21] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:04:22] Speaker B: But we don't have the drain gear then at that point. So it's kind of like. [00:04:25] Speaker C: See, that's where I'm at. [00:04:26] Speaker B: I remember when I first read 1 and 2, and I had already read Light of the Jedi, and I was talking to my friend Frankie and Shout Out Frankie, and she was talking about how the Drake gear were a really big part of the High Republic comics. And I hadn't gotten to that part yet. And I was like, yeah, you mean the Nile. And you literally just like, read about the Nile and what is it? The first issue. And then that's all you hear about the Nile for the rest. Pretty much the rest of the segment. And you're just like, wait, where did they go? So, yeah, I guess to my. [00:05:01] Speaker C: In another book. [00:05:02] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. So I. I would say, if we want to say drengiers, for sure. 3, 4, 5. But I think the importance of 1 and 2 for the story for Skier and Keev, you have to have 1 and 2 be included in that, because otherwise I don't think 1 and 2 really, like, exist well on their own. [00:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And I feel like 1 and 2, [00:05:23] Speaker C: they're just solid intro stories. [00:05:24] Speaker B: They are. [00:05:26] Speaker A: They're not. I don't want to say they're not good enough, but they're not complete enough. [00:05:30] Speaker B: I agree. [00:05:30] Speaker A: To really be on their own. If you're going to read one and two, it's because you are reading the Keev and sk. And not to jump ahead too far, but the reason that 6 and 7 end with some level, some modicum of success is because of Keev and Skier's connection. [00:05:50] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:05:51] Speaker C: There's some of the best character work [00:05:53] Speaker A: in this that's entire really important High Republic. So having their backstory, I mean, maybe it's more like one of those 0.1 comics that Marvel does where they're like, here now you have this little intro or, like, the prelude to stories that they'll sometimes do where they're like, hey, Avengers is coming out. Here's a comic that kind of preludes everything. But issues one and two feel like a very necessary prelude if you want a full, cohesive story. Because to me, the Drengir story is the Skier Keev story. [00:06:22] Speaker B: And I really like 1 and 2 because they really set you up for what the High Republic is like, what the Jedi specifically are like in this era. And the vast number of Jedi at Starlight Beacon at the end of two is just unbelievable. And the whole, like, ceremony process is so different than what we've seen in the Skywalker saga. So to me, it was, like, setting up to kind of give you a vibe for, like, who are these Jedi? And, like. And then because you take that, that's like the pre Nile, the pre Drangir. And then as we go through all of these, like, situations, we kind of get to see how the Jedi change from the High Republic to what the Skywalker Saga is, and how those things kind of, like, help form that those changes big time. [00:07:09] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:07:10] Speaker A: I feel like Wave two especially, is the beginning of the end of the High Republic for the Jedi. [00:07:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Like, that's when we start to really see their resolve tested. That's when you start seeing a lot of Jedi, like, questioning the Order in a way that. Not that questioning is necessarily inherently bad, but the Jedi begin to sort of fail each other during this entire High Republic like, story. And whether it be the Order covering Certain things up or, you know, I don't want to get too into spoiler territory, obviously, but I feel like this particular story, especially with Kyiv and the hints that we have about what happened, what might happen to Kyiv by the end of everything that we've already seen in media before the High Republic even came out. Yeah, there's a lot of like, we, we. We were promised this. This is the height of the Jedi. And I don't think any of us heard the subtext, which is you can only go down from here. [00:08:11] Speaker B: Exactly. I did not think about that at all going into the High Republic. [00:08:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:08:16] Speaker A: Like, yay, Jedi being Jedi. And you're like, oh, no, they were Jedi beings. [00:08:21] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:08:21] Speaker C: I think that's why I like phase two so much. They're still at the height there and they're just. There's these little things going on. Yeah, there's the Battle of Jeddah, but like, there's battles off and on, whatever. But here it's just like non stop, like Drengir Nihil things happening left and right. [00:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:08:37] Speaker A: And then in the interview, the last roundtable of the High Republic writers that they put in StarWars.com this week, they were talking about how at this point where we are right now, where we're talking, this was kind of a point where it was, who is the enemy in this story? Yeah, who's your big bad? Is it Mark Ion? Is it the drengier? Is it the great progenitor? Is it like the Nile? Is it these other things? Like what. What is actually your bad guy here? For a minute it felt like I wasn't sure that they knew, but clearly, I mean, they obviously had a plan the whole time. But like, around this time in the comics too, because of the way the comics came out, I feel like reading them back to back to back to back. I kind of forgot that these are happening over months. These are coming out over months. So, like, we'll get to a moment at the end of issue eight, way later. But when we get to that, there's a line that Astalomaru says, and I was reading it a second time, I was like, oh, right, you guys in the comics didn't really know about that because we've been getting all these chapters about Mark Yanro the whole time. Oh, yeah. And we knew what was going on. But when he's like, oh, no, this has happened reading. And I'm like, yeah, how did you not know it was gonna come right? You didn't read the book, you didn't Read the book. [00:09:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:55] Speaker A: What are you doing? [00:09:56] Speaker B: What's your problem? [00:09:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Anyway, so you have to read. You don't have to read anything, but, like, if you want the context for this, you need to know what happened in into the Dark with the four statues. [00:10:08] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:10:09] Speaker C: That's where the Drengir wreath and Orla [00:10:11] Speaker A: and DEZ and Comack were all palling around on the Amaxine station with their new favorite friend, Nan. And they took statues off. Yeah. Geode, the sexiest man in the galaxy, Leox, his friend, and afy. But, yeah, they all took big old statues off the station, took them to the underbelly of the Jedi Temple, and said, hey, wait a minute. There's no evil on these things at all. That means all the evil that they were steeped in was what they were holding back. Shoot. And they took him back, and the Drengir had already come alive, and DEZ Raiden got Scooby Doo'd along with a bun. He got stuck on a door Scooby Doo style, and he got launched off with these beasts called Drengir. And then in the issues 3 through 5, the Drengir are being battled, fought back by the Jedi Order. Avar Kriss teams up with the Hutts, much to the chagrin of every other Jedi. Like, Stellan's real mad about. [00:11:16] Speaker B: Of course Dylan is really mad about it. I mean, he follows the Council, and everyone's like, you must not join the Hutts. Like, we are the Jedi. The Hutts have this, like, code that we do not agree with, so. [00:11:27] Speaker C: Because they're gangsters. [00:11:28] Speaker B: Yeah. 100%. So vile. [00:11:31] Speaker A: Gangsters. You might. [00:11:33] Speaker B: But I mean, it's hard because I kind of, like, understand Avar's perspective, and I'm like, it gets the job done. We've got a bigger enemy at this point, so why not work together? But I think when you're at the Council and when you're Stellan, who just pretty much hangs out on the Council, then it's hard to, like, empathize and kind of, like, see that perspective. [00:11:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:53] Speaker C: He's not on the ground floor, and [00:11:54] Speaker A: he's always been the rule follower. [00:11:56] Speaker B: 100%. Yes. [00:11:58] Speaker A: And at this point, Elzar is kind of off doing her own thing, and she's very much pushed Elzar away. Avar has. Yes, I know. No, Elzar has. Avar has pushed Elzar away. [00:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think when they're together, they make each other better, as we saw in light of the Jedi. And then she's kind of like, elsar. What Are you doing? Why. Why are you trying to dance with me like this? You need to calm down. And so Avar's kind of pushed away the people who really sent to her, which are Stella up his own butt about the rules of the Jedi, and Elzar, who is off moping because Avar, you know, laughed off his advances and put, you know, announced his current status in the friend zone. And when they're away from Avar, I think that's when Avar starts to get a little. Get some blinders on. Yeah, I think. And that. I feel like that lends itself to her will. Not just her willingness to join up with the Hutts, but her willingness to do so with very few conditions. And in these two issues, we see a lot of her being like, hey, we can't do it that way. And the Hutts being like, why did you bring us on? And this is what we do. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Totally. [00:13:09] Speaker A: We're huts. Yeah. [00:13:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:10] Speaker C: It's a Huang Hu Yang thing. Like, you're stronger together. [00:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [00:13:14] Speaker A: Split up. Yeah. Hasn't she seen a horror movie? What's she doing? But anyway, so you need to see those three. Is there anything else that happens? Because the Drenger story, as soon as into the Dark is done. [00:13:24] Speaker B: I guess the other important aspect is how Skier was impacted by the Drengir. He was overcome, and so now he's basically in this stasis, and Keith is trying to find out how to cure him. And, of course, Gear also has this disconnect from the Force, and people are wondering whether it's connected to the Drengir thing or what's the deal with that? So I think that's another important plot for moving forward to these next issues. [00:13:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And Skier is currently sans one of his arms, which he lost in the Battle of Kerr while he was flirting with Jora Mali. And that flirtatious side of Skier will come up later. We'll talk about that in a bit. So The Marvel Comics 6 and 7 are the heart of the Drengir, and it's written by Kevin Scott. Yeah. And it was. The art was by George Jeanti and Carl Story Inker and Annalisa Leone did the colors. So the whole team, honestly, beautiful work. Yeah. The artwork in these two is great, although there is one particular panel which I feel is worth mentioning, and it's when the Drangir shove roots up the Rancor's nose. [00:14:42] Speaker B: Oh, that is suddenly horrific. They are. [00:14:45] Speaker A: It is. But also in that same image, for all the beauty and detail of that horror, Avar is on the side looking like she's from the Adventures of 1010. [00:14:54] Speaker C: Is that issue eight? [00:14:56] Speaker A: Issue six. Oh, in issue six. [00:14:58] Speaker B: It is so good. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Far aways. It's. I mean, it's. I love rancor. Rancor is one of my favorite things. The, like, the writing rancor is. Is. Was it? [00:15:07] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:15:08] Speaker B: So, so cool. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Yeah. It was a variant cover for one of these, wasn't it? Or was that the main. [00:15:14] Speaker C: No, it's the A cover. [00:15:14] Speaker A: Oh, the A cover is her writing a rancor, which is incredible. And then, like, page two. Two Rancor. Either Cerrit or Taric. I don't know which one of them is which. I apologize to them both. Both writing armored rancor with Miarga the Hutt and her. Cool. [00:15:30] Speaker C: Such cool splash page. [00:15:31] Speaker B: Little sled. Yeah. [00:15:33] Speaker A: And her little floating sled so that she can move it. So good speed. Like that splash page. Yeah. [00:15:39] Speaker C: So pretty spit coming for the Rancor's mouths. Like. [00:15:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:42] Speaker C: Just. [00:15:43] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it's detail. It's. It's beautiful. [00:15:45] Speaker B: With a majestic, like, sunset or sunrise in the background. Can't decide which one. [00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:15:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:15:51] Speaker A: For every, like, Adventures of Tintin background face that does show up in this issue, there's, like, 10 gorgeous panels somewhere else that you're just like, oh, my God, that's incredible. The visualization for the Drangir in this is phenomenal. [00:16:07] Speaker B: They are terrifying. [00:16:08] Speaker A: They are. [00:16:09] Speaker B: The plants with beaks is just such an awful image. I like it, but it, like, it works so well. It's so good. [00:16:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's all of my Jumanji nightmares. [00:16:19] Speaker B: My God. Yes. 100%. [00:16:22] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think this is the first time, because the first big drengier story was a novel. This is, like, the first big introduction visual visually wise. Yeah. [00:16:32] Speaker A: I mean, we saw them, obviously, on the planet where skier first got, you know, them up in space. [00:16:38] Speaker C: Yeah, they fought him in the last arc, but this one. [00:16:41] Speaker A: But they're, like, in caves in that and these full battles with the. The huts on their side now. [00:16:47] Speaker B: And. Totally. And it was hard to see because, like, when they're in the caves, you just saw pieces, and it was hard to, like, envision what was the cave and what was plants and what was actually the Drangir. And now that you see them, like, running around, you're just, like, huge thing. Wow. [00:17:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:17:01] Speaker A: Yeah. If you have a fear of centipedes or millipedes because they have too many legs, a bunch of roots flapping around, moving these horrifying beaked creatures will definitely [00:17:10] Speaker B: get you that's crazy. And another thing I wanted to ask either of you, since it's a little bit more fresh in your minds. We know that the Nile have spread the Drengir around now, especially in Phase Three. Now, do they talk about that in Phase One? Do they explain when they. Denial take the drangier seeds and, like, start spitting them around? [00:17:32] Speaker A: See it in Race to Crash Point? [00:17:34] Speaker C: Okay, a little bit, yeah. [00:17:36] Speaker A: Because the Nihil show up and Ram sees them and they're. They're like, getting in the way of the. This is huge spoilers for Race to Crashpoint Tower, but Ram gets a hold of the communications array and gets it up and running again because they had sabotaged it. [00:17:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:53] Speaker A: And Ram and Vern end up basically beating the Drangir by. By convincing them that, like, the Nihil are going to screw. The Nihil had screwed them over. [00:18:02] Speaker B: Got it. Got it. I had totally forgotten about that. [00:18:05] Speaker A: Bad meat, you're right. [00:18:06] Speaker C: You know, but I think that's pretty much the only instance where we see it, read about it, that, like, they're actually seeding, like, they. They're like, oh, yeah, we've seated them. It's a thing they've been mentioning in [00:18:17] Speaker A: Phase One, but we haven't actually. Later half. But the only time we have any potential evidence. It's circumstantial, but it's. It's the fact that the Nihil were on Valo and the Drengir basically admit that they have a deal with the Nile. [00:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah, it's crazy because, like, the comic starts off with people running from Drengir and you kind of get the vibe that Drangir are not just on one planet anymore, they're on countless planets, and that this Drengir problem has spread. Spread and it's become this uncontrollable problem. And, like, behind the scenes is now we know that the Nile are the ones behind this spread, that they're taking these Drengir and flinging them around, trying to get the Jedi to be, like, as confused about what. Yeah, exactly. About what's going on. It's such a cool tactic. [00:19:07] Speaker A: It isn't until I think, the. The later half of Wave one of Phase three that we really get any details of how it happened and, like, what the deal was. Anyway. So, yeah, it's definitely set on later how these Drangir are being seeded throughout the galaxy, but they also were present on multiple planets. And we saw that in the first five issues when the Drangir kind of came to life. The beacon got an overwhelming, like, cries for help. And Astalomaru is like, I'm trying to navigate it. The Drake here are everywhere. Yeah. And I think they're largely in the frontier planets in the Outer Rim. It's not like, you know, somebody. If. If they are on Coruscant, nobody knows because there are a thousand floors, you know, below them. There's just, like, Drangy running around screaming for meat, and no one is there because everyone's. [00:20:00] Speaker B: Wait, I love this. This is a terrific story. That Drangir just, like, wrecking havoc on Coruscant. [00:20:06] Speaker A: Yeah. And then. But nobody sees it because it's all on the floor. It's like that one episode of the Jetsons where, like, somebody throws a litter and it lands on, like, one dude at the bottom of the spire. [00:20:16] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I don't think I have enough memories of the Jetsons to remember that one, like, one. [00:20:22] Speaker A: And I was like, oh, that's what's at the bottom down there. Okay. [00:20:25] Speaker B: At the end. [00:20:26] Speaker C: But, yeah, I feel like the. The Drangir were started in, like, the Unknown Regions wild space area and just kind of like, spread out from there. And that's why. Because I don't think they really made it to the Core Worlds. I could be wrong, but I don't know. [00:20:38] Speaker A: There's not a lot of stories about them on the Core Worlds. Valo, I think, is the closest one. And we are pretty sure that they were intentionally seated there. Banshees out in the Frontier space. Dicot or whatever it's called. [00:20:52] Speaker C: The Hutt worlds are out now. [00:20:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Nal, Hutta and Nar both are. Are way out in the Frontier space. They're all in the Outer Rim. [00:20:59] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:21:00] Speaker A: Or near to it. They're certainly not near like Naboo, Although Naboo is an Outer Rim world, isn't it? [00:21:06] Speaker C: I think closer. [00:21:08] Speaker A: Naboor. That's why. Because they have to travel so far to get there. It's not Naboo, Sorry. But Coruscant and Halcyon. Halcyon. [00:21:16] Speaker B: Halcyon. [00:21:17] Speaker A: Not Halcyon. Hal. What's his name? From Resistance. He's from there. [00:21:20] Speaker B: Resistance. [00:21:21] Speaker C: I don't remember. [00:21:22] Speaker A: Halcyon. Halcyon. How? On prime housing. [00:21:26] Speaker B: Hosnian. [00:21:27] Speaker A: Hosnian Prime. [00:21:28] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:21:28] Speaker A: Hosnian. Hosnian Prime, I want to say, is close, but we never hear any stories about. About any of those. Yeah, it's. It's much more the outskirts, which makes sense because the outskirts are where the Republic is the least defended, because Marchion is kind of trying to make a point that the core worlds protect themselves and aren't necessarily helping the outskirts of [00:21:48] Speaker C: their country, which is half the point of the Starlight beacon to bring help to all those outer galaxy planets. [00:21:54] Speaker A: Dina. So, man, she's got great works. [00:21:56] Speaker B: She really does. [00:21:57] Speaker A: So Skier's been taken over by the Drengir. He's sick. He's in stasis, basically, so that it slows down the infection of the Drengir that is slowly creeping into his mind. Keev should be helping out Avar with her Drenger problem, but she's not. [00:22:10] Speaker C: She doesn't want to leave Skier because [00:22:11] Speaker A: she won't leave Skier because she's attached to him, which, you know, have that, but, you know, that's master and apprentice. That happens. [00:22:19] Speaker B: Do you guys have issues with Keith deciding to stay behind and help Skier? [00:22:25] Speaker C: Not at first. I kind of did, and they kind of dive into that a little bit more towards the end of these issues. [00:22:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:32] Speaker C: And it kind of makes sense, but it's still just like, oh, okay, well. Well, you're still young. You're going to do. Yeah, that kind of stuff. [00:22:39] Speaker A: I mean, she's young. She's obviously still attached to Skier, and she knows him in a way that I think makes her uniquely fit to help in the situation. [00:22:53] Speaker B: I totally agree, because I almost felt like Keith needed to be here with Skier, and especially you find out later, like, how helpful that was. [00:23:03] Speaker A: Works in Mysterious. [00:23:04] Speaker B: It really, truly does. So I don't know. I. I really like their bond, and I like that she is willing to ignore rules from other or, like, orders from other people to follow her gut instincts. [00:23:17] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:23:18] Speaker B: It's kind of way seeker. [00:23:20] Speaker A: I mean, ignoring the rules and, like, not sticking to protocol is how she passed her Jedi test. [00:23:26] Speaker B: It's true. [00:23:26] Speaker C: That's true. [00:23:27] Speaker A: Like, she became a knight not by going and getting the gym from the top of the Aggro Crag. Yeah, the Aggro crag. Global gut style. But, like, instead, she went and helped a group, and, you know, she swears and she kind of throws decorum to the wind and totally that kind of thing. So it doesn't seem out of character. And I'm not one to be like, no, all Jedi must act this way, which I know, you know, is a certain section of a fandom that can be real mad about that. But, like, there comes a point where she and Skier do get to talk, and they give each other a great big hug, and he's like, hey, that's not the Jedi way. And she's like, I don't Care. And he's like, I don't either. [00:24:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, totally. [00:24:07] Speaker A: You know, they very much like, hey, we are closer than we maybe should be. But, like, they know that they can only go so far with that. That kind of parental relationship that they have. [00:24:18] Speaker B: See, for me, with the High Republic, I feel like they very often hit this topic of, this is the Jedi way. This is not allowed. But you see them, like, the Jedi, like, synthesize why they shouldn't have attachments or what attachments mean, and they kind of, like, merge or morph more towards, like, Canaan's view of being a Jedi, which is, like, you should be having these connections, and it's okay to hug people that you love. And the important thing is, it's like, otherwise, why? [00:24:48] Speaker C: What are we fighting? [00:24:49] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:24:50] Speaker C: Why am I protecting you? Kind of thing. Yeah. [00:24:52] Speaker A: More on this in Phase three. Because Yoda has a great conversation about. [00:24:56] Speaker B: I am obsessed with that conversation. [00:24:58] Speaker C: It's so good. I relistened to it. I was. I was out walking when I could walk around the neighborhood, and it came up, and I, like, rewound that section of the audiobook. I'm like, this is. This is gold. This is so good. But more on that much later. [00:25:14] Speaker B: But, what, five years later? Yeah. [00:25:17] Speaker C: I swear. [00:25:18] Speaker A: Anyway, so it's been a few months. They've been fighting the Drenger for a little while. [00:25:22] Speaker C: Yeah. There's definitely a time jump noted in the beginning of this issue. [00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Which I was not necessarily aware of when I read through it the first time. So I was like, wait, the Drenger issue is like, we're just gonna power through this that fast? Like, what? That's crazy. But they've been having these fights for some time, and I think it can be sometimes jarring to go back and forth between the books and the comics. Because sometimes the comics move so fast. Yeah. Because they are coming out every two weeks, every month. And it can feel, especially when you're reading them back to back, when you're doing chronological order, like, I have been, that it sometimes feels as though things are moving. They're moving through the story faster than they need to be. And going back and reading a second time. I don't feel that way anymore, especially about this. Like, I think I really was able to sit with it and understand how long these things were taking. Yeah. And that's something that I think you have to kind of keep in mind, and I wish I had kept in mind earlier, that, like, there's significant time jumps between some of these issues. Some of them are back to back. Issues six and seven, back to back. Yeah. But issues eight to nine months totally have happened. [00:26:26] Speaker B: Issue five to six. [00:26:28] Speaker A: Five to six months have happened here. [00:26:30] Speaker B: Yeah. They do it in subtle ways. Like, you can tell how exhausted the Jedi are. And, like, Avar is frantically trying to fight these Drengir and not getting the reinforcement. And then especially with the next scene, too, where Master Maru is, like, complaining about Avar and, like, starting to doubt why she's doing the things that she's doing. And then Stellan overhears and he's like, you don't like. Yeah, I piss at her. [00:26:54] Speaker A: What the heck is she doing? Yeah. But he does also acknowledge, like, their advance across the frontier is slowing. And there's so much in that line that I don't think I really took into consideration the first time I read it. But, like, you don't talk about the advance of an army in terms of days. [00:27:10] Speaker B: Sure. [00:27:11] Speaker A: This is something that's been happening for months, and they have been taking over these planets in a way that the Jedi can't comprehend, because they don't, I think, at this time, realize that they are being aided. And, you know, Maru's like, pact is a loaded word, Stellan. And Stellan, like, calling it a pact very much shows that he feels that she's in league with the Hutts. [00:27:33] Speaker C: Oh, with the Hutts. Yeah. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Instead of, like, no, Hutt space is just on the same side. Like, they're just on the same side. [00:27:39] Speaker B: Totally. [00:27:40] Speaker C: And we see a lot of that point of view in the High Republic Adventures comics. [00:27:44] Speaker A: Yes, yeah, yeah. With all the overtook and. And then more vessel stuff. Actually, yeah, we'll talk about that with. With Kevin, who's on the Jedi Hauler. But, yeah, we see a little bit more of that alliance. And as this goes in, as soon as you see them fighting, like, they're not having quippy fun back and forth like the Avengers, Avar and Mayarga the Hutt. [00:28:04] Speaker C: Yeah, this is. [00:28:05] Speaker A: She's like, hey, no, can't do that. Hey, no, stop. Nope, stop. No. Bad. Yeah. [00:28:10] Speaker C: It's almost like for the first couple of months, they're like, okay, you're cute, but no, we can't do it now. It. I've told you before, we're not going to straight up kill them. [00:28:19] Speaker B: Totally. [00:28:19] Speaker A: And the Hutts are like, we told you before, we're straight up killing them. Yeah. The alliance is uneasy at best, and we can see the alliances breaking down 100%. [00:28:30] Speaker B: I especially love Marga side eyeing Avar and going, yes, we're Definitely not going to kill them. [00:28:37] Speaker C: Totally. [00:28:38] Speaker A: There's definitely a time limit that is kind of. This is a ticking time bomb. This, this alliance, it's going to collapse if they don't find a solution soon. Which does really kind of put the pressure on how this whole scenario is going to be handled. [00:28:55] Speaker C: Right. [00:28:57] Speaker A: The rancor have been, you know, plugged in and Keev has been like, you know what, I can't. And he's already ignored the like, calls to go help out Avar. And she's like, no, I'm going into the stasis field. I'm going in. [00:29:11] Speaker B: She's following the Force, guys. [00:29:14] Speaker A: Yeah, the Force is calling. And she's like, yeah, I'm. I'm gonna go link up. And so she plugs herself into the root matrix. [00:29:23] Speaker B: That's intense. [00:29:24] Speaker C: Through skier's arm. [00:29:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Which you know, goes up into her nose. And that's like the worst part about the Drenger is like if you're involved with the drengier, they're invading your body in some way and it's always so gross. [00:29:40] Speaker B: It truly is so gross. [00:29:42] Speaker C: And we see that throughout these issues. [00:29:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's very. [00:29:45] Speaker A: Root will go into a orifice in the face at some point. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's very like alien esque. [00:29:52] Speaker C: Yeah, totally is. [00:29:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And then she winds up in the root mind, which incidentally looks like roots underground root cellar. There's roots everywhere. And it's really weird. But sure enough, Skier is there and he's like, hey, yeah, been hanging out. The Matrix gets a white room and I get, you know, the Matrix, this cave full of rooms. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:17] Speaker A: But that's when, you know, she hugs him and he says, this is not the way the, the Jedi way. And she says, I don't care. And he says, neither do I. [00:30:25] Speaker B: It's so cute though. [00:30:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it is. [00:30:27] Speaker C: Yeah, it's great. [00:30:27] Speaker A: And like you can. And he's got both of his arms, which is nice. [00:30:30] Speaker C: Oh, that he does. Yeah. While this is going on, the rest of the Jedi are fighting the Drengir and Sarator. I can't tell which one. Sorry, buddies. They find a whole bunch of villagers strung up and dead because the Drengir sucked all their nutrients from them for themselves. And so they're like, whoa, this is going crazy. And then a Drengir ends up getting to the rancor that Avar was riding on, sadly. And so they're huge old battle going on. [00:31:01] Speaker B: It's really impressive to see Drengir occupy the mind of such a large animal, like a rancor. It kind of makes you think, like, are there any limitations to the drain gear? [00:31:13] Speaker C: Like, yeah, it's like, oh, this is serious. [00:31:16] Speaker B: Uhhuh. Can they, like, inhabit the Zillow beast or something really crazy? [00:31:20] Speaker C: You know, a pergil or something? [00:31:21] Speaker B: Oh, Pergol. Oh, my God, yes. [00:31:23] Speaker C: Oh, that would be bad. So bad. [00:31:26] Speaker B: Like vines and tentacles. [00:31:28] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just where does one tentacle start and one vine. [00:31:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:31:34] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. So, yeah, they're going through their war. Things are obviously heating up. And again, there's this. This tension that's happening with Mayarga as well. But they're definitely on the defensive at this point. This fight is not going in the favor of this team up. Then they're like, hey, wait, Keith, where's Keefe? And that's when Ormolin and Astalomaru start talking like, oh, snap, Keev went in. [00:31:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:31:59] Speaker A: And Avar is like, hey, the Song of the Force that the Drangir put off because Avar has the Song of the Force thing. She senses the Force through various harmonies and discordance, etc, and she's like, wait, there's notes in there that shouldn't be in there. Because she hears, obviously the Drangir's harpsichord had now has been infected by Keeves Oboe. [00:32:18] Speaker B: That's crazy. [00:32:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know exactly how that works, but. [00:32:23] Speaker C: Makes sense. But she senses Keev through the dreng gear and she's like, this isn't right. Where's Keev? [00:32:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And Orbalin and Astalamaru are, like, trying really hard to prevent this moment in the stasis chamber, because, like, the roots aren't supposed to be moving within the stasis chamber, but they have moved and are holding her up basically by her neck and she's just like hovering, hanging out with skier's arm in the air, is holding them. So they're panicking because they're like, oh, things are happening inside the room that's not supposed to happen. Have happening things happen in it. [00:33:00] Speaker C: Yeah. And I feel like at this point, Orbalin and Estalu are like, trying to use the Force to break them up. And so inside the root mind, Keevan, Skier see the roots retreating. So they're like, we need to grab on. I don't know why, but we should grab on just in case. And they do. [00:33:17] Speaker A: Yeah. They're going where they need to go. [00:33:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:19] Speaker B: I think this is the first time we've. We realized that the drinker are all connected to this hive mind. Right. And so Skier is teaching and showing Keev how there's, like, this. This Great mother. The one. And how he's trying to find it. And so both Keev and Skier are trying to find it, but the Great Progenator. I don't know if they announced that the name yet, but the Great Progenitor is, like, resisting them. And so that's where Maru and Orban are trying to help them and work together so that they can eventually find where the Great Progenator is actually located. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And when they finally do, they wind up in this. The beautiful little splash. I mean, it's not 100 a splash page, but this beautiful big old splash piece of. They're in, like, a rainstorm. [00:34:06] Speaker B: It's so cool. [00:34:08] Speaker A: The big old mama. The. The. Like, I've said in this podcast multiple times that the Drengir are basically Plantzilla. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:17] Speaker A: But the. The Great Progenitor is, like, actually Plantzilla. [00:34:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:21] Speaker A: Mass. Like, look at the size of this thing. Like, they being a very large Trandoshan and Keev being a normal sized human being, both are smaller than this thing's tongue. [00:34:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Like, this thing is humongous. And there's some, like, back and forth. True. And it's also pretty Griffin big. Very quickly, Keev realizes, like, oh, wait a minute. If we're all in your head, like, I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me. And she starts, like, trying to figure out where this. [00:35:01] Speaker C: Where this planet is. [00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Where are they? Yeah. That they're seeing this thing. What. What is this storm that we're seeing? Because this is no longer some, like, weird ethereal white room matrix thing. We're not. We're in a physical place. This creature is somewhere physical, and she can sense it. And so she starts looking, and she starts looking in the Great Progenitor's, like, no, no, don't do that. And, you know, the roots need to be protected. And then Skier grabs his real arm in this fake world, and simultaneously in the real world, grabs his Groot arm that's on there that has been growing out of him, and he just rips the entire system out. [00:35:41] Speaker B: It's crazy. [00:35:42] Speaker A: It's so gross. Yeah, he's just like, you're not hurting my. My former Padawan. [00:35:48] Speaker B: Well, it's a combination. To me, it also seems like the Great Progenator is trying to disconnect from this whole situation because it does not want any of the Jedi to know where it's located. And, like, the concept of Keef Trying to mind connect with the Great Progenator, which is like a very dark sided entity for a Jedi. Must be so painful. So yeah, like I'm very unexpected. [00:36:14] Speaker C: Like they didn't. Neither one of them knew what to expect from the other one. [00:36:18] Speaker B: Oh, totally. [00:36:19] Speaker A: Yeah. You can tell that Keev is taking advantage of a situation the Great Progenitor was not prepared for. Yeah. [00:36:26] Speaker C: And. [00:36:27] Speaker A: And she's not at all like. She's like, oh no, I. I made a mistake. Oh God, these Jedi are way better than I thought they were. And like they are. They're steeped in the dark side. And we see this in. In into the dark. When DEZ ride and kind of becomes a sort of tool of the Root mind. Des goes so dark side. And when he finally comes out of it, like he's stripped of all the Force access that he has, like he can't feel it, which is why he ends up taking the barrage valve. [00:36:53] Speaker B: Yep. [00:36:54] Speaker A: So he could figure out what the heck just happened. But like these things are steeped in Darkseid and there's something much more sinister about their understanding and their connection to the Force. And like we've seen this before. We saw this in Dooku Jedi lost in the cave that. That Sifo Dyas and Dooku and Sifo Dyas Master whose name is. [00:37:14] Speaker C: Which is also written by Kevin Scott. [00:37:16] Speaker A: It's also written by Kevin Scott that there are just these places. And those of course, hearken back to the tree on Dagobah. Like there are these thing also a plant. Maybe they're related. I don't know. Maybe that's making an assumption. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Tree on Planoba. But like each. There are these places and these. These living things that are steeped in the dark side that it's not purely out of like selfishness. It is just sort of what they. [00:37:46] Speaker C: It's their nature. [00:37:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:47] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think the Drengir, while they are very sinister in. In all that, I think their connection to the dark side may also be feeding into why they are so sinister and dastardly in the way that they are. But I think for. For Keev to just be in there and connected. Yeah. [00:38:04] Speaker C: Huge shock. [00:38:05] Speaker A: Likely going to have some repercussions as far as her. You know, because this again, it goes two ways, which means that the Great Progenitor has been in Keev's mind and has rooted around in there, as it were, and Keev has been in the Great Progenitor's mind and has seen atrocities innumerable yeah. [00:38:28] Speaker B: You know, and do you think Keith being in the Great Progenitor's mind has caused impacts? Because, like, this next segment where Avar is, like, fighting these Drangir, and all of a sudden they start screaming. Makes me wonder, like, what happened to the Great Progenator? Like, did she not only disconnect from Skier and Keef, but also from other drain gear as well? Or is this just like. [00:38:53] Speaker C: Or maybe. I see. I. The way I read it is that she didn't expect Keeve to be just in her mind as well. And it's a, you know, dark side, light side, clash. And. And Avar even hears the dissonance in her Song of the Force. [00:39:08] Speaker B: Totally. [00:39:08] Speaker C: And that. I think that just threw all sorts of weird waves into the drain gear at large. And that's when they kind of start making a little bit of progress against the Drengir as they were fighting them. [00:39:20] Speaker A: I think, also a Drengir is not what is connecting to Keith. Like, the roots of a Drengir are part of Skier at this point. He doesn't have a beak screaming for meat. [00:39:31] Speaker C: Yep. [00:39:32] Speaker A: He's just sort of part of the root mine because he was a tool. [00:39:35] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:39:36] Speaker A: And she's been in the mines of, like, Cerrit and Taric and. And the. The roots have made their connection. But she stayed in Skier for a long time. I feel like Skier almost would have been, like, a bolster to her power. And I don't think she understood how [00:39:53] Speaker B: did the fusion technique or even, like, Orbilin and Connecting as well. So, like, that joint Jedi. [00:39:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I think they're. They're. I think their connection here is definitely tested, if not damaged. [00:40:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:11] Speaker A: But they're all screaming also at once. Because I think they're all suffering from the drink, I think. Because I think the Great Progenitor at this point is pissed and freaking out and panicking. Like, she got in my head. Yeah, that. That little Jedi got in my head, and now we're all in danger. And I think there's an element of that, but I think also being completely ripped from something that she really, truly thought she had, like, in the bag. Oh, yeah. Like, showed just how vulnerable that they really were. If the damage doesn't happen here, it definitely happens in the next two issues. Yeah. When they come in and they. They start doing their work. Right. This one ends with pretty much trouble right here. Telepathy. Yeah, it goes both ways. Yeah. And Keev writes down Mulita. [00:41:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right. [00:41:05] Speaker A: She. While she's in there, like, she Scratches [00:41:08] Speaker C: the name of the planet. [00:41:09] Speaker A: Carves the name of the planet into her. Into her bracer. [00:41:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Which is really cool. [00:41:13] Speaker A: Gauntlet thing. [00:41:13] Speaker B: It's so good. [00:41:15] Speaker A: And Mulita is, like, in. It has something to. Stalamaru has, like, looks at him, and he's like, oh, hey, this is where the nightmare conjunction happened. [00:41:27] Speaker C: And, yeah, they can't find a name in the Republic records, but they found it in the ancient Jedi ones. [00:41:32] Speaker B: Yeah, that's crazy. [00:41:34] Speaker A: That's where. And that record goes all the way back to the nightmare conjunction. And the nightmare conjunction is really fascinating. And this is a quick aside here, but we don't know what the nightmare conjunction is. And it's been mentioned multiple times in Kevin Scott Works. In Kevin Scott Works, did he write Monster of Temple Peak? Yes. Okay, so Kevin Scott really has some sort of idea for the nightmare conjunction. We don't know. [00:41:56] Speaker C: It's pulling some Charles Soule kind of stuff. [00:42:00] Speaker A: And the nightmare conjunction was tamed by Darth Krall. [00:42:06] Speaker C: Huh. [00:42:07] Speaker A: And Crawl. Lord Crawl is a Legends character that you get the Crawl Accords in when you beat a certain mission in the Old Republic. [00:42:15] Speaker B: Oh, that's fun. [00:42:16] Speaker A: Like, that's, like, the first, like, Crawl that we see. [00:42:18] Speaker C: Kevin Scott's a huge Legends Expanded Universe fan, too. [00:42:22] Speaker A: Yeah. And Lord Crawl is not obviously the same as Darth Crawl that we know of. And then, of course, Darth Crawl is not related to Tidal Crawl, which is floating in space still to this day. [00:42:35] Speaker C: Well played, sir. Wow. [00:42:37] Speaker A: Anyway, [00:42:43] Speaker C: It had us both going like. [00:42:44] Speaker A: I was like, what? [00:42:51] Speaker B: How many Kraals can we put into one sentence? [00:42:55] Speaker A: So Darth Krall is actually one of the lost 20, and the lost 20 are 20 different Jedi who became full Jedi Knights, if not Masters, and then fell to the dark side or just left the Order. [00:43:08] Speaker B: That's cool. [00:43:09] Speaker A: And it's in Cavan Scott's audio drama Dooku. Jedi Lost. [00:43:13] Speaker C: So good. [00:43:13] Speaker A: Which, actually, I. I'm not in love with Dooku's voice actor, but Assange Ventress's voice actor is in that. [00:43:21] Speaker B: Yes. [00:43:21] Speaker A: That story. Yeah. [00:43:22] Speaker C: And that was actually the first canon mention of the High Republic. [00:43:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:27] Speaker C: Is in the story. [00:43:28] Speaker A: And interestingly enough, another member of the lost 20 is Keith Trennis. And we still. [00:43:34] Speaker B: The name now. [00:43:35] Speaker C: It's. Yeah. Master Trennis. [00:43:37] Speaker B: Really? [00:43:38] Speaker A: Sorry. Not Keith Trenis. Master Trinis. [00:43:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:40] Speaker A: I don't know if. [00:43:41] Speaker B: God, I read Dooku. That was, like, one of the first Star wars books I read in canon, like, eons ago. I'm gonna have to reread that. That is Amazing. [00:43:47] Speaker A: I think. [00:43:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it was out in 2016 or 2017. [00:43:50] Speaker A: Yeah. So Darth Krall used to be called Rodaki, and he was a Jedi Master, and he was first mentioned. Yoda mentions him and Trennis as well at that time. But what's interesting is that he did two things. He won the, like, battle of wasted years, which we don't really entirely know what that is. [00:44:11] Speaker C: I want to know. [00:44:12] Speaker A: But we also. He also tamed the Nightmare conjunction. And when you look at the. When you look at the Nightmare conjunction, Wikipedia entry, it says the Nightmare conjunction was tamed by Darth Krall. They have no idea what it is. And Wikipedia people have read everything. And I even found a conversation of, like, mod logs of them going, okay, we shouldn't call it this because we don't know what it is. And at one point, somebody's like, we literally don't even know if this was, like, an event or a person or whatever. The Nightmare conjunction could be an event. If an event can be tamed, it could be a person, it could be a creature, it could be a group of creature. Whatever it was, it was tamed by Darth Kraul. [00:44:54] Speaker C: Cool. [00:44:54] Speaker A: But what's really cool is that Darth Krall, his lightsaber was in the Bogan collection, which is underneath the Jedi Temple. And Sifo Dyas and Dooku were both, like, really interested in it, but they learned about Darth Krall from the Hollow journals of Cleus Terradine. And a little bit of spoilers for a book coming up in, like, four or five episodes. Cleosteridine was Padawan's at the same time as Ty Yorick. [00:45:23] Speaker C: Cool. [00:45:24] Speaker B: That is so cool. [00:45:25] Speaker A: Was also, like, Sifo Dyas and Dooku obsessed with, like, Sith artifacts and trying to be able to purge Sith artifacts. Yeah. And for all three of those people involved, things did not go well. Because when you try to mess with things in the Bogan collection and you're just a Padawan, things go badly. [00:45:42] Speaker C: Weird. [00:45:43] Speaker A: Yeah. At one point, a one Redditor made a post, and he said, and I quote, the Jedi that hurt Mark Ion's family maybe. Was Darth Krall a part of the lost 20? And the purple cylinder object at the end of Light of the Jedi that Markion's holding is actually the Nightmare conjunction. Pretty sure none of that happened. [00:46:02] Speaker C: Probably not. But, like. [00:46:03] Speaker A: Like, this was throwing connections when this came out. This was throwing a lot of people, like, for a loop. They were like, yeah. At this point in the. In The High Republic. We don't know why Markion and Marchion's family hate the Jedi. And we also assume it's for a legitimate reason. And more on that later. But the nightmare conjunction is just. It's very mysterious. Yeah. And nobody really knows what it is other than that Darth Kral had tamed it. And he is a Sith Lord from eons ago before the Rule of Two. And what Darth Kral did and how Darth Krall was involved with the Great Progenitor is unclear at this point in the book. [00:46:47] Speaker C: Right. [00:46:48] Speaker B: I mean, to me looking at this, wouldn't it be the Drengir tames it and they have a giant Drangir. [00:46:56] Speaker A: When I was trying to find it earlier, I did also I had that same thought. [00:47:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:01] Speaker A: Maybe that's what they called the Drengir. [00:47:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:04] Speaker A: Because they're a nightmarish thing that is all in conjunction with each other. [00:47:07] Speaker C: And even going into to the next issue, maybe. Good segue. I don't know. We do see Darth crawls with those four statues. [00:47:15] Speaker A: Yes. [00:47:16] Speaker C: On the imagination. [00:47:16] Speaker A: Which I wanted to get to when we get to that. [00:47:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:19] Speaker A: So the next issue is called Of Sith and Shadows. [00:47:22] Speaker B: Ooh, love it. [00:47:24] Speaker A: And there's another time jump small one. It's only been a few days, maybe a few weeks. But Keev is having a dream. [00:47:32] Speaker B: She's meditating, right? [00:47:33] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. It turns out she's meditating. [00:47:35] Speaker A: Yeah. We're not really sure. She's in some sort of nightmare. Dream is a rough word. And she sees one of the kids from the planet. [00:47:46] Speaker C: Oh. [00:47:46] Speaker A: In the second arc, the Nile had paid off that one particular big boss guy at that little plantation to like look the other way about kids going missing and people going missing. Which tells me that at this point we don't necessarily know that the Nile are seeding. [00:48:04] Speaker C: Right. [00:48:04] Speaker A: But we do know that the Nihil know about the Drengir and want people to be hush hush about it so that they can spread a little bit better. They are clearly working together. Yeah. At this point. But she sees a kid from that same village and she sees one of the bug things. [00:48:19] Speaker C: From the first issue. [00:48:20] Speaker A: Yeah, from her first issue. [00:48:22] Speaker C: The little civilization that she saves to pass her Jedi trials. [00:48:26] Speaker A: One more point for the issue. One is important to the Drengir story, [00:48:32] Speaker C: but it is not the Drengyear story. [00:48:34] Speaker B: Oh my God. I love. [00:48:36] Speaker A: And then, you know, she sees a Rodian and then she sees a spooky ghost lady. [00:48:42] Speaker B: You know, that was so funny. [00:48:43] Speaker A: Which is really familiar to Me, she calls Spooky Ghost Lady. I know, I love that. Where have you all gone? Canon Bartol. Spooky Ghost Lady. [00:48:52] Speaker B: I love Kevin's, like, humor in some of these comics. They're so good. [00:48:56] Speaker A: He's so dry. Yeah. He's so British and so British. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, full splash page, some Sith lord is coming down on Keev and she is fighting this orc looking mofo. He honestly looks like. You know how there's Dragonborn and Dungeons and Dragons? [00:49:16] Speaker B: Yes. [00:49:16] Speaker A: He looks like a Rancor born. [00:49:18] Speaker B: Yeah, he totally does. Oh, my God. Yeah, he's not cute. [00:49:26] Speaker A: He's. He's having a rough time of it. And he's got some scars and some cool piercings and a very rancor mouth. Yeah. [00:49:34] Speaker C: His teeth. [00:49:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And suddenly he's fighting Keith. [00:49:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:38] Speaker C: And they're having a nice little back and forth. And then as they're fighting, Keev says the Harvest will be protected, but it's in, like, the black font that the Drengir speak. [00:49:49] Speaker A: Yeah, good call. I didn't see that. I didn't catch that. [00:49:52] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:53] Speaker A: And then she says in her little green box, which is normally where her thoughts are, she goes, wait, what did I just say? [00:49:59] Speaker B: So is this. What's his name? Darth Crawl. [00:50:03] Speaker A: Yeah, right, It's Darth Crawl. Yes. [00:50:05] Speaker B: So wait, where did you guys get that? He is Darth Krall. [00:50:10] Speaker C: So this. This was more from the Darth vader issue number 25 variant cover of Greg Pox run from two years ago, too crazy. Yeah. And so there was a really cool line of variants of Jedi and Sith, and different Jedi were featured one at a time on each one. Same thing with different Sith. But that was a huge, I guess, intro of this guy that was officially like, oh, this is Darth Krall. Here's his lightsaber. [00:50:37] Speaker A: Yeah, this is his first appearance. [00:50:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:50:40] Speaker A: Like, this is labeled, like a first appearance Darth Crawl in, like, the Comic Collector scene. [00:50:45] Speaker B: Yeah. This just further supports my belief that the Nightmare conjunction was the Great Progenator. Especially if, like, she's saying the Harvest will be protected. [00:50:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:50:56] Speaker B: And it's the Drangir. The Great Progenator's voice. How interesting. So it's almost like KE is tapping into the Great Progenator's fears as she's trying to meditate. [00:51:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And then she's like, I can't move. Why can't I move? And then Spooky Ghost lady shows up and is like, why do you think Stopping you, ke? And then she sees a group of what like clock cloaked figures who look like Sith acolytes or Sith priests at least. Which. Darth Crawl again, Pre Rule of 2. [00:51:27] Speaker C: Yeah, Pre Rule of 2. [00:51:28] Speaker A: And then suddenly we see four golden statues and a group of Drangir and we are clearly on the Amaxine station, what will one day become the timeshare of one. Philip J. Snoke. [00:51:42] Speaker B: I love that tie in so much. I think I lost my mind when I saw that. [00:51:47] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:51:49] Speaker A: And he says the circle will be forever. And she's like, no, no, no, no. And then suddenly, you know, she wakes up and she cracks a wall and has a bad time. [00:51:56] Speaker B: But cool. [00:51:57] Speaker A: In this, you see her, she's made of wood before she wakes up, like she's made of wood and she's become a wood statue. Which kind of interesting tie in to the Edge of Balance series. Yeah. Which I didn't think about that. The. In the Edge of Balance, the Battle of Banchi is technically happening right around the same time as the Battle of Lolita, which we're coming up on. [00:52:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:18] Speaker A: And those drain gear are turning people into wood statues. [00:52:22] Speaker C: They're like weird way mutant offshoots. [00:52:24] Speaker A: Yeah. It's really bizarre. [00:52:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:52:26] Speaker A: But this Darth Krolf character is, you know, we see he's got some Romulan hair going on and he's throwing his hands in the air and these four statues are standing around him. He's like, the circle will be forever. And then she comes to. [00:52:41] Speaker B: Amazing. [00:52:42] Speaker C: Yeah. But she wakes up in the. The meditation chamber on Starlight Beacon. And in front of her, it's the prime Jedi from the Last Jedi. And I freaking love that thing so much. It's mid level on the tattoos I want to get eventually. [00:52:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:59] Speaker C: Like as soon as I saw it in the Art of Book, I'm like, I need this. This is so cool. The idea of it all. That's. I'm really excited for that movie. [00:53:06] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:53:07] Speaker C: Anyways, I saw that and freaked out. [00:53:09] Speaker A: And that's one of those things I think about the High Republic too, is we get to see so many temples and we know a lot of these temples were destroyed and. Or went into hiding. Some. I mean, hell, some of them are blown up during the course of the High Republic. [00:53:25] Speaker B: Oh, 100. [00:53:27] Speaker A: This particular temple that is on the Starlight beacon was made during the High Republic, which means it is gilded beyond all get out. [00:53:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:53:38] Speaker A: You know, Luke's temple, the first Jedi temple that we see on Octo or Achto is like, there's a prime Jedi, but it's made of river rock. Yeah. Little stones, you know. And this is, like, on the ground, painted, surrounded by gold. Gold lake and all that. And it's very ornate. It's interesting to see, like, because this is kind of one of our newest additions to the temples that we probably will see. [00:54:05] Speaker B: Oh, totally. [00:54:06] Speaker A: The Fall of the Jedi. So. Yeah, she's being monitored by. By. By Dr. Ginole and Skier's doctor as well. Skier's doctor. Yeah, he's kind of. He looks kind of like the worm species from. A little bit like the worm species from Monsters, Inc. Honestly. Yeah, he does. [00:54:27] Speaker B: He looks a lot like him. [00:54:29] Speaker A: Buscemi's character. [00:54:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:31] Speaker A: Randall. Yeah, he looks kind of like Randall. I know, I know. He's not one of the worm species from Solo because they are all way too sensitive to sunlight. Yeah. [00:54:39] Speaker C: I think this one's a little more [00:54:40] Speaker A: flat and he's got a little bit more flat nose. But he is a very interesting alien. Yeah. [00:54:45] Speaker C: Almost centipede, like. Yeah. But he notices Keeves heart rate and everything spike. He's like, hey, you right over there. She's like, I'm meditating. He's like, shouldn't the opposite effect happen? [00:54:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:54:56] Speaker C: She's like, yes. She slams her. Her hand against the wall and cracks it. [00:54:59] Speaker A: Well, before she does that, she puts her hand on the wall and she looks at her reflection, and the reflection is a drain gear. Yes. [00:55:08] Speaker B: It's so good. [00:55:10] Speaker A: She's. She's. [00:55:11] Speaker C: She's kind of losing a little bit. [00:55:12] Speaker A: A little. Yeah, she's a little messed up. [00:55:14] Speaker C: She's going through some stuff. [00:55:15] Speaker A: Mm. [00:55:16] Speaker B: Yeah. That mind connection with a great Progenator is not turning out very well, is it? [00:55:20] Speaker A: No. No. [00:55:22] Speaker B: But of course, as she handles the situation, instead of talking it through with a doctor or talking about it with anybody, she runs away. [00:55:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [00:55:31] Speaker A: Keith's real bad about asking for help. [00:55:34] Speaker B: I think it's a Jedi problem. [00:55:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:37] Speaker B: No one asks for help. [00:55:39] Speaker A: That's fair. [00:55:39] Speaker C: Very rarely. [00:55:40] Speaker B: Very rare. [00:55:41] Speaker A: It's funny because she gets the most. Thankfully, she gets the most help. Most helpful Jedi that seems to be there. The one who helps Comac. The one who helps Elzar later or La Joreni is like, Captain Help. [00:55:53] Speaker B: Oh, totally. Well, Elzar was another example of, like, refuses to get help, you know, where, like, he's going through all this. This crap and, like, definitely needs a therapist. And Orla's like, okay, I've got you. I'm gonna come help you and, like, help you get through all of these feelings and emotions. Yeah. [00:56:10] Speaker A: I do feel like Keev is different than Elzar's. Not. I mean, they're all not. They're all bad at asking for help. [00:56:17] Speaker B: That's. [00:56:17] Speaker A: That's fair. Although Elzar gets better at it. [00:56:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:21] Speaker A: Kee, I think her flaw is less. I can handle this myself because that's the Elzar way. And it's more. If I tell somebody this, they're going to think less of me. [00:56:31] Speaker B: Sure. [00:56:31] Speaker C: She definitely has confidence. [00:56:32] Speaker A: And she has a. Like, she's super. You know, she assumes that she's going to get kicked out of the Order. She assumes that she's not going to pass her trials. She's not good enough. All these things about other Jedi and the way they see her. [00:56:43] Speaker B: Or that it proves that she shouldn't have become a Jedi Knight to begin with. [00:56:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:56:48] Speaker A: Or. Yeah. Or that it proves that they were wrong. [00:56:50] Speaker B: Sure, sure. [00:56:52] Speaker A: She's got mad imposter syndrome, big time. And I think a lot of that also comes from just a lack of faith that other people are kind, which is really interesting. And when I first read this, I was like, super anti semi. I was like, of course skier's going all dark side. He's a Trandoshan. Because apparently I'm super racist to Trandoshans. But I was like, I don't know. Seems like the only one who's having trouble with the dark side right now happens to be the Trandoshan and his Padawan. Maybe if they weren't skin and Wookies and hunting younglings like that 3 episode 4 episode arc of Ahsoka and the Padawans. Clone Wars. Yeah, Clone Wars. [00:57:31] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [00:57:32] Speaker C: That was from each Chewie. [00:57:32] Speaker A: Right where they meet Chewie. [00:57:34] Speaker B: Yes. [00:57:35] Speaker A: Like that has. And then of course, everything that happens in the bad batch, I'm like, no, Trandoshans suck. [00:57:42] Speaker C: We can't trust them. [00:57:43] Speaker A: And now I'm like, noskir's all right. [00:57:45] Speaker B: I know. Anytime I tell anyone who hasn't read the High Republic that there's a Trandoshan Jedi, they're just like, what? Like how? And I was like, yeah, it just. It is. It works. [00:57:56] Speaker C: Trust me. [00:57:56] Speaker B: Skier's amazing. You just need to know him first. [00:57:59] Speaker A: Nature versus nurture. [00:58:00] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:58:02] Speaker A: Yes. Anyway, so Keef comes out. She's. She sees Maru. They have a little chat. Maru's in the middle of talking about the Republic fair that they're trying to set up for with Avar when he's on the. [00:58:15] Speaker C: He's on the hollow phone with Avar. [00:58:18] Speaker A: And the hollow phone. [00:58:19] Speaker B: Yeah, hollow phone. [00:58:20] Speaker A: And she's like, hollow zoom. Yeah, yeah. [00:58:22] Speaker B: He's over on Holoskype with, like, five monitor screens open. [00:58:27] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:58:28] Speaker A: He's a hardcore gamer. [00:58:29] Speaker B: He is, right? [00:58:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:58:31] Speaker C: Makes sense. Solid multitasker. But she's like, hey, we got him on the reins. Like, we need help. And Master Mara is like, no, like, I get it, but we're spread thin. The Nihil are still kind of popping up. You got a whole bunch of people. And then we're getting ready for the fair. And she's like, I don't care about the fair. What? No, we. [00:58:51] Speaker A: We need help. [00:58:55] Speaker C: Chef's kiss. [00:58:56] Speaker A: Force preserve us. Yeah, I mean, I've been talking to Stellan. Yeah, yeah. [00:59:01] Speaker B: Which is a line so good. But also, like, I could empathize with this. You've got the Drangir as a massive problem. You've got the Nile, and they still want to go forward with this fair. Like, it's in the outer rim, you know, it's like a dangerous area. It's not controlled yet from drain gear, Nile, et cetera, et cetera. So, I mean, why. Why are they still going forward with this plan? [00:59:27] Speaker C: It's almost like the Republic is in denial about everything that's still going on. [00:59:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Chancellor Lynasso is so driven to get this Republic fair under her belt. She knows it's how she needs to, like, maintain her support in the Republic, but at the same time, it's, like, at the cost and the risk of all the. All of these other factors. [00:59:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:59:49] Speaker A: And I think Lena so at this point, is very much in denial. Like, she sees the Starlight Beacon opening ceremony in the same way that she sees the Republic Fair. Like, if we can do this, it means everything's okay. Yeah. And people will believe everything's okay. And really, it's. Then I can prove everything's okay because we pulled this off and it's like. Right, but that's a risk. And it's a risk that Lena so will have to deal with the consequences of later. Absolutely, Maru. Says here the lingering Nihil remnants, like the Jedi, know the Nihil are a problem, but they're not the problem. [01:00:27] Speaker C: Right. [01:00:28] Speaker A: Yeah. The Nihil are a remnant group of. There's a couple of factions that we need to chase down because they're occasionally doing dumb things, because the Nihil, at this point, we've killed Kasov and won the Battle of Kerr. Regardless of the losses, this is a point when there is no reason for anyone in universe to really feel that the Nile. Are some massive threat because the only people who were present on the platform in no space, what's it called, the Great hall, watching that speech, were the Nihil and us. We're over here going, watch out for the Nihil. Yeah, they're really there. [01:01:12] Speaker C: They're right behind you. [01:01:13] Speaker A: Is the Nihil in the room with us? Us. [01:01:17] Speaker B: Markion. Hello. Yeah, yeah. [01:01:22] Speaker A: Also I'd like to point out, every time we see a Stalamaru, not only is he looking at five different screens, multitasking, he's also cross legged and floating in the. [01:01:31] Speaker C: Floating in the air. [01:01:31] Speaker B: With his coffee cup. [01:01:33] Speaker A: Yes, with his coffee space right next to him. Like, who needs a desk with five monitors when you can just have five little holo screens being projected from the floor and you can just sit there with your little cup floating next to you. [01:01:45] Speaker B: I love everything about this to him. [01:01:46] Speaker A: Like he's, he is handling five different situations and a phone call while force levitating his coffee without spilling it. And himself. [01:01:57] Speaker B: It's amazing. [01:01:58] Speaker A: Astalamaru is a badass. [01:01:59] Speaker B: He truly is. [01:02:00] Speaker C: He's one of my favorites. [01:02:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, me too. [01:02:03] Speaker A: His little coral horns. And then we get a little cameo from Velco Jayen. [01:02:07] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:02:08] Speaker B: Oh yeah, that's right. [01:02:09] Speaker A: That's cool. [01:02:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:02:10] Speaker A: And she's just like, excuse me, got a report for the arsenic sector in category three. He's like, thanks, Administrator Jayan. And she's like, yeah, well, you know, I'm awesome also. Well, Jedi Trennis, you may say you wish to make a difference in the Force, as ever has provided an opportunity. Yeah. [01:02:25] Speaker C: The question is, he was like, I want to help out, but I, I don't feel, I don't want to go with Avar. [01:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:32] Speaker C: And it's like, well, that's kind of all there is right now. And it seems like you need to do that. [01:02:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:36] Speaker C: And she's like, no, I'm good. He's like, well, here's something else instead then. [01:02:40] Speaker A: Oh, you're right. That is Maru saying that he looks at it and then he hands it over tomorrow thing over to Maru. I see that red hand. All right. Even worse. So, yeah, so Maru looks over at Keith Trenis and is like, well, you say you wish to make a difference and the Force, as ever, has provided you an opportunity. And the question is, can you be trusted to get the job done? And at this point, Maru does have reason. So that makes a lot more sense than, than say. [01:03:06] Speaker B: Yeah, totally, totally. [01:03:08] Speaker A: Because she has disobeyed orders to go down to planet more than once. [01:03:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. She. She took down that force field to [01:03:16] Speaker A: go try and help hive mind. [01:03:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:03:19] Speaker A: And that's. And that worked out great. [01:03:23] Speaker B: Yes. [01:03:24] Speaker A: Then we cut to a moment on an agricultural hub with the Nile chasing down some little fuzzy farmer scientists. [01:03:34] Speaker B: Farmer scientist. [01:03:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And boom, in comes Keeve Trennis with a double bladed lightsaber. Doing double bladed lightsaber stuff. [01:03:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Saving these guys. So it's like, oh, cool. She's. [01:03:49] Speaker A: She's helping with the force now and then out of nowhere. [01:03:52] Speaker C: Well, she's kind of getting run down at this point. She comes in a little. Little hot and kind of gets overwhelmed. [01:03:57] Speaker A: Yeah. One knocks her in the head pretty bad. [01:03:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:00] Speaker C: And then she sees Darth Kral, and [01:04:01] Speaker A: then Darth Krall shows up and he's like, I thought they were hard to kill talking about Jedi. And she's like, wait, no. And then wham. Yeah, Big old Fleming thing. And who shows up? Spooky Ghost lady. [01:04:16] Speaker B: Yes. [01:04:17] Speaker C: For realsies this time. [01:04:18] Speaker B: Orla Jareni. Yeah, I love her. She's such a great character. [01:04:23] Speaker C: She's like, top five, one of my favorites. [01:04:25] Speaker B: She's so good. But yeah, she handles the situation like that. No problem, because she is not being tormented by old Sith lords and great progenitors. [01:04:35] Speaker C: Yeah, she knows what's up. Yeah, she knows herself. [01:04:38] Speaker A: I love that. She's like, wait, it's you from my vision. Spooky Ghost Lady. And she's like, I am. How exciting. [01:04:43] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, she eats it up. [01:04:45] Speaker A: Also, although I usually go by or Link Jireni. [01:04:49] Speaker B: So good. [01:04:49] Speaker A: I think Ora Jireni. If I could make any directional choice, I would say Orla Jireni should sound like, what is her name? Why, Audrey Hepburn? [01:05:00] Speaker C: Oh. [01:05:01] Speaker A: And just be like, oh. But normally I go by, don't worry, darling, it's fine. [01:05:07] Speaker B: Oh, my God, I love it. [01:05:10] Speaker A: We'll set a beacon for them to be picked up by the Republic Defense Coalition. Yeah, I have important things to do. [01:05:17] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. [01:05:20] Speaker A: And not at all like Audrey Hepburn in. What's that movie? My Fair Lady. [01:05:26] Speaker B: Oh, totally not wielding a double bladed lightsaber, you know? Yeah. [01:05:37] Speaker A: Anyway, yeah, so Keith's like, I'm not in the mood for riddles. You want to talk like, you know, speak basic, please. [01:05:43] Speaker C: Because Earl is doing the whole Jedi Master trying to impart wisdom without giving it to her straight up. And he's like, oh, please don't. [01:05:51] Speaker A: She's like, which temple do you belong to? And Orla's like, none. That's the thing about way Seekers. We go where the Force leads us. And that. And the Force led me to come here. [01:06:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Is this the first time. This is the first time we meet Orla, and thus the first time we are introduced to way Seekers. [01:06:08] Speaker A: In comics. [01:06:09] Speaker B: In comics. Okay, okay. [01:06:11] Speaker A: Because we. We know that she went to go. [01:06:13] Speaker B: Yes, of course. [01:06:14] Speaker A: Into the dark. [01:06:15] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. Okay. [01:06:17] Speaker A: So we know she's had some trauma, and we know that she has a real tough time going on missions per [01:06:23] Speaker B: the Council's orders and connecting with others. [01:06:26] Speaker A: Probably really good for someone like Keef Trenis. [01:06:29] Speaker C: Yeah. So it sounds very familiar. [01:06:30] Speaker A: Like, Orla is somebody who a lot of Jedi in this era really need. Like, they need an Orla to be like, hey, I noticed that you're trying to get help and that the bureaucrats at the Council aren't doing anything. Maybe we can go strip down the rules of the Jedi Order and just talk Force, and maybe that'll help you fix your problem. Yeah. Stella needs her. Elzar needs her. Keeve needs her. [01:06:56] Speaker B: Avar. [01:06:57] Speaker C: I need her. [01:06:57] Speaker A: Avar needs her. Brian needs her. [01:07:00] Speaker B: Rachel needs her. [01:07:01] Speaker C: Needs. [01:07:03] Speaker A: Everybody needs. We all need ourselves the best. [01:07:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:06] Speaker A: She just. She has perspective and she is so outside of the, like, dogma. [01:07:13] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:07:14] Speaker A: I think. [01:07:15] Speaker C: Well, and she isn't. She even has a white lightsaber and she. [01:07:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:18] Speaker C: Which means she found some sort of Sith lightsaber and. And healed the crystals. Two of them. Because she's got a double bladed. Pretty cool one that folds up like dark Rey. [01:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:07:30] Speaker A: Which is cool to see that, like, actually exist. Yeah. Instead of just in a vision. No disrespect to that vision. That vision was sick. [01:07:38] Speaker B: But I know. It was such a tease. They only saw it for, like, five seconds. And we were like, okay, that's it. Moving on. [01:07:45] Speaker A: But they can be double lightsaber buddies, even if their sabers are different colors. Different colors and change in different ways. Kes are cool because they come apart. But then Kee. Oh, no. She's got thoughts in her head. [01:07:57] Speaker B: She does not. Thoughts. [01:07:59] Speaker A: Sorry, I ran out of words myself there. How to win this. [01:08:04] Speaker B: Oh, my God. [01:08:04] Speaker C: She's having a really good conversation with Orla about everything. It's. It's also, like, in front of these, like, scientists, farmer people, they're like, what is going on? And, like, she's just getting into it, like, the floodgates open. And she's like, I can't deal with this stuff. Because the Dringier Root mind spoke to me. [01:08:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:21] Speaker C: The Progenitor. And said, like, we're we're already dead. Like, we're. It's. [01:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah, we've already handled it. I thought I could embrace the darkness and survive, but I can't. I see it everywhere in my head on the Beacon, even here. And because she keeps on seeing both Drangir and Darth Crawl. And so Darth Crawl clearly has some sort of impact and importance to the history of the Drangir. And then she says the Drangir root mind. It spoke to me. As Brian said, it's already over. [01:08:52] Speaker C: He flipped the page. [01:08:53] Speaker B: This last page is amazing. [01:08:56] Speaker C: It's so gnarly. [01:08:57] Speaker B: Of, like, Avar. Very dead. It's just her skeleton. All that's left is her diadem. And apparently her cloak is still in great condition. [01:09:07] Speaker C: Random strands of hair. [01:09:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yes. [01:09:09] Speaker A: Don't forget about this good starching. That's somebody who takes care of her temple robes for sure. Yeah. But, you know, also roots going into mouths and coming out of eyeballs. [01:09:19] Speaker B: It's so good. [01:09:20] Speaker A: And up in her ribs and under her ribs. And honestly, it's freaky as hell. It's so. So, like, that's cover worthy. [01:09:27] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And it's like. It. Images like this remind me that Kevin really likes horror as well, and he always likes to bring it into the High Republic. And I also love horror, so I'm here for this. [01:09:40] Speaker C: Nice. [01:09:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, that. [01:09:43] Speaker C: We talked about it earlier, but a really good horror story would be the drink. You're on Coruscant under, like, it's all dark and. Yeah. [01:09:51] Speaker A: And you could do it in, like, the seedy underbelly, where it's a couple of kids who are like street rats, you know? Yeah. Not to. I feel like that's such outside of the context of Aladdin. That's such a terrible thing. [01:10:03] Speaker C: I was gonna like Aladdin. [01:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah. But like a couple of kids, little, [01:10:06] Speaker B: you know, little street urchins. Street urchins. [01:10:10] Speaker A: I don't know why urchins and rats both were. I mean, I guess one's a little less. I feel like rats are cuter than urchins, but I don't know. Why don't you weigh in on this? [01:10:18] Speaker B: Ooh, I really like urchins. I'm a little biased, though. [01:10:23] Speaker A: Okay. So anyway, you got these little street urchins, you know, running around that are, like, going about, you know, just trying to survive. And then in this very industrial space, you have this alien creature and the [01:10:36] Speaker B: upper levels of the Senate. Don't believe them because, like, they. It doesn't bother them yet. But as the Drangir grows and gets bigger, it like, moves up the different levels and becomes a bigger problem. [01:10:49] Speaker A: Up to 1313 takes out some cool [01:10:51] Speaker C: bounty hunters, but then finds like, which [01:10:55] Speaker A: is Aliens 2, which is a space Marines movie, which is more of an action thing. So it's not just being hunted now. It's actually military, and it's still not working. [01:11:02] Speaker B: Bounty hunters guild is involved. We've got different factions fighting amongst each other by what's happening. [01:11:09] Speaker A: And then of course, the third one, when it finally gets up there, then we have to figure out how to, you know, try to capture it, because we can use it, you know, for military reasons. And that's when we start getting real. You know, that's the seedy underbelly, but not quite the. The criminal CD underbelly. Just like the one collar senatorial CD underbelly. We start having some corruption in the Senate. We've got a whole franchise. [01:11:30] Speaker B: We really have. Fantastic. [01:11:33] Speaker A: So that actually, that ends the issue. Ends. The issue is they're like, oh, we're screwed. [01:11:39] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:11:40] Speaker A: And Orla and Keev are now together, which is great. Skier. We don't really know what's going on with him. [01:11:47] Speaker B: No, we don't. [01:11:47] Speaker A: He's not really there. [01:11:49] Speaker C: Yeah, he never showed up. [01:11:50] Speaker A: Estalamaru is multitasking, still running the joint like a boss. [01:11:54] Speaker B: I guess we can assume by a mission what Skier is doing and that Skier's actually. I mean, we find out in the next issue. But, like, Skier is not on the beacon. [01:12:03] Speaker C: Right. [01:12:04] Speaker B: So he's out and about. He's out and about. [01:12:07] Speaker C: He's good to go. [01:12:08] Speaker B: So it makes you wonder, especially more like Keev, who's was by Skier's side this whole entire time. Like, it goes to show how messed up she is mentally, that she's decided to stay behind and, like, sit and meditate and try to, like, work out some of this dark side stuff that she just can't shake. [01:12:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And we see that in other Padawan master relationships too. Because Vern, as we'll see coming up in the next couple of issues or next couple of books, is starting to have her own problems as a knight and as a master. Yeah. That she should immediately go to Stellan. And instead she's like, I don't want Stellan worrying about this. Like, it's. They all have a different way of avoiding something. Like Elizar's like, I can handle this myself. And Keev is like, I don't want them to realize that I shouldn't be here. And Vern is like, I don't want to bother them. [01:12:59] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:13:01] Speaker A: Like the various ways we. And I, I. I don't know. I love that about the High Republic is. I feel like so many. You should rely on your family. You should rely on your community. Love is okay. Attachment is not the same thing as caring about somebody. [01:13:14] Speaker B: Absolutely. [01:13:15] Speaker A: You know, all of these ideas are paired with all of these different ways of avoidant behavior where people should have gone to these things. And the fallout of that, you know, Keev is afraid people will realize that she's an imposter. And Elzar, you know, thinks highly of himself and it. And every one of them is disastrous. [01:13:36] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:13:36] Speaker A: And Keev is just very lucky that Orla Jarini shows up as fast as she does. [01:13:40] Speaker C: Right. [01:13:40] Speaker A: Because this mysterious, you know, sith that keeps showing up in her nightmares is important for some reason. Yeah. [01:13:47] Speaker B: So exciting, fun stuff. [01:13:49] Speaker A: Very exciting. Very fun stuff. Yeah. So thank you so much, Rachel, for coming on for issues six and seven. [01:13:54] Speaker B: No problem. Thank you. [01:13:56] Speaker A: To have you on again, obviously, because you're just such a joy to be around. [01:13:59] Speaker B: Thanks. [01:14:00] Speaker A: And genuinely, I love your insight on these things. So when it comes to this particular story, these two issues, was there anything regarding the lead up to this that you wanted to talk about that you didn't get to. [01:14:16] Speaker B: Ooh, not that I can personally think about. I think we talked about the Great Progenator and the Drengier and how they were being spread or somehow they were being spread all over the. The galaxy, and we don't really know why yet. And I just really love talking about Keeve and Skier's relationship and how Keef was really struggling with her connection to the Great Progenitor and her, like, dark side tendencies from that connection. Yeah, I think overall it's been a really great conversation. Thank you both for having me on. It's been absolutely amazing, and I hope to talk with you guys both again soon. [01:14:59] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I think we'll. We'll probably have you on for issue eight just to finish up this whole arc. [01:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. [01:15:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Thanks so much for giving us your time. And in the word of Orla Djarini, after being told that Keev is not in the mood for riddles. [01:15:11] Speaker B: Neither am I. Let me clear this air before we choke to death. [01:15:26] Speaker A: The Starlight Archive is brought to you by Bryce Rankins and Brian Romero. It was edited by Bryce Rankins and Brian Romero. Bryce Rankins designed the logo. Brian Romero did most of the research. It's produced by Bryce Rankins and Brian Romero, and basically it's just us. The Starlight Archive is brought to you by Sneaky Geek Media 2024. All rights reserved.