Star Wars Reveals a Major New Villain’s Origin

Star Wars has revealed the origin of one of its major new villains: Marchion Ro, the leader (or “Eye”) of Star Wars savage space pirate group The Nihil, who have been the central villains of the new Star Wars: The High Republic line. Marchion Ro’s chess-like machinations have been a major focal point of The High Republic; the novels and comics featuring Marchion have given the pirate leader an unusual amount of established depth for a Star Wars villain. that said, The High Republic has also been somewhat withholding when it comes to Marchion Ro’s origin and backstory – that is until the release of Marvel’s new Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm comic miniseries! 

Warning: Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm SPOILERS Follow! 

In author Charles Soule’s Eye of the Storm comic, we go right into answering the long-awaited big questions about Marchion Ro. Those big details include the backstory of Ro’s people, the Evereni of Planet Everon, who are revealed to have been an environmentally conscious species, tragically inhabiting a planet whose environment (particularly the storms) made life treacherous for all who dwelled there. 

Over enough time (and with enough suffering) the Evereni’s society broke down: the government and institutions lost the faith of the people, who then lost faith in each other and bled in civil war for centuries over the planet’s resources. That strife wore the Evereni down even more – to the point that their family structures eroded and broke, as one basic philosophy came to rule them: care about yourself is the greatest caring there is. The Evereni spread across the galaxy when their planet failed and used and/or slaughtered anyone whose goals (temporarily) aligned with their own.

It was in the “nurturing” embrace of this harsh view of life that Marchion Ro was born. 

In more specific detail, we learn how Marchion Ro was forged by his father and mother to become the ultimate “knife’s edge” of the Evereni’s brutal survivalist beliefs. A weapon his parents forged to destroy the Jedi. They did their job too well: Marchion watched his father murder their mother over leadership and direction for the Nihil; when Marchion’s father Asgar was assassinated by one of his own Tempest Runners, Marchion was there to brutally finish him off.

More interestingly, Eye of the Storm #1 comic book medium offers new opportunity to visually express how Marchion Ro truly sees the world – as expressed in chilling panels showcasing his POV even as a young boy, where everyone he sees (even his parents) are no more than talking corpses his has yet to slay. 

The way the creative team behind Star Wars: The High Republic are building him up, Marchion Ro may turn out to be more terrifying than any Sith Lord… 

Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm #1 is now on sale at Marvel Comics. Its release ties into the latest High Republic novel release, Star Wars: The Fallen Star, which is now on sale as well.