The Nihil are some of the newest villains in the Star Wars continuity, existing during The High Republic Era hundreds of years before the events of The Skywalker saga. A group of vicious marauders with unique resources and power, the Nihil established themselves as a major force to be reckoned with, even against the Jedi Order at the height of their own power. As such, the Nihil are a sinister Star Wars group certainly worth knowing about.
Having been introduced at the very beginning of Lucasfilm's High Republic publishing initiative, the Nihil caused several major crises such as the Great Hyperspace Disaster and the Fall of Starlight Beacon as seen in the canonical novels and comics. However, they also made an important appearance in the new Jedi: Survivor game as well. Here's everything you need to know about the Nihil marauders in the Star Wars galaxy.
The Nihil Are The High Republic's Greatest Threat
During The High Republic Era, the Nihil was a large group of marauders, pirates, and anarchists who hated the Republic and the order it was attempting to bring to the Outer Rim territories that had just started getting colonized. Headquartered in a region of space only the Nihil themselves could access, the Nihil sought as much territory and resources as they could to resist both the Republic and the Jedi Order. Originating from the far older Jedi-hating cult known as the Path of the Open Hand, the Nihil had no love for the Force-wielding guardians of peace and justice, boldly facing them in open combat.
Organized into a hierarchy inspired by malevolent weather, the Nihil was originally split into three groups known as Tempests with their own lieutenants known as Runners. Subsequently, each Tempest had Storms, Clouds, and finally Strikes as the grunts. However, the Great Hyperspace Disaster was used as a lightning rod by the ultimate leader of the Nihil who unified the Tempests into one force seeking to engage the Republic all over the Outer Rim Frontier.
Who Is Marchion Ro, Leader Of The Nihil?
This unorthodox order drawn from the traditional chaos of the Nihil was the work of the current Eye, a central figure of the Nihil instrumental in guiding them to victory, helping them be incredibly elusive despite the Republic's best efforts to mitigate the Nihil's ongoing piracy and mayhem. During the first publishing phase of The High Republic, the title of Eye was held by Marchion Ro who inherited it from his father Asgar. Likewise, both of them naturally came from the Ro family who created the Nihil out of the Path of the Open Hand.
Having unified the Nihil on a level like never before Marchion was incredibly ambitious, having orchestrated both the Great Hyperspace Disaster and the Fall of Starlight Beacon, both of them being major blows to the Republic and Jedi Order. He also wielded a device known as the Rod of Seasons his family had owned for years, an ancient Force artifact capable of controlling one of two major weapons the Nihil had at their disposal, though both were controlled by the Eye himself.
How The Nihil Use Hyperspace (& How They Reached Tanalorr)
One of the Nihil's greatest advantages was their unique ability to traverse hyperspace like no one else. Using rare devices known as Path Engines, the Nihil could jump in and out of hyperspace incredibly fast, appearing out of nowhere to raid ing ships before disappearing just as quickly. Provided by the original Eye Asgar Ro and his son Marchion who took his place, the Path Engines were attached to normal hyperdrives. Accessing rare routes through hyperspace known as "Paths", they were actually calculated by the Force-sensitive Mari San Tekka whom the Ro family kept as their prisoner for years.
Using a Path, a Nihil ship colliding with a ing cruiser caused the Great Disaster and the subsequent Emergences (devastating debris shot out of hyperspace at random). However, it was all part of Marchion's plan to unify and take control of the Nihil himself as a true leader over the Tempest Runners, suring the authority his father held as the previous Eye. Although San Tekka's death made the Path Engines less reliable, they still made the Nihil an incredibly deadly and unpredictable force of marauders. The Path Engines also explain why the Nihil could access Tanalorr without Dagan Gera's comes to navigate the Abyss (as seen in Jedi: Survivor).
The Levelers, The Nihil's Greatest Weapons, Explained
The second weapon that made the Nihil so dangerous was the living Force monsters known as Levelers (aka The Nameless). Levelers were creatures who preyed on Force-sensitives. If a Jedi was in close enough proximity to one of the creatures, they would soon experience hallucinations and lose their connection to the Force itself. In some instances, the Nameless could also cause Jedi to die from their power. Originally controlled by the anti-Force cult known as the Path of the Open Hand using the Rod of Seasons, the artifact and a Nameless known as the Great Leveler was used by Marchion to terrorize the Jedi Order.
One of the darkest examples of the Nihil using the Nameless was the Fall of Starlight Beacon. Following several battles and Ro's experimentation using the Great Leveler against the Jedi, the Eye sent several marauders and a group of Levelers to attack Starlight Beacon, their greatest symbol of light and hope in the Outer Rim. Thanks to the Nameless disorienting the Jedi on a massive scale, the Nihil agents were able to infiltrate and blow up the space station from within, splitting it in two before it fell out of orbit.
The aftermath of Starlight's fall resulted in the deaths of several Jedi Knights and Padawans. Marchion Ro publicly claimed responsibility for the brutal attacks as the Eye of the Nihil during the first phase of The High Republic Era, though it's currently unknown what's next for the Nihil as the second phase went further back in time. At any rate, they're clearly quite a dangerous and dark group of villains during this early period of the Star Wars galaxy.
