Summary

• Darth Maul faces an Anti-Force cult in Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1, introducing a cosmic threat beyond the Force.
• The Final Occultation worships chaos from the Void, tapping into the Anti-Force, creating a new dynamic in Star Wars lore.
• By battling the Final Occultation, Darth Maul showcases how the true rivalry in Star Wars isn't dark vs light, but Force vs Anti-Force.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1! Whether one is a Sith or a Jedi in the Star Wars universe, both options require mastery of the Force, whether that be the dark side or the light. The dark and light sides of the Force are two halves of the same cosmic current, and both contribute to universal balance. However, there is a source of power known as the ‘Anti-Force’, which exists outside the known Star Wars universe and acts as the true equal opposite of both the dark side and the light - and it just made its first appearance in-canon.

In Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1 by Benjamin Percy and Stefano Raffaele, Darth Sidious sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, on a mission to extract three inmates from a prisoner-transport vessel who are the leaders of a Star Wars cult known as the Final Occultation. While these individuals initially appear to be of a dark side cult (as there are a number of those scattered throughout the galaxy in any given Star Wars era), this one stands apart, as these cultists worship the chaos only the Anti-Force can bring.

When Darth Maul enters the prison ship, he is accosted by hellish visions that are brought on by the cultists, who were in the middle of a ritual to break through the barriers of their universe, and open a rift into another. The Final Occultation seeks the Void of the Netherworld, from which this Anti-Force energy emanates. The three cult leaders can channel this energy to an extent, but if a rift is created to reach the Void itself, the entire universe will be lost to chaos - and Darth Maul makes sure the Final Occultation is unsuccessful.

Star Wars Confirms Its True Cosmic Rivalry Isn’t Dark vs Light, but Force vs Anti-Force

This Star Wars comic is incredibly interesting as it not only frames Darth Maul as a hero who saves the entire universe, but it also makes fans question everything they thought they knew about Star Wars itself. Maul is using the dark side of the Force, something that’s historically bad in Star Wars canon. Yet in this situation, that distinction is completely overshadowed by the deeper powers at play.

Darth Maul isn’t just using the dark side, he’s using Order, all while the Final Occultation leaders are using Chaos.

To the Final Occultation, there is no difference between the dark and the light sides of the Force, as both draw from the same universal balance - the same ‘order’. They, however, pull from the interdimensional Void, thereby tapping into pure cosmic ‘chaos’ that breaks down the very structure of the Force itself. While it’s not outright named, the Final Occultation seems to be using the Anti-Force, as the energy their channeling is, indeed, the cosmic opposite of the Force - the Force representing order, and the Anti-Force representing chaos.

Darth Maul defeats these villains not by honing his hatred or pain, but by focusing on ‘order’ to combat the Final Occultation’s ‘chaos’ - and it wouldn’t have been any different if a Jedi, using the light side of the Force, was fighting the Final Occultation instead of Maul. This proves that the true cosmic rivalry in Star Wars isn’t dark side vs light side, but Force vs Anti-Force.

Thankfully, the Force and the Anti-Force have their own respective universes in which they effectively rule absolutely, though times like these - when a rift is created between the two - remind fans of the truly immense scale of cosmic powers such as these.

Darth Maul Isn’t the First Force-Wielder to Encounter the Anti-Force in Star Wars

Anti-Force is an integral aspect of the novel Star Wars: The Crystal Star by Vonda N. McIntyre

In Star Wars Legends continuity, Luke Skywalker once faced-off against an interdimensional being hailing from a universe where Anti-Force was its lifesource: Waru. Waru is a large mass of meat covered in golden scales, who seemingly communicates telepathically, as it speaks galactic basic without showing any obvious physical signs of being capable of doing so. Like the Final Occultation, Waru accumulated a following that called themselves the Cult of Waru, as it could use the Anti-Force within its body to heal those with injury or sickness - but with one horrific catch.

Since Waru needed the Anti-Force to live, and the Star Wars galaxy didn’t have that, Waru needed to convert the living Force residing in all things to Anti-Force, and he did so by consuming them. For every few dozen people Waru healed, it’d need to consume one of them to both keep itself alive and continue its charade as a healer. Eventually, Luke confronted Waru, which ended with Waru consuming its in-universe ally, Hethrir (who was once an apprentice of Darth Vader), resulting in Waru folding in on itself, presumably to the universe from which it came.

“Anti-Force” & “The Void” are also present in the Legends roleplaying game Star Wars: Otherspace

Waru wasn’t the only Anti-Force wielder in Star Wars Legends, either, as it’s theorized that a Prophet of the Dark Side named Cronal also wielded such power. Cronal was an expert in Sith alchemy and a true student of the dark side who became a warlord following the fall of the Empire. When he was killed, his spirit was said to have transferred to Otherspace, where it’s theorized that he used Anti-Force (which is believed to be prevalent in this dimension) to come back to life, as he mysteriously returned to Star Wars Legends continuity shortly after his apparent death.

Aside from Cronal possibly using Anti-Force there, Otherspace stands on its own significance in Star Wars Legends, as it’s home to a planet of people whose world orbits a black hole - a black hole that they worship, named the Void of Death. These people became a cosmic cult more similar to the Final Occultation than the Cult of Waru, as they also tried to spread true chaos wherever they could in order to ‘feed’ the Void of Death by killing everything and everyone - and the cosmic current that drove them was Anti-Force.

Star Wars Legends’ “Anti-Force” & “Void” Have Made Their Way Into Canon

What this could mean for the future of the Star Wars Universe!

The Final Occultation effectively brought the Anti-Force into canon, as the cult bears striking resemblances to a number of similar ideas first seen in Legends. The Final Occultation leaders are trying to open a rift into the Netherworld, which is more-or-less a stand-in for ‘otherspace’ from the Star Wars RPG. Similarly, the interdimensional horrors Darth Maul faces are ones reminiscent of the interdimensional being Waru, who also required the Anti-Force to exist.

By having Darth Maul fight a foe like the Final Occultation, Star Wars canon has not only brought in these elements from Legends, but positioned them at the very beginning of the main series’ continuity. This comic takes place before the events of The Phantom Menace, meaning Darth Maul was battling Anti-Force-wielding disciples of the Void before ever even meeting a Jedi. While it’s assumed Darth Maul stopped this cosmic threat (crash-landing the prison vessel on an ice planet before leaving), it’s all-too possible that the Final Occultation, and the interdimensional powers they worship, will return.

Star Wars is like poetry, it always rhymes, meaning presenting the Final Occultation as a threat that predates the Skywalker Saga could indicate its return in the current canon. Now that Rey has completed the Skywalker Saga, could the Anti-Force through the Final Occultation be Star Wars’ next big threat?

While it’s too early to know what will become of the Anti-Force, the Void, and the Final Occultation in Star Wars’ current continuity, one thing that is clear is how significant its inclusion is in the main series canon. Not only does it reframe how fans see the Force, but bringing in the Anti-Force allows the franchise limitless ways of retelling or enhancing the lore of Anti-Force in Star Wars canon, as the Jedi and the Sith get a new cosmic equal.

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.