Star Wars: The High Republic – Finale Review

by Henry Wood

Written by Cavan Scott

Illustrated by Marika Cresta

Colored by Jim Campbell

Lettered by Ariana Maher

Edited by Drew Baumgartner, Mark Paniccia, Robert Simpson & Grace Orriss

The Grand Finale of The High Republic is here! After three and a half years, the story of the Nihil and the Jedi is complete! The Jedi and the Republic have claimed victory, but what does that mean for the future of the combatants, especially Jedi Master Keeve Trennis? As the planet Dalna rebuilds under the guilt of Lourna Dee, Keeve must decide her future and whether that lies with the Jedi Order or on her own.

The majority of the issue takes place four months after the Battle of Eriadu and the defeat of the Nihil, as the Republic celebrates the end of the conflict and the rebirth of Dalna after the horrific events at the end of Phase I. It’s fitting to end the story here, where it truly began back in Phase II with the Path of the Open Hand. We see a nice party with cameos from characters of all different media, including the younglings from Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Kai, Lis and Nubs. But the emotional core of the story here is Keeve’s decision about her future.

I’m delving more into spoilers here than I usually do, because I want to talk about Keeve’s character and how we first heard of her. ‘Master Trennis’ was first mentioned in the 2019 audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost written by Cavan Scott. Yoda mentions that name when a young Dooku asks him about one of the busts of the Lost Ones (Jedi who voluntarily left the Order), he takes a contemplative and somber tone and remarks that it was sad. Anybody who read or listened to that story probably knows where this is going, and has known for some time. This is when Keeve Trennis decides to leave the Jedi Order.

Keeve is absent for a large middle portion of the issue, but her absence hangs over the story. It’s noticeable, as her former master, Sskeer continues to ask where she is. At the end, just before the Jedi depart, she appears to speak with her former master, out of Jedi robes and with her hair cut short. She explains her decision, and how she was affected by her inability to order the death of a combatant (detailed in the previous issue), and how she saw where the Jedi were going, and the militarization of the Jedi and she could not be a part of that. It is a prophetic warning, knowing what we know of the future of the Jedi Order. Both Yoda and Sskeer listen to this warning and accept her resignation.

Despite knowing that this was the inevitable outcome, it still hits the emotional core of the story, and I’m not ashamed to say that I cried a bit while reading it the first time and have shed a few tears while writing this out. It’s a testament to Cavan Scott’s writing ability that he can evoke such emotion while telling a story that we knew the outcome of and I hope to see him on a new Star Wars story soon.

In this way, Keeve’s story mirrors Dooku’s own. Both Jedi renounce their membership in the Order because they view the Order as becoming corrupted and losing its way. They both also part on good terms with the Order. However, the big difference is that Dooku falls to the Dark Side and helps to hasten the Jedi Order’s descent into the darkness, and I have a hard time believing Keeve’s story moves in that same direction. There is another key difference between the two, and that is that Yoda tells Dooku to keep his lightsaber, while he accepts Keeve giving hers up. This could be nothing, but I choose to view it as a sign that Keeve is truly giving up violence, while Dooku will continue to use it as a tool, something that is representative of the key difference in their stories that I’ve opined above.

I’ve focused a lot on Keeve in this review so far, and for good reason, she is the central character here and has been for both Phase I and Phase III in this series and this is a major ending for her, but perhaps not THE ending, as like Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures before it, this issue is clear to mark itself as both an ending and a beginning. However, Keeve is not the only main character of this story, as Lourna Dee is also heavily featured here. She still feels an immense amount of guilt over her devastation of Dalna at the end of Phase I and has used her Bounty Hunting fortune to facilitate the anonymous rebuilding of the planet. This represents her coming full circle from the selfish and ambitious pirate we meet in Light of the Jedi to the more selfless and redemptive rogue we end our story with here.

Marika Cresta and Jim Campbell strike the perfect mix of celebration and sorrow that this issue demands. They don’t just illustrate and color Keeve’s tears in her meeting with Sskeer and Yoda at the end but also detail her pained and anguished expression to match those tears, as well as the relief she feels when Sskeer decides to remain by her side on Dalna as the Jedi Liaison to this new outpost that Keeve has decided to head. At the same time, Cresta and Campbell do a great job at highlighting the festival and celebration letting us see all these characters we’ve come to know across different mediums rejoice together in one story. It feels like a celebration not just of the Jedi and Republic’s victory, but of The High Republic initiative itself.

As we say goodbye (but not permanently) to The High Republic, I want to say a few of my thoughts on the era as a whole. I have been a Star Wars fan for most of my life, but I really recommitted in 2015 in preparation for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens when I decided to pick up the comics as Marvel relaunched them with the new continuity. This expanded in 2017, when I started to read the novels. Then, in preparation for the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, I decided to watch, read, play, listen to, etc. every single canon Star Wars story in chronological order. I failed at this task, as I did not leave myself enough time to do so.

After this, coupled with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and then the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began to feel a bit burned out on the Star Wars Galaxy. I still read and watched all of the stories, but it was beginning to feel like more of a burden than something I enjoyed. Because of the impending burnout, The High Republic came at a perfect time for me. It was fresh and new and inventive but still felt so uniquely Star Wars all the same.

It introduced a new and mysterious threat in Marchion Ro and the Nihil and a whole new array of characters that had no set futures, so any fate was possible. It helped to reignite my love for Star Wars in a way that I really needed to continue. It also helped connect with fellow fans on social media, many of whom I no longer have access to because the purchase of certain social media platform by a certain South African billionaire, but that last part’s not really the point. The point is that I want to thank you all for this.

So, thank you to Michael Siglain, Charles Soule, Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Daniel José Older, Justina Ireland, Lydia Kang, George Mann, Tessa Gratton, Zoraida Córdova, Alyssa Wong, Rosemary Soule, Phil Noto, Marika Cresta, Ario Anindito, Harvey Tolibao, Toni Bruno, Jim Towe, Georges Jeanty, Dave Wachter, Andrea Broccardo, Ibraim Roberson, Guillermo Sanna, Nick Brokenshire, Jethro Morales, David Messina, Caio Filipe, Pow Rodrix, Manuel Bracchi, Rachael Stott, Marco Castiello, Vita Ayala, Jo Mi-Gyeong, Mark Morales, Le Beau Underwood, Elisabetta D’Amico, Karl Story, Eduardo Mello, Ornella Savarese, Fico Ossio, Andy Duggan, Annalisa Leoni, Elisa Romboli, Sean Parsons, Victor Olazaba, Marc Deering, Jim Cambell, Rachelle Rosenberg, Frank William, Vincenzo Federici, Vincenzo Ricardi, Paris Alleyne, Valeria Favoccia, Lucas Maragnon, Rachel Aragno, Giorgia Sposito, Carlos Lopez, Jesus Aburtov, Nicola Righi, Michael Atiyeh, Jim Charalampidis, Jimmy Betancourt, Tyler Smith, Vita Efremova, Sam Beck, Jason Loo, Jesse Lonergan, Stefan Simeone, Megan Huang, Ariana Maher, Travis Lanham, Neil Uyetake, Yael Nathan, Jake M. Wood, Johanna Nattalie, Comicraft, Studio Ram, Robert Simpson, Riley Farmer, Heather Antos, Danny Khazem, Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman, Mikey J. Basso, Grace Orriss, Guru-eFX, Giada Marchisio, Joe Sabino, Ian Herring, Antonio Fabela, Sebastian Cheng, Candice Han, Chris Sotomayor, Francesco Segala, Gloria Martinelli, Sanjay Dharawat, Matt Dryer, Freddye Miller, Spencer Cushing, Joe Cavanagh, Liana Kangas, Diana Sousa, Juan Samu, Colin Craker, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Fernando Sifuentes, Mattia Iacono, Drew Baumgartner, Vladimir Popov, Dan Jackson, Bobby Bradford, and anyone else who I have forgotten.