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Star Wars: The High Republic saw one young Jedi regretting her interaction with the Drengir after she was overtaken by dark visions.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic #7, on sale now from Marvel.
Star Wars: The High Republic has proven that the Sith weren’t the first dark threat that the Jedi faced. Possibly the most threatening is the Drengir – plant-like creatures that could control and dominate other beings’ minds. They also shared a collective conscience which made them all the more difficult to defeat. One Jedi found a way to deal a blow to the Drengir, but it may have come at the ultimate price.
Keeve Trennis’ former master Sskeer had been corrupted by the Drengir. In an effort to save him and a number of others, Keeve reached into his mind and communicated with the collective conscience of the Drengir. This stopped the attack but knocked Sskeer unconscious. Keeve attempted to reach out through Sskeer once more but was swallowed into the Drengir’s collective conscience. Here, she touched minds with the Great Progenitor, the original and most powerful of the Drengir. Keeve was able to learn the location of the Great Progenitor before Sskeer severed his and Keeve’s connection to the beast.
Star Wars: The High Republic #7 by Cavan Scott, Georges Jeanty, Karl Story, Annalisa Leoni, and Ariana Maher saw the rest of the Jedi gathering to fight the Drengir threat at its base, while Keeve was struggling with her connection to the Drengir. She was thrown into a vision while meditating where she was attacked by an unknown assailant wielding a red lightsaber. As the enemy stabbed her through the chest, Keeve was snapped from her vision. She saw the Great Progenitor everywhere she looked and desperately needed a distraction. She went to Jedi Master Maru who directed her towards a Nihil attack at a factory.
Keeve arrived in time to stop the Nihil from attacking the workers but she was knocked down after being struck in the head. As she tried to recover, the Nihil turned into the lightsaber-wielding villain from her vision. Her sight quickly returned to normal just in time for Jedi Wayseeker Orla Jareni to save her. As Keeve and Orla discussed what brought them to the factory, she was spoken to by the Drengir Root-Mind which stated that the Jedi had already lost.
Though the Drengir appears to be a completely separate threat from the Sith, they have proven that they can corrupt Jedi all the same. Before Keeve was struggling, her former master Sskeer was having his own issues with the Drengir’s corruption. Sskeer’s connection to the Force had been waning for a long period of time. The temptation of the dark side of the Force combined with a desire to prove useful led Sskeer to connect with the Drengir. Though Sskeer’s connection is believed to be severed, Keeve is still connected with the Great Progenitor. If the Drengir’s control was too much for her master, what hope does she have as a newly appointed Jedi Knight?
The Drengir’s pull to the dark side is quite reminiscent of the Sith. Anakin was struck with visions of Padme dying which led him down his path to the dark side. It’s unclear whether these visions were actual premonitions or visions placed by Palpatine to influence Anakin. Ben Solo was also persuaded to leave the light side by Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke played on Ben’s insecurities from an early age and is also believed to have created visions to influence Ben towards the dark side.
Keeve is in a much better situation than Ben or Anakin to overthrow the seductive power of the dark side. She has the Jedi Order around her and giving her support when needed and she also has Orla by her side now. Orla is aware of the issues plaguing Keeve and even alludes that her purpose is to prevent Keeve from straying. She does not possess the insecurity or anger that plagued Ben or Anakin. The Drengir will surely have to throw more at Keeve if they plan to turn her away from the Jedi Order.
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