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Both Boba Fett and Star Wars: The High Republic’s Marchion Ro are shaping the galaxy in their fathers’ images, for better and for worse.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm #1, on sale now, and Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett “Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land,” now streaming on Disney+.
Arguably, one of the most defining moments of Boba Fett’s life was the death of his father Jango Fett in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. While many other characters in the Star Wars saga have lost parents or relatives and even witnessed their deaths, Marchion Ro’s witnessing of Asgar Ro’s death in the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries subverted Jango’s death scene. In contrast to Boba’s mourning, Marchion showed little sadness over losing his father. Even though Boba and Marchion had different relationships with their fathers and contrasting reactions to their deaths, the two men still were connected by their drive to live up to their fathers’ ideals in the aftermath.
Throughout their brief interactions in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Jango clearly was a loving father to Boba, making Jango’s death even more devastating. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Boba tried to get revenge on Mace Windu, but he eventually was dissuaded from his mission when Hondo Ohnaka reminded Boba of Jango’s honor code. While Jango has not been mentioned much in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, Boba’s dreams while in the bacta tank constantly circle back to remembering his father leaving Kamino on a mission and the scene where Boba finds his father’s helmet. Boba’s focus on “ruling with respect” in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett could be seen as his attempts to live a life in a way that would make Jango proud.
In Star Wars: The High Republic: Eye of the Storm #1, Marchion Ro also witnessed the death of his father, but his reaction was the complete opposite. As Asgar Ro asked his son to help him, Marchion did nothing. Asgar even seemed proud of Marchion for not showing any sentimentality. While Marchion picked up his Asgar’s helmet after Asgar perished, he did so not as a gesture of mourning but instead as a sign that he was taking over leadership of the Nihil.
Marchion’s inaction was unsurprising given how Asgar parented him. In an earlier scene in the comic, At a young age, Marchion witnessed Asgar murdering Shalla Ro, Asgar’s mother and Marchion’s grandmother. Later, Asgar challenged his Nihil soldiers to kill Marchion, who was still a child, in a battle. Marchion won the battle using Mari San Tekka’s hyperspace paths, but the battle illustrated how much pressure Asgar placed upon Marchion when Asgar stated. “I’ll give you everything you need, Marchion. If you lose, it will be your fault, and our family’s hopes will die with you.” Later, Marchion continued fighting even after he clearly had won, Asgar threatened to take his support and Mari’s paths away, stating, “If my son will not obey… then I will have no son at all.” With this treatment, Marchion’s coldness seemed justified.
Despite his inaction at the time of Asgar’s death, Marchion’s current actions in the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries could also be seen as his attempts to live up to the expectations that his father set for him. Marchion was an Everini, a species originally from Everon, a planet besieged by terrible storms. When the Everini made contact with the rest of the galaxy after being forced to flee their planet, cultural differences led to them being hunted by the Republic and the Jedi. The Ro family sought vengeance against the Republic on behalf of their people. In an earlier flashback, Shalla Ro, stated, “All of our people who survived the galaxy’s attempts to destroy our species are blades. Marchion is the blade’s point.” Asgar raised Marchion to focus solely upon this revenge, and with the events of the third wave of the phase one of the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, Marchion seemed to succeed in this goal.
Boba’s focus on respect and Marchion’s thirst for vengeance and power may seem like different ideals. Boba focused his leadership as daimyo of Mos Espa on respect because he believed that respect would reflect his father’s moral code. In contrast, Marchion enacted a multipart plan to wreak havoc on the Outer Rim, and in the process he caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people through the Great Disaster and the Nihil raids as a result of his father’s desire for vengeance. Thus, both men’s actions in the aftermath of their fathers’ deaths have been shaped by their fathers’ ideals, and in turn, they are shaping the galaxy, for better and for worse.
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