How Crimson Dawn Killed Off Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guards
Warning: Spoilers for Crimson Reign
In the second issue of Star Wars: Crimson Reign, the latest comic miniseries from prominent Star Wars author Charles Soule, we discovered how Crimson Dawn managed to eliminate Sheev Palpatine's royal guards in their plot to assassinate the Emperor. Crimson Reign tells a story set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and follows Crimson Dawn's current leader, Lady Qi'ra, as she plans to kill Palpatine in order to create a more even playing field for the galaxy's most powerful syndicates. The comic's first issue focused on a group of mercenaries known as the Orphans, who attacked multiple crime syndicates in order to stoke a Syndicate War and distract the Emperor from Crimson Dawn. The second issue showed the next step in Qi'ra's grand plan.
Crimson Reign #2 follows assassins Deathstick and Ochi of Bestoon. Deathstick is one of the few surviving Nightsisters from General Grievous' siege of Dathomir during The Clone Wars. Qi'ra tasks Deathstick by bringing her a young girl named Cadeliah, who is the familial heir to a pair of rival crime families known as the Unbroken Clan and Mourner's Wail Syndicate. Meanwhile, Qi'ra tasks Ochi of Bestoon with killing off the Emperor's royal guards in the Imperial Palace on Coruscant. Giving this task to Ochi makes sense since Ochi has worked with Palpatine many times before, testing Darth Vader on Mustafar and eventually searching for Rey and killing her parents. As such, Ochi most likely knows his way around the Emperor's territory and is more than qualified to assassinate his personal guards.
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To accomplish this task, Ochi is given an ASN courier droid, the same type of droid used by Zam Wesell to target Padmé in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. He then meets with a salesman on Coruscant named Zlarb and is given a supply of Ziroxin-12 poison, along with a precise delivery mechanism that allows Ochi to dial in the exact time of his targets' deaths down to the second. Armed with the poison, Ochi visits the Works Industrial Zone and gives the poison to the courier droid, ordering it to discretely poison the guards' food before they eat. While he watches the guards ingest the poison from afar, Ochi realizes one of the guards is missing and tracks him down to a landing platform before poisoning him with a toxic dart. Shortly after Ochi and the droid leave Coruscant, the Emperor discusses the ongoing Syndicate War with his Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. However, during their conversation, all of Palpatine's royal guards suddenly fall over dead in front of him, leaving the Emperor surprised and frustrated at the inconvenience.
Without his royal guards to protect him, the Emperor is left considerably more vulnerable to any potential threats that may target him directly. As such, Crimson Dawn's chances of succeeding in their assassination attempt are even higher now than they were before. Though the audience knows that Crimson Dawn will ultimately fail in its mission, it will still be interesting to see how this scenario plays out in Crimson Reign's remaining three issues.
Since her return in the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover, Qi'ra has played a significant role in bringing back Crimson Dawn and quickly becoming one of the most influential beings in the galaxy. Her character, played by Emilia Clarke in Solo: A Star Wars Story, deserve a return to live-action. It is also fun seeing the Star Wars comics tie up loose ends from the films, such as the Emperor's royal guards, in ways that make the original trilogy feel even more connected to the larger Star Wars galaxy and its many eras.
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