Theory: Were The High Republic's 'Nameless' In 'The Clone Wars'?
The High Republic, Star Wars' highly acclaimed publishing line, has been breaking new ground for the franchise in a myriad of ways. From its complex characters and storylines to its handling of mature and intense subject matter, the series has done an excellent job of carving out its own place in the Star Wars galaxy while also adding to the existing mythology. One of The High Republic's most creative (and horrifying) additions to the galaxy far, far away is a race of mysterious creatures known as the Nameless.
Also referred to as the Shrii-ka-rai or "Eaters of the Force," these ghastly beings feed on the essence of Force-users and primarily Jedi. The Nameless will fill a Jedi's mind with hallucinations that tap into their darkest fears and cut them off from the Force itself to hunt their prey. Certain Nameless attacks will even lead to a Jedi's death, reducing their body to a lifeless, empty husk. The Nameless are among the deadliest threats the Jedi have ever faced. But though they were made specifically for The High Republic, that doesn't mean they couldn't have shown up in other places we’re simply not aware of yet. This brings me to a theory I have that connects The High Republic with the animated series The Clone Wars.
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Running for seven seasons and 133 episodes, The Clone Wars made innumerable contributions to the Star Wars canon that continue to be explored to this day. One of its most impactful storylines was undoubtedly the return of Darth Maul. After surviving his near-death on Naboo in The Phantom Menace, Maul was thrown away and dumped on the junk planet of Lotho Minor. On this planet, he kept himself alive for the next thirteen years, using the dark side to feed on his hatred and assembling a twisted set of spider-like metallic legs to replace his severed bottom half.
During his isolation, Maul became even more angry and fearful than before, often speaking to himself and shouting in pain to no one in particular as if he were speaking to a ghost. Maul was eventually found by his brother Savage Opress, who, with the help of their mother Talzin, returned him to Dathomir, where he would be repaired and restored to his former self. During the ritual, Talzin used her Nightsister magic to pull a kind of shrieking darkness from Maul's mind, returning him to his mental state before his defeat on Naboo. This is where my theory comes in. Perhaps the darkness Talzin pulled from Maul's mind was not just fear or pain, but actually one of the Nameless.
The shapes and sounds of this darkness are relatively similar to how the Nameless are drawn and described in The High Republic. Unfortunately, it also nearly destroyed Maul's mind and left him perpetually fearful, as the Nameless are known to do to Force-users. The Nameless were not even a thought in any of the writers' minds when this episode of The Clone Wars was produced. But at the same time, Star Wars is known for returning to retcon elements from later stories into previously existing stories. An example of this that comes to mind is the midi-chlorians.
Once the midi-chlorians were introduced in The Phantom Menace, many Star Wars stories afterward incorporated them into the Force's mythology, including James Luceno's Darth Plagueis novel and The Clone Wars episode Voices. Midi-chlorians were even mentioned in the second season of The Mandalorian. So who's to say that elements introduced in The High Republic, such as the Nameless, couldn't be retconned to have been involved in previously released stories in the current Star Wars canon? Star Wars clearly isn't afraid to connect anything and everything literally together. So when it comes to Maul being tortured by the Nameless for all those years, I can't name a reason why that couldn't be the case.
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