Will Darth Vader Destroy Crimson Dawn?
Warning: Spoilers for War of the Bounty Hunters #5 and Crimson Reign #1
Darth Vader has been on a rampage in the recent Star Wars comics. In the current arc of Greg Pak's Darth Vader comic run, the Dark Lord of the Sith has been sent on a mission by Emperor Palpatine to eliminate the newly returned crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. This arc immediately follows Charles Soule's War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event, which saw Crimson Dawn taking Han Solo from Boba Fett and auctioning him off to the galaxy's major crime syndicates. Said auction was swiftly interrupted by the intervention of Darth Vader, who fought off Crimson Dawn's current leader, Lady Qi'ra, and slaughtered the Grand Hutt Council when they attempted to stop him from taking Solo for himself.
Though the auction was thwarted and Solo was returned to Jabba's Palace by Boba Fett, Crimson Dawn's open defiance towards the Empire served to strengthen their reputation, bolstering Lady Qi'ra to infiltrate the Empire itself. With hundreds of her own personal spies throughout the Empire, she plans to use her reach and influence to distract the Empire with a growing Syndicate War and ultimately assassinate the Emperor himself. Crimson Dawn faces many obstacles in the pursuit of this goal. By far, the biggest one is none other than the Emperor's own Sith apprentice.
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Accompanied by the Sith huntsman Ochi of Bestoon, the bounty hunter Beilert Valance, a few assassins, and a group of freedom fighters called the Revengers, Darth Vader plans to root out every Crimson Dawn agent within the Empire and subsequently eliminate the crime syndicate once and for all. To this end, the Sith lord faces challenges of his own, such as Ochi's secret alliance with Crimson Dawn, and a plan by the Knights of Ren to infiltrate his fortress on Mustafar. Nevertheless, Vader has set his sights on wiping Crimson Dawn from the face of the galaxy. Knowing this, I cannot help but wonder whether this ongoing storyline in the Star Wars comics will end with Vader succeeding in his mission and destroying Crimson Dawn permanently.
This idea is given credence by a line in the first issue of Charles Soule's Crimson Reign miniseries. In the said issue, a narrator known as the Archivist reveals that the story she is telling is of the fall of Crimson Dawn and that it will ultimately end in tragedy. Now, this does not concretely mean that Crimson Dawn will be completely obliterated by the end of this story. Rather, it may just be severely damaged and reduced to the state it was in by the time of Maul's death in Star Wars Rebels Season 3 episode "Twin Suns." Plus, I would very much like to see Crimson Dawn make a return to live-action or animation in future Star Wars series. With that said, I would not discount the possibility that Crimson Dawn may very well end up being destroyed by Darth Vader in the comics. I would not be disappointed if that is indeed the case.
Crimson Dawn is in a very interesting position now in the Star Wars galaxy. With the current live-action Star Wars series telling bigger stories with bigger characters, leading up to a massive, multi-series spanning event, I could easily see Maul's former crime syndicate playing a role in that. However, it is also possible that Lucasfilm has allowed Charles Soule to tell the story of Crimson Dawn's ultimate downfall. Personally, I would like for Crimson Dawn to play a role in current live-action and animated Star Wars projects. However, I would not complain if Soule manages to end their story in the comics in a satisfying way. At the end of the day, whatever plan Star Wars has for Crimson Dawn, I just hope it is a good one.
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