- "[The Great Leveler] lived behind a large containment shield in a room built of transparisteel that must have been meant for medical observation."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
A room built from transparisteel was located aboard the Gaze Electric, a ship that belonged to the pirate leader Marda Ro. Although she suspected it was meant to have been used for medical observation, by around 379 BBY she used it to cage a beast known as the Great Leveler. Around that year, she brought a Jedi to the room to allow the Leveler to feed on him. Ro later mentioned the room in a message she recorded for her descendants. By 252 BBY, her great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to Ro's journal, including the message in which the room was mentioned.
Description[]
The room was located on the Gaze Electric, a starship that belonged to Marda Ro—the Evereni[1] founder of a group of pirates who would eventually become the Nihil.[2] It was built from transparisteel and Ro speculated that the room was intended for medical observation. The Gaze Electric had a containment shield that could isolate the room from the rest of the ship.[1]
History[]
- "Rox dropped the Jedi beside the containment shield, and I turned it off. The Leveler slunk forward, and as one huge knuckle reached out, the Jedi woke. He screamed and scrambled away, slipping on his own blood."
- ―Marda Ro, in her journal
The Great Leveler (pictured) lived inside the room.
By around 379 BBY,[3] the Great Leveler—a creature that fed on the Living Force—was caged in the room behind a containment shield that prevented it from leaving.[1] Around that year,[3] Ro captured a Jedi and had[1] her[4] underlings Rox and Milan Stor bring him to the room. Rox dropped the Jedi outside of the containment shield which Ro deactivated to allow the Leveler to consume him. She then watched as the Leveler turned the Jedi into a stone-like husk; however, Rox, Stor, and her assistant Alirya looked away and did not watch the whole process. Afterward, Ro ushered the Leveler back into the room and strode away towards her throne hall.[1]
She later mentioned the room in a message she recorded for her descendants.[1] By 252 BBY,[5] during his youth, Ro's great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to her journal, including the message where the the medical observation room was mentioned.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
The room appeared in a flashback in the short story "A Closed Fist Has No Claws," written by Tessa Gratton and published in the 2023 young-adult anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life as a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.[1]
Appearances[]
- "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life (First appearance, simultaneous with audiobook) (In flashback(s))
- "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life audiobook (In flashback(s))
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" — The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life
- ↑
Interview with Tessa Gratton: "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" (TALES OF LIGHT & LIFE) on the Friends of the Force: A Star Wars Podcast YouTube channel (October 6, 2023) (backup link)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" establishes that the section depicting the Jedi's death aboard the Gaze Electric takes place when Marda Ro is roughly eighteen years old. The High Republic: Path of Deceit, which Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia dates the events of to 382 BBY, establishes both that members of the Path of the Open Hand receive full membership at the age of fifteen and that Ro had recently become a full member, meaning that she is around fifteen years old. Therefore, the section of "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" depicting the Jedi's death must take place around 379 BBY.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The High Republic: Temptation of the Force
- ↑ "The Lie" chapter in The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 1, which includes Shalla Ro's death, features Asgar Ro's ascension to Eye of the Nihil, an event dated to 252 BBY by Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia. As The High Republic: Temptation of the Force establishes she introduced Marchion Ro to Marda Ro's journal, he must have listened to it by that year.