– Spoiler Review –
The end is the beginning is the end, one last time, as Cavan Scott and team bring home the final Phase III content to readers with The High Republic: The Finale – The Beacon. Keeve Trennis’s story, and all those around her, have been building to this exact moment, so read our review to find out how this felt like such a fitting ending for their stories.
It’s honestly been a weird last few months as reality set in regarding The High Republic initiative’s Phase III closing out across its various publishing lines, from the manga, middle-grade, young adult, and adult novels, then the all-ages on-going and now, finally, Marvel’s on-going The High Republic series, the last actual piece of Phase III storytelling. We know a Phase More will follow, with stories picking up afterwards or filling in gaps, but the particulars are rightly under wraps for now, letting these endings speak for themselves and marinate with fans. This ending in particular is one I’ve been anticipating, but also waiting with apprehension for, not only because of how I’ve felt the Fear of the Jedi miniseries read like it needed a little more time to unpack Tempest Breaker’s events for these characters, but also because we’ve known since before meeting Keeve Trennis she would leave the Jedi Order and after nearly five years of knowing, could the moment live up to all the speculation and waiting? Cavan Scott has more than earned the benefit of the doubt, but it’s hard not to still hold the apprehension because along the way, Keeve’s become one of my favorite characters in the initiative for many reasons, including how she’s made the consistent effort to help others, friend or enemy, unlike any other Jedi in the era. And by telling you, dear reader, I started crying the moment she shows up towards the end of the issue, in a whole new look, is enough to state Scott and team made all the years of story and development worth it, leaving me with a sense of bittersweetness from multiple angles, even if I had a nitpick here or there. It’s one last nice surprise, even if I shouldn’t have been.
For a long time, Keeve’s been at odds with the Jedi around her, but not in the usual or more obvious ways. She’s seen her hero, Avar Kriss, the best of the best, fall to anger quickly against Lourna Dee as the Marshal hoped to prove the expectations placed on her were true. Keeve’s the one who found a way to bring the Drengir threat to an end without more violence. She’s stepped in and saved Lourna several times, even at the potential cost of her own life, simply because it was the right thing to do. And while Keeve led the Stormwall Defense Fleet and helped win the battle in the space above the Battle of Eriadu, how it ended, with the Child of the Storm H’tar’s death by Lourna’s hands, has weighed on Keeve ever since, building on concerns she’s had about the Order, herself, and the galaxy. Yoda offering Keeve a spot on the Jedi High Council, shortly after she learned about the sacrifices made by Elzar Mann and Avar Kriss on the mission to Planet X, doesn’t help these festering concerns about her place in the Order and its path forwards, and as a reader it feels like the Order’s eager to move on, to put the conflict behind them as a victory and get back to business as normal instead of considering its actions and what could’ve been done differently. So when the issue picks up four months later, where we learn Keeve’s been consulting with and helping Lourna, Quin, Tey Sirrek, even former Child of the Storm Brother Lycos and his daughter Vila, and more to revive Dalna after the cataclysmic event Lourna put it through, she’s had plenty of time to think on what she wants and how she wants to proceed.
As I said before, it still broke me to see Keeve in her new outfit and ‘do, not because it looked sad or anything, rather because I knew Keeve was about to reveal why she wanted to leave the Order. I wasn’t ready for it, and of the two she tells it to, Yoda and Sskeer, her former Master was the same, not quite able to process the news right away. As for her reasoning, I found myself understanding her point and I appreciate her decision to leave, though I wish we had a bit more in dialogue form for an extra stitch of clarity. The scene switches to narration boxes after she gets the news off her chest, with a weird transition given Yoda speaks and then the next thing is a narration box where Keeve says he listened in silence, so we don’t get any of the additional context she adds to what was initially shown in dialogue. However, like I said, Keeve makes enough of her point in what we do get that I can understand her choice. Keeve realizes the Jedi might’ve taken the wrong lesson from their success, as she worries the next time a threat on the same level as the Nihil and Nameless, will the Jedi once again initiate Guardian Protocols and send out its Jedi to lead armies with their lightsabers? As we know from the prequels, she isn’t wrong, it’s the path they are heading towards, because while using those Protocols and leading a Stormwall Defense Fleet helped bring an end to the conflict, what was the cost? By saving themselves with the Protocols, running in fear from the Nameless, or being at the head of an army, often not directly in combat, what life and light were extinguished had they stayed and been selfless or were fighting not the big wars, but for those who weren’t receiving the full care of the Republic Defense Forces? Keeve was as selfless as she could be, always calling for life to be saved, even their enemies, and leading a fleet took her away from that direct control, having to respond to orders and work for someone else, not the Force, not light and life, and she doesn’t think the Order realizes what this success could lead to.
In this issue alone, while there isn’t a ton of examples of the Order’s misguidedness, Yoda is eager to fill the missing spots on the Jedi Council, and while he’s right not to mourn and miss those who have become one with the Force (like he tells Anakin Skywalker), it doesn’t seem like the Order is concerned with the how and why it all happened and rather just looking forward, trying to put the conflict in the past, fill the seats, and move on. In Yoda #10, the maxiseries’ finale written by Cavan Scott, a trip through Dagobah’s Cave of Evil sees Yoda remembering how important a teacher failure is, but we also see how Keeve leaving has weighed on him, centuries later, as she appears before him and accuses him with leaving her to her fate. As I said earlier, she says he listens in silence and then tells her she always has a home at the Temple, a response where it doesn’t seem like he fully understood what she had to say, just heard it and, since it didn’t quite fit with his ideas on moving forward, decided he’d let her go. Asking her to fill a seat on the Council, once again away from being at the forefront of saving light and life, shows he didn’t quite understand how best to move forward with those who were affected by the recent events, and not trying to talk with her about it, see her point more, and letting her go instead, shows a failure on his part. Yet, even though this moment was known long before we got to it, I can’t imagine a better ending (in Phase III) for Keeve, because she makes the right choice and she understood long before everyone else what could come next if they didn’t stop to learn from the conflict, while she also gets another friend by her side: Sskeer! Her Trandoshan Master seemed like a prime candidate not to survive Phase I, let alone this far, and instead of leaving her like Yoda does, he decides to stay on Dalna with her, though still a member of the Order, to be by her side as she goes on this next part of her journey, the dad she’s always had dadding once again. It’s such a fitting image and place for both of them, and I can live with this being one of the last times we’ll see them, at least for a while, before any Phase More stuff could one day pick up their story.
I also quite enjoyed the other snapshot of endings we got for other characters, from the main ones in Keeve’s life of late, as well as even cameos from Ty Yorrick to the Young Jedi Adventures younglings! Lourna Dee is fussing about the Dalna repairs, her anonymity in being the big donor remains, and even Chancellor Lina Soh arrives to congratulate her on the change of life and what she’s done for the planet. While Lourna gets some good-natured ribbing about the wild ride she’s gone on to get here, seeing her worried about making everything right, and saying the people rebuilding Dalna deserve all the congratulations, shows how far she’s come and it’s also a great way for her arc to end, especially with Quin at her side still!! With Terec and Ceret, I’m really glad to see they are working on their independence yet still maintaining their bond, which feels right given the changes they’ve gone through in Phase III. Tey Sirrek being his usual self, but settling down and helping Dalna, seems like the start of a new change in his life, letting go and moving forward from his husband, Vildar Mac. And then, which I missed this in The High Republic Adventures: Dispatches from the Occlusion Zone #4 (as I was distracted by Ty Yorrick’s growth, who gets a cameo here), but Child of the Storm Brother Lycos and his daughter Vila, who Ty helped in Dispatches #4, are reunited and doing the hard work with their Lonto abilities to regrow the planet after Lourna’s devastation, which a lovely way to show he’s reformed and she’s learning. We get small cameos from many other characters, like Cibaba, Ai-Dan, Bell Zettifar and Ember, the Young Jedi Adventures younglings of Lys Solay, Kai Brightstar, and Nubs (!!), and more, which were short yet appropriate as the focus is where it needs to be, though it was a delight to see them all happy and celebrating. Like Daniel José Older before him, there was no way ending years of story and developments in one single issue would be absolutely perfect, but this felt exactly like what these characters, and the creative team, deserved to bring to fans.
On art returns the team of Marika Cresta, colorist Jim Campbell, and letterer Ariana Maher, giving us both delightful and tear-filling images throughout! As much as I don’t want to cry again, I think we’re going to start with the reveal of Keeve’s new look as she’s about to tell Yoda and Sskeer she’s leaving the Order. Though we need to set the scene a little, as prior to this moment, the issue’s been rather bright, first in the shiny ships and later the Jedi Temple, then on the renewed Dalna, but once the delegation of the Jedi and Republic arrive and the feast and festivities commence, the sun goes down, the sky growing darker but the revelry maintains. As the Order and Republic ready to leave, Sskeer learns from Lourna that Keeve wants to say something, and then there she is on the next page, the first time we’ve seen her from the opening several pages, and it hits hard every time I see it (and as I write about it). The sky is darker now, but not foreboding, just a calm blue and some purple, while leaves fall around the background as Keeve stands amongst the regrown flowers of Dalna, beauty around her in many different ways, a sense of peace in the image despite the conversation to come. Keeve’s signature long hair is trimmed, the sides buzzed and a healthy chunk left on top, while there’s only gold accents on her blue and redish brown vest, with a white top underneath and white pants, signifying her adherence to the light. It’s a wonderful new look, a striking difference from what’s come before, but as I said already, it gives her a sense of peace, the color of the sky blending with her outfit a little, like she’s at one here, not out there, not if she goes back to the Order. The whole conversation plays out so well, Keeve not looking at Sskeer, him clutching his chest as she hands over his saber, the look of surprise on his face and her tears right after it, to the way Yoda is distant, as this is a moment for these two but also shows his distance from the matter. Maher’s dialogue bubbles keep the emotional stances and looks in focus, but it’s really when she’s working in the narration boxes where she gives even more to what’s happening, from the way the boxes are distant as Sskeer and Yoda walk away from her, to how closely they hug her as she talks about being alone, gives the extra sense of loss that she’s going through for us readers to feel. The joyous expressions both Sskeer and Keeve have when he decides to stay, as her tears go away, help turn around the sad moment and I like how the final image, of the two of them walking back into the Dalna town, lights from the city guiding their way and the endless sea of stars above them, all the possibility on offer, offers a change from the dull and dark backgrounds of the sadder parts of the conversation and feeds into the sense this is exactly where these two need to be. I loved how Lourna looks throughout, often bustling here and there, fretting over the situation and making sure everythign is okay, while her metallic lekku and hand look natural (though in page where Sskeer reveals the name of the Great Work happening on Dalna, the lekku aren’t metallic anymore, just for a panel), while Lina Soh is resplendent in her black and gold outfit, and I appreciate the sparkly look the team gives it, so she shines like the galaxy around her.
Here are a few other things:
- Cavan Scott said some wonderful things about the experience of working on The High Republic initiative in his newsletter, go check it out!
- Beyond The Acolyte: The Crystal Crown novel by Tessa Gratton, which released the day before this issue (and has been quite enjoyable, as I’m around 30%), the next big High Republic release we know about is The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: Volume II on August 19. We got our first look at some preview images at SDCC.
The High Republic: The Finale – The Beacon had a lot of expectations riding on it and this team once again sticks the landing, giving Keeve Trennis, Sskeer, Lourna Dee, and more a wonderful end that feels both like a great place to leave them and great place to start with them again.
+ Devastating me with Keeve’s new look and solid reasoning
+ Seeing how far everyone has come
+ Cresta, Campbell, and Maher close us out with some emotional visuals
– Could’ve used a line or two more
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
THE HIGH REPUBLIC – FEAR OF THE JEDI REVIEWS
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