EW.com have shared an exclusive excerpt from the conclusion of The High Republic book series, Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi by Charles Soule, revealing that Yoda has been enlisted to help stop the spread of the planet-consuming Blight.
In this epic conclusion to Star Wars: The High Republic, the Jedi face a final confrontation against the Nihil and Marchion Ro.
The Force is everything. A single life connected to all life. All things connected to all other things. This is what the Jedi believe, and this is why they fight. For life . . . and the light.
For too long, the light has been threatened by Marchion Ro, a sinister despot who will stop at nothing in his quest for power. The conflict with Ro and his marauding Nihil forces has left scars across the galaxy and held the Republic hostage. Countless lives have been lost, beacons of hope have fallen, and the collective courage and resolve of the Republic have been tested like never before. Through it all, the Jedi Order has endured, an unwavering candle against the encroaching darkness.
But the Jedi have yet to solve the mystery of the Nameless creatures who feed on the Force. Ro has loosed them upon the galaxy, striking fear into the heart of even the most stalwart Jedi. And yet with every life saved and world freed from Nihil control, the all-consuming blight, which devours everything wherever it appears, threatens to wipe it all away.
Everything now depends on nine brave Jedi, led by Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who embark on a treacherous journey to the Nameless homeworld. Their quest: to finally solve the mystery of the Nameless and their connection to the Force, and to stop the blight before its damage becomes irreversible.
But a final confrontation with Marchion Ro awaits. Ro, who is willing to sacrifice everything he’s achieved to secure a final victory against the Jedi and carve his name into the very stars for all time.
Nothing less than the fate of everything, perhaps even the Force itself, is at stake.
Excerpt from Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi (The High Republic) by Charles Soule
CHAPTER ONE – THE JEDI TEMPLE:
Bree went down into the dark, to a place she was not supposed to be, as she had been told to do.
She was only nine years old, a member of the Jedi Order, on the older side of the youngest group of students being trained in the Jedi’s great temple on Coruscant—appropriately called younglings.
Bree descended another step, then paused to look back. Behind her, an arch of light awaited—the path back to the main levels of the Temple. She wanted to go back—to her friends, to her studies, to the sun, to the light.
But Bree had a job to do. She sighed, turned her eyes back to the stairs, and continued on her way.
The stairs were old. Everything in the Jedi Temple was old, but it didn’t look like it. Maintenance droids kept everything shining and clean. These steps were different. They were crumbled at their edges, with wisps of dust and dirt, even little dead bugs. Bree didn’t mind bugs. Her friend Toko was a different story, but Bree didn’t care so much. Creatures were creatures, big or small.
The staircase wound down, down, down, light provided by illumination globes strung along the walls. Most of the time, Jedi didn’t need lights for something like this—they carried light with them—but the globes had been installed here when it became clear that this route would need to be used more frequently.
Is it getting hotter? Bree wondered.
She put her hand against the wall. Yes. She wasn’t imagining it. The wall wasn’t hot, not like a flame—more like a sun-warmed patch of stone in one of the Temple’s many terraces high above her. But there was no sun, not down here.
Bree pulled her hand away, frowning.
She continued down, moving faster, wanting to be done with this task.
They shouldn’t have made me do this, she thought. They’re all so much stronger and older than I am. I’m just a kid. They could have found another way.
But there was no other way. Bree was just a kid, that was true, but she had eyes, and she had ears. The grown Jedi were too busy with all the terrible crises that had landed upon their Order, one after the other. Jedi Knights were . . .
Dead, she thought. They’re dead, killed and eaten by the monsters. The Nameless.
A few of the resting Jedi were sitting on supply crates, drinking from bulbs of water or eating nutristicks, chatting quietly to one another. Bree didn’t know their names. Ever since the Council implemented the Guardian Protocols and brought everyone back to the Temple from the Jedi outposts in the Outer Rim, there were too many to keep track of.
They were a human woman with long brown hair and pale skin and a Twi’lek man, the lekku hanging from his head a beautiful blue.
The woman noticed her. “Youngling,” she said, her voice weary but not unwelcoming, “you’re not supposed to be here. This is a dangerous place.”
“I was sent,” Bree said. “They sent me. From . . . upstairs.”
Bree turned and pointed back the way she had come, immediately feeling silly.
“I see,” said the Twi’lek. “You come with a message from the surface world for us underground dwellers, young one?”
“Please, Stalwick, can’t you see the poor girl’s in no mood?” said the lady Jedi.
“Apologies, Master Byre,” the other Jedi said. “Was just trying to, ah, lighten things up a bit down here.”
Oh, Bree told herself. I guess he was making a joke.
The Twi’lek’s expression hardened slightly. Not a frown, more like the look her teachers would get on their faces before they demonstrated how to do something really difficult with the Force. Like a getting ready look.
The Jedi glanced at each other. They both stood, and each tapped another resting Jedi on the shoulder. These two nodded as well, seeming tired, so tired.
“Yoda’s needed above,” Master Byre said. “We need to pull him out.”
Neither of the other Jedi answered, just accepted the reality of the situation, and all four moved toward the circle of meditating Jedi. They found places among them, sat down, closed their eyes, and that strange hum Bree was hearing with her sense of the Force grew louder.
But that was not all. When the Jedi had moved to make room for the new arrivals, the circle had opened up enough for Bree to see what was inside.
Despite herself, she gasped. Despite all the training, all the work her teachers had done to help her set fear aside, Bree was only nine years old, and when she saw death not five meters away, separated from her only by Jedi who seemed to be using all their strength to hold it back, yes, she was afraid.
That’s the Blight, she thought. The Blight is here. Right here, under the Temple!
“I’m supposed to fetch Master Yoda,” she said. “There’s something he needs to see.”
Read the full excerpt here. Star Wars: Trials of the Jedi is out on June 17th, 2025, and can be preordered now from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk — happy reading.
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