Lit Cult Encounters and Supernatural Encounters (even more new Legends material!)

Possibly. I'd say Xendor and Contispex are also potential candidates for "manipulated by Abeloth".

Given that the war between the Zhell and the Taung was 200,000 years ago, and had volcanoes, (which seem to be an Abeloth thing in FOTJ: Apocalypse)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Zhell–Taung_War

I would suggest that her activities back then, were one of the things that convinced the Ones to imprison her in the first place.

Maybe she's a native of Coruscant, the Ones took her off it - and when she gained great powers, she returned, to intervene in the war between the Zhell and the Taung.

 

I feel obliged to point out that in WARFARE, I retconned Kopa Kahn as the Man-Hutt of the Lortan fanatics from The Making of Baron Fel (a Dune reference, I'm sure)...

Also, with all due respect to Rich, I'm afraid I go in the camp of people who're just not interested in this, and who prefers STAR WARS to focus on nothing more mystical than crazy Scottish wizards and fuzzy blue muppets.

- The Imperial Ewok

 

The Man-Hutt being one of Kopa's forms is mentioned in this article, actually, and if that connection was first made in Warfare then that gives us an interesting timetable for when this article's most recent revision was - it'd have to be no earlier than 2012. Interesting to see that this article that's been canceled several times since 2000 still had people revising it for over a decade to accommodate new material.

 

But keep in mind "Cult Encounters" has been floating around in authorial backchannels for a while, so while the Man-Hutt connection might have first appeared in Warfare, it might have originated with this article.

 

Just three posts up Thrawn says he was the first to make the connection, though.

 

You are absolutely correct. I blame Tilotny for turning my brain into a diamond and thus making me fail at reading comprehension.

 

Another of his forms is said to be a "dying star," and the combined with his alternate names of Kol D'da Shan and Co Pana Cine makes it pretty obvious to me his true identity is...

 

I'm curious as to what things from TOR could connect to this.

In TEGTW: Author's Cut, it talks of two curses unleashed by the Rakata - the "Grey Swallowing" "Hollowers of Beings" and the "Faceless Mouths" "Eaters of Worlds"

http://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-essential-guide-to-warfare-authors-cut-the-celestials/

The former sounds like a pretty overt shout-out to Mnggal-Mnggal.

But the latter may be a more recent TOR reference - to the World Razer:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/World_Razer

The idea that the Rakata had some connection to the "soulworm cult" deities, intrigues me. Possibly, in the case of the World Razer, they invoked them to undermine the Celestials - then discovered they had bitten off more than they could chew, and the whole Infinite Empire (possibly plus allies?) had to unite to put down what they had called up.

The Cult Encounters article suggests that the many worm-entities of great power in the galaxy may be connected to these deities.

Maybe that's why we have giant worms "wandrella" on Mimban - because of the Pomojema temple? The sapient Lugubraa may be "uplifted worm beings". Slug-like entities such as the Hutts (who were part of the Rakata Infinite Empire at some point) may also qualify.

The Whuffa of Dathomir might also be a candidate - though, given their affiliation with the Kwa, a Celestial client, it does raise questions about how loyal the Kwa were to the Celestials.

 

I wonder if the Ones summoned Anakin to Mortis because they feared that Palpatine would become an Old One.

 

I'm not a particular fan of making every ancient villain and conflict Abeloth's fault. It takes away from the fact those people had some degree of agency-Constispex was a fanatic with dreams of grandeur, Xendor was mad the Jedi wouldn't let him start his own academy, the Taung and the Zhell battled for control of Coruscant(as I imagine two sentient species sharing the same world-such things probably happen often).

 

There's always a hidden truth between all evil in this world, we just can't see it. I like the idea of Abeloth being the root of all evil for over 25,000 years (even if I hate Abeloth and FOTJ in general).

 

Is Abeloth responsible for everything? The Hutt Cataclysms? The Coruscant-Alsakan Wars?, the various Jedi schisms, all the mundane conflict and suffering in the Galaxy?

It seems very much an abrogation to blame her for everything.

 

The fact that Abeloth was somehow not responsible for Daala's rise, though, boggles my mind. I mean, she was stationed right there in the Maw. How could Daala not have been a pawn of Abeloth for most of her time in the post-Endor era?

 

I like the notion that even Abeloth was corrupted herself - by the aforementioned Greater Deities.

That she's less a "root of evil" and more a "victim-turned-villain".

The "first escape" mentioned in Apocalypse where six-tentacled beings fight "saurians" - maybe that's Gree vs Kwa - her stirring up two Celestial clients against one another?

 

Or maybe Abeloth had some standards...like competence.

 

That works too.

If (prior to the Centerpoint disaster) her influence is confined to subtle promptings - maybe it was her that steered the creation of the various superweapons, acting as a "muse" to Lemelisk, Qui Xux, etc, without them realising anything unusual was up?

 

It's possible. I mean, she planted the seeds in the young Jedi at the Shelter before Centerpoint was destroyed. When it was gone, it was time for the harvest, so to speak.

Now, the question is why wouldn't the adults have been influenced? I imagine had Abeloth gotten any stronger, then the adult Jedi would have eventually fallen to her influence. As for the adult non-Force users like Lemelisk, without the Force they wouldn't have the built in initial defenses against her influence?

 

I could see not having the Force, as actually making it harder for her to influence characters like Lemelisk - and reducing the degree to which influence can be made, to something very subtle (that is, if it was present at all).

She might possibly have been "asleep" until Callista's encounter with her, whenever that took place.

If it took place before the NJO, the encounter with Callista could have woken her up - allowing her to begin influencing Shelter when the Jedi and their younglings arrive there.

Alternatively, given that Jacen flow-walked with Tahiri to the events of Star By Star, and Tahiri tried to influence Anakin, but didn't succeed (she thought), maybe that was the "turning of the Current" - only nobody knew it at the time?

 

Reading Cult Encounters reminded me INSTANTLY why i miss Star Wars pre disney SO much. Heres hoping we can get Supernatural Encounters out aswell

 

I presume that it will, as Wookieepedia mentions, have been renamed The Trial & Transformation of Arhul Hextrophon. It does sound from the bit at the end of the article, that they plan on releasing the second half.

 

No, the ideas for Imperial superweapons were all stolen from Triclops's dreams!

 

never forget

 

Oh, so that's where Starkiller base came from!

 

Remember that Abeloth likely wasn't the only Old One influencing the galaxy. If anything, I would think that Typhojem was behind the Great Schisms.