Lit Hogrum Chalk: What's the deal, bro in law?

Forgive me if this topic has been discussed in detail somewhere else. I've been going over Legacy again because I really admire it and wanted to read it again before jumping into the new series and I'm really having a difficult time pinning down Chalk's actions and motivations during War.

The best I can tell, Hogrum is a spy for Veed. Now, that's fair enough but I have questions.

- Is is possible to infer his motivations in this matter? It seems to be, in my mind, tied to the death of Elliah Fel at the hands of Eshkar Niin.

- In light of the above, I'm wondering what people think his plan was after this. Curry enough favor with Veed to deliver Roan's empire in exile to Krayt? He's pushing Roan closer and closer to the dark side at the end of things and manages to make it through war, secrets intact. If anything else, I get the sense that he was doing his best to make sure that either one of the other Imperial Knights would kill Roan or that he'd have the justification to do so.

- Does Hogrum know that Omega Red won't affect the Sith?

The man's one of the biggest mysteries of the whole series. What do people think? Am I missing any relevant information?

 

I think he wants revenge on Roan, that Hogrum blames Roan for his sister's death and doesn't trust him, and thinks his niece would be better in charge. So he pushed Roan to the dark side so the Imperial Knights would take him out, and Marasiah could become Empress. As for Omega Red, he probably did think it would wipe out the Sith.

That's my theory, anyways. Hopefully he appears in the next arc of Legacy Volume II, since Marasiah, Antares, K'Kruhk, and Stazi have already been shown with particular emphasis on Marasiah.

 

I suspect that we lost a lot of Chalk's story in the cancellation. He was clearly being postitioned for something, but what that was we might never know.

 

Well it's not cancelled anymore, it's back, along with Marasiah and the rest of the triumvirate...

 

I find it best to ignore the mess that is "War", it made no sense and depended upon forced charicterisation; Fel's fall, Cade and Stazi's meeting, and the Sith having a master plan that I find difficult to accept that he could have set up given the way that the time line flowed.

So yeah war was all kinds of bad.

 

WAR was good, but did suffer from pushing too many events into just six issues. The final battle over Coruscant suffered the most, as we just got glimpses. I don't blame John or Jan for this, as they had a lot of threads to wrap up in a short amount of time.

--Adm. Nick

 

Yeah, that was one of the most annoying unfinished plot threads for me, personally. For instance, Veed has been an evil, idiotic jerk for basically the entire series, but we saw him get his comeuppance when Morrigan Corde visited him during War. Yet Chalk was never discovered and his possible motives barely hinted at. Not to mention the threat he still may pose- highly ranked, trusted member of the Fel family? Was he with the Sith, merely trying to survive like Conrad Rus did, out to get revenge on Roan Fel (as his sister was Fel's wife), or what?

I know War had to wrap up a lot, but still, whereas most of the villains either just died, got away (after 56 issues, only Krayt and Wyrrlok of the main villains died), Chalk is still unresolved. I hope Legacy volume 2 can wrap that up eventually (though not at the expense of Ania's story, and I hope we don't have to bother with Cade again). Although Chalk might be part of the greater mystery that is the previous Empress Fel- she was from Hapes originally, her brother was seriously injured and left a cyborg, killed by an Imperial Knight who later ends up a Sith, there was probably still a lot of backstory there to explore, if Legacy had been a longer series.

 

Ah, Hogrum Chalk, one of my favorite characters from Legacy. I do like spies.

Upon analyzing everything Chalk says and does in Legacy, his motivation is actually quite clear.

Hogrum Chalk has no affection for the Sith at all, and he loves his niece, Marasiah Fel, who reminds him so much of her mother and his sister, Elliah.

Hogrum Chalk's motive is simple: he hates Roan Fel and probably blames the Emperor for his sister's death.

Every act of betrayal Hogrum Chalk commits is against Roan Fel specifically. He leaks intelligence about Fel's meeting on Agamar with the Jedi to Veed, for the sole purpose of ensuring Fel's murder. When that fails, Chalk bides his time, and when he is promoted to Head of Intelligence, he learns that Calixte is the one who foiled his attempt to have Fel killed. So he betrays her to Veed, ensuring that no one can learn of his betrayal. He then pursues another avenue to revenge against Fel, by encouraging him to use Omega Red, knowing that it will be seen as a Dark side Act by the Imperial Knights, and that they will kill the Emperor, as per their code.

In the end, Chalk achieves all his goals. The man he secretly hated is dead and his beloved niece is now Empress and he will stand by her side and advise her well.

Hogrum Chalk's motivation can be summed up by one word: Revenge.

 

Yet his actions also nearly got Marasiah killed... though that could have just been a lack of foresight on his part, but I also wonder what Chalk loves more: his niece, or revenge?

 

It is possible that he possibly tried behind the scenes to protect Sia but circumstances prevented it. Don't forget, she is considered rather reckless in her actions - hints to her possible Solo heritage.