To Fall So Far, pt. IV: A'Sharad Hett/Darth Krayt

The commentary on Hett's mental state as stabilising when he is in a group-situation is fascinating. Thanks for providing such an interesting read!

I don't really have so add on that front, except to say that it does help with my understanding of the character which was previously quite sketchy. Or rather, I find bits of it sketchy.

From a certain perspective it makes perfect sense. His backstory as contained within Legacy - humiliated, forced into exile, caught by Xoxaan, released only to discover not only has the object of his vengeance - Skywalker - been killed, but he has been killed by the very boy who caused his original exile. Luke is heralded as a hero. Luke rebuilds the Order. A'Sharad Hett is simply a casualty to Luke's ascension.

So he builds a new family: the Sith.

Where my understanding breaks down, though, is when I think back to the later appearances Hett made in Republic. Now, I'm not hugely well-read re: that comic, but I have read a number of story arcs here and there, and I remember I really liked the Anakin and A'Sharad issue where A'Sharad basically admits that he doesn't have a moral problem with what Anakin did as a Tusken, because their way is vengeance, but it's not the Jedi way.

I loved that because it showed - to me - an extraordinary level of self-awareness and control. An ability to mix that Tusken quality of understanding vengeance, with the Jedi quality of acceptance and consideration rather than vengeance in turn.

I suppose what is missing in Hett's story is how he turned from such a strong and wise Jedi Knight to the very lost, very angry warlord that Obi-Wan encountered in the dunes.

It's the same section that is missing from Jacen's story really. The five year journey. We see why Jacen and Hett fell, but we never quite see what happened to turn them from stoic, uncorruptable Knights into the kind of Knights that could be tricked and turned.

But, the idea that the loss of his "tribe" destabilised him... That I like. That has potential.

 

Yes, A'Sharad Hett seemed to be an excellent Jedi by the time of the Clone Wars. Certainly a skilled and reasonably powerful one as well, since he was one of the relative few that survived the Wars and the purge that followed (not to mention being one of the few people that can claim to have bested Anakin Skywalker in a fight).

But again...that was before his second "tribe" was destroyed. Interestingly enough, the one time previous we'd seen A'Sharad dipping towards the Dark Side was when dealing with the loss of his tribe...or at least of his father. He overcomes his urges and manages to avoid falling at that point, and later one when someone that appears to be close to him (Xiaan Amersu) is lost, he seems to accept it in model fashion for a Jedi of the time, but he also notes that he lets the thought of her death "drive" him through the rest of the battle...perhaps there's a little more turmoil under the surface than immediately apparent.

But still, it seems the "tribe" as a whole is the loss he simply can't cope with. In his own way, he has the same problem that Anakin Skywalker did...the inability to let go. To put it in Mace Windu terms: "The Tribe" is A'Sharad's shatterpoint, and interestingly enough I have a suspicion it's very much Darth Krayt's, as well, particularly if the hints we've seen surrounding Darth Nihl are true.

Which brings up another interesting point where the "One Sith" are concerned: The implied undercurrent of prejudice and resentment between "born" Sith and "turned" Sith. I have to wonder if Krayt's subconsciously ignoring the situation or simply unaware of it. Krayt himself doesn't seem to discriminate much (and even has a "turned" Sith as one of his highest ranking warlords), but I can't help but wonder if he's blinded himself to the flaws within his new tribe.

 

I think it's also worth noting that, from his perspective, the Jedi approach failed. It's not just that he didn't have the active support of the Jedi, it's that he consciously chose to choose the Jedi way over the Tusken way and it had terrible consequences for the galaxy. His first chance to choose between the Jedi and Tusken ways was with Aurra Sing, when he chose not to kill her out of revenge for killing his father as any Tusken would. When Anakin confessed to him, he chose to extend the lesson he had learned with Aurra Sing by embracing compassion, mercy, and forgiveness over vengeance, and it totally backfired.

He had his Tusken upbringing on one shoulder urging him to kill Anakin as revenge for what he had done, and his Jedi training telling him to choose mercy. He listened to the Jedi side, as he had with Aurra Sing, and the person he chose to spare ended up destroying the Jedi. Looking back with hindsight, he must have concluded that it had been a mistake to forgive Anakin, that he had been wrong to embrace the Jedi way in the first place. Between that disillusionment in Jedi ideals and the practical benefits of immersing himself in Tusken culture again*, I think it makes perfect sense to see him where we see him in the Obi-Wan flashback.

I also wonder how much Xiaan Amersu's death factored into things. Xiaan died heroically for a lie, a lie that he himself had embraced at that point, and which ended up getting all the Jedi killed.

 

So far we don't quite have a clear picture of just how close A'Sharad was to Xiaan (though indications are that they were definitely close friends if nothing more), but yes, I'd be interested to know how deeply that particular loss affected him in the long term.

Interesting analysis on the failure of the "Jedi Way" from Hett's point of view, as well. "If I'd followed the Tusken way before, none of this would have happened!"

 

I think the implication is that it was one of those Kit/Aayla or T'ra Saa/Tholme or Siri/Obi-Wan things, but, no, we haven't gotten a lot of detail there. He seems pretty affected by her death, and, crucially, people console him specifically on his loss. Beyond that, it's just speculation, but it seems like Xiaan is really sort of a missing link in a lot of relationships of the CW era Jedi. I'd like to know more about her.

 

Is there anything about how Hett finds out about Anakin having become a Sith? I don't think he does prior to his meeting with Obi-Wan. I can't see how, anyway...

That said, the backstory (as with LOTF's Lumiya and Vergere) relies much on characters having "omniscient knowledge" - we as readers know that Obi-Wan was fighting Hett to protect Anakin's son, but how would Hett ever find out (except for reading a Luke Skywalker biography and then drawing his own conclusions)?

 

More than likely he finds out when the general public does, unless he got a force vision that showed him who Vader was.