In the Crimson Reign comic series, Qi’ra had Crimson Dawn poised to threaten Emperor Palpatine, and it started with taking out his Imperial Guards.
Warning: The following contains spoilers from Star Wars: Crimson Reign #1 and 2, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Besides the whole “Rey was the granddaughter of the still-alive Emperor Palpatine” thing, The Rise of Skywalker made another, important addition to Star Wars canon by introducing Ochi of Bestoon. As a notoriously skilled assassin, Ochi was the one that Palpatine assigned to hunt down his rebellious, cloned son and his wife (Rey’s parents). Since then, Ochi has become a mainstay in several Star Wars comic series. Here’s a rundown of his history and how his latest act in Star Wars: Crimson Reign (by Charles Soule, Guru-eFX, Steven Cummings and VC’s Travis Lanham) could leave him in big trouble.
Long before the Empire, Ochi of Bestoon was a Jedi hunter and a collector of Sith artifacts. So, when Palpatine rose to prominence, he naturally recruited the assassin to his employ. Ochi’s first comic appearance came in Darth Vader (2020) #6, as an adversary to Vader. Palpatine, who was displeased with his apprentice, left the Dark Lord on Mustafar, forbade him from using the Force and sent Ochi to kill him. Of course, Vader proved his worthiness and easily defeated the Sith assassin.
After their initial confrontation, Vader and Ochi became allies. In Darth Vader (2020) and in the “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossovers, the two of them journeyed to Exegol, killed IG-88 and dealt with Sly Moore. Most recently, they have begun to investigate and root out Crimson Dawn’s moles. Although Vader was always in charge, the two of them appear to make quite a team — until Darth Vader (2020) #17. In that issue, Ochi proved that he was secretly a member of Crimson Dawn.
The events in the “War of the Bounty Hunters” portrayed the grand reemergence of Crimson Dawn under Qi’ra. Now, the brand-new Star Wars: Crimson Reign series has Crimson Dawn poised to make a galaxy-shifting move. To put it bluntly, Qi’ra wanted to kill Palpatine and Darth Vader, so that the galaxy could truly be free. Because of the series’ framing device (and the fact that Palpatine didn’t die), it’s obvious that all of Qi’ra’s conniving and plotting will fail, but that didn’t stop her from trying. In Crimson Reign #1, she orchestrated a war between multiple crime syndicates and sent the Knights of Ren on a fool’s errand, but in Crimson Reign #2, Qi’ra began her plans in earnest. Giving Ochi of Bestoon all of the resources, credits and motivation that he could need, she sent him to assassinate Palpatine at the Imperial Palace.
After buying some fancy poison from a shady dealer in Coruscant’s underworld, Ochi undertook step one. Using an ASN-909 droid, he poisoned nine out of the ten Imperial Guards while they ate breakfast. Then, he used a poison dart to hit the one guard who conveniently skipped breakfast. Because of the precise nature of the poison, Ochi’s work was devastating. As Palpatine walked into his throne room with Mas Amedda, all of the Imperial Guards dropped dead at the same time, leaving Palpatine unprotected as the issue ended.
As the Emperor’s personal bodyguards, the Imperial Guards were the best of the best. Having received advanced training in many forms of combat, the ten guards would have proven a challenge for anyone to defeat on their own. So, Ochi proved his resourcefulness by taking them out of the picture before the fight even began.
Going forward, it’s not exactly clear how Ochi plans to kill Palpatine. One on one, Palpatine would easily wipe the floor with Ochi, so the assassin must have something special up his sleeve. Regardless, it’s not going to end well for Ochi because he’s back to serving Palpatine in the sequels. Thus, the real question is how Palpatine will punish Ochi after the assassination attempt fails.
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