General Hux — played by Domhnall Gleeson — was a memorable character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens despite having precious little screen time. Now a new in-canon book is revealing more about the character (but nothing about who Rey’s parents are, sorry). Prior to now, not much was known about this commander of Starkiller Base, other than he really likes watching Hosnian Prime and the other planets in its system get destroyed:
I came out to attack people and I’m honestly feeling so good right now.
Most of what we knew about Hux (we didn’t even know his first name until now) was from Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary, which listed him as the son of Brendol Hux and said he grew up believing it was his destiny to rule the universe. Brendol created the training method his son was using in Force Awakens, brainwashing Stormtroopers from birth using simulations. (Yes, when Kylo suggests that Hux use a clone army instead, he’s insulting Hux’s dad. So catty.)
Brendol was a total bastard, establishing a secret society that required new recruits murder a fellow cadet and make it look like an accident. And hey, guess who else was a bastard? Brendol’s son, according to the new book in the Aftermath series.
Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig is an in-canon Star Wars novel released today, but The Society Penguin snagged an early copy and posted a picture of a relevant page. In it, a character tries to upset Brendol by asking about his illegitimate son. Earlier in the novel, it’s revealed he knocked up a kitchen servant he was cheating on his wife with, and she gave birth to the future commander of Starkiller Base, who is named Armitage Hux.
The way Brendol describes his son is pretty telling; no wonder the ginger space fascist has got issues:
“Armitage is a weak-willed boy. Thin as a slip of paper and just as useless. But I’ll teach him. You’ll… You’ll see. He has potential.”
Yeesh. I think we can take this as a lesson about what happens when you call a member of the First Order “useless.”
(Via The Society Penguin and Reserve)
