"Darth" Novak, Villain or Vilified?

Few men in recent memory have commanded the public's fascination as thoroughly, or perhaps, as uniquely as Jericho Novak. Usually, such men are "larger than life," and usually antagonists; men like Dooku or Palpatine, both compelling figures whose stories are simple for us to understand, and even to admire in a sense. Palpatine; a man of twisted genius, destroyer of worlds, the personification of evil. Dooku; a good, but disillusioned man, an idealist misguided by his own ideas, a tragic figure. So which one is Novak, who claims to follow in the footsteps of both Dooku and Palpatine and, like them, proclaims himself a Sith?

He would have us believe that he is a Dooku; he says, after all, that he is a "new" Sith, with a desire for reform, not conquest. In this version, he is both a defender and a man of the people, seeking an era of peace and--admittedly, cliche--harmony between the Sith and the New Republic. The Senate, however, and over 99% of the people in recent polls believe him a Palpatine; an ambitious and wicked man, whose words are just words and whose promises are empty. Far from a "defender of the people," in this version he would sacrifice the people as means to his ends and, ultimately, rule us all.

But perhaps the more pertinent question is who is Novak, personally? For he is, surely, an enigmatic figure, a man of contradictions both in his background and his beliefs. He claims to be from another time; a Sith apprentice and a warrior of the Separatists, lost for decades in suspended animation, and in hyperspace, and returning only now to a galaxy that has changed since, but whose discord between good and evil has remained the same. The Republic became the Empire, the Empire became the Remnant, and he opposes it now as he did then, or so he says.

Few, if anyone, believes this fantastic story (of course, there is nothing to disprove it; but it is not for us to disprove, rather it is for Novak to prove to us). What we know for certain is that "Jericho Novak" did not exist in any records, anywhere, until a month ago when he appeared, suddenly, to the New Republic and the galaxy. Yes, his vessels and droids are dated from the Clone Wars, but there are myriad ways he could have acquired them. So, is Novak an anonymous man of extraordinary means creating a legend for himself? Is he delusional? Is he perpetrating a fraud upon the galaxy, and if so, to what end? We can only wonder.

But there is little doubt that he is, in fact, a Sith--the Jedi have confirmed this to be true. But if we assume for the sake of argument that he is who he claims to be, and his story is true, this raises only more contradictions; namely, how could he reconcile a hatred of the Empire with the fact that it was his purported master, Palpatine, who created it? And how could he reconcile a desire to join the New Republic, when it was founded to restore the Old Republic which his other master, Dooku, dedicated his life to destroy? And there are still more discrepancies; for instance, both Dooku and Palpatine were believers in the "rule of two," and would not likely have conferred the title of "Darth" to anyone, as Novak claims.

Inevitably, as with any man throughout history, and particularly in Novak's case, he must be judged ultimately by his deeds, not his words. His personal story is a dubious one, but otherwise he has said all the right things to the New Republic, and his adopted home of Druckenwell. There, he has found a supporter--albeit, an inconstant one--in the planet's Governor, Lomen Ryuun, with whose blessing Novak has become a prominent minister of defense. He presents himself as a man of the people of Druckenwell, and in remarkable contrast to the rest of the galaxy, they regard him not as a threat, but a curiosity, and they generally support him in most opinion polls (though most remain wary of "the Sith," as an abstraction).

But Novak has not shrunk from his affiliation with the Sith. Quite the opposite; he has embraced it, and declared the founding of a "new Sith Order" with its Temple on Druckenwell. This news had made much of the galaxy (the formidible 99%) understandably ill at ease, weary as we are of countless wars throughout history caused and waged by the Sith at the cost of trillions of lives and decades of social and economic progress. Even the Imperial Remnant seems wary of the Sith, with many of its leaders blaming Palpatine's superstitions and Vader's impulsiveness for the defeat of the Empire.

The New Republic, however, until recently has been presented with a legal dilemma; how to confront Novak and dismantle his "Sith Order," when Novak continues to present himself, ostensibly, as a savant and servant of the Republic? The question arises, are the Sith, legally, a religious order? Do they have a right to practice their beliefs? Or is it, in the words of one Senator, "a terrorist ideology"? The question remains unresolved, but ironically, Novak himself has provided the Republic its justification, on other grounds, to remove him as defense minister and close down his order; evidence of impropriety.

For it has been alleged in only the last few hours, as of when this editorial is written, that Novak, in fact, is not what he seems. According to Governor Ryuun, Novak's vessels have "disappeared" from Druckenwell for hours on end, raiding unsuspecting and largely defenseless Outer Rim worlds and abducting their unsuspecting and largely defenseless people, for reasons unknown. And an incident on Endor has been recorded in which one of Novak's "new" Sith apprentices was arrested in the act of warfare with the innocuous, native Ewoks with Novak's own battle droids, it is alleged. The details of these events are still becoming known to us, but the New Republic has decided, in the words of its Chief of State, that "these acts must not be abided in a free society, if it is to remain free."

As of now when I write this, the New Republic is on its way, in force, to confront Novak on Druckenwell.

It should be noted, of course, that both Dooku and Palpatine met similar, and similarly violent, ends. So ultimately, it may not matter which figure Novak more closely resembles. The conduct and the crimes--atrocities, even--alleged against him are certainly reminiscent of the worst of the Sith throughout history, Palpatine and Dooku included. It would suggest (certainly to the 99%, and to history) that Novak's promises of peace and harmony, and his bold candor, were elaborate ruses to serve some clandestine purpose that remains unknown to us--as so much about Novak remains unknown to us. With the New Republic's intervention, we may never know what that purpose is, and for that, perhaps we should be thankful.

Ultimately, whatever Novak's intentions truly were, and whether his brand of the Sith are "new" or old, the result has been the same as it has been with the Sith throughout history: blood, violence, and destruction.