I think Star Wars has secretly revealed the horrific origin for the Drengir, one of the most dangerous monsters in canon. Recent Star Wars stories have explored the High Republic Era, the golden age of the Jedi and the Republic. This was a time when the light of the Jedi shone brightly across the galaxy – but all light casts a shadow, and the Jedi found themselves opposed by terrifying dark side monsters.

The Jedi accidentally awoke one of the Sith’s ancient allies, a race of carnivorous plant-creatures called Drengir. Strong in the dark side of the Force, the Drengir share a dark side hive mind that even Jedi cannot always resist – with some of the mightiest Jedi almost subsumed into the Drengir hive mind. But shockingly, I think George Mann’s new audiobook Haunted Starlight hints at the true origin of the Drengir – one more horrific than anything I’d ever considered before.

The Drengir & The Great Progenitor Explained

The Center Of The Hive Mind

The Great Progenitor was the first of the Drengir, and it is the center of the hive mind. A fearsome and power-hungry monster, the Great Progenitor formed an alliance with the Sith around 2,500 years before the Skywalker saga, and they worked together for a time, until the Sith eventually betrayed it. The Sith used dark side artifacts to bind the Great Progenitor, but it was freed when the Jedi unwittingly destroyed them.

The Drengir hive mind is absolutely centered on the Great Progenitor. This meant the entire race of Drengir were rendered dormant when the Jedi successfully neutralized the Great Progenitor for a time, although they made the mistake of keeping the creature on their satellite base Starlight Beacon. Space pirates known as the Nihil successfully brought down Starlight Beacon – one of the darkest moments for the Jedi before Order 66 – and the Great Progenitor has awoken again.

The Drengir Can Absorb Humans Into Their Hive Mind… But There’s A Catch

A Rival For The Great Progenitor?

Haunted Starlight features a major twist, though, when a dying Drengir releases spores in the face of a human being – a member of the aforementioned Nihil. He gradually begins to undergo a shocking metamorphosis, morphing into a plant creature himself. At first, it seems as though this places him under the control of the Great Progenitor; surprisingly, though, he is able to resist it. In fact, he is able to become a rival for the Great Progenitor.

This Nihil is able to manipulate the hive mind, drawing Drengir to his side and essentially leading an uprising against the Great Progenitor. I’m not going to spoil Haunted Starlight by revealing how this plays out, of course. What I would note, though, is that this raises a chilling possibility; that the Great Progenitor itself has a similar origin.

Was The Great Progenitor Once A Sith Lord?

The Ultimate Sithspawn

I’ve long suspected that the Drengir were not just allies of the Sith, but rather that they created them. The ancient Sith are known for creating sithspawn such as the terentatek, monstrous creatures that defied the laws of nature and often had close ties to the dark side. Although Sithspawn were explored in greater detail by the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, but they’ve been seen in canon, notably in Cavan Scott’s fantastic audiobook Dooku: Jedi Lost.

Mann’s Haunted Starlight raises the possibility that the Great Progenitor, the first of the Drengir, was created in a similar process. Could it have once been a human being, exposed to spores created by the Sith, transformed into something far more dangerous? It’s so easy to imagine a Sith Lord experimenting on someone like this.

There are other, even darker, possibilities. I can’t help but wonder whether the Great Progenitor was once a Sith Lord, who experimented on themselves in the hopes of creating a dark side hive mind that they ruled. Free will, after all, is the bane of the Sith; they believe in imposing their own freedom over that of others, explaining why they have created such terrible totalitarian regimes throughout galactic history. Given millennia have pᴀssed, the Great Progenitor could itself have forgotten this origin.

“The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural,” Palpatine claimed in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The creation of Sithspawn is one such ability, but this dark theory suggests actual transformation is another, with a Sith Lord learning how to transform a mammalian being into a plant-like creature. This chilling Star Wars theory makes perfect sense – and I’d be fascinated to see whether more evidence is eventually provided.