Star Wars: 10 Scariest Things Hidden In The Unknown Regions

Star Wars movies, books, and more have been teasing the Unknown Regions for some time now. This area of space is generally unknown to the otherwise well-mapped galaxy far, far away, giving creators and fans alike new aspects of the franchise to explore. So far, much of what is known about this mysterious region is terrifying.

Many dark and sinister things lurk in the Unknown Regions, some of which have been explored in the movies, such as the planet Exegol in The Rise Of Skywalker. Others have only been hinted at, promising more stories in future Star Wars content for years to come.

10 The Darkness Of Ahch-To

Ahch-To is a major planet in the Unknown Regions and in the sequel trilogy. This planet is home to the first Jedi Temple, and on the isolated island where it resides, it’s also host to a strange darkness. While budding Jedi Rey was on the island trying to compel Luke Skywalker to come back to the fight against the First Order with her, she entered a dark cave on the island.

This darkness seems to function much the way the cave on Dagobah did in The Empire Strikes Back. It is a source, or concentration at least, of the Dark Side and drew Rey in, quick and easy, much to Luke Skywalker’s surprise.

9 Queluhan Nebula

The Queluhan Nebula lies within the Unknown Regions and played a role in the still somewhat murky transition between the Imperial Remnant and the First Order. The surviving Imperial fleet retreated to the nebula after the Battle Of Jakku, which finally broke the Imperial holdouts in the galaxy.

The assembly of this fleet was depicted both in the Lost Stars YA novel and the manga adaptation. It remains an open question whether this fleet directly evolved into the First Order or combined with other factions.

8 Grysk Hegemony

The Unknown Regions are home to many powerful empires and factions. The Grysk Hegemony is just one. This fierce, powerful collection of worlds is unique because they appear to have at least a surface connection to the Yuuzhan Vong, an alien race that played a major role in the later events of Star Wars Legends.

The nomadic race made some incursions into Imperial space, but primarily fought against the Chiss Ascendancy, another major power within the Unknown Regions and home of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

7 The Chiss Ascendency

One of the most interesting things to develop out of recent Star Wars books is the Chiss Ascendancy, a major empire in the Unknown Regions and birthplace of the mysterious Grand Admiral Thrawn. This somewhat reclusive power has been explored through the recent series of Thrawn novels by Timothy Zahn.

The otherwise isolationist power eventually put the brilliant Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Empire because they encountered an as yet untold threat in the Unknown Regions. This threat is of such power the Chiss thought an alliance with the Empire was worth exploring.

6 Exegol

The Unknown Regions isn’t just home to strange and scary empires. It’s also home to mysterious planets. Exegol first appeared in The Rise Of Skywalker and is the site of a major Sith temple, and perhaps more. Exegol has a strange appearance and composition. Its atmosphere is a murky, violent fog cocooning what seems to be a desert.

Static discharges created from the interaction of so much dust in its atmosphere create a constant lightning storm all over the planet, shrouding it in constant darkness.

5 The Sith Eternal

Perhaps the scariest thing about Exegol, and perhaps the Unknown Regions as a whole, is the presence of the Sith Eternal on the planet. Very little is known about this cult-like group, except they were a fanatical band of loyalists that kept the Sith tradition alive after the deaths of both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader.

Their dark efforts led to the creation of clone bodies for the disembodied spirit of Palpatine, one of the greatest Sith Lords in galactic history. They appeared to meet their end along with him in the climax of The Rise Of Skywalker.

4 The Dassal System

The Dasaal System is the site of a mysterious and dark disaster that hints perhaps at the threat the Chiss Ascendancy may have encountered.

In “The Core Problem,” an episode of Star Wars: Resistance, Kazuda Xiono and Resistance hero Poe Dameron travel to the system and discover its sun is missing. How this was achieved was left a mystery, along with another frightening discovery. Virtually all the planets in the system were dead, with their cores hollowed out of them by some terrific force.

3 Starkiller Base

One of the scariest and most powerful things that had been hidden in the Unknown Regions is Starkiller Base. This planet-sized superweapon was responsible for the destruction of numerous planets, including the Hosnian system, virtually decapitating the government of the New Republic.

The existence of Starkiller Base and the heroic destruction of it may have been one thing The Force Awakens could have done better, but the frightening power of the weapon nevertheless makes it one of the worst things in the Unknown Regions.

2 Supreme Leader Snoke

Perhaps the most insidious threat lurking in the Unknown Regions is Supreme Leader Snoke. This powerful Dark Side user was the subject of many theories, but in the end, it seems he was at the very least a product of the same conspiracy as the clone Palpatine.

Nevertheless, Snoke was a powerful Force user who manipulated and orchestrated the rise of the First Order. His secret plans led to the destruction of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Order and the annihilation of billions of people in a flash from Starkiller Base.

1 The First Order

The First Order is one arm of a many-tentacled darkness that terrorized the galaxy. The First Order roses from the ashes of the Empire, fusing elements of Imperial holdouts with new recruits often in the form of kidnapped children like Finn.

The First Order led a campaign of violence and fear in the Unknown Regions for decades before emerging from the shadows back on the galactic stage in The Force Awakens. Their power nearly overwhelmed The New Republic in a series of swift, devastating attacks all across the galaxy.

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