Star Wars’ Version of Star Trek’s Borg Assimilated A Powerful Jedi

Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic #4 ahead!

Not only did Star Wars‘ version of Star Trek‘sBorg just assimilate Jedi Master Sskeer in the latest issue of Star Wars: The High Republic, but the ways in which these creatures affect the Jedi after he recovers resembles how the Borg’s victims are impacted upon their rescue and deassimilation. In Star Trek, the Borg is basically a collective of cybernetic zombies that forces foreign lifeforms into their hive through assimilation. All of the thoughts and experiences of the foreign entity are incorporated into the collective mind at the expense of their individuality. The only purpose of an assimilated person, known as a Borg drone, is to ensure the survival and expansion of the collective.

Those who are unfortunate enough to be assimilated can be deassimilated, but vestiges of their capture will always remain. The implants of Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine are an iconic example of how a deassimilated Borg drone can be affected on a physical level, seeing as she cannot survive without them as a result of her long-term assimilation. A more common side effect manifests in the mind. For example, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is able to hear the collective hive in Star Trek: First Contact when the Enterprise comes into close proximity of a Borg Cube despite the captain having been deassimilated years earlier.

In Star Wars, the one-armed Master Sskeer falls under the control of the sentient plant-like carnivores known as the Drengir. And like the Borg, his consciousness enters into their collective hive, during which time he carries out their wishes. But within a short time frame, Sskeer is able to break free of their control, though at a price, as revealed in Star Wars: The High Republic #4 by Cavan Scott, Ario Anindito, Mark Morales and Annalisa Leoni.

Upon Sskeer’s “assimilation,” vines grow out of his shoulder, forming an appendage where his arm had once been. After he recovers, his former Padawan Keeve Trennis mentions they must be removed, to which he responds by saying, “No. They are part of me now…and I am part of them.” This undoubtedly parallels the predicament concerning Seven of Nine’s Borg implants. And, unfortunately, like Jean-Luc Picard and other deassimilated Borg, the Drengir appear to still have some hold on Sskeer mentally, as he later loses his temper, adopting the same tone he used while under the full control of the Drengir.

Star Wars‘ Drengir share many similarities with Star Trek‘s Borg, both in how they capture and control the members of their collective as well as impact the lives of those who are lucky enough to break free. But like the franchises themselves, both species are rendered completely differently. In fact, without knowing how the Borg and Drengir function, finding correlations between the two on a physical level would be impossible, as the Borg are cybernetic humanoids while the Drengir are plant-like carnivores. Hopefully Sskeer will be able to use what he just learned against the Drengir much like how Jean-Luc Picard has done on countless occasions based on his time as Locutus of Borg.

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