Brendol Hux Brendol Hux was a human male who served the Galactic Empire . Prior to his service in the Empire , Hux had served as a junior officer in the Grand Army of the Republic , communicating tactics and strategy as determined by Jedi general s . Some four years before the Battle of Yavin , he was the commandant of the Arkanis Academy . Hux created the Commandant ' s Cadets , a secret society within his academy , made up of handpicked cadet s . After the Imperial defeat at Endor , he was trapped by the New Republic during the Siege of Arkanis . However , he escaped with the help of bounty hunter Mercurial Swift , on the orders of Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax , who appointed him a member of the new Shadow Council . He eventually sired an illegitimate son , Armitage , who would go on to become a general of the First Order as one of its first leaders . Biography . Serving the Republic and Empire . During the Clone Wars , Brendol Hux was a junior officer in the Grand Army of the Republic who communicated tactics and strategies devised by the Galactic Republic ' s Jedi General s . Hux admired the combat prowess and dedication of the Republic ' s clone trooper s and the Jedi Order , who had been trained from youth as soldier s and warriors . Following the transformation of the Republic into the Galactic Empire , Hux continued serving the Imperial Military and was eventually transferred to the Imperial Academy on Arkanis . To help run the Academy , Hux also employed the services of a servant droid called DDM - 38 or DeeDee , who was charged with keeping the cadet s in line . Dissatisfied with the caliber of the Empire ' s stormtrooper s , who were normal human recruits , Hux conceived the idea of training stormtrooper recruits from birth who would be excellent soldiers and loyal servants of the Empire . Unable to find fellow officers who would support his ideas , Hux decided to create his own loyal cadre of officers from among the Imperial cadet s at the Arkanis Academy . Eventually , Hux succeeded in creating a secret society known as the Commandant ' s Cadets which operated outside of the official Imperial hierarchy . To join the Commandant ' s Cadets , prospective members had to kill a fellow cadet while making their deaths appear to be an accident . As a result , several cadets were killed under suspicious circumstances during training exercises . Commandant ' s Cadets were given special privileges including being allowed to sit at a special table in the Academy ' s mess hall . About four years before the Battle of Yavin , Hux had recruited at least ten Commandant ' s Cadets including Orman le Hivre and Rav Horan . Age of the Empire . Forging young officers . Shortly later , a promising young cadet from Lothal named Zare Leonis was transferred to the Arkanis Academy as a " reward " for his loyalty to the Empire . However , this was a ruse created by the Grand Inquisitor , who wanted to investigate Zare ' s ties to Dev Morgan ' s rebel cell . In reality , Leonis was a secret rebel sympathizer who had joined the Academy in order to find his sister Dhara Leonis , who had been forcibly inducted by the Grand Inquisitor into Project Harvester , which was based in Area Null , a secluded tower attached to the Arkanis Academy . Following Leonis ' arrival , Hux identified Anya Razar as a prospective candidate for the Commandant ' s Cadets . Later , Anya was placed in charge of a five - member scouting mission during a field exercise that included the Cadets Leonis , Penn Zarang , Tigard Manes , Chan Harra , and Xan Lanier , a low - performing Cadet who had been marked for death by the Commandant ' s Cadets . As part of this field exercise , the cadets and their diplopod mounts had to navigate forward while under live - fire . During that exercise , Lanier was killed in an explosion that also killed his and Leonis ' diplopod mounts . Lanier ' s death was subsequently hushed up and Razar was formally inducted during into the Commandant ' s Cadets during a night ceremony at Area Null . When Leonis tried to follow Razar and the Commandant ' s Cadets into the tower , he was stopped by DeeDee , who issued him with demerits . After Razar ' s induction , Commandant Hux convened an assembly at the banquet hall which was followed by dinner . During the dinner , the Commandant was visited by the Grand Inquisitor , who spoke to Hux privately . Leonis observed the meeting and noted that the two Imperial officials were arguing . When the Inquisitor noticed Leonis looking at them , he ceased arguing with Hux . Following the dinner , the Grand Inquisitor summoned Leonis for a private meeting at the Commandant ' s balcony , with the consent of Hux . During the meeting , the Inquisitor warned Leonis that he was close to uncovering his secret connection to the Spectres . Before he could interrogate Leonis further , he was recalled for a priority mission to Lothal which subsequently claimed his life . A few days later , Commandant Hux , with DeeDee ' s assistance , summoned the Academy ' s cadets to a cliff edge overlooking a nearby beach . A nerf calf had strayed from the Academy ' s grounds to search the beach for salt only to be devoured by a sea monster . Hux took the opportunity to lecture the cadets about the value of training and asked them to come up with ideas on how to prevent future incidents from recurring . When Tigard Manes suggested a gate , the Commandant responded that gates would delay those who had business on the sea and reminded the cadets that they could not wall themselves from all of the galaxy ' s dangers . He then challenged the other cadets to come up with other ideas . When other cadets proposed drone monitors and shock fields , Hux rejected them . However , he welcome Le Hivre ' s suggestion that they should allow natural selection to eliminate those nerfs which had a taste salt . Hux then asked his cadets if they could come up to a more proactive solution that simply letting nature do its work . When Leonis recommended buying salt for the nerfs , Hux responded that coddling their weaknesses would prevent the development of a strong herd . After Leonis contended that buying salt was better than dead nerfs , Hux took the opportunity to lecture the cadets that the best solution was training the nerfs to avoid the beach . Anya then pointed out that it was only the juvenile nerfs who craved salt . Hux reiterated that they had to train the nerf herd from young to avoid the beach . Having made his point , Hux then informed the cadets that they would be embarking on training exercise on the planet Sirpar the following day , which he regarded as an ideal testing ground for officers . The rebel infiltrator . Following the grueling three - day exercise on Sirpar , Le Hivre identified Leonis as another candidate for the Commandant ' s Cadets and informed the Commandant . The conclusion of the Sirpar training exercise also coincided with the arrival of Lieutenant Chiron , an instructor at Lothal ' s Academy for Young Imperials , who had been transferred following a shake - up in the Academy ' s leadership . Unknown to Hux , Chiron had been dispatched by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin to investigate rumors that Hux had created a secret society outside the official Imperial chain of command . Using his position as a prospective Commandant ' s Cadet , Leonis offered to help Chiron investigate the Commandant ' s Cadets . After Leonis learned that he had to kill a fellow Cadet named Penn Zarang in order to join the Commandant ' s Cadets , he informed Chiron who helped stage Zarang ' s death . After burying a rotten side of nerf in " Zarang ' s " grave , Chiron arranged for Zarang to go into hiding . This ruse satisfied Le Hivre and Anya , who subsequently informed Commandant Hux . One evening , Hux invited Leonis to attend a formal dinner with the other Commandant ' s Cadets . During the dinner , Hux described his vision for the Empire and talked about how the Commandant ' s Cadets would bring it to fruition . Following the dinner , Hux announced that they would be initiating Leonis into the organization . The initiation ceremony was to take place at Area Null . Before they could enter the building , another group was exiting the ceremonial room . This group turned out to be former dissidents who had been enrolled in an Imperial re - education program known as Project Unity . One of the participants was Beck Ollet , one of Zare ' s former classmates on Lothal and a rebel sympathizer . He promptly identified Leonis as a rebel infiltrator . As a result , Leonis was interrogated and subsequently confessed to working with Dev Morgan and his rebel cell . However , he withheld any information about Chiron ' s secret investigation into the Commandant ' s Cadets . Leonis was tried by a military tribunal with Colonel Julyan , an instructor at the Arkanis Academy , serving as both the judge and prosecutor . Commandant Hux , DeeDee , and the Commandant ' s Cadets attended the proceedings and watched as Leonis acknowledged his involvement in the rebellion and pleaded guilty to various charges including fraudulent enlistment , aiding the Empire ' s enemies , sedition , and treason . Hux and the Commandant ' s Cadets also listened to Leonis ' speech denouncing the Empire but were unmoved by it . At the conclusion of the trial , Colonel Julyan expelled Leonis from military service and sentenced him to death . However , Leonis and his sister Dhara escaped due to a rescue mission launched by Dev Morgan ' s rebel associates and Leonis ' girlfriend Merei Spanjaf . Joining the Shadow Council . At some point , Hux , despite being married to his wife , Maratelle , sired an illegitimate son with a " kitchen woman " , whom he named Armitage . After the Battle of Endor , Arkanis was besieged by the newly - founded New Republic , the successor to the Rebel Alliance that Leonis ' allies had helped forge , and was in serious danger of being lost . However , Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax , intent on rebuilding the Empire , ordered his " de - facto " subordinate Grand Admiral Rae Sloane to " rescue " the Commandant from the embattled planet . Rax planned to create a Shadow Council to replace the Imperial Ruling Council and to facilitate the resurgence of the Empire . Sloane then tasked bounty hunter Mercurial Swift to ensure Hux and his son made it off Arkanis safely , which he did . Swift brought Hux and his son to the Vulpinus Nebula , where Sloane commanded a sizeable Imperial fleet . Following his rescue , Hux attended a dinner aboard the Super Star Destroyer " Ravager " with Grand Admiral Sloane , Grand Moff Randd , General Hodnar Borrum , and the Imperial propagandist Ferric Obdur . When Sloane spoke to him and said that she was glad they had evacuated him from Arkanis , he responded that the Arkanis Academy was his life work which produced the best cadets in the Empire . Randd reassured Hux that they would pick themselves up and fight back . When Hux interrupted Sloane by lamenting about the dark days facing the Empire , Sloane responded by raising the subject of Hux ' s illegitimate son . Hux described Armitage as a weak - willed boy but insisted he had potential . Despite Hux ' s reassurances , the other delegates chuckled . After Fleet Admiral Rax entered the room and announced that the Shadow Council would serve as his brain trust , Hux questioned the relevance of propaganda when the Empire needed people , ships , and vehicles on the ground . Rax responded by revealing that he commanded other Imperial fleets in the Almagest , the Recluse ' s Nebula , the Ro - Loo Triangle , and the Inamorata nebulae . Hux then outlined his strategy to fight back against the New Republic . Following the disappearance of Grand Admiral Sloane during the attack on the New Republic capital Chandrila , Hux and his fellow Shadow Council members attended a meeting chaired by Rax . After Rax reassured the delegates that they would do everything to get Sloane back , Hux asked whether she was privy to the attack on Chandrila . Rax , who had secretly ordered Sloane ' s assassination , lied that this was the case . Rax then informed the Shadow Council that he had ordered the Imperial fleets to travel to the desert planet of Jakku in the Western Reaches . He also proclaimed himself Counselor to the Empire . In secret , Rax planned to use the upcoming battle to eliminate the other Shadow Council members with the exception of Hux . Serving Counselor Rax . For several months , the Imperial remnants on Jakku awaited their showdown with the New Republic . Though Norra Wexley and her team discovered Rax ' s Imperial armada , the New Republic delayed sending its military forces due to deadlock in the Galactic Senate . During that time , Brendol Hux trained at least two dozen local orphans and children as Gallius Rax ' s personal guard of child soldiers . These children had been kidnapped by Niima the Hutt , who had struck up an alliance with Rax . Since Hux was not a member of either the Imperial Army or Imperial Navy , he was unpopular with the other Imperials on Jakku . Hux also emotionally and physically mistreated his son Armitage , causing the boy to avoid his father . In the days leading up to the Battle of Jakku , Counselor Rax summoned Hux and inquired about the training progress of his new recruits . When Hux pleaded for more time , Rax told him to prove himself with the promise that he would tell him about the secret Contingency plan When Hux expressed puzzlement , Rax warned that his failure would be punished with being force to spend the rest of his days wandering the deserts of Jakku . In order to please Rax , Hux replied that he would do whatever Rax requested . Rax ' s child soldiers assassinated the propagandist Ferric Obdur aboard the " Ravager " . After Sloane and the rebel Brentin Lore Wexley had been captured , Hux brought Rax ' s child soldiers to a hangar where several stormtroopers were present . Hux witnessed as Rax gave the order for the child soldiers to kill the stormtroopers . Following the massacre , Rax announced that he was bringing about the destruction of the " Old Empire . " Pleased with Hux ' s competence , Counselor Rax ordered Hux and the child soldiers to escort Sloane and Wexley to a tent to watch the Battle of Jakku . During the Battle of Jakku , Hux , his son Armitage , the Adviser Yupe Tashu , and the child soldiers traveled on a transport to the Jakku Observatory , a secret site which contained a replica of the late Emperor ' s luxury yacht " Imperialis " , a computerized map of the Unknown Regions , and a deep borehole which led to Jakku ' s core . Prior to his death , the late Emperor had tasked Gallius Rax with carrying out the Contingency plan to destroy the Empire should it outlive him . Rax planned to take Hux and several other select Imperials into the Unknown Regions to rebuild the Empire . In the Unknown Regions . Upon disembarking , Rax told Hux to take his son and the child soldiers aboard the " Imperialis " while he and Tashu went to trigger Jakku ' s destruction . When Hux tried to question him , Rax told him to trust in him . Rax ultimately killed Tashu before being killed by Sloane with the help of the rebels Norra Wexley and her husband Brentin Lore Wexley . Sloane managed to stop Jakku ' s self - destruct mechanism before fleeing aboard the " Imperialis " with the Huxes and the child soldiers . At the urging of the dying Rax , Sloane had decided to venture into the Unknown Regions to rebuild a more resilient version of the Empire . Using a series of safe coordinates stored inside a dataspike , the " Imperialis " traveled through the Unknown Regions for several months . During the journey , Grand Admiral Sloane befriended Hux ' s son Armitage and promised to protect the boy from his abusive father . Sloane found a despondent Brendol in his room and showed him Rax ' s bloody cape and the data spike containing the map coordinates . Despite their mutual animosity , Sloane wanted to forge an alliance so that they could rebuild the Empire . Hux tried to strangle Sloane but the Grand Admiral was an experienced martial artist and beat him into submission . Using the threat of physical force , Sloane then ordered Hux to work for her . She also warned him to stop mistreating Armitage and to teach him everything he knew about the Empire . After blubbering , Hux nodded his head . For the rest of the journey , Brendol bid his time by training his son and Rax ' s child soldiers in combat . During that time , Hux trimmed his hair and bear and lost some of his excess weight . Several months after the Battle of Jakku , the " Imperialis " rendezvoused with the Super Star Destroyer " Eclipse " , which Rax had sent earlier into the Unknown Regions as part of the Contingency . As they approached the " Eclipse " , Hux expressed his support for Sloane ' s plan to rebuild the Empire and remarked " glory be to Grand Admiral Sloane . " Sloane responded by corrected him that glory only went to the Empire . In Rax ' s absence , Grand Vizier Mas Amedda sued for peace and signed the Galactic Concordance with the New Republic , officially dissolving the Empire and ending the Galactic Civil War . With the Empire reduced to a remnant hemmed in by harsh war reparations and strict disarmament treaties , the New Republic turned its attention to reshaping the galactic order . Hux and Armitage joined the Imperial exodus that fled the known galaxy into the Unknown Regions . In exile , the elder Hux raised his son on stories of great Imperials and how the Empire had saved the galaxy from the violence of the Clone Wars . Following the Galactic Concordance , many on Arkanis speculated on the circumstances of Hux ' s disappearance . While some claimed that he had given up , others like the First Order sympathizer and New Republic Senator Lady Carise Sindian believed that a hero of the Empire would not have surrendered so abjectly . While her First Order handlers had not disclosed Hux ' s fate , she believed that he was somehow aiding them . Death . Sometime after Phasma ' s recruitment and Brendol ' s return from his shipwreck on Parnassos , Phasma and Armitage met and conspired to assassin ate Brendol . Both agreed that the time had come for Brendol to die , and Hux left the actual killing up to Phasma with his only instruction being that she make it untraceable . Phasma went on to kill Brendol with the toxin from the bite of a Parnassos beetle . Legacy . Eventually , the First Order arose from the ashes of the defeated Empire . Armitage Hux , having grown up hearing his father ' s stories about how the Empire saved the galaxy from the chaos of the Clone Wars , followed in his footsteps and became a general within its ranks . Armitage adopted his father ' s practices to ruthlessly train a new generation of specially - bred stormtroopers to help destroy the Republic and restore what he saw as order to a chaotic galaxy . General Hux , the commander of the superweapon known as Starkiller Base , delivered a devastating blow to the New Republic by destroying its capital of Hosnian Prime , but the base was destroyed by the Resistance that had been formed to combat the First Order . General Hux and the First Order , however , lived on to continue fighting . In addition , Cardinal was considered to be one of Brendol ' s best recruits and right - hand man , someone who would earn even the high regard of Supreme Leader Snoke himself . Cardinal would personally head the physical training for the stormtrooper program . He would eventually come to blows with both Phasma and Armitage for their roles in the death of Brendol Hux . His first attempt to kill Phasma would fail , leading to him coming close to death and necessitating the aid of Resistance operative and spy Vi Moradi . His fate thereafter would remain unknown for some time . Personality and traits . Brendol Hux was a dedicated but ruthless Imperial military officer who wanted to create deeply loyal stormtroopers who excelled in combat . While he admired the combat prowess and devotion of the Old Republic ' s clone troopers and Jedi Order , he regarded the Empire ' s stormtroopers as sub - par in comparison to their historical predecessors . As a result , Hux conceived the idea of raising worthy stormtroopers from birth . While his ideas were rejected by contemporary Imperial officers during the reign of Emperor Palpatine , his ideas were readily accepted by the First Order and greatly influenced the military junta ' s stormtrooper training regime . In addition , Hux was a firm believer in natural selection and advocated weeding out " undesirable " individuals , whether cadets or nerfs , in order to create a strong population . Hux ' s adherence to natural selection led him to engineer the deaths of several " low - performing " cadets including Xan Lanier . Hux ' s efforts to raise a strong herd of nerfs led him to reject protective measures in favor of using punishment and the threat of death to bring the animals into line . By 5 ABY , Hux had gained weight and his jaw was covered by stubble . Grand Admiral Sloane regarded him as a " big , blustering , ego - fed pig " and disliked his habit of interjecting during conversations . Hux was embarrassed when Sloane raised the matter of his illegitimate son Armitage Hux . Hux took pride in his cadets and was annoyed when Sloane suggested that even they were not enough to save the Empire from defeat . While Hux regarded his son as a weak - willled boy , he believed that the boy still had potential . While skeptical of Fleet Admiral Rax ' s plans , he was mollified when Rax revealed that he commanded several Imperial fleets scattered across the Galaxy . The harsh desert conditions of Jakku took a toll on Hux . His hair became unkempt and he developed a paunch . Brendol spent little time with his son Armitage and mistreated the boy physically and psychologically . Brendol used his skills as a commandant to train local orphans into Rax ' s praetorian guard of assassins and child soldiers . Brendol came to put his faith in Gallius Rax ' s vision of a resurgent Empire and acquiesced to the Contingency plan . Hux had a poor relationship with Sloane , who disapproved of his harsh treatment of Armitage . Hux was no match for the seasoned Sloane in unarmed combat and became her subordinate ally . The older Hux also exhibited signs of sycophancy after being beaten into submission by Sloane . As a patriotic Imperial , Hux raised his son on stories of heroic Imperials and how the Empire had saved the galaxy from chaos after the Clone Wars . The younger Hux also accepted the older Hux ' s view that the New Republic was too weak to save the galaxy from chaos and that the First Order was needed to save the galaxy from itself . One of his recruits from Jakku , Cardinal , would notice that Hux tended to look at him in a much more closer and familial light than he did his own son . Cardinal would quickly grow to accept Hux ' s indoctrination and would take to heart the lessons imparted to him about loyalty to the First Order above all else . Behind the scenes . Brendol Hux first appeared as a minor antagonist in Jason Fry ' s 2015 junior novella , the last book in the " " series . He was later identified as the father of General Hux , a secondary antagonist from " " and the mastermind behind the First Order ' s stormtrooper training regimen . Hux was briefly mentioned in Claudia Gray ' s 2016 novel " Bloodline " . He later appeared as a supporting character in Chuck Wendig ' s 2016 novel " " , the second book in " " . He was also one of the main characters of the " " novel " Phasma . " The character was created by Jason Fry , who upon being given story material for " The Force Awakens " to review for the reference title " " noted that the character of Hux was very young . He saw an opportunity to introduce the character ' s origins and build excitement for the film , while showing the Commandant ' s Cadets as real threat for new readers following the film ' s release . He rejected another idea of tying the characters of Anya Razar from the same novel and Captain Phasma from " The Force Awakens " together by suggesting they were one and the same , but did suggest an idea of the droid DDM - 38 pushing a red - haired baby in a pram . While this was rejected , he nevertheless enjoyed seeing a fan - art of the young Armitage Hux in the arms of a creepy nanny droid .