The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi

The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi is an upcoming Star Wars: The High Republic adult novel by Charles Soule. It will be published as the final novel of the multimedia project's Phase III on June 17, 2025, as well as the project itself. Its audio version is set to be released alongside the novel.
==Publisher's summary==
In this epic conclusion to Star Wars: The High Republic, the Jedi face a final confrontation against the Nihil and Marchion Ro.
The Force is everything. A single life connected to all life. All things connected to all other things. This is what the Jedi believe, and this is why they fight. For life…and the light.
For too long, the light has been threatened by Marchion Ro, a sinister despot who will stop at nothing in his quest for power. The conflict with Ro and his marauding Nihil forces has left scars across the galaxy and held the Republic hostage. Countless lives have been lost, beacons of hope have fallen, and the collective courage and resolve of the Republic have been tested like never before. Through it all the Jedi Order has endured, an unwavering candle against the encroaching darkness.
But the Jedi have yet to solve the mystery of the Nameless creatures who feed on the Force. Ro has loosed them upon the galaxy, striking fear into the heart of even the most stalwart Jedi. And yet with every life saved and world freed from Nihil control, the all-consuming blight, which devours everything wherever it appears, threatens to wipe it all away.
Everything now depends on nine brave Jedi, led by Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, who embark on a treacherous journey to the Nameless homeworld. Their quest: to finally solve the mystery of the Nameless and their connection to the Force, and to stop the blight before its damage becomes irreversible.
But a final confrontation with Marchion Ro awaits. Ro, who is willing to sacrifice everything he's achieved to secure a final victory against the Jedi and carve his name into the very stars for all time.
Nothing less than the fate of everything, perhaps even the Force itself, is at stake.
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==Development==
===Writing process and drafts===
The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi is the final novel of the Star Wars: The High Republic initiative and, in words of author Charles Soule, "completes the story cycle" built over the course of the project. Soule himself had previously written the 2021 The High Republic novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, which had launched The High Republic initiative. While writing Trials of the Jedi, Soule considered the work his "High Republic priority" and decided against working on other High Republic projects, such as the comic The Broken Blade, to ensure Trials was as good as possible. The goal for Trials of the Jedi and other late High Republic stories, as was stated at the Lucasfilm Publishing Panel of New York Comic Con 2024, was to "go out on a high note" after years' worth of storytelling. Furthermore, the authors hoped to capture the same feel as the original wave of The High Republic works. Soule also made an effort to ensure the book could be read by those unfamiliar with the larger The High Republic story or even the overall Star Wars mythology, later joking that everyone on the Earth should read the book.
Part of the development process involved The High Republic team getting back together in weekly meetings and calls, along with engaging in long text strings, to prepare the initiative's grand finale and work within the confines created by years of telling the era's story. The team found themselves with years worth of storytelling to be paid off and a finale deeply connected between various works, but he promised the team and himself were "old hands" at such a process by that point. As part of his preparations for Trials of the Jedi, Soule read fellow author George Mann's novel The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless twice. Soule said he was "deep into" Trials of the Jedi as of December 20, 2023. On January 5, 2024, in honor of the third anniversary of The Light of the Jedi, Soule revealed he had "just finished" an outline of Trials of the Jedi and promised it would be fantastic. Soule revealed the as of then current first line of Trials of the Jedi via his Twitter account on March 15, 2024. While Soule stated the line was subject to change, editor Tom Hoeler stated the sentence had been approved. While reading Soule's early drafts, Hoeler built an editorial music playlist.
On April 9 of that year via his Twitter page, Soule revealed he had completed a chapter he deemed to be the best work he had written in sometime. He also revealed in the Tweet that Torban Buck would be a character in the book and was the point of view character in said chapter. Soule further stated there would be many point of view chapters in the novel and joked to Wookieepedia that the novel would see over 27,909 wiki pages in need of an update. In his April Newsletter, Soule stated the novel was "proceeding apace." On June 9 via Twitter, Soule reported he was "hard at work" on the novel. In that Tweet, he also promised point of view characters "never before shown in the High Republic." When asked if that meant pre-existing High Republic Era characters whose points of view had not yet been explored in works or if it implied points of view from characters not yet seen in The High Republic would be featured, Soule implied both were the case.
Other teases Soule provided at various points included that Jeffo Lorillia might appear in the novel, something he later outright confirmed, the book would address how common charhounds—a species seen throughout The High Republic via the individual charhound Ember—were in the galaxy, Grand Master Yoda would have a point of view chapter of his own, and the characters of Bell Zettifar, Burryaga Agaburry, and Ember were featured "all over" the book. He also confirmed Joss Adren would appear, with Soule further stating one of his favorite moments was an internal monologue the man had with himself as to whether he needed another beer. As of July 22, 2024, a draft of Trials of the Jedi existed in some form, with Soule sharing a copy of himself reading it before a fire on that day. Hoeler revealed that he was reading through the book on August 21 of that year.
At New York Comic Con 2024, it was stated that Trials of the Jedi was nearly completed. The panel teased that the book centered on the Jedi traveling to somewhere they had never ventured before and was structured like a cyclone, beginning with a wide-reaching plot that, with time, grows narrower but more dangerous. In particular, Soule stated that the fates of the The High Republic cast would come down to "four or five pages" late into the book. Soule stated the pages would make fans want to bang on a table. On November 3, to provide Twitter users with a post that would not feed into doomscrolling, Soule revealed he was working on the third draft of Trials of the Jedi and promised fans it was "very good."
===Release===
Trials of the Jedi went up for preorder on September 18, 2024, with the planned release date of June 17, 2025. The Lucasfilm Publishing Panel at New York Comic Con 2024 revealed concept art of Jedi Master Avar Kriss, former Jedi Azlin Rell, Jedi Knight Bell Zettifar, Knight Burryaga Agaburry, and Master Elzar Mann in Temple Guard-inspired armor for Trials of the Jedi. StarWars.com's recap article further promised they were ready to bring the battle to the Nihil and Nameless themselves. The Trials of the Jedi cover, however, was specifically held back from being shown at the panel. In his same November 3rd tweet about the book's third draft, Soule joked about how the "Powers That Be" had urged him not to spoil the book. On November 4, Soule promised that the cover reveal was forthcoming. On January 22, 2025, Soule revealed that the cover would be unveiled on January 28. He posted the bottom of the cover as a tease in the meantime. Meanwhile, after listening to it for a final time, Hoeler decided against revealing his editorial music playlist and instead deleted it to ensure Trials of the Jedi spoke for itself.
After Soule confirmed the cover reveal would come at 11:00 AM Eastern Time Zone via io9, the cover was indeed revealed in an article by writer James Whitbrook and by Soule himself, who described the novel as "everything you want" and more. He also thanked Whitbrook for the "great launch piece" on io9. As Soule had also promised, he provided even more detailed in his personal newsletter, including the textless cover art. Soule revealed in that newsletter the novel had ended up around 125,000 words long, which he reckoned would result in an over 500 page novel.Charles Soule's monthly newsletter (January 28, 2025) Hoeler stated that the book was, by word count at least, shorter than the prior Star Wars book Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil but affirmed the word count was around 125,000, which he stated was not even fully locked in yet.
==Media==
===Cover gallery===
File:TheHighRepublic-TrialsoftheJedi-Cover.png|Front cover
File:TrialsOfTheJedi-TextlessCover.jpg|Textless cover
==Appearances==
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External Links==
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Trials of the Jedi