Summary
When it comes to missed opportunities within theStar Warsuniverse, not many are as compelling as the one Disney’s creative team has, thus far, missed out on: Crimson Dawn. The Galactic Empire, led by the ruthless Sith lord, Emperor Palpatine, was occupied with trying to crush the heart, soul, and will of the rebellion and tightening its steely grip on the galaxy. But meanwhile, hidden within the shadows of the underworld, a criminal syndicate was strategically positioning itself — along with crafting an ideology it was proselytizing to society’s castaways — to be its biggest threat.
Crimson Dawn had as its founder and head honcho the Sith lord that fans love with a passion, or love to hate with a passion: Darth Maul. His organization was hard at work undermining everything the Empire was building, all while remaining unseen and uninterrupted, making it the most dangerous criminal element inStar Wars.
While Palpatine and his forever apprentice, Darth Vader, were attempting to stamp out the rebellion beginning to rise all across the galaxy, they were oblivious to their greatest threat. That threat was being built up by another Sith, one believed to have been killed long ago. Here’s a look at why Crimson Dawn provided a much greater threat than anyone else to the Empire’s existence.
A Master Strategist in the Underworld
Darth Maul isn’t a has-been or a useless relic from the Sith order of the past.He’s a force to be reckoned with, a vengeful cyclone of fury that was birthed by suffering and tragedy combined with ruthless cunning. All of his most deadly attributes arose during his Dark Side training with Palpatine (Darth Sidious) during the events that transpired before the prequel series. Maul viewed Palpatine as a father figure, but the latter abused Maul both physically and psychologically, before Palpatine ultimately betrayed his protégé.
After he survived the battle against a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his dramatic transformation inThe Clone Wars, Maul took all the hate that boiled and cooked within his soul, and turned it toward both the Sith and the Jedi and used it to fuel his crusade. Crimson Dawn was far more than a criminal enterprise. For Maul, it was a tool to use against his enemies through weapons of influence and indirect warfare. In other words, Maul is a master strategist.
What makes Maul a particularly dangerous threat is how he can take theideology he learned from Palpatine, the way of the Sith, and blend it with criminal pragmatism. He uses fear, manipulation, and hierarchy, tools that are typically employed by both criminal lords and the Empire itself, to create an organization able to infiltrate the galactic black market at almost every level. Crimson Dawn wasn’t only trading spice and weapons to make a quick interstellar buck, but to gain and trade influence, secrets, and leverage.
Operating in the Shadows of the Galactic Empire
Crimson Dawn, under the leadership of Darth Maul, was building a secret empire of their own, a secret one, while both the Emperor and Vader were busy utilizing their military dominance to stomp out the rebellion. Unlike the Empire, Crimson Dawn didn’t need suped-up fleets of Star Destroyers or moon-sized space stations like the Death Star.
They used fear, loyalty bought with credits, and an entire network of dedicated operatives that managed to slip within the Imperial machine itself. Fans can seejust how functional Crimson Dawnis inSolo: A Star Wars Story.During the movie, audiences discover that the crime syndicate has gotten wrapped up with planetary governments, various corporate interests, and even a few Imperial officers.
The Empire, oblivious to all of this happening right under their noses, didn’t realize that Crimson Dawn was more than a nuisance, but an actual power structure parallel to itself. They had gained so much power and influence that they could have undermined the Empire from within it. Over time, they would likely pull the whole thing to the ground and fill the power vacuum themselves.
Did Crimson Dawn Cause the Rebellion?
Could Crimson Dawn have inadvertently fueled the Rebellion against the Empire? It’s possible that by performing operations that ultimately destabilized Imperial trade routes, killing corrupt officials, and disrupting allegiances between planets, the organization might have made room for anti-Imperial sentiment to take root and grow.
Of course, Crimson Dawn isn’t ideologically alignedwith the Rebel Alliancein any way, shape, or form, but they had similar goals: weaken the Empire. Maul’s endgame was to cause chaos and, through it, control. He had no desire to bring balance or freedom to the galaxy.
Ultimately, what led to the secret rise of Crimson Dawn inStar Warswas the arrogance of the Empire, which blinded them to this threat. Palpatine foolishly believed that since the Jedi were annihilated and the rule of the Sith secured, there was no other force in the galaxy that could rival him. He was wrong, of course. In reality, the Empire fell to the Rebel Alliance not due to one major blow, but a thousand tiny cuts, with more than a few of them being delivered by Crimson Dawn.
