Brendol Hux

"Commandant Brendol Hux is a man who inspires strong loyalties. The Empire depends on a clear chain of command, and loyalties independent of that chain of command are potentially dangerous."

- Lieutenant Chiron's assessment of Commandant Hux

Brendol Hux was a human male who served the Galactic Empire. 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 cadets. 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 generals. 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.

Serving the Republic and Empire
"During the Clone Wars, I served in the Grand Army of the Republic. I was a junior officer who communicated tactics and strategy as determined by our Jedi generals"

- Brendol Hux introducing himself

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 Generals. Hux admired the combat prowess and dedication of the Republic's clone troopers and the Jedi Order, who had been trained from youth as soldiers 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 cadets in line. Dissatisfied with the caliber of the Empire's stormtroopers, 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 cadets 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.

Forging young officers
"This has been a dream of mine for years. I searched for officers who would understand what I proposed, and who could help me create these champions of our Empire. When I didn't find those officers, I decided to follow my own advice&mdash;I would create them. You have been chosen to begin this great work alongside me&mdash;to execute my design. Together, my cadets, we shall oversee the creation of legions that ensure the Empire lives forever."

- Hux addressing his Commandant's Cadets

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 Lothal rebels. 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 in order to search the beast 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
"I've seen how powerful the Empire is–and how powerful it will become if it isn't stopped. The commandant at the Academy had a vision of an Empire that will rule the galaxy forever." "And you want to keep fighting." "That's the last thing I want. But what choice do we have?"

- Zare Leonis discussing his experiences of Hux with Merei Spanjaf

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.

Escape and 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. Sloane tasked bounty hunter Mercurial Swift to ensure Hux and his son made it off Arkanis safely, which he did. Rax then appointed him as part of the Shadow Council, in his view a successor to the Imperial Ruling Council. The Shadow Council, made up of Sloane, Hux, Grand Moff Randd, Ferric Obdur, and General Hodnar Borrum, was pressured by Rax to move the hidden Imperial fleets to the Western Reaches, setting the stage for the Battle of Jakku.

Eventually, after the Empire was defeated at Jakku, it signed the Galactic Concordance that officially brought an end to the Galactic Civil War. Hux and his son fled the known galaxy joined the Imperial exodus into the Unknown Regions.

Legacy
"How capable are your soldiers, General?''" "I won't have you question my methods." "They're obviously skilled at committing high treason. Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army." "''My men are exceptionally trained&mdash;programmed from birth&mdash;"

- Kylo Ren and General Hux

Eventually, the First Order arose from the ashes of the defeated Empire. The younger 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.

Personality and traits
"Buy salt, sir. Give it to your nerfs." "So you would coddle their weaknesses? Is that any way to create a strong herd, cadet?"

- Zare and Hux; Hux was a firm believer in natural selection

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 believe 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. 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.

Behind the scenes
Brendol Hux first appeared as a minor antagonist in Jason Fry's junior novella The Secret Academy, the last book in the Servants of the Empire series. He was later identified as the father of General Hux, a secondary antagonist from Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and the mastermind behind the First Order's stormtrooper training regimen.

Appearances

 * Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy
 * Aftermath: Life Debt
 * Bloodline