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"He has a child—a bastard boy, as I understand. Not born of his wife, Maratelle, but of some…kitchen woman."
―Gallius Rax, on the Hux family[3]

The Hux family was a human clan that achieved prominence—first, in the Galactic Civil War; and later, during the Cold War—in galactic history. Although their origins dated back to the twilight years of the Galactic Republic, the Huxes gradually amassed power and influence under the reign of the Galactic Empire through Brendol Hux, who served as Commandant of the Imperial Academy on Arkanis following his service in the Clone Wars. Having witnessed the fighting prowess of clone troopers and Jedi Knights during his time as a Republic officer, Brendol held Imperial stormtroopers in low regard and, therefore, believed that the ideal soldier was molded from birth. Brendol's views passed on to his bastard son Armitage Hux, who credited himself as the architect of the First Order's army of super-soldiers.

In the waning days of the Galactic Civil War, Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax took a special interest in the Hux family, believing Brendol and Armitage were critical to the Empire's future. As a result, the Huxes were spirited away to the Unknown Regions following the New Republic's decisive victory over the Empire. Using the Empire's rebirth as the First Order as a means to implement his methods, Brendol was responsible for the training of a new generation of stormtrooperschild conscripts who were trained from birth and programmed for absolute loyalty. After Brendol died, murdered by his son with the help of Captain Phasma, Armitage secured his future as a leading figure in the First Order. As the hermit state secretly prepared for war, Armitage gained the rank of general, served as a member of First Order High Command, and answered directly to Supreme Leader Snoke. In secret, Armitage coveted the throne of the Supreme Leader as he believed it was his fate to rule the galaxy.

History[]

The Commandant and his son[]

"Brendol, I understand you have a son. Not of your wife—an illegitimate child? Will he be the best the Empire has to offer?"
"I… Armitage is a weak-willed boy. Thin as a slip of paper and just as useless. But I'll teach him. You'll… you'll see. He has potential."
―Rae Sloane and Brendol Hux, on Armitage Hux[3]
BrendolHux-CGttSWG

Commandant Brendol Hux served the Galactic Empire until its downfall.

The Huxes were a family of humans who served the Galactic Empire[1] and its successor state, the First Order.[8] Brendol Hux, an ambitious man who began his career as a military officer of the Galactic Republic,[1] achieved prominence under the patronage of Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax during the last days of the Galactic Civil War.[3]

As the Commandant of the Arkanis Academy, Brendol took interest in the development and overall quality of the Stormtrooper Corps. Ultimately, he believed that stormtrooper were inferior to the clone troopers that served in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Brendol therefore founded an experimental program, the Commandant's Cadets, to turn cadets into elite super-soldiers.[1]

In order to achieve the same caliber as the clones, Brendol believed that the ideal trooper had to be trained from childhood. Inspired by Brendol's philosophy, Counselor Rax conscripted orphans on his homeworld of Jakku and trained them as child soldiers. However, instead of placing them under Brendol's command, Rax ordered the children to follow the orders of the Commandant's son, Armitage Hux, who was also a child at the time.[5]

Armitage and Brendol-AoR-Hux

Though married to Maratelle, Brendol Hux fathered an illegitimate son, Armitage Hux, with a kitchen woman.

Armitage was born to a kitchen woman instead of his father's wife, Maratelle, making him Brendol's bastard son.[3] Under the Contingency carried out by Rax, Armitage was sent with his father and Grand Admiral Rae Sloane to the Unknown Regions where they could rebuild the Empire after its defeat by the New Republic.[5]

Because of his solitary childhood, having neither friends nor the mother he never knew, Armitage looked to the history of the Galactic Empire, as told to him through his father's perspective, for comfort. As an Imperial officer who proudly served the Empire, Brendol raised Armitage to believe in its ideology. However, the Commandant disdained his son's frailty and perceived him as worthless. The abuse that Armitage endured from his father, combined with his admiration of the late Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine's rise to power, became a source of motivation for his own ambitions and desire for greatness.[10]

Patricide and rise to power[]

"You're just as spineless as you were as a child. You know how little your father thought of you?"
"I do. It's one of the reasons I had him killed."
―Brooks and Armitage Hux[11]

During the New Republic Era, Brendol and Armitage helped to a create new generation modeled on the Huxes' stormtroopers modeled on the Huxes' vision of the ideal soldier. They also attained the rank of general in the military forces of the First Order, an organization that was formed from remnants of the former Galactic Empire. Driven by the ambition[8] as well as the shame and anger that he internalized under Brendol's influence,[11] Armitage committed patricide by killing his father with the help of Captain Phasma. By the time of the Cold War, Armitage had come to regard Brendol as an obstacle in his rise to power.[8] However, he was also ashamed of his past and the abuse that he endured, according to Supreme Leader Snoke. Shortly before killing Admiral Brooks, who had witnessed Brendol's treatment of his son, Armitage admitted that his father's disdain for him was one of the reasons behind his decision to murder Brendol.[11]

TLJ-Movie-Storybook-Hux

General Armitage Hux secured his place as a powerful officer in the First Order after committing patricide.

Armitage went on to become a powerful man in his own right, having joined the ranks of the First Order High Command.[12] Additionally, he served as commander of the superweapon Starkiller Base[13] and was part of a de facto triumvirate with Captain Phasma and the dark warlord Kylo Ren.[14] Though a general, Armitage possessed greater authority than his military rank would indicate due to his direct access to Supreme Leader Snoke, and as such desired to be known as Grand Marshal.[15] Despite his accomplishments, Armitage aspired to even greater heights[16] and, believing it was his destiny to rule the galaxy,[13] he secretly coveted Snoke's position as absolute ruler of the First Order.[16] However, Ren also plotted to take the throne[15] and, after assassinating his dark master, intimidated Hux into declaring Ren the new Supreme Leader.[17]

Though he begrudgingly accepted the master of the Knights of Ren as the new Supreme Leader, Armitage's hatred for Ren continued until he secretly became an spy of the Resistance solely to ensure Ren's defeat.[9] In 35 ABY,[4] after aiding Finn, Poe Dameron and Chewbacca to escape from the Steadfast by killing three of his own stormtroopers, Armitage feigned that he had been injured by the rebels, but Allegiant General Enric Pryde saw through the young Hux's deception and blasted him on the spot for his act of treason.[9]

Legacy[]

"You could fulfill the dream of so many of our forebears. Rebuild the Empire."
"
Our forebears? My forebears shaped the galaxy as we know it, General. Your bloodline produces lieutenants and lickspittles. Do not speak of my people in the same breath as yours."
―Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren[18]
Long Live The Supreme Leader

Kylo Ren, the heir to the Skywalker bloodline, looked down on Armitage Hux and his forebears as "lickspittles."

Armitage Hux was proud of his Imperial heritage and desired to see the Empire's return to power, a goal which he described to Kylo Ren as a dream harbored by the forebears of the First Order. Ren, however, objected to any comparison between their respective families.[18] Born into the legendary Skywalker family, the former Ben Solo was the grandson of the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker, the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa, and the nephew of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.[19] Despite the resentment that he felt toward his legacy, Ren acknowledged his family's contributions to galactic history and strongly objected to any comparison between the Skywalkers and the Hux family, which Ren described as a "bloodline of lieutenants and lickspittles."[18]

Family tree[]

Armitage Hux's
mother
[3] ♀
Brendol Hux[3] ♂Maratelle
(wife)[3] ♀
Armitage Hux[3]
(illegitimate)[3] ♂

Behind the scenes[]

The Hux family first appeared through Brendol Hux in the 2015 junior novella The Secret Academy, the last book in the Servants of the Empire series.[1]

Appearances[]

Non-canon appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]