themandalorianwolf:

Obscure details about Armitage Hux that the films don’t tell you

Armitage Hux was the illegitimate bastard son of an Imperial General, Brendol Hux and an Imperial Kitchen worker. He was born out of an affair during the end of the Galactic Civil war on the planet Arkanis, an Imperial allied world that hosted an Academy that trained force users and Officers for the Empire.

(Fun Fact: Domhnall Gleeson’s, Armitage Hux’s actor, real life father is Brendan Gleeson, who’s appearance was molded after for Brendol Hux.)

Armitage Hux was psychologically and physically abused as a young child into his adult years by his father, Brendol. Brendol hated his son for being weak willed and for being an embarrassment to him because of his illegitimate conception.

Armitage’s mentors in the Empire/First Order were Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax and Admiral Rae Sloane. Rax put a young Armitage in charge of a group of older child soldiers and had them carry out his assassinations in quiet for the Admiral. Meanwhile Rae Sloane, who knew Armitage was being abused by his father, made him a deal: if Armitage protected her from Rax’s assassination attempts and the other child soldiers, Sloane would protect Armitage from his father’s abuse. After Rax died, Sloane would become closer to Armitage and would watch over and protect him in the unknown regions of space from his father as well as command Brendol to teach Armitage his ways.

“Your son Armitage. I know you don’t like him. I suspect you hurt him—psychologically or physically, I don’t know, and I don’t care. You will leave him alone. And you will teach the boy everything that you know. Are we clear?”

Sloane vowed that she’d killed Brendol if he hurt Armitage again, though she wasn’t aware that the boy was already growing into a monster thanks to the guidance of Rax and Brendol.

Armitage would eventually assassinate his father with the assistance from one of Brendol’s own trusted guards, Captain Phasma. Armitage would eventually be promoted to the rank of general and took over his father’s position as commander of the First Order military.

Armitage also took his father’s child training program to new levels, giving the First Order the numbers they needed to fight against the New Republic. With Phasma and Captain Cardinal overseeing the training, Hux created a superior program to that of his father Brendol. The program under Armitage would produce better soldiers than his father ever had. One of those soldiers would grow to become one Armitage’s crown achievement to the First Order, and then their greatest threat. The Stormtrooper was FN-2187, later known as Finn.

Armitage is not a compassionate man and values power and control over everything else. Armitage did however take pride in his Stormtrooper Program and took it as a personal offense when Kylo suggested the Clones be used as a new tool of the FO. The only canon evidence of Armitage caring about another person had been his unnamed mother and Rae Sloane. Though he does seem to have a respect for Phasma due to her assistance in his father’s murder and seemed to of known about Phasma’s dealings after Starkiller base was destroyed.

Interestingly enough though, Armitage disapproved and was disgusted by Brendol murdering the people of Phamsa’s home world of Parnassos, and was angered by Kylo’s excessive use of force during the battle of Crait. Whether or not all of that was because of pragmatically or contempt is unknown though.

Armitage Hux bad been planning to usurp Snoke himself so he could take control over the FO, but after Kylo’s coup, Hux had chosen against rebelling against Kylo not to attempt a coup of his own against Kylo due to the collateral risk it would be to his own life and the weakened state of the First Order was left in after the destruction of Starkiller, the death of Snoke, and the loses they took in manpower in both TFA and TLJ.

General Armitage Hux is an interesting character, because combined with with his abusive upbringing and immoral actions, the character seems like he would be right at home in a show like Game of Thrones as the bastard son of Tywin Lannister. The brilliance of a character like Armitage Hux is that he is a perfect example of how a tragic and abuse past does not equal a character that should have his actions forgiven or disregarded like many of the villains of the FO. Regardless of Armitage being very much a victim of Brendol’s abuse and Rax’s brainwashing, It does not erase the wrong deeds that he’s done. Armitage did at least have someone who loved and cared for him in the form Rae Sloane, while someone like Finn had nobody, as far as we know, and went through similar treatment, yet came out a good man.

If there’s one thing I do enjoy about the sequel characters is that how many of them aren’t just foils for each other, but explicit contrasts. Poe and Kylo were both born into loving families and had dreams of being heroic pilots like their father/mother, though Poe remained kind, and Kylo became cruel. Phasma and Rey were both born on unforgiving, harsh words where they had to fight to survive and trust no one, but Rey grew up into a caring person, while Phasma grew to be pragmatic monster. And finally, both Finn and Armitage grew up abused, neglected, and used by the FO, but Finn chose to a better person in spite of his upbringing, while Armitage became the monster they wanted him to be. The message out of characters like Armitage Hux, Kylo and Phasma is that regardless of darkness or light, we choose who and what we will become.

I also wanna give praise to Domnhall Gleeson, who worked with JJ Abrams personally in creating Hux to be the immoral character from TFA. Gleeson also did research about Hux’s history to make sure he played the character according. Throughout TLJ, Gleeson had used his knowledge of the character and improvised scenes like his overtop reaction to the mention of his mother or pulling out his gun on Kylo. I respect Gleeson a good deal for playing a villain so unapologetically.

Personally speaking, I think that Hux and the Stormtroopers/Knights of Ren will pull a coup on Kylo in IX theory is just a horse shit theory that people are writing to put Kylo on the side of the good guys. None of the First Order Trio are redeemable people in the eyes of the heroes, and especially in the eyes of the New Republic. Characters like Kylo and Hux will either end up dead, imprisoned, or on the run as a fugitive.

I also think that Hux, Kylo and the FO will ally themselves with Senator Carise Sindian of Hux’s homeworld Arkanis and turn the planet into the new main headquarters of the First Order. It’d be also funny if they gave Hux a cat like Pablo Hidalgo keeps sithposting. But honestly, just please give homeboy a razor cause those muttonchops looked really goofy.

Give Homie a beard!

What is my personal opinion Armitage Hux? I think he’s a monster, though considering what was done to him growing up, I think it would be safe to call him a tragic monster.