Early on in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, viewers are introduced to a curious subplot: there’s a mole in the First Order, and no one knows who it is.
Said spy has been leaking pertinent information to the Resistance – Palpatine’s location, the nature of Exegol… that kinda’ thing – and causing all manner of distress for the newly-appointed Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren. And sure enough, it’s eventually revealed that the mole has been hiding in plain sight all along.
That’s right, it’s General Armitage Hux, who rebelled against Kylo Ren and the entire First Order, only to be killed off soon thereafter. But why, exactly? Why did Hux betray his closest ally? Turns out the answer is laid bare at Disney’s Rise of the Resistance theme park attraction, which built an entire audio-visual experience around the fallout between Ren and Hux.
As explained in the newly-released Visual Dictionary for The Rise of Skywalker, the betrayal can be traced back to an incident on Batuu.
Turns out the battle was a disaster. While serving under Allegiant General Pryde, Hux allows Resistance prisoners to slip between his fingers. This results in him being demoted within the First Order, ultimately fanning the flames for Domhnall Gleeson’s character to rebel against his new Supreme Leader. And so begins the plot to bring about Kylo Ren’s downfall.
It’s an interesting wrinkle in the story; we just wish General Hux remained alive long enough so that audiences could appreciate the development of his character. Alas, he was killed without much fanfare.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now playing worldwide, though Episode IX is still trailing The Last Jedi at the global box office, and is unlikely to top $1.3 billion when all is said and done.