General Armitage Hux is a tertiary antagonist in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He served as the military commander of the First Order, an organization that rose from the ashes of the former Galactic Empire. Having grown up following the ideals of Imperial doctrine, Hux considered the First Order to be a superior incarnation of the Empire and desired to one day ascend to the throne from which he would rule the galaxy. He was portrayed by Domhnall Gleeson.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born in the dying days of the Galactic Empire, Armitage Hux was the illegitimate son of Commandant Brendol Hux, a high-ranking Imperial Officer who headed the Imperial Academy on Arkanis, and a kitchen maid. When he was young, he and his father fled to the Outer Rim to escape the Rebel Alliance which won the Battle of Endor. There, he started to help create the First Order with the guidance of an enigmatic being known as Snoke.
Through military prowess Hux managed to become a high-ranking figure in the First Order despite his relatively young age. He would become military commander of Starkiller Base, and thus was essentially responsible for both maintaining the superweapon as well as the various stormtroopers in its control. His authority was equal to that of Kylo Ren and surpassed only by Supreme Leader Snoke. However, Hux despised the thought of anyone being his equal, considering Kylo to be his rival for Snoke's favour and eventually the title of Supreme Leader.
The Force Awakens[]
In 34 ABY, the First Order began its campaign to conquer the galaxy with the firing of the Starkiller Base hyperspace weapon. General Hux delivered a passionate speech to his soldiers about the failings of the New Republic and how it needed to be wiped away to bring about true order in the galaxy. With the conclusion of the General's speech, the Starkiller weapon was fired, sending out a blast of energy across hyperspace that reached out into the Hosnian system, destroying five planets and decapitating the New Republic government.
Although the New Republic Starfleet was wiped out, the First Order faced opposition in the form of the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa. They launched a counterstrike against Starkiller Base with the aid of a few unlikely heroes: a scavenger girl known as Rey, a traitorous stormtrooper calling himself Finn, and aged smuggler Han Solo. They infiltrated the base and disabled the shields protecting the weapon's thermal oscillator, allowing Resistance fighters to bombard it. Without the thermal oscillator, Starkiller Base began to tear itself apart from within, forcing the First Order forces to evacuate.
The Last Jedi[]
Supreme Leader Snoke blamed Hux for the loss of the First Order's greatest weapon, which proved to be a significant blow to the General's pride. Following the loss of Starkiller Base, Hux orchestrated a retaliatory strike against the Resistance, dispatching the First Order fleet to D'Qar where the Resistance headquarters was located. Most of the Resistance forces managed to evacuate while a wing of bombers made a sacrificial assault against one of the First Order's capital ships, destroying it and giving their allies time to jump into hyperspace. Snoke was enraged by this and used the Force to punish and humiliate Hux in front of his subordinates. However, the First Order had the means to track the Resistance ships through hyperspace, and so continued to pursue them and pick off their ships one by one.
While the First Order pursued the Resistance across space, the Mega Star Destroyer Supremacy was boarded by Rey, who had come to confront Kylo Ren in an attempt to draw him back to the light side of the Force. Ren brought her before Supreme Leader Snoke who gloated over Rey's seemingly futile efforts, claiming that he was unbeatable before demanding that Ren kill her. However, Ren used the Force to ignite Rey's lightsaber that sat on the armrest of Snoke's throne, impaling the Supreme Leader before bisecting him. Rey would soon after escape while the Resistance flagship Raddus then rammed the Supremacy, cleaving the ship in half. General Hux later arrived in the throne room to find Snoke and his guards dead, unsure of how to proceed without a ruler. With Snoke dead, Kylo Ren assumed leadership of the First Order, much to Hux's dismay.
Supreme Leader Ren and General Hux led a ground assault against the Resistance hideout on Crait, determined to extinguish their rebellion once and for all. However, Ren was shocked by the sudden appearance of his uncle and former mentor Luke Skywalker, ordering all of his assault walkers to open fire on the lone Jedi before them. However, Luke wasn't really there; he was merely a Force projection being generated by the real Luke who was far away on the planet Ahch-To. Hux watched Kylo Ren fight the projection of Skywalker until it disappeared, by which point the surviving Resistance members had fled into the base's escape tunnels.
The Rise of Skywalker[]
Following the Battle of Crait, General Hux began to lose much of his sway among the First Order's leadership as his authority was repeatedly undermined by Ren, who began to favour the counsel of his other commanders. By 35 ABY, Hux had become so infuriated with serving under Ren that he was willing to do absolutely anything to bring him down, even ally with the First Order's enemies. Following the revelation that Emperor Palpatine had returned from the dead, Hux began leaking information to the Resistance regarding the Final Order, a mighty fleet of Star Destroyers armed with planet-killing weapons.
Hux's troops would later pursue a group of Resistance fighters on the desert world of Pasaana, capturing the Wookiee Chewbacca. Later, the Star Destroyer Steadfast would travel to the planet Kijimi, shortly after the arrival of Rey's party, with Ren swiftly disembarking to hunt down Rey and her allies. The fugitives were able to sneak aboard the vessel in order to liberate Chewbacca from First Order custody, Rey having discovered his survival through the Force. Although they managed to kill a number of stormtroopers, all members of the strike team save for Rey were eventually swarmed by overwhelming numbers and captured. Hux soon arrived to confront the prisoners and ordered their immediate execution. He chose to accompany the squad of troopers selected for the duty as they escorted Finn, Poe Dameron and Chewbacca to a sequestered section of the ship.
Moments before the sentence was to be carried out, Hux spoke up and claimed that he would like to join the firing squad. Accepting the blaster of one of the troopers present, the general swiftly spun around and killed the troopers before revealing that he was the spy who had been aiding the Resistance. Offering his assistance to the bewildered Resistance agents, he quickly escorted them to the incarcerated Millennium Falcon, lingering behind them as they blasted their way through his own troops. Stopping Finn before he could board the Falcon, Hux demanded that the former stormtrooper shoot him in the arm in order to verify his cover story that he had been forced to aid in their escape. Out of spite, Finn shot the general in the thigh. He then inquired as to why Hux would betray the First Order he had helped build; disdainfully, the general said that he didn't care if the Resistance won so much as that he needed Kylo Ren to lose. The Resistance agents then completed their escape, rejoining Rey as she ended her latest duel with Ren, who had returned to the Steadfast after discovering she was aboard.
Hux later returned to the bridge of the Steadfast where he spoke with Allegiant General Pryde, telling him that the prisoners had overpowered him before escaping. Pryde realized that Hux was lying and must have been the spy, seizing a blaster from one of his troops and shooting Hux square in the chest.