Darth Vader was just taking control of the same monster that attacked Han Solo, but he did it in more ways than one.
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When we last saw Darth Vader, he just wanted to get into the dangerous nebula that led to the planet Exegol. But before he could enter, his path was blocked by the appearance of Summa-Verminoth – the very creature that attacked Han Solo when he fired on the Kessel Run. But this particular Summa-Verminoth was something completely different, having hunted its own kind. These creatures in their natural state are considered space apex predators, but this one was the absolute top of the food chain until Vader broke it in more ways than one.
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The Summa-Verminoth discovered by Vader was quite large, but as Vader’s pursuers said, it was a subspecies. No explanation was given as to why it was much more lethal than average Summa-Verminoth (if “average” is something they could be), but the most likely explanation was due to its proximity. Exegol. The Dark Side has a way of turning life into something designed only to hurt and kill. And honestly, what could be a better defender of the mysterious world of the Sith than apex apex predator?
This creature was not only huge in size, but unlike the creature that attacked Millennium Falcon, it also had telepathic abilities. He was able to get into the minds of his prey and show them scenes of their death, taking them deep enough to move them toward a gaping maw or more likely crash into the nebula. which he was defending. If the Summa-Verminoth had previously been compared to Cthulhu, the parallels are now complete.
But this was a creature accustomed to disgruntled travelers, without the full training of Sith Lords. And Darth Vader was no stranger to killing giant animals. The creature impressed him by showing him a modified version of Vader’s fight with Luke in Cloud City. But Vader survived the Clone Wars, crushing Mustafar, losing his wife and even the Emperor himself. It would take more than a few glimpses of a future that could come to an end. He managed to break free from the Summa-Verminoth mental attack to land on Exegol. But the creature followed him, willing to let his prey go free.
This was his biggest mistake. Vader might have been willing to just move on to the next obstacle, but the monster pushed the issue. So Vader decided to turn the tables on. He used to be the one to launch a mental attack, so he was completely taken by surprise when Vader took control of his mind with the Dark Side. And as he rode the behemoth to the Temple of Sith as a war beast, Vader proved that he was more powerful than the black hole that Summa-Verminoth had killed Kessel Run. He did not break the monster, he bent his will.
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