Profiles Of Villainy: Queen Trios
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Queen Trios is a villain about whom some Star Wars fans might have forgotten. Introduced in the second half of the Darth Vader and Star Wars (2015) comic runs by Marvel, Trios’ role abruptly changed from ally to enemy after she threw the Rebel Alliance to the wolves at Vader’s order. Later, she would perish in the Rebel Alliance’s mission to her homeworld where they sabotaged its mining operations. A refined young woman and a dark mirror to Leia Organa, Trios’ life was deeply shaped by Darth Vader. While she was also a victim of his evil, she helped perpetuate it against others, and that is what earns her examination today in our newest installment of Profiles of Villainy.
Background
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Trios was the last of three children born to her father, the king of the mining world of Shu-Toran, and as such, had the least number of duties compared to her two elder siblings. She also grew up unable to truly trust others due to the intense politics of her planet’s nobility. Shortly after the destruction of the first Death Star, the king plotted against the Empire as a result of his barons growing to resent their tithe burden. When Darth Vader arrived to ensure that the Empire's tribute would be resumed at their proper levels, the king tried to assassinate him while also sacrificing Trios in the attempt.
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Trios was willing to die for her father, losing a hand (it was later replaced) in a direct attempt to shoot Vader after other efforts had failed. But, it was soon revealed that Vader had sent droids to kill the king and her siblings while serving as a large, obvious target. Now the ruler of Shu-Toran, Trios was further horrified at the gift Vader had brought with him intended for the planet’s ruler: a shard of the now-destroyed Alderaan. He noted it was a reminder of what happened to worlds disloyal to the Empire, and Trios understood the message with total clarity.
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Later, Vader had to return to Shu-Toran due to an outbreak of civil unrest. The rebellious ore-barons had continued their defiance despite the deaths of the king and his two eldest heirs. Additionally, Trios found that she was without respect even from those within her government. The campaign was soon derailed by the machinations of Dr. Cylo and his operatives, who aided the ore-barons to try and kill Vader, pushing Trios to take charge of the situation and successfully defeating the forces of the most notable rebel. She was later complemented by the sociopathic droid Triple Zero (0-0-0) for her developing leadership skills. But upon Vader’s third visit, he came alone, and with an unusual request. He desired the queen to become an ally to the Rebel Alliance but to betray them when the time was right. Trios was initially surprised by the plan, but went along with the effort, soon inserting herself into wider galactic politics.
Abilities/Skills
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Trios was not born with any powers, but her skills developed over years of training and learning were notable. Her foremost strength was her knowledge of courtly culture and ability to navigate high society. She upheld Shu-Toran’s as one of the greatest given how it rose from the settlement of such a hostile world, but she could also navigate high-class spaces on foreign worlds such as Mon Cala. This was necessary as burdens grew on her, both because of Vader’s interventions in her world’s politics, and because he used her to lure the Rebellion into a trap. Trios' skills in leadership intersected with this great skill in the courtly arts as on such an aristocratically-ruled world as Shu-Toran, they went hand in hand. Her knowledge of her people’s honor and traditions helped to wage war against those who rebelled against her. She led from the front in that conflict, forced to take on all three roles once held by her siblings and father, and she inspired her people, helping lead them to victory.
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Trios' physical skills in combat were another strength. She was raised in a highly rugged environment, likely helping her maintain a good physical form, and as mentioned earlier she led from the front during the conflict for her homeworld. She had good hand-to-hand skills, fighting Princess Leia at one point, and otherwise showing herself skilled with a blaster. Trios also had a practical education in how mining operations worked, as she went with her forces to aid the Imperial excavation of Jedha and had all of the machines to succeed, before the intervention of the Rebels and her self-sabotage of Imperial efforts.
Acts of Villainy
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While Trios is a victim of some intense pressures on her own life, and that of her people, the queen of Shu-Toran still made certain choices that were villainous, and went beyond what was necessary in her quest to please Vader. First and foremost were the lives of her subjects she was willing to throw away if it meant keeping the wider planet safe. When Vader came to her with his plan for her to infiltrate the Rebels, his commanding of the monarch led to one of her guards objecting to Vader’s actions. Despite Trios shooting the man in the head before he could finish his sentence, Vader proceeded to kill everyone in the room because he did not want any chance of his plan leaking. Trios allowed him to do this, darkly watching from her throne as he slaughtered her men before affirming her commitment to letting the few die to save the many.
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Later, during the excavations of Jedha, Trios allowed the Rebels to kill members of her expedition before making a secret deal with Princess Leia, sacrificing their lives (and some ancient, priceless machinery of her people) to ensure she got that meeting. She also showed no regard for the blatant murder performed by certain Imperials, calmly commenting on it but doing little to stop it when, given her role, she might have diffused certain situations. Another trait of Trios that made her a villain was her willingness to do unto others what had been done to her. When she and Vader tracked down the lead rebel ore-baron, Trios had him executed on the spot before giving his title to his young daughter, skipping the older brother. As Trios commented coldly, “I’ve found inexperienced youths not expecting power the most easy to manipulate, Lord Vader.”
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But the biggest act of villainy from Trios has to be her betrayal of the Rebel Alliance. As part of her involvement with the Alliance, her engineers helped build or retrofit a dozen new ships for the Rebel navy at the Mako-Ta Shipyards. However, each vessel contained a failsafe baked into the Shu-Toran-manufactured improvements that would shut down all systems whenever Trios desired. Meanwhile, Trios grew close to Leia during this time. Both were young women of royal blood, with a great weight on their shoulders. The key difference between them was that Trios felt completely justified sacrificing Leia, her allies, and the hope of the galaxy to ensure her and Shu-Toran’s survival. At a grand gathering of the Alliance fleet to celebrate the launch of the new ships, Trios activated her failsafe and fled. Imperial forces led by Vader then jumped into the star system and began to destroy helpless Rebel vessels. Many military leaders of the Rebellion died, and it was only thanks to Luke, Han, Leia, and other heroes that some ships survived to scatter across the galaxy.
Final Act
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In the wake of this betrayal, Leia plotted revenge against Trios. While some worried she was seeking a more bloody vengeance, Leia crafted a plan to sabotage Shu-Toran’s ability to produce the vast quantities of raw material the Empire demanded of them with a minimal loss of life. The Rebels could do this through manipulation of the Spike, a giant structure able to harness the planet’s gravity fields to provide Shu-Toran with energy. By slowly disabling the Spike, the energy shields the Spike controlled would start to collapse, beginning a controlled cascading effect that would put an end to the unique manufacturing ability of the planet. This would serve as a grave blow to the Empire and Trios.
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Leia gathered an array of allies, including the remains of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans, which proved an issue when they went rogue. They tried to sabotage the Spike to punish Shu-Toran, which would have killed millions. Meanwhile, Trios had now been alerted to the threat to her planet. In a move of utter callousness, she risked many lives by breaking through the seal around her celebration hall which the Rebels had locked shut. She rushed to face her foe, forced to avoid a bombardment from the Empire who sought to keep close control of the situation. Believing Leia had ordered her world to be destroyed, Trios had her forces charge the Rebel position in the throne room of her family’s retreat, and engaged in single combat with Leia as debris fell from the ceiling.
Unfortunately, Leia proved the better fighter, and mortally wounded Queen Trios, though she realized that her plan had gone wrong and promised the dying monarch she would stop the planet’s destruction. Soon after, Leia managed to talk the Partisans out of their destructive course of action, and Shu-Toran was indeed saved with its unique characteristic also removed. It seemingly did escape any Imperial reprisal and Trios’ home was saved as she always wanted, though at a great cost to many others in the process.
Notable Appearances
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Below is a list of some of the notable stories in which Queen Trios has appeared. We encourage people to check them out if they have any interest in this ruthless monarch!
Darth Vader Annual #1
Darth Vader (2015) Volume 3: The Shu-Toran War
Star Wars (2015) Volume 7: The Ashes of Jedha
Star Wars (2015) Volume 9: Hope Dies
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Sources: Darth Vader Annual #1, Darth Vader (2015) Volume 3, Star Wars (2015) Volumes 7-11
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