Yesterday’s Oculus Quest sizzle reel held lots of surprises. We saw the reveal of new games like Creed: Rise to Glory and Vacation Simulator. Perhaps most excitingly, though, we got our first in-game look at Star Wars: Vader Immortal. The story-driven experience will debut on Quest later this year and will get a full reveal at Star Wars Celebration next month. But eagle-eyed Star Wars fans think even this tiny glimpse provides some story clues.
In the snippet, we see Darth Vader himself marching towards us. But, behind him, there’s what looks like an Imperial Officer standing guard. He seems to be sporting the same green uniform and cap seen in the movies. But, more notably, he also sports a robotic arm and, when he turns towards the camera, we see around three-quarters of his face appears to be metallic too. Clearly this character has a bigger role to play than just an identi-kit guard?
There could already be an explanation for what’s going on here. As one fan pointed out on Twitter, this guard could be a character from the series’ expanded universe known as Vidian. Vidian makes his first appearance in the 2014 book, A New Dawn, written by John Jackson Miller. It’s a prequel to the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, which itself is set between the events of the Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One movies. Vader Immortal also takes place in this broad window.
Could Count Vidian be showing up in Vader: Immortal? (From the new Oculus Quest preview) cc: @StarWarsExplain #StarWars #OculusQuest pic.twitter.com/jsQJ0D9LUt
— Devin Reed (@DevinReed1138) March 27, 2019
In the book, Vidian is working for the Empire when he contracts a rare disease called Shilmer’s syndrome. It’s a degenerative disorder that consumes the victim’s limbs and vocal cords. Like Vader himself, Vidian survives by rebuilding parts of himself mechanically.
It’s quite possible that we’re looking at Vidian here, then. Or, at the very least, it could be another character that also contracts Shilmer’s syndrome. Back at the start of the year, ILMxLAB teased Vader Immortal as a ‘new opportunity to cheat death’. Rebuilding yourself to avoid falling to a fatal disease certainly seems to fit in with that phrasing.
It’s all just speculation at this point, but it’s an interesting theory. We’ll no doubt find out more when Vader Immortal gets its full reveal on April 12th.
