Archex

Archex was a human who first breathed air on the planet Jakku, where he spent his formative years. During his boy's youth, both his mother and father passed away, forcing him to mature within the confines of an orphanage before being sold into servitude for a mining operation, from which he ultimately escaped. As the Battle of Jakku drew to a close in 5 ABY, Archex, along with other orphans, was invited by Imperial General Brendol Hux to join an Imperial remnant venturing into the Unknown Regions. Driven by a desire to escape Jakku's harsh realities, Archex accepted. He was then initiated into the stormtrooper cadet program and designated CD-0922. As one of the initial stormtroopers of the future First Order, CD-0922 was indoctrinated by Hux, who portrayed the New Republic as chaotic and corrupt, asserting that only the First Order could establish peace and order throughout the galaxy.

CD-0922, a dedicated follower of the First Order's principles, eventually rose to the captain's rank and took command of stormtrooper physical training. Stationed aboard the Finalizer, he distinguished himself as both the chief stormtrooper instructor and Hux's dedicated guard. Hux honored CD-0922 with a unique set of red stormtrooper armor, renaming him Cardinal. On one occasion, Cardinal was present on an Upsilon-class command shuttle departing from a desert planet.

Approximately a year after Cardinal received his custom armor, Hux led a reconnaissance mission to Parnassos. During the planetary survey, Hux's ship was downed by an automated weapons system and crashed. With assistance from the local Scyre tribe, including Phasma, Hux located his ship and re-established contact with the First Order. Hux returned to the Finalizer accompanied by Phasma and a young Parnassian girl named Frey. Phasma was clad in ill-fitting, soiled stormtrooper armor.

Cardinal was tasked with orienting Phasma to the Finalizer, First Order technology, and her stormtrooper responsibilities. His duties as head trainer were to be shared with Phasma, who would concentrate on training teenage and adult stormtroopers. Cardinal would be reassigned to the Absolution to oversee the training of new child recruits until they were ready to graduate and transfer to the Finalizer upon reaching adulthood. Hux would also acquire a new personal guard, allowing Cardinal to dedicate himself to the expanding stormtrooper training program. These changes disturbed Cardinal, who harbored suspicions about Phasma and resented her close relationship with Hux, whom he regarded as a father figure. This resentment intensified a year later when Phasma received her own personalized armor. Shortly thereafter, Hux succumbed to a mysterious illness, and his son, Armitage, succeeded him as the head of the First Order infantry, with Cardinal becoming his personal guard, mirroring his role with Armitage's father.

In 34 ABY, the Absolution captured a starhopper piloted by Resistance spy Vi Moradi. General Leia Organa had tasked Moradi with investigating Phasma. Cardinal suspected Moradi possessed information about Phasma after examining her ship's logs, which revealed a recent visit to Parnassos. He brought Moradi to a concealed interrogation chamber within the battlecruiser to question her about Phasma. Cardinal, lacking interrogation training, was driven by the urgency of an upcoming meeting on the Absolution involving Cardinal, Phasma, Armitage, and Kylo Ren. He desperately sought information to present to Hux, hoping to demonstrate Phasma's dangerous nature. Cardinal tortured Moradi using an electrified device in an attempt to extract information.

Moradi recounted stories she had heard from Siv, a Parnassian woman and former healer and religious leader of the Scyre. Moradi described how Brendol had crashed on Parnassos and been captured by the Claw, a rival tribe to Phasma's Scyre. Phasma and a select group of loyal soldiers, including Siv, liberated Hux and his stormtroopers from the Claw and pledged to help him locate his crashed ship. Moradi revealed Phasma's betrayal of her clan to secure her own survival, forging an alliance with Brendol that would take her off-world and into the First Order. The account of Phasma's ascent to power and betrayal was insufficient for Cardinal to report to Armitage Hux. Moradi further disclosed that the Resistance had discovered, through slicing First Order computer systems, that Brendol's death was caused by a venomous beetle native to Parnassos. She claimed Phasma had brought the beetle aboard and used it to kill the elder Hux. Frey, the only other individual capable of recognizing the beetle's symptoms, had died in a weapons accident six months prior. Shocked and horrified by this revelation, Cardinal proceeded to the younger Hux's quarters on the Absolution to expose Phasma's treachery.

Cardinal informed Hux that Phasma was responsible for his father's death. Hux inquired about physical evidence to support this claim. When Cardinal admitted he lacked such proof, the younger Hux revealed his awareness of Phasma's involvement in his father's murder, admitting he had orchestrated it. Hux then questioned Cardinal's continued loyalty to himself and the First Order. Cardinal affirmed his loyalty and was dismissed. Cardinal, distraught by the First Order's transformation, returned to his quarters and became intoxicated. Early the following morning, he confided in Moradi that Hux was complicit in his father's death and requested any further information he could use to stop Phasma. Moradi then revealed that, years before Brendol's journey to Parnassos, Phasma had betrayed her own family to the Scyre to ensure her survival, murdering her parents and permanently disabling her brother, Keldo. She provided Cardinal with the dagger Phasma had used in the act, along with a specimen of the beetle used to kill Brendol. By this point, Cardinal had developed respect for Moradi. As he departed to confront Phasma, he intentionally left the interrogation room unlocked, facilitating her escape. Cardinal carried the evidence to a meeting with Ren, Hux, and Phasma, only to be turned away by Hux. Cardinal resumed his duties, going through the motions for the remainder of the day, and spent the evening inebriated.

The next morning at breakfast, Cardinal obtained an extra ration pack to alleviate his hangover. He groomed himself, shaved his head, and polished his armor, preparing for a final confrontation with Phasma. Cardinal located Phasma in his training room, where they argued about his training techniques. Cardinal attacked Phasma, attempting to stab her with her own knife, but was unable to penetrate her armor. She disarmed him, using the knife to stab him twice in the chest, leaving him to die on the training room floor. Moradi, during her escape, discovered Cardinal. She then transported him via hovergurney to a hangar on the Absolution. She proceeded to steal a ship, intending to return to Parnassos to fulfill her promise to Siv and her child, Torbi.

General Leia Organa sent Cardinal to a deprogramming facility on Cerea to recover from his years of First Order indoctrination. Having renounced the First Order, Cardinal reverted to his birth name, Archex.

Four months following the Battle of Crait, Archex and Vi Moradi journeyed to Batuu with the intention of establishing a Resistance base. However, their ship crashed, resulting in injuries for both Moradi and Archex, though not severe. Archex focused on gathering food and other supplies, striving to assist Moradi. He frequently carved local animal figures from wood and sold them to a nearby toy shop. Once Moradi established a base in the ruins near BSO, Archex installed electric lighting and helped organize the base. The Resistance decided to launch the First Order shuttle, transmit a message to the main ship falsely reporting Moradi's death in custody and Batuu's insignificance to the First Order, and then detonate the ship, simulating a malfunction. During the confrontation with Wulfgar Kath, Archex diverted Kath and his soldiers by appearing in red-painted stormtrooper armor. Realizing Kath would not leave the planet and allow Moradi to transmit the message, Archex made the ultimate sacrifice, allowing Kath to take him prisoner. He perished in the subsequent explosion.

Archex, a human [male](/article/gender], was born and raised on the desolate planet of Jakku. He honed his survival skills as an orphan, subsisting on sand rats, birds, and crickets, before Brendol Hux offered him passage off-world during the final moments of the Battle of Jakku. Embracing the name Cardinal, he felt gratitude towards the Imperials and loyalty specifically to Hux. Within the First Order, Cardinal discovered his inner resilience and thrived, becoming a principled instructor. Finding purpose as a physical trainer for stormtroopers, Cardinal aspired to share this sense of purpose with other orphans found throughout the Unknown Regions of the galaxy where the First Order operated. Cardinal was convinced that the New Republic fostered chaos through its disarray and corruption, leading to suffering and perpetuating the horrific conditions in which he had grown up.

Despite recognizing that the First Order often forcibly conscripted children, Cardinal believed it was for their own benefit, confident they would appreciate the value of structure, discipline, regular meals, and clean water. In Cardinal's view, the First Order would restore order to the galaxy, elevating all beings to live in peace and prosperity.

Cardinal's trustworthiness within the First Order led to his assignment as the personal guard of both Brendol and later Armitage Hux. His unwavering loyalty to Brendol and the First Order ultimately fueled his jealousy of Phasma. A staunch believer in the regime's objectives and ideology, Cardinal was a dedicated soldier and follower of the First Order, evolving into a strong teacher. Having been a soldier since childhood, Cardinal understood how to train young cadets, even the unwilling recruits, who eventually adapted under his guidance. Cardinal approached each new challenge with enthusiasm, finding ways to connect with the unreachable, comfort the inconsolable, and bolster the confidence of even the most insecure children.

While Hux and his officers managed the psychological programming of the cadets, Cardinal concentrated on physical instruction, encompassing hand-to-hand combat, melee combat, marksmanship, and battle simulations. However, despite his undeniable skill and competence as a soldier, Cardinal disliked confrontation and only resorted to killing when explicitly ordered. Ultimately, Cardinal hoped the First Order would expand its influence through diplomacy rather than war. In the end, however, his destiny diverged from the regime's path.

Cardinal donned a distinctive set of red stormtrooper armor, personally designed by Brendol. Hux chose red because he considered it the color of power. The armor was presented to Cardinal during a ceremony attended by thousands of stormtroopers, and CD-0922 was officially renamed Cardinal, inspired by the bird of the same name. As a captain in the First Order, Cardinal also wore a traditional captain's cape. As an officer of the Order, he had access to transportation aboard an Upsilon-class command shuttle.

Cardinal was conceived for Delilah S. Dawson's 2017 canon novel Phasma. Dawson envisioned Cardinal being portrayed by Kalani Robb, known for the 2008 comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, one of Dawson's preferred "Sick Day" movies.