Axel Greylark

Axel Greylark's origins were rooted in the esteemed Greylark family. His parents were both deeply involved in the tumultuous politics of the Galactic Senate on Coruscant. From a young age, Axel found himself amidst the pretentious royal children of the Core World elite. As he matured, Greylark began to feel inadequate compared to his parents' accomplishments, a sentiment he kept concealed.

Prior to 397 BBY, Greylark's mother decided to send him to a university further from home than Alderaan or Coruscant, believing it would build his character. Consequently, she enrolled him in the prestigious Reena University in the Colonies. Participating in an accelerated program, Greylark quickly became familiar with every aspect of the university, including the names of almost all faculty and staff members. He enjoyed interacting with the university's employees, as it gave him access to the lives of ordinary individuals, contrasting with the snobbish elite. Greylark achieved excellent grades, excelled in galactic debate competitions, and played center striker in grav-ball.

Despite his academic success at Reena University, Greylark developed a rebellious streak during his time there. However, his careful planning and execution of his pranks allowed him to avoid blame most of the time. Greylark's schemes caused significant stress for Dean of Student Affairs Ry Harket, who suspected the Coruscanti youth was behind pranks such as graffitiing the atrium with inappropriate drawings, flooding the refreshers in the west tower dormitories, and releasing mynocks from the laboratory. In one term, he accumulated at least 30 absences by faking illness, all excused by nurse droids. Through experimentation, Greylark discovered that consuming several extremely spicy guiji fire peppers effectively mimicked the symptoms of malongo pox. As a precaution, Greylark managed to have his student medical file altered to contraindicate sedative administration, allowing him to move freely once the pepper's effects subsided.

Around 396 BBY, during the annual Queen's Bloom Festival on Reena, Greylark successfully feigned malongo pox to avoid his responsibilities for the school's celebration. Instead, Greylark joined his crush, a Kilotowan girl named Leyli Romero, and his nemesis, Lord Kozmo Sundrel IV of Luzalite, on an unauthorized trip to nearby city. Greylark had met Leyli at the beginning of the term and bonded with her over their shared desire to make their own marks despite their family legacies. He was infatuated with her and felt jealous when she brought Kozmo along. Nevertheless, the three bypassed the fairgrounds to the hangar, where they retrieved Sundrel's speeder. On their way, Greylark accidentally bumped into a female Jedi Padawan. Looking back, he noticed her pause briefly, her hands over her two lightsabers. This interaction caused a slight twitch of Greylark's fingers.

The trio of students traveled to the seaside city, and Greylark suggested enjoying the Queen's Bloom phenomenon at Ealy's rooftop tavern deck, a favored spot of his for conversing with traders and pilots. However, Leyli wanted to go to the Gorag Tower, where the House of Reena was hosting a penthouse party. Greylark impersonated his father to gain entry, only to discover that his mother was already there, having arrived a day early for their visit. Greylark tried to avoid his mother before seeing his father enter the party. Leyli then suggested the trio escape through the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, Greylark found the staff being escorted to the freezer at gunpoint by Elecia Zeveron and her crew. They took Leyli with the staff to the freezer and forced Greylark and Sundrel to dress in the visored uniforms of the party staff to steal items from the wealthy guests while they were distracted by the bioluminescence of the Queen's Bloom. Greylark complied to protect Leyli. After stealing a few items, including a blaster pistol, Greylark returned to the kitchen to confront his captors. Zeveron sent one of her crew to retrieve Leyli, which brought Greylark immense relief. He used the stolen blaster to stun two of the ten captors, but he realized he was outnumbered. That was when he noticed Leyli wasn't bound and was wearing a holster. She raised a previously unseen blaster and shot Sundrel in the chest before leaving with Zeveron.

Greylark was devastated by Leyli's betrayal; she had manipulated him all along. As the thieves departed, Zeveron glanced back at Greylark, admiring his bravery and chaos. Greylark rushed to his rival-turned-friend and discovered that the boy had survived the blaster shot, which had struck his family diamond medallion. The two fled back to the university, where Greylark found his father already in his dormitory. The two shared a moment before heading down to the university's festival.

At the age of eighteen, Greylark accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Melida/Daan, where they were to collaborate with the Jedi to secure the release of the Daan leader from Melida custody. The mission turned out to be a trap that resulted in the death of Greylark's father. While a Jedi Knight managed to rescue Axel, she had to pull him away from his father, who was trapped under rubble, to escape the incoming Melida.

In 382 BBY, his mother dispatched him to represent her and the Republic's interests in mediating peace between the warring planets Eiram and E'ronoh, where he clashed with Jedi Knight Gella Nattai. Following the decision that the planets' heirs would marry to establish peace, Greylark and Nattai accompanied them on their pre-wedding tour of E'ronoh. During this time, Nattai and Greylark developed a bond and mutual respect, and he assisted her in investigating assassination attempts against the heirs.

However, Greylark was secretly involved in a conspiracy orchestrated by the anti-Jedi Path of the Open Hand cult under Zeveron, then known as the Mother, whom he had become involved with in his youth because he blamed the Jedi for his death. This was uncovered after he murdered both a captured Path assassin and Viceroy Ferrol of E'ronoh. The recovery of his therapy droid QN-1 revealed records of his communications with the Mother and his criminal activities. Greylark attempted to sabotage the heirs' wedding by sending out a beacon indicating his presence, attracting numerous bounty hunters to the event. After experiencing the effects of an Eirami poison that the Mother wanted him to retrieve, Greylark decided to destroy the planet's Erasmus Capital City, where more of it was stored. Nattai, for whom he had developed feelings and kept alive against the Mother's orders, tried to dissuade him. She succeeded, but only after the towers detonated, causing widespread damage to the city. Subsequently, Greylark was arrested and imprisoned.

Greylark was eventually transferred to a prison on Pipyyr, where Nattai and Jedi Master Orin Darhga went to interrogate him after learning that the Path of the Open Hand had incited the Battle of Jedha. Greylark feigned illness to avoid the questioning and create the impression that he was unwell. After the warden received a message for Greylark to be transferred, Nattai and Dargha decided to carry out the transfer themselves, but the message had been fabricated by the Path, and Greylark's friend in the Path Binnot Ullo helped him escape during the transfer. Greylark met with the Mother in the Path compound on Dalna, who instructed him to send a message to his mother to come there so that they could exploit her power for the Path's benefit. However, Kyong simply informed them that she would be resigning from her chancellorship before arriving, causing the Mother to lose interest in Axel and allowing Ullo to force him to participate in ground fighting for the Path in a battle against the Jedi that became known as the Night of Sorrow.

After Ullo attempted to force Greylark to kill a child who did not want to fight, Greylark turned against the Path and freed Nattai, who had been imprisoned after following him there. Together, they fought alongside his mother and defeated Ullo while forces from Eiram and E'ronoh turned the tide of the conflict in the Jedi's favor. After the compound's caves were flooded and collapsed, he and Nattai were rescued and brought to the surface by Jedi Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Master Yaddle using the Force. Following the battle, Greylark decided to serve the remainder of his sentence in a prison on Coruscant and rebuild his relationship with his mother. With his relationship with Nattai also being restored, she decided to visit him in prison before departing to continue her Wayseeker journey.

Greylark's descendants included Zenny Greylark.

Axel Greylark was jointly created by authors Zoraida Córdova and Lydia Kang for their respective novels The High Republic: Convergence and The High Republic: Cataclysm, both of which were part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase II. He made his debut in Convergence, which was released in 2022.