The Importance of Vernestra Rwoh as an Aromantic Character

In honor of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, I wanted to discuss a character that’s grown on me over the last year in Star Wars: The High Republic. Not only is this person one of the main characters of this era, but her existence is also a very fantastic piece of representation, breaking new historic grounds in the normalization of queer rep.

Let’s talk about Vernestra Rwoh as an aromantic character and why it’s important.

But first, I want to get some definitions out of the way. Vernestra is aromantic and asexual, or aroace for short. It’s important to know that asexuality and aromanticism are two very different things. OULGBTQ+Society does a great job defining what they mean and the difference between the two:

“Asexuality is an orientation defined by a lack of sexual attraction. This means that an asexual (or ‘ace’) person experiences little or no sexual draw towards others, and has little or no desire to have sexual relationships with other people.

Aromanticism is an orientation characterized by a lack of romantic attraction. While asexuality is a sexual orientation, aromanticism is a romantic orientation, and the two don’t necessarily correlate. Someone may be asexual but not aromantic, or vice versa, or they may be on both spectrums.

Asexuality and aromanticism are both orientations characterized by a lack of attraction, but they fall on different spectrums of attraction. What is considered sexual attraction and what is considered romantic attraction is quite subjective and complicated, but broadly, sexual attraction can be considered a physical desire for partnered sexual activity, while romantic attraction can be thought of as more emotion-based, although demonstrations of romantic affection might include physical gestures such as holding hands, cuddling, or kissing — it varies from person to person.”

When Out of the Shadows came out, there was one passage in particular that confirmed Vernestra as an aroace character. In the story, ex-girlfriends Sylvestri Yarrow and Jordanna Sparkburn are reunited and clearly still have romantic affections for each other despite their past hurt feelings. This is all very overwhelming for Imri Cantaros, Vernestra’s padawan, who is a strong empath. He constantly struggles to separate his own feelings from others.

This leaves Vernestra a bit lost on how best to help him as she thinks, “This was a difficult conversation for her because she'd never once had any of those feelings, regardless of the people she met. She could tell when someone was attractive, and there were people she liked more than others, but she had never felt the push/pull of attraction so many other Padawans did when they came of age.”

This passage, along with a tweet from author Justina Ireland who wrote the book, confirmed Vernestra as aroace, thus giving us a very important entry of representation in Star Wars. It’s a vital part of who Vernestra is as a person.

This is not to say that Vernestra doesn’t feel things either. She’s a passionate young person who cares deeply for Imri, her master, Stellan Gios, and her friends. Vernestra struggles sometimes with anger and keeping her composure during the war with the Nihil. While Vernestra might not have romantic attraction, it does not mean she doesn’t have feelings. It’s quite the opposite actually that keeps her away from truly harmful story tropes with aroace characters. Vernestra is a stunning example of a very well-written aroace character.

So why is Vernestra important?

Vernestra certainly isn’t the first queer or ace character in a galaxy far, far away. She’s not even the first ace character confirmed in the High Republic era. That goes to Leox Gyasi in Into the Dark. But Vernestra is the first aro character of this time period which is big for a few reasons.

It’s always great to have more representation among a variety of different characters. No two people are the same. When you have many different characters, it allows for a much better spectrum to be showcased.

While this doesn’t pertain to aromanticism but to use an example, both Leox and Vernestra are asexual characters. They couldn’t be anymore different. Vernestra is a young Jedi Knight getting started on her journey. While a dedicated prodigy, she’s still figuring out who she is as a person and as a leader for her padawan and peers.  Leox is a grown man who is confident on his path, who he is, and his career. While very laid back and lax on his work uniform, he knows his found family and supports them as the pilot of the Vessel.

What sets Vernestra apart from Leox is the fact that she’s also aromantic. I searched around, and I believe she’s the first aromantic character in all of Star Wars. It’s for sure in The High Republic era, but I think she gets the big title too. This allows Vernestra to set the bar on what aromantic representation means in this franchise. Every other character after her will always be compared to her as she’s the shining first example. Her story is laying down history with every entry she’s in. This makes her truly a trailblazer.

To me though, there is another important factor with Vernestra which is the age group she exists in. In the High Republic line, Vernestra’s books are mainly the middle grade and young adult books. Her target audience is young people and children. This is a very big step towards normalization.

Normalization refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. This phrase is often used when discussing all-ages media when progressive storytelling is being used.

With Vernestra as a main character in the younger age group stories, it allows for children to see her in their formative years. She’s a fully functioning character that’s at the front of her story. She’s not a gag or a trope. Vernestra is capable, allowing her to be a fantastic example to a young audience. This is what sets her apart to me the most.

There is a ton of care put into Vernestra’s storytelling. Justina Ireland, who has written most of her stories, truly has so much love for Vernestra. This Jedi Knight is fully fleshed out. She still has her flaws of course. All great characters have flaws. But Vernestra Rwoh is a stellar person set to be a fantastic role model for the next generation of fans.

I truly hope some young person picks up Vernestra books and gets to see themself in Star Wars for the first time.

As Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week kicks off, I highly suggest checking out Vernestra’s story starting with A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland if you want to see a well-written aromantic character. From that first novel, she grows into one of the breakout characters of Star Wars: The High Republic if not in the entire franchise.