Tell me about Hux and Cardinal?
I'm so glad you asked. I suspect that the only reason they're not a bigger ship is that Cardinal is a book character who hasn't shown up onscreen. (Yet.)
The dynamic Brendol creates between Hux and Cardinal echoes the one Snoke later creates between Hux and Kylo, and it goes back WAY further. I'm convinced this is deliberate both on the author's part and in-universe on Snoke's part.
Cardinal is one of the first stormtroopers recruited into the First Order when he and Hux are both children. Hux's father gives Cardinal all the praise he denies Hux, which is a really sore spot for Hux because Cardinal embodies the idealized physical masculinity that Brendol constantly berates Hux for lacking (too weak, too skinny). But Cardinal is trained to obey Hux's orders even though Hux is younger and Cardinal sees him as "spoiled" and "soft." Despite all the praise Brendol showers upon Cardinal, Hux gets the real power. It's a real brains/brawn dichotomy that makes each feel inferior to the other's strengths. But this works out great for Brendol, for a while - better that they're both focused on earning his approval than realizing how well they complement each other.
I also think it's very likely Cardinal was Hux's first crush. I have no evidence for this whatsoever. But their closeness and enmity could be the start of a pattern that Hux later repeats with Kylo. Plus, a side effect of Brendol criticizing Hux's physique and praising Cardinal is that Hux would have been... very aware of Cardinal's physique. Prime gay awakening "do I want to be him, or do I just want him?" material.
The fraught power dynamics between them are interesting in a way that's quite different from Kylux, though.
By the time of the Phasma novel, Hux outranks Cardinal significantly. Also consider this unsettling passage that shows the effect of Cardinal's conditioning on his opinion of Hux:
He's clearly reciting propaganda here, but how deeply ingrained is it? Is he just repeating lines back to himself or does he fully believe all of this? Depending on how literally you take this passage, this pairing could get quite twisted and dark.
Yet even here, Cardinal displays an undercurrent of resentment towards Hux. And while Hux sees Cardinal as an obedient subordinate, I don't think he's outgrown his envy and the sense that he didn't measure up to Cardinal. This in no way neutralizes the power Hux holds over him, but the duality of their relationship is fertile ground for exploration. Their history and present are inextricably intertwined. No one knows Hux quite like Cardinal does.
By the way, that's from the infamous robe scene, in which Hux drapes himself across his furniture in a robe and gives off a vaguely slutty vibe. For an audience of one. Cardinal. I'm just saying.
I could go on, lol, but I'll cap it here for now.
Thanks so much for asking! It's such a rarepair (fewer than twenty fics on AO3! what!) and I'm determined to change that lmfao. Literally ask any time and I will keep going, hahaha, and it'd absolutely make my day to see other people talking about these two.
