3 Things To Know About The Chaste Before You Binge 'The Defenders'
While Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have been off fighting their own battles before joining up with The Defenders, both Daredevil and Iron Fist have been battling The Hand across two different shows with 39 episodes between them. So it's no surprise that what we know of them comes from both their standalone series. Not just the bad guys, the Hand, but their good guy parallels, the Chaste. But who are the Chaste? And how are they related to the Hand?
We originally learned about the Chaste back in Daredevil Season 2, when Matt Murdock's original mentor Stick, the blind man who taught him all the martial arts he knows, came back again for a visit. The first time we met Stick, he was gunning for the Hand's newest weapon, something called "Black Sky." He spoke of a war that was coming, but gave no details.
When he returned again, this time to see both Matt's Daredevil and Elektra, he filled Matt in on the missing puzzle pieces. The Chaste, an ancient order of ninjas, are a group that were created to fight the Hand, and have been their sworn enemies for centuries. Stick's work with both Elektra and Matt were to turn them into warriors that would fight for their order in the next generation.
Who Are The Chaste
According to the folklore, the Chaste were built from a single child who was left alive by the Hand after they slaughtered his entire village. As a child he beat the Hand's best warriors, and as he grew older, he surrounded himself with a group of like minded souls, bent on take the Hand down for their evil deeds.
Originally "The Chaste" was the nickname of that one child, but when he died and passed on, the group took his name for their own.
How Are Daredevil And Elektra Involved?
Elektra was a willing member of the Chaste at first, until she found out Stick was trying to have her killed in Daredevil Season 2. But when she also found out that she was a "Black Sky," she attempted to change that fate, and chose to recommit to the Chaste over the Hand, including dying to save Murdock. But death may have merely hasted her turn.
What Do The Chaste Want With The Defenders?
The coming together of this supergroup to fight the Hand is a huge boon for the Chaste. But did they manipulate it into happening? Will the Chaste try to recruit all four members of the Defenders to their cause? Or just use them for their own ends? (Stick isn't exactly someone to trust after all.)
We won't know until The Defenders arrives on Netflix at the end of the week, but we can't wait to find out.
