Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Acolyte episodes 1 and 2.
Summary
The Acolytecenters around the titular Sith disciple killing Jedi, with secret motives and widerStar Warsconnections explaining why. DespiteStar Wars’High Republic Erabeing a time of light and peace,The Acolytebrings it to life with a suitably dark story. Led by Amandla Stenberg,The Acolyte’s cast of charactersexplores the time period 100 years beforeStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and tells a dark story of revenge and trauma.
ByThe Acolyteepisode 2’s ending, the antagonists of the show begin to come to light. Although the secret identity ofThe Acolyte’s Sith villainremains a mystery, Amandla Stenberg’s Mae is depicted as the warrior killing Jedi. Already, Mae is showing competence in her quest, killing Master Indara inThe Acolyteepisode 1, whileThe Acolyteepisode 2 saw Master Torbin fall victim to her dark ways. These brutal murders raise the question of why Mae is killing Jedi, why she is targeting specific members of the Order, and how this links to pre-established canon andThe Acolyte’s overarching narrative.
Everything You Need To Know Before Watching Star Wars: The Acolyte
Star Wars' next TV show, The Acolyte, will come to Disney+ on June 4. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this epic Star Wars series.
A Sith Acolyte Proves Their Worth By Killing A Jedi
Sith Apprentices Have Various Ways Of Proving They Can Walk The Dark Path
Concerning why Mae is killing the Jedi, the answer is fairly simple. In theStar Warsgalaxy, it has been established across various stories in canon thatkilling a Jedi is one of the ways a Sith apprentice can prove their power. This was also mentioned in theStar Wars: Darth Vader(2017) comics, with Palpatine sending Vader to kill Jedi to retrieve their lightsaber and prove himself as a worthy apprentice to Sidious. InThe Acolyte, Mae’s motivation for killing the Jedi is similar.
She is clearly killing Jedi for her own reasons, but constantly reiterates that it will please “him.” The “him” Mae refers to is the Sith Lord spotted in the finale ofThe Acolyteepisode 1, the same hidden warrior from the show’s various trailers. During talks with Manny Jacinto’s Qimir, it is clear that Mae thinks killing these Jedi will help her rise in her master’s estimation, potentially becoming powerful enough to become his apprentice. This tracks with what is known of other Sith disciples inStar Wars, with other added wrinkles to makeThe Acolyte’s story even more compelling.
The Acolyte Adds A New Twist To This Lore
One Element Of The Acolyte Deepens Mae’s Attempted Murder Of Jedi
One of the more interesting elements ofThe Acolytecan be found in Mae’s confrontations with Master Indara and Master Torbin. In both instances, she tells the Jedi to face her without drawing a weapon. Indara cannot fathom why her opponent is not using a weapon, with Lee Jung-jae’s Sol echoing this confusion when he briefly fights Mae inThe Acolyteepisode 2. Through a conversation with Qimir, it becomes clear why Mae is not using a weapon when she is attempting to kill the Jedi.
In the conversation with Qimir, Mae states that killing the Jedi without a weapon would please her master even more. She is attempting to kill at least one of the Jedi on her hit list without a weapon, something she failed to do with Indara and Torbin as she resorted to using knives and poison respectively to kill them. If she can kill any of the Jedi on her list without a weapon, it will prove to her master just how powerful she is.
Mae only has Kelnacca, a strong Wookiee, and Sol, a trained fighter, to defeat without a weapon going forward.
This added aspect of a Sith Acolyte not using a weapon to kill Jedi links to other pre-established areas of canon. VariousStar Warsstories have made it clear that, when a Sith kills a Jedi, they take their lightsaber and bleed the Kyber Crystals to make red lightsabers. In the fights Mae has with Indara and Sol inThe Acolyteepisodes 1 and 2, Mae desperately lunges for both their lightsabers. This proves that she is attempting to steal the weapon and kill the Jedi using it, before taking it for her own as a true Sith apprentice.
Every Canon Lightsaber Color In Star Wars (And Their Meaning)
Lightsabers in the Star Wars galaxy aren’t only blue and red – there are 8 canon lightsaber colors in Star Wars (so far). Here’s what they all mean.
Mae Is Deliberately Targeting A Very Specific Group Of Jedi
Mae’s Personal Reasons For Killing The Jedi Are Explained, That Ties To The Sith’s Rise To Power
Finally,The Acolyteepisodes 1 and 2 reveal exactly why Mae is targeting specific Jedi. The four Jedi Mae is targeting are Master Indara, Master Torbin, Master Kelnacca, and Master Sol. The reason for this is that all four were stationed on her home planet when she and her twin sister Osha were younger. It is revealed inThe Acolyteepisode 1 that Mae started a fire on her home planet when she and Osha were children. This fire eventually spiraled out of control and resulted in the death of Mae and Osha’s family, with the former also being believed dead by the Jedi.
Despite this being revealed, there is more to the story as Mae is targeting the four Jedi stationed at her childhood home for revenge. Something likely took place that caused Mae to blame the Jedi for the fire or the death of her parents. Now, Mae is targeting the four Jedi to seek retribution for her life being ruined. Not only does this make Mae a more compelling character by giving her solid reasoning for disliking the Jedi, but it also ties toThe Acolyte’s Sith master in a way that potentially avoids the breaking ofStar Warschronological canon.
The hubris of the Jedi could see them disregard Mae’s murders as simple revenge, meaning they do not investigate them as a potential rise in Sith power.
By pinning Mae’s murder of the Jedi on her revenge, the Sith Lord has deniability. A large point of debate aboutThe Acolyteis the inclusion of Sith Lords whom the Jedi thought were extinct for millennia before the events ofStar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. However, through Mae’s revenge killings, the Jedi might not look further into the situation. The hubris of the Jedi could see them disregard Mae’s murders as simple revenge, meaning they do not investigate them as a potential rise in Sith power.
Through this,The Acolyte’s Sith Lord can remain a secret. While the trailers for the show prove that Sol will at least come into contact with the Sith Lord, it could be written in a way that sees Sol believe him to be dead, or that Sol himself is killed to not spread the truth. This way, the deaths of Indara and Torbin could be pinned on Mae as revenge, rather than a concerted effort to weaken the Jedi in the era ofThe Acolytefor a Sith uprising a century later.
The Acolyte
Cast
The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes - all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.
