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This Star Wars: The Acolyte article contains spoilers.
The Acolyte could only end in tragedy. Last week, we learned the truth about the role Master Sol played in the massacre on Brendok 16 years before the start of the series, and it’s now all out in the open in the finale. Sol confesses to his crimes and Osha, taking her first steps down the path of the dark side, punishes him for it, Force choking her former master to death. Knowing it’s too late to turn back, Osha makes a deal with The Stranger to become his pupil/acolyte in exchange for Mae’s freedom. By the end of the episode, Osha and Mae have essentially traded places: the former Jedi padawan is now the protege of a Sith Lord, while the latter is in custody on Coruscant after having her memory wiped. We’ll have to wait until a potential second season to see how their story turns out.
But we also learn in the finale that what’s transpired is actually much bigger than twin sisters at odds with each other. They’re chess pieces in someone else’s game, as the true villain of the series is revealed in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that is sure to send Prequel Trilogy fans into a frenzy. Here’s what this cameo, and another at the very end of the episode, mean for the future of the show…
Darth Plagueis?!
At last we know who is truly pulling the strings in The Acolyte: it’s a hooded Sith Lord literally watching from the shadows as The Stranger (presumably his apprentice) convinces Osha to become his acolyte. But who exactly is this mystery Dark Lord of the Sith?
While his name is never uttered in the episode, and it’s difficult to completely make out his face, he seems to have the elongated head and spider-like fingers of a Muun, which heavily implies that he’s the Darth Plagueis the Wise we heard so much about in Revenge of the Sith. In that movie, Palpatine told Anakin a story about a Sith Lord who had the power to create life as well as stop those he cared about from dying, but ironically could not save his own life when his apprentice eventually decided to murder him. We know of course that that apprentice was actually Palpatine and that his master was Plagueis.
But The Acolyte takes place 100 years before even The Phantom Menace, which means Plagueis hasn’t met Palpatine yet—the future Emperor hasn’t even been born at this point in the timeline—which is why The Stranger is likely Plagueis’ apprentice on the show.
Fans of the old (and no longer canon) Legends continuity will of course point out that The Acolyte has tweaked the Sith Lord’s previously established history. In Legends, Plagueis was said to have been born between 147 and 120 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), but he already looks pretty old at the time of The Acolyte, which is set in 132 BBY, suggesting the show has changed the character’s age to be much older for his canon debut. That said, the show does follow the character’s Legends backstory in other ways, including his connection to cortosis and his base of operations on an ocean planet (it was the planet Bal’demnic in Legends).
So, how does Plagueis fit into everything going on in The Acolyte? Well, the most well-known fact about him is that he was obsessed with manipulating midi-chlorians to create and sustain life. Obviously he would be extremely interested in the witches capable of using the Force to create twin sisters who are themselves very powerful in Force. The question is, did Mother Aniseya and her coven learn this power from Plagueis or was it the other way around? Did Plagueis discover that using the Force to create life was possible from these witches?
Whatever the case, now that The Stranger has recruited Osha, it probably won’t be long before she’s brought before Plagueis so he can learn more about the mysteries of Osha’s origin, learnings that will undoubtedly tie into Palpatine’s future plans in the Prequels. After all, just a few years ago, Marvel’s Darth Vader comics heavily implied that it was Palpatine who manipulated midi-chlorians to make Shmi Skywalker pregnant with Anakin, a trick he very likely learned from his master. The Acolyte seems to be the story of how the Sith gained that knowledge and put it to work…
Yoda!
Although showrunner Leslye Headland told Den of Geek magazine ahead of the series premiere that Master Yoda wouldn’t appear in the first season of the show, we do technically get a glimpe of the legendary Jedi’s wrinkly head in the very last scene of the finale. This cameo was inevitable. A Jedi Master who is over 900 years old at the time of his death in Return of the Jedi—which is set about 140 years after The Acolyte—Yoda has already been on the High Council for centuries by the time Vernestra Rwoh shows up in his chambers to seek his guidance regarding what transpired on Brendok and Khofar and who’s behind it.
What part Master Yoda will play in the dark times to come is anyone’s guess, although we can make an educated guess. In The Phantom Menace, the Jedi believe (or perhaps are pretending to believe) that the Sith have been extinct for millennia, but Yoda knows a few things about Sith Lords in the movie. Specifically, he knows all about the Sith Rule of Two—that there’s always a master and an apprentice. Are the events of The Acolyte the reason why he knows this about the Sith? Will a second season bring Master Yoda face to face with Plagueis or at the very least The Stranger and Osha? It certainly seems to be what this show wants us to think.
Star Wars: The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+.
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