Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5, “Night.”
Everyone loves when the villain is right in a story.The Acolyteis doing just that, andthis week’s episode, “Night,“provides great insight into the Sith at a time when the Jedi are at the peak of their power. The reveal of the identity of the Stranger (Manny Jacinto) was shocking and came with a ruthless Jedi bloodbath on his part, and it also gave us something to think about:can we be sympathetic to the Sith?No otherStar Warsstory has had the courage to pose such a question so far, although many spoke of the problems with the Jedi and how they view the Sith. So, does the Stranger have a point in what he does?
The Acolyte
The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.
‘The Acolyte’ Provides the Sith’s Point of View
One of the staples of Star Wars storytelling is that everything depends on the point of view. Sometimes it seems a little farfetched, like when Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) tells Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) inStar Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedithat what he told Luke about Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) betraying and murdering Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) was true from a certain point of view. WhatThe Acolytedoes is much more straightforward than that,incorporating the Sith’s point of view into the story and letting them speak for themselvesinstead of just depicting them as being evil for evil’s sake, like Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) in the whole Skywalker Saga.
The series has been marketed as a story about the dark side of the Force since its announcement, but it’s easy to forget that given how much focus there is on the Jedi. However, from its opening crawl to this week’s episode,The Acolytehas remained true to this premise.The Jedi are often portrayed in a nearly imperialistic light, keeping a tight grip and control over who is using the Force in the galaxy. There are storytelling reasons for that, since the series is set in the final years of the High Republic, and the Jedi did go through some major trauma dealing with Force-sensitive beings who didn’t follow their doctrine. It’s still problematic to do what the Jedi are doing by the time ofThe Acolyte, though, given how they claim to be the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy but are restricting access to the Force for those who don’t share their beliefs.Gatekeeping, to put it more bluntly.
Of course, the Sith are, by definition, the villains in Star Wars. They kill people, betray allies, lie, and so on. It’s still difficult not to feel at least some degree of empathy for the Stranger when he tells Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) that all he wants is to wield his power the way he likes. To have an acolyte to perpetuate it. The Jedi have countless Padawans and young Knights, so why shouldn’t other Force-based faiths be allowed to do the same? The Stranger telling Sol that the Jedi say he “can’t exist” even justifies his bloodbath — killing is wrong and is the mark of a villain, butfor him, it’s a matter of survival. If the Jedi are going to hunt him anyway, no one should learn his identity. If someone does, well, that’s too bad for them. There are plenty of other Jedi around, while he is likely the only Sith in the galaxy at this point.
‘The Acolyte’ Hints the Jedi Created Their Own Worst Enemies
Almost everything known about the Sith and how they came into being comes from the Legends continuity (otherwise known as theExpanded Universe). There aregreat books and comicsexploring Sith lore, like theDarth Banetrilogy and theDarth Plagueisnovel, and even theStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republicgames, whichThe AcolytecreatorLeslye Headlandoften cites as her inspiration for the series. All of that, however,has not been part of the official Star Wars canon since 2012, so it shouldn’t be taken as such. The series incorporates and canonizes many elements from them, likethe Stranger’s cortosis helmet, for example, but not the storylines.
It’s important to have this clear because there is a good chance thatThe Acolytewill establish some new original lore for the Sith. It has already started to, in fact, given how the Stranger behaves. Usually,the Sith follow their Rule of Two, according to which there is always a master and an apprentice, butthere hasn’t been any mention or hint of which of these roles the Stranger plays. He says he wants “a pupil, an acolyte,” but he doesn’t use the word apprentice, so could it be that he is the apprentice to a more powerful master? Or that the Sith had indeed been extinct until he came along, learned about them, studied their lore, and took it upon himself to continue their legacy?
One thing can be understood from what the Stranger says, though: he is in this fight to survive. He and the Sith are the second faction of Force users who claim to have been restrained by the Jedi’s control over the Force, after Mother Aniseya’s (Jodie Turner-Smith) coven inEpisode 3, “Destiny.“Every time control is tightened, though, something leaks out, and,for every powerful action, an equally powerful reaction usually ensues. The witches, for example, settled on Brendok to avoid the Jedi and just wanted to be left alone, but ended up dead anyway. The result is Mae and Osha’s (bothAmandla Stenberg) countless issues with the Jedi, which puts them in the middle of this conflict.
It may be that the Sith, who are usually naturally treacherous, took up this discourse to use it against the Jedi and win the moral high ground, but that feels unlikely becausethe Jedi’s control was indeed excessive and sometimes even authoritarian. As Karis Nemik (Alex Lawther) says in his manifesto inAndor: “The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.” InThe Acolyte, there is no Empire yet, but the Jedi fill these authoritarian shoes and fit perfectly within Nemik’s description. It may even be argued that the Jedi themselves caused an imbalance in the Force by keeping such tight control around it simply by being motivated by their own fear.
‘The Acolyte’ Episode 5 Is Teasing an Even Bigger Connection
Who isn’t the Master connected to?
The Sith’s Portrayal in ‘The Acolyte’ Is Highly Controversial for Star Wars
In ancient times, the Sith began as a splinter order from the Jedi, who began to tap into the dark side of the Force to understand the nature of power. So, technically and historically, the Jedi did create the Sith, butThe Acolyteoffers it from a different perspectivethan what we are used to seeing. Things change over time, andthe Jedi’s excessive rules made it impossible to be Force-sensitive and not be one of them; it always ends in tragedy, it’s only natural that an opposing force would rise.
Theprequel trilogyhas already expressed the idea of the Jedi being the architects of their own destruction. The sequels also did this and both were heavily criticized for their points of view. More nuanced approaches such as these, and nowThe Acolyte’s, too,aren’t usually well-received(although some people talk about “George Lucas' Star Wars” to criticize Disney-produced works, the prequels were also spurned when they came out).
So forThe Acolyteto put the Sith at the center of the narrative and let them speak for themselves is a very bold move.The Jedi’s excessive control led to the resurgence of the Sith, the rise of the Empire, and their own near extinction, and it’s exciting to see how all of this begins.
