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Mae Aniseya kills Jedi Master Indara at the start of The Acolyte, although the sequence makes it abundantly evident that Mae perceives the Jedi as enemies despite her deeds. Indara says Jedi do not attack without provocation, hence she does not instantly draw her lightsaber or attack Mae. Mae furiously argues that they do. She then faces Master Torbin, who is so guilt-ridden he chooses to take his own life rather than reporting his crime to the Jedi High Council.
These scenes strongly suggest Mae aiming after these four Jedi Masters since the day she was thought dead she did a horrible deed. Maybe they were the ones starting the fire that devastated Mae and Osha's village, murdering their family and letting Mae shoulder the guilt all these years. But this would go against the most holy precept of the Jedi Code, therefore what could have driven the four masters to engage such a horrible crime and lie about it for so long?
The Acolyte revolves on a mystery involving four Jedi Masters, and a terrifying idea holds that the solution resides in a dark plot from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Driven to assassinate Jedi Masters Indara, Sol, Torbin, and Kelnacca and prove herself to her dark master, Sith acolyte Mae Aniseya is the title character of the show. Originally shown as a foolish character who has been persuaded to believe the Jedi are wicked, Mae's own sister objects for lighting a fire that destroyed their whole family when they were young.
The first two episodes, however, progressively suggest that the narrative goes beyond what has been published. Mae mentions a murder the Jedi she is tracking did on her homeworld the night she was thought dead and truly detests them. Although at first look this concept seems ridiculous, it would not be the first time Jedi Masters have carried out a horrific crime in secret. The Acolyte might be copying KOTOR's dark Jedi scheme to create a dramatic change in the direction of the show in next episodes.
The existence of the Jedi Covenant in canon, or a comparable group, clarifies why four Jedi Masters would kill the innocent. Although the Sith have allegedly been defunct for 900 years in The Acolyte, the High Republic books and comics reveal that the Jedi and the Republic have battled and suffered under the hands of lethal foes in order to uphold galaxy peace. Even if it meant acting violently, the masters would want to do anything they could to prevent the Sith's expected comeback if they saw it as such.
Maybe the masters mistook their vision for Osha and Mae and realized the Jedi Order was destroyed via the Force. Why then would the masters attack Osha and Mae's village to stop the Sith from resurfacing? Particularly with relation to Osha and Mae, the Acolyte features multiple allusions to the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Like Anakin Skywalker, Osha was older than most Jedi recruits; she and Mae are twins, same as Luke and Leia. Mae says of Osha and herself, "always one, but born as two," which sounds like the Sith Rule of Two. Maybe the masters thought their vision pertained to Osha and Mae and glimpsed the demise of the Jedi Order through the Force.
John Jackson Miller and Brian Chang's 2006 comic book Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic offers a plausible solution to this Acolyte riddle. Set before the same-name video game, the KOTOR comics feature Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick, who arrives late for his Jedi Trials and is horrified to discover that his teachers have coldly killed their own Padawans. Zayne is framed for the crime while fleeing for his life and has to struggle through the series to prove his innocence and bring the masters to justice for their deeds.
It becomes clear as the book goes on that some Jedi Masters are covert members of the Jedi Covenant, committed to do whatever it takes to stop the Sith from resurfacing. They chose to kill them before they could achieve this horrible destiny after seeing their Padawans fall to the dark side and wre havoc on the Jedi Order. Eventually, Zayne and his comrades uncover these masters and clear his record, therefore dissolving the Jedi Covenant and bringing harmony back into the Jedi Order.
The Acolyte will expose viewers to a totally fresh side of the Star Wars chronology, but how would this next Disney+ TV drama fit the Skywalker story? The Jedi Order is most strong and the Acolyte takes place during a galaxy period of peace. The show's creators have claimed, nevertheless, that it would look at the sinister aspect of the Force and the Sith's beginnings. Given the title of the show and the reality that is a prequel to the prequel trilogy, this makes logical.
According to the Acolyte's writers, the program would be a "mystery thriller" with a "darker" tone than past Star Wars productions. The show's creators have also said that it will investigate the "gray areas" of the Force, implying that they are not reluctant to question conventional Star Wars morality. The incredibly ambitious Acolyte project will be fascinating to watch what the developers of the show have in store for fans.
It would also be quite ironic as terrible as the four masters' deeds would be if this idea were realized. They merely helped Mae to become a Sith acolyte by demolishing Osha and Mae's hamlet in order to stop the Sith from resurfacing. This is akin to the destiny of the Jedi Covenant in the KOTOR books, which progressively veers to the dark side and turns into what they were trying to avert. Dark Jedi who broke away from the Order were the first Sith; the Jedi Covenant followed suit by hiding their misdeeds and carrying out horrible deeds.
This would carry on a fundamental feature of the Star Wars films: dark visions guiding Jedi into terrible decisions. Fearful his allies would die without him, Luke stopped his training and hurried to fight Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Anakin became a Sith to save his wife, seeing visions of her dying and became a self-fulfilling prophesy when he tried to murder her. Should The Acolyte reveal their secret and the four Jedi Masters follow this road, the other characters will have more than Mae's Sith Master to concern them.
Now streaming are the first two Acolyte episodes. Disney+ releases fresh episodes every Tuesday.
Set in the Star Wars world toward the conclusion of the High Republic Era, the Acolyte television series features both the Galactic Empire and the Jedi at the height of their impact. Investigating many crimes—all leading to darkness bursting from under the surface and ready to bring about the death of the High Republic—this sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reconcile with her former Jedi Master.