Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte!
Summary
OneStar Wars: The Acolyteplot twist was revealed 13 years ago, in a story entirely outside theStar Warsgalaxy.The Acolytehas released its first three episodes, and it’s already proven full of surprises. As the newest addition tothe chronology ofStar Warsmovies and TV shows,The Acolytehas plenty to live up to, but, so far, the show has pulled it off by including shocking details in every single episode.
Although trailers forThe Acolytehad seemingly only depicted Mae—one character—The Acolytetwo-episode premiererevealed that there were actually two characters, twins Mae and Osha. Although the premiere set the twins up as being on two sides of the Force, Osha on the light side and Mae on the dark,the third episode, “Destiny,” suggested that not everything is as it seemed. Now, the secret toThe Acolyte’slatest plot twist may have been revealed in the most unlikely place, more than a decade ago.
10 Unanswered Questions After The Acolyte Episode 3
The Acolyte episode 3 answered some major questions; however, it’s left audiences with even more questions about what happened on Brendok.
The Acolyte’s Showrunner Described The Show As “Frozen Meets Kill Bill”
The Acolyteshowrunner Leslye Headland referred to the show as being similar to the moviesKill Billand Disney’sFrozen. Obviously, these two movies are worlds apart in terms of their content and their target demographic, so that description was immediately of interest. Between the two,Kill Billmade the most sense. Throughout trailers forThe Acolyte, characters spoke about a mysterious assassin going around killing Jedi, and Mae was shown engaged in an epic battle with Jedi Master Indara.
The Acolyteshowrunner Leslye Headland referred to the show as being similar to the moviesKill Billand Disney’sFrozen.
However, based on those very same plot points,it was downright bewildering that Headland would compareThe Acolyteto a Disney princess movie about two sisters. Once it was revealed that Mae was not a solo character but rather a twin, this made a bit more sense; however, simply being sisters wasn’t a strong enough connection to the plot ofFrozenfor that comparison to make sense. The first three episodes have finally begun to elucidate how the two connect, though, and those similarities may have already revealed whereThe Acolyteis going.
Mae
Osha and her former master, Jedi Master Sol, discussed what had happened in Osha’s childhood, identifying Mae as the antagonist who intentionally burned down the twins' home on Brendok, killing their entire family in the process. At first, this seemed more than likely. Mae had already been shown killing Jedi in the first two episodes, and two more Jedi remained on her hit list.
However, when Mae visited the second Jedi she killed, Jedi Master Torbin, she gave him the option of either taking poison or confessing what he’d done to the Jedi Council. Not only did Torbin choose poison over confession, but also, he apologized for the mysterious event, telling Mae the Jedi had thought they were doing the right thing.This level of remorse suggests Mae might not be entirely at fault.
Moreover, inThe Acolyte’sthird episode, the event itself is depicted from Osha’s point of view. While Mae’s perspective is yet to be revealed, the circumstances of the death of their mothers and the entire coven ofthe Witches of Brendokare extremely suspicious and nod toward Mae not being their killer. Although Mae does set fire to the twins' room and threaten to kill Osha, the bodies of the deceased Brendok witches were not burned.
The bodies of the deceased Brendok witches were not burned.
In light of that, it seems doubtful Mae or her fire (even accidentally) killed them—disturbingly, this could mean the visiting Jedi, Indara, Sol, Kelnacca, and Torbin, are at fault, which would explain Mae’s desperation for revenge. This may be whereFrozencomes in. In the Disney movie, Elsa is the older sister to Anna, and she has ice powers that she cannot control, which accidentally cause terrible harm. Following this logic,The Acolytemay be likeFrozenin that Mae is a misunderstood sister who is being wrongly accused.
I’m Horrified At What I Think The Jedi Just Did In The Acolyte Episode 3
Star Wars: The Acolyte has just released its third episode, and one key tragedy may have just revealed the darkest part of the Jedi’s history.
The Acolyte Will Need A Better Big Bad
If this is the plot twistThe Acolyteis setting up, then the show will need a much better villain. Mae was positioned as one of two main antagonists in the show’s trailers, the other being a masked Sith who hasn’t yet been revealed. While she clearly is a villain in the show—she’s killed multiple Jedi, after all—this twist would diminish her role in that regard. More importantly,Star Warshas already had a plot twist revealing a villain character who was falsely accused of murdering people by setting a fire.
InThe Rise of Kylo Rencomic book, it was revealed that, contrary to what Luke Skywalker believed, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren hadn’t set fire to his Jedi Temple. Rather, a bolt of lightning (therefore, likely Palpatine again) struck the Temple, starting the fire, which dismayed Ben.Star Warshas had a bit of a villain problem ever sinceStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerbrought back Palpatine rather than letting Kylo Ren be the ‘big bad.’ HopefullyStar Wars: The Acolytewill avoid repeating this mistake by ditching the recycled plot line and introducing a brand-new, even scarier villain.
Purchase Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren, written by Charles Soule
New episodes of The Acolyte release Tuesdays at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on Disney+.
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.
