‘The Acolyte’ Milks Its Skywalker Saga Connection With Its Latest Reveal
"Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?"
The season finale of Leslye Headland’s ever-divisive High Republic show The Acolyte is upon us, and man, it’s a doozy. There’s lots of juicy Star Wars lore to dive into here, but perhaps the most notable part of the episode is its surprise reveal of an iconic Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for all episodes of The Acolyte.
Quick recap of The Acolyte finale: all our key players reunite on Brendok for a final showdown, pitting Master vs. Master and dark vs. light. Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) get their long-awaited rematch at the site of their old witch coven, while Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and Qimir (Manny Jacinto) duke it out all “Duel of the Fates”-style for their apprentices. In the end, it’s actually Osha who Force-chokes her former Master to death after learning he was the one responsible for killing Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) those 16 odd years ago, fully completing her transition to the dark side.
With Sol dead, Qimir and the twins hide from Master Vernestra (Rebecca Henderson) and her enclave of Jedi knights. It’s here that Osha admits she was wrong for not believing Mae, which … are we sure about that? Whatever. Either way, the sisters make up, but not before Qimir wipes Mae’s mind to ride off into the sunset with Osha. They did my girl dirty! Mae is taken into Jedi custody back on Coruscant, and Vernestra fabricates an elaborate lie to tell the senate, essentially pinning the blame on Sol for the murder of so many Jedi. It’s always the ones you least suspect …
Disney and Lucasfilm have yet to confirm whether a second season of The Acolyte is in the works, but a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo suggests that there’s more here than meets the eye. So, with the finale leaving fans with perhaps more questions than answers, who is Darth Plagueis? And why is he such an important figure in the Star Wars universe?
Who is Darth Plagueis, and what’s his connection to Anakin Skywalker?
Although The Acolyte gave us a crowd-pleasing cameo in the form of Master Yoda in its final moments, there’s arguably a bigger reveal that takes place halfway through the episode: Darth Plagueis. The skeletal hand and glowing red eyes that semi-emerge from a cave on Bal’demnic might make him look more like a Spirit Halloween animatronic than anything, but he’s instrumental in the fall of the Jedi Order, and—as we’ll come to see—a truly terrifying threat to the galaxy.
It’s not outright confirmed, but the popular theory is that Darth Plagueis is working with Qimir. And honestly, if the two Sith really are roommates, then Plagueis is the definition of minding my own business—and good for him! Lord knows how many young women Qimir has brought to his private island to seduce to the dark side (we have soup!) and how many times Plagueis has caught him skinny-dipping.
We all know the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, but who is he, really? Well, before he was a Sith baddie, Plagueis, of the Muun species, was actually known as Hego Damask II. After his mother discovered he was Force-sensitive, he was handed off to Sith Lord Darth Tenebrous, who trained Plagueis in the ways of the Sith. Of course, Plagueis would go on to gave his master the “Rule of Two” special by snapping his neck. Later, upon arriving on the planet Naboo, Plagueis kept the tradition alive by scouting for a new apprentice, where he stumbled across the young and power-hungry Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid)—a true match made in hell. Palpatine, now known by his alias of Darth Sidious, went on to kill Plagueis in his sleep to train Darth Maul, which, as we know, doesn’t exactly end well for both parties.
The Skywalker Saga connection here is pretty obvious, as Palpatine = Bad Guy. His manipulation of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) throughout the prequel trilogy is what ultimately leads to the fall of the Jedi and the Republic, paving the way for the rise of the Galactic Empire. However, what you might not know is that Star Wars Legends implies that Anakin was conceived as a result of Palpatine and Plagueis experimenting with the Force. While this theory is still unconfirmed in canon, The Acolyte proves that at least some Force-users (namely, the witches of Brendok) created life via midi-chlorians.
If Mae and Osha really were the result of some whacky experiments, then we might finally have an explanation for how Anakin was conceived beyond “it was the will of the Force” if Plagueis copies their methods, as Shmi (allegedly) never got freaky with a Force user. However, George Lucas himself seems pretty unconcerned with the way in which the Chosen One was born, telling Rolling Stone all the way back in 2005, “How he was born ultimately has no relationship to how he dies, because in the end, the prophecy is true: Balance comes back to the Force.” So … don’t think too hard about it, I guess?
Is Disney changing George Lucas’ canon by potentially adding an in-universe explanation for how Plagueis meddled with the Force to create life? It’s hard to say, but this will almost certainly be a plot point of The Acolyte season 2 if it’s ever given the green light. Either way, I’m thrilled to see Darth Plagueis making his live action debut, though Disney will have to be careful with his story moving forward to avoid even more backlash.
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