Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte episode 7
Summary
- The Acolyte episode 7 focuses on the events on Brendock and the twin sisters Mae and Osha Aniseya.
- References include the Great Hyperspace Disaster, Force vergences, Nightsisters, and M-counts,
- There are also connections to the Jedi's downfall with Order 66, Mother Aniseya's shadow powers coming from Legends, and Kylo Ren's theme from the sequel trilogy.
High Republic Era and the Star Wars canon at large. Revisiting the major flashback on Brendock that was seen in The Acolyte episode 3, the new Star Wars show is finally revealing the full events that led to the twin sisters Mae and Osha Aniseya being split up as children when the Jedi came to their world. It's also been revealed what happened to the Force witches who raised them.
In The Acolyte episode 7, it's explained why the Jedi were on Brendock in the first place, 16 years before the present-day events of The Acolyte. Likewise, it's also revealed that the demise of Brendock's witches involved far more than Mae simply starting a fire after Osha decided she wanted to become a Jedi. To that end, here are 10 Easter eggs and references from The Acolyte episode 7 as the events on Brendock were revealed in full.
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10 Insulting a Wookiee's Cooking
"It's Unwise To Upset A Wookiee"
While conducting their survey of Brendock, Torbin draws a roar of outrage from the Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca after he says he's not hungry for the food the Wookiee was preparing. Master Indara cautions her Padawan that "It's unwise to insult a Wookiee's cooking". This mirrors the classic line from Han Solo in A New Hope when he comments that it's "unwise to upset a Wookiee" after R2-D2 beats Chewbacca in a game of dejarik holo-chess aboard the Millennium Falcon.
However, the particular meat Kelnacca's cooking also resembles the bird-like porgs Chewbacca was roasting in The Last Jedi. Wanting to treat himself to a meal while Rey was training with Luke on Ahch-To, Chewie tried to eat his food, though not before scaring off a group of the horrified creatures who certainly looked offended by what he'd done to their fellow porg. As confirmed by StarWars.com, the type of alien bird Kelnacca's cooking for himself and his fellow Jedi is known as a nuna which has been seen in previous Star Wars projects.
9 The Great Hyperspace Disaster
The Very First High Republic Era Story
In The Acolyte episode 7, Indara confirms the reason why the Jedi are investigating Brendock. According to the Jedi Master, Brendock was once lifeless and desolate, having been ravaged due to the Great Hyperspace Disaster 100 years prior. The Great Hyperspace disaster was one of the very first stories set during the High Republic Era from Charles Soule's novel Light of the Jedi.
Serving as a major galactic crisis, a ship known as The Legacy Run was destroyed while traveling through hyperspace by the marauders known as the Nihil. To that end, pieces of the ship were haphazardly shot out of hyperspace at random, becoming incredibly devastating projectiles known as The Emergences that threatened to wreak havoc on multiple worlds. Apparently, Brendock was one of these ruined worlds.
8 The Acolye's Brendock Contains A Force Vergence
Powerful Nexuses In The Force
Despite having once been a desolate world, the Jedi were sent to investigate why the planet was now full of life, the suspicion being that the cause was a high concentration of Force energy known as a vergence or nexus. Found all over the Star Wars galaxy, vergences can be entered on both the light and dark sides of the Force (sometimes both). They can be location-based, objects, and even powerful Force-sensitives such as Anakin Skywalker (the Chosen One).
Beyond this new vergence on Brendock, key vergences include a dark side locus beneath Coruscant's Jedi Temple and Darth Vader's Mustafar castle, as well as deep fissures below Palpatine's Sith Citadel on Exegol. The "Cave of Evil" Luke enters on Dagobah in also a vergence, as is the "Mirror Cave" Rey finds on Ahch-To. Furthermore, entire worlds can be major vergences known as fulcrums in the Force, such as Mortis or the birthplace of the midi-chlorians known as The Wellspring.
7 Nightsisters?
A Known Force Coven During The High Republic
Following his initial recon after discovering Osha and Mae and the Force cult raising them, Master Sol reports back to his fellow Jedi. Sharing his suspicions that they're witches, Torbin asks if they're Nightsisters, another group of Force witches in the Star Wars canon who've recently been seen in the New Republic Era with the Ahsoka series. As such, it seems the Nightsisters were also a known coven to the Jedi even as far back as the High Republic Era, if not earlier.
Originating from outside the galaxy on the world known as Peridea, the majority of the Nightsisters settled on the world known as Dathomir, a powerful world strong in the dark side of the Force. This is where they resided for millennia until their demise near the end of The Clone Wars. However, Ahsoka has revealed that some Nightsisters still survived both in the known galaxy such as Morgn Elsbeth, and back on Peridea such as the triumvirate known as The Great Mothers.
6 Bonadan
The Start of The Hydian Way
Upon entering his mind, Mother Aniseya confirms that she knows Padawan Torbin's history and desires. This includes the knowledge that Torbin's parents come from the planet Bonadan. In the Star Wars galaxy, Bonadan is located in the Corporate Sector and is known as the official beginning of the Hydian Way, one of the biggest hyperspace trade routes in the galaxy.
5 Extremely High M-Counts
Just Like Anakin Skywalker
Once the results of Mae and Osha's blood come back, the Jedi are shocked to learn that both girls have incredibly high M-counts. This means that they each have an extremely high number of midi-chlorians in their blood, a key marker signifying they have very powerful connections to the Force. The same was true of Anakin Skywalker when Qui-Gon Jinn tested his blood in The Phantom Menace, confirmed by Obi-Wan Kenobi to have a higher M-count than even Master Yoda.
4 Star Wars Confirms Why Cloning Force-Senstives Is So Hard
Unique Symbionts
The Jedi are also surprised to learn that Mae and Osha also have identical symbionts to the Force. Even as twins, it's revealed that their symbionts and connections to the Force should be unique if they had been born naturally. Instead, this confirms to the Jedi that the girls are actually one consciousness split into two. It might even be a tease that Mae and Osha exist as an artificial dad in the Force.
This split is something the Jedi believe could only have been done artificially through the manipulation of a powerful Force vergence. This could also help explain why cloning Force sensitives is so difficult, as seen during the days of the Galactic Empire with Palpatine's Project Necromancer. As such, it's a fascinating new concept regarding Force-sensitives and their connections to the sentient midi-chlorians.
3 “Noble Intentions"
Foreshadowing The Jedi's Downfall
During the Jedi's return to the witches' compound, Sol tries to explain that they've come with noble intentions to have Osha be trained as a Jedi. However, Mother Aniseya says that one day all those noble intentions will lead to "the downfall of every Jedi in the galaxy." As such, this is some key foreshadowing of the Jedi's future demise at the end of the prequels with Order 66 and the rise of Palpatine's Empire.
For all the Jedi's noble intentions, they were indeed so compromised by Revenge of the Sith that they were unaware that the Sith had infiltrated the Republic Senate. Deceptions and plots that had been developed over decades were unleashed by Palpatine, leading to the Jedi's own clone troopers betraying them alongside Anakin Skywalker, the prophesied Chosen One whom Darth Sidious had corrupted into his new apprentice Darth Vader. While it's unclear if Aniseya's warning actually came from a clear vision of the future, it came true all the same.
2 Mother Aniseya's Shadow Powers
Straight From Legends And The Nightsisters
Wanting to protect Mae from the battle about to take place between Tobin and Koril, Mother Aniseya transforms herself into shadow to try and get to Mae as fast as possible. This is a new power for this Force coven as the other witches eventually do the same following Aniseya's death, though it actually comes from Legends. Having first appeared in the Legends novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, this shadow power was used by the Nightsisters, the original Force witches in the Star Wars canon.
1 Kylo Ren's Theme Plays (Again)
During The Kelnacca Duel
Following Aniseya's death, Mother Koril and the remaining witches together to possess Kelnacca, puppeting him to fight Torbin and Sol on their behalf. During the brief duel, Kylo Ren's theme from the sequel trilogy can be heard, though it's not the first time. Ever since The Acolyte episode 5, Kylo Ren's theme has been heard on multiple occasions, though for what purpose remains unclear beyond being a notable auditory Easter egg in the new Star Wars show.
New episodes of The Acolyte premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+.
The Acolyte
- Release Date
- 2024 - 2024-00-00
- Showrunner
- Leslye Headland
- Directors
- Leslye Headland, Alex Garcia Lopez
Cast
Mae
Lee Jung-jaeMaster Sol
WHERE TO WATCH
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.
- Writers
- Leslye Headland, Charmaine De Grate, Kor Adana
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- Dis
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