Spoilers Star Wars: The Acolyte [Spoilers]

[damiller]

I'd love to know more about why Osha quit the order, but I suspect there's not enough time left in the series for that.

that sounds like a season 2 to me!!!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

that sounds like a season 2 to me!!!

There are also things like Qimir's backstory, which is unlikely to fit into the last episode. It's possible they will be addressed in tie-in media rather than on TV though. Too much backstory kills plot momentum.

Now, there is also the exact nature of the witches. We had one comment with respect to that: "Nightsisters?", left as a hanging question. The vanishing in a puff of smoke trick (illusion?) is something Nightsisters have been depicted doing (The Clone Wars, Fallen Order). They also like a bit of archery. However, Ahsoka revealed the Nightsisters did not originate in this galaxy, and did not originate on Dathomir. The next new Star Wars show is Skeleton Crew, which is advertised as revolving around a ship lost in another galaxy. I would hypothesise that is the same galaxy Ahsoka is stranded in, and the one the Nightsisters came from. Therefore we might learn more about witches in that story.

 

[Ryujin]

The way that the incident was originally portrayed, from Osha's standpoint, had me thinking that Mae had cast a spell out of that book, or something, to start the fire. The truth, as shown in the latest episode, was much more mundane.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The way that the incident was originally portrayed, from Osha's standpoint, had me thinking that Mae had cast a spell out of that book, or something, to start the fire. The truth, as shown in the latest episode, was much more mundane.

Both flashback episodes where shot very cleverly to suggest different things, based on who the viewpoint characters are. For example the lighting and the music in episode 7 made the witches appear much more sinister than they did in episode 3, since it was the jedi's viewpoint.

 

[Zardnaar]

There are also things like Qimir's backstory, which is unlikely to fit into the last episode. It's possible they will be addressed in tie-in media rather than on TV though. Too much backstory kills plot momentum.

Now, there is also the exact nature of the witches. We had one comment with respect to that: "Nightsisters?", left as a hanging question. The vanishing in a puff of smoke trick (illusion?) is something Nightsisters have been depicted doing (The Clone Wars, Fallen Order). They also like a bit of archery. However, Ahsoka revealed the Nightsisters did not originate in this galaxy, and did not originate on Dathomir. The next new Star Wars show is Skeleton Crew, which is advertised as revolving around a ship lost in another galaxy. I would hypothesise that is the same galaxy Ahsoka is stranded in, and the one the Nightsisters came from. Therefore we might learn more about witches in that story.

Still not confirmed of they're nightsisters.

Laters Tales of the Empire implied there's light side witches as well. Which is consistent with the original depiction.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Still not confirmed of they're nightsisters.

Indeed. It was raised as a question, but no one had an answer. However, if, as Ahsoka implied, the Nightsisters fled a distant galaxy thousands of years ago and settled on several worlds (we have at least three in Ahsoka) they probably broke up into many factions.

I expect the introduction of a new group of Dathomir witches is planned for bigger things down the line

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I expect the introduction of a new group of Dathomir witches is planned for bigger things down the line

I mean these ones might not all even be dead.

The clearly got "taken out" by the backlash of their mind-control being turned off, but did that kill them? It seems unlikely. More likely they're all seriously unconscious. Now, there's a lot of fire and smoke, so they may well die of smoke inhalation and so on, but I didn't see any evidence that the Jedi actually checked they were dead. Indeed, only Sol seems to even have seen the bodies, and he just just rushed over them - he didn't check any of them. He presumably then reported back that they were dead, but Indara is just assuming he was right or "right enough" that it wouldn't cause a problem with the Jedi council.

The only one we know is dead almost for certain is Aniseya. Any of the rest could potentially turn up again. Double-especially Koril who wasn't even with Team Mind Control. God knows where she was.

Mother Aniseya started it by getting into Torbin's mind and playing with his desire to return home, so as soon as he realized the twins would prove the Vergence was real, he could not stop himself and had to go and get them. So in a way, she brought about the witches' doom onto them.

No.

Flatly no.

The Jedi decided to interfere and to act like colonists/empire-builders who decided that they "knew better" than the locals. Sol followed some kids, and instead of reporting back, literally broke into a fortress to sneak on them, and then came back and gave Indara a lurid depiction of what was going on, something Indara clearly knew, but decided to kind of go along with anyway.

The Jedi as a group then, instead of negotiating or make any attempt whatsoever to peacefully contact the locals, broke in en masse and armed, and barged into the middle of a ceremony, intending to and succeeding in causing a problem. This is the equivalent of a bunch of armed members of one religion breaking into the church of another during a coming-of-age ceremony and attempting to the threaten them. The idea that the Jedi presence there was in any way legitimate is laughable. Only the colonial mindset of the Jedi and their concerns about "witches" and so on even gave them the excuse to do this home invasion.

Frankly Aniseya was incredibly reasonable. She found one weak Jedi and messed with him, but hoping to make him force them to leave and to show her power so the Jedi didn't just start pushing them around further. Her actions did unforeseeably contribute to the tragedy that unfolded, but there was one individual who actually caused the whole thing!

So let's be clear, this is 100% Sol's fault, because it all stems from his obsession with this little girl (which seems to stem in part from feelings of insecurity and a desire to be part of a bigger story), and he had several opportunities to "throw the brakes" here and unnecessarily committed murder in someone else's house because of his obsession with that child (a child he couldn't even tell apart from her twin, I note). The most notable opportunity to throw the brakes being that when he reached the fortress after the padawan did, the padawan had no idea how to get in, and Sol could easily have said "Well, let's wait for the ship to get here", but instead, showed the padawan how to climb in and cause a problem. He then murdered Aniseya because he decided that him not understanding what was going on was a good enough excuse for murder (absolutely leaning into the worst ACAB stereotypes), even though he had absolutely no right to be even be in that place (and was directly disobeying multiple layers of orders) nor interfering with those people, and had been told very clearly to stop the padawan, not help the padawan.

I can't blame Indara for whatever she did with the mind-control of the wookie, she'd probably never encountered force-magic like that before so was freestyling in how to stop the mind-control. Also, as noted above, I rather doubt that the sisters died from that. More likely the ones who are dead died from smoke inhalation and/or fire and/or falling debris. But Indara became frankly a criminal when she decided to lie to the Council in order to facilitate essentially kidnapping a child, and essentially for the sake of the very sentiment she condemns Sol for - "You can't destroy her dream" (note: Indara doesn't even really believe it is Osha's dream only hours earlier, she thinks and even says - correctly - that Sol, a grown man, manipulated Osha, a little girl). So instead of even following protocol, she just makes up a story, essentially condemning all four Jedi to "live a lie", which is just a completely terrible decision on every level, even that of Osha's future. It's really a self-serving position on Indara's part. If Sol threw himself at the mercy of the Council she'd also look like a complete dunce who had no control over the situation and let herself get pushed around by an emotional non-Master Jedi, so might have faced some pretty bad consequences. Again, very colonial of her.

 

[Zaukrie]

The reactor was exploding. Pushing the girls off the bridge would have trapped both of them on inaccessible ledges - killing them both. The natural instinct for the 8 year old twins was to try to be together.

Pulling and catching them both would have required concentrating on two things at the same time. Well beyond Sol's ability. As I mentioned earlier, a consequence of having thousands of jedi is needing a lower bar for recruitment. Sol is simply less powerful than the badass jedi we are used to seeing.

Also, all living things (anything with an M-count) have a natural, instinctive connection to the force. That means they will resist attempts to move them with the force without being aware they are doing it. Thus, non-living objects are easier for a jedi to move. No resistance means you can destroy a bunch of droids with a force push that might only move a living target a few inches.

We literally see the Jed and sith push people all the time. There's always a reason they aren't smart tactically. I miss the days Jedi were powerful and smart, as implied in the original shows.

 

[MarkB]

I mean these ones might not all even be dead.

The clearly got "taken out" by the backlash of their mind-control being turned off, but did that kill them? It seems unlikely. More likely they're all seriously unconscious. Now, there's a lot of fire and smoke, so they may well die of smoke inhalation and so on, but I didn't see any evidence that the Jedi actually checked they were dead. Indeed, only Sol seems to even have seen the bodies, and he just just rushed over them - he didn't check any of them. He presumably then reported back that they were dead, but Indara is just assuming he was right or "right enough" that it wouldn't cause a problem with the Jedi council.

The only one we know is dead almost for certain is Aniseya. Any of the rest could potentially turn up again. Double-especially Koril who wasn't even with Team Mind Control. God knows where she was.


No.

Flatly no.

The Jedi decided to interfere and to act like colonists/empire-builders who decided that they "knew better" than the locals. Sol followed some kids, and instead of reporting back, literally broke into a fortress to sneak on them, and then came back and gave Indara a lurid depiction of what was going on, something Indara clearly knew, but decided to kind of go along with anyway.

The Jedi as a group then, instead of negotiating or make any attempt whatsoever to peacefully contact the locals, broke in en masse and armed, and barged into the middle of a ceremony, intending to and succeeding in causing a problem. This is the equivalent of a bunch of armed members of one religion breaking into the church of another during a coming-of-age ceremony and attempting to the threaten them. The idea that the Jedi presence there was in any way legitimate is laughable. Only the colonial mindset of the Jedi and their concerns about "witches" and so on even gave them the excuse to do this home invasion.

Frankly Aniseya was incredibly reasonable. She found one weak Jedi and messed with him, but hoping to make him force them to leave and to show her power so the Jedi didn't just start pushing them around further. Her actions did unforeseeably contribute to the tragedy that unfolded, but there was one individual who actually caused the whole thing!

So let's be clear, this is 100% Sol's fault, because it all stems from his obsession with this little girl (which seems to stem in part from feelings of insecurity and a desire to be part of a bigger story), and he had several opportunities to "throw the brakes" here and unnecessarily committed murder in someone else's house because of his obsession with that child (a child he couldn't even tell apart from her twin, I note). The most notable opportunity to throw the brakes being that when he reached the fortress after the padawan did, the padawan had no idea how to get in, and Sol could easily have said "Well, let's wait for the ship to get here", but instead, showed the padawan how to climb in and cause a problem. He then murdered Aniseya because he decided that him not understanding what was going on was a good enough excuse for murder (absolutely leaning into the worst ACAB stereotypes), even though he had absolutely no right to be even be in that place (and was directly disobeying multiple layers of orders) nor interfering with those people, and had been told very clearly to stop the padawan, not help the padawan.

I can't blame Indara for whatever she did with the mind-control of the wookie, she'd probably never encountered force-magic like that before so was freestyling in how to stop the mind-control. Also, as noted above, I rather doubt that the sisters died from that. More likely the ones who are dead died from smoke inhalation and/or fire and/or falling debris. But Indara became frankly a criminal when she decided to lie to the Council in order to facilitate essentially kidnapping a child, and essentially for the sake of the very sentiment she condemns Sol for - "You can't destroy her dream" (note: Indara doesn't even really believe it is Osha's dream only hours earlier, she thinks and even says - correctly - that Sol, a grown man, manipulated Osha, a little girl). So instead of even following protocol, she just makes up a story, essentially condemning all four Jedi to "live a lie", which is just a completely terrible decision on every level, even that of Osha's future. It's really a self-serving position on Indara's part. If Sol threw himself at the mercy of the Council she'd also look like a complete dunce who had no control over the situation and let herself get pushed around by an emotional non-Master Jedi, so might have faced some pretty bad consequences. Again, very colonial of her.

Just to be clear, though, the witches are not locals. The place was lifeless a century prior, and the witches came there after being banished from somewhere else.

Also, I 100% don't think his killing of Aniseya was deliberate. He thought that she really had discorporated and was no longer standing there, and was igniting his saber to defend against an attack.

 

[Zaukrie]

Just to be clear, though, the witches are not locals. The place was lifeless a century prior, and the witches came there after being banished from somewhere else.

Also, I 100% don't think his killing of Aniseya was deliberate. He thought that she really had discorporated and was no longer standing there, and was igniting his saber to defend against an attack.

I think it was likely not deliberate either, but also not excusable.