'The Acolyte' Episode 7 Takeaway: Why Jedi masters kept horrific past of twins secret
Contains spoilers and speculation for 'The Acolyte'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'The Acolyte' Episode 7 aired on Disney+ on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. The thrilling episode was filled with intense Lightsaber battles and unveiled long-guarded Jedi secrets.
The episode revisited the past, depicting the events on Brendok where Jedi Masters were present to investigate a concentration of Force energy known as a vergence on the planet.
During their investigation, the Jedi Masters encounter witches and pretend to be testing Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) as potential Jedi Padawans.
We see that their true intention is to investigate the activities of the witches on the planet. After conducting a blood test on Mae and Osha, they suspect that both might have been artificially created using the vergence.
Throughout the series, Mae has been blamed for the fire that occurred at Brendok. However, this episode reveals that it was Torbin's (Dean Charles-Chapman) and Master Sol's (Lee Jung-jae) interference with the witches, along with Master Indara's (Carrie-Anne Moss) mental control, that led to the witches' deaths.
Mother Aniseya was killed by Master Sol, but they hid this truth from Osha.
Why did the Jedi hide the truth from Osha?
Master Sol and Indara decide to keep the truth about Brendok from Osha, instead telling her that Mae burned everything down. This decision might stem from their guilt and desire for penance.
The masters were directly responsible for destroying Osha's world and the witches could have carried on in peace and practiced their form of force had it not been for the interference of the Jedis.
Osha is obsessed with becoming a Jedi and even passes the tests set by the masters. With her family and community gone, Master Sol takes it upon himself to care for Osha.
He felt a connection with Osha from the very beginning and believed it was dangerous for her to remain with the witches.
The ascension was deemed a dangerous exercise for Osha according to Sol, which was one of the reasons they wanted to take the twins.
Moreover, Torbin and the Jedi were eager to take the twins back to Coruscant, where they could study the creation of Mae and Osha.
This eagerness might have been the reason why Torbin eventually ended his life after being persuaded by Mae, remaining in silence for a long time thereafter.
Could Osha and Mae be the origin of the dark side?
'The Acolyte' is set a hundred years before the Jedi knew of the existence of the dark side. It's possible that Mae and Osha played a role in this revelation.
Qimir (Manny Jacinto) is the only Sith Lord we know of, and he is desperate for a pupil. Perhaps the pupil he seeks is not an individual but rather a shared consciousness inhabiting two bodies.
As seen in Episode 7, Mae and Osha are creations of a single consciousness. In the previous episode, Osha experimented with the Cortosis helmet and grew closer to Qimir.
Maybe Qimir found Mae inadequate as a pupil because she wasn't complete without Osha.
If Master Sol survives, he will likely inform the High Council about the Sith Lord's existence, potentially leading to his death at the hands of Qimir and his potential pupils as the finale approaches.
Episodes 1-7 of 'The Acolyte' are streaming on Disney+