'The Acolyte' Challenges Everything We Think We Know About the Jedi (2024)

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 3.

In this week's episode, The Acolyte finally begins to reveal what happened on Brendok between the Jedi and the witch coven of Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith). Episode 3, "Destiny," is the sort of Star Wars story that challenges the viewer to reconsider everything they know about the franchise, and, this time, it's about the Jedi. They are usually seen as the good guys, but the time has come to address some of their most problematic traits: enforcing a monopoly of the Force over the galaxy and separating young children from their families. While the movies may have already shown these things happening, in The Acolytethe Jedi are seen from a whole new perspective.

The Acolyte

Sci-Fi

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

Release Date

June 4, 2024

Cast

Carrie-Anne Moss , Amandla Stenberg , Lee Jung-jae , Manny Jacinto , Dafne Keen , Jodie Turner-Smith , Rebecca Henderson , Charlie Barnett , Dean-Charles Chapman

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Seasons

1

Studio

Disney+

Franchise

Star Wars

The High Republic Jedi Often Act as Colonizers on the Distant Corners of the Galaxy

The lingering impression about Episode 3 of The Acolyte is that, although it sheds light on the resentment Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) feels toward the Jedi, it still hasn't given us the full picture of what happened on Brendok. The story is now told from a young Osha's (Lauren Brady) perspective, which may depict the Jedi in a much more favorable light, but it's still highly problematic. And they have been acting that way for a while at the time of The Acolyte.

During the High Republic era, the galaxy wasn't all part of the Republic. Most distant systems were either independent or completely uninhabited, prompting the Republic to turn its eyes in that direction. In the High Republic novels and comics, many of such planets become home to Republic citizens who become settlers, and, to offer them protection, the Jedi establish outposts. In the novel Light of the Jedi, for example, the mineral planet Elphrona has a small population of Republic settlers and a Jedi outpost. Elphrona was an uninhabited planet, and the Jedi saved the settlers when the Nihil crisis started. But what happens on planets that already have local civilizations?

Pretty much what happens in Episode 3. The Jedi act on Brendok exactly the way European colonizers did upon arriving in many locations in the Americas in the 16th century. In Brazil, for example, Portuguese colonizers followed a pattern that was repeated in many other territories that would eventually become colonies, too. First, they make their presence known to the locals, but with no communication, like Sol (Lee Jung-jae) does when watching the Aniseya twins. Then, they make direct contact with the locals, promising that there is a larger world of which the locals had been unaware and that only the colonizers can show them, like Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) does when talking about the Republic. Then, the colonizers barter, using objects that attract the attention of the locals, but that have no practical use for them, just like Sol does when showing young Osha his lightsaber.

When questioned, the colonizers would often invoke their own authority, like Indara does by saying the Jedi have the right to test for potential Padawans. If they still face resistance, they enforce their presence with violence, which may be what actually happened between the Jedi and the witches. Even if they acted in self-defense, it can be argued that the Jedi caused the conflict simply by being there. Every colonization process is hostile by definition, even if there is no violence involved — if one side has the potential to destroy the other, actual violence makes no difference.

The Jedi’s Concern About Who Gets to Use the Force Is Also a Colonizing Strategy

The fact that the Jedi often make first contact on distant and seemingly uninhabited planets adds a whole other layer to their actions as a colonizing force. Over the centuries, religion has been used as one of the main ways of enforcing a colonizer's dominance over a territory, just like the Jedi do when they express concern if someone is using the Force without their knowledge. It's not about using dark magic or even the Dark Side. Mother Aniseya's coven is destroyed because the Jedi found her and a conflict arises.

Religion was used by European colonizers the same way the Jedi do. Catholic countries like Portugal and Spain, for example, often made use of Jesuit missionaries to establish first contact with local groups. This is why countries like Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines, for example, have larger Catholic populations than European countries. But dominance is such a deep-rooted thing, that, when we talk about the Jesuits, the first thing that comes to mind is how they were hunted down in Japan. There are many movies and series about that, like Martin Scorsese's Silence and FX's Shogun, but there is hardly anything about how the Jesuits enforced Christianity in South America, for example. It's not about religion itself, but, as Mother Aniseya puts it, it's "about power and who is allowed to use it." Colonized countries are often larger and richer than the colonizing ones, but they can never achieve their full potential.

Of course, Star Wars has always made it clear that the Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. They probably mean well when they try to make sure no one is tapping into the Dark Side of the Force, but, in controlling it, they are also enforcing the Republic's political authority - in Episode 2, Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) tries to arrest Mae "in the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic." So the Jedi act as religious enforces under their own authority and as political enforcers under the Republic, even if they are on planets that are not part of the Republic. And this need for control is what leads them to their most problematic practice.

Taking Children From Their Families Works Against the Jedi in Terms of What Is Right

"The Jedi do not take children," says Sol to the coven, as the Jedi express their intention of testing the Aniseya twins as potential Padawans. If it sounds contradictory, it's because it is. We know from the Prequels that, when they find Force-sensitive young children, they test them and invite them to join the Jedi Order. The catch is that the children will never see their families again, so it does feel like the Jedi are taking them away.

The reason the Jedi have to do so is to properly train all potential Force users in their own ways, which would then ensure that no one ever falls to the Dark Side or uses their powers to harm others. Some cultures consider it an honor to have their children join the Jedi, but, for those who don't, it's once again about enforcing a colonizing point-of-view on local cultures. As good as the Jedi's intentions may be, separating children from their families is an act of violence, too, and is bound to leave unexpressed emotions that have to come out somehow, and usually do a lot of damage when they do. This is why the Jedi refuse children who are old enough to understand what is being done to them, but it's still violence.

In Episode 3, the Aniseya twins seem to be around the same age as young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and the incident on Brendok may even be what establishes an age limit for potential Padawans. But, even if Osha wanted to be a Jedi, it's too big a decision for any child to make. Master Indara expresses her concern that the witches "are training children," but that shouldn't be anyone's concern as long as nothing bad comes of it, and, in most cases, it comes from the Jedi themselves, since it's more common for a Jedi to fall because of the Order's strict control than for a random Force user elsewhere.

Episode 3 of The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+. New episodes air weekly on Wednesdays.

WATCH ON DISNEY+