The Acolyte’s Sith Lord reveal makes sense – you just weren’t paying attention

If I had a nickel for every time Star Wars fans didn’t understand Star Wars, I wouldn’t need to write for a living. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, so here I am helping those who struggle to follow a show about space hairdressers, men made of LEGO, and wizards with laser swords. 

Now, if you’re in the enviable position of not looking at the online discourse around The Acolyte, you may have missed the recent Star Wars furor. A small but very vocal part of the community has got a case of the ‘grumpy-wumpys’ (no, that’s not a Star Wars character) over the reveal that Qimir was, in fact, a Sith Lord. 

Why’s this a big deal? Well, you may remember in Star Wars: Episode 1, when the lumpy-headed Jedi master Ki-Adi-Mundi said the Sith hadn’t been seen in a millennium. But how can that possibly be true when they’re swinging their red lightsabers around in The Acolyte? Well, the answer is shockingly simple and can be found in The Acolyte Episode 5.

While Sol and Qimir are fighting, the Jedi asks his opponent, “What are you?” To which the replies, “I have no name, but the Jedi, like you, might call me Sith.” Now, some people online have taken this line as Qimir confirming, in an oddly cryptic way, that he is indeed a Dark Lord of the Sith, but is that actually what he said?

Only Sith deal in absolutes…

The first thing he said was, “I have no name,” and then he said you “might” call me Sith. That doesn’t sound like a firm declaration of anything to me. If he’s a Sith Lord, why not just say, “Hi, I’m Darth Scary-Name. Nice to meet you?” 

After all, it’s not like he intends to let Sol live to warn the Jedi council of the Sith’s return. More than that, when Sol asks him what he wants, Qimir’s answer, “freedom,” doesn’t sound very Sith-y.

The Sith are all about dominion and power. They want to control everything. They don’t give a bantha’s buttock about “freedom.” Qimir then says he wants the freedom to wield his power the way he wants without having to answer to the Jedi. 

Do you know what that sounds like? It sounds like the philosophy episode by the coven of witches on Brendok. They were Force-sensitive as well but wanted to wield it outside of the restrictive confines of the Jedi Order. With that in mind, I believe Qimir isn’t technically part a Sith; he’s more like Kylo Ren or Snoke, a force user who wields the Dark Side for their own ends but isn’t necessarily a member of the Sith Order.

The Force does not belong to the Jedi and Sith

This would tie in with The Acolyte’s opening crawl, which has already suggested our accepted binary – that only the Sith and Jedi know how to use the Force – is a load of Poodoo. 

When the crawl says, “a few powerful people learning to use The Force in secret.” It tells the viewer that no one has a monopoly on the Force and that if it flows freely through the galaxy, that was something Rian Johnson suggested in the brilliant Last Jedi, and it’s nice to see it brought back again. 

It also means that Ki-Adi-Mundi was, in fact, correct. The Sith haven’t been active in a millennium because Qimir was never technically a member of the Jedi’s emo counterparts. So, if you were terrified that The Acolyte had broken the canon or betrayed George Lucas’s vision for the series he sold a decade ago, don’t worry about it; the unsalable Phantom Menace hasn’t been disrespected. 

There’s, of course, another more simple explanation for Ki-Adi-Mundi’s line. Qimir is a Sith, and he just murders everyone who’s met him, and the news of the Dark Side’s return never gets back to Ki-Adi-Mundi. Either idea works…

If you’re a fan of a galaxy, far, far, away, check out our comprehensive Star Wars timeline. We’ve also got a guide breaking down all the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows, including Andor Season 2.