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Given the themes addressed in the series, answering the title’s question isn’t as simple as it might seem. There is a Sith Lord inStar Wars: The Acolyte, and the question we aim to answer here is who that might be. But are they as clear-cut of a villain as previous Sith Lords the Star Wars universe has portrayed?
The Acolyte takes place a century before The Phantom Menace and follows the story of Osha Aniseya, a Meknek who finds herself embroiled in matters of the Jedi during the High Republic Era. Is she the one who’ll uncover the face behind the mask?
Spoilers for The Acolyte lie ahead.
The Disappearance Of The Sith
During the High Republic Era, the Sith weren’t really a thing in the Star Wars universe. In The Phantom Menace movie,the Jedi mention the Sith not being seen in a millennium. That means that, during the time in which The Acolyte is set, the Sith wouldn’t have been seen for at least 800 years.
This explains an interaction during the last trailer released of the series, in whichSol asks the masked Sith Lord: “What are you?”.
With that in mind, the Sith Lord could really be anyone. They would have to be in hiding, and doing it so well that the most powerful organization in the entire galaxy believed them entirely extinct. Theories are quickly spreading throughout Star Wars forums on who it might be, and no clear answer will likely come until the last episode. So, let’s theorize.
The Main Candidates
What we know for sure so far is the following: theSith Lord isn’t Indara, Mae, Osha, Sol, or Yord.We see Mae talking with the masked stranger in the series. Indara is killed in the first episode, and the three other characters are shown in the trailer in the same scene in which the toothy mask is revealed.
People have started pointing their fingers at Qimir, and he seems to be the prime suspect at the moment, but also too obvious of a target. There is definitely a lot more to him than he lets on, but he might just be someone whose rank sits between Maeand the Sith Lords.
A more likely prediction is eitherDarth Plagueis or Darth Tenebrous.Tenebrous, the lesser known of the two, was Plagueis' master. The only reason to choose him as the more likely candidate is a matter of timeline. He is said to have been born between 247 and 167 BBY, so he’d been more than old enough to already be a powerful Sith Lord during 132 BBY.
Darth Plagueis, on the other hand, was born between 147 and 120 BBY. That wouldmake him, at most, 15 years oldduring The Acolyte. He was a Muun, though, and their species is described as being highly intelligent and mature, so maybe a teenager would be more than capable of becoming a Sith Lord?
The main drive behind this theory is his obsession with studying bioengineering and the fact that Darth Sidious canonically said that Plagueis was able to manipulate the midi-chlorians to create life. As we now know, Osha and Mae weren’t conceived,they were created by Mother Aniseya and carried by Mother Koril.
Given how center-point Osha and Mae’s creation seems to be to the show,Darth Plagueis is our main bet. It leaves us with a few questions, though. How is he related to Mother Aniseya, the creator of the twins? Did he teach her his ways, or did she give him the knowledge he then used to supposedly create Anakin Skywalker?
