6 Unanswered Questions About The Acolyte's Sith Lord After Episode 5

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte episode 5

The Acolyte episode 5 “Night” finally reveals the identity of the mysterious Sith Lord, but it also raises several new questions while leaving others unanswered. In Star Wars tradition, Qimir turns out to have been a persona for this Sith Lord, much as Palpatine was a front for Darth Sidious in the prequel trilogy. While this reveal answers one of the biggest questions about the Sith Lord and gives new pieces of information, it emphasizes how much the audience doesn’t know yet. It creates more mysteries to be unraveled in the remaining episodes, which may tie into other plotlines.

On top of making the obvious questions more pressing, The Acolyte episode 5 also raises a few that wouldn’t have been considered before. Certain details introduced open fascinating possibilities that could make the story far more interesting and take the season in an unexpected direction. Now that the Sith Lord has been unmasked, 6 questions in particular demand answers and have the most potential to resolve The Acolyte season 1 in a satisfying manner.

6 How Does The Sith Lord Know Master Sol?

Sol also seems to know the Sith Lord

While it was already established that the Sith Lord knows who Master Sol is, The Acolyte implies that they may have met before the start of the series. This would mean the Sith Lord did not target Sol simply because of his connection to Mae, but because he has a grudge against him. However, the Sith Lord doesn’t seem to possess the same anger and hatred for Sol as Mae, or he does a better job hiding it. Sol says he senses something familiar about the Sith Lord, which could go beyond remembering the man who gave Mae the poison.

One explanation is that the Sith Lord was present the night Osha and Mae’s family were killed. The show has claimed that Mae was responsible for the fire while hinting that it was actually the Jedi, but what if it was the Sith Lord? Just as Sol saved Osha, the Sith Lord may have saved Mae from falling to her death, claiming the Jedi were responsible so he could convert her into an acolyte. Sol and the Sith Lord’s history could be completely unrelated, but tying the various characters together makes more narrative sense with only a few episodes left.

5 Did The Sith Lord Learn From The Witches Of Brendok?

He has at least one of their Force abilities

The Sith Lord could also be connected to Osha and Mae’s witch coven as a former student. When Yord Fandar describes to Osha how the Sith Lord gets inside a person’s head, Osha notes that her mother could do the same. This may be a simple comparison, as Star Wars has shown Sith Lords and other dark side users get inside people’s heads in previous movies and TV shows. However, it could be a deliberate foreshadowing of the Sith Lord’s history with the witch coven, explaining some of his more advanced Force abilities and why he is generally so powerful.

Osha and Mae’s coven is secretive and highly suspicious of outsiders, but revealing their past connection with the Sith Lord could explain why. Perhaps they agreed to teach him when he showed eagerness to learn their ways and espoused the same disdain for the Jedi, but they quickly realized what he intended to do with their knowledge. It would explain why the Sith Lord sought out Mae as his acolyte and provide motivation for him to kill the witch coven. He may even have used his newfound ability to get in people’s heads to push Mae into starting the fire.

4 Why Doesn’t This Sith Lord Have A Name?

Most Sith have impressive titles

Although he uses the alias “Qimir,” and Hasbro’s Black Series identifies him as “The Stanger,”The Acolyte‘s Sith Lord claims to have no name. This is very unusual, as Sith generally take great pride in choosing new names that reflect their new dark side persona. Palpatine became Darth Sidious, Count Dooku became Darth Tyranus, and Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Even Ben Solo, who embraced the dark side but was not a Sith Lord, chose the name Kylo Ren and rejected the man he used to be, so why doesn’t this Sith Lord do the same?

He may have a secret Sith title but has no family name, similar to Han Solo at the beginning of Solo: A Star Wars Story or Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. If he is a Sith apprentice, his master may have chosen not to bestow a proper name until he has proven worthy. A more unusual reason would be the Sith Lord intentionally rejecting any name or title as a way of fully shedding his humanity and becoming a vessel for the dark side. However, there may be a simpler explanation for his having no Sith name.

3 Is “Qimir” Really A Sith Lord?

Not all dark-side users are Sith

It is worth noting that “Qimir” may not be a true Sith Lord, but merely a dark side user. When Sol asks what Qimir is, he specifically says “…the Jedi like you might call me… Sith.” This is not a confirmation that he is a Sith, merely an acknowledgment that the Jedi would label him as one. It also means that Qimir may not descend from Darth Bane’s Sith line but declared himself a Sith. Of course, Count Dooku told Asajj Ventress in the Star Wars: Clone Wars 2D micro-series why not just anyone can call themselves a Sith:

You wear the trappings of the Sith, you fight like the Sith, but this can be imitated, however. You lack a vital quality found in all Sith. Sith have no fear. And I sense much fear in you.

By this logic, looking and fighting like a Sith does not necessarily prove that a character is one. Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren were not technically Sith Lords in the Star Wars sequel trilogy despite acting like them and being secretly connected to Palpatine and the Sith Eternal. There is some evidence that The Acolyte‘s Sith Lord may be a Knight of Ren, whose origin has not been fully explored. His appearance certainly aligns with the Knights of Ren, and a musical cue similar to Kylo Ren’s theme can be heard in the episode.

2 Who Is The Sith Lord’s Master?

“Always two there are. No more, no less.”

If Qimir really is a Sith Lord, then he is either the master or the apprentice, which raises who his master is or was. A popular theory for the Sith Lord’s identity before the reveal was Darth Tenebrous, the Sith who trained Palpatine’s master, Darth Plagueis. In the Star Wars Legends timeline, Tenebrous trained another student in case Plagueis failed as an apprentice, so him being Qimir’s master in canon could work. However, since The Acolyte‘s Sith Lord turned out to be an original character, his master will most likely be an original character too.

However, Qimir’s master may already be dead, leaving the show little room to reveal anything about him. Qimir is most definitely powerful enough to be a Sith Master, from levitating with such control that it looks like flying to dueling an entire group of Jedi. If Qimir were not a true Sith Lord, the real Sith could arrive to kill him for putting their secrecy at risk. The same could be true if Qimir is a Sith, as he may be rejecting the ways of the Bane Sith to forge his own path, something his master would kill him for.

1 Will The Sith Lord Make Osha His New Acolyte?

Mae and Osha have switched places

The Acolyte episode 5 ends with the Sith Lord standing over an unconscious Osha, and it seems that he wants her to become his new pupil. After all, the show is called The Acolyte, and Mae has cut ties with her former master. He also made clear that being free to use his power without interference is his primary motivation, and he believes he needs a student to do so. The Sith Lord had multiple opportunities to kill Osha, even holding his lightsaber directly to her in episode 4, but he shows a keen interest in her.

He could use her past trauma with Mae to inflame her anger and her falling out with the Jedi Order to instill resentment, both of which would be a starting point on the path to the dark side. However, whatever secret Sol has been keeping is the only thing that could realistically turn Osha, especially if he was responsible for the death of her family. The Jedi have not seen the last of this Sith Lord in The Acolyte, leaving time for the show to answer at least some of these questions.

The Acolyte

The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes – all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.

Cast

Amandla Stenberg , Lee Jung-jae , Joonas Suotamo , Charlie Barnett , Dafne Keen , Leah Brady , Manny Jacinto , Rebecca Henderson , Carrie-Anne Moss , Jodie Turner-Smith , Dean-Charles Chapman , Lauren Brady , Anthony J. Abraham , Thara Shöön , Danielle Xin Yao Waterman , Sienna Khiroya , Jeramiah Evans , Dan Milne , Thomas Coombes , Archie Singh Swali , Nick Court , Ed Kear , Jumayn Hunter , Scroobius Pip , Abigail Thorn , Margarita Levieva , Amy Tsang , Saskia Allen , Deborah Rosan , Tabitha Alege , Paul Bullion , Indra Ové , Derek Arnold , Lewis Young

Streaming Service(s)

Disney+

Writers

Leslye Headland , Charmaine De Grate , Kor Adana

Directors

Leslye Headland , Alex Garcia Lopez

Showrunner

Leslye Headland

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