#master kelnacca

[jynjackets]

The Acolyte art released by Topps cards

[swshows]

THE ACOLYTE (2024–) 1.07: CHOICE

[jewishcissiekj]

The Acolyte characters + text posts

[lilimakesgifs]

rewatching THE ACOLYTE | 1x07 “Choice”

Indara, I must face the Council…

Why would you do that to her? After everything this little girl has lost tonight, you'd take away her dream as well? Before you throw yourself at the mercy of the Council, ask yourself why you made this choice.

[ihassheepquake]

Wow, that is a crazy intense backstory. And also a lot more grey than I thought it'd be. Which I really appreciate. I was really expecting, and fearing, they'd go in a direction that was a lot more "the Jedi were completely at fault and are bad." They're absolutely not innocent in the destruction of the Bendrock Coven and 100% could've approached that situation with more grace. But it's very clear that pretty a lot that happened was an accident.

Mae started the fire on accident (she wanted to burn the book then dropped it). Indara killed the Coven on accident (I don't think she could've realistically known that cutting their connection to Kelnacca would kill them all. Maybe suspected but not known). Torbin instigated the conflict mostly on accident (I don't think he wanted to start a fight but I also don't think it could've gone any other way with the energy he came in with).

In terms of not accidents, nothing could've prepared me for seeing that Sol chose to let Mae fall and die. I was ready for the Jedi to have come through and just killed them all. But not that. And wow, what an incredible choice. And Sol killing Mother Aniseya, and Mae seeing it happen, really does a lot for Mae's motivation and hatred of the Jedi. I'm not sure I can blame Sol for it, because that looked scary as fuck and he had no idea what she was going to do (this is one of the only times in Star Wars I've had to pause and verbally say "what the fuck"). I'm really curious as to what Mother Aniseya was actually going to do.

To me, it didn't seem like they were trying to show the Coven as evil. Or at least not Mother Anisyea, but I don't think even Koril is meant to be evil. Rather mothers and leaders who will do what they have to protect their people. But they didn't shy away from showing how dangerous and kinda fucked up their power could be, which makes their deaths being accidents so much more hurtful.

The nature of the lie and the secret is really interesting now. It's not fully about shame or wanting to hide their actions from the High Council (though I'd say it's still partly that), but rather trying to save Osha from as much of the trauma as possible. And in doing so, they probably made her trauma worse. She was like 8 years old, of course they wouldn't want to put all of that on her. But it does also make me really question why Torbin chose the poison instead of facing the council because that really doesn't seem fair to him.

I really, really like that they chose to make this not black and white. The writers created a situation in which both groups get to be bad and wrong but be justified in it. Sol killing Mother Aniseya, while wrong, in the moment with all the knowledge that Sol had was justified. Koril attacking him for it was justified. Taking control of Kelnacca and using him against Sol and Torbin is, to Koril and the Coven in that moment is justified as they best chance they have of winning. And Indara killing the Coven by cutting them of from Kelnacca, while wrong, was justified to save all of the Jedi's lives and give them the chance to save Osha and Mae. It's a great conflict and it's absolutely ridiculous that they waited until the second to last episode of the show to give us it.

[foxdoodles]

screenshot study + an assortment of torbin sketches

[fulcrum-art-fox]

Master Indara: how come I’m somehow the only halfway sensible one here. can we just look at some plants. can we please just look at some plants for the love of the force you lot are all idiots

Master Kelnacca: roars indignantly

Master Indara: sorry Kelnacca not you you’re a star and we’re glad to have you

[deepobservationearthquake]

[mndvx]

THE ACOLYTE — Choice (S01E07) ››› Dean-Charles Chapman as Padawan Torbin ››› Joonas Suotamo as Master Kelnacca

[girlrandomstuff]

"she saw us as her protectors"

i'm going to take that as osha seeing sol and indara (and maybe kelnacca and torbin) as her (some kind of) parents figure, and seeing sol’s affection, trust, compassion and happiness when she found osha safe i'm going to guess she also had a nice or good relationship with indara too

so you are telling me indara died thinking the girl they saved and watched grow up hated her to the point of hunting her?

AND I THOUGHT I WASNT GOING TO SUFFER WITH THIS ONE, forgot it is star war

[tarabyte3]

I've been thinking a lot about the recent episode of The Acolyte and I have some ✨thoughts✨

(The Acolyte Episode 5 spoilers!!!)

I think the narrative is intentionally making us, the audience, doubt the Jedi and paint them as possibly being the bad guys specifically because now Mae is the one that's going to hear Sol's story. We were encouraged to doubt him and believe he's going to confess something awful about that night to Osha, but instead, I think what he reveals is going to make Mae (and us!) have a change of heart in some way and realize we were wrong. I doubly believe that will be the case because the one casting the most doubt on the Jedi is Qimir, the villain that's also been manipulating and using Mae's anger.***

Because how do you kill a Jedi without a weapon? Easy, you manipulate them, too. You make them paranoid and afraid. You make them doubt themselves and each other. You hurt them in every way that matters. Then you step away and let them destroy themselves. That's a basic Sith tactic, and I think that's exactly what Qimir is trying to do with Sol. Either Sol eventually gives in to the anger and hatred he felt and falls (I highly doubt it) or Qimir wants to get Mae or Osha to turn on/kill him (maybe now he wants to try and make Osha his acolyte instead. Emphasis on try). We've already seen Sol is unwilling to activate his lightsaber when facing Mae because he doesn't want to hurt her (that entire confrontation in the streets), and Sol would probably choose death rather than ever use it on Osha. The girl he connected with and saved and keeps a hologram of and smiles at and loves.

Something terrible obviously happened that night, but I don't believe for a second it was the Jedi's fault. However, it was terrible enough to scar Torbin and make him take the Barash Vow, to make Sol cry, and to make Kelnacca retreat to the woods and hide. Perhaps they all feel guilt for what they couldn't do. Perhaps they blame themselves, which looks like actual guilt from the outside.

But hey, I'm prepared to be wrong and say so, I just don't think it would be very good *Star Wars* storytelling if I am. For 2 reasons:

1) It wouldn't make sense in the existing story. We've seen that Indara, Torbin, and Sol are compassionate, kind people. We saw how soft Kelnacca was with little Osha. Sol radiates warmth, he believed Osha, and he wants to save Mae even after everything she's done. Indara died to protect someone else. For as impersonal and professional as she was when talking to the Coven, I don't think someone that would make themselves vulnerable in a life or death situation to save even one person would be willing to kill an entire community of people unless it was absolutely, completely necessary. I don't think self-defense would even necessarily qualify, I think the Jedi would do everything they could to retreat first. The one caveat I can think of is if someone attacked Torbin. Then I could possibly see Indara as a Master protecting her Padawan, something Masters would give their own lives to do (as we see repeatedly during Order 66), and the situation escalated. (Could be why Torbin is injured and blames himself?)

2) The point of the story in Star Wars has always been that the Jedi are the good guys. They hold up the ideals of goodness and peace, and even though, individually, they sometimes stumble and fall short of it because they're still flawed, mortal beings, they always try to reach for the light. ("Jedi cannot help what they are. Their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi code is like an itch.") If a group of them has done something unspeakable, unforgivable, and then covered it up (or worse, the Order covered it up), how do we ever trust the Jedi as the good guys again? It goes against everything they believe in. It goes against the story George Lucas created (or has ever said about how Jedi and the Force work). If this is the story being told, it will be a very bad Star Wars story, and I have to hope that's not the case.

***((Side note: The guy that just killed 6 Jedi and a Padawan did not make a good point with "You brought her here." Sol brought Jecki there, with many other Jedi, as her Master to teach her more about how to resolve conflict thinking they were only confronting Mae. And even then, Sol didn't make Qimir confront the Jedi and kill Jecki. Jecki's death is entirely Qimir's fault since he's the one that killed her. Also for a Sith to have "freedom" to be themselves is to allow them to do evil things through the Dark Side, which is ALWAYS evil. Full stop. The Dark Side twists and corrupts. That's how the Dark Side works. Qimir isn't some guy being oppressed because the Jedi are power hungry and unwilling to share the Force. Fascists shouldn't be allowed the freedom to be fascists.))

[lqynxv]

yellow lightsaber users should never be put in situations like this

[darth-memes]

[inquisitor-apologist]

I think it’s kind of necessary to consider that episode 3 of the Acolyte is told entirely from the witches’ pov, where the Jedi are dangerous outsiders who might hurt them. When you consider it from what the Jedi see/know, what they did makes a lot more sense.

For starters, they arrive on a planet that is supposedly uninhabited (and was, until at most a couple of decades ago) and pretty quickly they see two force-sensitive kids playing in the woods.

That’s pretty weird, but then a woman comes up and gets mad at them for playing in the forest, which is a very normal kid thing to do. One of the kids says that they are never supposed to leave the Fortress, which kind of leaps the situation from weird to concerning pretty quickly.

It’s pointed out in the dialogue of the episode itself that the galaxy is a pretty dangerous place for force-sensitive kids (people try to enslave them and use them as weapons a lot, think tcw). And. Well, when you go to a place that is supposedly uninhabited (isolated) and immediately see children of a very vulnerable group who are, by their own admission, never allowed to leave a fortress (military connotations), that’s pretty concerning.

Look at Sol’s face when we first see him. He’s breathing heavy, and he looks scared. He’s obviously, and justifiably, imo, worried for these kids.

When they go to look for these kids later, they find, yeah, a massive fortress, but, since it’s implied that everyone is at the ceremony but the two scouts, it’s empty. So they come in, and they are immediately met with hostility.

They say hi, and someone yells that they’re trespassing, despite the fact that no one is supposed to be on this planet and nobody was answering the door. When they point that out, the lady in charge is immediately condescending and and rude for no reason before accusing them of lying.

We know that the coven is trying to stay hidden, and earlier this episode believed that the Jedi didn’t know they existed, so why Aniseya is suddenly sure that they knew the planet was inhabited is unclear.

Indara is then clear that they’re not here to hurt anyone, and Aniseya accuses them of lying again, because they’re armed (Jedi always carry their lightsabers, it’s part of their religion, though I’m willing to believe Aniseya didn’t know that) and unannounced (?? What. How are the Jedi going to announce themselves to people they didn’t know about).

Indara pretty quickly makes it clear that they’re concerned about the kids (she literally says concerned), which, as I said earlier, is pretty justified from their pov. She says that it’s illegal to train children in the Republic, which I have to assume is meant to be seen as a lie (or at least a stretch of the truth) by the audience, considering that the Jedi know of and are friendly to many other force-sensitives faiths across the galaxy, including ones that train children and use the Dark Side, like the Nightsisters.

And yeah, maybe that lie wasn’t the best approach, but I think it’s an understandable choice. They get the kids to come out, and then ask where their dad is, which seems pretty reasonable to me, and are told that they don’t have one. Since that is impossible, it probably sets off all kind of alarm bells, like were these kids (force-sensitive, living on a planet where nobody is supposed to be, unable to leave their fortress) kidnapped?

One of the kids has a very intricate tattoo that probably feels pretty weird in the force, that she didn’t have a couple hours ago and does not appear to have been done recently (no irritation or redness).

When Sol points this out, he’s accused of spying on them (as opposed to the idea that he saw the kids out in the forest? It seems like everyone in the coven knows they were out in the morning) and trying to steal the kids. He’s literally just said hi, asked their names, and pointed out a confusing tattoo.

When he’s like, no, I’m not here to steal your kids, we don’t do that, he’s immediately threatened. Despite this, he gives his sacred weapon away to one of the kids, who was clearly curious about it, to prove he’s not a threat. Indara is even clear that she doesn’t want Sol to even have his saber out to protect himself from the witches who just threatened to cut his tongue out, which really speaks to his much the Jedi are being genuine and not trying to cause problems.

Sol then tells Osha that she’d be a good Jedi (nice compliment to a kid who’s clearly interested) and asks if she wants to be tested, which is pretty innocuous, especially when considering that the Jedi probably think that Osha and Mae might be being abused.

In response to this, the witches then cast a spell on and threaten a child to make them leave. The child has done literally nothing this entire time. He hasn’t talked to the witches or the kids, he’s just been standing there.

Seriously, I don’t think people are talking about that enough. They torture a child (he is clearly in pain and ‘not in his right mind’) because… they’re threatened by Sol talking to Osha? That’s a huge red flag, and probably confirms to the Jedi that Osha and Mae are in danger. They attack a child with no provocation, and the Jedi are just supposed to assume that the kids in their care, in an isolated fortress on an uninhabited planet, are safe?

The Jedi (rightfully) double down, going like, hey we have the right to make sure these kids aren’t force sensitive (and probably to make sure they aren’t being hurt, though they don’t say that because, well, they already know that the witches aren’t going to react well).

After getting permission, the Jedi thank the guys who just attacked them and leave (look at how scared Torbin is, how quickly he tries to get away from the witches).

They test the kids, who are definitely trying to fail, and ask Osha what she wants. She reveals that she wants to be a Jedi despite pressure from her family to lie (bit of a red flag) and that she doesn’t seem to be aware of the existence of other kids (another red flag).

[lil-dormouse]

(click for better quality)

Was craving for more Acolyte merch - made myself some keychains.

[armoralor]

THE ACOLYTE | New art by Phil Noto