Summary
One notable detail inThe Acolyteproves that Obi-Wan Kenobi was wrong about the Jedi Knights in their golden age. When giving Luke Skywalker an overview of the Jedi and the Republic they once served inA New Hope, Obi-Wan describes the Jedi Knights as “guardians of peace and justice” before the Empire supplanted the Republic. This, ultimately, has been proven incorrect by stories set in theHigh Republic erain the modernStar Warscanon.
The Jedi experienced a thousand years of relative peace following the supposed destruction of theSith Lords. In theStar WarsLegends continuity– the franchise’s original timeline until April 2014 – there were local conflicts that sometimes warranted the Jedi Order’s attention, but never a full-scale war until the Clone Wars. In the modern canon, the era includes major conflicts between the Jedi andthe Nihil, as well as an encounter with a possible Sith, as shown inThe Acolyte. Said conflict has revealed that Obi-Wan Kenobi was wrong about one more key detail.
Why The Jedi Think The Sith Are Extinct In The Acolyte & The Phantom Menace
Before Darth Maul emerged from the shadows in The Phantom Menace, the Jedi believed the Sith to be extinct. Why did they make this mistake?
Obi-Wan Was Wrong About Jedi & Blasters
InA New Hope, Obi-Wan refers to blasters as “clumsy and random,” and lightsabers as weapons of “a more civilized age.” In theStar Wars: The Clone Warsepisode “Children of the Force,” Kenobi even tells a civilian on Rodia that “Jedi do not carry blasters,” yet this is no longer the case, as shown inThe Acolyte.The Jedi give Osha a blasterset to stun so she can assist them in capturing her twin sister Mae. This contradiction is especially noteworthy since the High Republic era is ostensibly the “civilized age” Kenobi was describing.
Why Did Jedi Use Blasters In The High Republic Era?
The simple explanation for why Jedi officially carry blasters inThe Acolyteis that the weapons include a stun setting.The Acolyteestablishes thatJedi do not ignite their lightsabers unless prepared to kill, so a blaster’s stun setting is a sensible non-lethal alternativeto a lightsaber. Some blasters in both the canon and Legends timelines exclusively fire stun bolts, which might be the case for the Jedi blaster shown inThe Acolyte.
The Jedi custom of only igniting their lightsaber when prepared to kill existed in both theStar WarsLegends and canon continuities, but was not consistently followed in either timeline.
Jedi carry blasters in the Legends continuity’s New Jedi Order, with founder and Grandmaster Luke Skywalker still occasionally using his blaster from hisRebel AllianceandNew Republicmilitary service. Other Jedi, like Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr, also use blasters alongside their lightsabers. In the New Jedi Order’s case, the official use of blasters makes sense, since it was founded while the New Republic was still at war with the Empire’s successor states, whileThe Acolyte’s Jedi Order has no such reasoning.
The Acolyteepisode 6 is now streaming. New episodes premiere Tuesdays at 9 PM ET on Disney+.
The Acolyte
Cast
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.
