Why Is ‘The Acolyte’s’ Sith Lord So Powerful? New Theories Make Him All the More Difficult for Jedi To Handle
‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Episode 5 finally revealed the identity of the Sith Lord who trained Mae. Despite the answer being pretty obvious as fans speculated it was Qimir since the first episode, the manner in which he was introduced was disturbing.
The Sith Lord known under names such as The Master, The Stranger, and more humorously Darth Teeth, managed to make quick work of almost all Jedi present. leaving Master Sol, Osha, and Mae alive in the aftermath of the conflict.
This was actually one of the main criticisms of the episode, as there’s no way a Sith Lord so young might be able to eliminate dozens of trained Jedi, and even pose such a threat to Master Sol. However new theories put forward really easily explain why he managed to defeat all his enemies, and the secret itself lies in his combat form, or rather lack of combat form.
CBR made a nice video in which they summarize pretty much the secret to The Master’s powers. Yord, shortly before being killed pointed out that The Master doesn’t use any of the known seven forms of lightsaber combat. His moves are unpredictable and wild.
If the history of the Star Wars taught us anything it’s that every lightsaber combatant in the franchise mostly used the established rules of lightsaber combat, no matter how chaotic his mindset has been, even the Sith used established forms.
Count Dooku used Form II (also Ki-Adi-Mundi). Darth Maul used Form VI, and Palpatine, for example, used Form VII. The Master is not bound by those rules. He also has quite a unique helmet, as we’ve seen in Episode 5, lightsabers kept shorting in contact with the helmet. that’s beacuse it was made by Cortosis.
In ‘The Acolyte,’ Qimir uses a refined Cortosis helmet to withstand lightsaber attacks and cause Jedi weapons to malfunction, allowing him to fight multiple Jedi effectively. The helmet acts as a shield and disrupts lightsabers, giving Qimir an advantage in combat by buying him crucial moments to defeat his opponents. However, when Master Sol removes Qimir’s helmet, he gains the upper hand and ultimately defeats him.
All of this is a problem for the Jedi, and if they are to defeat him, they will need to change their mindset regarding lightsaber combat. The Jedi are too stuck in their rules and formulaic approach to combat, they are predictable so they expect their opponents to be predictable.
Besides, at this point the Sith had been “extinct” for so long, that none of them likely had any idea how to counter mostly offensive movies aimed to be lethal. The Jedi are “knights” in a sense, yeah, but they mostly focus on the defense and rarely play to be lethal, something that was pointed out several times over the course of the show.
This is likely where Vernestra Rwoh comes in with her lightwhip, as we will likely see this weapon be of crucial importance when it comes to defeating The Master.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!
