With the first two episodes of The Acolyte now in the books, many are wondering who Mae's master is in the Disney+ show.
Set roughly 100 years before the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Disney+'s The Acolyte explores the end of The High Republic era, focusing on the aftermath of a Jedi being murdered.
The first two episodes of the show premiered on the streaming platform on Tuesday, June 4, introducing fans to an entirely new group of characters that have never been seen on-screen.
Who Trained Mae in Star Wars?
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Acolyte.
The opening scene of The Acolyte revealed that the assassin who killed Jedi Master Indara was indeed Force-sensitive despite not using a lightsaber.
Then, in Episode 2, after the Jedi figure out that Osha was not the one to murder Indara (it was really her twin sister Mae), they question who could have possibly trained her as her master.
In the closing scene of Episode 1, viewers are treated to a scene featuring Mae walking up to a set of rocks with a sinister voice talking in the background.
Then, the person to who the voice belongs appears and ignites a red lightsaber, indicating that they are indeed a Sith or at least a very powerful dark side user.
In Episode 2, Mae sheds a bit of light on the mysterious person seen at the end of Episode 1, saying that she needs to please him by killing one of the Jedi without a weapon.
Not much else is revealed about who the figure on the rocks is, but one has to assume that they are in fact the person who has trained Mae to be able to use the Force.
The coming episodes will likely shed some more light on Mae's backstory and how she is connected to the mysterious figure.
However, fans are definitely itching to find out exactly who the lightsaber-wielding person is.
Who is the Sith in The Acolyte?
The end of Episode 1 not only revealed that Mae was working under someone else but also proved that she may not be the big bad of the show.
The person she answers to at the end of the episode clearly has a lot of power, and while it has not been confirmed who they are yet, there are a couple of possibilities.
It is also important to note that this character is likely the same person shown throughout The Acolyte's trailers wielding a red lightsaber.
Although Star Wars Legends is not at all canon anymore, elements of Legends have been brought into canon through other shows. One of the most notable examples of this is Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was first introduced in Legends in the 1990s book series by Timothy Zahn and then brought into canon during Star Wars Rebels.
The Acolyte director and showrunner Leslye Headland has gone on record saying that she is a major fan of Legends content, and has even gone as far as to reveal that she will be incorporating some of what has been seen in Legends into The Acolyte.
Therefore, it is possible that this mysterious Sith-like figure seen in Episode 1 could be a Sith from Star Wars Legends.
Due to The Acolyte's place in the timeline, many fans hope to see Darth Plagueis play some sort of role in the show. However, since he is of the Muun species, he is likely not who was seen in the show due to the head shape that Muuns have.
However, Darth Tenebrous (Plagueis' master in Legends) could possibly be the mysterious figure at the end of the first episode. He could be training Mae at this point in the timeline, and then bring on Plagueis as his apprentice later on.
It is important to note that Tenebrous has already been established in canon thanks to Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.
In that movie, one of the Sith trooper legions of the Sith Eternal is named the "Tenebrous Legion," making him canon as a Sith lord.
However, although the mysterious figure could possibly be Tenebrous, it is more likely that it is someone else.
In Legends, Tenebrous breaks the Rule of Two by bringing on another apprentice other than Plagueis. This other person, who is named Darth Venamis, was not legitimately named a Sith, but rather gave the title to himself.
Since he was a sort of secret apprentice of Darth Tenebrous, it is possible (and even likely) that Darth Venamis could have also had a secret apprentice on the side in Mae.
Venamis' involvement in The Acolyte could also lead to his demise in canon in the same way it occurred in Legends.
In Legends, it was explained that Plagueis killed Darth Tenebrous. Darth Venamis, knowing what happened to his master, sought out Plagueis in hopes of killing him.
However, he was not able to best the Sith lord, and after he was given a sort of poison, Plagueis trapped him in a comatose state and performed many experiments on him, killing him and resurrecting him multiple times in hopes of finding the key to immortality.
But, after many attempts, Plagueis finally killed Venamis once and for all.
So, it is possible that the mysterious Sith figure is Darth Venamis and that he is training Mae for the time being. However, it could always be a completely new character as well.
The first two episodes of The Acolyte are available to stream on Disney+, and the remaining episodes will be released every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.
Read more about The Acolyte:
Star Wars: The Acolyte Release Date Schedule of Episodes (Confirmed)
Star Wars: The Acolyte Reviews: Critics Share Strong First Reactions
