Exploring "From a Certain Point of View" in The Acolyte

Since the original trilogy, Star Wars has a long tradition of exploring multiple angles of the same story from a certain point of view. It was a clever framing of events that began with Obi-Wan Kenobi claiming that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke Skywalker’s father even though it was revealed in The Empire Strikes Back that Anakin Skywalker was the Dark Lord himself. When Luke calls Obi-Wan out on the lie, he clings to his belief that there was nothing left of the Anakin that he knew and that only the monster Vader remained. In The Acolyte’s penultimate seventh episode, “Choice,” the antithesis of episode 3, “Destiny,” this concept is explored as the audience is shown varying points of view on the same tragic events.

Fans will feel a familiarity with “Choice” as it revisits via flashback the fascinating mystery on Brendok sixteen years in the past that was previously explored in “Destiny,” though with some big differences.  What “Destiny” mostly offered was Osha’s perspective and the position of her coven of witches, with the visiting Jedi and Osha’s twin sister Mae painted more like agitators than anything else. While it still appears that each of the four Jedi commits a great failure in “Choice,” there is plenty of recontextualizing to where you can at least follow each character’s thought process and motivations in order to understand the choices that are made throughout. With greater emphasis on the point of view of the Jedi and of Mae, the table is now set for the season finale.

In "Choices," we see different angles of Sol’s discovery of the Force sensitive twins near the Bunta tree on Brendok. Previously, it was Osha who we saw liked to go off exploring by herself regardless of the danger, and she scolds her sister Mae for aggressively using the Thread even though she would experiment with it herself. This time around, however, we see Sol investigating life on a previously thought lifeless planet due to a great hyperspace disaster one hundred years ago and stumbling upon Force wielding children who are being kept secret by a witch. When he follows them to their fortress, the glimpse he catches of the witches’ interactions is of using the Force/Thread for attack as opposed to defense, which begins his noble (at least in his mind) quest to save these girls from this coven.

Though the twins were presumably born of one consciousness split into two identical ‘symbionts,’ Osha is wary of joining the coven and becoming a witch. In contrast, Mae is happy with their home on Brendok and very much looking forward to their impending Ascension ceremony. From the coven’s point of view, “Ascension is about walking through fear” and sacrificing a part of oneself for the greater good, which is not all that different a philosophy from the Jedi. 

Sol and Indara, however, perceive the peculiar ways of the witches very differently, with no help from a slight novice in Mae. Speaking to the Jedi, she misquotes her Mother and says, “Everyone must be sacrificed to fulfill their destiny.” Mother Aniseya claims that they have been hunted down and forced into hiding simply because some would consider their power to be Dark, which resembles something Chancellor Palpatine said to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith: “The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.”

The Jedi on Brendok view the witches differently from the beginning because they appear to use dark Force energy, even bringing up the Nightsisters of Dathomir. They were investigating a vergence in the Force, not unlike Qui-Gon Jinn discovering Anakin in The Phantom Menace, and suspect that this dense power could have been exploited in creating the twins. Torbin fears the witches and just wants to return home to Coruscant, especially after Mother Aniseya invaded his mind and seduced him with the dark side to take control temporarily. He discovers the twins' incredibly high and virtually identical M-count and makes the impulsive choice to take a speeder bike and abduct the girls from their home.

Sol follows Padawan Torbin on Master Indara’s orders, but is also driven by his temptation to rescue the girls from their coven in the name of nobility.  Previously, it was revealed that Mae started the fire, with Osha observing that it was coming from her sister’s evil intent. Upon further reflection from Mae’s point of view, it’s clear that she was heavily coerced by Mother Koril (against Mother Aniseya’s advice to avoid violence) and that she only intended to lock Osha inside the room and burn her sketchbook with the Jedi symbol displayed on it. When the fire gets out of hand and Mae comes running to Mother for help, Sol mistakes her for Osha. He sees Mother Aniseya begin to disappear in dark smoke while seemingly taking her daughter with her and reacts in fear by igniting his blue lightsaber and killing the girls’ Mother.

Sol did not know that Mother Aniseya had already chosen to be a mother first over leading her coven and had decided to let Osha go with the Jedi to pull at her Thread of “Destiny.” Mae’s motivation for her mission to slay the four Jedi that were stationed on Brendok suddenly makes a lot more sense, as the only Jedi she has ever known had invaded her home and started a conflict that resulted in the death of her entire family as far as she knew. 

Actions have consequences, and Sol seems instantly stricken with remorse over what he has done as Mother Koril and the coven attack the Jedi. The witches shoot arrows upon a deflecting Torbin with a golden lightsaber. Torbin's catalytic behavior in his youth sheds light on why he may have felt the need to take the Barash Vow and ultimately submit willingly to Mae and Qimir's poison. Indara and Kelnacca choose to get involved, as the Master tells the Wookiee Jedi, “We must stop him before he creates a conflict.”

As the battle rages on, Mother Koril evaporates into a dark mist while taunting the Jedi. It is also revealed why Kelnacca was so tortured and lived a life of solitude on Khofar in the present day. As the entire witch coven decides to implement the ‘Power of Many’ to invade Kelnacca’s mind and turn him against his brethren, Sol and Torbin must bear witness to the full power of a Force-wielder with the added strength of a Wookiee. The ensuing fight is terrifying, as Kelnacca raises a "madclaw" to young Torbin, causing him permanent facial damage. Master Indara manages to put a stop to it but inadvertently kills the entire coven in the process of breaking the powerful Force/Thread connection.  Just as Torbin had to succumb to fear and temptation for Mother Aniseya to take control of his mind earlier, it is conceivable that poor Kelnacca also failed to prevent the dark side from creeping in when he lost control of his actions.

Each of the four Jedi made choices that ultimately contributed to their failure in their encounter with the witch coven on Brendok, resulting in a catastrophe that left only Osha, Mae, and possibly Mother Koril alive. Sol had to make a choice as he could only save one of the two children. He chose Osha because he had already convinced himself that she was destined to be his Padawan. Though he wanted to come clean to the High Council, Master Indara sequestered a certain point of view that Mae started the fire that brought down the entire coven and convinced Sol that his decisions were made so that he could train Osha as a Padawan. Given that Osha was last seen cavorting with Qimir in the Cortosis cave and placing his helmet on her head, teasing a possible seduction to the dark side, could discovering Sol’s dark secrets be the push that forever warps her point of view and fully converts her into the titular Acolyte?

We'll have to wait and see.