The Acolyte: Does Bazil work for Qimir and is secretly evil?

Hello! I'm sure that headline made you stop and go, "What in clickbait audacity is this nonsense?" Well, my lovely reader, I promise you that this is not nonsense. This will be a wild theory for the ages to explain one of the biggest head-scratchers of The Acolyte. We are brushing off our tin foil hats to plummet fully into the conspiracy hole to uncover the true mole of the series! The one selling the Jedi secrets to the dark side! Dare I say the real villain of the show?

No, not you, Plagueis! Go back to your voyeur cave.

Let's discuss our fuzzy little Tynnan tracker, Bazil, and why I think there's something more sinister to him than meets the eye.

In the season's finale episode, I thought it was strange that Bazil cut the power to Sol's ship when the Jedi Master was on the verge of catching the fleeing Mae. In fact, he never really helps Sol at any point after they leave Khofar. The entire time, he seems to have his own agenda to hinder Mae while not assisting the one standing Jedi who was supposedly his ally.

We don't know where Bazil came from, other than he was a tracker that only Yord Fandar and later Mog Adana could understand. As he led a group of Jedi deep into the jungles of Khofar, he seemed like another cute species for Star Wars, giving these episodes very Return of the Jedi vibes with the Ewoks.

However, during the episode "Night," as half of the characters are wiped out of the series, we see Bazil scuttling around the forest and avoiding the bloodshed. I had a moment thinking, "Wow, this guy is very lucky. A Sith is slaughtering everyone, and Bazil somehow avoided that." That's when I began to muse that maybe something more was going on. While it's his job to lead the Jedi to Kelnacca, Bazil also alerted Qimir to the Jedi's position. And to Mae's as well, who had betrayed her master by this point. Bazil walked the Jedi right into a waiting Sith.

When Bazil cut the power to Sol's ship pursuing Mae, I went, "Okay, this is suspicious." There is no reason for him to do that because it's not helpful at all. I did consider the angle that maybe the tracker is trying to help Mae. From Bazil's point of view, he did witness a man strap a young woman to a bed, and then the man confessed to murdering her mother. There is a world where, from Bazil's point of view, Sol was dangerous, and the little guy wanted to help the woman escape.

Still, this doesn't account for not assisting Sol sooner before the Brendok truth came out. When we're told that Bazil has a super ability for scents, it seems to indicate he would figure out the truth that Mae was posing as her sister. Yes, Bazil appears to quickly figure out that something is wrong with "Osha." But he doesn't tell Sol right away, and the Jedi sleuths out the truth on his own that Mae is posing as her sister.

Cutting the power to Sol's ship was the moment I jokingly went, "Is Bazil working for Qimir?" The thought never left me, and I sunk into the depths of that "What if?"

Qimir wants Mae for himself to take revenge on his once pupil. We see him hunting her in the finale because she's a loose end who knows his identity. While it would be simple to let Sol stop Mae, that's not how Sith work. They're flashy, campy villains who love a flair for the dramatic. Also, if Sol had captured Mae, she more than likely would have gone to the Jedi, knowing her old master's identity. While this did happen, Qimir only let Mae go once her memory was wiped. And who led Mog and the Jedi to Mae?

Bazil.

So why didn't Bazil turn off Sol's transponder once they landed on Brendok? Sure, the Jedi Order picked up the transponder to find Sol. It could have also been a sneaky way for Bazil to reach out to his true master. Qimir was trying to find Sol and Mae; Osha just happened to know where her sister was to skip this step, something that Bazil wasn't aware of.

He also ends the season still on good terms with the Jedi. He "helps Mog find Mae," which leaves him in the graces of the Order. This would allow him to still "work" for them, leaving him as a mole for the Dark to sell out the secrets of the Jedi and sew in dissent from the inside.

That's right. The only explanation for Bazil's strange behavior throughout the season, leading a group of Jedi to their deaths, stopping Sol from capturing Mae, hindering Mae so Qimir could find her, and still being in good relations with the Jedi Order...

Bazil is a secret agent of the dark side and the true villainous Acolyte of the show!

Now, you can leave your tin foil hats at the door.