The Acolyte Just Revealed An Infamous Star Wars Character For The First Time

This article contains spoilers for the "Star Wars: The Acolyte" season 1 finale.

The "Star Wars: The Acolyte" season 1 finale offered many surprises as it wrapped up the mystery of Jedi murders. The series opened with the killing of Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and has slowly shown us a path of darkness paved with the best of intentions, a microcosm of the "Star Wars" story told in The Skywalker Saga. "It's like poetry," George Lucas once famously said, "it rhymes."

"Star Wars," at its core, is something to help impart lessons on those who watch it, and resisting the temptation to do evil in the name of something good has been a central tenet of the property since its earliest days under Lucas' creative control.

In the season 1 finale, also titled "The Acolyte," we were shown one tantalizing glimpse of a character who has never been on screen in "Star Wars" before, though we've heard their name. It's an important character and exemplifies the importance of the story "The Acolyte" tells in the broader "Star Wars" mythos — one that will undoubtedly shed light on the lessons we're meant to learn.

At long last, we've caught a glimpse of Darth Plagueis. A member of the Muun species and a Dark Lord of the Sith we've been hearing stories about for almost 20 years, he was the master of Darth Sidious (who would ultimately end the Jedi and seize control of the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine).

But since this takes place almost 90 years before the events of "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," how does it fit into the larger "Star Wars" mythology? And what does it mean for the story of Anakin Skywalker?

There have been many hints that Darth Plagueis would be part of "The Acolyte," from the Stranger's use of cortosis and his ocean hideout — which matches an old story in the Legends canon that Darth Plagueis was involved in — all the way to the nature of Mae and Osha's creation via a vergence in the Force. All of this hints at stories we knew already or had been implied. Nevertheless, this marks the first time we've seen this important character in live-action.

The story creates an interesting conflict with the Sith Rule of Two and what we know about them. "Always two there are," Yoda tells Mace Windu in "The Phantom Menace," "a master and an apprentice."

"But which was destroyed?" Windu asks rhetorically, showing just how little the Jedi knew about the Sith.

Established by Darth Bane, the Rule of Two decreed that there would only be two Sith at any given time: a master to wield power and an apprentice to crave it. With such cutthroat training, Sith apprentices often became the master by killing their own. In "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith," Palpatine explains to Anakin that Plagueis was killed by his apprentice in his sleep, subtly offering a hint as to what awaits the still-breathing version of Plagueis seen in "The Acolyte."

But if there's a rule that there can be only two Sith at a time, why would the Stranger be seeking an apprentice under the watchful eyes of his master?

Throughout the canon surrounding the Skywalker Saga, we saw that Sidious had taken Dooku and Maul as his apprentice simultaneously. And he tolerated Sith assassins and apprentices of Dooku's throughout the Clone Wars — like Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress — as long as they were not rivals to his power.

It makes sense in the canon that Plagueis would allow his own apprentice this same sort of leeway, but doubly so when he discovers the unique circumstances of their birth. Mae and Osha may well be what inspire his quest to cheat death.

Anakin was desperately seeking a way to save the life of the person he cared most about when Palpatine told him a bit of a bedtime story at the opera on Coruscant. There, he tells Anakin of Plagueis and about how he learned to manipulate the midi-chlorians and actually create life. He was so powerful that he could keep those he cared about from dying.

It would seem as though "The Acolyte" is implying that Mae and Osha are the key to Plagueis's turn down this path of research. Though it was implied by Palpatine — with no proof whatsoever — that Anakin was a result of the meddling of Plagueis, there's no doubt creating a vergence like Anakin was definitely part of his hopeful goal.

Showing us this tantalizing glimpse of Darth Plagueis promises that if there is another season of "The Acolyte" we would learn more about his tragedy and perhaps even see the beginnings of Palpatine and the other apprentices Plagueis took between then and now.

Let's hope we're able to see that exploration. This is the promise of a story "Star Wars" fans have been begging for since they first heard the name Darth Plagueis. What lessons could be learned from more explorations of stories about that pursuit of the proverbial fountain of youth? Throughout history, myths have tackled that very question and the answer is usually that it's wasted time. Ironic, isn't it? Learning to cheat death and dying when your apprentice kills you in your sleep anyway...

"Star Wars: The Acolyte" season 1 is available in its entirety on Disney+.