By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte – Episode 5
One of the best episodes of live-action Star Wars to date just dropped. In addition to being exhilarating and deeply emotional, the episode also features a number of neat references, easter eggs, and hidden details. Check out all of the easter eggs and hidden details we noticed in The Acolyte – Episode 5: “Night” below….
The Sith Lord’s armor appears to be made of the metal Cortosis. Cortosis first appeared in the Legends novel I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole in 1998. It later appeared in canon for the first time in John Jackson Miller’s novel A New Dawn. This rare metal has a high absorption rate and can withstand the blows of a lightsaber.
A detail about Cortosis that has not previously featured in Legends or canon is that the material can actually block the use of the Force. Qimir confirms this when he says he will not take his helmet off and let Sol into his head. This makes Qimir’s helmet similar to Magneto’s helmet in X-Men. In the X-Men comics and films (most explicitly in X-Men: First Class), Magneto wears a special helmet that blocks out Charles Xavier’s psychic abilities, much like Qimir does to block out Sol’s use of the Force.
Kelnacca’s lightsaber is similar to that of other Wookiee Jedi, including Gungi. Both Kelnacca and Gungi have wooden lightsaber hilts that symbolize their connection to their homeworld of Kashyyyk.
Master Sol tells Qimir, “You carry a Jedi weapon, but you are no Jedi.” This harkens back to Ahsoka Tano’s line to Darth Vader in Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, “I am no Jedi.”
Qimir kills Jecki after revealing that he has a second lightsaber hidden within the hilt of his primary lightsaber. The visual of Qimir pulling a lightsaber hilt out of another to ignite two lightsabers is similar to what Cal Kestis does in Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor.
Qimir threatens Mae’s life by putting an unignited lightsaber against her temple. Anakin does this same thing to a Zygerrian slaver in The Clone Wars episode “Kidnapped.”
Mae says to Osha, “They’ve turned you against me.” Anakin says something similar (“You’ve turned her against me!”) to Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith.
Mae cuts her hair to take the identity of her twin sister Osha. The concept of twins swapping places is a trope often found in twin stories, perhaps most notably in The Parent Trap.
Mae (disguised as Osha) passes by two creatures playing a non-tech version of Dejarik, the holo-chess game that appeared in the original Star Wars.
Qimir uses the Force to heal Osha’s wounds. This is the same ability that plays a role in The Rise of Skywalker, notably when Rey uses Force healing to save Kylo Ren on Kef Bir and when a redeemed Ben Solo uses the same ability to save Rey on Exegol.
Some of the episode’s most interesting hidden details suggest possible links to Kylo Ren and the sequel trilogy….
At the end of the episode, when depicting Qimir finding Osha, a version of Kylo Ren’s theme can be heard. This similarity could entirely mean nothing, but it’s possible that the similar musical cue provides a hint at Qimir’s backstory. In episode 5, Qimir looks an awful lot like Ren, the initial leader of the Knights of Ren before Kylo takes over. Is it possible that Qimir is a predecessor of Ren and the originator of the Knights of Ren.
Another theory is that Kylo Ren’s theme plays at the end of the episode as it suggests the existence of another dyad in the Force. In The Rise of Skywalker, it is revealed that Rey Skywalker and Ben Solo share a strong Force connection that makes them a rare and powerful dyad. Is it possible that Qimir and Osha are another dyad in the Force?
Earlier in the episode, there is also another hint at Kylo Ren’s motif. As pointed out by Twitter/X user @AnimatesB127, around the 11:00 mark, parts of John Williams’ Kylo Ren / dark side score for The Last Jedi when Luke vanishes on Crait can be heard.
Later, when Mae (disguised as Osha) walks through the woods, listen closely and you can possibly hear the same odd bird call-like sound effect that plays when the dark side is mentioned on Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. Credit to @AnimatesB127 again for pointing this out.
Check out our Spoiler Review and Analysis of The Acolyte episode 5 below….