By George & Josh Bate
One year after its release on Disney+, The Acolyte lives on in the form of various tie-in books releasing in 2025. One of these books is The Acolyte: Visual Guide, written by Pablo Hidalgo with a foreword by series star Amandla Stenberg. The new DK Publishing release features all sorts of interesting details that expand upon the story of The Acolyte and tie in to Legends, Ahsoka, Andor, and other Star Wars projects.
Here are 11 things we learned from The Acolyte: Visual Guide….
The planet Darth Plagueis and Qimir officially connects to Legends
The mysterious ocean world that Qimir (aka The Stranger) is based on was the subject of much speculation when the series premiered. The planet remains unnamed in the Visual Guide, but new details provide evidence that the planet is Bal’demnic, the critical location in the Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno.
The Visual Guide mentions that the planet is home to “an intelligent reptilian species [that] lives far from the islands, but Osha sees no trace of them.” The planet Bal’demnic from Legends is home to a reptilian species known as the Kon’me.
Why is it important that the ocean world is Bal’demnic? Well, in Legends, this is the planet where Darth Plagueis killed his master Darth Tenebrous. Plagueis and Tenebrous initially visited the planet, because it had a large resource of cortosis, the lightsaber-resistant material that Qimir uses for his helmet and gauntlet.
The integration of Bal’demnic into Legends shows Leslye Headland and the team behind The Acolyte were interested in making aspects of the acclaimed Darth Plagueis novel canon. It would have been interesting to see what other elements from Luceno’s book made their way into subsequent seasons of the now-cancelled show.
The Sith were once “conquerors”
In Legends, the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire were at war with one another until the Republic emerged victorious. So far, in canon, this also seemed to be the case. However, a line from The Acolyte: Visual Guide casts doubt on this assumption.
A section of The Visual Guide explains:
“After the defeat of Sith conquerors, the Republic emerges from the ashes of galactic conflict to reach unprecedented heights in the long strength of peace that follows.”
The usage of the term ‘conquerors’ to describe the Sith could imply that the dark side users at one point ruled the galaxy.
The text further suggests that the Republic came to be upon the defeat of the Sith, rather than the Republic and Sith Empire existing simultaneously.
Analyzing this text in conjunction with a statement made in Star Wars (2020) #20 by Charles Soule makes this even more interesting. In the comic, Elzar Mann says….
“This is what the Order was for me…. A golden age, about eight centuries after we ended the rule of Sith Lord Darth Bane.”
Collectively, The Acolyte: Visual Guide and Star Wars #20 suggest that Darth Bane was the leader of the Sith Empire as it ruled the galaxy and that, eventually, the Jedi overthrew Bane, after which emerged the Republic.
Qimir’s history with the Hutts
Manny Jacinto’s Qimir is shrouded in much mystery in The Acolyte, although The Acolyte: Visual Guide reveals some more details of the character.
The book states that Qimir “spent some time gunrunning in Hutt Space.”
Is Qimir older than he appears….?
The book also explains that Qimir developed skills in chemistry and pharmaceuticals. This is particularly interesting given a specific item that is included in Qimir’s apothecary…
The Visual Guide reveals that “a custom tank” in the store houses “a rare nori-inkal from Boothi IV.” The book elaborates, “Its fins secrete an oily serum that revitalizes aged skin and eliminates wrinkles.”
Taken together with Qimir’s expertise in chemistry, could the presence of this rare, age-defying substance suggest that the dark side user also known as The Stranger has used substances to conceal his age? Is it possible that Qimir has been around much longer than one would think? Unlike other characters in The Acolyte: Visual Guide, Qimir’s age is listed as “Unknown,” further raising questions about his past.
Qimir may not actually be a Sith
In episode 5 of The Acolyte, The Stranger had fans’ jaws drop when he announced him as a Sith. However, The Visual Guide introduces the idea that The Stranger may not be a Sith after all.
“It is entirely possible he is a pretender to [Sith] lineage…Whether he is the true heir to the Sith is a mystery no one will survive to solve.”
The presence of Darth Plaguies in the series heavily implied that Plagueis was The Stranger / Qimir’s master, but it also possible that Qimir is, as The Visual Guide suggests, simply an imitator – someone who admires the Sith and wishes to be one, but isn’t actually one.
The Stranger can’t actually see out of his helmet
The eye slit in The Stranger’s helmet is “strictly cosmetic,” The Acolyte: Visual Guide confirms. The helmet “occludes vision,” meaning that The Stranger is relying on his knowledge of the Force to locate and fight enemies, including the Jedi in the forest and, eventually, Jedi Master Sol.
The idea of a Force user purposefully obstructing their vision to hone in on the Force has been seen throughout Star Wars. In A New Hope, Luke wears a blast shield helmet to obstruct his vision as he trains to use the Force with Ben Kenobi. Sabine does something similar in Ahsoka. Elsewhere, blind Jedi like Kanan Jarrus in Rebels and Rahm Kota in The Force Unleashed use their lack of sight as a means to grow closer to the Force.
A connection between The Acolyte and Andor
The Acolyte: Visual Guide reveals that Vernestra Rwoh’s white dress is made of Ghor silk. In Andor Season 2, the people of Ghorman are described as experts in clothes making due to the native Ghorlectipod spiders that spun fiber to process Ghorman twill into clothing.
Baylan Skoll’s Bokken Jedi are explained
In Ahsoka, Ray Stevenson’s character Baylan Skoll describes a class of Jedi known as “Bokken Jedi,” although he fails to elaborate on what distinguished these Jedi from others. The Acolyte: Visual Guide offers an explanation.
Accompanying an image of Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon are wooden bokken, a training tool used at the Jedi Temple. The Visual Guide describes the wooden bokken:
“The wooden bokken are a traditional training tool useful during repeated drills or learning new forms. They are durable and safe, though they can cause blunt trauma if carelessly handled.”
This information confirms that the Bokken Jedi that Baylan referred to were Force users who trained with wooden sticks (named bokken) as they did not have access to lightsabers. This would ensure that Jedi training away from the Temple, including Jedi post-Order 66 without access to lightsabers, could still become proficient in using a lightsaber without directly having one.
A Jedi from the series is from a key original trilogy planet
Yord Fandar is from Alderaan, the planet that is destroyed by the Death Star in A New Hope. This means that Yord comes from the home world of Bail Organa and Princess Leia, which was seen in live-action in Revenge of the Sith and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Coruscant has how many people?!?
The Acolyte: Visual Guide reveals that the population of Coruscant is a whopping 2,981,780,000,000. That is 370x more than the population of Earth.
Osha’s profession originates from the Hutts
Osha is a Meknek, which The Acolyte: Visual Guide describes as originating from Huttese culture.
“Meknek is a Huttese word for a profession they originated long ago: cheap labor as starship mechanics in exchange for lodging aboard a host vessel. The Hutts, ever eager to demonstrate superiority, took pride in the number of thralls they had under their command willing to risk life for their whims.”