The Acolyte’s Classic Star Wars Easter Eggs Explained

Perhaps the most fascinating details in this episode relates to the teachings of Obi-Wan and Yoda. Odder still, they all come from the Stranger.

As the Stranger explains his Sithy helmet to Osha, he compares it to the teachings of the Jedi. Though it’s made of cortosis, making it handy against lightsabers, it’s a sensory deprivation helmet “like we used as younglings.” It brings to mind Obi-Wan training Luke aboard the Millennium Falcon, encouraging him to take his first steps into a larger world. “With the blast shield down, I can’t even see. How am I supposed to fight?” Luke asks Obi-Wan. “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them,” Obi-Wan wisely answers. Perhaps that is advice we should take to heart for what we see in this episode of “The Acolyte.”

When Osha asks if the Stranger’s helmet blocks out all your senses, he replies, “So it’s just you and the Force. And what you bring with you.” This is likewise an echo of Yoda’s admonition to Luke before his failure in the dark side cave. “What’s in there?” Luke asks after feeling the cold, deathly call of the domain of evil. “Only what you take with you,” Yoda tells him. Recall that Luke insists on bringing his martial weapons and encounters Darth Vader.

The Stranger chides Osha to try on the helmet and see what she feels inside of it, wondering what she would bring inside with her. We still have at least two episodes to determine what that is, because as “Teach/Corrupt” ends, she puts the helmet on and leaves the everyday world armed with nothing but the Force.

This isn’t the first time the teachings of the Jedi have been turned on their ear by the dark side, either. In an episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” Darth Tyranus himself trains Savage Opress in the ways of the Sith and his teachings are brutal inversions of Yoda’s instructions on Dagobah.

All of this is meaningful and adds layers and layers to the storytelling in “The Acolyte.”