Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Acolyte Episode 5.
The Big Picture
Qimir is revealed as the Stranger in
The Acolyte
Episode 5, raising questions about his true identity and connection to Kylo Ren or the Knights of Ren.
In the sequel trilogy of Star Wars, Ben Solo joins the mysterious Knights of Ren and then becomes Kylo Ren.
The Stranger’s aesthetics and fighting style hint at a connection to the Knights of Ren, but his true identity remains uncertain.
The Acolyte Episode 5, “Night,” finally revealed that Qimir (Manny Jacinto) has been behind the Stranger’s mask all along, and, in typical Star Wars fashion, this ended up raising more questions than answers. For example, is he really a Sith or is he deceiving the Jedi? In the episode’s last scene, as he finds Osha (Amandla Stenberg) knocked unconscious in the Khofar jungle, a section of Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) theme in the Sequel Trilogy can be heard. That was enough to open the gates of speculation, with fans now scratching their heads wondering if the Stranger could somehow be related to Kylo or the Knights of Ren. His helmet does bear some similarities with Kylo’s, too, so that’s not completely out of the question.
The Acolyte
The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.
Release Date June 4, 2024
Main Genre Sci-Fi
Seasons 1
Studio Disney+
Franchise Star Wars
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Who Are the Knights of Ren in ‘Star Wars’ Lore?
“Ghouls.” That’s what a Stormtrooper aboard Kylo Ren’s flagship calls the Knights of Ren in Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. By the time of the Sequel Trilogy, the Knights indeed don’t have a good reputation, and most of that comes from their history prior to the arrival of Kylo Ren as their master. They were first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, but not much more is said about them on screen, and are quickly defeated by Ben Solo after he turns back to the Light Side at the end of The Rise of Skywalker.
The events of the Sequel Trilogy indeed make the Knights of Ren look bad and even incompetent, and some of that is explained in the comics. They first appear in the 2020 miniseries The Rise of Kylo Ren, running into Ben Solo and his master and uncle, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) on the planet Elphrona. Luke easily defeats them, but their leader, a gray-haired man called Ren, feels Ben’s darkness and invites the boy to join them before running away. Some time later, after Ben turns on Luke and destroys his Jedi Temple, he agrees to join the Knights of Ren, getting a crash course on their philosophy. They are Force-sensitive marauders who idolize the Dark Side, which they call “the shadow,” and see it embodied in their master’s red-bladed lightsaber, which they call “the Ren.” The Ren works as a symbol of power for the Knights, and it’s what allows them to cause as much violence and destruction as they want, even if there seems to be no reason for it.
During the Imperial era, the Knights of Ren were already active under Ren’s leadership. They had many skirmishes with the Empire and even Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) himself, but it wasn’t until Ben Solo joined them that they truly became a force to be reckoned with. When that happens, the boy chooses another name and earns the title of Ren by killing the Knights’ old master, truly becoming Kylo Ren. He also bleeds his own kyber crystal, making his unstable red-bladed crossguard lightsaber.
“I have no name. But a Jedi like you might call me… Sith.” This line, along with Kylo Ren’s theme playing in the last scene, is what ignited speculation around what the Stranger really is. He doesn’t call himself a Sith, and he doesn’t claim a Sith title such as “Darth” — and the Sith are big on flattering themselves with that, they want their enemies to know their names. He is merely stating that the Jedi would call him that, implying that the Jedi would probably call any Dark Side user a Sith since the Sith are the Jedi’s greatest enemies.
Another hint is how Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) describes the Stranger’s fighting techniques. He says the villain doesn’t follow the rules of combat and that there is no logic to his movements, making it difficult to counter. Indeed, there are moments in which it seems like the Stranger is simply hammering at the Jedi with his red-bladed lightsaber, the point being that a Sith would probably display more skill and technique with a blade. In the comics, the Knights of Ren are all formidable warriors and opponents, but they also don’t seem to follow fighting patterns and strategy, usually winning by simply overpowering their prey.
It’s not known if, by the time of The Acolyte, the Knights of Ren are active or not, but they do have ancient origins in canon, older than their modern iteration during the New Republic era. Hailing from the Unknown Regions, for centuries they have been the subject of legends and tales about the dangers of venturing into uncharted territories without proper precautions. Even so, the Stranger’s whole figure looks closer to the Knights of Ren’s aesthetics than the Sith. His cortosis helmet, with a big grinning speaker, seems designed to be spooky, like a monster from a scary tale that comes to swallow those who aren’t careful enough. Even the bending at the back of the helmet feels reminiscent of Kylo Ren’s helmet, especially after its kintsugi-inspired restoration in The Rise of Skywalker.
Related The 5 Things You Need To Know Before Watching ‘The Acolyte’ Episode 6
We’re still not over episode 5.
It’s Not Clear If Qimir Is Sith or a Knight of Ren Yet
Image via Disney+
The last scene in “Night” isn’t the only moment in the episode when Kylo Ren’s motif can be heard, actually. Right when it starts, Osha wakes up and finds PIP lying in the jungle, and that’s when we first hear the motif in a lower and slower version. Then, it plays again as Osha is knocked out at the end of the episode, so this song marks the beginning and the ending of an episode where the Stranger is the one who shines. This may hint at the true beginning of the Knights of Ren, with the Stranger probably being the first Ren.
If it really turns out that the Stranger is a Knight of Ren, it means that this organization truly only goes downhill after him. It’s hard to imagine Ren leading them to face eight Jedi at once and coming out victorious since, in the comics, all it took was one Jedi — Luke Skywalker — to chase them away. In The Rise of Skywalker, Ben Solo easily beats them all as soon as he gets a weapon to level things; at least in theory, the Knights know how to fight lightsaber-wielding foes. They just lose miserably. The Stranger may be the first Ren, but it doesn’t seem likely that his acolytes would end up being such incompetent warriors.
Another possibility is that the Stranger simply took up the Sith legacy after it was forgotten for a long time. They may have indeed been extinct for a millennium, as Ki-Adi-Mundi (Silas Carson) infamously remarks in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, and were reborn when a drunken Force-sensitive drifter such as Qimir came in contact with their forgotten teachings. The Stranger wouldn’t have mentioned the Sith without a purpose, be it landing a jab at the Jedi for their arrogance, marking the return of the Sith, or deceiving the Jedi. For the sake of his legacy, though, let’s hope he isn’t a Knight of Ren.
New episodes of The Acolyte air weekly every Tuesday on Disney+ in the U.S.
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