The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, essentially meaning that there’s a chance to see the traces of many characters and events from the High Republic to the Old Republic and even further back.
For years, Star Wars fans have been petitioning Disney to resurrect certain characters like Darth Revan and Darth Bane from the now non-canon Legends timeline. Of course, in the case of the latter, The Clone Wars has confirmed that Bane indeed existed in the canon timeline, and was responsible for the creation of the Rule of Two after the collapse of the Sith Empire.
So, even though the popular Darth Bane book trilogy is not canon as of 2014, the character still exists in Disney’s timeline and can be resurrected whenever there’s a call for it. Well, we can safely say that there’s been a call for it, so what exactly is the House of Mouse waiting on?
Perhaps the answer is a live-action debut befitting such an influential character in Star Wars history. Sure, by the time The Acolyte takes place, there shouldn’t be even a trace of Bane in the galaxy, but the backbone of his ideology seems to be feeding whoever these new Dark Side practitioners are. In case you missed the obvious callback, read ahead to find out.
Will Darth Bane make his live-action debut soon?
Barring a very unlikely flashback sequence, we don’t think Darth Bane is going to make an appearance in The Acolyte. The person behind that mask is another dark lord.
But who could it be? The villain possesses a red lightsaber, which definitely makes him a Sith Lord, or at least one who adheres to Sith ideology. After all, the words his students repeat are taken from the ancient Code of the Sith, of which Darth Bane was a great minister:
“Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.”
Unless Disney is willing to retcon years of canon, the Rule of Two (stating that there’s always one Sith Lord and their apprentice) must still be in place. This means our mystery Dark Side practitioner is either a Sith apprentice or a fully-fledged Sith Lord. Could it be Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s master, behind that mask? Or perhaps even a young Darth Sidious?
I guess we’ll find out the answer for ourselves one way or another as The Acolyte continues to air every Tuesday night on Disney Plus.
