‘My mind was just blown’: Eye-popping theory about Qmir’s ‘High Republic’ origins could explain that unexpected ‘Acolyte’ cameo

Despite his generic first appearance, Qmir turned out to be the most interesting character in The Acolyte, but forget everything you thought you knew about the villain, because this new fan theory will have you reading The High Republic books and re-watching the show in no time.

At first glance, we thought this new Sith Lord was going to be either Darth Plagueis or a Jedi gone rogue. The last final episodes of The Acolyte proved that our speculations about Qmir being a former Jedi were somewhat true, but the lingering mystery of his identity still casts a large shadow over The Acolyte and its future seasons.

In fact, it’s still unclear who Qmir is, or how he’s connected to Vernestra Rwoh. All we know about the character is that he used to be a Jedi Knight “a long time ago,” and now he’s embraced his passions and wields the Force as a Dark Side practitioner. If that isn’t intriguing enough, it’s also entirely possible that Qmir is working with Darth Plagueis, though we don’t know anything about their relationship other than a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo from Palpatine’s eponymous Sith master in the finale.

Well, a new Star Wars fan theory about Qmir may finally explain who he is and what sort of agreement he has with Plagueis. According to a galaxy far, far away content creator on TikTok, Qmir is none other than Jedi Padawan Imri Cantaros, who was a prominent character in The High Republic books.

Imri once learned under Vernestra, and there was a time in that particular adventure where he gave in to his anger and turned to the Dark Side of the Force. Such was the extent of Imri’s boiling anger towards the Nihil marauders who killed his original master that he even dueled Vernestra for a while before calming down. Now, this new theory wonders if Imri somehow fell into that same pit again and this time went all the way to the Dark Side. You can check out the details for yourself in this TikTok video by _element7_ aka Dyad in the Force.

The only major snag is Qmir’s age. Imri was around at 220 BBY, almost a hundred years before the events of The Acolyte, so how could Qmir possibly be the same person? Well, the edgy Sith apprentice does say that he was a Jedi “a long time ago,” and considering his association with Plagueis, it’s highly likely that he gave him a dose of that “pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.” After all, we know that surviving death and even playing at immortality are parlor tricks to Palpatine and his master.

Ultimately, you should take all of this with a grain of salt until The Acolyte returns with another season. In the meantime, you could opt to read the High Republic novels featuring Imri Cantaros, namely Light of the Jedi, A Test of Courage, Race to Crashpoint Tower, and Defy the Storm.