Star Wars theory suggests The Acolyte episode 3 hasn't revealed the full story

The Acolyte
(Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

The Acolyte episode 3 has everyone suspicious of the Jedi on Brendok. 

So far in the show, we've discovered that Osha lost her entire family in a fire started by her twin sister Mae, and Osha joined the Jedi Order shortly afterwards. But, the details have been scarce – until episode 3. 

Now, we're going to delve into major spoilers for The Acolyte below, so turn back now if you're not up to date on the show! 

Still reading? Then you'll know that Osha and Mae were raised by a coven of mysterious witches – though, they're not the same as the Nightsisters of Dathomir – and, when Osha chose to leave with the Jedi rather than stay to become a witch, Mae set a fire in retaliation. 

The fire spread very quickly for a stone temple, though, and it ended up killing everyone inside. That, plus some shifty behavior from the Jedi who arrived to investigate the Force sensitive children, has eyebrows raising. 

"There are so many hints that Jedi killed the witches," says one fan. "Beginning of episode 3 there was that shot of the spark in the generator room. Torbin killing himself for "What they have done." The Wookie no longer being with the Order. Sol being oblivious and thinking it all happened because of Mae. Obviously the Master and Torbin did some shit, Sol had no idea. The Wookie found out so he quit the order. Torbin went into meditation permanently and the master went on like nothing happened because she's a ruthless Jedi."

"Something about this feels off," says someone else. "I'm not buying all of that was caused by the fire Mae started outside. It was a single lantern and that was too large a fortress for it to spread that quick and blow things up.  And the Jedi just happened to be there? Something ain't sitting right about this with me."

"My guess is that the Jedi thought the witches' magick was the dark side, and they were thus evil," speculates another fan. "They thought that Osha would be safer and have a better future with them, so they fought the witches and took Osha, then blamed everything on Mae, which is why Torbin says 'we thought we were doing the right thing,' and drinks the poison. He may have only gone along with it because he was a Padawan and thought his masters knew better. It's also possible that Mae's mentor had something to do with escalating the Jedi to that point, by manipulating one or both sides. There's still some holes to fill, but this was the implication that I got."

We'll just have to wait and see to find out what really happened on Brendok all those years ago. 

For now, you can check out more on The Acolyte with our pieces on: 

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.