Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte episode 3-4

A genius new theory for The Acolyte reveals how the Witches of Brendock truly fit into the history and legacy of Star Wars’ Dark Lords of the Sith. Having revealed in The Acolyte episode 3 that this coven has the power to create life, connections have been drawn to Darth Plagueis. This is due to Palpatine’s comments about his Sith master in Revenge of the Sith, claiming that Plagueis also had the power to influence the Force and create life.

However, the Star Wars podcast Beyond the Dune Sea proposes that the Witches learned this power from Plagueis himself, rather than the power being originally sourced from Mother Aniseya and her coven. This theory would explain a few things about this coven and their beliefs in “The Thread”, while also providing a means to integrate known Sith and history from canon into this new story being told in The Acolyte. Here’s why the idea of Darth Plagueis teaching Brendock’s Witches how to create life is so compelling, as well as why he might have done so in the first place.

The Witches’ Power To Create Life Feels Opposed To “The Thread”

A Major Manipulation And Pulling Of The Thread

As revealed in The Acolyte episode 3, Mother Anisyea teaches Osha and Mae about their coven’s belief in “The Thread”. Believing that all are tied and bound together, the Witches of Brendock see the galaxy’s energy field “not as a Force to be wielded”, as pulling on one thread too hard can cause events to greatly unravel and change everything. However, the eventual revelation that Aniseya seemingly used the Force to create life and produce Mae and Osha certainly feels opposed to their established beliefs.

Manipulating the Force to create new life feels like a pretty big pull on the “Thread”. As such, one would think that Aniseya and her coven wouldn’t think to use this power. That being said, perhaps their particular circumstances and the influence of a Sith Lord motivated Anisyea to look beyond their practice in order to wield this new Force power.

Theory: The Witches Learned This Power From Darth Plagueis

Desperate In Exile

Having confirmed that they haven’t performed an ascension ceremony since their exile, it’s certainly presented as though Mother Aniseya and her fellow witches are simply trying to survive, “on the brink of extinction”. Likewise, Mae and Osha are viewed as miraculous gifts that will help grow their order and make them stronger. To that end, perhaps it was Darth Plagueis who took advantage of this coven’s desperation in exile, offering to teach them his power in the Force that was likely outside their usual practices with “The Thread”.

The theory is that the coven learned to create life via the Force through Plagueis, rather than the other way around. Likewise, manipulating the Force to such a high degree feels much more like a power that comes from the Sith Lords, rather than being an original power developed by these witches alone considering what they believe. Additionally, given the coven’s apparent destruction by the end of The Acolyte episode 3, the idea that Plagueis shares a secret history with the witches before the events of The Acolyte would certainly make sense.

Why Plagueis Would Help The Witches Of Brendock

Experimentation And A Future Apprentice?

There are a few reasons as to why Darth Plagueis would potentially offer to share his power with the Witches of Brendock. The first is for the sake of pure experimentation. Perhaps Plagueis was still studying this ancient power and was seeking to refine the process. Likewise, the coven likely presented themselves to Plagueis as prime candidates to be tested, seeing as how they were in exile and looking to strengthen their ranks.

It’s also possible that Plagueis was looking to use the coven to fashion his very own apprentice, offering to help them as a means to grow his own power in the dark side. After all, Mae would end up being trained by a master who very much looks like a Sith Lord (and could very well be a canonical version of Plagueis himself). Furthermore, the established Star Wars canon has established that the Sith Lords were constantly trying to bring forth powerful dyads, a rare bond between Force-sensitive beings that Osha and Mae certainly seem to share.

Source: Beyond The Dune Sea