Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for The Acolyte episode 5.

Star Wars: The Acolyte’s Jedi were doomed from the start, but I wanted – and needed – more time with them. As The Acolyte is set near the end of the High Republic era, roughly 100 years before the prequel trilogy, most of the characters are completely new, even to those who have read the Star Wars: The High Republic books. The exceptions are Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, who has a prominent role in the book continuity, and Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who recently became the subject of some heated online debates concerning his role in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

All the other characters we’ve been introduced to thus far, however, including Master Sol, his Padawan, Jecki Lon, Jedi Knight Yord Fandar, Master Indara, Master Torbin, Kelnacca, Osha, and Mae were created specifically to tell this story – a story of the Jedi’s flaws and failures, the Sith’s secret (and perhaps suppressed) return, and two sisters separated by tragedy. There was and is plenty of ground left to cover in The Acolyte, and, though the mystery of Osha and Mae’s trauma and The Stranger’s identity each provide a compelling narrative, the Jedi characters deserve more time and attention, too.

The Jedi In The Acolyte Needed To Die To Preserve Canon

In The Acolyte episode 5, “Night,” a troop of Jedi is ambushed by the Master, a “Sith” Lord who is revealed to be Qimir, Mae’s bumbling, laid-back associate. The Jedi confront Qimir in a heated battle, and, although they significantly outnumber him, Qimir still effortlessly manages to kill them all, resulting in a brutal action sequence unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars before. Plenty of unnamed Jedi are killed, too, but it’s the ones we’ve come to know over the last five episodes of The Acolyte whose deaths hit the hardest.

Yord has his neck snapped. Jecki is stabbed. And while Sol may still be alive, he comes dangerously close to losing himself during the massacre. It’s violent and visceral, and it perfectly captures the difference between the light side and the dark; the passion and brutality of the Sith, and the calculated conscientiousness of the Jedi.

Of course, the tragedy of The Acolyte is that these deaths were inevitable. If we were to believe that the Jedi were convinced the Sith had been extinct for over a millennium, as is so helpfully pointed out by Ki-Adi-Mundi in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, then any Jedi who came across a Sith in this story, so close to the events of The Phantom Menace, needed to die or be otherwise silenced before they could relay their information to the Jedi Order as a whole.

So, while Sol may still be alive, he likely won’t be for long. Mae might kill him to complete her training, Qimir might catch up to him to ensure Sol can never reveal the Sith’s identity, and even Osha is a possibility at this point, now that Qimir has captured her. The deaths in this show, those of the Jedi we’ve briefly come to know and the ones we barely met – I still truly hope we get to see more of Indara, Kelnacca, and Torbin in any upcoming flashbacks – are genuinely sad. But they could have been even more impactful.

The Acolyte’s Jedi Aren’t The First High Republic Jedi To Die Brutal Deaths

As with any major franchise, there will always be characters who conveniently survive every duel or battle. “Plot Armor” is a real phenomenon that keeps popular characters safe in the story even if it would make sense for their developmental arcs to end (Ahsoka Tano is a great example of this, even if she is one of my favorite characters). What sets Star Wars: The High Republic apart from much of the rest of the franchise, however, is that any character, no matter how strong, independent, likable, or popular they are, is in danger of dying.

It’s almost become a running joke that if a High Republic book gives you a new favorite character, chances are they’ll be dead by the end of the narrative phase. Plenty of High Republic Jedi have died vicious deaths, just like those experienced by the characters in The Acolyte. The High Republic’s Jedi have been turned to ash by Force-eating creatures, maimed by dangerous marauders, and plummeted to their deaths while trying to protect civilians from a destroyed space station. In case you haven’t started reading yet, I won’t name any names, but prepare yourselves for some genuine emotional trauma.

In a sense, The Acolyte’s character deaths carry on The High Republic’s most depressing yet effective storytelling tradition. These deaths aren’t just included for shock value – they genuinely add something to the story and help explain why the Jedi eventually fell from grace once Palpatine rose to power. But the various deaths in The High Republic books hit me much harder than the ones in The Acolyte did – and there’s one specific reason why.

The Audience Needed To Spend More Time With The Acolyte’s Jedi

Yord and Jecki’s deaths in The Acolyte were shocking because of how they died. Snapping someone’s neck is brutal, and Jecki being taken by surprise after her stunning duel against Qimir felt cruel and senseless. These were outrageous kills, but because I knew they were destined to die, their lack of characterization made their demise easier to cope with. I don’t think The Acolyte gave us enough time to get attached to these Jedi. It’s a far cry from what happens in the High Republic books.

In the books, characters are given their own point of view. They are developed across different mediums, including comics, and they appear in other characters’ stories as supporting players, too. Their inclusion in the story feels organic and relatable. In The Acolyte, it’s almost the opposite.

Of course, novels and television provide vastly different forms of storytelling. In novels, readers get to know a character’s mind almost as well as they know their own. On TV, a character’s motivations and thoughts are expressed through their actions and brief moments of dialogue. You can still get to know a TV character equally well, though, granted the characters are given enough time to be developed on screen. That’s not what’s happening in The Acolyte, though.

In part, I believe this is due to the streaming age’s unusual TV restrictions. Eight episodes isn’t a lot, especially when many of those episodes are roughly 30 minutes in length and some of the characters will be forcibly written off before the show’s true narrative climax can occur. I also believe that the show’s structure hasn’t helped this matter. Though The Acolyte episode 3, “Destiny,” was a compelling piece of television, the entire episode being a flashback takes away from the precious time we had with Jedi like Yord, Jecki, and Sol.

I mourn this loss because I think all of these characters had enormous potential. Jecki was especially compelling to me, but her interactions with Yord were a highlight, and I believe that, if they had been given more time on the show, they could have provided valuable insight into what the Jedi Order was like during that period. Shock value is all well and good, but it cannot replace true character development. Though Star Wars: The Acolyte has brought something genuinely new to the franchise, I do feel like it’s missing something crucial.

New episodes of The Acolyte premiere Tuesdays exclusively on Disney+.