Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 7.

The Wookiee Jedi Master Kelnacca is in exile during the main storyline of The Acolyte, and one particularly obscure element of Star Wars lore may explain why. Wookiee Jedi are notoriously rare in the Star Wars franchise, largely due to a mandate from George Lucas himself before Disney acquired Lucasfilm and gave Star Wars a partial reboot two years later. Kelnacca is the latest example of a Wookiee Jedi and the first to appear in a live-action property at that.

The four Jedi stationed on Brendok sixteen years before the show’s main storyline – including Kelnacca – were involved in a mishap that resulted in the deaths of all members of Mother Aniseya’s coven, save for the twins Osha and Mae. All four Jedi were left with shame and trauma, with the former Padawan Torbin taking the Barash Vow and Kelnacca going into exile on Khofar, a forest world in the Outer Rim Territories. Kelnacca’s self-imposed exile might seem like an overreaction, but this may be motivated by his violation of a sacred Wookiee custom during the Brendok incident.

Wookiees Are Forbidden From Using Their Claws As Weapons

During the Jedi’s battle with Aniseya’s coven, the witches briefly possessed Kelnacca, making him attack and nearly kill Jedi Master Sol and Padawan Torbin before Jedi Master Indara freed him from possession. Kelnacca’s attack was particularly devastating for Torbin, with Kelnacca clawing at his face and leaving him with nasty scars and possibly blinding one eye. Such attacks are forbidden in Wookiee culture, with those who violate this mandate becoming known as “madclaws.”

In the original Legends continuity, Wookiees viewed their powerful, retractable, claws as tools for climbing or other peaceful means. Although Wookiees are known for both their astounding physical strength and short tempers, Wookiees consider using their claws as weapons to be one of the most dishonorable acts possible, with madclaws often being exiled. The concept was brought into the modern canon by Michael Kogge’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel, with the custom renamed the “Wookiee Honor Code.”

Master Kelnacca Could Have Considered Himself A “Madclaw” After Brendok

Although Kelnacca was a Jedi Master with full devotion to the Jedi Code, he, like many other Jedi, also held on to the culture of his species. Kelnacca did not willingly use his claws as weapons, but he probably blames himself for falling under the coven’s control anyway, considering himself a madclaw for his failure to protect his mind from their influence. This, combined with his guilt over the events on Brendok writ large in The Acolyte, likely motivated him to respond with an action as severe as self-imposed exile.

The Acolyte episode 7 is now streaming. The final episode premieres Tuesday at 9 PM ET on Disney+.