Star Wars: The Acolyte episode 7 proves that one of the Jedi’s biggest weaknesses can rear its head at the most inopportune moments. As Star Wars: The Acolyte takes place during the High Republic era, the audience gets to see a different side of the Jedi. Though the Order was arguably at the height of its strength during this era – they were over 10,000 strong and scattered all across the galaxy – the Jedi still suffered from certain emotional vulnerabilities, both on an individual level and on an organizational level.

The life of a Jedi isn’t easy – they are taken away from their homes at an early age, taught to suppress their emotions, and put others above themselves at all costs. The Jedi have noble intentions, of course, and they are, to a certain extent, right to believe that strong emotions like anger, fear, love, obsession, and attachment can lead to the dark side. That doesn’t mean, however, that all Jedi are immune to their own feelings or always capable of putting them aside at the right time, especially the younger, less experienced Jedi Padawans.

Padawans Like Torbin Could Get Homesick Easily

In The Acolyte episode 7, “Choice,” the truth about Osha and Mae’s past is finally revealed. Though the Jedi believed that they wanted to make sure the girls were cared for – Sol, especially, became strangely obsessive in his quest to make Osha his Padawan – one misunderstanding led to another, resulting in the deaths of an entire Force-sensitive coven and the destruction of Mae and Osha’s home. It all started that first night when the Jedi invaded the witches’ camp, though. Mother Aniseya tried to protect her coven from the Jedi, which meant manipulating and possessing the young Jedi Padawan, Torbin.

Though the Jedi are taught to fortify their minds against any outside attacks, a young, emotionally vulnerable Padawan like Torbin was still an easy target for an experienced witch. She could sense that he was homesick; this had been established earlier in the episode, as Torbin vehemently complained about wanting to go home to Coruscant, and she used that knowledge to manipulate him. Homesickness can be a powerful, overwhelming sensation. Everyone wants to feel like they belong somewhere, and Torbin, despite his Jedi upbringing, had a hard time letting go of the only home he had ever truly known.

Attachment Is Inevitable, Even Among Jedi

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Torbin’s issues just prove that, once again, attachment is inevitable, even among the Jedi. Though the Jedi usually warn of attachment to other people – romantic relationships and familial bonds are generally forbidden – attachments to objects (surely, the Jedi are attached to their lightsabers, too) and places can be just as complicated. Everyone deserves a home, a place where they feel safe, secure, and comforted. For Torbin, that home was Coruscant, and being on assignment on Brendok for weeks on end with no progress in sight understandably frustrated him.

Padawans Were Subject To Way Too Much Turmoil

Torbin isn’t the only High Republic Jedi to have felt homesick. Other young Padawans featured in The High Republic books have suffered from the same feelings, too. Reath Silas, for instance, loved to work in the library on Coruscant for the longest time and felt fragile when he was away for too long, and Padawan Ram Jomaram felt safest in his workshop on the planet Valo and even returned there in the aftermath of a vicious pirate attack. Homesickness is, understandably, a recurring theme in the High Republic’s storytelling, as the Jedi’s influence was spread far and wide during this time.

Jedi Padawans were subject to plenty of turmoil. Of course, each generation had to deal with their own emotional hardships. The Padawans of the Clone Wars era were thrust into leadership positions in an unwinnable war. The Padawans who lived during the heyday of the High Republic era, like Reath and Ram, were caught in a clash between the Jedi and the Nihil – violent marauders hellbent on destroying the Jedi Order – and were often forced to watch their Masters and friends die while the galaxy was destroyed all around them.

While The Acolyte takes place near the end of the High Republic era, and the galaxy seems to be relatively peaceful, Torbin is still ripped away from his home on assignment and forced into a fight with powerful witches, possessed against his will, and left to live with so much guilt that, as an adult, he eventually decided that the easiest way to atone for his “sins” was to take his own life. Clearly, Star Wars: The Acolyte’s Torbin never got over what happened on Brendok, and it all started with an overwhelming longing for a place that felt like home.

The Acolyte’s season finale premieres this Tuesday exclusively on Disney+.