Who Is The Acolyte’s Secret Dark Master?

We are now exactly halfway through the first season of the new Star Wars series The Acolyte, and our first live-action foray into the High Republic era of the franchise has been full of twists and turns. This fourth episode finally brings all the story setup to a close–we know what we need to know about Osha and Mae; the two of them have come to grips with each other’s survival, and now it’s time for them to figure out where they truly belong in this conflict between the Jedi and everyone else.

But one big detail we don’t know is the identity of Mae’s mysterious master. We have a big reason to believe that this person is a Sith, and it’s usually a safe bet that the mysterious villain in a situation like this–where the creatives behind the series are intentionally hiding the person’s identity for the sake of a big reveal later on–is going to end up being a character who’s already been introduced.

Warning: This article is full of spoilers for the fourth episode of The Acolyte on Disney+.

After three episodes of build-up, all the main characters on The Acolyte start the fourth episode with the same destination: the wookiee Jedi Kelnacca’s home on the jungle planet Khofar. Mae and Qimir are there to kill him, and Sol, Osha, Yord and Jecki are there to save him. But Mae, feeling the mortal pressure of having to defeat Kelnacca without a weapon, decides to abandon her master and try to team up with Osha–she traps Qimir and leaves him in the jungle.

But by the time everybody gets to Kelnacca’s house, the wookiee has already been murdered–with a lightsaber. Mae’s master is here, ready to confront the Jedi. And that’s where this episode leaves us, which means it’s time to ponder who this mysterious villain is. Since this was the last of the episodes that were screened for critics, I’m just as in the dark on this as you are. So let’s speculate about who it might be. These are in the order of how likely I think they are, starting with my prime suspect.