EIII: ep 4 – The Acolyte TV show preview

[00:00:00] Hello, fellow Star Wars Timeline travelers and welcome to the final episode in our pre Acolyte Blitz, where we'll introduce you to the characters from this Acolyte series starting next week on the fourth or fifth of June depending on your time zone.

[00:00:31] We also recap key characters and concepts we've discussed that might be relevant to the show as well as talk through a few more that might turn up as well.

[00:00:39] So who are we? Hi, I'm your host, Alicia. And of course, I couldn't do these lower centric episodes without dead eye Jedi Bob.

[00:00:47] Hi Bob, thank you for serving with me in this whirlwind blitz through the early history of Star Wars this month. We made it.

[00:00:55] Yes, we did. And as for being here, it's always a pleasure.

[00:01:00] So we've discussed three ages so far. Dawn of the Jedi, the Old Republic and the High Republic is the Old Republic still your favorite so far?

[00:01:10] I believe it is.

[00:01:12] Okay, that's fair. And why is that?

[00:01:15] I think because of all of the Jedi versus Sith goings on in that just always fun to come back to, I think.

[00:01:23] All right, yeah. And if you can tell listeners to read or watch or listen to any one book or show we've talked about so far, what would you choose?

[00:01:34] As of this recording, it's Light of the Jedi which kind of gets the whole High Republic ball rolling but I'm, you know, future me is probably going to be hollering about the Acolyte as soon as that starts to air because I think that's going to be something special.

[00:01:53] Yeah, I think so too. I think so too. All right, well let's get into it then. So we are for listeners at home. We are recording this episode of May 30th, 2024 and the content of this podcast was accurate enough to date when recorded but that might change as more content is released.

[00:02:10] For instance, we are definitely going to be wrong about some predictions for the Acolyte. But of course we will issue updates from time to time to cover anything that's been added to or changed to the timeline also in the materials we've covered before.

[00:02:25] And we'll be spoiling anything that happens up to this point in Star Wars in universe history but names people might know aside will do our best not to spoil anything that happens after the Acolyte until we get to that point in the timeline.

[00:02:40] And we have not seen any of the episodes ourselves and we've avoided all spoilers but there are three pieces of heavy speculation that may turn out to be more than that that we'll discuss at the very end of this episode.

[00:02:55] So we'll save those for the end and warn you before we get into that but for the most part, we know nothing Jon Snow.

[00:03:03] We're just going to be looking at what we know about the main character so far, the setting and the premise and plus who or what we think could show up based on everything we've been talking about.

[00:03:14] So this episode does build heavily on especially our discussions of the Hive Republic.

[00:03:20] So I would recommend checking out the Hive Republic overview episode if you haven't yet, but you know do whatever works for you and also if this is your first episode and you want to hear more.

[00:03:30] I recommend starting with the quickie intro app that's labeled start here to learn how this podcast works and key world building terms we keep using over and over.

[00:03:40] You'll find also a link in the show notes to a blog post that gives you more insight into what we've covered so far and what's coming soon.

[00:03:48] So the acolyte. So Bob, why do you think the acolyte is a big deal for Star Wars fans?

[00:03:56] Well I think it's going to bridge that gap between events in the High Republic and events leading directly up to the prequel trilogy.

[00:04:09] I think we're probably going to see quite a bit of what the Sith are up to in the shadows.

[00:04:18] I mean it's just speculation on my part but I mean hey since it's called the acolyte, I mean you know it's it could very well happen I think.

[00:04:27] And from what we know, we will probably be seeing events from the perspectives of certain individuals that prefer the dark side of the Force.

[00:04:42] Yeah it's a new era for live action and everyone keeps saying it's the first outside the Skywalker saga but what if they pulled the Skywalker story back if we found a pre-Skywalker?

[00:04:55] That's very well could happen.

[00:04:59] But yeah so this first season there's eight episodes that are dropping weekly with two to start on June 4th slash 5th on Disney Plus of course and the creator is Leslie Hedlund and she co-created Russian doll, the Natasha Leon show on Netflix.

[00:05:17] Did you watch that Bob?

[00:05:19] I'm going to now, I recently heard about it and I saw her attached to it and I was thinking you know I need to go back and watch that.

[00:05:26] I'll be honest I watched for Natasha Leon but it's a really good show and there's a few people from that cast who come back here but it's got like this dark trippy vibe that I'm kind of getting from the trailers of this show as well.

[00:05:40] One thing you may hear people whining about is that the creator started her career at Miramax.

[00:05:46] I just want to remind people who might be too young to know this but that was a top studio and a great place to work and yes she had the misfortune of being Harvey Weinstein's personal assistant for a year.

[00:05:58] I gather that that wasn't a pleasant experience.

[00:06:02] She says that she was never sexually assaulted but she was definitely, it was clear she and his other assistants were abused in other ways.

[00:06:09] She wrote about the experience in a quote unquote fictional 2008 play called Assistance about a character called Daniel Weissner.

[00:06:17] You can find the summer of the play on Wikipedia if you're curious.

[00:06:21] It was going to be turned into a TV show starring Kristen Ritter but nothing's been said about it since 2013 so I guess that never happened.

[00:06:29] But what do you know about Leslie Headland?

[00:06:32] I've actually heard about her connected to the acolyte but before that I guess I just kept missing her name popping up in things.

[00:06:42] But since she's doing Star Wars I'm definitely going to go back and give Russian Doll a chance and I really want to read the synopsis of that play on Wikipedia.

[00:06:54] I was about to say Wikipedia because hey we're talking about Star Wars.

[00:06:58] It's the crossover Wiki.

[00:07:00] Yeah.

[00:07:02] Yeah well she's been a lifelong Star Wars fan.

[00:07:05] So she basically reached out to Lucasfilm after the success of Russian Doll and she was like hey hear me out I have an idea.

[00:07:14] And this show is the result of that.

[00:07:17] So she said in March she said that she pitched multiple seasons of the series to Lucasfilm and she has a plan for a second season if it's ordered.

[00:07:28] But she wants to take a break after the first season due to the long production timeline.

[00:07:34] So and she yeah she also said she's going to be paying attention to fan feedback.

[00:07:38] I hope not too closely honestly because sometimes I think I think like stuff like that's what went wrong with the issues with the sequel trilogy.

[00:07:47] I think so too.

[00:07:49] What really jumped out of me was just how much she loves the franchise and has been a lifelong fan.

[00:07:56] And when I hear people that work on TV shows or animated series things like that mention how much they love the franchise that they're working on.

[00:08:07] That really I think makes me confident that probably going to be seeing something special.

[00:08:13] Yeah.

[00:08:15] I'm sure it's really going to knock my socks off so I can't wait.

[00:08:18] Yeah. She promised there wouldn't be a cliffhanger at the end of the season or a massive cliffhanger at least.

[00:08:24] She said there would be catharsis.

[00:08:27] But I also I love that she's a fan of the franchise.

[00:08:31] She's a fan of legends and she did say that she was able to bring a few major things from legends into canon.

[00:08:40] So that's exciting.

[00:08:42] So yeah. It do go listen to our Donna the Jedi Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic episodes if you haven't yet because those might end up being pertinent.

[00:08:52] But it sounds like her writers room she made it a mix of she has famously one writer who's never watched a Star Wars before this.

[00:09:02] And but she did she did that on purpose to bring a fresh fresh perspective and then the rest of her writers room.

[00:09:08] Some of the people are just fans of the original trilogy like they don't really like anything after that.

[00:09:14] Others are Dave Filoni devotees. You know Dave Filoni being the one who's done basically a bunch of stuff we're going to be talking about for the next in eras four and six especially I think

[00:09:29] he's kind of inheriting George Lucas is thrown for the Star Wars Kingdom.

[00:09:33] So she's got a mix of different types of Star Wars fans working on this which I find promising. What do you think I think exactly the same thing.

[00:09:43] I think you want people working with you that love the franchise.

[00:09:48] It doesn't matter what part of it.

[00:09:50] I think if you have folks that really enjoy it and have enjoyed it for years and that actually want to come in and write for it.

[00:09:58] And they're not just in it for for the cash. I think if they actually love what they're working on that kind of tells me that it's it's going to be something very special.

[00:10:07] If you actually like what you're doing and if you get paid to do that at the same time.

[00:10:11] I mean that that sounds like you're living a dream right there.

[00:10:14] So yeah it sounds intriguing.

[00:10:17] So she pitched it to Lucasfilm apparently as frozen meets kill bill which I'm the kill bill part I get but I'm like frozen why frozen.

[00:10:27] Wow this is the first time I've heard of a frozen bit.

[00:10:30] Okay please tell me there's a musical number just kidding I don't think there is but I wouldn't mind it if there were.

[00:10:35] Yeah now I'm kind of wondering about that who knows.

[00:10:39] But yeah she says she wanted to explore the Star Wars franchise from the perspective of the villains and she felt the high republic era would be the best point in the timeline to do this because of the Sith.

[00:10:50] Who are the villains in the films they are very much outnumbered and in hiding during this time so very much on the back foot.

[00:10:58] And she says a key theme in the franchise is underdog versus institutional threats and in this point of the timeline the Jedi are the institution.

[00:11:09] They are not the underdogs.

[00:11:12] So who do you think might be the underdogs.

[00:11:15] I imagine the the Sith probably see themselves as underdogs.

[00:11:21] I wonder if it's going to make us empathize with the Sith.

[00:11:24] I imagine some will certainly going to be holding them at arms length myself.

[00:11:34] Well but okay so I like that's a certain reviewer that I saw said that about her in general much of her work focuses on cultural vandalism and addiction.

[00:11:49] She said that I'm attracted to stories about people who have created prisons for themselves and are trying to get out of them.

[00:11:57] So I'm intrigued.

[00:11:59] Yeah.

[00:12:02] Do you know what Rashman style storytelling is?

[00:12:05] First time I've heard of it.

[00:12:07] It's so Rashman is a old Kurosawa Japanese film from the 50s about an event that takes place and then you see this event from several different perspectives and in each time you see a different perspective you learn something new about it.

[00:12:25] You see that different people see the same event differently you know.

[00:12:29] So apparently this is going to be that kind of storytelling exploring shades of gray and she says the story is like an onion with each episode peeling away something to reveal a new layer.

[00:12:44] Very cool.

[00:12:46] I'm reminded of a Batman the animated series episode called POV I believe and that had that type of storytelling you saw the event from different perspectives of cops from that particular.

[00:12:59] animated series so I've definitely seen it before.

[00:13:02] Yeah, I know exactly that's it sounds like exactly it.

[00:13:07] Yeah, love that's my favorite kind of story actually because this is it gives us empathy for how people experience things differently and that we are so sure like what we saw this happen but when you see it through somebody else's eyes it might look completely different.

[00:13:24] Right.

[00:13:25] Well so the story itself is set in 132 BBY so before the battle of Yavin before the date of the original movie so this is 100 years before the prequel trilogy.

[00:13:36] And this is nearing the end of the high republic era.

[00:13:42] So yeah, headland she noted that the original trilogy has a like somewhat lived in quality and says the prequel trilogy is sleeker and more advanced because well in the real world those films came out later and there was more advanced VFX.

[00:13:57] But she says she's with the acolytes aesthetic she's following that trend backwards so saying like the further you go back into this, you know, golden age era, the more exciting and sleek and interesting things are going to look.

[00:14:13] And people will also notice that the robes, they have two types of robes when they're in the temples they're wearing white and gold robes a lot.

[00:14:23] And then when they go out they have more like the brown robes over top which we come to know later in the timeline with also some gold there so it's this transitional time in fashion.

[00:14:37] But yeah what do you think are some of the most important concepts that we've talked about in the high republic that might pop up or play a role in the storytelling.

[00:14:47] I'm wondering if we're going to be delving a bit deeper into how certain individuals perceive and use the force.

[00:14:59] I know certainly be focusing on Jedi, certainly the dark side and the darker aspects of the force.

[00:15:05] I wonder if we see possibly very possibly the folks from Jedi pop up who the heck knows at this point.

[00:15:15] I can't believe we're less than a week away from this show as we record.

[00:15:20] We know there's witches.

[00:15:22] Yes.

[00:15:23] That's yeah that's interesting.

[00:15:27] But yeah so I mean basically everything that we set up in the high republic overview could play a role here but this is 100 years after young Jedi adventure is the subject of our last episode.

[00:15:41] So the Nile the big threat for most of the age their thought to have been defeated we don't know for sure but this is the thinking.

[00:15:51] We know the Jedi and the Republic are working increasingly closer.

[00:15:56] We know that force sensitive children are being pushed into becoming Jedi or being pushed into advancing at younger ages and maybe the golden era of the high republic is starting to look a little tarnished.

[00:16:10] Yeah.

[00:16:11] But overall it's still time relative peace.

[00:16:13] There's maybe that leads to less vigilance because of the peace but it's also interesting that this is maybe the first Star War not set during a war.

[00:16:23] True.

[00:16:24] I think a lot of the events that I've read about in the high republic book series you have quite a few disasters that Jedi are attempting to avert.

[00:16:40] I mean it's basically Jedi versus pirates and terrorists and also I would be seeing more of that kind of you know peacekeeping going on for starters in in the Acolyte.

[00:16:53] I would I would very much like to see maybe a few Nile holdouts possibly but who the heck knows at this point.

[00:17:03] It seems they should probably should at least mention it but it's interesting to see in the trailers.

[00:17:09] We see the diversity of the era is on full display.

[00:17:12] There's so many different types of aliens.

[00:17:15] The fight choreo looks incredible what we've seen so far.

[00:17:20] So just because it's not a war doesn't mean it's not going to be action and excitement of course.

[00:17:25] And but at its heart it's a mystery thriller about there's a Jedi who is killed.

[00:17:31] And the question is who done it.

[00:17:33] Who done it.

[00:17:35] Yeah.

[00:17:38] So I've seen the trailer once or twice with audio description when you're having to go in I think and come up with a script for a trailer.

[00:17:49] I'm sure you probably well they probably don't have a whole heck of a lot of time to write everything down.

[00:17:55] You have to think about writing over writing around all of the dialogue rather because we do have some of that.

[00:18:03] So it's interesting to go in and watch it and then hear about what other fans see because yeah I wouldn't have known about the choreography the fight choreography.

[00:18:13] If I hadn't gotten on Twitter and YouTube and seen what other people were saying about the trailer.

[00:18:19] I really like that everyone stoked about how the fights look and about the diverse aliens species that we're going to get in this show.

[00:18:28] Yeah where the audio description trailer I couldn't find one on Twitter is that only on Disney Plus.

[00:18:34] Yeah so only on Disney Plus I think I haven't seen it on YouTube at all.

[00:18:38] The only audio description trailer.

[00:18:41] Yeah the only audio description trailer on YouTube is Eclipse I do believe.

[00:18:46] Wow.

[00:18:47] Why is Project Dreams leading the way in that.

[00:18:50] OK.

[00:18:51] Yeah.

[00:18:54] Yeah it doesn't look great overall it was filmed mostly on practical sets and on location in the Beacons National Park in Wales and especially all around the island of Madeira in Portugal.

[00:19:08] So it does yeah I think it's going to have high production values that's what we're seeing in the trailer at least.

[00:19:16] There's also it's introducing new characters and definitely bringing new lore and we're going to get into those new characters and maybe some old ones that might pop up right after a quick break.

[00:19:48] All right you ready to get into the characters of the acolyte as we know them so far.

[00:19:53] Yeah.

[00:19:55] So the main character seems to be a character named May played by Amanda Lindenberg.

[00:20:02] So you might know her as Rue the child from Hunger Games.

[00:20:06] I also saw her in bodies bodies bodies you saw that one right about.

[00:20:10] Not yet.

[00:20:12] Oh not yet.

[00:20:13] OK I always assume you've seen every horror movie.

[00:20:15] She also played spider bites and across the spider verse.

[00:20:19] And yeah she's done a bunch of other stuff.

[00:20:22] She plays the violin in real life by the way just an aside they put out a nice video of her playing the force theme which we talked about in the young Jedi adventure season one episode but it's also the theme song for this podcast.

[00:20:36] Did you hear that.

[00:20:38] I plan on listening to it right before the show starts.

[00:20:42] She's very she's very talented she's very good at that.

[00:20:46] Yeah.

[00:20:47] But she she seems to be the breakout star of the show.

[00:20:50] She's given a lot to carry apparently and reviews seem to be positive I haven't really read them I just know that they are generally quite positive because I'm trying to avoid spoilers.

[00:21:02] Oh you and me both.

[00:21:04] She's a former Padawan.

[00:21:06] And so again the Padawan is when you when you are a force sensitive child you first become a youngling like we see in the young Jedi adventures.

[00:21:15] Although they're younglings that apparently already got their kyber crystals because we're really talked about the fact they seem to have operating lightsabers for some reason.

[00:21:25] But then you become a Padawan next and as a Padawan you are the apprentice of a specific Jedi who becomes your master.

[00:21:35] So she was she was a former Padawan something happened she's no longer a Padawan and she doesn't seem to at least what we've seen in the trailer she doesn't seem to be wielding lightsaber she seems to be wielding some dual daggers.

[00:21:53] Are you excited for her what character you most excited to see Bob so far.

[00:21:57] Yeah I am pretty excited for her as far as I know she's actually one of the only characters from the show that's getting an action figure like right when they started making the the big acolyte announcements has bro did a little stream with her and I think another Jedi or a Jedi named soul and you know they're going to get action figures so.

[00:22:19] I saw that her box contents only included daggers and I thought huh well this should be interesting so.

[00:22:25] Needless to say I snagged up those are preordered them as soon as I could.

[00:22:30] Okay, I want to hear we have to hear once they come in what you think yeah.

[00:22:36] Yeah so soul he seems to be the other main character he's played by Lee Jung Jae and this is he's a respected Korean actor but if outside of Korea he's best known for the show Squid Games.

[00:22:49] And apparently headland was around the time she was working on the show she was watching Squid Games and she saw him and she was like I he's so good I need him for my show and so he learned English for this role.

[00:23:04] That is amazing.

[00:23:06] Yeah yeah especially he's been doing quite well in interviews.

[00:23:10] But he's he's the former master of this wayward may character and he's a still respected Jedi master in the order.

[00:23:21] He's described as still and stalwart with a deep sense of compassion.

[00:23:27] He wields a blue saber and he has a new young padawan named Jackie long.

[00:23:33] Do you know Daphne King.

[00:23:35] I recently heard of her isn't she in Dark Materials which I've also got to see.

[00:23:43] Yeah no he's Dark Materials is one of my favorite book series so yeah she plays Lyra the main character in that and she's also a lot of people will know her as X 23 from Logan so she's the other like kid girl low Wolverine character.

[00:23:58] Okay that's why that name sounded so familiar to me okay.

[00:24:02] Yeah.

[00:24:04] It's funny how many of these actors I first hear about in terms of Star Wars and then I go back and that tends to get me interested in everything they've done before so I feel like Star Wars is my gateway to a lot of other interesting movies and things I otherwise wouldn't have wanted to watch until I've heard about you know so many of these wonderful performers and what all they've been in beforehand so.

[00:24:26] Hey not a bad way to go.

[00:24:28] Yeah.

[00:24:30] She's almost unrecognizable visually though because she's playing a Thelan human hybrid so yeah we don't really see many hybrids in the Star Wars universe do we.

[00:24:42] Right I don't think we do we've gotten at least one more Thelan hybrid and we've also gotten like twilight human hybrids but occasionally very occasionally but yeah this one is because she apparently is based on a favorite.

[00:24:59] We talked about the Glup Shiddle characters in the adventure episodes so there's a Glup Shiddle character called Ristal Sont she was a human Thelan hybrid singer and dancer in the Max Rebo band which appears in the original trilogy.

[00:25:16] And she's one of Leslie Hedlund's favorite Glup Shiddle characters so she's like we got to have one of those in my show.

[00:25:21] She's actually one of mine too back in the late 90s they made her in a handy dandy Jabba's Dancers three pack way back.

[00:25:30] The power of the force action figure day so I actually had that one.

[00:25:34] So do you know what the Thelan look like.

[00:25:37] Yeah I remember the interesting feet going on and I think they had horns there on the sides of the head so I love the look of that character.

[00:25:48] Yeah so the most characteristic thing is that they have like these three little mini horns sticking out of the temples on the other side of their face.

[00:25:59] And they also have they tend to be quite colorful I guess because Jackie is a human hybrid she's less colorful she's got pale skin and matching hair and she's got some dark orange skin spotted skin because that's a thing that Thelan have the spotting.

[00:26:17] And it's just like around streaks on around her horns in the side of her face.

[00:26:22] So yeah we'll see more of them throughout the timeline but Jackie is described as composed and mature for her age very studious.

[00:26:32] She might get along with another character who doesn't like to be called Vern.

[00:26:37] We're going to talk about in a moment and she has a green lightsaber.

[00:26:42] And yeah this brings us to a character that a lot of people are especially excited about because of the actress playing it.

[00:26:50] Can you guess who this is?

[00:26:52] I'm wondering if this is going to be the character of Vanessa Roe.

[00:26:57] No no no.

[00:26:59] No.

[00:27:01] Carrie Ann Moss's character in Dara.

[00:27:03] Okay okay gotcha.

[00:27:04] Yeah I know we'll get to Vanessa Roe in a moment but a lot of people are excited about Carrie Ann Moss to play this Jedi character in Dara.

[00:27:13] And Carrie Ann Moss is best known as Trinity from The Matrix.

[00:27:16] So basically Leslie Headland she wanted she wanted someone where audiences would be like oh yeah that's a badass Jedi and she said she literally wanted Trinity with the lightsaber so she got it.

[00:27:31] And she has a green lightsaber.

[00:27:32] And then did you ever watch The Good Place Bob?

[00:27:37] No.

[00:27:39] Okay it's I recommend it.

[00:27:42] It's a fun silly philosophical show and on there there's a lovely himbo named Jason played by an actor named Manny Jacinto and Manny Jacinto is playing a character in this series called Kimir I think it's pronounced.

[00:28:00] So he's a former smuggler who now quote unquote lives of life of leisure as a trader of unique objects.

[00:28:10] Oh.

[00:28:13] That's promising.

[00:28:15] Yeah.

[00:28:17] No I have to point out I listened to the ringerverse podcast and Mal and Joe on there on the House of R are constantly referring to the fact that in the trailer he's like I'm just a guy they're like oh just a guy just a guy right just a guy.

[00:28:34] A lot of people are finding him suspicious.

[00:28:37] He does say an interesting quote in the trailer he says the Jedi justify their galactic dominance in the name of peace but that piece is a lie.

[00:28:48] So what do you think attitudes are changing or have they always been this way and is he alone or do more people feel this way.

[00:28:58] That quote has very disturbing.

[00:29:04] Yeah connotations to it.

[00:29:07] If you think about it yeah.

[00:29:09] Okay.

[00:29:11] In one of the quasi not spoilers but you know.

[00:29:14] Yeah.

[00:29:16] Jason speculation at the end of the episode.

[00:29:18] Yeah.

[00:29:20] It's fascinating that you're bringing up who quotes what in the trailers because there is just so little time for the AD tracks to point all that out.

[00:29:28] So I was sure who said that so cool to find out that that was him though.

[00:29:31] That makes me see him in a different light now.

[00:29:34] Kimu Kimu yeah I don't know what kind of maybe he might have some dark objects in his collection.

[00:29:42] But that's bring us to a character we keep teasing and have been teasing for weeks.

[00:29:47] Did you know that there's a character called Vanessa Roe.

[00:29:50] Yes I did.

[00:29:52] So she is a character from the High Republic's books played in the show by Rebecca Henderson who happens to be headlands wife but is also a bonafide actress recognizable actress in her own rights who's also in Russian doll and a whole bunch of other stuff.

[00:30:12] But yeah Vanessa Roe don't call her Vern unless she lets you how would you what would you what are your favorite things about this character.

[00:30:22] I think the thing that stood out about Vanessa to me when we first met her in the books is that she's she's very humble.

[00:30:31] I think she will be the first one to admit to you that no matter how old you are how young you are you always have a lot to learn and that's what really stood out to me.

[00:30:42] I like that she is very sure of herself but at the same time she's always open to learning new things about the force about herself and I like that she more than one occasion in the books has admitted that no she doesn't have all the answers.

[00:31:01] She seems like a very flexible character I think.

[00:31:06] Yeah so her youngest introduction is at the age of 16 as a young kind of Jedi prodigy.

[00:31:15] She's one of the youngest Jedi knights in history like becoming a full fledged Jedi when most people are just settling into becoming padawans until yeah she's first in a test of courage has heard her youngest but then she is spread out throughout the phases one and three which are again adjacent to the

[00:31:34] timeline.

[00:31:36] She is a main character appearing through books of different ages so she's she's definitely one of the biggies from this part of the timeline and she is a myrialin is her species so people who are familiar with the Clone Wars or

[00:31:53] and the recent tales of the Empire might know a character called Barris offy so Barris offy is also a myrialin and the myrialin they so in this case.

[00:32:10] Yeah they're both green both the ones I mentioned sometimes are yellow or pink or purple and they have these black diamonds.

[00:32:17] I'm not 100% sure if their tattoos are natural I think they're meant to be tattoos that record significant moments in their life.

[00:32:27] And Vernestra when she appeared younger she had dark purple hair but now her head is bald and she has these diamond patterns like on her scalp basically.

[00:32:39] Oh cool.

[00:32:41] So as a species yeah they have a strong connection with the natural world and they are firm believers in the ways of the force so this is one of the reasons why we tend to meet a few of these as we go through the timeline.

[00:32:54] But by the way if I mentioned a name as a reference that I say is from a later era like Barris offy and you don't know who that is please don't worry about it just shove that name out of your head for now and we'll talk about that character later.

[00:33:05] That reference is just trying to be helpful for those who do know that character already to give them idea of you know what kind of character we're talking about but in this case we are definitely talking about the myrialin named Vernestra Rowe and someone you'll be seeing on your screens in just a few more days.

[00:33:25] But yeah she's been through the ringer in the books right.

[00:33:29] Oh yeah.

[00:33:30] She's she remembers the Nile the kind of super pirates.

[00:33:36] She remembers the plant monsters the Drangier the Nameless the you know the ones who suck the force out of the Jedi out of force users.

[00:33:46] She remembers especially the fall of Starlight Beacon all that other stuff we talked about in the High Republic overview.

[00:33:53] Yeah she's had to deal with quite a lot of loss I think it's it's amazing how much she's been through and yet she's still she's still standing.

[00:34:04] I think that's one of the things I like about her quite a bit.

[00:34:07] Yeah yeah she had a master named Stellan Geos and she took it hard when he was killed when he sacrificed himself during the fall of Starlight Beacon to save a city.

[00:34:19] And yeah by the way we talked about Starlight Beacon and the High Republic breakdown and we'll talk about these specific events in the High Republic Phase One breakdown of the books.

[00:34:30] But in Phase One she also became close to a young human inventor named Avon Starros who she all thought also died in the fall of Starlight Beacon although it turns out that Avon did not but Avon stories and finished.

[00:34:45] I do have to mention one interesting thing about Avon Starros that could turn up so she's a young scientist who fell under the wing of a finestra but she was researching crystals.

[00:34:58] We don't know exactly what she found but we know that the information she had is on a data cube so data cube I guess is like a holocron for normal people.

[00:35:09] It's just basically like a hard drive but we know that there are times in the timeline where people are afraid of this information getting into the wrong hands.

[00:35:19] So whatever she was researching about crystals or something dangerous in there so it would be interesting if that research turned up in the show.

[00:35:28] Yeah I think so too.

[00:35:30] She thought that she was lost also in the fall of Starlight Beacon and also thought that her Padwan, Imri Cantaros was dead in the same catastrophe.

[00:35:39] And at that point she was losing faith in the Jedi and she became something we talked about in a previous episode a wayseeker.

[00:35:48] So the wayseekers again they are people who they get permission from the Jedi Council but then they say we're going to follow our own way for a little while.

[00:35:56] We're going to distance ourselves from the council and we got to figure some things out.

[00:36:01] So she did that and it ended up leading her back to Cantaros who she found alive.

[00:36:08] And we're not really sure how any of their stories end in phase three but yeah this is all behind her and probably I can't imagine what she's been through since.

[00:36:21] Yeah.

[00:36:23] Tell us about her weapon Bob.

[00:36:25] Well she has an interesting light whip and one of the things I always forget about it was how the idea for this weapon came to her in a dream.

[00:36:39] I don't really know much about said dream.

[00:36:44] It kind of escapes me at the moment but that has popped up online more than once.

[00:36:50] I don't know if it's an actual book that I read or might have been in a comic.

[00:36:54] You'd think if it wasn't a book I would remember it but I find it interesting that she was kind of inspired to modify her saber in a dream.

[00:37:04] I don't know if it was something that the force was telling her.

[00:37:08] It seems to be visions she was getting in hyperspace.

[00:37:13] Right.

[00:37:15] Yeah hyperspace visions which I'm wondering if we might see a bit more of in the TV show as well because she has been known to get more than one of those throughout the books.

[00:37:26] Yeah exactly.

[00:37:28] It's an interesting weapon because it is so it's the lightsaber is basically plasma contained by magnetic field and she ended up making this one with like a little switch on it so that if she switches it one way it will have a more rigid structure like a normal lightsaber.

[00:37:49] And if she switches it the other way the sort of field around it weakens a bit so that she can use it as a whip it will be more supple but that also makes it more difficult to use easier to hurt herself.

[00:38:02] Just you know so the reason that she was able to wield this is because she's just so good at being a Jedi.

[00:38:09] Yeah.

[00:38:10] And also yes so she also has these hyperspace tripping powers according to her former master Geo's.

[00:38:18] He said that she could navigate ships using only the force well in hyperspace so she didn't need you know the usual tools and that she would get these visions indeed in hyperspace.

[00:38:30] And Geo's he wanted her to explore these abilities but she kind of turned it down and she actually stopped using them for a while altogether during the books so I'm wondering where she stands on that now.

[00:38:43] Yeah hopefully they'll delve into that at least you know for a scene or two in the TV show.

[00:38:48] I wish we got more than eight episodes per season with Star Wars stuff sometimes.

[00:38:54] Yeah.

[00:38:55] There's only so much you can you can fit into a although I feel like the first one might be sixty minutes I wish they were all sixty.

[00:39:03] But yeah I mean I think they might they might be around an hour each but I mean if she has been working on those skills that could make her even more formidable.

[00:39:13] But she also has like these kind of force spidey senses so she can kind of sense if something's wrong through the force so that she might not trust that instinct.

[00:39:21] And yeah so Leslie Headlin said that Vanessa Roe was the only character from the High Republic books that would appear in the first season but there were other High Republic characters she helped to include in a potential second season so more reason to read the books.

[00:39:35] But she felt like Roe it was important to bring her in because because she's such a long lived character she is able to show how the Jedi order has changed she's able to reflect that she's able to be the member of the Jedi.

[00:39:50] And so that's the story of what's happened before and you can see for the people who do read the book you see the difference between her role as a leader in this show versus you know the young upstart prodigy in the books.

[00:40:03] Although she is a very focused and determined character she's not like a wild one.

[00:40:07] Right.

[00:40:09] So another character that people are excited about is Kel Naka we get a wookie Jedi.

[00:40:14] Hi.

[00:40:16] I have been a fan of wookie Jedi since reading about Chewbacca's nephew in the old EU timeline so this is probably going to bring out the 14 year old of me when he shows up on screen I think that is an amazing addition to the show.

[00:40:34] Yeah he's played by Finnish actor Jonas Suotomo who previously portrayed Chewbacca the most famous wookie in the sequel trilogy and the film solo so it's very cool.

[00:40:48] He's a wookie specialist now.

[00:40:51] And we learn that Kel Naka has sequestered himself in the jungles of Kofar which is a new location so you get a new jungle planet.

[00:41:00] I wonder if it's anything like Kashik.

[00:41:02] Yeah I would imagine a bit.

[00:41:05] I mean maybe he's of course he can't really admit that he's attached to things but I wonder if he misses home so.

[00:41:12] Yeah so Kashik is the main wookie planet which is also very jungly so I'm curious how similar they'll be.

[00:41:19] And it's we also are told that he's living a solitary life so he's questing himself living a solitary life makes me wonder if he's taken the barrage vow.

[00:41:31] So we talked about the barrage vow in previous episodes and basically it's like a vow of solitude and you won't take a pad of wahn and I know you're just going to sit in time out and think about things.

[00:41:43] I think it probably is related to what we talked about from legends in the old republic about when someone would fall out of alignment with the force they would go sit on the opposite moon and think about it.

[00:41:58] Yeah but he also has a green lightsaber and for a new lightsaber color well not new new but we have Yord Fandar played by Charlie Barnett who is also in Russian doll and also like tales of the city and you.

[00:42:16] And so Yord is a temple guardian so he wields a yellow lightsaber although we're seeing those that color more often these days outside that.

[00:42:24] And he's a by the book rule follower very lawful good for the D&D players and an overachiever.

[00:42:32] So I feel like this character is going to frustrate me what do you think.

[00:42:36] Yeah I think he might frustrate me too just a little bit.

[00:42:39] So the colors of lightsabers in legends it's like a really there's a lot of can there's a lot of lore about lightsabers and legends and not much of it's been brought into canon yet so.

[00:42:55] We know for example basically the truth of the matter is that a green and blue were the first lightsabers because they popped against the backdrops in the original movies.

[00:43:06] Right.

[00:43:08] Although now it said and I'm not sure how much we should take this to heart as because there's a lot of like random lore that's kind of throwaways from reference books that might be superseded when it's when you know there's sort of a hierarchy of canonness so reference books are kind of at the bottom

[00:43:26] then the comics and books and then the TV shows and then the movies.

[00:43:32] Right.

[00:43:34] But we're told at this point green is most commonly chosen by the consular's the people who focus on the mental knowledge of the force blue is often seen in the hands of guardians who focus on learning combat and warrior arts and sentinels who seek a balance between the consular's and the guardians are the ones most often wielding yellow.

[00:43:56] And this includes famously the Jedi temple guards.

[00:44:01] Hmm.

[00:44:03] And also yeah it's some yellow lightsabers turn up later in the timeline to but hmm well we'll talk about those when we get there.

[00:44:11] Um, but yeah and so there's the red lightsaber how's a red lightsaber made Bob.

[00:44:17] You basically have to torture one of those poor crystals where you know be it from illam or wherever you have to bleed it.

[00:44:27] Yes bleeding it.

[00:44:29] And it's yeah it's part of this whole sith thing of like bending the force to your will.

[00:44:35] Although I guess you could technically there are dark side users who are not technically sith who use red lightsabers but I guess dark side users.

[00:44:46] Bleed it in general.

[00:44:48] And we've seen rare like dark orange lightsabers which seem to be dark Jedi which is a concept that may or may not be being brought over we talked about that in a previous episode.

[00:44:59] We've seen white lightsabers in canon which tend to be purified red so hyper crystal the crystal that makes the saber work they might be bled by dark side user and become red and then taken back by light side user and purified and become red.

[00:45:16] And then become white again.

[00:45:18] Um, we've also seen some purple so Vanessa's lightsaber is purple for instance, although it's most famously a character named mace window played by Samuel L Jackson and simply because Samuel L Jackson's favorite color is purple.

[00:45:33] Um, but I don't know if you've heard this but I like there's something in legends not into canon yet but that if you are a purple lightsaber user it's because you are able to.

[00:45:46] Balance the light and the dark side as you use it and it creates that's why it creates that purple blend of blue and red.

[00:45:55] Yeah, I really hope they do get into that a bit if not in this show then possibly a second season.

[00:46:02] That would be cool.

[00:46:04] Yeah, I love lightsaber lore but that would be very interesting so Vanessa's lightsabers are lighter purple but it would be interesting if she's still like pulling some small amount from the dark side secretly.

[00:46:13] Yeah.

[00:46:15] Yeah, I think they were and admonishing or just a little bit with the wielding of that light whip there and more than one occasion in the books.

[00:46:25] I know there were a few Jedi that didn't really agree with that but we'll see how that goes in the show.

[00:46:32] Yeah, I mean I guess they've accepted it about her by now but yeah, she's a she's a very studious one but then kind of doing going her own way as we see with the way seeker plotline too.

[00:46:43] But yeah in general for lightsabers it looks like we're going to have the biggest variety of colors we've seen outside the games which makes sense for the high republic I guess but I hope we're getting some good lore to go with it.

[00:46:56] Yeah, me too.

[00:46:58] We also were confirmed another type of another type of species is being pulled over from legend the Zygarians which are a humanoid feline species so cat people.

[00:47:10] Yeah.

[00:47:11] Bring on the cat people.

[00:47:15] But they are maybe so we know we're going to get a Zygarian Jedi but the species in general are known as slavers so maybe not the nicest ones.

[00:47:25] Right.

[00:47:26] But then yeah so now we're shifting over into maybe some of the darker elements of the series and there's a character called mother Anisea played by Jody Turner Smith who people might know from Queen and Slim.

[00:47:40] I know her from the movie After Young and she also played Ambulan in the TV show Ambulan and she is the leader of a sort of witch clan.

[00:47:52] Oh is she now?

[00:47:53] I can't wait to see her.

[00:47:55] This is wild.

[00:47:57] You telling me about her?

[00:48:00] Haven't heard about it before this podcast recording.

[00:48:04] You know there's witches in the trailer right?

[00:48:07] Yeah I think.

[00:48:09] I wonder if they forgot to describe those with the AD track.

[00:48:13] I'm going to have to go back and watch that after this.

[00:48:14] Yeah because she's featured quite prominently but there's other points where the witches are doing hand signals together and they appear to affect things.

[00:48:25] Wow.

[00:48:27] Yeah we don't know, they don't look like night sisters, they don't seem to work like night sisters which are a witch clan we're going to do the most talking about.

[00:48:36] But in legends the witches are all from the planet of Dathomir and so maybe these are as well.

[00:48:44] I did see a Zabrak which is like the Darth Maul is a Zabrak with like the horns all over the heads.

[00:48:51] I did see one of those amongst their numbers which are a group that also lives in Dathmir.

[00:48:56] So they could be Dathmiri but so far the different witch clans we've met in Canon are the night sisters, the mountain clan which are light side users which look completely different than this group.

[00:49:09] In legends they named a bunch more but most of them aren't very well fleshed out.

[00:49:15] We just know that it's often the clans, other clans are lying with the Jedi against the night sisters.

[00:49:23] Yeah.

[00:49:25] So this could also be a night sister, you know antagonists.

[00:49:30] The interesting visual thing about her though is that she has a swirl pattern on her forehead.

[00:49:38] So it's in a striking white paint on she has dark skin but it looks like I mean it's just it's very visually like striking and appealing but it looks like it might have something to do with her rank and order.

[00:49:52] I'm guessing that's my guess.

[00:49:54] I don't know.

[00:49:56] Yeah well I mean I'll buy that for sure.

[00:49:59] She says in the trailer Destiny is not decided for you by an anonymous source.

[00:50:06] If you want to pull the thread and change everything then pull it.

[00:50:10] And this seems to be a temptation that she's offering May.

[00:50:16] Yeah so we see the witch clan doing something maybe casting a spell they have some coordinated hand movements.

[00:50:22] We see there's a young Jedi Padawan character in Indara's Karyan Moss's Padawan named Torbin played by Dean Charles Chapman.

[00:50:34] And at one point it seems like he's the clan does something that makes him possessed and his eyes turn black.

[00:50:42] Ah okay we've seen something like that before.

[00:50:47] Hmm yeah I mean I'm wondering.

[00:50:49] Yeah I'm wondering how much we might actually see similarities between what we've seen from other witch clans.

[00:50:58] I'm also wondering in legends there were witches of Dathomir were known to ride a type of animal a sort of gray ugly elephantine type animal without the snout called Rancor.

[00:51:16] So I have a soft spot for Rancor they're like ugly little beasts but they can be quite nice if they're you know your babies.

[00:51:25] Yes they can.

[00:51:27] They're massive and scary so it's an intimidating animal to ride.

[00:51:32] So I would love to see that.

[00:51:34] Yeah you know ever since I read Courte-Chip of Princess Leia back in the day and you know we've gotten the night sisters and other witches in both animation and live action.

[00:51:45] Always wanted to see is some witch or another riding a Rancor.

[00:51:49] Yeah Courte-Chip of Princess Leia is a legends novel that introduced the witches of Dathomir.

[00:51:56] And then we also get the other intriguing thing everyone's talking about is we see someone with a red lightsaber is it a sip we don't know.

[00:52:06] And that person is wearing a dark helmet adorned with a dark smile.

[00:52:12] Wow.

[00:52:13] And Saul asks what are you this being.

[00:52:18] Not another Marik right.

[00:52:21] I have no clue.

[00:52:23] Marik is a character who this is not a spoiler it's a side back a character who appeared in the back of the Yasoka TV series and people spent so much time trying to guess what or who Marik was.

[00:52:40] And then we just ended up sticking our foot in her mouth but I don't think this is that.

[00:52:46] Yeah.

[00:52:48] Yeah I doubt it.

[00:52:53] So yeah in terms of who or else might show up who or what else might show up we've talked about the nameless with or without the Nihil the Drangir Yoda and Yaddle.

[00:53:06] Yeah I think we might at least get some scene with the council with the Jedi Council and see those two and or some other long lived members of the Jedi Council that we know in later eras.

[00:53:22] Yeah I mean they fit perfectly in some point you know during the first season so I would not be surprised at all if we got that.

[00:53:30] Yeah at least it would be kind of weird if they didn't show up in a way if we're talking about the Jedi.

[00:53:37] It would be fun if we saw Masked Kanata the pirate queen.

[00:53:42] Yeah I'd love to see her.

[00:53:44] We talked about her and the High Republic episode she's going strong at this point.

[00:53:49] I doubt we'll see the Sith planet of Koroban we talked about before but that would be cool.

[00:53:54] I don't know if we see the Jedi planets of Akto or Tithon.

[00:54:00] This is of course after the era where the Jedi have been pulled out of the Outer Rim outposts.

[00:54:06] But it's almost certain we'll get a mention of Starlight Beacon because Vernestra definitely remembers.

[00:54:11] Sure.

[00:54:13] So as far as things we haven't yet discussed did you hear that there's a cowl door who appears in the background of the trailer that people are like that's plow coon.

[00:54:23] I feel like people talk so much about images that they see on Twitter and I guess it's both a blessing and a curse because nobody adds alt text to those.

[00:54:35] So you know when you mention stuff like that I mean now is the first time I'm hearing about so much of this.

[00:54:41] So it's amazing.

[00:54:44] Yeah you really are.

[00:54:46] But so okay so the hell door in general there's species of tall humanoid people who they have three fingered hands with thumb and they have this like thick leathery skin that they kind of like their heads almost look like crabs meets brains like they're not an attractive species.

[00:55:05] And they also they can't breathe the atmosphere that's in most of the galaxy so they have these masks that are almost like grown into their faces you never see them without masks and goggles to protect themselves.

[00:55:18] And there's a particularly famous long live Jedi called plow coon and apparently the Keldor in general don't live really longer than humans but for sensitive Keldor can live up to 250 and again these are from questionable semi canonical sources so this isn't confirmed.

[00:55:41] But in the legends timeline plow coon would have been 272 years old at this point in the timeline and he's of course very attuned to the force so he lives you know at least that long.

[00:55:53] So it could be him we also have to all brace ourselves that it could just be another Keldor because there should be more than one in the galaxy.

[00:56:03] Right.

[00:56:06] Another person who could show up is who young person I say loosely.

[00:56:12] So you want to explain who who young is.

[00:56:15] He.

[00:56:17] To me he feels rather like.

[00:56:22] The all of Ander of Star Wars you know he helps.

[00:56:27] You know younglings with the making of their lightsabers he's a font of.

[00:56:34] More than one kind of Jedi knowledge he is he's a droid but to me he feels you know like so much more than a droid he feels like a Jedi.

[00:56:43] Whenever I hear him on animation or in live action I so often forget that he's a droid.

[00:56:50] Yeah yeah he's played by David Tennant who's you know a favorite actor of many people.

[00:56:56] He's a Mark Ford droid but he's already to 25000 years old at this point in the timeline.

[00:57:03] But he should be found wherever younglings are getting sabers.

[00:57:06] He also he would tell the younglings stories and teach the history of the galaxy apparently in three parts and I would love to get to listen in on those.

[00:57:17] I doubt they're going to do that in this series but please just release the audio tapes.

[00:57:20] Yeah.

[00:57:22] Oh that would go really well if they actually could get David Tennant to narrate that and you know get a full cast going.

[00:57:28] He's got such an amazing voice as it is so letting him be a storyteller in terms of Star Wars audio productions would be out of this world.

[00:57:39] Yeah it would be fun though if he made a cameo in this but I don't know this doesn't seem like a show where they're going to go cameo heavy but hey this is around and is around the Jedi so you know maybe a little less likely is a dex jetster who's a basalist.

[00:57:58] Which is another type of forearms humanoid species forearms two legs but they these have like frog like heads and some might know him as a diner owner from the prequel trilogy before that in this high republic era he was a renowned hyperspace prospector working closely with mas canada

[00:58:18] and sort of acting like as a herald of sorts for her spreading her deeds far and wide.

[00:58:24] So I don't know it would be funny he could he could show up in the background without you know causing too much distraction but that's a longer stretch.

[00:58:34] Yeah I'd love to see him show up.

[00:58:37] And also from the Jedi games is a character Dagan Gara that some people are saying could show up he's he's what's called an arcanian offshoot so the arcanians were this sort of very fair colored humanoid species but they would make these offshoots who are genetically engineered and they would treat them as lesser beings

[00:58:59] but the fact that they're genetically engineered might have some interest for certain characters that start to take more prominence at this point in the timeline.

[00:59:11] I would love to see arcanians they do show up throughout the hyper public books and they have infrared vision which is interesting but I think Dagan Gara at this point he was a Jedi.

[00:59:23] He refused to leave the planet of Tana lore when the Jedi were pulled out of the outer rim and fell to the dark side and eventually he was captured and stored in a back to tank so I think he's still in that back to tank at this point.

[00:59:38] And that would make sense.

[00:59:40] Okay.

[00:59:42] So how would you describe it back to tank.

[00:59:44] Um,

[00:59:46] I mean back to is pretty much the cure to

[00:59:51] so many ailments in the Star Wars galaxy so you know if you've had grievous wounds.

[00:59:58] You get dunked in there for a little bit and you're fine so

[01:00:02] it's

[01:00:05] actually fought over quite a bit in some of the older books.

[01:00:09] It's

[01:00:11] it reminds me of a substance in a video game like if you

[01:00:15] attacked quite a bit you just

[01:00:18] wipe some of that over your wounds

[01:00:21] or you know with the back to tank you kind of go in there for a bit of a dunk and then you're good after a little bit so.

[01:00:28] Yeah.

[01:00:30] Yeah I mean yeah so it's people hang out in a back to tank to heal themselves but it's also can be used to keep a character in stasis for even up to centuries.

[01:00:39] So this is something that pops up again and again but yeah it's basically you just see them suspended in like I don't know sort of goo and that keeps them in good shape and keeps them from dying.

[01:00:53] I don't know why I always imagine it like warm bathtub water I guess I'll be a goopy.

[01:00:58] I guess I just imagine it as goopy because they're suspended in it.

[01:01:03] Yeah there you go.

[01:01:05] Are there any other light side users or non-force users that you're hoping for that you think might show up?

[01:01:12] It's probably not going to happen at all but I mean Chewbacca is alive around this point.

[01:01:19] He's probably a really really really little guy, really little wookie by this point but he's well he'd be on Kashyyyk so we might not see him but I've always wanted to see a very very young toddler Chewbacca.

[01:01:34] So who knows.

[01:01:36] Well yeah maybe if we have a we have Chewbacca maybe he wants to go visit home and visit his nephew Chewbacca.

[01:01:43] There you go.

[01:01:45] I'm not saying it's his uncle I'm just guessing anyway.

[01:01:48] There you go yeah.

[01:01:51] Well I don't know if you'd categorize these guys as light side but I do hope we get to see a bit more of the underworld in terms of Star Wars at this point in time.

[01:02:01] Yeah.

[01:02:03] The huts play a pretty big role in the high republic but I haven't really gotten to see as much of them as I'd like so I would like to see one or more of them pop up.

[01:02:14] There was a character featured in the EU books named Bel Dorian and he was actually a Jedi hut.

[01:02:24] I don't know that's I'd say virtually impossible but yeah that was more sensitive and you know he'd be a fun character but that's not going to happen.

[01:02:35] I just like the idea of a poor sensitive hut wielding a paper.

[01:02:39] Yes I need to see this.

[01:02:42] Yeah no that would be cool.

[01:02:44] I do hope huts show up they are an interesting species they're like annoying but amusingly annoying.

[01:02:50] Right.

[01:02:51] All right well there are some other scoundrels and Sith of course that we need to talk about but let's pick that right back up after a quick break.

[01:03:01] Be right back.

[01:03:06] Picking up at the baddies it's not Star Wars without some scoundrels so I already said we hope for the huts.

[01:03:30] It would be also interesting to have there's a bounty hunter who shows up in later comics called Durge and he's a Gendai or Gendai.

[01:03:43] Not sure how I should pronounce that and the Gendai they're peace they had a peaceful homeworld but it was ravaged maybe a couple hundred years before the acolyte is set so but they live for millennia so there are still survivors alive who remember that has a very strong sense of

[01:03:59] happening including this bounty hunter Durge so I don't know could be a random person who could show up at this point.

[01:04:09] Yeah I mentioned him many times as for you know character that I like to see show up in this because he feels like he's got a great creepy horror vibe going on and I think he would be you know very imposing character to go up against Jedi.

[01:04:26] Also wonder with the character like Vanessa to row will there be an idea and this is also I was just watching and talking about eternal sunshine of the spotless mind on the lower hounds and so I wonder could this be a story that plays on memory you know with these long lived characters who remember things happening

[01:04:44] and how does that change things versus someone who's new and fresh and hasn't experienced the same things.

[01:04:50] Right.

[01:04:52] But yeah I assume yeah we're going to get some scoundrels of some sort we need bounty hunters or pirates or Nihil or something.

[01:05:02] True yeah.

[01:05:04] But we're almost certainly going to see the Sif which as far as the Jedi know at this point again they think that the Sif died out in the Old Republic.

[01:05:14] But as we talked about in the Old Republic episode a certain character named Darth Bane he actually finished off the other Sif and established something he calls the rule of two.

[01:05:27] So can you summarize the rule of two again Bob.

[01:05:29] Well the rule of two means that there can only be two Sif at one time one to embody the power one to crave it you've got your master and your apprentice.

[01:05:40] So that way there's as little back fighting as possible although I mean it ultimately comes down to that in the end.

[01:05:48] Yeah so they are they still quietly exist during this time and throughout the High Republic they are still there somewhere in the background operating in the shadows master and at least one apprentice often they'll take on more than one and like pit them against each other to see who's the strongest things like that.

[01:06:11] But it is interesting to note first of all that Leslie Headlin said that she's a fan of the game Knights of the Old Republic to the Sith Lords and she said that Darth Treyah who's the character we talked about in the episode we talked about that we the character Craya for a Sif name because when you become a Sif you get a new name.

[01:06:32] Her Sif name is Darth Treyah so it's interesting she specifically cited her as an inspiration for this show.

[01:06:38] And she also said there would be an alien vs predator inspired episode which I'm curious about.

[01:06:45] Oh yeah that sounds like that's going to be an interesting episode first time I've heard it but I can't wait to see that one.

[01:06:53] So we know there should be at least two Sith alive during this time but we don't necessarily know who they are but we have some guesses based on the lore we know of course like I said there's the Sif name.

[01:07:07] The Sith have their secret Sith names but they would be known publicly by another name so technically any character we meet could be one of the Sith.

[01:07:19] But if we trace back the line of Sith that we know of there is a famous one who would have been a teenager around this time and that's Darth Plagueis.

[01:07:28] Now you were excited to talk about Darth Plagueis Bob.

[01:07:31] Yeah I'm not really sure what species they're going to make him in canon.

[01:07:36] I know that he was a very influential Mune in Legends so hopefully he'll kind of be the same.

[01:07:47] I can't wait to hear what he sounds like if he does show up in this as a much younger character.

[01:07:53] Yeah and of course if he's a teenager at this point we might see his master Tenebrus.

[01:08:01] Well so yeah before we get to Tenebrus just focusing on Plagueis he is indeed in Legends a Moon or Moon with orange eyes so this is like a tall thin humanoid species who's known for running the banking clan.

[01:08:19] But this is a very distinctive looking species so if we see one of those turn up on screen people would be pointing like oh look but we don't know that's in Legends so we don't have solid confirmation in canon.

[01:08:33] Like what if he is human in canon we don't really know.

[01:08:36] Yeah I mean if he introduces himself as Higo Demosk though I'm going to probably cheer because that is his public name of course.

[01:08:45] Yeah yeah they've changed names for other characters so we're not really sure.

[01:08:51] I did wonder if that young Padawan who goes black eyed Torben if he could become it but he's again he's human he's not Moon Moon.

[01:09:01] Yeah but he would be a team at this point in time which is not too young to become a Jedi trainee.

[01:09:09] There you go.

[01:09:11] But yeah as you mentioned he we know so we know about Darth Plagueis we know a bit more about him because Milds Boiler he grows to great power does some key research and we hear stories about him later in the timeline.

[01:09:25] So it would be cool to see him on screen but again he's quite young.

[01:09:29] Timeline wise it's maybe even more prime for us to see his master Darth Tenebrus.

[01:09:36] So how would you describe Darth Tenebrus?

[01:09:39] Well he in the old timeline anyway he's a Bif Sif so he's got a rather large head.

[01:09:49] Yeah so who knows though I mean they might change his species up to I really hope they keep the species the same but I mean it would be a really interesting way to throw us off of you know who's going to be Tenebrus and who's going to be Plagueis.

[01:10:03] I've just got those species just stuck in my head since we were introduced to those way back in 2011-2012 in terms of them appearing in their book the first time.

[01:10:19] Yeah I mean again yeah he's a Bif which are like they're sort of insectoid looking species humanoid but they have like these many folds in their cheek so they're very distinctive looking.

[01:10:31] So that's again one if a Bif shows up on screen everyone's going to be like it's Tenebrus.

[01:10:38] But it could also be a reveal like you know we meet someone else and it's like here's my master.

[01:10:44] There you go.

[01:10:46] And of course as I mentioned that we know what pairing this age ends with but the Sith sometimes take on more than one acolyte and pit them against each other.

[01:10:56] Yeah I wish I could remember where this analogy was made but I feel like at one point in some book or other they mentioned you know throwing a crumb to those that follow you and whoever made it out on top you know is the one that you needed to take special interest in.

[01:11:18] So you know the Sith are always trying to get their underlings to squabble just to see who wants to retain the power enough just to see how ruthless that individual can be.

[01:11:30] And whoever comes out on top and they're like okay well you did good so come on.

[01:11:35] Yeah part of me also wondered what if the acolyte does not refer to a Sith acolyte what if it's a witches acolyte.

[01:11:45] That would be interesting as well.

[01:11:48] Because we see the mother character Anasea talking to what we're talking to Amanda Stenberg and maybe this character that Amanda Stenberg characters the acolyte.

[01:12:05] Yeah.

[01:12:07] Do you have any other dark side users or anyone else that you want to mention that you hope might or think could show up.

[01:12:14] Oh man I'm drawing a blank at the moment. I'm sure I'll think of them later.

[01:12:21] Well I mean yeah we can't do an exhaustive list of course but if any other Easter eggs pop up in the show I'll definitely point them out.

[01:12:28] This brings us to the three big potential spoilers so I'm giving anyone who doesn't it's again this is not based on anything that we know we have in red spoilers.

[01:12:40] This is purely based on the marketing and speculation and things that were shown to us in the trailer.

[01:12:48] So but if anyone wants to get up before they hear that then that's great we'll see you back in this feed next weekend for the breakdown of the first two episodes of the acolyte.

[01:12:57] For those of you who want to stick around it's spoiler time. Spoiler time.

[01:13:03] Not really they're not really spoilers but a lot of people do think that Indara might be the Carrie Ann Moss character might be the Jedi who's killed and that maybe she'll be killed in the first episode.

[01:13:15] So this is again purely based on speculation but kind of makes sense no.

[01:13:20] Yeah I think it makes perfect sense if it does turn out to be here.

[01:13:24] Yeah I mean as otherwise it's going to be a nameless Jedi that they are not showing to us in the marketing.

[01:13:30] Yeah I would think they'd want you to care about her just a bit so you're actually going to feel something when she's taken out her.

[01:13:39] I mean that's what I would think anyway.

[01:13:41] Yeah and I wonder if even if she's killed in the first episode she might appear on flashbacks.

[01:13:47] Mm-hmm.

[01:13:49] And so the second potential spoiler is something that you are already picking up on when we were talking about the totally normal guy,

[01:13:59] key mayor who said the Jedi justify their galactic dominance in the name of peace but that peace is a lie.

[01:14:07] Yep that is definitely part of that good old Sith code.

[01:14:12] Yes.

[01:14:13] Yeah and so the Sith lives by a code like the Jedi but the Sith is kind of like the opposite of the Jedi code where the Sith code is like all about how the strong must destroy the weak to purify blah blah blah.

[01:14:27] And so the Sith code goes peace is a lie there is only passion through passion I gain strength through strength I gain power through power I gain victory through victory my chains are broken the force shall free me peace is a lie.

[01:14:43] So yeah do you think they're trying to throw us off the sense with him saying that or is that just like a wink wink for those who know.

[01:14:54] They very well might be trying to throw us off the center he could be influenced by one of those artifacts that he has.

[01:15:03] I know that those dark side artifacts both in legends and canon they actually can have an influence on those who might not practice the force.

[01:15:15] So he might he might need to get rid of one or two of those.

[01:15:20] Yeah that's true maybe he's not he's not a Sith but he is like reading their readings and is like this makes sense.

[01:15:31] And so okay this brings us to the last and biggest spoiler not spoiler but kind of confirmed.

[01:15:39] So a lot of people have noticed that Amanda Sternberg is pictured twice on the poster.

[01:15:46] She's seen with two different hairstyles in the trailers and there's double rings in the O of Acolyte.

[01:15:55] So what do you think that might mean?

[01:15:57] Double rings.

[01:16:00] She's pictured twice in the poster seen with two different hairstyles in the trailers.

[01:16:06] There's double rings.

[01:16:07] Yeah.

[01:16:09] There's a lot of thinking that she is potentially playing twins or clones or two different characters who look the same.

[01:16:19] That would be fascinating.

[01:16:21] And if she is playing another character she may have the actress herself may have accidentally spilled that character's name as Oshah.

[01:16:33] I did not know that wow.

[01:16:35] So this is something that's probably going to be revealed in the first episode but it is now it's all over the interviews.

[01:16:45] It's yeah.

[01:16:47] Yeah people talking about this this theory that seems like more than a theory that Amanda Sternberg the actress is doing double duty.

[01:16:58] Wow.

[01:17:00] That can prove to be an interesting eight episodes if that's the case.

[01:17:03] Yeah.

[01:17:04] Yeah and then I can see why people would say yeah she's doing the heavy lifting the series and apparently knocking it out of the park so.

[01:17:12] Bob what are your hopes for the show?

[01:17:15] I hope to get a better understanding of the darker side of the force in terms of canon.

[01:17:25] I mean we haven't seen very much in terms of how our shadowy figures are operating.

[01:17:34] We usually see things from the perspective of folks on the light side and what really interested me when the acolyte was announced that we were going to be seeing it.

[01:17:45] You know the galaxy from you know hopefully a much darker perspective so I hope to see quite a bit of that in these eight episodes.

[01:17:55] I love lightsaber duels to death especially now that they are described with audio description so I mean give me more than one of those please.

[01:18:07] That's really going to keep me on the edge of my seat and I really love the who done it aspect.

[01:18:15] The who done it vibe that they're going for with this because I think it adds to the mystery of these episodes and I think that an episode that leaves you wanting more coming back the following week.

[01:18:29] I'm really up for a lot of that as well so and they've already wedded my appetite for so much of this and more and I can't wait to get into this when it starts.

[01:18:40] Yeah I'm definitely I'm very excited for all the characters I'm excited for this new age but I'm most excited for the way that Leslie Hedlund is describing the writing with the layers and the different perspectives and this is exactly my favorite kind of writing and to see.

[01:18:55] I mean we got that with and or show we're going to watch later in the timeline.

[01:19:02] We got that level of writing and if we can get that here with also this looks a bit more like you know the the more kitschy Star Wars in a way not that it's going to be kitschy but the fact that it includes more more lightsabers more aliens more Star Wars Ness right.

[01:19:23] So I cannot describe how excited I am for this.

[01:19:30] Yeah same here.

[01:19:32] Yeah so yeah the next episode is going to be John and I are going to be do weekly scene by scene breakdowns we're figuring out a recording schedule but I think we're going to be able to get it out early in the weekend after the episode air so the episode is going to release.

[01:19:48] I think on Tuesday nights in the US in time zone and then on Wednesday for the rest of us.

[01:19:56] But yeah we're going to turn these around as quickly as possible and we're going to then also be Bob and I revisiting this part of the timeline in the coming year with coverage of the hybrid public books which we're going to cover phase by phase so you might have already listened to those before this one.

[01:20:14] But in the meantime I Bob I hope you'll come back with me to do some mailbag episodes for each era we've gotten some good mail in so far.

[01:20:24] I cannot wait to participate in those those are I'm sure going to be a lot of fun.

[01:20:29] And if anyone else wants to submit for the mailbag episodes whether they're up or not because we always do more please send your thoughts and feedback and hopes and dreams for Star Wars to SW timeline podcast at gmail.com now.

[01:20:44] After the acolytes release after that's done we're going to switch to bi weekly episodes and first we're going to backtrack a little bit to a foray into visions with Martin show he with five episodes of sick legends of the old republic from the animated series visions and those episode numbers are in the show notes for anyone who already wants to prepare.

[01:21:05] But Bob and I will then be wrapping up the lore for the tail end of the hybrid public so that we can move into the fourth era, the time of the prequel movies.

[01:21:14] And there'll be more info on what and how we're going to cover all that fourth era content in the weeks to come.

[01:21:21] But yeah thank you to Jedi Jedi Bob for partnering with me for this pre acolyte lore blitz.

[01:21:27] Please do check out his YouTube channel which you'll find linked in the show notes. What are you up to there this week?

[01:21:33] Actually doing a couple of action figure reviews I'm doing more gameplay videos on Saturday.

[01:21:42] I plan on releasing part two of the dark Phoenix episode reviews for the X-Men animated series so quite a lot of stuff.

[01:21:51] Yeah you've been quite busy.

[01:21:53] And yeah you can find us both on Twitter you'll find those links in the show notes as well.

[01:21:58] This episode is produced by me published by the Lorehounds and you can really help us out especially this is a new feed by sharing this episode in this podcast with anyone you think might be interested.

[01:22:08] Five star reviews especially if there's some nice words attached are really helpful and just encouraging us to do this thing but also in helping other people find and figure out that they might like this podcast.

[01:22:22] So please do check out the affiliates on the network you'll find the Lorehounds link in the show notes with links to all the other podcasts where you can subscribe on your platform of choice.

[01:22:32] We've got my own podcast will shift dust which is currently about to release the beacon 23 season two finale and then I think it sounds like we're going to get to do some interviews with the show runners of beacon 23 so fingers crossed that works out.

[01:22:50] Also in the network we've got radioactive ramblings doing fallout lore and they're going to be doing weekly coverage of the boys when that comes back in a couple weeks.

[01:23:00] And rings and rituals you get the double toky and scholar goodness for the deepest dives into the world of Lord of the Rings and the rings of power and properly Howard is finishing its felonies and for gazey season with Rocky.

[01:23:14] Also on the main Lorehounds feed you'll find John and I John who will be doing the weekly acolytes recaps we're also doing weekly doctor who recaps we've got a new sonic screwcast feed where you can find that but it's also in the main Lorehounds feed.

[01:23:30] And there's going to be a kingdom in the plan of the apes episode of an upcoming Furiosa episode with David Aaron from radioactive ramblings and I and the guys are doing House of the dragon recaps and weekly coverage of that show with the show guide you can do a season pass get it all.

[01:23:51] Yeah, you'll find all those links in the shout outs what are you most excited about other than the acolytes coming this summer.

[01:23:57] I can't wait to see the boys that's probably going to be really good. There's so much that they're just throwing at us this summer so yeah.

[01:24:09] Yeah, we're calling it hot Lore summer.

[01:24:12] Yeah.

[01:24:14] Well for those of you listening live enjoy getting into your hot Lore summer and we'll see you back here to discuss the first two episodes of the acolyte after the fifth where your Jedi detective caps and I hope you pack to your light whip.

[01:24:27] Bye.