Star Wars is bringing back The Acolyte’s divisive lore change

Two years after it ended, one of the most divisive pieces of lore from The Acolyte is making a comeback for an upcoming Star Wars show. From the start, The Acolyte was a wildly divisive Star Wars show. One camp of viewers enjoyed the series that brought the High Republic era into live-action, including its central mystery and interesting new lore. Another camp hated it for both valid reasons, like its inconsistent pacing and somewhat underwhelming plot, and for invalid reasons, like the diverse cast of The Acolyte and perceived "wokeness."

Among the chief complaints of the group of viewers who disliked The Acolyte was its many changes and additions to Star Wars lore. The Acolyte was very ambitious in its lore-building; it introduced new characters who were conceived via the Force aside from Anakin Skywalker, it tweaked the lifespan of Ki-Adi-Mundi, and it played around with the Sith Rule of Two and their whereabouts before The Phantom Menace. All of these additions and changes created a firestorm of division online.

Since The Acolyte was canceled shortly after its first season ended, Star Wars has mostly moved away from its divisive lore. The High Republic publishing initiative is over now, and none of the Star Wars movies and shows that have come out since 2024 have had a chance to either contradict or reinforce The Acolyte's lore reveals. Now, however, the upcoming Star Wars showStar Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi is revisiting one of The Acolyte's most divisive bits of lore.

The Acolyte’s Lightsaber Bleeding Scene Was Incredibly Divisive

There were countless points of division and controversy surrounding The Acolyte, but one of the most divisive scenes in the entire show came in its finale. In the last episode, Osha Aniseya kills Jedi Master Sol using the Force and bleeds the kyber crystal within his lightsaber, turning it from red to blue. Lightsaber bleeding has been around for years in Star Wars, but The Acolyte marked the first time it was depicted in live-action, and many viewers took exception to it.

Previously, Star Wars canon had asserted that bleeding a kyber crystal was something that a person had to do intentionally, and that it was quite difficult to achieve. In the Darth Vader (2017) and Rise of Kylo Ren comics, the respective dark side Force users go on arduous quests to bleed their kyber crystals, and they put a lot of effort into doing it. In The Acolyte, however, Osha does so, ostensibly by accident with no real effort, as she kills Sol.

The first part of the divisiveness came from that perceived retcon, though it wasn't actually a retcon. The 2023 video game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor showed Dagan Gera bleed a kyber crystal without killing anyone, and he did so quite easily. Jedi: Survivor was the retcon that changed the earlier comics' depiction of bleeding, and The Acolyte technically fit with the game's new version of lightsaber bleeding.

The other part of the controversy surrounded Anakin Skywalker. Some fans argued that if lightsaber bleeding is possible to do on accident, that Anakin's lightsaber should have turned red when he slaughtered the younglings during Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith. That, however, was also different, as Anakin never made physical contact with his crystal during Order 66 while Osha did while killing Sol, as the hilt of his lightsaber was damaged and the crystal was left exposed.

All this is to say that The Acolyte's depiction of bleeding a kyber crystal became one of the show's most divisive moments. Despite evidence that it wasn't a retcon and didn't contradict Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side, countless fans viewed this scene as a massive and unwanted change to Star Wars canon. Every Star Wars story has avoided the topic of lightsaber bleeding since then, either intentionally or unintentionally, but The Ninth Jedi seems ready to double down on The Acolyte's decision.

The Ninth Jedi Teased A Similar Lightsaber Bleeding Scene For Lah Kara

While it is part of the non-canon Star Wars Legends continuity, the upcoming show The Ninth Jedi seems to be following The Acolyte's lead on lightsaber bleeding. The trailer for The Ninth Jedi included a scene where the show's protagonist, Lah Kara, is surprised to find her lightsaber has shifted from green to red, indicating her fall to the dark side of the Force. That brief moment in the trailer is very reminiscent of The Acolyte.

There is a major caveat to comparing The Ninth Jedi to The Acolyte. The Ninth Jedi's lightsabers are significantly different: the earlier Star Wars: Visions episodes explicitly say that the kyber crystal in Lah Kara's lightsaber doesn't have a set color and instead reflects the morality and alignment in the Force of whoever wields it. The trailer itself includes narration saying that the lightsabers "reflect the user's heart" and scenes showing the new villain Nawaam switching Kara's blade from green to blue.

The Ninth Jedi, therefore, isn't doing traditional lightsaber bleeding, nor is it canon. It is, however, extremely similar to The Acolyte's kyber bleeding scene. Both Osha and Lah Kara "bleed" their lightsabers to red by accident, and both presumably don't even realize they've fallen to the dark side until they're in the process of doing so. Both shows also depict a lightsaber changing color without any of the extreme effort or intentionality of comics like Darth Vader and The Rise of Kylo Ren.

So, The Ninth Jedi will have important and distinct differences from The Acolyte's depiction of lightsaber bleeding, but it maintains the core intention of the earlier scene. While it's not canon, it is the first time Star Wars has done lightsaber bleeding in two years, and it's closer to The Acolyte than to earlier depictions of the act. The Acolyte itself may be gone, but one of its coolest yet most divisive choices will live on in spirit in The Ninth Jedi.