‘The Acolyte’ — Who Is the Green-Skinned Jedi in the Trailer?

The Big Picture

• The Acolyte
  trailer features Vernestra Rwoh, a prodigy Jedi Knight during the High Republic era who was introduced in the canon novels.
• Vernestra has unique Force abilities that make her stand out among the Jedi and enable her to become the youngest Jedi Knight in centuries.
• The Acolyte
  will show Vernestra long after her appearance in the books, giving her much time to change.

There is a lot to unpack in the first trailer for The Acolyte. The new Star Wars series is bringing a whole new era of galactic history to screens for the first time, so everything is new – from a certain point of view. Some of what the trailer shows is actually already established in the canon, like a green-skinned Jedi who opens a door in the Jedi Temple using the Force. It’s a brief moment, but this split second is enough to get a lot of fans excited because that’s an old friend from the High Republic stories. That Mirialan Jedi is one of the most accomplished members the Order has ever had: Vernestra Rwoh, played by Rebecca Henderson. Yes, it’s a complicated name, but don’t call her “Vern,” please. She doesn’t like it.

Vernestra Rwoh Was a Prodigy In the Jedi Order During the Nihil Crisis

The Acolyte is set in the final years of the High Republic era, a period in galactic history that saw the Jedi at the peak of their power and the Republic expanding to reach the size it has by the time Star Wars: Episode III – The Phantom Menace takes place. Back then, the Jedi themselves were quite different, and it was then that they earned their legendary status of defenders of peace and justice in the galaxy. They wore brighter colors, had outposts even on the remotest of planets, and had a bright future ahead, with younger generations taking a central role in helping the Republic. Vernestra Rwoh was one such case, a young prodigy who never failed to inspire both older and younger generations of Jedi.

Vernestra was a Padawan of Jedi Master Stellan Gios, another of the Order’s best and brightest. He was part of an almost inseparable trio of friends with Master Avar Kriss and Knight Elzar Mann. Like every good Star Wars trio, they used to get into a lot of trouble but landed on their feet. Stellan grew up to become a member of the Jedi Council, mostly due to his assertive personality and attitude toward rules-following when facing challenges. He passed that on to Vernestra, who was already a stern person in her teens despite the natural insecurities of her age. Still, her prowess with the Force and focus on battle proved she was more mature than most, and Stellan pushed her to take the trials and become a Jedi Knight at just 15 years old. She became the youngest Knight in centuries, and that changed nothing in her demeanor – in fact, it made her more formal, as that’s when she started asking people not to call her “Vern,” for example.

After a while as a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, Vernestra took on her first Padawan, the young Imri Cantaros. Teaching is never easy, and doing so almost immediately after ceasing to be a student herself made her a little insecure, especially because Cantaros was a very emotional young man. Back in the High Republic, the Jedi often had special Force abilities, and Cantaros could touch other people’s emotions, which made Vernestra weary of any potential Dark Side temptations for him. Eventually, though, they got in sync in typical Master-Padawan fashion, and Cantaros even became as creative as her. For example, Vernestra modified her purple-bladed lightsaber after a vision, adjusting it so it could become a lightwhip. But she kept it secret because, even being a Jedi Knight, she was still afraid her old master, Stellan Gios, would disapprove.

Vernestra Had Special Abilities That Made Her Unique Among the Jedi

Even though the High Republic is often regarded as an era of progress and enlightenment, it also had its troubles. For a long time, a large group of pirate marauders called the Nihil plagued the galaxy, wreaking havoc and sowing chaos everywhere they touched. Vernestra Rwoh was part of the fight against the Nihil and had to endure many, many ordeals. For example, Imri Cantaros’ whole apprenticeship with her takes place during this crisis, and it doesn’t have a happy ending, unfortunately.

The most crucial of Vernestra’s missions during the Nihil crisis happened at the Gravity’s Heart space station, built by the Nihil to research and weaponize gravity wells. Like most Jedi of her time, she also had a special Force ability: she could connect to hyperspace and visualize it in ways other people couldn’t. At Gravity’s Heart, she gets in contact with one of the Nihil’s most important tools, former hyperspace prospector Mari San Tekka (a distant relative of Max von Sydow‘s Lor San Tekka from Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens), who has a very similar ability. San Tekka was Force-sensitive herself and had been a hostage of the Nihil for most of her life, her broken mind thinking she was still a prospector. She helped them conquer worlds by developing the Paths, a unique way of traveling through hyperspace. San Tekka gave her last ever Path to Vernestra before dying, leading to an ancient place where no living being has been for centuries. Like her lightsaber modifications, Vernestra didn’t tell the Council about the Path, waiting to decide how she feels about it.

Sometime later, after the destruction of Gravity’s Heart, another mission led Vernestra to the ocean planet Eiram, where desalinization efforts required the Jedi’s aid. The planet was being visited by Starlight Beacon, a space station that was a symbol of hope and trust in the Republic for all the peoples of the Outer Rim. It was also the target of the Nihil’s bloodiest attack, making the station fall from orbit and into Eiram’s oceans, killing everyone onboard. Vernestra’s old master, Stellan Gios, was among the victims, as was her Padawan, Imri Cantaros. After that, she became disillusioned with the war against the Nihil and decided to back away from the Jedi to process her grief, choosing to become a Jedi Wayseeker. Instead of the Council, Wayseekers follow only the will of the Force and come up with new ways of serving the galaxy. During this time, Vernestra ventured into Wild Space following the calling of the Force.

What Is Vernestra’s Role in ‘The Acolyte?’

By the time The Acolyte takes place, the Nihil have already been defeated, and the Jedi are the dominant force in the galaxy (no pun intended). It’s the end of the High Republic era, around a century before The Phantom Menace, and the Dark Side is biding its time to rise again after millennia. But those are also not the same Jedi who figure in most of the High Republic novels and comics – Vernestra Rwoh is actually the only one who will be making the jump to live-action, according to series creatorLeslye Headland.

So far, there have been only a few images of Vernestra in The Acolyte, and they show her bald, without her trademark purple hair, and looking even sterner than when she was young. Years of fighting the Nihil and facing grief may have made her more serious but no less wise. Since her younger years, she has been creative and inventive, even if a little uptight, and usually, becoming a Wayseeker opens a Jedi’s mind to more possibilities and ways of serving the Force than just those taught at the Temple. Hopefully, we get to see her whip-like lightsaber in action.

The first two episodes of The Acolyte premiere on Disney+ on June 4. You can catch up on everything Star Wars on Disney+.

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