The Stranger

The male individual, a human existing during the High Republic Era, claimed to have no name and used the alias "Qimir" in his public interactions. At one point, this individual became a Jedi, receiving instruction from Vernestra Rwoh. Disillusioned with the Jedi Order's ideology of the Force, he eventually departed, stating he had lost everything and been discarded by someone he trusted, who also inflicted a lasting scar upon him. Ultimately, "the Stranger" succumbed to the dark side of the Force, becoming a Sith warrior and Sith Lord after being trained by his Master, Darth Plagueis.

Under the guise of "Qimir," the individual was supposedly a former smuggler who claimed to have transported weaponry for the Hutt Clan. However, he later transitioned to a career as a trader and supplier of unique items. In this new role, he enjoyed a comfortable existence, having navigated some of the galaxy's more dangerous starports.

Sometime after 148 BBY, the Stranger encountered Mae-ho Aniseya, a witch from the Brendok coven, and began to instruct her as his acolyte. He took great care to conceal his true identity from her, referring to himself simply as "the Master" and only interacting with her as Qimir, supposedly a fellow follower of the Master. As her instructor, he inspired great fear in his apprentice.

By 132 BBY, the Master tasked Mae with a mission to kill the four Jedi stationed on her home planet of Brendok, whom Mae believed were responsible for the apparent death of her sister, Verosha Aniseya, during an intervention at the coven's fortress. Qimir specifically instructed that one Jedi, the Wookiee Jedi Master Kelnacca, should be killed without any weapon, a challenge he called "the final lesson" and Mae considered impossible.

After Mae killed the Jedi Master Indara on Ueda, she met with the Master, who showed her his red-bladed lightsaber and explained that an acolyte does not kill with a laser or with steel, but by destroying the Jedi's dream.

Following this lesson, Qimir followed Mae to a city on the planet Olega, waiting in a store owned by an apothecary to aid her in her plan against Master Torbin, who was stationed in the nearby Jedi temple. After an initial failed attempt to kill Torbin, Mae entered the store and abruptly woke Qimir—who had tried to stay awake the entire previous night for the acolyte but fell asleep after consuming the store's merchandise—by throwing a mug next to him. Mae explained to Qimir that she had failed to kill Torbin, calling the Jedi "impenetrable." Qimir suggested finding the Master's weakness, claiming everyone had a weakness when Mae protested and instead handed Qimir a bag of bunta, asking him to make a poison. Qimir claimed Master Torbin needed absolution that only Mae could provide, referring to his toxic concoction. The acolyte then left the building, telling Qimir that it would not bode well for either of them were he to inform her master of their plan.

After Mae's successful second attempt at murdering Torbin, a Jedi Padawan from the nearby temple saw Qimir entering the store, noting that he was not the apothecary who ran it. The Jedi sent Verosha Aniseya, Mae's twin sister, to impersonate her sister and get a confession from Qimir. The man quickly became suspicious during their conversation but asked if the poison had worked, stating that Mae's master would be pleased if she managed to kill Torbin without the poison. The Jedi, who were eavesdropping on the conversation, considered Qimir's question a confession, and just as he revealed that he knew Osha was an imposter, Osha pulled a stun blaster on him, with the Jedi Yord Fandar, Sol, and Jecki Lon entering immediately after to interrogate him.

Sol offered to consider letting Qimir off with only a warning if he cooperated. When asked about his relationship to Mae, the man claimed he was simply her supplier, having started out gunrunning for the Hutts before simply supplying people with "what they need" for the right price. Sol asked about the individual Qimir had mentioned and whether Mae had a master. Qimir denied knowing what was going on aside from the fact that Mae wanted revenge on four Jedi but let the Jedi know that Mae would be returning later that night, as he was holding some items for her.

That night, the Jedi laid a trap for Mae, but the acolyte escaped capture. The following morning, she confronted Qimir and threatened to kill him for betraying her to the Jedi. The man offered to make it up to her by getting her out of the city and to the Outer Rim retreat Khofar, where the Wookiee Kelnacca, one of the four Jedi Mae was seeking out, lived. The pair traveled to Khofar on the Exile II, landed in mountains outside the forest where the Wookiee Jedi dwelled, and began their trek with three hours of sunlight remaining.

As the two journeyed through the mountains, Qimir inquired as to how Mae planned to kill Kelnacca without a weapon, as she had failed to do so with Torbin and Master Indara previously. In return, Mae asked Qimir about his relationship to her master. Qimir denied having made any deals with the Master, simply stating that he owed him. Mae then asked how Qimir felt about her sister after their interaction on Olega, which he answered by saying that she seemed in over her head but displayed a fondness for Master Sol.

While in the forest shortly before sunset, and roughly ten minutes' travel north of Kelnacca's shelter, Mae opted to stop and rest in preparation for her fight with the Wookiee and began to express doubts that her mission was even possible, much to Qimir's disapproval. Regardless, the man decided to go fetch water as Mae regained her energy. While he was away, Mae decided she no longer needed to kill the Jedi, as her sister was alive, and instead decided to turn herself in. She set a trap for Qimir and screamed for help to get him to return. The Sith ran into her trap and was hoisted upside down from a tree branch, with Mae then leaving him behind to confess her murders to Kelnacca.

After Mae left him, Qimir freed himself, donned his armor, and went to kill Kelnacca himself with his lightsaber, leaving the Wookiee's body in his domicile. Then, just as a team of several Jedi, among them Jedi Master Sol, arrived at the scene hunting Mae, the Master emerged from the forest and drew his lightsaber against them. The Jedi attempted to run to him, but the Master pushed them away using the Force. Despite being outnumbered, the Master would engage the Jedi in single combat. Through a combination of unpredictable blade work and his cortosis armor, the Master managed to kill most of the Jedi search group, including Ithia Paan and another human Jedi, wounding Yord Fandar in the process.

After shrugging off a shot from Osha's stun blaster, the Master would attempt to kill Osha before being intercepted by Sol. The two warriors then engaged each other in a fierce lightsaber duel before the Master disengaged to find Mae. After finding Mae subdued by Jecki Lon, the Master mocked his apprentice by suggesting she could learn from the Padawan's loyalty. Mae then ran off while the Master was distracted by Jecki who attacked him again. Determined to make sure that Mae would not escape to expose him to the Jedi, the Master attempted to silence Mae before again being confronted by Sol and Jecki.

During the fight Jecki managed to break the Master's cortosis helmet by smashing the hilt of her lightsaber on it. As the helmet dropped on the ground, distracting Jecki, the Master pulled out a hidden lightdagger from the bottom of his hilt, and stabbed Jecki three times in the chest, killing her. With the Stranger's identity as both Qimir and the Master now revealed, the Stanger used the Force to pull Mae to himself, holding his lightsaber against her head. Sol, still wishing to save Mae, threw down his own lightsaber, demanding to know the Stranger's affiliation. The Stranger revealed that the he was what the Jedi might call a Sith. When asked what he wanted, the Stranger claimed he desired the freedom to wield his power openly without answering to the Jedi Order who claimed that the Sith Order should not exist, and that he wanted an apprentice of his own, which he no longer considered Mae to be after her betrayal.

In a surprise attack, Yord returned to the fight, breaking the Stranger's cortosis gauntlet, which left a scar on his arm, and using a piece of the broken cortosis helmet to disable the Stranger's lightsaber. Despite being without a weapon, the Sith grabbed Yord and broke his neck with his bare hands. Enraged, Sol attacked the Stranger, beating him into submission and moving to decapitate the unarmed Sith with his lightsaber, only to be stopped by Osha. The Stranger gleefully asked Osha if she still trusted Sol after his display of aggression. Sol argued that the Stranger's mind was twisted by the dark side, to which the Stranger responded that he had accepted his darkness, but taunted Sol by asking him what had he had done with his own. At this point, Osha discreetly pointed to a group of umbramoths she and Yord had lured to the clearing, prompting Sol to deactivate his lightsaber, claiming that Jedi do not attack unarmed opponents. The Stranger scoffed at Sol's use of the Jedi Code before retrieving his own lightsaber and turning it on, unaware that the light attracted the creatures. To further entice them, Osha attached her PIP droid to the Sith's back after turning his torch function on, causing the umbramoths to attack the Stranger, picking him up and dragging him up into the trees. The Stranger eventually freed himself from the creature's grasp, and stumbled upon an unconscious Osha, who had been knocked out by Mae. Draping his cloak over her, he attended to her wounds.

After healing Osha's wound with the Force, the Stranger brought her on board his starship and took her to his shelter in an island where he let her rest. He then packed his things and ventured out of the shelter to a nearby shallow cove to take a bath. As he left, Osha, who had awakened by that point, followed him to the cove intending to ambush him with one of Mae's daggers she had retrieved from the shelter. After the Stranger undressed, leaving his lightsaber behind to enter the water, Osha revealed herself and grabbed it ordering him to stay where he was. The Stranger, however, defied her and exited the water, politely asking to be allowed to put on some clothes as Osha held him at saber point. Osha questioned why he had not killed her, deducing that she was his prisoner, but the Stranger reminded her that she was the one with a weapon. After taunting her for her feelings for her former master Sol, the Stranger walked away, with Osha following him.

As the two walked back to the shelter, Osha suggested that the Stranger was keeping her as leverage to lure Sol back to him. She then asked the Sith why he spoke as if he was a Jedi, to which he answered that he indeed was, a long time ago. He then pointed to a nearby island where the starship was kept and suggested that Osha should either start swimming towards it then or wait for the tide to go out, inviting her for dinner in the meantime. Osha accepted the invitation and joined the Stranger in the shelter, however keeping her distance from him.

As the Stranger was cooking dinner, Osha asked him what he meant about her being strong in the Force, as it had been years from the last time she trained and according to the Jedi that would cause her skills to fade. The Stranger mused about the Jedi's narrow-minded views and explained that there was another way to access the Force, tapping into one's raw emotions including anger, fear, and desire. Osha pointed out that this was the path to the dark side, to which the Stranger agreed, pointing out that it was "semantics." Furious, Osha reminded him that he murdered her friends, but the Stranger clarified he merely killed Jedi who threatened his existence. He then reminded Osha that Yord had arrested her for a crime she did not commit and that both Jecki and Sol whom she had feelings for would never commit to her, asking her why she chose to be close with people who would only go so far.

Conflicted, Osha stormed out of the shelter, but the Stranger followed her and reminded her that she had stayed in the island to take revenge on him. He then grabbed her hand and placed the lightsaber she was holding against himself, inviting her to turn it on. Osha refused, stating that the Jedi would not attack the unarmed, but the Stranger reminded her that she was no Jedi. Osha said that it was her choice to leave the Order, but the Stranger pushed her, asking whether the Order left her behind, causing Osha to ignite the lightsaber and push him against the wall, shouting that she left the Order because she failed. The Stranger reassured her by placing his hand on hers and revealing that he had also lost everything once, but when one loses everything it is when they are finally free. Understanding, Osha turned off the lightsaber and followed the Stranger back into the shelter.

As Osha was eating the dinner the Stranger prepared, the Sith made repairs to his cortosis helmet, which had been damaged by Jecki Lon during the battle at Khofar. Osha asked if the discussion they had was the same pitch he gave to Mae, but the Stranger admitted he had made a mistake with Osha's sister, believing she wanted more than just revenge, specifying that he wanted something more, "the power of two". He then pulled up his shirt to wipe his face, revealing the scar on his back. Osha asked where it had came from, the Stranger suggested that it was from someone who stabbed him in the back and thrown him away. When Osha asked if that was his Jedi master, the Stranger stayed silent.

Instead of an answer, the Stranger rapped on his helmet, explaining it was made of cortosis, which besides providing protection from lightsabers also worked as a sensory deprivation headpiece, allowing the wearer to commune alone with the Force. He then picked up his equipment and prepared to leave, inviting Osha to try the helmet on. After a long period of contemplation, Osha ultimately accepted and put the helmet on. Upon arriving, the Stranger let out a soft chuckle and smiled. As Osha meditated, however, she began to struggle. The Stranger, panicking, attempted to help her, outstretching his hand to access her mind, in doing so getting caught by the effects of Osha's struggle. Though he fell into a dark trance similar to those used by the witches of Brendok, the Stranger managed to get the helmet off of Osha. She revealed that she had a vision of what she assumed was her sister, killing Sol without the use of a weapon, which the Stranger noted with fervor.

As they walked to the Exile II to confront Mae, Osha asserted that they would go together, as only she knew where her sister was, so the Stranger resolved to see who got to Mae first. Though the Stranger was surprised Osha expected him to act fairly, Osha invoked his expectation for Mae to have held up their deal. The Stranger asked if Osha would ever consider being trained by him, which Osha denied twice, saying that she wasn't her sister. The Stranger agreed, as Mae had made such a deal without even thinking about it. As they departed, the two were unknowingly watched by a figure lurking in the shadows of the Stranger's cave abode—the latter’s master, the Muun Sith Lord Darth Plagueis.

As the Stranger and Osha arrived at Brendok and descended into the atmosphere, the Stranger noted that Osha was all the way back home; Osha shut down the opening to the conversation by disabling his cockpit controls. Osha observed that Mae and Sol were already on the planet, and Sol watched the two land from the surface as the Jedi looked for Mae. As the Stranger and Osha approached the witches' derelict fortress, Osha explained that with the door inoperable, the only way in was to climb, though the Stranger skillfully floated away, leaving Osha to find a way in on her own.

The Stranger, with his helmet secured, infiltrated the shadowy depths of the fortress's catacombs and located Sol. He expressed his gratitude to Sol for guiding him back to Mae, playfully criticizing their teamwork as he ignited his lightsaber to engage the Jedi. A fierce duel ensued, leading them outside to a bridge where stray lightsaber strikes scarred the metal barriers. Descending from the bridge, Sol declared his resolve to eliminate the Stranger if necessary. The Stranger, bisecting his lightsaber into two, retorted that Sol wouldn't succeed if "she" intervened first. Despite the Stranger's continued assault, Sol consistently outmatched him, employing his lightsaber combat expertise to outmaneuver the Sith, incapacitating him with kicks and telekinetically disarming him of his dual lightsabers. As the Stranger reassembled his weapon and resumed their fight, he noticed a Jedi vessel approaching from the sky. Sol asserted that the Stranger would now face retribution for his actions, but the Sith remained confident that the Jedi weren't targeting him. Their duel resumed with renewed intensity, their lightsabers locked in a furious clash, culminating in Sol severing the hilt of the Stranger's lightsaber with a final strike, thus ending the battle. The Stranger, visibly exhausted, conceded defeat, discarding his broken lightsaber and removing his helmet to confront Sol's blue blade.

Suddenly, Mae launched a surprise attack on Sol, disarming him and seizing his lightsaber. The Stranger urged her on, imploring her to embrace her anger, the source of her pain, and to strike down Sol to fulfill her destiny. However, Mae resisted, determined to ensure Sol faced justice and confessed his transgressions before the Jedi Council, the Senate, and the Republic. Sol attempted to justify his actions, elaborating on Mae and her sister's origins. As Sol detailed his belief that Mother Aniseya possessed immense power and used the Force to create the twins, the Stranger appeared increasingly uneasy. The Stranger observed as Sol admitted to murdering Aniseya, a revelation witnessed by the newly arrived Osha. Consumed by rage, Osha used a Force choke to bring Sol to his knees; Sol, tearfully accepting his fate, told Mae it was okay before dying at the feet of his former apprentice. Overwhelmed by grief, Osha collapsed to the ground sobbing, prompting the Stranger to offer comfort with a touch. Osha reacted violently, igniting Sol's lightsaber, but before she could strike, the blade's color shifted from blue to red, the crystal bleeding due to Osha's intense emotions.

Abruptly, the Stranger perceived something – the presence of his former Jedi Master, Vernestra Rwoh, who had just landed on Brendok with her team of Jedi Knights. Recognizing each other through the Force, the Stranger, startled, donned his helmet again and disappeared, leaving the Aniseya twins to fend for themselves.

As Master Rwoh and the other Jedi entered the courtyard and discovered Sol's body, the Stranger observed from the shadows. Rwoh dispatched the other Jedi to locate Sol's killer and knelt beside the fallen Jedi's body. Lost in thought, Rwoh glanced up to where the Stranger had been watching moments before, only to find the area deserted.

The Stranger met Osha and Mae at the bunta tree, a place where the twins spent time as youngsters. He greeted them by using the Force to summon Sol's lightsaber from Osha. Despite Osha's intention to confess Sol's actions to the Jedi, the Stranger expressed his disbelief that Osha still trusted the Jedi after everything that had happened. He, along with Mae, believed that Osha would suffer the same fate as her mother if the Jedi learned the truth about her power. Aware that the Stranger likely wanted Mae dead for her failure, Osha proposed a bargain: she would train with the Stranger as an acolyte if Mae were allowed to go free. The Stranger offered to attempt a memory wipe so that Mae could be released without providing the Jedi with information that could incriminate her sister or himself. Osha and the Stranger confirmed the agreement with a handshake as he handed Sol's lightsaber to her. As the twins embraced tearfully, Osha vowed to find Mae, and as they recited their childhood rhyme, the Stranger began to erase Mae's memories of himself and her sister.

Having established a new alliance, the Stranger and Osha returned to their secluded island base. As they surveyed the turbulent ocean, the Stranger held Osha's hand as she gripped Sol's lightsaber, now corrupted and claimed as her own.

On Coruscant, Rwoh presented a version of recent events to a Galactic Senate tribunal that omitted any mention of her former student, instead blaming Sol for the murders committed by the Stranger and his acolyte. Later, Rwoh met with an amnesic Mae, the Jedi Master determined to rectify the situation, and enlisted Mae's help in locating her pupil who had embraced evil.

The Stranger, a human male, possessed fair skin, brown eyes, and lank, greasy black hair that framed his face. His height was 1.82 meters.

As a Sith who only went by the title of "the Master," this man maintained his anonymity using a mask that obscured his face and altered his voice, ensuring Mae was unaware of his true identity despite her professional relationship with his public persona, Qimir. The Jedi were perplexed by his secrecy because they couldn't fathom an apprentice not knowing their own Master. As Qimir, he claimed that the Master was known to "collect" individuals, including himself; in his public guise, he had been "collected" by the Master and was unaware of his employer's identity.

The Stranger argued that the Jedi justified their dominance over the galaxy in the name of peace, a peace he considered to be a lie. He also believed Torbin's meditative state was not impenetrable and that the Master was mistaken in thinking he had found peace. A wandering vagrant, he seemed unconcerned with anything beyond his own amusement.

In battle, the Stranger was a fierce and merciless opponent, repeatedly stabbing a Padawan and violently breaking another Jedi's neck with his bare hands. After witnessing Jecki Lon's unwavering loyalty to her master, the Stranger sarcastically remarked that Mae could learn from her dedication. After killing Lon, he dismissively referred to her as "it."

The Stranger was unconcerned about being unclothed in front of others and asserted that the dark side was the key to freedom and overcoming the Jedi's ideals. As a Sith, he saw no issue with killing anyone he perceived as a threat.

Qimir exhibited Force abilities, such as telekinetically pushing away a group of Jedi and levitating from great heights. He was also a skilled swordsman, capable of killing Kelnacca with a red-bladed lightsaber. Furthermore, Qimir could provide Force training without revealing his face, and Mae believed he could easily kill her. During combat, he could briefly disable lightsabers and resist being stunned due to his armor. The Sith also deviated from traditional lightsaber combat techniques, extensively employing Tràkata and probing the minds of his enemies to break their composure. His telekinetic abilities allowed him to pull a Jedi onto a lightsaber and casually manipulate his rogue student. The Sith survived being attacked by a swarm of umbramoths and could partially erase memories, removing all recollections of specific individuals from a person's life.

As the Master, he wore a cloak and a black sleeveless tunic. His armor included a fully enclosed and battle-scarred helmet with a narrow eye slit and decorative teeth resembling a predatory grin, along with a voice modulator to conceal his voice. The helmet was made of cortosis, which could short-circuit lightsabers. He also wore a vambrace of the same material on his left arm. Both items were used to deflect incoming lightsaber strikes during combat.

He wielded a single red-bladed lightsaber that could be split into two separate lightsabers: a full-sized blade and a shorter shoto, which he often used to surprise unsuspecting opponents, as when he stabbed Jecki. As Qimir, his false identity, he wore stolen garments in shades of dark green and brown while on Olega.

Qimir was created for the Disney+ live-action series The Acolyte and debuted in the show's first two episodes, "Lost / Found" and "Revenge / Justice," released on June 4, 2024. However, the character was initially depicted in the series' first official trailer, uploaded on March 19 of the same year, and the name "Qimir" was first revealed in the StarWars.com article "The Acolyte Characters Revealed - First Look," published on the same day.

Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto played Qimir, a role that creator and executive producer Leslye Headland specifically envisioned for him, making Jacinto feel incredibly fortunate. Headland stated that she would have likely rewritten the character if Jacinto had declined the role. Jacinto's casting was announced on March 18, 2024, in a StarWars.com article titled "The Acolyte Trailer, Key Art, and Premiere Date Revealed."

Years before the show's premiere, Jacinto met with Headland to discuss the series and felt inspired to write a two-page essay explaining how to approach a character they had discussed. After some hesitation, he emailed it to Headland but received no response for weeks, aside from her thanking him for his passion. Four months later, while in Todos Santos, Mexico, for another project, the actor received a voicemail from Headland saying she would love to have him in the show. She sent Jacinto an outline of the character he would be playing, as he was still unfamiliar with the final concept.

Jacinto was impressed upon first arriving on set, with his first day being in the apothecary. He was immediately required to maintain a high level of confidentiality, signing numerous non-disclosure agreements and being prohibited from printing scripts or taking on-set photos, although he later understood the need for secrecy after the overwhelming response to the show's trailer. Working on Star Wars was also an emotionally challenging time for Jacinto. He was separated from his family for eight months during the project and struggled with seasonal depression while in London for the winter, taking salt baths at night to help him relax. Facing the immense responsibility of handling the Star Wars franchise, the actor attempted to distance himself from the pressure of pleasing everyone.

Qimir's second identity, the Stranger, was also initially shown in the trailer as a mysterious red lightsaber user. According to series costume designer Jennifer Bryan, the Master's mask underwent at least ten iterations before being finalized. In an interview with Variety, Bryan remained tight-lipped about the character's identity but hinted that the mask's "teeth" might serve a purpose. Variety identified the figure as a "Sith Master" but did not cite any quotes from Bryan to support this claim.

The final design and creation of the helmet were handled by Neal Scanlan's creature department, with designer modeler Nick Tyrrell leading the effort. Tyrrell stated on Instagram that "a real challenge set down by Leslye was the mask had to have a sinister smile incorporated. The final design was a helmet which had exposed tubes that resembled teeth. My idea was that the tubes were some sort of breathing apparatus/ voice changer that was exposed and that the teeth look was just a happy accident."

Den of Geek also asserted, without providing any supporting quotes, that the helmeted master was a Sith in its interview with showrunner Leslye Headland. Nevertheless, Headland did discuss the Sith with Den of Geek, stating that The Acolyte was "an expansion of Sith ideology." The fifth episode, "Night," which aired on June 25, 2024, confirmed that Qimir and the Master known to Mae were the same person. Qimir's identity as a Sith was then explicitly confirmed in behind-the-scenes material, with Jacinto himself referring to his character as a Sith Lord the day after the episode's release in an Entertainment Weekly article. The character's status as a Sith Lord was canonically affirmed by the Star Wars Insider article "Star Wars: The Acolyte Companion."