#Mae Aniseya I love you forever and always

[grifonecoronato]

Mae-ho Aniseya: Film Noir Protagonist

(Spoilers for The Acolyte)

As I've said in another post, Mae and Osha are binary opposites in their personalities and motivations.

Mae has a kind of "first child syndrome": a desire to exhibit perfection in the eyes of her mothers, so that they can shower her with praise. She loves being in her community of witches, learning and using the Thread, and indulging in the daily activities of life on Brendok.

She thrives when she is surrounded by her people, but Osha doesn't want the same things, which is something that confuses Mae deeply.

In this scene from Episode 3: Destiny, the two sisters as children talk about what they want:

MAE: "It isn't fair. I share everything with you, and you hide things from me or run off alone." OSHA: "I want to have my own things." MAE: "Why?" OSHA: "Because I don't want to do everything together all the time." MAE: "But why?" OSHA: "Because we're not the same." [...] OSHA: "Don't you wonder what else could be out there? Besides Brendok?" MAE: "No. Everything I need is here."

For Osha, her arc in The Acolyte has all the trappings of a dark romance. But from Mae's perspective, she's the heroine of her own Film Noir.

Film Noir Themes in The Acolyte

Beyond its aesthetics, Film Noir has three (3) major thematic characteristics with regard to its protagonists:

Its protagonist has an idyllic past where they were happy and life was good;

Their idyllic past is ripped away from them, often violently, in a single moment that they relive again and again in the present;

The inciting incident is an opportunity to reclaim their idyllic past, or if that's impossible, to get justice for what was lost... because to do nothing is to be haunted by it forever.

For example, we can look at the seasonal arc of Veronica Mars (2004): she's a happy high schooler and best friends with Lily Kane, then Lily is murdered and Veronica is ostracised from her former friends, and now she is seeking opportunities to solve her friend's murder, while being haunted by the memories of her.

Or consider the video game Max Payne (1998): he's a cop with a happy wife and daughter, then his wife and daughter are murdered by drug addicts high on Compound V, now he joins the DEA in an effort to find and destroy the source of Compound V, and finally stop feeling haunted by the memories of his family.

Mae's story is very similar: she was a happy kid living with a family and community that gave her everything she wanted, then the Jedi came and massacred everyone she loved, and now she's joined up with a powerful ally who will teach her to get bloody justice.

Mae's Fatal Flaw

Mae's biggest problem is that she's impulsive and frequently enters situations without a clear plan. However, this bullheadedness shows that she trusts herself to get out of any situation she finds herself in.

(Qimir once said to Osha "you should learn to trust yourself", but I doubt this is a lesson he had to teach Mae.)

Detractors often say that Mae's motivations don't make sense, or that she's "flip flopping" all the time. But this criticism -- like most criticisms from the fandom menace -- is unfair. Mae's motivations are very clear, and her shifting tactics are done as a response to new information that comes her way.

In Episodes 1 and 2, her goal is two-fold:

Hunt down the four guilty Jedi

Keep The Stranger satisfied in her progress as his apprentice

But in Episode 4 and 5, after she learns that her sister lives, her goal changes to "reunite with Osha." But when Osha refuses to listen to her, Mae's slightly modifies her goal, to "find a way to de-program Osha from her Jedi brainwashing, by exposing Sol."

Viewers that understand what drives Mae see that not flaky; she's adaptive.

The Fatal Lesson of Film Noir

The thing about Film Noir protagonists is that most of the time (not always, but most of the time), their quest for reclaiming their idyllic past is a fool's errand: they either sacrifice a big part of themselves in the attempt, or they learn to heal form the past, let go, and move on.

Mae opts for the former. When she finally succeeds in revealing that Sol has been lying for sixteen years, Osha murders him. Afterward, Osha bargains for Mae's life, which the Stranger accepts but only if he be permitted to erase her memories.

So Mae recaptures her idyllic past by being able to reconnect with her sister... only to lose her sense of self in the process. The quest consumed her.

But was it worth it?

[armoralor]

I feel like we haven’t discussed how debilitating and jarring it would be to have 16 YEARS worth of memories ripped away from you in seconds. The last thing Mae remembers is being 8 years old; imagine being 8 and waking up in the body of a 24 year old. Imagine living with your moms and suddenly you’re an adult and everyone you’ve ever known is dead.

Does Mae have to relearn everything that was taken from her??? How to pilot a ship? How to swim? How to cook for herself? I don’t think we’ve grasped how devastating this is.

[greenconvor]

Okay, my brain has been on overdrive since last Tuesday, SO I offer you 3 insane theories and a fanfic style ending to connect them based on what we know as of ep 5 of The Acolyte!

Theory 1: Osha and Mae’s true origin

Mother Aniseya describes the coven’s interpretation of the force as a thread that when pulled can change things. Later, Koril makes a point to remind Aniseya that the Jedi would not approve of how the twins were created. This could be world building to show the differences/conflicts between the witches and the Jedi, but what if it’s more?

A witch would not go about creating a being like the Sith did; they would attempt some kind of ritual. One that matches their own beliefs and uses of the force: a cause and effect based on how one shifts the thread. They would not forge life essence out of nothing, they would transfer life essence from one sentient to another. Using, say, a sacrifice. THAT is how Mae and Osha came to be—and how they differ from Anakin.

Theory 2: Qimir is a front for Mother Koril

What do we know about Mother Koril? She is strong in the force, she can go into people’s minds, she loves her children but has a strong hand with discipline, she despises the Jedi, she is willing to fight for her family, and her death is not seen.

SO, consider— what if Qimir was either someone that Koril puppets or someone who made a bargain with Koril for power?

Hear me out, this would explain why Qimir sticks with Mae so closely, seemingly upset when she pretends to be hurt. That’s why he doesn’t kill her (or Osha) when he has the chance. Koril through Qimir was trying to scare Mae, maybe even hurt her a bit, to keep Mae under her thumb. That’s why Sol says he sensed something familiar and why Yord feels the same effects that Osha says her mother had.

And it makes sense for Koril to keep hidden from Mae since she knows Jedi can infiltrate minds (she thought Osha was manipulated on Brendok and Qimir’s first comment in the shop was to not mess with his mind). This proves smart as Sol did look into Mae’s head for her master and finds exactly what Koril wanted: nothing.

With the tragedy of her people and no one left to balance her, Koril’s anger and brutality would spiral. Without her coven, she is weakened, so she amasses power through the dark side, dwelling in her desire for revenge. A venture which she has Mae take on as the Acolyte.

Then, after Mae quits, Qimir still kills Kelnacca because Koril wants the four Jedi to pay more than Mae ever did. Mae was just the cover, the explanation for why these Jedi were being targeted when someone came looking. What they weren’t supposed to know is that the one driving the mission was always the Master, Koril. Hence why Mae is so willing to drop everything when she discovers Osha is alive. But while Mae is happy, Koril is angry because the Jedi turned Osha against them then kidnapped her. That’s why Qimir emerges to see Osha when he really could have stayed hidden, then shooes her away to kill all the Jedi in sight, singling out Sol later and taunting him about being two faced, knowing he must have lied to keep Osha’s trust.

Now to set the scene:

While Mae’s off being the wolf in sheep’s clothing with Sol, Qimir is alone with Osha. Koril knows that she cannot be influenced like Mae. Not as a child and not now. So Koril sends him away and reveals herself, reveals what actually happened on Brendok (I imagine there was some kind of confrontation where the witches wanted the Jedi to leave and the Jedi refused to leaved without Osha and things got out of hand in addition to the fire/explosion), and finally the ritual. She says that from the moment Aniseya reshaped the stolen life essences into one, infusing it with the coven’s power, then into two, their destinies were set, forever intertwined with the coven and each other. The Jedi tried to destroy that—to their own detriment. She tells Osha to take their deaths as a testament that no one can alter destiny.

Theory 3: Osha and Sol are connected (my final and most far-reaching theory)

For good measure, Koril shows Osha a vision of the ritual, but in doing so also shows the two sacrifices. Two Jedi. (Maybe they’d been sent to investigate the coven before they’d sought refuge in Brendok and the Mothers decided to hit two birds with one stone). But the real shock, the real clincher, is that Osha recognizes them. She knows them by heart because Sol kept pictures of them. Because they had been close once.

And this is where Osha realizes Koril is wrong. The ritual must have messed up someway, somehow. Mae must have received the imprint of the coven’s powers and purpose while Osha received the Jedi’s—alongside their bonds with Sol. Suddenly, everything makes sense: Why Osha had been so instinctually adamant about becoming a Jedi, drawing their symbol before she knew what it meant, and forming such an instant connection with Sol. More than that, why Sol had ben drawn to Brendok in the first place, how he knew about the twins, and why he fought for Osha beyond what protocol dictated. The ritual, their destinies, had been altered, and consequently, so had everyone else’s around them.

The final confrontation:

By this time Mae would likely have outed herself to Sol and, subduing her, Sol would rush back, coming across this scene with Koril and a horrified Osha. Koril and Sol fight, meanwhile, Osha reels from the knowledge that it was never Mae’s obsession/attachment that doomed their coven, it was both of them. It was the very act that brought them into the galaxy that sealed their family’s fate. So she makes a choice. She and Mae have been the cause of it all, so they need to be the solution. The ritual, the mistake, the curse, has to be undone.

Osha has an idea what to do, but can’t do it alone. She reaches out her hand for Mae and Mae, overjoyed at finally being accepted by her sister again, takes it. Together, using either what Osha saw in the vision or what they learned as kids, they recite their poem and begin the reversal.

Koril, seeing this, runs over, but it’s too late, the process has begun. While she fights her way closer, Sol is stuck on the outside. The twins get to the final point, but they can’t return their lives to the Jedi who were killed because there’s nothing left of them. So, Osha redirects their life forces to two different Jedi whose lives were taken because of events surrounding the twins, who weren’t given a pyre funeral, who were within reach. The two sisters embrace a final time as their undoing is complete. Koril gets to them right as the backlash hits and Sol is knocked back, unconscious.

He wakes in a haze, searching for Osha, but the only thing that remains is Koril’s lifeless body. Sol is still processing when Yord and Jecki run out of the forest, confused yet completely healed. He stares at them, shocked, as they ask what’s going on, where’s Osha, and why there’s so many dead Jedi with lightsaber wounds around Kelnacca’s home.

Sol realizes he is now the sole (haha, get it?) survivor to know the truth about the events of both Brendok and Khofar. He should tell the truth, but ultimately decides not to. He won’t risk Jecki and Yord remembering the blood bath or their own horrific deaths. He won’t let Osha’s name be marred by her origins or start a witch hunt over covens and Sith that no longer exist. So, the three simply gather the bodies and leave.

The official story is that Koril, revealed to have survived as Mae’s master, killed Kelnacca, stole his saber, and used it to kill the other Jedi. During this, Osha got through to Mae and together the twins teamed up to stop their mother, sacrificing themselves in the process.

In the end, everyone gets what they want:

Mae gets to be one with her sister again, Osha gets to save her friends and find closure/peace, Koril is with her coven in the beyond, Jecki and Yord live to find their own story. And Sol, well, Sol is left to finish the narrative. He would leave what’s left of Koril in her village alongside Mae’s daggers and something of Osha’s so that the family may rest together at last. He’d go on, guiding Yord, training Jecki (eventually taking her to get another crystal because she’s Cleary meant to wield two blades) and making sure that Osha is never forgotten.

(I’m aware this won’t happen; it is NOT a legitimate prediction. It’s just me sitting in a bubble of denial and deliberation while I still can :) )

Edit: I have made changes after some Enlightenment and the realization that I apparently have no eye for subtle chemistry between Star Wars characters. Thank you.