Highlights
- The Acolyte's Qimir character, a Sith villain with a Kylo Ren-like helmet, uses cortosis, a rare metal that shorts out lightsabers, in combat.
- Cortosis could be a valuable addition to future Star Wars games, offering non-Force users a chance to challenge Jedi and Sith.
- The Acolyte's use of cortosis demonstrates Lucasfilm's willingness to draw from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, which contains rich and beloved stories.
The Acolyte is just two episodes away from wrapping up its story, and it’s certainly kept fans talking. Like most Star Wars projects in recent years, reception to The Acolyte show has been split, but there’s one character that’s been a standout in a big way. The mysterious masked stranger wearing a helmet eerily similar to Kylo Ren's is the first live-action Sith villain since Count Dooku debuted back in 2002 and, after only six episodes, he’s already made his impact on the fandom.
The Stranger, known also under his alias Qimir, isn’t just sporting his helmet as a fashion statement. The menacing, toothy headwear actually serves a practical function that goes beyond protecting his head. Instead of being strictly defensive, the helmet serves an offensive purpose as well. Whether the showrunners of The Acolyte realize it or not, they’ve just opened up Pandora’s Box for cool additions to Star Wars lore, and even future games in a galaxy far, far, away.
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The Acolyte Brings Cortosis From The Expanded Universe
What is Cortosis in Star Wars?
Qimir’s helmet and vambrace in The Acolyte are made of cortosis, a rare and powerful metal in the Star Wars universe. When a lightsaber blade makes contact with the metal, it shorts out the weapon’s blade, leaving the Jedi/Sith holding a now useless saber, open for devastating counter-attacks. Qimir does this exact thing to frightening effect in the show, tanking lightsaber blows with his vambrace and helmet only to finish off the defenseless Jedi once their weapons are rendered useless.
Qimir hardly needed the advantage of cortosis to get one up on his opponents in the show, but the metal is an excellent addition to the lore for future video game adaptations of the series. Lighstabers, while possibly the coolest fictional weapon of all time, are extremely overpowered. So much so that video games often have to nerf their effectiveness, so players aren’t steamrolling opponents or getting one hit killed by enemies.
Cortosis Should Be Used In Future Star Wars Games
Cortosis weapons and armor would be a welcome addition in future Star Wars video games, as it would finally give an option for non-Force users to fight back against lightsabers, or even provide challenges and enemy variety in games where players control Jedi/Sith. The possibilities are endless, but the mind boggles at the possibility of a Mandalorian bounty hunter using beskar and cortosis to hunt and fight a rogue Jedi/Sith. The upcoming sequel to Respawn’s Jedi: Survivor could also incorporate cortosis-wielding enemies as an additional threat for Cal to overcome and outwit.
Cortosis isn’t an entirely original addition to the Star Wars universe. It has its origins in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The Expanded Universe was home to some of the very best Star Wars content pre-Disney buyout, and so far the current franchise leadership has been very hesitant to pull from it for some reason. Fan favorite characters like General Grievous have their entire backstory entirely in the Expanded Universe, and fans believe the Yuuzhan Vong invasion was why Palpatine was actually building the Death Stars.
Coolest Things To Adapt From Star Wars Expanded Universe
- The Yuuzhan Vong
- The Battle of Coruscant
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
- Abeloth, Eldritch Force Goddess
- Darth Plagueis
- The Battle of Hypori
- Darth Tenebrous
- Jango Fett: Open Season
People like to speak poorly of the EU; it’s been very much in vogue since Disney bought the franchise and declared the entire thing non-canonical. There is a lot of fundamentally silly stuff in there; like the Emperor coming back from the dead via cloning in the Dark Empire comic. But there’s a lot of wonderful storytelling in there too. Author James Luceno’s novel Darth Plagueis serves as a definitive origin story/character study for Palpatine, and Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy was so universally loved that Disney brought the titular character back in Star Wars: Rebels and later in Ahsoka.
The Acolyte bringing back cortosis is very encouraging for longtime fans of the universe. It shows that Lucasfilm is still very much open to using its largely untapped goldmine of Star Wars content. And with many fans speculating The Acolyte’s finale will reveal a more well-known Sith lord, the show may not be done pulling in stuff from the EU just yet.
