The Acolyte's Dark Side Fighting Style Has Some Old, Expanded Universe Connections

Thought cortosis was the lone happening with roots from Star Wars’ expanded beingness that showed up connected The Acolyte this week? Turns out, different aged conception was hiding successful plain sight... well, from a definite constituent of view.

Watching the Stranger, Mae’s sinister master, carve his mode done the Jedi connected Khofar successful “Night” this week, you mightiness person noticed that his unorthodox warring benignant saw him perpetually disengage and re-engage with his foes—a flurry of attacks, the deactivation of his lightsaber, lone for it to repetition each implicit again. It’s conscionable 1 of galore duplicitous tools successful the Stranger’s arsenal that we spot passim the episode, but not lone is it a signifier of lightsaber combat mostly unseen on-screen truthful far, it has its roots successful the Expanded Universe. The authoritative Star Wars website’s trivia breakdown for “Night” confirmed that the Stranger uses a signifier of lightsaber combat called tràkata—defined by its leverage of the lightsaber’s unsocial spot arsenic a melee limb to beryllium turned disconnected and connected during combat.

First introduced successful John Whitman’s audio adaptation of Tom Veitch’s Dark Empire comic bid successful 1994, but not formally fixed its sanction until the last variation of Wizards of the Coasts’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game successful 2007, tràkata was not a afloat developed signifier of practiced lightsaber combat, but much of a philosophical method that relied connected utilizing the quality to extinguish and re-ignite a lightsaber’s leaf mid-combat to either deceive oregon execute your opponent. A practitioner of tràkata mightiness concisely extinguish their leaf to unit their hostile to overcommit to an attack, oregon go unbalanced by the abrupt alteration successful unit from exerting against different weapon, opening up their defenses—or abruptly ignite their leaf to present an immediate, precision strike, specified arsenic placing the hilt of their saber to an opponent’s caput oregon chest. Tràkata was frowned upon by Jedi and Sith alike: to the Jedi, it was ignoble to deceive your hostile successful what was meant to beryllium an honorable duel; to the Sith, the thought of a warring benignant that de-emphasized the powerfulness and choler that fueled them was cowardly.

Image: Lucasfilm

While The Acolyte marks the archetypal clip tràkata has been explicitly named successful existent Star Wars continuity, it’s not wholly the archetypal clip we’ve seen elements of the signifier successful caller material. The Star Wars Visions archetypal play occurrence “The Elder” sees a duel betwixt a Jedi Master and a Sith climax with the erstwhile concisely extinguishing his blade, and moving his hilt implicit to the Sith’s chest, igniting it and mortally wounding him successful an instant—and arguably a akin determination is employed successful The Last Jedi, erstwhile Kylo Ren catches a lightsaber tossed to him by Rey, rapidly igniting and extinguishing the leaf portion the hilt was pointed astatine the caput of a Praetorian defender restraining him. In Ahsoka’s 4th episode, “Fallen Jedi,” Inquisitor Marrok concisely disengages 1 of the blades of his double-bladed saber portion Ahsoka is clashing against it, forcing her to suffer equilibrium momentarily.

The mentation of tràkata employed by the Stranger is simply a small antithetic from these erstwhile examples—choosing to disengage and re-engage from combat for longer periods of clip than conscionable speedy extinguishing of his lightsaber—but it’s inactive chill to spot different mode The Acolyte is weaving elements from each implicit Star Wars’ history.

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