| “ | We have unfinished business. Attack me with all your strength. | „ |
| ~ Mae Aniseya to her victims before killing them. |
Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya is the titular secondary antagonist of the 2024 Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte.
She is the long-lost twin sister of Jedi Master Sol's former Padawan Osha Aniseya, who was thought to have died in the fire that orphaned her and her sister, which she caused.
Years after her presumed death, Mae resurfaces and started a reckless Jedi killing spree by targeting all the masters who were stationed on her planet that night, obeying the orders of a mysterious man known only as “The Stranger” as his acolyte. She was also the former arch-nemesis of Osha Aniseya.
Like her twin sister, she is portrayed by Amandla Stenberg in her first villainous role. As a child, she is portrayed by Leah Brady.
History
Past
Mae Aniseya was born to a couple of women, Mothers Aniseya and Korril, alongside her sister Osha around 156 BBY who were part of a coven of witches. They grew up on the forested planet of Brendok strong in the Force, but one night, Mae accidentally caused a fire that destroyed her home and the Jedi killed their mothers and other members of the Witch Coven through a misunderstanding.
Jedi Master Sol from the Jedi Order came to the rescue of the two sisters, but was only able to save Osha, failing to save Mae, who supposedly perished in the fire. Osha was taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and trained as Sol's Padawan, remembering her sister with hatred for killing their family, but eventually left the Jedi Order to become a meknek.
Unknown to everyone, however, Mae actually survived that night and believed in turn that Osha had died in the fire. She seemingly blamed the Jedi for this, particularly Sol as well as Indara, Torbin and Kelnacca, three other Jedi Masters who were stationed on Brendok that night.
Eager to have her revenge, Mae trained under a mysterious Force-user known only as “The Master.”, serving as his acolyte. She would then recruit the retired smuggler Qimir, who started working at a pharmacy on her homeworld after working for the Hutts, to assist her in her mission to fill her Jedi targets.
The Acolyte
In 132 BBY, Mae Aniseya tracked down Jedi Master Indara to the planet Ueda, having been tipped off by an alien informant, whom she pays a coin to. She then entered a cantina where a cloaked Indara was sitting with some patrons, threatening her into a duel.
Several individuals responded with laughter and derision until Indara raises her hand to silence them. When Indara responded that the Jedi do not attack the innocent, Mae disagrees and assaults several customers, starting a brawl. One of the alien customers tries to draw his blaster out of its holster but Mae slammed a table into his path.
At first Indara doesn't take her threats seriously, but after Mae attacked her fellow patrons and threatened another's life, Indara engages her in a fight. Indara grabbed Mae's hand from behind, prompting Mae to fight her. Indara dodges Mae's blows, prompting Mae to draw her dagger.
Mae attempted to stab Indara with the dagger but the Jedi uses her height and combat skills to fend off Mae's attack. Mae takes a female hostage at knife point and hurled her downstairs. Indara called for help via comlink before using the Force to cushion the woman's fall.
Indara pursues Mae upstairs where their fight resumes. Indara uses the Force and her combat skills to fight off Mae's knife attacks, cornering her against a wall. Following a third round, Indara grabbed her knife and disarmed her. Indara ripped off Mae's mask and recognizes her as someone she once knew. She demanded to know what Mae is doing here, prompting Mae to say that she has come to kill her.
Their duel continues until Indara pulled out her green lightsaber, after which Mae throws a pointy projectile at the cantina's owner. Indara uses the Force to save the owner, but Mae takes this distracting opportunity to throw another projectile blade, hitting her chest, killing her. Afterwards, Mae considered killing the cantina's owner, Cabuck, to silence him, but upon spotting his worried little son, she opted to leave them unharmed and left.
Mae's actions were reported by the cantina's owner, leading Jedi Knight Yord Fandar and his Padawan Tasi Lowa to go to the Corporate Sector and arrest Osha, because the cantina's owner description of Mae matches her sister's, suspicions backed off by the fact that Indara was one of the Jedi Council members who supported not training Osha initially. The Jedi Order opted to not make this public to avoid controversy from their political enemies.
During her prison transference to Coruscant, however, Osha's cellmates staged an escape and leave Osha aboard the damaged prison ship, which crashes on Carlac, leading Sol to request Vernestra Rwoh to let him, his Padawan Jecki Lon and Fandar to go to retrieve Osha.
There, Osha experiences hallucinations of Mae, confirming her survival. Meanwhile, Mae meets with "The Master" at an unknown watery planet, who tells her why she can crush the Jedi's "dreams".
Mae then goes to Olega, where she pays a child beggar to distract the security camera of the planet's Jedi temple so she could disable it, paying him before breaking into the temple discretely. There she finds Master Torbin, levitating and meditating since he took the Barash vow for unspecified reasons years ago.
She failed to kill him thanks to the Force bubble that surrounded him, prompting her to hide when a different Jedi Master was alerted of the break-in, proceeding to leave Olega for her hideout in a Brendok pharmacy, where Qimir gives her a vial of Bunta poison to try to kill Torbin again.
She succeeded this time by talking Torbin into suicide out of guilt, with Torbin apologizing to her for his mistakes before drinking the Bunta. The Jedi and Osha arrive sometime later and realize Osha isn't the culprit.
As Bunta comes from Brendok, the Jedi went there and interrogate Qimir, who tells them all he knows about Mae after tricking him with Osha, so they set up a trap to confront Mae, though Osha expresses her intentions to kill her for ruining her life.
Their plan worked and Sol confronted Mae, who engages in a fight with her sister's mentor until he restrains her with the Force, but deduces that she doesn't know who "The Master" is either before Mae breaks free from his control and expresses her intentions to kill him because he let her sister die.
Only for Sol to reveal to her that Osha was alive, which Fandar backed up as he takes away Mae's projectile and joined the fight. Jecki then arrives aboard her ship and demanded Mae to surrender, but despite being cornered, Mae throws a wave of sand with the Force onto her enemies to distract them then made her escape.
As she runs through the streets, Mae was accidentally hit by a speeder, whose owner exited to check on Mae, but she throws him to the ground and takes his vehicle for herself. However, Osha confronted her and Mae was momentarily startled by the sight of her sister, who tries to fight at her but couldn't bring herself to shoot her with a stun blast, failing purposely.
Mae thus takes her chance to escape and leaves her would-be captors behind. She then returned to Olega and threatened to kill Qimir for selling her out, but he manages to convince her to spare him in exchange for taking her to Khofar, where Kelnacca was, which she accepted before running away from the two Jedi stationed there to spy on the pharmacy from a nearby balcony.
The pair traveled to Khofar on a starship, landing just outside the forest retreat. Mae and Qimir unload supplies from several rectangular bins. Mae prepares to depart but Qimir advises her not to go alone while understanding her desire to find the elusive Kelnacca.
When Mae asked if Qimir traveled into the forest at the behest of their master, Qimir replies that he risked his life to help her. Qimir tells Mae that she needs him and offered her a flask.
While Osha was alive, Qimir says that this does not change her arrangement with their Master. Mae says that they should get going because they only have three hours of sunlight left. The two then cross a footbridge leading into the forest.
While walking through the forest, Qimir and Mae discuss her master's command to kill a Jedi without a weapon. Qimir asked if this means she could engage in unarmed combat while using her lightsaber to disarm them.
He asked if that was cheating since he reasons that she failed to carry out this order during her previous assassinations and attempts. Mae responded that she didn't fail to kill Indara and Torben. But Qimir counters that she killed them her way and did not follow her master's command to the letter.
Mae asked Qimir what kind of deal he made with the master. But Qimir denies making a deal with the master and says that he collects people. When Mae asked if he has seen his face, Qimir says she knows he hasn't. They reached the edge of a towering forest, which Qimir describes as a perimeter.
Mae was unhappy that her sister Osha is with the Jedi and asks Qimir what she was like. Qimir says that Osha seemed not to have understanding of her situation and that she was attached to a particular Jedi Master. Qimir's face darkened, prompting Qimir to say they should continue their hike. The two assassins continued their hike over a narrow ridge.
Mae and Qimir reach a gully at the end of their path. They find their path obstructed by a giant tree. The two go around a structure, wading through ferns and plants to reach an opening under the tree. Qimir leads Mae through the jungle, saying that Kelnacca's hut was ten minutes away.
Mae sits on a rock, saying that she has to rest since she is fighting Kelnacca soon. She tells Qimir that her confrontation with Kelnacca is not a test, recalling the master's words that "your final lesson is one you teach yourself. You will kill a Jedi without a weapon." Mae struggles with the notion of having to kill someone without a weapon due to the Jedi teaching against attacking those who cannot defend themselves.
Qimir reassures her that her test was not impossible. As Mae drinks from her flask, she surmises that her test was impossible and fears that the Master will kill her for failing it. When Mae accuses Qimir of not caring for her, he offers to get her some water. He tells Mae she needs to rest since she was losing her nerve. After Qimir leaves, Mae looked at her surroundings and resumes her journey.
Qimir hears Mae's cries and runs to help her. However he stepped on a booby trap and was caught in a rope trap that leaves him hanging by his leg from a tree. Qimir appeared to be caught in a booby trap made of vines. As Mae resurfaces from the trees, Qimir called for help but Mae abandoned him.
Mae tells Qimir that she doesn't need to follow her master's commandment to kill a Jedi without a weapon anymore because Osha being alive changes everything. Mae says that she was loyal to Osha and not Qimir's Master.
When Qimir asked what she is doing, Mae replies that she intended to surrender herself to Kelnacca and the Jedi Order. Qimir says that the Jedi will put her in prison. Mae says they won't after she tells them what she knows. When Qimir warned that the master will kill her for this, Mae says that he will have to find her first and doubted that he would be able to navigate through the jungle without a guide. Mae tells Qimir that he has outlived his usefulness to her.
Elsewhere, Mae sees Kelnacca's hut in the distance. As she approaches the hut, she trips over several pods which release an orange pollen. As the dust settles, she encounters the Tynnan guide Bazil. Mae greets Bazil but he squealed in fear and shock, attracting the attention of the Jedi. Mae runs past Bazil and heads towards the hut.
Later, when Mae discovered a dwelling in the forest, she entered the hut. Inside the hut, she finds the Wookiee Jedi slumped in front of a console and found he was already dead; he was killed by a lightsaber blade across the chest, which terrified Mae as she realized her Master was on the planet.
A contingency of Jedi Knights, led by Master Sol, and accompanied by Osha arrive near the location. Sol demands that anyone inside the domicile come out with their hands raised in the name of the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order. Mae gazes nervously through a hole in the door.
They were ambushed by the Master, who unleashed a powerful Force push that knock them all back. Mae watched nervously from inside the hut as the helmeted figure studies Osha and draws its red lightsaber.
Inside Kelnacca's shelter, Mae retrieves Kelnacca's lightsaber. Mae exited Kelnacca's hut but was ambushed by Padawan Jecki Lon. The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Using the Force, Lon hurled Mae inside Kelnacca's hut before attempting to arrest her.
However, Mae fights back. Lon attempted to force magnetic binders around Mae's hands while stating that Mae was under arrest for the murders of Master Indara, Torbin, Kelnacca, and her own family. Furious, Mae screams and breaks free of her captor and engages in a second round of fighting. She throws daggers at Lon, who dodges her blades. Jecki continues to fight Mae in the forest.
Mae trapped Jecki in a headlock and attempted to stab her in the neck. However, the Padawan breaks free and pins her down. Jecki retrieves Kelnacca's lightsaber. Sensing movement, she crouches and fends off an attack by the mysterious Master. The Padawan clashes with the Master, who knocked her to the ground.
The Master tells Mae that she can learn from Lon, whom he describes as a loyal pupil. The two resumed fighting and Lon's green lightsaber short-circuits. Jecki manages to adjust her lightsaber and also draws a second green lightsaber from her holster. She fights the Master with both blades while a handcuffed Mae flees into the forest. The Master destroyed one of Lon's lightsabers before pursuing Mae.
The Master catches up with Mae and condemns her for wanting to betray him. When Mae begs for forgiveness, the Master chides her for being weak and then cuts through her binders, freeing her hands. Before he can strike Mae, the Master was attacked by both Sol and Lon, who engage him in a lightsaber duel. Mae takes advantage of the situation to flee but was pursued by her Master, who also fights off the pursuing Jedi.
After the Master had killed all but one of the Jedi knights, Jecki Lon is able to remove his helmet, though is then killed. Along with the Jedi Master, Sol and Mae herself learned that the identity of her Master was Qimir; he began dueling Sol.
The Master notices Mae nearby. She tries to flee but he hurls his cloak at Sol and then uses the Force to levitate Mae towards her. He holds her in a choke-hold before confronting a shocked Mae, who did not realize that the Stranger and the Master were the same person.
Sol attacked the Stranger with his lightsaber but the Stranger takes Mae hostage. When Sol asks what the Stranger wants, the Sith replies that he wants freedom before kicking Mae. Since Mae went back on their deal, the Stranger vows to kill everyone including Mae.
Before the Stranger can deal with Sol and Mae, he is ambushed by Fandar who has grabbed his cortosis helmet. While they fought, Osha manages to stun Mae from a distance. When the two are alone, Osha asks Sol why she can't trust him and asked what he did in the past. Sol promises to explain but is stunned by Mae. After fleeing elsewhere, Osha and Mae reunite properly.
As dawn reaches the jungle and mountains, Osha approaches her sister Mae. When Osha asks what she has done, the acolyte responds that she did what she had to for Osha and their family. Osha counters that Mae is selfish and blames her for all the lives lost tonight.
When Mae countered that the Jedi got what they deserved, Osha responds that the Jedi were more like family than Mae ever were. Mae asks if Osha has forgotten their roots as witches. When Mae says that the Jedi invaded their home on Brendok, Osha reminds her that she started the fire and would have perished if not for the Jedi.
Mae responds that the Jedi have brainwashed Osha and turned her against her own sister. Mae offers to help Osha return to herself. She embraces Osha and reaffirms her love for her. She begs Osha to choose her over the Jedi as tears streak down Mae's face.
Mae says that they both survived and only have each other. However, Osha breaks free of Mae and holds her down in an armlock. Osha denounces her sister as a criminal who must pay for her crimes. Osha says that she has come to arrest Mae for her crimes. When Osha says that Mae followed a false master, Mae countered that Osha is also following a false master.
She breaks free of Osha and holds her down. When Osha begged Mae to leave Sol out of this, Mae countered that Sol has led her into a life without purpose and family. The two sisters begin fighting again. Mae uses her Force powers to knock Osha onto the ground.
She slowly approaches her unconscious sister and chides her for not being able to block with her Force powers. As Osha was knocked unconscious; Mae swapped their clothes and cut her hair, as to pose as her sister. While Sol appeared to defeat Qimir, the Dark Side user managed to escape. Later Mae, who is impersonating Osha, tends to Sol.
When Sol asks where Mae is, the imposter claims that Mae has fled. "Osha" offers to help Sol to their ship. Mae stares at the jungle one final time before following Sol aboard the Jedi starship. They are followed by Bazil, who sniffs her scent.
Qimir abducted Osha to indoctrinate her into the Dark Side, which she defied until he convinced her to wear his cortosis helmet; wearing it allowed Osha greater access to the Force, through which she saw Mae killing Sol. Osha hoped to prevent this, while Qimir claimed to want to ensure yet, but both share the single starship to reach their location on Brendok.
Prior Osha and Qimir's departure, a disguised Mae joined Sol on the Jedi ship, seeming to deceive him; however, when she is about to attack him, he revealed he wasn't fooled, thus knocked her out and shackled her to a medbay bed. Mae spitefully condemned Sol for killing her mother, though he attempted to rationalize it as necessary, since Mae and Osha represent something that would judged extraordinarily dangerous.
Before Sol can clarify, Mae had unlocked a shackle and stunned him with her droid weapon. Sol recovered quickly enough to pursue her through the ship, but Mae was able to steal an escape ship to flee.
Sol chased Mae through an asteroid belt, before both ships arrived at Brendok, her childhood home and location of the deaths that provoked her desire for vengeance. Mae mournfully explored the ruins of her adolescence, while Sol attempted to find them.
Sol is intercepted by Qimir, with the two engaging in an exhaustive battle. Sol managed to defeat by Qimir by slicing his lightsaber, but before he can advance, Mae swooped by him and stole his lightsaber. Qimir encouraged Mae to execute Sol, but she refused, tossing the lightsaber away and declaring that he should face justice for his actions.
Mae demanded that Sol confess to murdering her mother, but he instead solemnly noted he did the right thing because of the reality of the twins; he explained that they weren't sisters, but one person that their mother created using the vergence of the Force on Brendok, after which she split them into two separate entities - such power would've always made them targets, unless he protected them.
Despite this shocking revelation, Mae noticed Osha nearby, so she again coaxed Sol into confessing to killing their mother, which he sadly does, but again attempted to justify his response. Sol noticed that Osha was close, as she appeared shocked to hear his confession; yet Sol continued attempting to explain his actions, expressing his failure to save Mae as his greatest regret, and the girls represented something so hazardous that Osha would have been rejected by the Jedi Council, since it was already an effort to allow her in because of her being too old.
Osha collected Sol's lightsaber and walked towards him in tears, telling Sol to stop talking. When Sol attempted to convey his paternal love, he was halted by Osha using Force Choke on him. As Sol suffocated, he reassured Osha that it was okay, after which she killed him using the Force to break his neck.
Qimir complimented Osha and approached her, but she ignited the lightsaber to make him back away, yet she had collected so much of the Dark Side of the Force, the kyber crystal had become corrupted, changing the blade from blue to red.
A large team of Jedi, led by Master Vernesta Rwoh, arrived on the planet; Qimir indirectly revealed that Vernesta was his Jedi Master before he abandoned the Order for the Dark Side. All three murderers flee, although Qimir briefly lingered to look at his old master from afar in secret.
Osha and Mae reach the tree of their childhood; Osha apologised for not believing Mae's motivation for revenge killings, while Mae apologised for accidentally causing the fire that burned down their home, which Osha appeared oddly and immediately forgiving of, even despite her fall to the Dark Side.
Qimir arrived to alert them that the Jedi are closing in; Qimir invited them to return to his base to advance their training in the Force. While Mae no longer desired to continue her lessons in the Dark Side, Osha now expressed her intention to do it instead. Qimir offered to erase Mae's memories so that she couldn't be telepathically scanned and learn about the destination he will take Osha. Mae and Osha share a tearful goodbye and hug, with Qimir wiping Mae's memories of the past 16 years.
Qimir and Osha escaped, leaving an amnesiac Mae to be arrested by the Jedi; however, due to her not knowing what she had done, they merely take her into custody. Back in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Vernesta held a meeting in which she declared that the recent deaths of Jedi were caused by Sol,
She explained 16 years ago on Brendok, he led them to massacre a Witch Coven, and his guilt eventually drove him kill his accomplices before ultimately taking his own life, and there was no greater conspiracy or threat; her inaccuracy was based on the desire to avoid panic and prevent external Senate forces intruding in Jedi matters, as well as protect Mae from consequences for things she doesn't know she did.
In private, Vernesta asked Mae what was the last thing that she remembered, which she said was the fire in her home; Vernesta then explained to Mae how she had lost 16 years of memories, and thus attempted to inform her, although using half-truths and outright lies; she accurately revealed that Sol saved Osha, but failed to save Mae, however, altered the miscommunication and self-defensive nature about how he and his three comrades massacred the Dark Side Witch Coven. Vernesta correctly described how Sol felt guilt for it, but framed him with Mae's murders, which Mae herself obviously no longer recalled; she also withheld that Osha had actually killed Sol. Vernesta requested if Mae would help in finding Osha, to which she agreed.
Gallery
Trivia
- Due to being made of the Force, it is unknown if Mae and Osha Aniseya have a high midi-chlorian count of over 20,000 per cell. Most likely, they don't have such count, as Sol extracted blood samples from them and no mention is made that they have many midi-chlorians, otherwise, if they had had a high count, the Jedi Order would have known that Anakin Skywalker wasn't the first Force user with such a high count by the time of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
- Amandla Stenberg portrayed both Mae and Osha Aniseya in the show due to both characters being twins. Conversely, Leah Brady portrayed Mae as a child while her twin sister Lauren portrayed Osha as a child.
- Amanda Stenberg wrote a backstory for Mae Aniseya, thinking she and Osha can represent the yin and yang, with Mae representing the yin for being the most intuitive twin who acts because of her emotions and Osha representing the yang due to using her "masculine" façade to hide her fragility.
- This yin and yang concept is reinforced, if unsubtly, throughout the season, as Mae wore dark clothes, whereas Osha wore lighter ones; to indicate the reversal of their Force orientation, in the finale of season 1, as Mae instead wore white and Osha wore black. Further emphasis is made by the reveal that they were technically one person who, with use of the Force, was divided into two separate individuals.
 Villains
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Path of the Open Hand Nihil Bedlam Raiders Tenoo Pirate Gang Sith and Dark Side Force-Users | ||