acolyte isn’t returning to our screens, but its world is preparing to live on in a slew of new comics and books – starting with this week’s Star Wars: Kaernakaris a new one-shot comic from Marvel that follows the lives of the show’s mysterious Wookiee Jedi. It’s a simple, quiet story, but it also adds more regret to the show and the premature end of Kaelnakar.
as he was acolyte Kaelnaka himself is a taciturn minor character, even in his own comics – the author is high republic Written by the stalwart Cavan Scott, with art by Marika Cresta, Ariana Maher and Jim Campbell. Instead of seeing him inside, or even seeing him as a unique figure in the spotlight, the story is told through a lens other than that of another Jedi Knight, Azion Veer. It begins with an aging Jedi Master on his deathbed and then, through flashbacks, recalls events that occurred when he was a young Padawan. high republic novels and comic series, krnaka tells a story about the Jedi and their ways of facing loss and, most importantly, how they escape it.
When we first meet Vile chronologically, it’s after the destruction of the Starlight Lighthouse, a disaster that left his master dead in the aftermath. Just as he was forced to grieve the loss of his master, Kaelnaka swooped in wordlessly and picked up where they left off: it is the cold duty of the Jedi to remove these attachments as soon as they are formed. They are distinguished, a link is broken at this moment, only for a new link to be established next time. It’s an interesting choice that still shapes Kyle Naka as much as the show does: there’s a distance and lack of understanding between us and who the character really is. We can only infer things from the silence, from Vere’s point of view, as he recounts the story to his apprentice near the end of his life, when as a young boy he too faced the pain of losing his mentor.
This may be frustrating for readers who might prefer to see Kaernakar’s backstory more clearly spelled out and categorized, but even that’s a real “little” we get about him in this story. Nor is it a single piece of information related to his character, although it does tie this story of attachment and grief to Kaernakar’s untimely end. acolyte. In Weir’s recollections, we learn that he once explained that the tattoo marks on his head were a reflection of the cultural practices of his race; a sign of respect for great mentor figures was to have their names written in runes on your head , to represent the role they play in your own story. Just as Vail did it once for his first master – and she did it once for him – at the climax of the story, when Vail enters the Force, Kaelnaka comes to visit Vail, shave his head and tattoo him revealed this. acolyte In fact, he was paying homage to Weir doing the same.
It’s an interesting revelation for two reasons, not only because of what it says about Jedi attachment – it’s not this simple, dry thing – but also because of how it affects Kael’Naka’s ultimate outcome. Throughout the sequence, Khelnakar is portrayed as a man who knows when to step in and be there when necessary: the way he bursts into Veer’s life, the way he eventually knights him and lets him go as an apprentice , and the way he came back to see Veer. This reflects the Jedi’s spiritual peak during the High Republic era, that they were open to the idea of such attachment, but it also reflects their decline that we see during the Republic era. acolyte.
Kyle Naka is traumatized by his role in the Brundock Incident, and his only option in the show’s contemporary timeframe is to be isolated and abandoned by the Jedi, largely by his own choice and the reason why the Order itself is unwilling to help (partly because they’ll never get the full picture due to Indara and Thor’s lies, which is just another layer of institutional rot). So when Kernaka was killed by a stranger in Kofar, he died alone and without any reflection. No one can carry Krnaka’s story with him except Thor, who soon leads it to death. The Order’s recalcitrance meant that no one came to support him until it was too late and a cleanup was needed. It’s a fascinating little thrill and a fun way to reframe and reinforce content. acolyteThere’s a bigger story happening about the Jedi.
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