Everyone was hyped about Darth Teeth in The Acolyte well before the show even premiered, and The Stranger really delivered when he showed up and massacred all the Jedi in Sol’s team. But did you know the character drew inspiration from this very unlikely source?
Though The Stranger has all the trademarks of a classic Sith lord, from the helmet to the red lightsaber and flowing cloak, showrunner Leslye Headland has revealed a surprising inspiration for his appearance—the addictive video game Elden Ring.
Qimir’s Sith Look in The Acolyte
Promos for The Acolyte gave fans a peek at The Stranger even before the premiere, and the most noticeable element in his design is his toothy grin—which is why he was dubbed Darth Teeth by fans before Lucasfilm officially revealed him as The Stranger.
Once The Stranger started swinging his lightsaber, fans noticed more details about Mae’s mysterious supposed mentor. Unlike the usual villain enemies like Darth Vader and General Grievous, the Stranger has a severe lack of armor—only wearing a helmet and a gauntlet made of the rare metal cortosis.
Some fans can argue that Darth Maul or Kylo Ren didn’t wear any armor either, but what makes the Stranger stand out is that he has his arms exposed during battle—odd for a character with extremely useful armor that deactivates lightsabers.
As it turns out, the Stranger showing off vulnerable parts of his body might have been inspired by Elden Ring—specifically, one extremely skilled player who refuses to wear armor.
The Legend of Let Me Solo Her
Around the time Elden Ring came out a few years ago, there was a buzz in the community about a player whose sole purpose in the game was to help others defeat what was considered the hardest boss—Malenia, Blade of Miquella.
Adopting the name Let Me Solo Her (or LMSH for short), this player would leave a summon sign outside the door of Malenia for players to call to him. Then, he would let them sit back as he took on the game’s hardest boss by himself. After defeating her, players who summoned him would then get a share of the rewards. What’s crazy is that LMSH – similar to The Acolyte's Qimir – wears no armor except for an old pot on his head.
Talking to IGN, LMSH discussed the so-called tradition of Soulsborne players respecting "naked players" whose characters don't wear armor. He said, “it is a running tradition of Soulsborne games that the naked players are the most powerful beings in the game… Why wear armor if you don’t plan on getting hit at all? And the pot is a good luck charm from the character Iron Fist Alexander, whom I admire.”
LMSH has since been a community hero for Elden Ring, spawning fan art and even parody players online. Incidentally, the tradition of the naked player also caught the attention of The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland.
How Let Me Solo Her Inspired The Acolyte
Talking to Inverse, Headland explained how they came up with the design of Qimir/The Stranger, and she talked about how the culture of armorless fighters in Elden Ring inspired the look of their latest Sith Lord.
She says, “As soon as I said he didn’t have armor, everyone lost their mind. ‘How can you not have armor?’ I was like, ‘Why would you wear armor if you’re not going to get hit?’ It’s like the Elden Ring costume. The Elden Bling. When you summon people, you always summon the people that aren’t wearing anything, and it’s like, ‘These people are f****** crazy.’”
Headland also reveals that The Stranger was only supposed to be teased in this season and was only going to get the spotlight in the planned second season arc—but Manny Jacinto’s screen presence was so captivating that they just had to give him the full Sith reveal in the first season. “There will be riots in the streets if I don’t [go further]. Here we go. I guess I’m rewriting an episode,” Headland joked.
The Hype Surrounding The Stranger
As it turns out, it was the right move for The Acolyte to have Qimir fully reveal himself, as it has now become one of the highlights of the entire series. Not only were fans shocked that Qimir so easily took out fan-favorites like Yord and Jecki; but they were also impressed by how good Jacinto looked as the character.
Already Twitter was being flooded with all kinds of thirst tweets for Qimir and his arms:
Knowing Star Wars, it’s possible that The Stranger will have one final look before the season ends. Besides the technical reason that Lucasfilm needs another action figure of the character to sell, the concept of evolving outfits has been part of Star Wars ever since the first trilogy.
It’s possible that Qimir could get something of a more streamlined look for his official Sith Lord reveal, and fans would get the reveal of his official "Darth" title.
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