Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for The Acolyte season 1 finale, so proceed with caution.
Star Wars: The Acolyte’s Finale was phenomenal in many ways. Aside from having one of the most exhilarating lightsaber duels in all of Star Wars movie and TV history, The Acolyte’s Episode 8 had several moments that made many Star Wars fans gape in awe, such as Osha force choking Sol while bleeding his kyber crystal as well as Yoda’s quick appearance.
Many fans may wonder why Yoda isn’t involved in the story if there have been recent Jedi deaths and why he couldn’t sense what was happening.
Two words: Force Concealment.
Throughout The Acolyte, it is shown that the Jedi are struggling within their selves and the order as a whole.
With too much distrust in the Jedi Order and hidden motives within each of the Jedi who went to Brendok, the Force can be considered cloudy during that time, similar to what happened to Yoda and the others during the prequels when Palpatine hid from them in plain sight.
While Yoda is considered to be one of the strongest Jedi Masters, the Jedi are still reliant on their connection with the Force.
Force Concealment or Force Stealth is a Force ability that highly skilled Force-sensitive users use to hide or conceal their Force Alignment.
Many instances of Force Concealment were shown in the movies, such as Yoda hiding himself in Dagobah after the events of Order 66. He would have been one of the Sith’s most wanted list, but he went unnoticed for almost 20 years.
Similar to how Jedi use this ability, the Sith can also utilize this particular skill, considering how Palpatine was able to hide his alignment despite having the Jedi Grand Temple built on top of a Sith temple back in Coruscant.
In addition, Yoda isn’t able to sense Anakin turning to the dark side during the events in the prequels, although he senses that Anakin has a troubled mind because of his past.
It appears that aside from the Sith’s Force Concealment, the Force has been starting to tip out of balance since the High Republic era.
This is also supported by how Vernestra covered up Sol’s death to avoid the scrutiny of the senate; the Jedi themselves are swaying against their core beliefs and practices to avoid the light of truth.
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