Star Wars: One Character In The Acolyte Trailer Has Fans…

Summary

Mother Aniseya's role as a witch in the upcoming Star Wars: The Acolyte has fans buzzing with speculation.
The Acolyte may introduce an expansion on witchcraft lore, potentially beyond just the Nightsisters on Dathomir.
The appearance of Mother Aniseya raises questions about the existence of non-Nightsister witches in the Star Wars universe.

A newly-revealed Star Wars character may have just single-handedly expanded the lore of this already galaxy-spanning franchise. Now, fans are curious what it could mean going forward.

The new trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte has fans all abuzz with speculation, conversation, and several other -ations now that they finally have their first full glimpse at the highly-anticipated series. By all accounts, it appears to be priming itself as one of the freshest new takes on the formula, set during a little-explored time period and featuring tons of new characters. But while fans have been sharing their enthusiastic desires for The Acolyte, they've also been discussing what certain new elements seen in the trailer could mean. This is a fandom, after all.

One fan on the Star Wars Cantina subreddit immediately picked up on a blurb from the official StarWars.com description of a certain new character. A new figure known as Mother Aniseya is seen briefly in the trailer for The Acolyte, already prompting plenty of wonder surrounding her role. But things got even more interesting when she was described as a witch. That might perk up a few ears among fans already familiar with a certain other witchy faction in the franchise. So now there's a new question: are the Nightsisters of Dathomir no longer the only witches in Star Wars?

"Mother Aniseya is the leader of a coven of Witches who value their independence and the preservation of their beliefs and powers."

This question opened up some lively discussion among fans, who were more than happy to quickly accept the idea of such an expanded idea. The Nightsisters have been part of the Star Wars lore since even the now non-canon Legends days, existing in an interesting gray area where they practiced their own brand of The Force without ties to the Jedi or Sith. But as several fans pointed out, there used to be tons of different Nightsister factions across the planet of Dathomir in Legends, even before the Nightsisters showed up in Ahsoka as part of an entirely different galaxy. Now, it seems the idea may be finally returning to the official lore, and many are happy about the introduction of more nuance to the largely binary "light and dark" vibes of the franchise.

"They did in legends. The nightsisters were one of many groups of witches on dathomir. IMO, we haven’t even seen all the types of nightsister, just talzins coven. "

"Don’t see why not. Side note: I really like how Canon has made more factions for the light and dark side outside of the Jedi and Sith."

The Nightsisters have had a rough go of it in official Star Wars canon. As natives of the planet Dathomir (where Darth Maul hails from), they were largely content to keep to themselves and practice their magic and led by the intimidating Mother Talzin. But eventually, the Clone Wars found their way to their world, dragging them into the conflict when one witch, the Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress, returned there for aid in her revenge after being betrayed by her former master Count Dooku. The betrayal went even further, as Dooku then proceeded to nearly genocide the entirety of the Nightsister civilization with the help of General Grievous.

Does the appearance of Mother Aniseya mean that witchcraft is alive and well in the Star Wars universe? Granted, The Acolyte is set 100 years prior to The Phantom Menace, long before the Dathomir genocide. But if the practice existed elsewhere even long ago, then they could still be around decades later. Perhaps people like Ventress and the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Nightsister Merrin aren't quite as alone in the galaxy as they thought.