Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 5, “Night.”
Mae Aniseya’s Sith Master goes toe-to-toe with several Jedi Knights in The Acolyte‘s latest installment, “Night.” During the fight, more than one lightsaber shorts out after connecting with the sneaky Sith’s helmet – so, how does that work?
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The Acolyte Sith Master’s Cortosis Helmet, Explained
The Sith Master’s helmet shorts out lightsabers in The Acolyte because it’s made out of cortosis. What’s cortosis? It’s an extremely rare metal that’s not only capable of shrugging off lightsaber attacks but also causes the Jedi weapons to temporarily malfunction. The latter property is how we know the Sith Master’s headgear was fashioned from cortosis, not another laser sword-resistant substance. Even though the word “cortosis” isn’t uttered on-screen in The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 5, it’s the only material in Star Wars canon that causes sabers to sputter on contact.
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Named or not, The Acolyte marks the first live-action appearance of cortosis in Star Wars history. That’s somewhat surprising, given cortosis arrived on the scene almost 30 years ago. 1998 Expanded Universe novel I, Jedi added the metal to the franchise mythos, and it subsequently appeared in a range of books, comics, and video games. (Incidentally, Star Wars video games typically ignored cortosis’ shorting out effect on lightsabers). Cortosis briefly disappeared from official Star Wars continuity after Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, however, 2014 novel A New Dawn soon reinstated its canonical status.
Can Anything Else Besides Cortosis Block a Lightsaber?
Yep – and we’ve seen several of these saber-proof substances on screen. The electrostaffs wielded by General Grievous and his droid bodyguards in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: The Clone Wars are made out of lightsaber-resistant alloy Phrik. Darth Vader’s durasteel-reinforced shoulder pad stopped Luke Skywalker from lopping off his arm in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. And then there’s beskar: the alloy Mandalorians use to make their armor. Beskar (and its ability to block saber blows) features prominently in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka.
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Other, lower-profile lightsaber-resistant substances in current Star Wars canon include armorweave and kohlen crystals. Armorweave is a fabric that (somehow) provides partial protection from sabers. For example, Captain Phasma rocks an armorweave cape in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Meanwhile, Kohlen crystals can generate saber-deflecting energy shields, as depicted in 2019 novel Master & Apprentice. Again, what separates all these materials from cortosis is their effect (or lack thereof) on lightsabers.
The Acolyte Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Tuesdays.
Published: Jun 26, 2024 09:20 am