The Acolyte: How Do Jedi Mind Reading Powers Work?

Warning: The following review contains spoilers for The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 2, “Revenge / Justice.”

One of The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 2’s more memorable scenes sees Master Sol use the Force to probe dark warrior Mae’s mind. So, how exactly do the Jedi mind reading powers featured in The Acolyte work?

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The Acolyte’s Jedi Mind Reading Powers, Explained

Official Star Wars canon is a bit vague on the precise mechanics and limits of the Jedi mind reading powers depicted in The Acolyte. What’s clear is that all fully trained Jedi Knights – as well as Sith Lords and other Force users – have at least some ability to detect the thoughts and feelings of those around them.

For example, in Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader learns that Luke Skywalker has a twin sister via telepathy. It’s not even that difficult to do, as Leia is that front of Luke’s mind due to their strong bond. Even so, Vader doesn’t seem to uncover Leia’s actual identity, possibly because Luke was actively trying to suppress this information at the time.

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Similarly, in the Star Wars prequels, Count Dooku picks up on a range of emotions Vader’s younger, heroic self, Anakin Skywalker, gives off during their duel in Revenge of the Sith. Dooku doesn’t glean any concrete facts from Anakin’s mind, though. As with the previous example, it’s unclear whether Anakin’s own mental powers prevent this.

Finally, more recent Star Wars media boast more aggressive displays of Force-fuelled mind reading powers. Notably, in Star Wars Rebels, Inquisitors unsuccessful attempt to extract intel directly from Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger on more than one occasion – and it’s always unpleasant. Meanwhile, in The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren rips info out Poe Dameron and Rey’s heads. It’s akin to torture, unlike the painless mental probing Sol performs on Mae in The Acolyte.

Are Jedi and Sith Telepathic in the Star Wars Canon?

Yes – but again, Star Wars lore isn’t super clear (or even consistent) on how this works.

Luke engages in different degrees of telepathic communication with Vader and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back. This confirms that Force-sensitive characters – even untrained ones, like Leia – can connect telepathically. But what about non-Force users? According to other canonical sources, that’s a no-go; in 2018 novel Thrawn: Alliances, Anakin fails to hit up his wife, Padmé, telepathically.

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Other instances of Force telepathy include Mace Windu pinging multiple Jedi simultaneously in 2019 comic book Age of Republic Special #1, and Avar Kriss linking up even larger groups in the Star Wars: The High Republic novels and comics. It’s worth noting that Star Wars lore is more bedded down regarding Kriss’ Force networking ability, which it describes as uncommon.

Telepathy also crops up in the Star Wars sequels. Notably, Rey and Kylo Ren repeatedly catch up long-distance in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker – even swapping physical objects! However, Lucasfilm has since chalked up some of this to the pair’s unique Force Dyad status, rather than standard Jedi/Sith telepathy. Emperor Palpatine also proves a formidable telepath, as seen when he bombards Kylo Ren with various voices in The Rise of Skywalker‘s opening sequence.

The Acolyte Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping Tuesdays.