In the era of the High Republic, Jedi answered the call to defend the galaxy from vile marauders known as the Nihil. Among their ranks was young Vernestra Rwoh, a Mirialan prodigy who became a Jedi Knight as a teenager. While she wasn’t considered exceptionally powerful, her resolve and utter devotion to the Force made Vernestra stand apart from the other Padawans. By the time of The Acolyte, Vernestra is serving the Order as a Jedi Master and respected elder.
Get to know Vernestra’s story so far, and see her live-action debut in The Acolyte.
Editor's note: All episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming only on Disney+!
Behind the Scenes
Vernestra Rwoh made her debut in a galaxy far, far away in the 2021 middle-grade novel Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage, penned by Justina Ireland. Readers meet Vernestra when she’s sixteen years old, just one year after she’s completed the Jedi Trials to become one of the youngest Knights in history. (For comparison, Obi-Wan Kenobi became a Jedi Knight at 25 years old.)
As for Vernestra’s signature saber, the purple-bladed lightwhip, Ireland wanted to show how skilled the young Jedi Knight was if she was able to wield such a dangerous weapon. “Everyone’s always like, ‘Vern’s a prodigy!’” says Ireland. “But what makes her special? What makes her different? What did [her Master] Stellan see in her to have her elevated so early that maybe we haven’t seen yet?”
Prodigy
Vernestra Rwoh, like many Jedi, was identified in her infancy as Force-sensitive and went to live at the Jedi Temple to train. She imagined the Force as a vast body of water, like a river flowing into an ocean of possibility. Vernestra became the Padawan of Stellan Gios, a gifted teacher and caring mentor who nurtured her faith in the Force. The Master and apprentice were assigned to the temple on the icy planet of Hynestia. With her Master’s recommendation, she underwent her Jedi trials and passed on the first attempt when she was only fifteen — an age when most younglings were just getting used to being a Padawan. While some other Padawans couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy at her accomplishment, Vernestra never bragged or flaunted her new title among her peers. As expected for a Jedi Knight, she remained humble and dedicated to using her abilities to help others. And while many of her fellow Padawans dealt with confusing feelings of attraction, Vernestra never felt the pull of such attachments.
Her first mission as a Jedi Knight took Vernestra to the outpost at Port Haileap to supervise and protect young Avon Starros, the brilliant daughter of a Republic senator. On the mission she met up with Jedi Master Douglas Sunvale and his Padawan, Imri Cantaros, who was highly attuned to others’ emotions. While Master Sunvale gave the teenaged Knight the moniker “Vern,” he was the only one she permitted to call her that; otherwise, she considered it a terrible nickname. (In time, she would allow close friends to call her Vern.)
When Master Sunvale was lost in an attack by Nihil pirates, Vernestra talked Imri through the anger and grief swirling inside him and took him on as her own Padawan. But Imri wasn’t the only one struggling with a powerful ability. Vernestra started to have visions during hyperspace travel, which led her to Mari San Tekka, a woman held captive by the Nihil for decades.
The Fall
A short time after Vernestra, Imri, and Avon worked together to evacuate the people of Dalna from their dying planet, Vernestra and her Padawan were separated on different missions. Imri was on board Starlight Beacon when the sabotaged station crashed into the ocean of the planet Eiram. The disaster claimed the life of Master Stellan, and Vernestra presumed both Avon and her Padawan were lost as well in the shocking Nihil attack.
Vernestra, already exhausted and overwhelmed with grief, began to lose her conviction after a particularly devastating battle on Genetia. Her faith in the Order, but not in the Force, had faltered, so she chose to become a Wayseeker: a Jedi directed by the will of the Force and not the orders of the Council.
Moving ForwardThe Force eventually guided Vernestra to the planet Ibbe. Populated by a serene species that lived in harmony with nature, the wayward Jedi had finally found a quiet place to regroup and come to terms with everything that happened since the Nihil appeared. As she healed, she trained regularly with the flexible plasma blade of her lightwhip, determined to get stronger.
When Avon tracked Vernestra to the remote planet to ask for her help, the Jedi was shocked to see her — and to hear the news that Imri also survived the fall of Starlight Beacon. She ultimately found Imri on the planet Aricho, where she discovered that Imri was exactly where he was meant to be.
Not long after, Vernestra faced the Jedi Council and answered their many questions about her findings about the Nihil, her hyperspace visions, and what she learned during her time away. She was ready to rejoin the fight as a Jedi Knight.
See the person Vernestra becomes when you see her — and her lightwhip! — in action in The Acolyte. The series, starring Rebecca Henderson as Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, premieres June 4, only on Disney+. And Vernestra returns to the printed page in Temptation of the Force by author Tessa Gratton, available for pre-order now.
Vernestra Rwoh Reading Guide
A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland
Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland
Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland
Tales of Light and Life, “The Force Provides,” by Justina Ireland
Defy the Storm by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland
Temptation of the Force by Tessa Gratton
For more on the making of The Acolyte, discover StarWars.com's full coverage, including:
The Acolyte’s Manny Jacinto Unmasked
Fight Like a Jedi: Inside The Acolyte’s Stunt Sequences and Martial Arts Action
Inside The Acolyte Creature Shop: Meet Bazil, the Tynnan Tracker
Scoring The Acolyte: Composing for the Jedi, the Witches, and the Many Moods of the Stranger
In The Acolyte, Jodie Turner-Smith’s Mother Aniseya is Mothering
For the Love of The Acolyte’s Jecki Lon and Yord Fandar
The Acolyte’s Amandla Stenberg is Ready for the Sisterhood of Star Wars
The Acolyte’s Charlie Barnett is Here for the Yord Horde
“Whatever You Think The Acolyte Is, It’s Not”: Creator Leslye Headland On Her New Star Wars Series
