The Sith Lord of The Acolyte has already become an iconic Star Wars villain, and a lot of his popularity is thanks to his mysterious helmet. The Acolyte episodes 5 and 6 revealed quite a bit about the show's new Sith Lord, from the secrets of his past to the way he fought. Those episodes also had some great information about the Stranger's gear, like his new Sith lightsaber and, most importantly, his helmet. The Stranger's helmet is one of the most recognizable parts of his character, so Star Wars has fittingly delved quite deeply into it.

The Stranger's helmet has already served a few purposes over the course of The Acolyte. It helped conceal his multiple secret identities - he's known as Qimir, the Stranger, and the Sith Lord - from the Jedi on Olega. It also proved extremely useful during the battle on Khofar, as the Stranger used his helmet to shut down the Jedi's lightsabers. Those benefits came as a huge shock to the Jedi of The Acolyte, but the Star Wars show has since explained how the Sith Lord's helmet could be so versatile, and all the things that make it so unique.

The Sith Lord's Helmet Is Made Of Cortosis

One of the main features of the Stranger's helmet is that it can shut down lightsabers just by making contact with the blade, albeit temporarily. This gave the Stranger a huge advantage in The Acolyte episode 5 during the battle on Khofar, as it allowed him to completely surprise and overwhelm the Jedi. The reason the Stranger's helmet could shut down lightsabers is because it was made of cortosis ore. Cortosis is a lightsaber-resistant material that has been in both Star Wars Legends and canon for years, but The Acolyte marked its first live-action appearance.

Essentially, cortosis can absorb a huge amount of energy, which allows it to short-circuit a lightsaber for a few minutes. That makes cortosis a great anti-lightsaber weapon, but it also had a few other advantages. As the Sith Lord confirmed in The Acolyte episode 5, cortosis could essentially block other Force users from reading the wearer's mind. That prevented the Jedi from using mind tricks on the Stranger, but it also helped him in a much more subtle way.

The Helmet Helps The Sith Lord Focus In The Force

As the Stranger explained in The Acolyte episode 6, his helmet also acted as a sensory deprivation device. It only had a small opening for his eyes to look through, and when Osha put the helmet on, most of the sounds around her were muffled, and only her breathing was audible. That meant the Stranger was completely relying on the Force any time he had his helmet on, as none of his other senses gave him much information. The sensory deprivation aspects of his helmet likely helped him with this, as they cut out distractions and required him to fully trust his connection to the Force.

While the Stranger's use of the Force instead of his senses is unusual, it's far from the first time a character has done so in Star Wars. Jedi younglings often wore helmets that blocked out their senses during their training. Those helmets helped them do exactly what the Stranger did: rely completely on the Force. Additionally, Kanan Jarrus used the Force to see in Star Wars Rebels, but he did so because he had previously been blinded. The Stranger's lack of senses is hardly unprecedented, but he is unique in that he relied solely on the Force in the heat of battle by choice.

The Sith Lord's Helmet Is Very Fragile

The Stranger's helmet proved to be a huge asset in battle, but it also had some weaknesses. Along with its rarity, cortosis ore had another major drawback: it was extremely brittle and weak. Cortosis was capable of absorbing a huge amount of energy, but it was terrible at blocking physical attacks. Even a normal physical attack would often shatter cortosis, which is how Jecki Lon was able to break the Stranger's helmet off his head in The Acolyte episode 5. Since she used the back end of her lightsaber instead of the blade, Jecki took advantage of cortosis' weakness to physical attacks.

The brittle nature of cortosis was also a problem that clearly plagued the Stranger for a long time. His helmet had multiple cracks and signs of damage, and The Acolyte episode 6 showed he had to repair it after the battle on Khofar. Based on how often it was damaged and repaired, it seems the Sith Lord's helmet was meant to be a deceptive trick more than actual armor he relied on. If it broke, as it so often did, the Stranger would simply fall back on one of the several other weapons in his arsenal, like his forbidden lightsaber combat form.

Why Does The Sith Lord's Helmet Have A Creepy Grin?

There's one other aspect of the Stranger's helmet that stands out quite clearly: the metallic grin on its face. The helmet's smile remains the most mysterious part of its design, but there have been a few clues as to what purpose it could serve. Given the sensory deprivation characteristics the Stranger's helmet has, it's possible the helmet's grin is actually a cybernetic respirator that helps him breathe. Blocking out all his senses would require a fairly tight fit to the Stranger's head, and the respirator may be a way to get oxygen into the helmet without requiring ventilation that would let in light and sound.

The immense power the Sith Lord wielded in The Acolyte made him truly dangerous, but his helmet made him truly terrifying.

It's also possible that the grin on the Stranger's helmet is entirely aesthetic. The smile certainly gives off a chilling and unsettling feeling, and it's possible the Sith Lord designed his helmet specifically to intimidate and disorient his opponents. Several of the Jedi, like Sol and Jecki, referred to the Stranger as a thing instead of a person, which could be exactly how he wanted them to think of him. The Acolyte's showrunner, Leslye Headland, also supported this idea when she told Entertainment Weekly that the grin was supposed to be a "smile that lasts too long, and was meant to be really unsettling to the Jedi."

The Stranger's helmet is the most obvious sign of his power, but it was far from the only weapon at his disposal. Qimir was a master deceiver and manipulator. His tricks let him slaughter seven Jedi on Khofar, but his lies let him turn Mae, and likely Osha as well, to the dark side. The Stranger also seemed to be extremely powerful in the dark side of the Force - he would have to be to rely on it fully instead of his eyes. The immense power the Sith Lord wielded in The Acolyte made him truly dangerous, but his helmet made him truly terrifying.

New episodes of The Acolyte premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+.