WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Visions Episode 9, "Akakiri," streaming now on Disney+.

While the Sith have terrorized the galaxy throughout the Star Wars saga, their menace waxes and wanes depending upon the source material. "Akakiri," the final episode of Star Wars: Visions, presents a truly terrifying Sith in the form of Masago. While she is physically intimidating, her true power comes from her intelligence and her talent for psychological manipulation.

In Science SARU's "Akakiri," Jedi Knight Tsubaki reunites with his friend, Princess Misa, to help her avenge her father, who has been murdered by her Aunt Masago, a Sith lord. While the depth of their friendship is not fully revealed, a flashback shows that the two became close when Tsubaki helped her family defeat a former enemy, and the two talked about what it would take to bring peace and order to the planet and the galaxy. From the beginning, Tsubaki seems plagued with visions of a masked figure dying, but his resolve is still strong. As Tsubaki and Misa travel with their guides, Kamahachi and Senshuu, Tsubaki asserts that no matter the vision or the legend, "nothing is predestined" and that he is the master of his own fate.

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Tsubaki in Akakiri from Star Wars Visions

The lengths that the unlikely group must take to return to the palace show the iron grip Masago has on the planet. When they finally reach the palace, Tsubaki and Misa's plan to defeat Masago quickly falls apart. Masago captures Kamahachi and Senshuu. Then, when Misa attacks, Masago deflects her arrows easily. Masago briefly engages in a lightsaber duel with Tsubaki, but she criticizes his technique and reveals the captured guides. Throughout the exchange, Masago is calm and collected, adding to her menace.

While Masago is an intimidating presence, her psychological mind games are her true weapon. Throughout their encounter, Masago makes it clear that her goal is to tempt Tsubaki over to the Dark Side. In contrast to Tsubaki, Masago believes that her rise as a Sith has been preordained, and she attributes her murdering her brother as acting in the destined, opportune moment. She states, "[The king] was always going to die because it was written. There is nothing that has not been fated." She claims that Tsubaki is "finally able to see the limitations of the Jedi's power" with how easily she defeated them. She tempts him with power, claiming that the dark side will allow Tsubaki to reach his true potential. She states, "You will join me. It is written. It is your destiny." She invokes the inevitability of destiny to weaken Tsubaki's resolve and to crush his hopes of winning the battle.

Masago also reveals that she is behind the visions that have assaulted Tsubaki throughout the episode. As she speaks of destiny, she forces Tsubaki to have another vision as a red ring forms around his pupil, the trademark red ring of the Sith. Tsubaki has a flashback to another, older Jedi, presumably Tsubaki's master, warning Tsubaki to send someone else to help Misa. The Jedi tells Tsubaki that Tsubaki will be tempted and fall if he returns to the planet, and no one will be able to save him. When Tsubaki opens his eyes, the red has spread throughout his iris. While this could indicate Tsubaki's fall, it also seems as if Masago is infecting Tsubaki with the dark side, quickening his downward slide.

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Star Wars: Visions

Tsubaki makes one last stand against Masago, the visions and the idea of destiny, but that stand ultimately is his downfall. The entire screen is awash in shades of red as Tsubaki strikes down Masago's masked guards, without any care for whether they are actually fighting back. In his rage, Tsubaki does not notice that Masago is puppeteering the final masked figure forward with the Force, and he is horrified to discover after his frenzy that it was Misa. Masago uses Misa's death as the final step in her plan to turn Tsubaki. She promises him power if he serves as her right hand, offering him a chance to bring order. She claims that they will use their power to "protect" the planet and everyone on it, including Misa.

Finally, in a move echoing Palpatine's manipulation of Anakin Skywalker, Masago offers Tsubaki the power to bring Misa back from the dead if he joins her, and Tsubaki accepts. However, unlike Palpatine and Anakin's deal, Masago actually follows through on her promise, and working together, Masago and Tsubaki resurrect Misa. However, as they do so, a mist seems to travel up Tsubaki's hand, indicating that his fall to the dark side is already changing him. Misa, horrified, asks Tsubaki what he has done, and Tsubaki replies, "I did what had to be done." He leaves Misa behind as he follows Masago to her ship, raising his cloak to cover his face as his fall becomes complete.

Even though Tsubaki's attempts to avoid his fate seem to have brought his descent to the dark side to fruition, his descent was still not inevitable. Instead, it was part of a carefully constructed and executed plan by Masago that included a great deal of psychological manipulation. Part of Masago's power and what truly makes her terrifying comes from her ability to convince other people that there is no use fighting back against her. Therefore, Masago shows that what makes the Sith truly terrifying is not physical force, but instead intense manipulation and the ability to infect their victims, either metaphorically or literally, with the idea that the dark side is the only answer.

To see what makes the Sith so terrifying, watch Star Wars: Visions, now streaming on Disney+. 

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