The second episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian finally takes center stage on the home planet of the Mandalorians: Mandalore. But what is this about? The dialogues between Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) contain many allusions and discarded fragments of information. To understand everything that’s important about the episode and why we may have even seen the “Star Wars” counterpart of the dinosaurs in this episode and alluded to sci-fi classics like “Planet of the Apes”, it’s worth worth giving a little history lesson.
Mandalore: a planet full of dangers
Thousands of years ago, in the ‘Star Wars’ canon, the first humans to come from Coruscant settled on the alien planet … and facing many dangers. Numerous deadly creatures already lived there – the current episode shows that this is still the case. Above all, the newcomers had to defend themselves against the mythosaurs. The gigantic prehistoric creatures were partially tamed by them. Even today, symbols on armor and flags depict large animal skulls from this period.
According to legend, these first humans were led by a man named Mandalor. This led to the planet being named after him, the people calling themselves “the children of Mandalore” or “Mando’ade”, who became the Mandolarians.
Numerous deposits of the rare metal beskar have also been found on Mandalore. The people of Mandalore used it to build armor. With these resources, the Mandalorians became a war people, making their living as bounty hunters and mercenaries.
Mandalore: a planet full of wars
War played a major role. The people of Mandalore fought the Jedi a lot, as we were told many times in the first season of The Mandalorian. But mostly they fought among themselves. The planet was riddled with internal strife – until Tarre Vizsla came along. He was the first Mandalorian to be accepted into the Jedi Order. During his time there, he crafted the Darksaber. He then left command to conquer his home planet and succeeded, uniting all the different clans under one (his) leadership for the first time.
We are still more than 1,000 years before the events we now see in The Mandalorian. After Tarre Vizsla’s death, the Jedi took the sword for safekeeping, though it was eventually stolen from the Temple by Viszla’s descendants. Mandalore fell back to ancient times. The planet continued to be ravaged by internal wars.
The Great Civil War on Mandalore
At one point, the planet was so devastated that a new attempt at unification and peace was made. The Mandalorian Jaster Merell initiated reforms and developed a set of rules with the Supercommando Codewhich was supposed to put an end to internal disputes, appealed to everyone’s honor and thus also banned the offering of its own services to criminal clans. We’re now relatively close in time to the events of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy just a few decades earlier. For example, a young Jango Fett, the template for all clones, as well as his “son” Boba Fett, belonged to Merell.
But not everyone wanted to go along with Merell’s reforms. A group calling themselves the Death Guard, led by a man named Tor Vizsla, declared war on Merell – a great civil war ensued, claiming countless lives and in which the Death Guard even used the Jedi, who, led by Dooku, were a real carnage among Merell’s followers.
Mandalore: a very short period of peace
Young Duchess Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan’s older sister, now so important in “The Mandalorian”, managed to rebuild her home after these wars. She wanted to lead Mandalore to a new, peaceful existence, which is why the planet took a neutral position at the time of the Clone Wars.
The Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had a crush on Satine, support her. But the Deathguard was not defeated. A Mandalorian named Pre Vizsla, who, like Tor Vizsla, considered himself the legitimate successor to Tarre Vizsla, rebuilt them on one of the planet’s moons and, with the support of the Separatists, plotted their takeover. At his side is the young Bo-Katan.
In the animated series “Star Wars The Clone Wars’ we see a lot of these events. This is where the Darksaber reappears. Pre Viszla owns it and bases his claim to power on it. Here we learn that many Mandalorians are willing to unquestioningly follow the person who wields the sword.
Darth Maul rules Mandalore
Pre Viszla did not initially engage in open conflict, instead weakening Satine’s position with terrorist attacks. He hoped to provoke the Republic’s intervention and then free the planet so that Satine’s followers would join him as well. When that didn’t work he joined Darth Maul, for which he paid a high price. Although Pre Viszla briefly became the ruler of Mandalore and was able to capture Satine Kryze, Maul killed him. The Sith took over the Darksaber and claimed dominion over Mandalore for themselves. This led to the split in the Death Guard. Among other things, Bo-Katan did not want to follow Darth Maul and resisted the foreign invader.
We are also still here during the storyline of the prequels and the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. With Maul also killing Satine in front of Obi-Wan, who now rules Mandalore, the Republic was forced to intervene. She freed Mandalore, making Bo-Katan Kryze the new ruler of her homeland – but that didn’t last long.
The destruction of the planet Mandalore
After all, the empire arose at the same time as the claim to rule over everything. But Bo-Katan saw no need to subdue himself and Mandalore. Another great war followed, of which the Night of a Thousand Tears, which was also mentioned in “The Mandalorian”, is best known. This is where the Empire bombarded the planet, killing all the Mandalorians who couldn’t escape. The rest of the humans have since spread across the galaxy, living in small enclaves, as we saw at the beginning of Season 3 of The Mandalorian, for example.
Since the Night of a Thousand Tears, the planet has been considered uninhabitable and the atmosphere has been poisoned. In the second episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian, we learn that this is not the case at all. Life on Mandalore is possible again, a new settlement can come, a return. The planet appears to be in a similar state to when humans first came to Mandalore. It’s also a fun take on a popular sci-fi motif, with humanity returning to a once destroyed Earth where life is now more or less starting over (see Planet of the Apes, Battlestar Galactica).
Bad in “The Mandalorian”: The Return of the Mythosaurs?
In the current episode “The Mandalorian”, Mandalore also looks like a Stone Age world. The creatures that attack Din Djarin are the first to resemble Neanderthals with their clubs. At the same time, however, we see that advanced technology is also present here, as evidenced by the creature that captures him.
And the giant monster that can be seen briefly underwater at the end of the episode when Din is rescued by Bo-Katan is particularly interesting. Is it a mythosaurus? Did the primal wise men, believed to be extinct, survive or did they emerge? It could be a hint that now that the story starts all over again, a new person must conquer the people of this planet and tame the mythosaurs. A new Mandalor is needed…
Who will be the new Mandalor? Does the dark saber decide?
The planet’s repopulation could be an important part of The Mandalorian Season 3’s story. The Darksaber will probably play the decisive role in this. For many Mandalorians, the lightsaber now claims the throne over their home world. This was again evident in the season opener when Bo-Katan explained that she had been abandoned by all of her minions for not returning the sword.
It can also lead to the major conflict between the two characters. After all, Bo-Katan wants to rule itself. For that she needs the Darksaber. However, now that Din Djarin owns it, he can lay claim to the throne – although he has no interest in it yet. Most Mandalorians would probably follow him.
Although Bo-Katan has now saved Din Djarin’s life, this does not mean that the two remain allies. In the end, she follows the part of faith that is convinced that the dark saber must be won in single combat. It was in her interest to save Din Djarin first so that she would have the opportunity to fight him later.
We can’t wait to see what the next episode of “The MandalorianIt continues March 15, 2023 on Disney+.