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Introduction
The Mandalorian is a TV series created by John Favreau and released in 2019 on Disney+.
The show tells the tale of a Mandalorian warrior and bounty hunter making his way through the galaxy five years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire over Endor. The ensuing power vacuum invited criminal syndicates, bounty hunters, imperial remnants, and ostracized groups to exploit it.
According to its writers, The Mandalorian is an attempt at creating a space western. The lone gunslinger is unconcerned with the power struggles elsewhere in the galaxy. The Mandalorian cares only for his beliefs and does what he believes is right by his moral code.
In 2005 George Lucas flirted with the idea of a show about bounty hunters, Mandalorians, and the criminal underworld in the Star Wars universe. The team produced dozens of scripts, but Lucas decided to shelf the project as he believed it would be too costly to film.
Lucasfilm picked Jon Favreau to revive the concept in 2017. Favreau and his crew worked quickly and wrapped up filming the first season in February 2019. The Mandalorian debuted in November 2019 to excellent reviews.
The Story Synopsis in a Three Sentences
A mysterious gunslinger in Beskar armor lives the Way of the Mandalore. His career as a bounty hunter leads him to a defenseless child. The Mandalorian adopts him as a Foundling, and not even the ghosts of the Galactic Empire can get in the way of his mission to take the child back to his kind.
Key Characters (Roles and Motivations)
The Mandalorian
This reserved Mandalorian human follows the Mandalorian creed. He was one of the many orphans from the Clone Wars. A group of Mandalorian commandos rescued him as a Foundling. He lived as part of the orthodox Children of the Watch.
Grogu
A Force-sensitive child wanted across the galaxy. He was a Youngling training with the Jedi Order during the purge but survived and went into exile during most of the Galactic Civil War.
When the Empire fell, imperial remnants headquartered in Nevarro hired bounty hunters to bring Grogu to them.
Greef Karga
Karga is the leader of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild from Nevarro. Karga is protective of his business and is not afraid to use unscrupulous ways to achieve his goals.
Cara Dune
A retired Rebel shock trooper from Alderaan struggled to integrate into the civilian world after the Galactic Civil War ended. Dune works as a mercenary.
Moff Gideon
Gideon is a ruthless imperial commander leading a large imperial remnant. He embodies the nostalgic imperial officer who resents the New Republic due to its affiliations with the Rebel Alliance. Gideon believes no price is too high to restore the order of the imperial days.
Context
Who are the Mandalorians?
The Mandalorians are a clan from the planet of Mandalore in the Outer Rim. The Mandalorian culture revolves around war. The galaxy has always regarded Mandalorians as excellent warriors on par with the Jedi. Mandalore split after the Mandalorian Civil War.
The government under Duchess Satine Kryze reformed the Mandalorians as a pacifist society called the New Mandalorians. The traditionalists disagreed with the new direction and scattered across the galaxy to continue living by their beliefs.
Most Mandalorians off-world took up bounty hunting. This was not a replacement for the principled living Old Mandalorians yearned for, but it was a more honorable way to live than the pacifism of Dutchess Kryze.
Some Mandalorians moved on from living on the planet, but others refused to accept the New Mandalorian direction. Cults and insurgent factions formed in the system.
The insurgents wished to dethrone Satine Kryze and restore the old ways of Mandalore, but clans established parallel societies to continue their practice of the Mandalorian creed.
Children of the Watch
The Children of the Watch are the strictest traditionalist Mandalorian cult. The group disagreed with the direction of Mandalorian society even before the rise of the New Mandalorian faction. The Children of the Watch left Mandalore for Concordia, which helped them survive the Great Purge of Mandalore.
The Foundlings
Mandalorian society prioritized culture and faith over one’s origins. In The Way of the Mandalore, a warrior must always shelter and protect a defenseless child. The child is either raised a Mandalorian or taken to their kind. A Foundling can choose to leave to pursue their destiny or remain a Mandalorian.
The Rise and Fall of Mandalore
In the past, the warring nature of Mandalore sent these warriors on crusades to expand their influence on neighboring systems. The Mandalorian warriors overwhelmed their opponents with their training and morale, but things quickly changed when they reached territory held by the Galactic Republic.
Republican territories had local militaries, but the Jedi Order acted as the grantor of their sovereignty. In combat, Beskar and lightsabers found parity. The skill of their wielders determined the outcomes of battles.
For centuries, Mandalorians and Jedi clashed periodically. The warriors regarded each other as skilled fighters deserving of utmost respect.
In the Old Republic, Tarre Vizsla became the ruler of Mandalore. Vizsla came from Mandalore but joined the Jedi Order in Coruscant before returning to his homeworld.
Vizsla yielded a Darksaber, a unique lightsaber that produced a black blade. The weapon symbolized the union between Mandalorian clans, and only the yielder had the right to govern Mandalore.
After the last clash between Mandalorians and Jedi, the surface of Mandalore turned into a white desert. This disaster forced the warriors to cease their crusades and rebuild their homes. The Galactic Republic never incorporated the Mandalorian homeworld.
Towards the end of the High Republic era, the Mandalorian Civil War broke out between Old and New Mandalorian clans.
The New Mandalorian government under Satine Kryze was the first pacifist faction to rule the planet. Kryze remained neutral during the Clone Wars despite pressure from the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
At the late stages of the Clone Wars, criminal syndicates and rogue Mandalorian factions worked together to kill Satine Kryze and oust the New Mandalorian government.
Coruscant initially felt reluctant but eventually dispatched three Venator-class star destroyers to assist. After a bloody siege, Bo-Katan Kryze became the ruler of Mandalore.
On that same day, the Galactic Republic fell, and the successor Galactic Empire occupied Mandalore and slaughtered its population through indiscriminate bombings.
Millions of Mandalorians perished, and the Darksaber fell into the hands of the Empire. Few clans escaped the purge and went into hiding far away from Mandalore.
Most surviving Mandalorian clans lived a life in exile during the Imperial Era. Even after the Rebel Alliance defeated the Empire and established the New Republic, Mandalorians never revealed themselves in numbers.
Imperial remnants, bounty hunters, and crime syndicates wished to destroy Mandalorian clans, which they saw as a threat to their influence in the underworld.
Key Events Season 1
Chapter 1: The Mandalorian
A silent Mandalorian entered a cantina on the icy planet of Pagodon to pick up a fugitive. “Mando” defeats his challenger. He dragged the bounty to his ship at gunpoint and froze him in carbonite ahead of delivery to Nevarro.
The Mandalorian worked for the Bounty Hunters’ Guild, a group of freelancers led by Greef Karga. The fall of the Empire had dire financial consequences for the Outer Rim territories.
The New Republic stretched thin across the galaxy and had neglected many outlying sectors. Many Outer Rim residents preferred this arrangement as it allowed them to pursue business opportunities outside the scope of republican law.
Most of the bounties on offer by Greef Karga had rewards in imperial credits, a discontinued and increasingly devaluated currency.
However, Karga offered the Mandalorian a special mission. He met the client in secrecy to discuss the details. Mando only received an age and a location but accepted the job nonetheless as the imperial remnant offered him a substantial shipment of Beskar steel.
Mando traveled to Arvala-7, the last known location of his target. With the help of Kuiil, a local retiree hoping to get rid of the criminals disturbing his area.
He teamed up with the IG-11 bounty droid to infiltrate the compound but shot it when the machine insisted on eliminating the bounty. Staying true to the Mandalorian creed, Mando would not allow the execution of a defenseless child.
Chapter 2: The Child
After retrieving the child, the Mandalorian clashed with Trandoshan bounty hunters equipped with tracking fobs leading to his bounty.
His troubles worsened when he found that off-world Jawas had stolen critical components off his ship. Mando failed to retrieve them but struck a deal thanks to mediation from Kuiil.
The Jawas offered to return the parts taken from the ship in exchange for a mudhorn egg. The Mandalorian entered the beast’s den but struggled in combat.
The mudhorn severely damaged his armor and came dangerously close to killing the Mandalorian until the child intervened with the Force. The Mandalorian fatally wounded the mudhorn and retrieved its egg.
Kuiil helped fix the ship but refused an offer to become part of its crew. He and the Mandalorian parted as the bounty hunter left for Nevarro.
Chapter 3: The Sin
The Mandalorian completed his job and delivered the child to the imperial remnant. He inquired about its fate, but the client rebuked him through the Guild code. This code ensured that bounty hunters would not ask questions about their jobs.
The clients delivered a sizeable amount of Beskar steel, as promised. Mando took the reward into the Mandalorian convent. The Armorer forged the Beskar into new armor, replacing the one rendered useless by the mudhorn.
Sporting his new Beskar armor, the Mandalorian met with Greef Karga to discuss the job. He received plenty of praise for completing this highly competitive mission but felt uneasy about things.
The Mandalorian tried to get his mind off the situation by taking up a new task with the Guild, but guilt overwhelmed him.
The Mandalorian infiltrated the imperial hideout and fought his way past the stormtroopers guarding it before rescuing the child. On the way back to the ship, Greef Karga and his bounty hunters ambushed the Mandalorian.
Risking it all to protect one of their own, warriors from his tribe emerged from the catacombs and helped him reach the ship. Karga tried to attack him there, but the Mandalorian removed him and took off with the child.
Chapter 4: Sanctuary
To escape both bounty hunters and imperial remnants, the Mandalorian flew the child into the forests of Sorgan. On arrival, he had an altercation with former rebel shock trooper Cara Dune.
As he prepared the Razor Crest ship for departure, two villagers requested help to defend their settlement against raiders. In exchange, the Mandalorian needed shelter and credits to hire Cara Dune for assistance.
The Mandalorian and Dune settled in the village, and the child became close friends with those living there. During a scouting run, they discovered the raiders had an imperial AT-ST walker at their disposal but failed to persuade the villagers to move. The bounty hunter and the mercenary decided to prepare the locals to fight.
The village successfully destroyed the AT-ST and beat the assailants back to their camp. The Mandalorian wished to leave the child with a woman named Omera but had to change his plans when Cara Dune found a Guild bounty hunter in the forest. He kept the child under his custody and fled the planet.
Chapter 5: The Gunslinger
The Razor Crest sustained damage during a space chase, forcing the Mandalorian to stop in Tatooine for repairs. To pay for the work, he searched for work in a cantina.
The Mandalorian ran into aspiring bounty hunter Toro Calican hoping to join the Guild in Nevarro, and reluctantly agreed to help him capture assassin Fennec Shand.
The pair survived her ambush in the Dune Sea and caught her alive. Fennec persuaded Toro to hand over the Mandalorian, but he shot her instead and left for Mos Eisley.
Toro Calian kidnapped the child and workshop manager Peli Motto in the spaceport. Mando stunned and killed his former Toro before paying Motto and leaving the planet with the child.
Chapter 6: The Prisoner
The search for credits away from the Guild led the Mandalorian to a space station owned by his old acquaintance. He recruited Mando for a raid on a New Republic prison ship, acting as part of a heist team. The Mandalorian had strong reservations about the mission but needed the reward.
A tense standoff led to the death of a republican guard, making the Mandalorian resent the crew. Once they freed the prisoner, the group betrayed Mando and tried to escape without him. The bounty hunter left the cell and divided his opponents before ambushing them individually.
The Mandalorian grabbed the designated prisoner and abandoned the other party members aboard the republican ship. Mando collected his bounty at the station and left it just as republican X-wing fighters attacked it.
Chapter 7: The Reckoning
Life on the run had exhausted the Mandalorian. After the clash in Nevarro, the imperial client took over the town. Greef Karga contacted the Mandalorian, proposing to use the child to enter the area so the two could kill the imperial leader. Karga would call off the bounty on Mando and his protégé as a reward.
The bounty hunter knew the Guild and imperial remnants would not let up. Mando did not trust Karga but accepted the offer. He recruited help from Cara Dune and Kuiil, who had reprogrammed IG-11 as a nurse droid.
The party met Karga and his team in Nevarro and set up camp by nightfall before continuing their trek to the town.
A flying beast attacked their encampment and wounded Greef Karga, but the child healed his wounds. Karga killed the goons he had brought along to return the favor. Karga had planned to murder the Mandalorian and deliver the child to the imperial remnant in exchange for the handsome reward on offer.
The team followed a new plan that Greef Karga proposed. Dune played the role of a bounty hunter working for the Guild, about to deliver the Mandalorian and a decoy carriage to the imperial client. Meanwhile, Kuiil would drive back to the Razor Crest with the child, where IG-11 waited.
The arrival of Moff Gideon foiled their plan. He led a group of troopers to besiege the building and blasted it with heavy fire. Gideon revealed he was after the child. As Kuiil raced to the ship, a pair of scout troopers found and killed him. The child was now in imperial hands.
Chapter 8: Redemption
The scout troopers hesitated to contact Moff Gideon due to his temper. IG-11, following his nurse droid protocol, tracked down and rescued the child. Gideon revealed the identity of Mando as Din Djarin. The Moff had served with the imperial secret police during the Great Purge.
The Mandalorian suggested they run into the sewers where his tribe hid, but they could not break the ventilation grill to reach it.
As Gideon and his men waited, IG-11 broke through the square in a speeder bike. The besieged crew used this opening to counterattack the imperial troops. The diversion bought enough time to open the path to the sewers, but Gideon severely wounded Djarin in the fight.
The Mandalorian vowed to make a last stand while Dune, Karga, and the child ran to the sewers. IG-11 stayed with Djarin. The Mandalorian creed forbade him from ever showing his face, but IG-11 persuaded him as he was a droid rather than another life form.
In the sewers, they found the abandoned Mandalorian hideout. The Empire had killed most of them upon learning of its location.
The Armorer stayed behind to retrieve the Beskar. She figured the child belonged with the Jedi and tasked Djarin with delivering him to them despite the ancient rivalry between both warriors. The Armorer gifted a jetpack and a mudhorn signet to the Mandalorian.
As the Armorer stayed behind, the others sailed into an underground lava river. IG-11 sacrificed himself by self-destructing amongst the imperial troops. When the group emerged, Moff Gideon attacked it in a TIE fighter. Djarin used his new jetpack to cripple the ship and allow his team to escape.
Back at the Razor Crest, the team scattered. Greef Karga offered Djarin and Dune a place in the Guild. The Mandalorian refused, but she took up the offer. Djarin buried his friend Kuiil and left Nevarro to search for the Jedi. Elsewhere, Moff Gideon broke free from the wreck using the Mandalorian Darksaber.
Season 2
Chapter 9: The Marshal
Din Djarin traveled the galaxy after other Mandalorians and the Jedi. After evading a gangster ambush, he learned of a Mandalorian sighting in Mos Pelgo in Tatooine. Using intelligence from Peli Motto, he found Cobb Vanth. He was a man who bought Mandalorian armor and called himself The Marshal.
Djarin brokered a deal to get the armor in exchange for defeating the krayt dragon that harassed the settlement. With the help of Tusken Raiders and Mos Pelgo residents, they killed the dragon using a bantha with bombs as bait. The Marshal handed over his armor as promised.
Chapter 10: The Passenger
In Mos Eisley, the Mandalorian agreed to transport a reptile woman to the estuary moon of Trask in exchange for intelligence on other Mandalorians. They had to travel below light speed as she carried delicate eggs. New Republic fighters intercepted the Razor Crest, forcing Djarin to hide on a nearby ice planet.
The ship sustained heavy damage. As the Mandalorian repaired it, the child unleashed a wave of ferocious white spiders. Djarin tried to take off, but a giant spider held the ship back. The New Republic pilots arrived and killed it with blaster fire.
One of them let on that the Mandalorian was a wanted man for the prison ship heist, but they let him go as he helped trap three criminals and attempted to save the guard.
Chapter 11: The Heiress
The Mandalorian arrived in Trask and received word of three Mandalorians in town. He fell into an ambush, but the Mandalorians found and rescued him. Djarin had an altercation with the group’s leader, Bo-Katan Kryze because they removed their helmets in defiance of the orthodox Way of the Mandalore.
Kryze explained her crew raided ships for imperial weapon supplies in hopes of retaking Mandalore. They cooperated to attack one of the freighters.
Bo-Katan revealed she was after the Darksaber and invited Din Djarin to help her. The bounty hunter refused, staying loyal to the child. Kryze directed him to Corvus, where a Jedi lived.
Chapter 12: The Siege
The Razor Crest flew back to Nevarro for additional repairs. Greef Karga and Cara Dune introduced Din Djarin to the reformed planet. Karga and Dune asked the Mandalorian to help destroy an imperial base on the other side of Nevarro.
The three of them infiltrated the facility and sabotaged the equipment but found a collection of clones. They fled in a hurry due to the lava overflow, without being able to investigate further.
Djarin helped take out fighters chasing Karga, Dune, and their getaway driver. Unbeknownst to the Mandalorian, a mechanic working for Moff Gideon had installed a tracker on his ship.
Chapter 13: The Jedi
The Mandalorian arrived at the city of Calodan in Corvus. He spoke to the Imperial Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth, who offered him a Beskar spear for the murder of Ahsoka Tano. He found the Jedi in the woods and explained the situation.
Ahsoka communicated with the child through the Force. The child’s name was Grogu, and he survived the clone attack on the Jedi Temple in Coruscant.
The pair agreed to raid Calodan and capture Magistrate Elsbeth. Tano needed information about imperial officer Grand Admiral Thrawn, while the Mandalorian wished to retrieve the Beskar spear.
They defeated the guards and subdued Elsbeth. Ahsoka refused to train Grogu herself but gave Djarin the spear and the location of an ancient Jedi temple.
Chapter 14: The Tragedy
As instructed by Ahsoka Tano, Din Djarin and Grogu flew to the temple in Tython. While the child meditated, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand ambushed the Mandalorian. The bounty hunter from Kamino demanded his armor, which Djarin had retrieved from Cobb Vanth.
When an imperial unit came down on Tython, Djarin agreed to give back the armor if Fett and Shand protected Grogu from the Empire. The three neutralized the stormtroopers, but dark troopers sent by Moff Gideon kidnapped the child and fled the sector.
Boba Fett honored his promise to protect Grogu and flew Din Djarin to Nevarro aboard his ship. They recruited Cara Dune, now a Marshal of the New Republic, to release former imperial sharpshooter Migs Mayfeld from prison.
Chapter 15: The Believer
The group retrieved Mayfeld from the Karthon Chop Fields and flew Morak so he could access an imperial terminal and track Moff Gideon. Din Djarin and Mayfeld hijacked a transport and entered the facility.
Djarin had to remove his helmet to obtain data about Gideon’s ship. Mayfeld shot commander Valin Hess and blew their cover. The pair fought their way out, and Mayfeld destroyed the refinery by setting off a chain reaction. As a reward for his help, Marshal Dune let Mayfeld go free.
Chapter 16: The Rescue
The Mandalorian and Cara Dune ambushed an imperial shuttle and caught Dr. Pershing, the imperial scientist who had studied Grogu in Nevarro.
Din Djarin and Boba Fett flew to recruit Bo-Katan Kryze and her group. Fett and Kryze had an altercation, but Djarin defused the situation and enlisted their support in exchange for the Darksaber.
The group boarded the ship with Moff Gideon, who triggered the dark trooper squads. Din Djarin attempted to seal them off while the rest of the party fought to the bridge.
Djarin destroyed one of the dark troopers and released the rest into space through the airlock. He confronted Gideon over Grogu, and the two clashed.
The imperial officer used the Darksaber against the Beskar spear. Djarin subdued Gideon and retrieved both the Darksaber and Grogu.
At the bridge with the rest of the team, Moff Gideon attempted to kill Grogu but hit Djarin. When the officer tried to kill himself, Cara Dune disarmed him.
They spotted a mysterious figure outside the bridge. Din Djarin opened the door despite reservations from the rest, revealing the Jedi Luke Skywalker.
The Jedi Master came to pick up the child, who was reluctant to leave the Mandalorian’s side. Djarin revealed his face to Grogu for the first time and encouraged him to start his training.
After helping the Mandalorian rescue the child, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand flew to Tatooine to settle an old score. The bounty hunter killed Bib Fortuna and took over as the Daimyo of Mos Espa.
FAQs
Question: Is The Mandalorian Getting a Season 3?
Answer: Yes. The third season of The Mandalorian comes out in February 2023, exclusive to Disney+.
Question: Is The Mandalorian Good or Evil?
Answer: The Mandalorian protagonist of the TV show follows a strict interpretation of the Mandalorian Creed and its core values.
Question: Is Boba Fett Related to Din Djarin?
Answer: No. Boba Fett is a clone of his father, Jango Fett. Din Djarin is a Foundling rescued from Aq Vetina after the Confederacy of Independent Systems invaded it.
Question: Is Din Djarin Armor Pure Beskar?
Answer: No. Din Jarin armor is partially Beskar, but it also has parts taken from stormtroopers defeated by the Mandalorian.
Question: Can a Darksaber Cut Through Beskar?
Answer: Neither Darksaber nor lightsaber can cut Beskar. The friction between the blade and the armor can heat the latter considerably, causing injury to the wearer.
The Future
In The Book of Boba Fett, Din Djarin tried to visit Grogu during his training. He could not see the child but left a gift with Ahsoka Tano before departing to Tatooine.
Skywalker asked Grogu whether he wanted to continue his Jedi training or return to the Mandalorian. After deliberating, the child picked the Mandalorian.
R2-D2 helped fly Grogu aboard Skywalker’s X-wing to Mos Eisley. He reunited with the Mandalorian, and the two left in Djarin’s upgraded N-1 starfighter. The future of the two is unclear, but the galaxy is theirs to explore.
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