#i have not seen bobf

[phoenixkaptain]

Thinkin bout Cryptid Luke…

A few ideas I have…

Luke in Legends’ continuity rebuilt the Jedi Order, but in Disney’s continuity, he did not. And while I strongly dislike Disney’s version of Old Luke, I do like the idea in my head of a lone Jedi operating without any Order (which is not what Disney’s Luke is, so I guess there’s nothing really there…)

Like, in the days of the Old Republic, you had to ask the Jedi for help. The Jedi sometimes stumbled on problems, yes, but they mostly responded to cries for help.

Luke doesn’t have that option. Yes, he can respond when a Force Sensitive calls for help with magic rocks, but for the most part, he is just wandering. He is going where the Force guides him. He is just… not there, blink, there.

I like the idea that things go to shit, Luke shows up in his ominous black hood, Luke solves the problem, then Luke vanishes as quickly as he came, with no trace he was ever there.

However, side idea: Luke travels with his motley crew of children. But, THEY are ALSO crypids!

Like, you are a citizen of some planet. You are just standing on a corner, waiting for a space bus, looking at a space newspaper, and you glance up and see an ominously cloaked figure standing on the opposite side of the street. You cannot make out any features. It is dark out, and he is standing beneath a space streetlight, but all the light does is cast his face further into shadow.

Quickly, you look back down, hoping that the ominous shape across the street hasn’t noticed you. You feel a chill run down your spine. You sneak a glance back up, only to find that there is another black-cloaked figure, standing right beside the first. It is half the first’s height, but it’s also cloaked in darkness.

You look down again. You hear a noise, like moving fabric, and look back up, worried the pair is approaching, only to find another small, ominous shape has joined the first two beneath the space streetlight. You can’t bring yourself to look away, and so watch as another black-cloaked figure emerges from behind the tallest one, the first one.

Finally, the shape moves as though inclining its head. You feel your heart begin to race as it slowly turns to face you, and the streetlights finally illuminate a mouth. A mouth that is baring a smile full of sharp teeth, right towards you.

A space bus suddenly drives past, blocking your view for only a second. But, as the bus passes, the four shapes are gone. Vanished without a trace. The streetlight goes out. You decide that you should never smoke death sticks again, despite the fact that you have never smoked a single death stick in your entire life.

(Luke was going to the grocery store with his children. He was just trying to wait for them to catch up, since he got lost in thought trying to figure out how many vegetables to get. He noticed that the person across the street seemed scared, and so tried to smile reassuringly, but there was a noise in a back alley that he and his three students darted over to check out. It’s a cat. The four of them are very pleased.)

Or, I like to think that there’s a rumour that if you say “Skywalker” in an Imperial base, Luke Skywalker will show up and destroy the place. Most of the Stormtroopers and older people are like “psh, yeah right. Jedi can’t hear their name across the galaxy.”

But, slowly but surely, the whispers of Skywalker’s name are dying out. Because he. Keeps. On. Appearing. Right after anyone says his name, even if it’s in a whisper.

(Luke just so happened to be in the area. It was the will of the Force ¯\ _(ツ)_/¯ )

There are so many options for Cryptid Luke! So! Many! Options! This man does not know how to enter a conversation like a normal person, he just appears from the shadows and scares people. Most of the galaxy think he’s just a myth created by the New Republic and the Empire. The leftover Jedi themselves think that he’s just a myth made up by the New Republic and the Empire. Nobody believes he exists aside from the people who have seen him, but even they are half convinced that they made him up.

I just would like Luke to randomly show up, kill some Imperials, scare some other Imperials, adopt another child, then go home. It’s my ideal.

[casiavium]

13, 24, and 29 for Sabine Wren from Star Wars: Rebels!

Ooo okay so I don't know that much about Rebels but I am excited for her in Ahsoka because she's hot

13. Your favorite friendship they have

So to be completely honest everything I know about her is from the best of Sabine Wren compilation I just watched asdfghjkl but from the tabloid rumors I read when I looked her up: Ahsoka, because I want to see what they do together in the upcoming show

14. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

Oh man I don't think I know enough about her to answer lol.

15. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?)

Once again from the five minute clip I just watched I think she'd be a kick ass mom, however from the articles I've read, I don't think that's ever gonna happen asdfghjnl

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

Just realized that what happened to Din Djarin in Season Three was the same thing they did to Boba Fett in those last three episodes of The Book of Boba Fett.

[mimomentomori]

DinLuke Hot Take

So I've seen some posts going around regarding characterization of this pairing, specifically Din, but I wanted to put my two cents in for the other half of the pairing.

Luke.

As much as I adore the Sunshine X Grumpy dynamic (and they are the epitome of that dynamic cmon) I do see a large amount of folks pushing the 'Sunshine' trait to the absolute max that it almost takes away Luke's autonomy. And in some cases infantiles him. That's not good.

This man is a war veteran, martyr in the making, the 'Last Jedi' as of the ROTJ/Mando/BoBF timeframe. He's seen and done things that have proven his mettle many times and left him scarred both emotionally and physically. Most importantly he's a full-ass adult with complex emotions and traumas that affect his relationships.

The beauty of this pairing for me is seeing how the typical 'Sunshine' character can still carry that darkness and learn to confront it and grow with those emotions as opposed to detach themselves from it (looking at you sequels). Din, being emotionally repressed but in a different manner, gets to grow with Luke as opposed to Din just taking care of Luke's issues 'magically' by being with him. It doesn't work like that and can too easily read as problematic.

In my mind, Din falls for Luke both for his strengths (looking that hot in Gucci and Chanel while kicking ass is peak Mando bait fight me) but also for how he carries his faults. How they've made him grow and mature into the badass warrior he is while still leaving him kind and compassionate. He wants to be there for his weakest days but only when Luke learns to ask for it. And simultaneously, he learns to be a more compassionate and forgiving person by proxy.

Fuck I love this pairing ;;

[the-starry-seas]

So this whole BOBF AU started because I saw a meme on reddit and proceeded to take it seriously

So Boba of course has all those problems about being a clone, and of course all those problems about his dad being dead. Being a Fett just means having issues in general, right? I mean we've all seen Jango.

Boba is doing his perfectly normal daimyo thing when the Hutt twins show up with their tribute. Instead of a rancor - in this AU, the rancor was left behind by the former daimyo that Boba shot - the Hutt twins have a clone. Specifically, they have a clone made from Boba's DNA, rather than Jango's. They specify this when they drop him off.

Boba understands this as the implied threat it is. Someone who has his DNA without him realising it... nope, he has to dig into that and kill whoever is responsible.

He also has an extremely traumatised eight-year-old. The new kid's designation is 'Clone Experiment Prime'. Which is a little long for a name so they (Boba, Fennec, Din) call him Prime. They also start trying to figure out where Prime came from.

Eventually they figure everything out, destroy the facility, destroy the remaining DNA sample, and then go and kill the Hutt twins. It's a win for everyone involved! Well, everyone in the Fett clan.

And then Boba has to go back to Tatooine and deal with Prime. He does not want to be a father. He does not want to deal with a kid. He does ask if maybe Din wants to adopt Prime. Din essentially says "What's wrong with you? Get your shit together and step up for your new kid."

Meanwhile Prime is well aware that Boba does not want him around. Sure, Boba hasn't said anything where Prime can hear, but Boba's default way of dealing with new things is to be closed off and aloof, and that's not exactly reassuring. Prime's general takeaway from all this is I wasn't good enough for the scientists, so it's no wonder I'm not good enough for my father.

Besides, Boba has Fennec and Din, and Din has Grogu, so it doesn't seem like any of them have any need for Prime. Fennec and Din pay attention to him, sure, but they don't exactly seem to care. They don't ever tell him that he's wanted.

So the tiny, scared, angry clone who's never known love a day in his life... runs. He was abandoned in the science facility, so he thinks he knows how to survive on his own. Turns out that things are much more dangerous on Tatooine than one might expect.

It's not long before Boba realises that Prime is missing, and he then assumes that Prime was kidnapped. He promptly starts asking around in the criminal underworld. By which I mean he shoots a bunch of people and makes a bunch of threats, because he's Boba Fucking Fett and he's pissed off.

When a crew of lowlifes run across Prime, they recognise him as the daimyo's missing kid, and figure there's a great reward in it for them if they bring him back to the palace. Prime does not want to go back to the palace. This is completely irrelevant to the lowlifes, who drag him off, quite literally kicking and screaming.

Boba is not impressed with the way they're treating Prime, and promptly commits more violence.

This does not endear him any to Prime, who's well aware that Boba doesn't like him, and figures he's going to be next because of all the trouble he's caused. His attempt at running for his life is thwarted by Boba catching him.

Boba is not prepared for Prime to break down crying, or for Prime to swear he'll leave and never come back, if only Boba won't hurt him.

Boba reluctantly decides that if he's going to be anything like his father before him... he's gonna have to adopt the kid.

This starts an extremely tense father-son relationship, which Boba proceeds to mess up multiple times, because he has no idea what he's doing. And because he doesn't really want to be a dad in the first place, but he knows that if Prime does run off on his own, he's just going to become another target as soon as anyone figures out his connection to Boba. (Also Boba has daddy issues and abandonment issues, and something something healing your inner child, but in this case it's a child clone of you.)

Upon being treated with kindness for the first time in his life, Prime becomes the sort of clingy that is generally reserved for baby koalas. Boba is hardly the best dad, or even a good dad, really. But he cares about what happens to Prime, and ensures that nobody has a chance to hurt him, and gets him a good education and a pet massiff and a coat that protects him from the sand and a bed that's soft. Prime thinks that Boba's pretty great.

He also starts panicking extremely when he starts thinking that he's a girl, because Boba always calls him 'son' and 'boy' and 'him', and there will surely be some problems in the family if Prime is suddenly none of those things.

Once again, having been forced to be self-sufficient at a young age due to neglect, Prime's solution to all this is to run away, because if nobody knows where she is, they won't be able to hurt her.

Once again, Boba thinks that someone's kidnapped Prime and kills people about it, because if anybody's laid a hand on his kid, they're going to regret it.

Fortunately nobody else finds Prime this time around. Possibly because they're all aware that Boba's on the warpath, and they don't want to get in the middle of that. Or maybe it's just because she's gotten better at hiding, and also has a massiff with her who looks ready to rip the face off of anyone who looks at her wrong.

Boba finds her a few days later and is not pleased with any part of this situation. (He's also been scared shitless by the idea that slavers got their hands on his kid, but god forbid he feel a normal human emotion, so he's covering all that up with rage.)

Anyway, Boba and Prime end up in a screaming match in the street, because Boba thinks Prime is absolutely bonkers for running away from home again, and because of the aforementioned rage cover.

He's also stunned speechless when Prime finally shrieks at him that she ran away from home because she's a girl and he wants a son.

In the most exasperated and baffled tone known to man, he tells her that he doesn't care if he has a daughter or a son, he just wants her to be safe. (And in that moment, maybe, he's the most like his father that he ever will be.)

Prime is also stunned speechless by this, because she genuinely thought that Boba would discard her the second she no longer lived up to his expectations. That's what the scientists did, and it's the only frame of reference she has, for failure.

Upon realising that he's not like the scientists, she immediately starts crying. Boba immediately starts panicking, because he thinks she's been hurt. He somehow panics even more when she flings herself at him and hugs him, because he has no idea what to do about any of this. Eventually he picks her up and carries her home.

Boba has exactly zero idea how to support his daughter in her social transition. She can do whatever she wants, obviously. But it seemed to be a pretty big problem, so he feels like he has to say something. So he tells her that he'll do whatever she wants, if it will help, and asks if maybe she can talk to him if there's any problems, instead of running away again. (He's over thirty so like. His knees. Please have mercy on his knees. He can't keep running around like that.)

Prime decides that she wants a new name, because being called Prime always went hand in hand with being called a boy. Also it reminds her of the lab she was raised and then abandoned in, and she doesn't really like that. She asks if Boba will help her look for a new one, and Boba is internally actually kinda excited by this because it seems like a gesture of trust from her.

She decides to change her name to Prim, short for Primrose. Boba has some questions about that, because wasn't the point of changing her name... well, to be different than before? But he doesn't ask, because he doesn't want another runaway episode, and also she seems really happy with it. Anything to make his daughter happy.

(Being eight years old, Prim does not have the vocabulary to explain why she changed her name so slightly. It's about claiming what once signified her lack of autonomy, and making it part of her identity once she's allowed to have one. Prim is a similar word to Prime. That's the point. She's so similar to what she once was - when she was a scared, abandoned boy in an old lab, certain of nothing but a father's uncaringness - and there's barely any differences right now. But they are there. And they mean everything to her.)

Boba asks her about the flower she named herself after. She shows him pictures and gushes about how pretty they are, and asks if maybe, some day, when she's older, they can go on a trip to see some in person?

He says he'll think about it. He surprises her a week later with a huge flowerpot full of pink and yellow primroses in full bloom.

She tells him that he's the best dad a girl could ever have. And in that one simple sentence, is contained everything she ever wanted.

[parragone]

The Darksaber is not a Fencing Foil.

The strangest thing about the idea of Bo-Katan using the Darksaber as a fencing foil being evidence that she's somehow more suited to it is that... it's not a fencing foil. A better way to phrase what he was trying to say is that it was lighter to her, but I also think that the initial phasing betrays a sort of fundamental lack of... creativity, I suppose, with how the Saber could have been handled.

Like, don't get me wrong, and let me preface this immediately; I do think Bo-Katan should be the Mand'alor. It's the natural conclusion to her story; Mand'alor or death, that is. I just think the narrative of Mando's episodes of bobf + season 3 doesn't lend itself to a strong presentation of why, nor did they show strong character development away from her dark past. Din Djarin isn't a leader because he doesn't want to be, and frankly that itself makes him a better hand of the Mand'alor than anything else. I think that the writers ran into walls they didn't know how to handle, and a sub-par story is the result.

Now, I don't know how many people who read this are familiar with star wars legends, swordfighting, sword making, and how different swords are typically wielded. I've done an absurd amount of research and even some training on how to wield blades of multiple types effectively, and so I speak with some authority [ but certainly not a professional one ] when I say that Bo-Katan wielding the Darksaber as a fencing foil is a fundamental representation of her own character's misunderstanding of the position and power she craves.

Let's start with the basics. This is the Darksaber; I tried to get multiple angles and resources.

Even without the official description, we can see that the Darksaber is unique among all lightsabers. It has a one-edged blade with a thick, weighted handle and a slanted guard. It's the hilt as a whole, the style of the guard, and the design of the blade that gives way to this weapon simply not functioning as a fencing weapon in the slightest.

In fact, for all his clumsiness, Din Djarin had a better idea of how to use the weapon than Bo-Katan Kryze.

Let's begin with the obvious; this is not a fencing foil. To those who are uninitiated, fencing is done with one of three standard weapons; foils, epees, and sabers. The last one would make you think oh, that might be what he was referring to, but I assure you it most certainly is not.

Witness; the foil.

Notice something key about both the pistol grip and the standard grip; they are thin and lightweight, intended for one-handed use and swift movement. They also have a distinct trait among martial combat weapons, being their rounded guards that protect the whole hand in combat. Fencing, as a combat style, is one where your hand is at the most risk of immediate reprisal in the event an opponent manages a strike back at you. You are throwing your arm forward and piercing, attacking with jabs and thrusts. You do not swing a foil.

It's simply impractical.

Now, the epee.

Basically the direct sister of the Foil, with a guard meant to defend from swings. Arguably better suited for combat, I haven't seen it as much in actual fencing sport, so I can't say much on it. It can be clunky to wield, especially given that your hand must fit inside the guard, but... to each their own. It's safer than the foil, and often provides more coverage for the limb you place at most risk.

At last, the saber.

Please forgive the garbage picture for this one.

This one's handle is iconic, used across fantasy and historical fiction alike in one way or another. [ Note; you may actually know this as a rapier. It's how most of my friends seem to know it. ] Again, the notable round guard, thin hilt, and a distinct hand guard to defend the back of the hand.

All of these weapons have one thing in common. They are designed for jabs and thrusts, with thin blades meant to pierce. They have no distinct blade to them, and while a slash would... hurt, it certainly wouldn't be effective in any way. They are also historically used by light-weight combatants; watch a fencing competition, see how they bounce and leap and practically twirl around their arenas. They don't wear heavy armor; the best someone wielding a fencing weapon would wear is leather armor, not plate or even much chainmail.

These weapons resemble, interestingly enough, actual lightsabers; the only difference is that there are no circular guards, likely because if a lightsaber hits you in combat, it's taking way more than your fingers.

All of these are thin, light, and - while customized to the wielder - are all visibly small in the hand. They're meant to be used in quick, acrobatic combat that likely isn't prolonged. Remember that the Jedi would end fights quickly, and all of their fighting styles would only... prolong the inevitable, so to speak, if they were cornered by too many enemies.

Now, again, the darksaber.

This is a weapon wielded one-handed, though it can be wielded with two. It deals a majority of damage through slashing and cutting, it bears a single bladed edge, and the weapon's hilt is clunky enough that it takes the entire hand to hold it. A comparison would be holding a broom stick versus holding a... beer or wine bottle. One is significantly thicker, taking more room in your hand.

The Darksaber is also made from metal. A lot of lighter weapons throughout history tend to prefer wood, or leather wrapped wood, as a hilt; metal or metal wrapped handles tend to be considered more of a medium or heavy weapon feature, as wood could splinter, develop dry rot, or simply crack under the weight of a heavier weapon.

The weapon has a high resemblance to a legends weapon that's a heritage piece for the Mandalorians; the beskad. This is a one-edged blade often the length of the wielder's arm, forged from beskar and carried by those who practice that particular strain of Mando martial arts. In legends, it would sometimes be wielded in conjecture with a kai dagger in the off-hand, but that was optional.

shoutout to Tyler Broyles on artstation for this particular reference.

This weapon is designed for short, devastating slashes and to crack open weaknesses in armor plating. More importantly, it was heavy. It was designed to break through an enemy's defenses through sharpness or strength, and so it was designed to be both precise and brutal. This method of fighting allowed Mandalorians to get in close to an enemy and deny them the space to escape, and a single swing of a well-made beskad could embed itself into the bone of an opponent. Those made in beskar could stop lightsabers.

So, we have a cultural precedent for the design of the Darksaber. More notably, though, the beskad visually presents much closer to a different sort of blade altogether in the real world;

The infamous falchion. No, not the curved fantasy one; the one used in history. One straight or nearly-straight blunt side, one honed to a sharp edge, ending in a tapered point.

including some more modern presentations of the same blade;

Do you see, by chance, the way this mirrors the Darksaber? Let's take one more look at it.

You see it?

This is a weapon designed by a Mandalorian who, according to legend, became Mand'alor and designed this weapon specifically for himself. You don't do that without significant combat prowess. He understood what the weapon was designed for; heavy slashes, close combat, and aggressive, overwhelming force. This is not the weapon of a fencer, this is a weapon of a knight. To use it as a fencing weapon fundamentally misunderstands the point of the weapon.

And he's right. She jabs and thrusts with it, she uses the fact that it's light to her to her advantage, but it's awkward. She puts no weight behind it, or maybe she can't put weight behind it. She uses it as she sees power; something light, to toss around and nearly flaunt even in the heat of battle. It's how she's always seen power; somethign easily passed from hand to hand [ perhaps too easily, as she watched Maul claim it so easily ]

Din Djarin, meanwhile, finds it incredibly heavy. And while he himself is clumsy, he seems to know how to use it, as his first instinct is to slash and cut with the weapon. It's less a lack of embracing the weapon and more a discomfort with the power it carries, one that shows itself the more he knows about the significance it holds, especially as he doesn't appear to find it heavy when he first picks it up in season 2's finale.

From a narrative standpoint, this would have been something fun to explore. Make the Darksaber heavier for Bo-Katan as she comes into the position of Mand'alor and having earned it, having truly changed to embrace all of her culture and people for better or for worse. Have the great reveal about the Darksaber be that it never gets lighter for those who realize the weight of their station, but rather serves as some physical reminder of their responsibility. Rather than some indicator of worthiness or moral compass, have it reflect one's acceptance of their position and the weight that comes with it. Or, if you want it to be some mystical indicator of the worthy, have it only be heavy for those who are.

Use it to show that she truly doesn't understand the weight of what she wants. Use it to show that she's disregarded the culture she comes from and the history of her people. Use it to show that she's finally understanding that she wants what her sister wanted by bringing peace and unity to her people, she's just doing it a different way. Use it to show that Pre Vizsla didn't understand either, which is why it was just as clumsy and awkward for him to use as it is for Bo.

Use it to show that Bo understands that Death Watch was wrong.

The weapon was never designed for lightweight fighting. The fact she uses it for that shows that she doesn't understand the station or the culture behind it. The fact that Din Djarin, unwilling and clumsy as he is, uses it more appropriately? Yeah. It's telling.

The fact the producers somehow missed the whole purpose behind a blade's design and function? Yeah.

[gffa]

Okay I have a maybe dumb question you might have answered before but I've seen a few posts around that rub me the wrong way about how Anakin would be arrested/punished for his murder of the Tuskens and I'm really not sure how that would work? Kicked out of the Order maybe but he was on Tatooine outside of Republic jurisdiction killing a group of people already very much ostracized and othered (as shown in other media like the BoBF where people shot them out train windows or something, I don't remember exactly). So I'm not sure who would press charges or anything like that anyway??

And like I am by no means defending his crimes, like at all, but I just don't see how he would be punished for that through the Republics judiciary system? And the context of the movies and shows don't really imply that he would be arrested or anything either unless I'm missing something (which is so very possible). I always felt its more intended as a horrendously, cruel and vengeful action that serves as a way to convey Anakin’s inevitable decent/turning to the dark side. Not something to be interpreted as a secret, covered up crime he would be punished for. But Idk. So sorry if this is confusing!

Hi! There really is no clear answer to this because you're right, I don't think it would be able to be punished through the Republic's judiciary system, because Tatooine was not part of the Republic. And we don't really know what kind of extradition laws the Republic would have with an organization like the Hutts, how much they would abide by those things. Further, the Jedi kept their dealings in house, because they were the ones who could really judge how much the Force would have been an influence, like that was a huge point of The Wrong Jedi arc, that the Jedi were desperately trying to keep Ahsoka, but the Republic came down hard with an iron fist, because that's what Palpatine was maneuvering them towards. There's no answer here because it begs the question--do the Hutts know and would sue for extradition? Do the Hutts even care in the first place? Do the Hutts even have a case if this is a Tusken matter? I don't think the other Tusken tribes would care to sue for extradition, so they'd just let it go. And how much is Palpatine sticking his fingers into this mess, because he wants to break Anakin? I don't think the Jedi would kick Anakin out, that's not really what they want, they want to keep Jedi in the Order, that's why Palpatine had to twist their arms so hard with Ahsoka, until it was that or break the entire Order and Ahsoka would have been accused of not getting a fair trial if they'd forced the issue. In supplementary material, their reactions to someone falling to the dark/doing something terrible is that they want to bring them back to the light, they don't want to punish them, they want to help them. The only time they'd expel someone is if they were putting people's lives at risk because of the choices they made and it wasn't a situation where they could reasonably intervene, just dangerous choices being made. Like Prosset Dibs tries to kill Mace and he just says it's our duty to help him back to the light and, in the meantime, he's on library duty. And, ultimately, all of that isn't really important because it's not the story being told, it's an act of cruelty that had Anakin losing control of himself, giving in to the rage (which makes it easier to give in again next time) and doubling down on how he refuses to accept that sometimes people die and we can't always stop it, no matter how hard we try. It's a super interesting avenue to explore in fic and meta and I've seen it done in really cool ways a few times, but there's no hard answer in canon as to what would have happened, because that wasn't the purpose of including the scene. Usually, that avenue being explored is about character exploration, because the political framework is too vague to really have a concise answer.

[srtatropicalia]

So, I've been holding onto this for a while. And I just had to let it out because I haven't really seen someone with this take yet (but if there is, PLEASE point me out to them!!). People's reaction to Din's name order reveal in that last episode baffled me a lot, because the fans didn't seems to like it all that much (and some seemed to outright hate it). But I actually LOVED IT and I think it brings out some of the themes of identity and what it means for Din in particular and for his covert in general.

Right out of the gate I will say: I don't really think that this was planned from the beginning. Yes, I think that most probably Din's name started as Din and and his surname Djarin, until someone somewhere had the idea to change it up for that last episode. Though I wouldn't put it past the producers to have had that idea from the begining, as there are some pretty involved individuals on the creative team that like to make lore that never makes it to Canon.

But, though I don't think it was planned from the beginning, I don't think that this reveal (and I will call it a reveal, because I think it was meant to be one) loses all that much by not being planned from season one. Ideas progress, and I don't doubt that they were doing it a season at a time, finding new ways to explore Din's identity when confronted with the various occurrences throughout the episodes.

Having said that, I will explain why I think it's genius. And I totally understand if people don't necessarily agree.

Din's anonymity is a big part of his character, and I always loved how the show did its best to first: actively hide his face and name; and second: when revealed, do its best to not remind us of his face and name or use it unnecessarily.

I don't really need to explain that first part, you guys saw the show. We don't know his name until almost the end of season one, and that is the same for his face. His face is only shown when we have confirmation that a sentient (if you consider a Droid a sentient, BECAUSE I DO) sees his face. That is a big step and this reveal will mark Din because this is a first step on the big list of technicalities in which he "breaks" his code. The second being when he wears the imperial soldier helmet.

Every moment he breaks his rule of anonymity, there's weight.

But the second part is the one I'm gonna focus on: the show actively tries to not remind us of his identity. Even after the reveal of the face, we don't get free scenes of him alone without his helmet. Though I will admit that the show uses his name casually a lot, I will also point out that is kinda hard to not use it when he's with other mandalorians (how to distinguish that the Armorer is speaking about him or about Paz in scenes? Etc). And I will forgive when people that are not mandalorian use his name after they learn it. (Like that scene in BOBF when Fennec just announces to a group of mercenaries his name). But the fact that people seem weirded out by Fennec announcing his name like that is proof of how they don't use it unless necessary. I even had a friend point out to me that in the subtitles (at least for S2, dont remenber for S3) they chose to use [The Mandalorian] instead of [Din Djarin] when hes talking offscreen. Even the spelling was very uncertain in the begining, you can still find posts and fanfics written with "Dyn Jarreen" or other variants.

Though his helmet and his belief in wearing it continue to be a big part of his identity and faith/creed, I think that the need for anonymity in the form of not revealing his name is eroded slowly throughout the series. He opens up more, makes friends and allies, and recognizes Grogu as family. And, progressively, his friends get to know him and use his name (or not!). This last step, of recognizing Grogu as family, is fundamental to me. Lastly, the mandalorians don't need to be anonymous for survival anymore: they can profess their culture, identity and creed under the sun, not hidden. And that's why I love it, because one last barrier that the series has given us is eroded IN the scene that Mandalore has ressurged as a unified nation and Grogu is adopted. In that scene, they reveal to us that Din's his surname and Djarin is the personal name. We get the meaning behind the words that we've been using to call him all this time, and that changes everything!! We didn't really know him because he was not in a position to be safely known. Now he is. He is ready to have his clan and it's not Clan Djarin, it's Clan Din!!

On a sidenote, I don't think that his friends knew the order. The only confirmation we have is that the Armourer knew, though maybe not long before the ceremony. So the weirdness of having Bo-katan call him by his "first name" and Cara call him by his family name is kinda part of it. He didn't open himself up until that last moment.

TLDR: The reveal of Din Djarin's personal name and family name is a last barrier that the series erodes to us, in a three season progression of slowly but surely revealing The Mandalorian's identity; progression which goes hand in hand with his character arc and the revival of Mandalore, that makes it possible for Mandalorians not to live in anonymity anymore.

[takadasaiko]

There's something very off about the Coruscant scenes in Mando

When I watched 3.03 with Dr Pershing on Coruscant, it felt like an entirely different show was dropped in the middle of a Mando episode. Even when Din showed up in BoBF, it didn't feel as jarring as our visit to Coruscant that included a five-year-in New Republic (presumably finding Mon Mothma and Leia with high ranking positions in the government) that was really nothing more than the Empire Lite. This new government is already bogged down by a severe lack of imagination that doesn't fit the scrappy rebellion that won the war, but instead acts as if they just usurped everyone left over from the Empire that was willing to fake it and keep on like nothing had happen. Can you see Leia Organa standing for that? I can't, and I certainly don't think that as involved as she and other high-level Rebels would be at this point we'd see the depths of bureaucracy that look like it's piled up over decades and suffocating the innovation of a relatively small group of people willing to face off against the the dreaded Empire. We have the lights and the buildings of Coruscant, but the people that fill them don't make sense.

Then there was the acting... or the writing or the direction. I never could pin it down, but Elia Kane was clearly setting Pershing up the whole way with no subtly to be found. With the exception of the bookended scenes with Din, Grogu, and Bo, the episode felt misplaced in the Mandalorian.

I watched 3.04 the following week and things were back to normal. Okay. Even excellent shows have fluke episodes. It wasn't until 3.05 dropped that I started thinking it was intentional.

The production design for Mando has been fantastic. The planets, the aliens, the costumes… all very well done. When they’re sneaking into Imperial locations, it’s sharp and cold, but in the caves of Mandalor it’s dark and broken, shadows leaving all the dangers hidden until the last second. The design teams use the sets and the costumes and the lighting to elicit the appropriate emotions out of the scene. We’re there with Din. We believe, if only for that time, that we’re in a galaxy a long time ago and far, far away. It’s lived in and it fits the world that so many of us have loved since childhood.

Then we get back to Coruscant. It's not like we haven't seen it before. The Clone Wars did an excellent job of showing the contrast of a planet we only skimmed the surface of in Episodes 1-3. We saw grand chambers in the Prequels, and there are plenty of those, but in that series we were introduced to the lower levels. The citizens that often didn’t work directly for the government. It felt gritty and real, but it fit the world, even when introducing something new.

Then we had Andor which also had a high production quality. While TCW showed us the governing class and the lower levels of the city-planet, in Andor we were introduced to what is likely the middle class - the lower level bureaucrats, the everyday people on the surface that filled the endless positions of paper-pushing - lived and worked. The colour was sucked out of their world, but it still fit the galaxy far, far away.

But then we have Coruscant in Mando and it just feels wrong. From the cubicles (much close to what you'd see in a real, modern office space than what you see above from Andor)

to the colonel's cheap costume with noticeably poor quality rank badge

to the way they speak and the utter lack of subtly in their dialogue that anyone on Coruscant with half a braincell should be able to pick up on, yet only Teva did. Only someone outside of the Coruscant bog.

It’s so jarring and so fake that it drags you out of the story entirely. You’re no longer in the galaxy of heroes and villains, Jedi and Sith, Rebels (or even the New Republic) and Empire…. You might as well be watching a low budget scifi film of some different story.

So is that done on purpose? The more I see it, the more I question that. Having been spoiled on the slow build by storytellers like Timothy Zahn post-RotJ, I'll admit to having an extreme bias against this Coruscant and especially this New Republic that they're painting here, but we'll see... Is there something else at play? I suppose only time will tell.

[kanansdume]

I found it hilarious that while they didn't explain how Grogu came back, they DID decide to just re-do the scene with the Armorer, having her repeat her dialogue from BOBF over again because unlike the reasons why Grogu left the Jedi, that information's actually plot relevant, so I had to listen to it all over again. I get that for people who didn't see BOBF, they needed it, but for those of us who DID, it was confusing and redundant.

"You removed your helmet." Yes, you knew that. "Then you are a Mandalorian no more." Yes, you said that already. "Mandalore is destroyed." You told him that. "If I bathe in the waters of Mandalore and prove it to you, will I be redeemed?" Yes, you will, she's already said so before, why are you even here instead of already going to Mandalore?

Also like. Where did all these Mandos come from? Last we knew, there were two left and they were on that weird Elysium station and now suddenly they've moved and Din knows where they are and there's banners and kids and like 20 new soldiers. Where did they all COME FROM and where were they back when Din found Paz and the Armorer on the station?

The other hilarious moment for me was when Din decided to throw in a line about the curse to Bo-Katan, a curse that those of us who saw BOBF know that Din literally only heard about from the Armorer AFTER HE LEFT BO-KATAN THE LAST TIME, so there's no way he heard about it from Bo-Katan in order to know that she didn't believe in the curse. A curse that anyone who hasn't seen BOBF isn't even going to have heard of before. There's zero explanation as to what the curse even IS or why Bo-Katan would believe in it or not in this episode, it's just stated as if you should already know it.

[tessaliagrey]

So, I finally managed to catch up watching The Mandalorian. 😊

A lot of things I read over the last weeks is that people used to love the first two seasons and now hate the third.

Anybody who’s ever been on my blog or read my fics over on AO3 knows I love Bo-Katan to bits - but still, I do have my issues with this season, too. And while some people on here are sitting in the proverbial desert yelling “Feloniiiii” in a Maul-esque way, I don’t think it’s Dave’s fault (alone).

First, we have the cameos (I’m not talking famous people in little roles). We had Ahsoka, Boba, Fennec, Luke, Cad Bane,... The comment I’ve often read, that Din is like a guy who is in Star Wars but doesn’t know anything about Star Wars and just happends to stumble into all of the bigger plot lines of the franchise is kind of true, really. And in a way, it’s also fun. But it’s not really a plot.

Second, there is this feeling that Din sidelined Boba in BOBF (true), and that in turn, he now gets sidelind by Bo-Katan in his own show (also, kind of true). But honestly, I’m not that surprised, and I don’t think this tracks back to Feloni. This tracks back to Favreau. It’s something we have seen in the MCU since it entered its phase 2. The Mandalorian has always been more of Favreau’s than Feloni’s baby, and I’m afraid it shows. Though I guess Bo-Katan’s general involvement is on Feloni; she is his OC after all. (If not even his favorite OC.) And we know that he would like to tell her story.

“All I want is to watch Din travel the galaxy with Grogu, going from place to place.” - I bet you do, honey, but that, too, isn’t a plot, that’s a travel guide to the gffa.

So, we arrived at yet another problem. The plot. To be fair, I don’t think we are seeing the original plot for season three. At least not in its entirety. They plotted the season while Gina Carano was still a cast memeber, and Cara Dune still part of the overall narrative. For a production of that size, Carano was ousted comparatively late; her character most likely already written in at least half the episodes. Since it obviously was decided to not simply fill the gap with another actress, a lot of what was planned now had to be re-written rather quickly in comparison. I think that’s why some things feel so rushed (like Bo-Katan’s arc), while the rest of the story doesn’t really seem to go anywhere.

But, honestly, my biggest “problem” with this season is the absence of a good villain. “It’s time to take back Mandalore.” Yes, my dearest Armorer, but from whom, might I ask? Bo and Din were just there. Nobody stopped them. Who’s going to stop you? Sure, we know that Gideon never made it to his trial and was probably extracted by someone loyal to him - and I guess we can be sure that Elia Kane is involved - but the Covert doesn’t know that. I mean, yeah, we all know that a Mandalore’s greatest problem is Mandalorians, but ... You guys know what I’m getting at. WHO AND WHERE IS OUR VILLAIN???

So, anyway, that was my two cents to the hole debate 😁

Guess one thing still remains true: animated Star Wars is the best Star Wars.

[thymewayster]

Fixing the Mandalorian season 3: an outline rewrite

Now that the season is finished and I can see the whole picture...season 3 had a few issues. It had a lot of good moments and some great story potential, but I think it could have been executed a lot better.

So I’ve fixed it by making a few tweaks, rearranging some scenes, and letting this be two seasons rather than one. I am trying to use roughly the same resources and roughly the same plot beats as canon did while still having the spirit of the first two seasons.

One of my major goals is also to make sure each show is self-contained—aka, you do not have to have seen any other show other than the one you’re watching for things to make sense. (Although of course, if you have seen the other shows, you will know a lot more context.)

Also fair warning, this is staying platonic, but if you want to imagine more shippy details, feel free.

This might get a little long.

So. Let’s start with Book of Boba Fett.

BoBF: Din is not the main character, Boba Is

Grogu and Luke do not make an appearance at all.

Pretty much the entire storyline of BoBF needs fixing, but fixing Boba’s story is a different issue. This post is about fixing the Mandalorian, so I’m going to focus on the last couple episodes when Din appears.

Episode 5 (or 6, depending on how Boba’s story is fixed) opens in media res, action scene. Din is in the middle of killing/beating up a bunch of guys while on a bounty hunt. Din wins the fight, pushes forward, and…it is revealed that his bounty is a child who was kidnapped for ransom that Din has been hired to retrieve. 

Optional: Shots during this part that parallel the very first episode of season 1.

Din reunites child with grateful rich parent/client. There’s a moment of Din looking at them longingly and it’s clear that Din is angsting over watching the parent/child reunion. The pain of losing Grogu is still relatively fresh. 

After Din is paid, Fennec appears (in person or more likely via holocall). 

There is a two-line exchange: Fennec asking how Din’s search for his people is going, Din replying it’s not going well and that he hasn’t found anything in weeks/months. Thus establishing two things: 1) Din is looking for other Mandalorians. 2) It has been weeks/months since the season 2 finale.

Fennec says Boba has a job for Din. Din says he owes Boba and he’ll do it for free.

All of the above takes up maybe the first five minutes of the episode at most. 

This also works because it feeds Mandalorian fans while not requiring you to have seen the Mandalorian at all if you’re just here for the Boba Fett show. 

If you’re watching BoBF in a vacuum, then it establishes all you really need to know: Din is a Mandalorian/has similar armor to Boba, is an ally of Boba’s, and is a very good fighter. It makes perfect sense Boba would call him for help.

From a business standpoint, this also still promotes the Mandalorian show. (“Hey, if you think this guy is cool, he already has his own show!”)

If you have seen the Mandalorian then you know the context of why Din is angsting over a parent/child reunion and you are having FEELINGS.

We next see Din on Tatooine and he is present for the BoBF finale as part of Boba’s crew.

Crucially, nothing of actual plot importance happens with Din. It is not required to watch BoBF to understand season 3 of the Mandalorian. 

The focus of the show is on Boba, and Din is there to be a cameo/look cool/be Boba’s backup so we can have some cool side-by-side shots and give the Mandalorian fans a sliver of content without disrupting BoBF-only watchers’ experience. 

The scene where Din says “I’m with you until we both fall” can stay, complete with sending the majordomo out with a fake notice of surrender. (Because that was great, and a good character moment for Boba.)

There is no Grogu appearing in the middle of the fight. Grogu is not even mentioned beyond the implication that Din misses him.

After the battle, we can either see Boba thank Din and then Din leaves to a quick little motif of his theme song. Or, because this is Boba’s show and Din is a side character, we might not even see Din leave. The focus might be more on other cast members.

New Mando s3: Din and Grogu

The theme: Din and Grogu reuniting, Din redeeming himself and rebuilding in the wake of season 2, the covert

Episode 1: Canon BoBF episode, where it should be

Canon BoBF ep 5, with a few differences.

The entire dramatic bounty-hunting/fight scene in the freezer is perfect, nothing changes. It also serves to tell the audience that Din’s having issues wielding the darksaber.

Din tracks down not only the Armorer and Paz, but there are some other survivors as well. Paz/somebody heals him from his darksaber accident. 

Preferably that character is a new named Mando character who is basically the covert’s doctor/medic. Like they can fight but they actually specialize in combat medicine. (This is also a good opportunity for worldbuilding since we can go into a bit more detail on how they handle injuries. Do they all cauterize their wounds or was that just Din out in the field? How do they handle head injuries if they can’t remove their helmet??)

Optional: have a passing comment about how long it’s been since the fight with the Nevarro bounty guild, further establishing that some time has passed.

This is also a chance for a nice sprinkling of worldbuilding for what the covert is like, how Din interacts with other members, and what he misses about them. 

Some members of the covert actually ask him why he removed his helmet, and there is some debate on whether his removal was acceptable as it was in service of a foundling. 

This is a good chance to introduce a few more Mandalorian characters. They don’t have to be big/detailed roles, but it helps humanize the Mandos a bit to show that they aren’t all a monolith, and we can have some familiar faces/helmets in future episodes. (And now you have names to go with the Funko pop figures. Because this is Star Wars and Disney, and let’s face it a major part of the franchise is the merch. We gotta keep the studio execs happy and the investors rich or they’ll ax our show.) 

Maybe Paz is the hothead of the group, or maybe his personality is pretty typical for the group. Maybe Din is unusually quiet/private compared to the rest of the group. Maybe one person is even more strict about the Creed than Din is. Maybe one just straight up does not speak in Basic/English and needs subtitles, implying that under the helmet they’re some species that physically can’t speak Basic/English. etc. Give us some characters.

Optional: a passing line to indicate that even though the audience is hearing English (or whatever Earth language) with no subtitles, the Mandalorians including Din are actually all speaking Mando’a and we’re getting a direct translation.

Anyway so they’re all debating whether Din is an apostate or not. The Armorer points out that the Creed is clear on removing the helmet, but she sounds deeply sorrowful/regretful about it.

Some members think Din is now an apostate. Others think that Din’s removal was justified. 

Crucially, Din himself falls on the apostate side, and he believes he needs to be redeemed.

Optional: When the covert find out he has the darksaber, there is further debate on whether this redeems him or not. Din doesn’t think it does.

Like in canon, Paz challenges him for the darksaber. Din is not sure he wants to be leader, but he also isn’t willing to just hand it over. 

Paz is like, if you don’t want it, why are you fighting so hard for it? And Din points out that losing a fight on purpose is Not the Way. Paz points out that he is an apostate. Din still refuses to give up without a fight. (Same fight from canon, with other Mandos watching, Din wins.)

Optional: At some point we meet Ragnar and learn that he is Paz’s foundling/apprentice. He is training to swear the Creed. Bonus points if Din angsts over that too.

When covert members ask about Grogu, Din reveals that he has coordinates for Grogu. (It can be left vague whether Din found them himself or Luke gave them to him off-screen) But Din has not visited Grogu because he doesn’t want to interfere with Grogu’s training. 

Din decides he wants to go to Mandalore to bathe in the waters and redeem himself. The Armorer warns him that it is probably not possible since Mandalore was glassed, but Din is determined to try. 

The covert wishes him luck. The Armorer decides to give him a gift: some chainmail for Grogu. (can be made from the spear or not.) Din protests that he has returned Grogu to his people and will not jeopardize his training. The Armorer replies that it is the child’s birthright as a Mandalorian foundling. Even if Din does not see the child again, then the chainmail will serve as a reminder of what Din sacrificed so much for.

The Armorer also gives Din a cool new weapon, possibly a new amban rifle or something similar. 

Let’s face it, cool weapons are integral to his character's design, coolness factor, and marketability. Gotta have something to make new toys. If the spear is melted down, he’ll need a replacement cool weapon. Even if he keeps the spear, that means he has two cool melee weapons, the darksaber and the spear, and he needs a cool long-range weapon.

Din accepts the gifts.

The covert is discovered by bad guys (Imperials? Beskar hunters? a crime syndicate?), there is another action sequence while the Mandalorians fight off the intruders. Din assists the others in fighting the enemies off. (This is a good chance for further characterization and exploration of group dynamics. Does Din communicate well and fight in sync with his fellow covert members, or has his time away from the covert and his bounty hunting career made it so he tends to fight alone rather than working as a team?) 

The Mandalorians win easily, because this is a chance to show off Mandalorian combat. 

But because secrecy is their survival, the covert must now relocate.

Optional: a good father-son moment with Paz defending Ragnar. Bonus points if Din also sees Ragnar defend himself using something he learned in training earlier in the episode. (Because it reinforces to Din that training is important. He’s going to bring that up later.)

Din helps the covert acquire a ship to get off planet (possibly with some money he earned on his way here? Showing that he still thinks of himself as the covert's provider. Or maybe they steal one) 

The Armorer asks if he wishes to join them. Din shakes his head, doesn’t believe himself to be worthy. He feels he does not belong with them and is an apostate.

The Mandalorians part ways, with the covert off to find a new location, while Din is left alone, watching them leave. (Visually, this shows him at rock bottom. He is an apostate. He has no ship, he has no covert, he has no child. It’s just him, alone in the universe.)

Optional end stinger: We see Grogu, meditating on a rock. He is concentrating for a moment, then his eyes open. He looks sad (and adorable). Possibly reaches out a hand, reminiscent of s1 ep1’s ending moment, but there is no Din there to take his finger.

Episode 2: Din and Grogu reunite

This episode has two plots: Din’s plot and Grogu’s. We switch between them. 

Optional: No CGI Luke. I love that Mark Hamill got to come back, but CGI Luke is not good at emoting. It worked okay for the season 2 finale, because Luke was calm and not super emotionally involved, but by the time we get to season 3 we need him to be able to emote or he comes off as very flat. If necessary, we can use a little CGI to make a lookalike actor (Sebastian Stan? An unknown?) a little more Luke like. But remember Luke is a bit older, he doesn’t have to look exactly like he did in Return of the Jedi. 

Screw it, maybe he has a beard now or something. He had a beard in the Last Jedi, and Disney wants us to use this season to prop up the sequels, right? Just look at that continuity! And that might make it easier for makeup/a touch of CGI to make the actor look more like Mark Hamill.

A Plot

We see a montage of Grogu and Luke training. Pretty much the canon scenes from canon BoBF ep 6. The seasons change on the planet they are on during the training montage to indicate the passage of time. 

Grogu is doing well in his studies, but he is very easily distracted and almost always looks sad. It’s clear that he’s feeling very distracted/conflicted. Luke is concerned.

Optional: show that Grogu is not the only student being trained. He likes the other students, but it’s clear that he isn’t as focused as the others. (Maybe squeeze in a quick flashback to happy Grogu back in the Jedi creche with the other students to show the difference?)

B Plot

Switch to Din. Din’s plot is basically the non-covert parts of BoBF ep 5. Funny public transport sequence to Tatooine, the bundle of armor is shaped like Grogu’s head, Rodian child angst. Meets up with Pelli, gets N1. Pelli tells Din that fixing it would go faster if Din helped.

A Plot

Luke is concerned because Grogu is very gifted with the Force but it’s clear his feelings are conflicted. Luke meditates with Grogu, does the frog-lifting scene. Luke realizes that Grogu deeply misses Din, and Luke gently mentions that being a Jedi requires a lot more focus than Grogu is currently using.

Optional: Luke mentions he himself has struggled to find the balance between helping his friends and his Jedi training.

Luke consults Ahsoka by holocall or in person. (Possibly drop a hint at what Ahsoka’s doing. Looking for Ezra or fighting Thrawn or whatever she’s going to be doing in her show). 

Ahsoka points out Grogu’s attachment to Din, which is why she didn’t train him in the first place.

Luke and Ahsoka have a discussion about Jedi philosophy and attachment. Ahsoka points out the Jedi did not maintain family attachments. Luke points out that he certainly is still maintaining contact with his family/friends. 

Optional: Luke mentions he has found records of Jedi maintaining family relationships, anciently as well as recently. (Drop some KOTOR references?)

By the end of the discussion, they have clearly defined attachment/possessiveness for the audience. (Will this finally stop the endless discussion among fans about Anakin’s fall and whether the Jedi’s no-attachment rule caused it? Of course not, this is the Star Wars fandom lol.)

B Plot:

N1 repair montage. 

Pelli modifies the back seat for Grogu, even though Din sadly points out that Grogu is not traveling with him anymore. Pelli’s like, “You want me to put a droid in there then?” Din, with possibly the first non-sad emotion we’ve seen him have this season, says no, absolutely not. Then Pelli’s like “So it’ll be for visits then!” Din is silent after that. He is clearly still sad.

There is a more in-depth conversation where Pelli wants more information about where Grogu is now and Din mentions that he of course misses Grogu, but he is sure that getting this training is the best thing for him and he made the right decision.

The repair montage might be shorter than or the same length as the original, depending on the runtime of the episode. (This episode will be on the longer side for a Mando episode. Maybe like an hour. Tbh you could probably stretch this out to two episodes if you really wanted.)

The N1 is finished. Din takes it out for a spin, sees the Rodian kid again, escapes from the space cops, plays out like the original BoBF ep 5 did. 

After the test ride, he bids goodbye to Pelli and takes off to space.

In the N1 in space, Din has a quiet moment. Visual shots of space being huge and vast and beautiful, while Din’s ship is very small in comparison. While Din experienced a moment of happiness in rebuilding the N1, he is still very alone.

We see Din holding the armor bundle shaped like Grogu’s head and thinking. (This scene visually echoes the s1 ep3 scene where he contemplates the shifter knob and decides to rescue Grogu from the Imp compound instead of just leaving.)

After a moment of silent contemplation (and probably as the music builds), Din makes a decision. He jumps to hyperspace.

A Plot/B Plot:

Luke sits Grogu down and asks if Grogu would prefer to continue his Jedi training or to return to the Mandalorian. Luke points out that of course Grogu’s bond with Din is not a bad thing, but being a Jedi requires focus and commitment. The greater good and the Jedi code must come before all else. Luke also points out that a short time for Grogu is a long time for Din. 

Luke would love to train Grogu to be a great Jedi, but he will respect whatever Grogu chooses.

Grogu chooses Din, and Luke accepts this decision. 

Luke is just debating how they’re going to reach Din…when Din shows up!

Optional: still include the “Is that a bench?” scene with R2 lol.

Din is awkward and nervous and just wanted to stop by for a visit and give Grogu the armor, but Luke informs him of Grogu’s choice. 

Din takes a bit of convincing, because after all he sacrificed a lot to get Grogu his training. 

Luke mentions that Grogu has done well in his training, and although it is not finished, Grogu really does want to stay with Din.

Grogu does one of those delightfully ridiculous puppet baby flips into Din’s arms. 

Father and son have a happy possibly tearful reunion.

Optional: we get another helmetless scene here with just Din and Grogu. (but probably not if Din hasn’t even adopted him yet)

Episode 3: Visit to Nevarro

Din visits Nevarro because Greef wants to give him a job offer, to stay and be a marshal since Cara is (fired) off doing New Republic things. 

Din seriously considers the offer because it would provide stability for Grogu. He still wants to be redeemed, but going to Mandalore is a suicide mission and now he has the kid to think about. 

Kind of s1ep4 vibes on Sorgan. Now that Din has left his covert, he has another chance to settle down, have a relatively normal life. We should have lots of moments either through framing/acting or maybe conversations with Greef that indicate that Din is thinking about taking the offer, but he’s reluctant to give up his desire to be redeemed. Grogu also clearly likes it here.

Optional: They can have a nice moment with the IG-11 statue like the canon s3 ep1 did, but there’s no reviving yet.

The pirate encounter occurs, but it’s a bit more extended and action-y and there are many more pirates—a scouting invasion.

After the climax of the episode and defeating the pirates, Greef and the Nevarro citizens are sifting through the pirates’ loot when they discover a green shard with Mandalorian writing on it. Din is shook.

Din interrogates a surviving captured pirate and discovers that they got it after raiding some exploration vessels in the Mandalore system. Din is ecstatic. Mandalore might be visitable, which means redemption is possible.

He declines Greef’s job offer, at least until after he is redeemed.

Episode 4: If we must include build up for the sequels, then fine. Have a fun pirate fight.

Din decides he needs a droid to measure the air readings on Mandalore, and IG-11 is that droid. The IG-11 terminator / Anzellan scenes play out like canon s3 ep1.

They leave Nevarro and are pursued by the pirates. (Can make this as long or as short as runtime allows, depending on how long the Pershing bit needs to be.)

Since this is the most flexible episode that doesn’t have as many important plot points, the Pershing story goes here as a B plot. If it has to be as long as it is due to executive demands, fine. Otherwise, condense it. A lot. The worldbuilding is great but the story itself really didn’t need to be that long. Make sure you drop hints about Gideon escaping and being alive.

Din and Grogu escape pirates.

Show the pirates on their ship. The captain mentions the mysterious employer who hired them is not going to be happy, and they’ll have to try again.

Episode 5: Getting R5 and having a fun filler adventure

Din and Grogu have a pit stop on Tatooine and have a fun action-y adventure involving Pelli and maybe a BoBF cast cameo or a fun new side character. Pelli gives Din R5 so he can test whether Mandalore is safe. 

Din uses the darksaber in a fight at some point. He’s still struggling with it a bit, but he has gotten a bit better.

Grogu shows off his powers. Din is impressed and very proud of him.

Depending on how the runtime works out, either the end of this episode or the beginning of next episode is the bit from the original s3 ep1 where Din visits Bo-Katan on her depression throne and gets directions to the mines of Mandalore.

Episode 6: The Mines of Mandalore Revamped

This episode basically follows the original beats of s3 ep2. Grogu map lesson, Din captured, Grogu gets Bo-Katan, Bo-Katan saves Din, Grogu is powerful, Din is redeemed. 

But we’re going to use this opportunity to flesh out some Mandalore backstory/history. Bo is a returning side character in this episode, but we need to flesh her out a bit more for next season.

I do want to make a bit more of a deal about Din setting foot on Mandalore for the first time. Like a shot of his boot landing on the ground and a slow pan on his helmet looking around at the barren landscape or a comment to Grogu or something. It’d take like five seconds.

Bo-Katan is still Creed-agnostic/atheist but clearly does respect Din even if she thinks his Creed is kind of dumb.

After Din wakes up post-barbecue-rescue, he points out that Bo-Katan beat the trap monster that captured him, so does she want the Darksaber? Bo-Katan bitterly says no, she can’t take it, because it has to be won in battle and whatever other reasons. The story’s not good enough—because it’s not so much about the sword itself, per se, but how you got it.

When Bo talks about her father she also mentions her sister. We’re not going to go into a whole crash course on who Satine is, because you should be able to watch this show without watching TCW. But a little mention would be nice. (Even if it’s just point to some random destroyed structure and be like “That was constructed under my sister’s rule.”)

Mention of her family can segue into a bare-bones outline of history so that TCW isn’t required viewing for context. We don’t need a detailed breakdown of pacifism/New Mandos vs Death Watch and can keep this all fairly vague. But we have to establish a couple things.

Bo fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, and she did a lot of shady things she now regrets. (What exactly the shady things were can be left as vague as Disney requires, because I have a feeling partly why canon Bo didn’t get to talk about this much is because Disney didn’t want a protagonist with a villainous past.)

Bo had a sister who once ruled Mandalore, but thanks to Bo and her shady actions, the sister was killed. (Yeah, it was a lot more complicated than that, but this shows that in the intervening years Bo has reflected upon her actions in TCW and regrets a lot of it and at least partly blames herself for Satine’s death. Part of her redemption arc.)

Bo concludes if the Mandalorians, including herself, hadn’t been so busy fighting over what divided them, they might have been ready for the Empire when it came, and Mandalore might not have been destroyed.

Optional: When Bo’s talking about things she regrets, Din says something about how he can relate to that because he’s also done things he regrets (like turning in Grogu or whatever he was doing with Ran’s group). Bo’s like, is that why you’re so determined to be redeemed? Because you regret taking your helmet off? And Din’s like, I don’t regret that. (because it was for Grogu)

Optional: Also, the more parallels we can fit between Din being redeemed with Mandalore being redeemed, the better. Din’s getting a new start, and so will Mandalore (and Bo)

Din recites the Creed and goes in the water. Make it more clear whether Din fell in or was pulled. I prefer pulled, but either is fine.

Optional: Bo-Katan sees the Mythosaur, but Din does not. Bo-Katan is shook. She does have a moment where Din asks if she still plans to reunite Mandalore and is she sure she doesn’t want the darksaber and she vagues at Din “...I will have to find another way.” While looking at the water. Clearly talking about the Mythosaur, but Din is oblivious since he didn’t see the Mythosaur.

Din and Bo-Katan part ways as friends. Din tells Bo-Katan he is in her debt and owes her one. The Kryze castle is not destroyed…(yet). 

Episode 7: Reunion with the Covert

Din and Grogu return to the covert. Basically the original s3 ep4 with a couple differences. 

Ragnar’s Creed ceremony, the giant crocodile, and Din’s dramatic entrance from the canon s3 ep1 is moved here.

Bring in the concept of the foundling/apprentice ranking here. The Armorer addresses Ragnar as “Apprentice Ragnar” during the ceremony, implying that swearing the Creed is akin to a graduation ceremony going from apprentice to full Mandalorian.

Din is welcomed back to the covert with open arms, and Grogu is introduced to the other Mandos. Everyone is really happy for Din and excited when he says Mandalore is not exactly habitable, but also not completely inhabitable.

Grogu’s training scene versus Ragnar stays. Din is the one who helps Grogu put on the little dart shooter. Din calls Grogu his ward, but we’re going to elaborate on why Grogu isn’t his son officially yet. When Ragnar asks why Grogu doesn’t wear a helmet, Din says he can’t talk and is too young to swear the Creed and become an apprentice, so he is still a foundling. This makes it a little clearer why Grogu isn’t officially Din’s son, and adds some Mando worldbuilding. 

Optional: Ragnar is referred to as “Paz Ragnar” or something to establish the naming convention. (Unless Djarin truly is his given name. But I’m ignoring it. He’s always Din to me.) “Apprentice Paz Ragnar” in the ceremony?

Ragnar is still captured by the shriek hawk, but this is the first time this has happened. Shriek hawk might have attacked before, but it’s never carried off a child. (Literally all you have to do is just cut the line "it always gets away" or replace it with “it got away” because really??)

Paz chases after shriek hawk, jet pack runs out of fuel, but fortunately Din/other Mandalorians bring the bigger Mandalorian ship, pick him up. (And give him more jetpack fuel.)

They all immediately go to fight the shriek-hawk at its nest, fight goes down like it did in canon and Din saves Ragnar. Paz is grateful.

They still bring in the baby shriek-hawks because lol. Maybe drop the foundling joke though since it made it sound like they were sentient. 

Grogu still gets his rondlet and processes his Order 66 trauma. Ahmed Best still saves him in a flashback.

Also, fit in as many small moments of Paz/other Mandos character development as possible. By the end of this episode we should have at least a character sketch for a few other Mandos besides Paz and the Armorer.

End stinger: Pirates attack Nevarro, Greef sends out distress signal, tries to contact New Republic.

Teva gets message, Zeb cameo

Episode 8: Defending Nevarro

Basically the original s3 ep5, but bigger and better.

Teva goes to New Republic, they turn him down.

Teva tracks R5-D4, shows up at the Mandalorians’ compound.

Din and covert peeved, Din negotiates.

Din wants to help Greef, and also remembers Greef offered him a protection gig/land. Realizes this will solve the issue of being constantly attacked by wildlife.

The group meeting/holding the speaking hammer scene.

Din points out that Greef offered him a tract of land, and that sounds a lot better than a place where giant creatures almost eat their foundlings. Basically his canon speech.

Mandalorians go to Nevarro, wipe out the pirates in as much glorious carnage as Disney will let us get away with. These action sequences take up a third to a half of the episode. 

Optional: Mandos ride the baby shriek hawks in battle. (The babies are trying their best, but they haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet, for some comic relief.)

Optional: Din uses the darksaber. He has gotten a lot better at wielding it. (Because he believes in himself and what he’s doing now.)

Pirates are defeated, Nevarro is grateful, Mandalorians take up new job as protectors of Nevarro.

End stinger: Teva ship scene, Gideon escaped, there’s beskar on the ship oh no! 

Switch to Gideon looking menacing and accepting a holocall from the lead pirate. Reveal that Gideon hired pirates. Pirates tell Gideon they failed to take Nevarro and they’re mad that Gideon didn’t tell them the planet was defended by Mandalorians. Gideon furious, stalks off from holocall dramatically, pan out a bit and we get a glimpse of the facility/beskar troopers/Gideon clones.

Season 4: Bo-Katan and Mandalore (but Din and Grogu are still the main characters)

Mostly about Bo-Katan, darksaber drama, reuniting Mandalorians. Gideon is main antagonist. Din is still the main character most of the time, but occasionally Bo takes over to further the main plotline.

Episode 1: Bo-Katan enters the chat

loosely based on canon s3ep3

We open with Bo-Katan in her childhood home. (possibly still on her depression throne lol but it’d also probably be good to see what she does with herself all day). Bonus points if there’s some kind of family portrait in the background that features Bo, Satine, and their parents. (and/or the theoretical third sister that birthed Korkie lol).

Optional: Have a moment where Bo actually looks at the painting wistfully to indicate where her head’s at.

She gets an alert of invading ships, takes off in her own ship to fight them. An action scene of dogfighting ships ensues.

They bomb/destroy her castle.

Furious, Bo-Katan chases after them, but realizes they are based on Mandalore and their forces are huge. 

Reluctantly, very frustrated, decides to retreat.

We switch to Nevarro. Establishing shots. Nevarro is thriving even more than the last time we saw it. Trade is bustling, more infrastructure. Mandalorians roam the street freely. Some are patrolling / being security, others are just there to shop/chill/socialize. Relationships are friendly.

Last establishing shot zeroes in on the Mandalorian land. Also busy and thriving. Children are playing in the sunlight…including Grogu. :)

When I say playing, I mean they’re totally sparring with and beating the crap out of each other because they’re Mandalorian kids. 

Grogu has also gotten a lot better in combat, and despite being tiny the other kids respect him as an equal. Grogu is thriving and seems much more at home than he did with the Jedi kids at Luke’s school.

Optional: Grogu and Ragnar are rivals/besties. 

Camera moves over to Din and Greef chatting about a growing threat. A larger group such as the Crimson Dawn / a new original crime syndicate is considering making a move on Nevarro since Nevarro is becoming even more of a wealthy trade hub and insists on maintaining its independence from the New Republic given how badly the NR failed them last time. 

Optional: the new syndicate is somehow led by Hondo Ohnaka, because that would be hilarious (although that also has the potential to ruin tension if not handled well.)

Din is a little concerned that if the enemy syndicate makes a move, they have enough numbers to possibly overwhelm the Mandalorians.

They are interrupted by an alert of a rapidly approaching invading spaceship that isn’t following landing protocol. 

Din and other Mandalorians jetpack off and/or rush to ships (yes, they have multiple ships now. More signs of growth.) to shoot it down, but Din gets a call from Bo-Katan. She’s the one in the ship, she’s homeless, there’s tons of bad guys on Mandalore, and she has nowhere else to go since her forces abandoned her and Din is her last friend.

(It’s not weird that she knows where Din/Mandalorians are. It’s public knowledge they’re on Nevarro.)

They let her land in Mandalorian territory. Her ship is badly damaged. (Maybe we see some Mando mechanics swarm to fix it!)

On Bo-Katan’s ship, we see Bo-Katan pause and think for a moment. She dons her helmet before disembarking to talk to the Mandos. (Din might comment on this later, and Bo-Katan says she thought it would help her case and get them to trust her. Din says that was probably a good idea.)

The Armorer points out that she’s not really a true follower of the Way, but because she saved Din’s life last season she is welcome to live among them.

From there the episode pivots to a slice-of-Mandalorian-life story. Bo-Katan, with Din as a guide since he’s the only one she’s sort of friends with, realizes that the covert she dismissed as a cult is actually not that bad.

They accepted her, in contrast to the forces that “melted away.” 

At the start of the episode, the other covert members are passive-aggressive against Bo-Katan since she is an apostate. By the end of the episode, as Bo-Katan grows to appreciate the covert’s ways, they grow to appreciate her and her ways. Mutual respect!

She notices that Din is not even the leader of his group despite owning the darksaber and Din reinforces that he and his people could not care less about the fancy sword. Honor and loyalty are more important. 

Optional: Since Din is friends with Greef he is basically the group’s diplomat (and/or military leader?) while the Armorer is social/political/religious leader. Din defers to her.

More Mandalorian worldbuilding. Have some of the Mando characters we met last season interact with Bo and/or Din so they are fleshed out a bit more. 

Optional: Paz Vizsla and Bo interaction. Do they have beef? Do they get along? Idk I just want Bo to react to seeing a Vizsla and vice versa

Bo-Katan has more large-scale military experience than anyone in the covert does, so she ends up contributing some ideas to better defend Nevarro against the enemy syndicate.

Grogu gets another piece of armor (vambrace?). Din is very proud of Grogu. We should get lots of little cute father-son moments threaded through the episode.

Optional: The Armorer is starting to sketch out some helmet concepts for Grogu

Optional: Grogu is clearly going to start talking soon, tries to say “This is the Way” when everybody else says it.

The enemy syndicate attacks. Partly thanks to Bo-Katan’s contributions, the Mandalorians successfully fight them off despite being vastly outnumbered.

Optional: bonus points if Grogu uses the Force to help somehow. More bonus points if Ragnar is also helping defend a bit.

Optional: Okay but what if they tasked Grogu (and maybe Ragnar) with defending the younger foundlings while the adults fight the syndicate? Because that would be cute and potentially hilarious. (Ragnar carefully and perfectly fights/shoots enemies. Grogu just yeets them.)

After syndicate is defeated, Bo-Katan feels great. She has actually used her talents for good. She laments if only other Mandalorians could reunite and take back their planet as well as they defended Nevarro.

Like canon, the Armorer notes Bo-Katan needs a repair and they go off in private. Bo-Katan confides she saw a mythosaur. Armorer and Bo-Katan have their “take off your helmet” scene. It’s less weird because it was always clear that Bo-Katan was wearing the helmet more out of a nicety than a belief. The Armorer tells her she has walked both worlds, and seeing the mythosaur likely signals a new age for Mandalore. 

The Armorer believes that Bo’s goal of taking back Mandalore, especially now that they know the planet isn’t deadly, is worthwhile. Reuniting with other Mandalorians sounds like a good idea (especially since she and the rest of the covert now see that Bo is not the traitorous apostate they thought her and other outsiders to be).

The whole helmetless walk is the same as canon, but at the end of it, Din asks Bo if she wants the darksaber for her quest.

Bo-Katan very much wants the darksaber, but she can’t accept. (This is practically a running joke by this point.)

Well since Din has the darksaber, does she want him to help her in her mission? Din does owe her a favor since she saved his life. (And Din lives for side quests to help his friends.)

Bo-Katan accepts.

I do see that this episode runs the risk of being a little repetitive from the new s3 finale. To differentiate, this episode’s fights should be more aerial/dogfight based since they have more ships. Also a great opportunity to show off some cool new ship models, now at a toy store near you.)

Episode 2: Din and Bo vs Axe

basically the canon s3ep 6. Was it silly? Yes. But I liked it fine, and I’m here for major plot beats. This whole show has been built on fun filler-y adventures.

Maybe clarify what the heck Christopher Lloyd’s motive was though.

Anyway at the end of the episode Bo confronts Axe Woves. Axe says his whole thing about Din not being Mandalorian and not having a drop of Mandalorian blood in his veins. 

Bo-Katan defends Din same as canon

Optional: Maybe also says that Din is far more Mandalorian than Axe is.

Din challenges Axe to a duel. Axe laughs and is like, you’re not Mandalorian, you can’t challenge me to a formal duel.

Optional: Din lights up  the darksaber, but Bo stops him.

Bo-Katan says, fine, then since you’re too much of a coward to fight him I challenge you on his behalf.

Axe accepts.

Din offers her the darksaber for the fight, but Bo-Katan turns him down.

Optional: “I don’t need that thing to take this insert Star Wars slur here down.”

Bo-Katan wipes the floor with Axe.

Then one of two options:

Option A: Din hands Bo Katan the darksaber with the same weak excuse as in canon (but since we’ve seen him repeatedly trying his best to get rid of it, this isn’t out of nowhere.)

Option B: Din mildly says to the whole group that he has the darksaber and he thinks Bo-Katan’s pretty great actually. And if they really need the darksaber to convince them of leadership, then that makes him their leader as the owner of the darksaber, and he’s putting Bo-Katan as his second in command so listen to her.

The other Mandalorians (possibly a little reluctantly) are now on Bo-Katan’s side, as is their giant fleet.

Episode 3A: Side Quest Shenanigans

a fun adventure-y episode where Din+Grogu go on a side quest in order to track down a third Mandalorian group. (Or a flex episode if the runtime for one of the others goes too long and needs to be split)

Optional: Bonus points for going to a planet we’ve never seen before 

Optional: Bonus points for introducing fun new one-off side characters

Optional: Bonus points for introducing new alien species

Optional: Bonus points for another space whale cameo

Din succeeds in his quest and gets coordinates for the Mandalorian group.

or

Episode 3B: It’s flashback time

Kind of a bottle episode with Din, Grogu, and some young Din flashbacks. 

A third Mando group has made contact. Bo-Katan’s busy doing leader-y things / organizing the fleet so she’s sending Din to go meet them, and Din of course is bringing Grogu. 

Another reason why Bo is sending Din specifically is that he has been to Mandalore and can attest that the planet is relatively habitable.

Optional: Yet another reason is because this third group possibly fought with her before and they don’t really trust her. Din’s going to be her hype man.

flashbacks reveal more about Din’s upbringing. Lots of worldbuilding. Probably a lot of TCW references. And addresses Din’s trainer (father?) and explains a bit more why Din has not formally adopted Grogu yet. 

Weave those flashbacks in with Din and Grogu having nice parallel moments

Young Din also fulfills Din’s face reveal quota for the season lol. 

End of the episode is them taking off to get the other group.

Episode 4: More Mandos

Din confronts third group of Mandos.

Optional: Bonus points if some Wrens are in the new Mandalorian group. (Probably not Sabine sadly, since she’s probably doing stuff on the Ahsoka show.)

Optional: Bonus points if any other familiar names/characters are included in the new Mandalorian group. Also a good chance for KOTOR easter eggs.

Another good chance for worldbuilding! How is this group similar/different from the two main groups (covert and Axe Woves’ group) that we’ve seen so far?

Din helps them with whatever the problem of the week is.

Din convinces the third group of Mandalorians to join them on Nevarro and take back Mandalore. (It helps that he’s actually been there. He should include that in his speech.)

Grogu continues to be adorable and powerful. Bonus points if he plays with or hangs out with this covert’s kids.

Optional: B plot where Bo does something leader-y.

Episode 5: So many Mandos

Mandos prepare for war. In order to take back Mandalore, all gathered groups of Mandalorians will need to work together.

Optional: Word has spread through the galaxy, and more Mandos have joined them. 

The Mandos have amassed a giant fleet but they still need more ships.

Bo-Katan leads Mandos (including Din) to forcefully take ships from the new crime syndicate. We see Bo actually doing a good job of leading the team.

Optional: More quick background bits of characterization for the named Mandos, especially Paz.

After the mission is over and the ships are obtained, Din gives Bo his loyalty speech from canon s3ep7. If Din didn’t give her the darksaber in episode 2, he gives it to her now, and she finally accepts.

Please fit in as many adorable Grogu training montages as possible.

At some point, Din can say goodbye to Greef, and Greef gives him a droid with the yes/no buttons for Grogu. 

Optional: The droid is not IG-11, because not enough of IG-11 survived in the first place. So a different kind of droid. I’m thinking something like a BB-8 type model or hollowed-out mind probe droid. It’d basically be a souped-up version of his orb cradle. Granted neither of those models have voice boxes..

Optional: Din informs Greef that most of the Mandos are about to leave, but they’ll leave a group behind to fulfill their defense contract. (Or they’re just leaving/saying goodbye. Now that the syndicate is defeated Nevarro shouldn’t have any major problems.) Greef tells Din to tell Bo that Nevarro and Mandalore officially have an alliance.

Episode 6: Scouting Mandalore

The plot of this episode is putting together a team and then going on a scout mission to figure out who is actually on Mandalore and how many there are. Basically an expanded first half of canon s3 ep7.

Personalities clash, old history is brought up (but somewhat glossed over. Enough that people who have seen TCW/Rebels know what they’re talking about, but a Mandalorian-only watcher still gets the general gist.) 

Like canon we do need Grogu to come along for plot reasons, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Din to bring him on this incredibly dangerous mission, so we’re going to tweak the scene a bit. 

Nobody’s volunteering for the scouting mission, so Din volunteers himself. Then Grogu makes a noise (or stands droid up and pushes the Yes button) indicating he volunteers as well. Din does a panicked double-take.

Axe immediately volunteers next, because he’s not about to be shown up by a not-even-blood-Mandalorian’s not-even-blood-Mandalorian baby. Then Paz volunteers, because he’s not about to be shown up by Axe. Then more people volunteer.

The scout team is a mix from each Mandalorian group. All (or most) of the covert characters we’ve met are on the team.

Din and Grogu have a moment where Din’s like, well you volunteered and you’re partly why everyone else agreed to come, so I guess you’re coming. But be very very very careful.

Back to canon, the scouting mission lands on Mandalore and finds the survivors. 

More Mandalore backstory from the survivors. (What happened on Mandalore during/right after the bombing?)

Option A: Part of why the survivors have survived is because after the initial bombings they surrendered/worked for the Empire (out of necessity for survival, to protect their kids, etc.) This causes a lot of outrage from the other groups, especially the third group who probably fought with Bo in Rebels. Bo-Katan admits she has done a lot of wrong things in her past, but she wants to make up for it. And it seems like these survivors do too. 

Option B: The survivors are heavily implied to be former New Mandalorians. Which causes a lot of tension between the Armorer/covert and survivors. Bonus points if there’s a line like “Concordia? So you were exiled?” 

Either way, it’s about to come to blows. Grogu gets his peacekeeping moment. (If Din says “He didn’t learn that from me,” Bo says “I doubt that.” Or Din just doesn’t say that at all. Like I’m guessing they were trying to imply that’s Grogu’s Jedi training kicking in, but come on, we’ve seen Din be a peacekeeper multiple times.)

Bo-Katan gives her Mandalorians are stronger together speech. She, the Armorer, and the leaders of the other two groups manage to maintain peace.

Since Disney seems to refuse to let the Mandos speak Mandoa, this will have to be in English/Basic. But in in Legends and the Mandoa dictionary, there’s this concept of cin vhetin, or clean slate. It means once you become Mandalorian, you leave your past behind and start fresh and are only judged on what you do from that point onward. 

Bo brings up this concept in her speech to the other Mandos. Says something along the lines of, we have all had our differences but in the end we are all Mandalorian. From this point on, we are as one faction, not many.

Also going to add a little addition. “You’ve trained your apprentice well.” “He’s not an apprentice yet.” “Seriously? You’re letting a foundling go on this mission?” Bo giving Din some serious side-eye. Din says nothing but is visibly stressed. Bonus points if it’s somehow mentioned that Din could totally stop him from going on the mission if he was Grogu’s parent. Also, this further illustrates the ranked system and that Din hasn’t adopted Grogu.

By the end of the episode, Mandalorians are united.

Episode 7: The Battle of Mandalore, Part I (Second half of canon s3ep7.)

Pretty much goes like canon, with a little more fleshed out since we have more time. The previous episodes should have done enough work that everything has much more of an emotional impact.

The Armorer bringing the survivors back to the fleet is now a nice character moment that shows the formerly fighting groups are united.

Now when Paz dies, it’s going to feel a lot more meaningful because we’ve built up his character more. (And I do think he should die. As much as I love him, he got the best final stand scene ever and it raised the stakes nicely.)

One tweak though is have Bo’s discussion with Paz about how he should escape with them comes before all the other Mandos have climbed out of the hole. That way it’s more clear that Paz’s sacrifice bought them all enough time to escape.

Din is still captured, we see more of Grogu’s reaction

Optional: Gideon takes off the helmet while Din is captured. I am so happy for Din that it stayed on, but it almost seems out of character to me that Gideon didn’t touch it or any of his armor. It would have been an easy, perfect way to demoralize Din and the other Mandos. Also I know you apparently somehow disabled the weapons in his vambraces but wouldn’t it be easier to just remove the vambraces?? Honestly though the fight scenes are so good I’m cool with overlooking this

Episode 8: The Battle of Mandalore of Mandalore, Part II

canon s3 ep8, pretty much untouched except for a few added shots of the Mando characters we have names for.

I realize the Volume has some limitations, but if we could add a little CGI or a practical effect to make it look like there’s thousands of Mandos gathered around the Forge, that would be great.

Din actually says the word “son” at some point after the adoption.

Now hopefully everything in this episode lands a lot better and has more emotional impact.

[theydjarin]

Part of the reason why I'm not heavily involved in the Mandalorian fandom anymore (I used to write fic and do art for it) is that the fandom seems kind of hostile to fictional cultures and characters that show things other than the Western norm. The standard tropes in various aspects of the show and ships have been shifting for a while to a place that I and some other people I've befriended in the fandom are no longer comfortable with and I'm glad to see you address that. The othering and demonization of Mandalorian culture and Mandalorian characters has become way too common.

It is very common to see some really really bad and just flat out ignorant takes out there.

I do get why it happened - fandom is one thing, but we also have to remember that Star Wars itself is by and large run by mostly white Americans which has definitely influenced how things are portrayed (JF is Jewish and I think that is a huge reason why we are seeing more complexity in portrayals of Mandalorians in The Mandalorian vs TCW for example) and a lot of people, queer Americans especially have had very bad and traumatizing experiences with religion so I do get the gut reaction when we see Din being shunned for a mistake or Din having religious suicidal ideation (he'd rather refuse medical treatment and die than take of his helmet in s1).

But it becomes a huge fandom problem when people take that and 1) generalize it and 2) add in real-life xenophobic and racist myths and stereotypes onto that, and then they so often become fanon (the issue I mentioned with Din feeling guilty about the armor, the entire concept of "mando bait" is just steeped in age old sterotypes, etc). Just recently there was that one post that said something like "Mandalorians just seem like they would be really into ritual spousal kidnapping" which is just. Horribly offensive and clearly built from seeing anything "tribal" as violent and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. So shit like that is definitely out there and undercuts a lot of the complexities that are already written into the universe.

Just like any religion, Mandalorians are going to have some seriously abusive and toxic aspects to it, but also just like any religion, we've seen how it can be good for people.We’ve seen how Mandalorians have supported each other and have survived after genocide. Being a Mandalorian gives Din purpose and a guiding compass through a really really tough galaxy, has helped him make some sort of sense of what happened to him as a kid, and it's important to him. A lot of people seem to either want him to completely renounce being a Mandalorian, or they want him to be "Redeemed" from the sin of removing his helmet, but neither of those ring true as a good or realistic option because we've already seen him deviate from the opinions his covert has held in ways that make sense. He's forming his own religious beliefs, which I think is a very healthy way to practice religion. How could he not, after what he's gone though? But that doesn't mean that his identity and his religion aren't important or aren't real, it just means that he needs to figure out his own belief system, and use faith, a shared history and common goals to bring people together, because, like Din said in bobf, loyalty and solidarity are the Way. And I hope/think that this will be a major theme in s3 but we'll SEEE

But all this to say -- yes, this idea that The Mandalorians or The Jedi are Just Bad is so pervasive and absolutely a horrible and offensive take and I really get why you're weary.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Mando season 3... sigh. Sadly, I'm beginning to lose interest. The story seems disjointed, and the production value feels like it's diminished in quality.

I'm having difficulty suspending my belief. For example, the location of the covert. It looks like they're in the middle of nowhere. There are dangerous beasts all over the place, so why are they still there? Why did they save those baby monsters if they're only going to turn into more dangerous predators? It looks like no one has a ship, so how are they getting supplies? Where are they getting gas to fire forge? Practicalities like these are knocking me out of the narrative.

Also, the fact that Favreau said there's no end in site concerns me because shows seem to lose quality over time when there isn't a plan. The words "jump the shark" come to mind.

I'll keep watching, but I miss being excited for a new episode to drop each week. In fact, I haven't watched the latest episode and am in no hurry to do so.

Hi Michelle!! 😀 I was so happy to see you pop up in my inbox! I hope you’re doing well, lovely!! Thanks for swinging by with this!!

I’m sorry that you’re not enjoying this season as much as the previous ones. It seems like you’re not alone - I have seen quite a few people expressing less than favorable opinions on what’s going on with s3 - but that’s still unfortunate, and I hope that the remaining episodes give you and others more to enjoy about it!

That being said, I’m actually really liking this season so far, which probably (maybe?) isn’t what you were expecting me to say, but here we are. 🤷🏻‍♀️

But let’s talk about the things you brought up. Going under the cut to avoid spoilers for anyone who doesn’t want to see them:

I’m gonna start by saying that I do agree that the production value feels a little diminished. I’m wondering if it’s because of bigger budgets on other SW shows (I’m thinking Andor & Ahsoka- which I have HIGH hopes for), and them banking on the fact that the Mandalorian series already has a large fan base. It doesn’t feel (to me at least) as diminished as the production value of BOBF felt (that low speed chase on 50s era mopeds was … a choice), but I’ll agree that it feels like a half step down from seasons 1 & 2.

The only thing I personally have had a hard time with as far as the storytelling/disjointedness goes, was the way that the Pershing episode was structured. It was 5 minutes of Din/Bo/Grogu, and then a whole chunk of Pershing and the least trustworthy character in all of star wars, and then another 6 minutes of Din/Bo/Grogu. I didn't hate that we got some info on what was going on on that side of things - I have theories about where they're going with Elia Kane and all of that, and they were strengthened by some details in the latest episode - but I wish they had structured the storytelling differently by sort of breaking it up and sprinkling it into the rest of the episodes.

As far as the covert being in the middle of nowhere goes, it’s entirely possible that at least one other Mando has a ship, and it’s hidden. I always assumed that their tunnels and caves on Nevarro were more expansive than what we ever actually saw - Din at one point says he’s not familiar with a certain section of them, which made me think they were LARGE and possibly even connected to other tunnels where a ship (or ships) that belongs to the covert might be kept for emergencies or just to use when needed. I also recall a line (when the covert was on Nevarro) about how living in the shadows means only one can go out at a time for secrecy and safety, and that made me think that it’s not just Din who comes and goes off world, that others do, too if or when they need to. It’s also possible that they had a pre-arranged backup plan, so they didn't all need to leave Nevarro together, they just had to find a way there even if it wasn't right away. But again this is all just what my brain came up with throughout the series, so I have no idea if it’s canonically correct.

The fact that there are so many dangerous beasts on that planet was probably one of the things that made it a desirable hideout - because no one in their right mind would try to settle Dino World, but Mandalorians aren't in their right minds so I get why they chose it from that perspective.

THE BABY MONSTERS!!!! Can I tell you that as soon as the mama went down I gasped and said "but the babies will die now!" And then as soon as they turned up back at the covert I was filled with relief like "oh, nevermind, they're going to be loved and cared for!" I love that they were "adopted" by the Mandalorians. For one, raising them from hatchlings will allow them to bond with the lil beasts and possibly even rely on them for battle backup like Boba did with the Rancor. Also? I just love the reiteration of how important adoption is to Mandalorians. It's a part of their belief system that they take care of any children that need taking care of, no matter who or what their parents were. "Mandalorian isn't a race, it's a Creed" extends even to beasties and I just think that's very sweet coming from a group of tin cans. (idk what the beasts are called. I've been calling them pterodactyls to fit the Dino World theme - I've seen articles and posts where people are calling them shriek hawks, but I'm pretty sure shriek hawks are smaller and have feeyethers. I could be wrong about that, though!)

*thanks, Dieter*

The "no end in sight" is admittedly concerning, but I'm choosing to believe they won't let it go beyond where it needs to. Depending on where this season ends, I think it could probably go one more. With all the tie-ins from the Clone Wars & Rebels series (which honestly, I know animation isn't everyone's jam, but Rebels was truly great, and there is a LOT of Mandalorian lore and history in that show, including stuff pertaining to the Darksaber, Bo-Katan, and Clan Vizsla, so if you're ever looking for something to watch I recommend it, or at least the episodes that concern Mandalore) that have been popping up, I'm hoping that Filoni will take good care of the rest of this story. My fingers are crossed.

I hope that you do keep watching, and I hope that you do find things to enjoy about it as it continues! I'm very much looking forward to the next episode.

Thank you again for dropping in! I know my response was probably different from what you were expecting, so I hope that's okay!

[beachesgetpeaches]

The Mandalorian Finale Thoughts:

Do we think they are really going to yeet Din and Grogu away and sideline them? For me narratively (and maybe a tiny but subjectively) this makes very little sense... monetarily also. They have set up this perfect separation of Din's path from Bo's.

Din's narrative path is always tightly connected to not his wants and needs but rather his purpose. First instance of purpose propels us forward in S1 when he saves The Child (now known as Grogu the Menace) and effectively finds his purpose in protecting him.

Then in S2 his purpose is to return Grogu to his people, and Din is driven by this and this alone. The purpose is fulfilled at the end of the season with a bittersweet goodbye. And in BoBF we see Din who is now an Apostate (technically shunned by his clan), with no Grogu, and this Darksaber (which he is not vibing with).

So, Din sets out to redeem himself. A fool's mission according to every other Mandalorian but that man decides that this is now his focus and even when Grogu returns... Din is going to redeem himself because they are a clan of two! And the whole S3 is Din fixating on redeeming himself, and then realizing yooo we should totally GO BACK to the planet where I nearly died a few times nbd. So, his purpose becomes bringing them back to Mandalore.

Anyway... Din has now fulfilled the narrative portion where his purpose ties him directly to the rest of the Mandalorians. He has a home (on another planet!) in which he can chill with his son (!!!), he has landed himself a steady job as a under the radar bounty hunter for rhe New Republic (helping with Outer Rim shenanigans)... and nothing really ties him back to Bo, and what I assume will be her purpose - rebuilding Mandalore and proving herself worthy of following in spite of the darksabr being lost (since after all it is just a symbol).

I would like to see these as two separate paths, and I would like to see Din's story move forward since we do not have any idea where Grogu ends up when the space fascists rise again. But I would like to see these stories in separate tv shows ngl. Din could go back to episode adventures of bounty hunting, it could even lean more into detective Din vibes 🙃 where he figures out a larger threat etc.

Bo-Katan and the rest of the mandalorian people could be seen re-establishing Mandalore (much more political). They could easily cross-over these shows with an episode in one and an episode in the other while also allowing space for growth for multiple characters 😁

[zoethebitch]

Idk if you've seen the news yet, but at Star Wars celebration they announced 3 new movies. Filoni is directing one that supposed to close the interconnected stories from Mando, BoBF, Ahsoka, and another one that's not out yet. Very MCU of them.

Then there's one with Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order after TRoS, and the last one is the most interesting to me, set 25000 years before the Republic, during the period when the Jedi Order is first coming into being

I have seen