#meta: the mandalorian

[ranahan]

Here’s a wild fan theory:

You see these blue triangles on Din’s gauntlets?

And these two little triangles on Boba’s (Jango’s) helmet?

And kind of here on Jaster’s cuirass?

I’ve pondered the significance (there was a post that made the connection between the triangles on the armour of various Mandalorians and clones, but I can’t find it anymore) and here’s my wild little theory.

You know what’s significant in Mandalorian culture and associated with the number three? The three Mandalorian gods Kad Ha’rangir, Arasuum and Hod Ha’ran.

So maybe for the Taung the triangle was a symbol of the three gods, the cosmic battle between growth and stagnation, and the Mandalorian faith as a whole. I like the idea of the triangle standing on one of its corners (“upside down”): the two upper corners are growth and stagnation, the bottom corner represents the fickle nature of fortune which may at any point tip the scales this or that way. The arrangement of the corners is also reminiscent of the iconic T-visor, and in that way, the T could be another representation of the idea of these teetering scales of cosmic battle.

After the Mandalorian Wars, the Mandalorians reinterpreted their old faith, came to view the gods as metaphors, and moved towards the belief in the Manda, the collective oversoul. And perhaps they also reused and reinterpreted a lot of the old iconography.

So for the modern Mandalorians, one triangle is symbolic of the Manda, the collective oversoul and shared identity. And two triangles… well, what’s significant in Mandalorian culture and associated with the number six? The Resol’nare, or the six actions. Or in Din’s case (his gauntlets are of course a pair, so 6 corners in total), The Way of the Mandalore.

And I like to think that the placement might also be significant. Perhaps Din’s are on his hands to signify honour: “the Way guides my actions.” Boba’s over his view plate might signify vision. Jaster’s around his kar’ta, perhaps justice or faith. Near the mouth parts, truth. On the back of the helmet or on the back plate, it might be a protective cantrip: “watch my back.” And on the shins or feet, a wish for the Manda to guide one’s steps.

[gffa]

I’m in love with that Din is still struggling with the Darksaber, that he can barely get it up off the ground, that each time he picks it up, it feels heavier and heavier!!  Yeah, that’s because it’s a psychic sword that absorbs your thoughts and feelings!!!  Your emotions become part of the blade!!!  Din is still not in a settled place, he’s still unbalanced in his own mind and heart, even when he’s so close to his goal, he still hasn’t put everything on straight up in there, so the Darksaber feels like it weighs five tons because it’s Din’s thoughts that weigh five tons!!!  He only ever uses it in fights where he’s going after a bounty or protecting himself, he can still use it, but it’s so hard!!  And then Bo-Katan comes along and she’s fighting to save Din, to save someone else, and it’s light as a feather in her hand!! Because it’s a psychic space sword that was made by a psychic space wizard who powered with a semi-sentient psychic space rock at its heart and a Jedi’s lightsaber always works better when you’re focused on other people rather than yourself!!!

[fantastic-nonsense]

the deliberate erasure of Padme Amidala and Satine Kryze from every piece of Star Wars media where it would be narratively and thematically relevant to mention them is absolutely insane

because how did we get to a place where we can have two separate shows that collectively co-star three of Padme's best friends and her child and only get one (1) oblique mention? How did we get two whole shows focused on Mandalorians and post-Imperial Mandalore, one of which co-stars Satine's sister, and not mention the Last Free Ruler of Mandalore? How did we get a show focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi and not mention one of his best friends or the love of his life? How did we get a show focused entirely on politics and spying and the true birth of the Rebellion and not mention the fact that Padme helped build that? How did we visit Sundari and not mention Satine? How did we get an episode where Ahsoka literally attends Padme's funeral and never once says her name?

The fact that Satine is essentially confined to The Clone Wars despite her sister being the current co-protagonist of Disney's flagship Star Wars show while Padme has been basically erased from every single piece of Star Wars media that isn't the Darth Vader comics is baffling. It would be like Leia being completely non-existent and never mentioned in the sequel trilogy despite it co-starring her son, brother, and husband. It makes no sense, it's clearly deliberate, and it's extremely irritating.

[loveoaths]

force sensitive!din is cool, but imagine how funny the reverse would be. force negative!din. his very presence is actively hostile to the force. jedi can’t track him because he simply does not show up on their radars. you try to force throw him and he just stands there like 🧍🏻‍♂️. being around him as a force sensitive person is like entering a cellular dead zone. there are no signals going in or out. grogu’s rapid force development happens because being around din and then leaving with luke was the jedi equivalent of rock lee removing his ankle weights and beating gaara’s ass. if the force is a telephone wire, din is the fucking boulder stapled to it. his very presence causes a vacuum in the force that the universe tries to correct by throwing more force at it, which is why the man suddenly can’t walk without running into a jedi these days. force negative!din, y’all.

[mearchy]

Din has the aura of a man who would react with equally baffled resignation to both the fairy and the walrus. My man heard that his 50 year old green toddler was able to tap into the infinite power of the universe which made him eligible to become part of an ancient order of wizard monks who fight with laser swords. And he was just like ………. sigh. Guess I have to buy a better cupboard to keep him out of the snacks. Like shit just happens to him dykwim.

[withercrown]

There's been a lot of posts about how Moff Gideon is appropriating Mandalorian culture that I've found extremely interesting. Even Giancarlo Esposito pointed out that this isn't just a matter of simple exploitation: he wants to be a Mandalorian.

"Moff Gideon would really like to be a Mandalorian, and there’s a reason for it. That’s his psychological, real problem. He really wants to be a Mandalorian because the strength and power of the Mandalorians is not necessarily that they are individuals. It’s that they are part of a group that have an ideal and a morality."

His new armor even has the ka'rta beskar on it, so it's really not just that he's stolen beskar alloy to make himself a cool set of armor: it is Mandalorian-style armor specifically. However, it's also armor based explicitly on the armor of Death Watch Maul loyalists.

It's reasonable to conclude that Moff Gideon would alike himself to Maul, an outsider who was able to inherit Mandalorian identity only through the possession of the darksaber. He would see Maul as a legitimizing path to Mandalorian-ness. I could easily see him idolizing Maul.

Bo-Katan - who rejected Maul instantly - would indeed be someone that Gideon would wish to destroy, but not by killing her. He once mocked Bo-Katan for needing the darksaber to legitimize herself, but his glee wasn't simple cruelty. He was delighted that she was legitimizing the darksaber itself, which in turn would legitimize him if he possessed it.

I think it's also telling that the episode goes out of its way for Din to say that no, the darksaber isn't important, and the belief that it is is a disservice to us. The darksaber isn't really what makes Bo-Katan a good leader.

Moff Gideon wants to be a Mandalorian, but like any fascist who appropriates another culture, he is only able to engage with the symbols and artifacts rather than engaging in a deep, life-long commitment to the culture and identity itself.

[aroacedindjarin]

the armorer’s weapon of choice being her hammer is so so fucking cool to me. It’s such a little design choice but it means so much to me that for three whole seasons she’s hit people in the head and killed with blunt force trauma rather than using blasters or any of the common (or uncommon) weapons we see the other Mandalorians use that tend to keep things impersonal and at a distance. I know all the Mandalorians value their weapons incredibly highly but the fact that she uses her equipment from her Forge, her most familiar tools, that she uses to build and create beautiful things with feels even more special - the primary purpose of them isn’t to be a weapon.

I remember the first time I saw her fight the stormtroopers in season one, I thought she was using the hammer because it was the only thing she had on hand after all the fighting and that it was (and probably still partially is) to demonstrate the difference in her role in the clan and her resourcefulness. But the fact that after we’ve seen her fight so many times now and it’s very clear that the hammer is not just a weapon of convenience but it’s her choice and she’s so damn good with it is so COOL !!!!!! because the way she fights seems to represent what we know about her character so well. It’s brutal and takes a specific kind of mentality to do permanent damage with a melee weapon like that. But she does it efficiently, and cleanly without any flair or fuss. She always makes it look like she’s simply completing a task with every opponent she knocks down it’s the same as her precise, methodical actions creating a piece of armor in the Forge. I love her so much I think she’s such a compelling character with an incredible design

[evaarade]

"Mandalorians didn't want to change, Satine merely forced them to"

Except, no she didn't and and yeah they did.

Here's the thing, we are told that the majority of the people wanted the change and were New Mandalorians, we are told that the only people who weren't were a small minority that had been exiled for causing a damaging war on the planet and population

And it was That minority that kick started Mandalore falling, that brought wars back to Mandalore, that took over via trickery and deception because the majority were Happy with Satine so the only way that said minority could take over was by making her seem incompetent and convinced the population of exactly that

Mandalore was a tragedy in the Clone wars because people WANTED to change, they were HAPPY with the change that Satine brought, but because an Extremist Minority didn't like it so they all Suffered

George Lucas said that the Prequels were a story about how a democracy fell, and I see The Clone Wars Mandalorians as another chapter of that, but this time it wasn't because of the civilian inaction, it was because while the people did Everything Right, they suffered under things out of their control and an Extremist Minority used propaganda and staged attacks to take over at the first chance they had.

[incorrectpizza]

Something fascinating that I haven't seen many people talking about is the reveal that The Night of a Thousand Tears was after the Galactic Civil War.

It's just a little detail but it's one that puzzled and intrigued me at first. I'd always assumed that it had happened during the war. After all, wouldn't the Mandalorians be a major threat to the Empire?

I wonder, though, if the Mandalorians were just quiet enough, if they avoided open conflict with the Empire, that the Emperor weighed the risks and decided that it wasn't worth kicking the hornet's nest that was an ancient civilization of warriors.

But then he dies, and Operation Cinder takes place.

If you're not familiar with Operation Cinder, it's the Emperor's posthumous order to bomb Imperial loyalists to "punish" them for his death. Thus, most worlds targeted were staunch Imperial loyalists. Palpatine's own homeworld of Naboo was targeted.

But there were a few exceptions; the planet Abednedo was occupied because it was sympathetic to the Rebellion.

Mandalore was "glassed." Was it a part of Operation: Cinder? Was it orbital bombardment? Did the order come directly from the Emperor, out of the grave? Or was it someone else's?

And most of all why? Was it out of fear that Mandalore would become too powerful for the crumbling Empire to defeat? Was the planet deemed too dangerous to exist? Or was it just petty cruelty, like the other worlds? Was there any resistance? Were there any Imperial defectors who left because of the horror they saw there? How many Mandalorians survived, fled? Where was Bo-Katan? And why the kriff were the Wrens on Mandalore itself? Or was Krownest also destroyed?

[ooops-i-arted]

Man the new season 3 clip made me sooooo happy. Not just because it's cute af, but Grogu is just so wonderfully normal.

Remember season 1? He was hesitant, made himself small and often cowered in the pod. He initiated interactions with people but they were usually cautious and easy for him to move back - reaching out to heal Din in The Child, walking out to Peli in The Gunsliger. He takes the shifter knob for the first time and immediately has a freeze response when Din picks him up (which I have seen in kids that have experienced abuse before). Even when he's distressed he tends to, at most, make some sounds and not really disrupt his surroundings. We only really see him play in Sanctuary, with other children.

But now? He's happily spinning himself in his chair like a regular kid waiting for dad to finish talking to his boss before leaving work. He knows he's around safe, trusted adults - even feeling confident enough to steal candy(?) off of Greef's desk! He has no worries of being hit, yelled at, or abused. He can experiment with using his Force skills to play because he knows he will be nicely asked to stop if he isn't supposed to be doing that, and that if anything bad happens, Dad and Greef are right there to help him and he trusts they will help him. He's acting like a normal kid for his maturity level and it makes me so happy!!!

[gffa]

What gets me about this ending--though, it’s not really an ending, Din is lining up work for himself, there will be further adventures to come, there’s still a lot of work to do, he’s not going to get bored any time soon--is that it goes all the way back to the first season, where I felt his yearning to stay on Sorgan. It looks a little different that it would have then--he’s still bounty hunting, he’s still keeping with the traditions of the Watch, he’s not in a romantic relationship, but he is settled on a planet that he has connections to, it’s quiet but cozy, Grogu is playing with frogs here just as he did on Sorgan, he has friends on the planet, you can feel the contentment of it. I think on some level, Din Djarin has always wanted something a little like this.  He’s not cut off from Mandalore, he’s not cut off from his religion, but he’s found the balance that works for him.  He’s found the aspects of his identity and the things he wants in his life. A quiet place to relax on the porch, his kid playing in the yard, where no one is chasing him down and the kid can relax.  Din Djarin can relax. I love that it’s a follow through on what he wanted all the way back in the first season, but on his own terms, and nothing feels missing from this picture.  It’s exactly what’s right for him here, he didn’t give up anything he didn’t want to, he did everything he needed to, and everything feels settled.  He’ll still travel the galaxy, his ship is parked right there to the side, but when he and Grogu need some peace, this place is here, just exactly all they need.

[strawberryvulture]

i’ve noticed that whenever we see Satine she’s always “modestly” dressed/covered - which is a total contrast to many costumes of other characters:

and i think it would be interesting to write this as some sort of Mandalorian religious thing - like how Din Djarin and the Children of the Watch don’t take off their helmets, and don’t seem to uncover any other parts of themselves either.

of course Din and his people are religiously orthodox/extremist, so Satine’s situation would obviously be different - more like covering your head before going to mass and less like wearing a nun’s habit.

but it would still be really intriguing to paint Satine as religious, as following religious traditions - especially because she’s so devoted to Mandalore and it’s people. like…we’ve seen her wear low cut dresses and show her hands and her hair, but maybe as a sign of respect and modesty she keeps her arms and legs covered (we never see her arms and legs in any canon imagery)

and!! it would bring up an interesting layer to her dynamic with Obi Wan. Obi’s devoted to his religion and Satine is devoted to hers - but those religions have vast differences and few similarities.

you could play it like “their religious and cultural differences cause friction between them” or as “they’re aware of their differences and have a profound respect for each other” - and between the two, the latter seems much more plausible/in character.

just imagine

Obi Wan, during their year on the run, shielding her with his cloak so she could change clothes without any of her limbs being seen. Obi Wan quickly covering the exposed skin on her arms when bad guys attack and their weapons have ripped her sleeves. Or!!! Satine hiding injuries from Obi because she doesn’t want to break her promise, doesn’t want to reject the traditions of her people - when Obi eventually finds out he turns his back/separates them with a curtain, and talks her though cleaning the wounds.

Satine never “said the word” because no matter how much she loved Obi Wan, she’d never expect him to break his oath or turn his back on the code. because she knows how important being a jedi is to him. because she knows and understands how important his devotions are. He never once asked her to compromise her beliefs for him - and she’s not going to ask him to compromise for her.

[thewriterowl]

I saw your tags on your Luke Skywalker post and you’re 100% right that he made the right choice in TBOBF!! I was totally astounded by how many people were angry at him in this show and believe it ‘ruined his character’. And for what? Letting Grogu choose his own fate? He was probably the only person in the entire Mando series to give him the ability to have a say in his own life. Ugh, I swear these people just don’t even like Luke’s character. Sorry for dumping this vent on you, I just saw your post and I’m glad someone else agrees with me <3

Thank you!! More stuff to fanatically rant about cause I have THOUGHTS. This and what he did to Kylo are stuff I’m biting at the bit to defend.

Now, ok, I can agree the execution of it was not the best. They cut corners because they used too much money in his face rather than giving us a new actor so we could have more screen time. Had they given Luke more screen time for that final scene to be longer it would’ve been better. Disney is still not treating Luke right by any means and I just wanna grab him and wrap him up in a blanket and publish my own book on him.

That being said…

Luke was in the right. No, he wasn’t saying Grogu shouldn’t love his father. Again (and again and again) attachment is NOT relationships of any kind. It’s NOT love. How people still feel like that’s what Luke and the Jedi meant boggles my mind. Attachment is possessiveness and the lie of love. It’s a poison. Grogu had some of that and it was shown in season 1 when he tried to choke Cara out. He’s a toddler with power that can corrupt if not carefully guided.

Luke asked Grogu to unlock his memories and Grogu consented. Luke asked Grogu to choose the Jedi life now (and with his age may not ever see his father again; cause Din himself wasn’t coming back thanks to AHSOKA not Luke—funny how only he’s blamed when he clearly gave Din coordinates) or go back to his father now able to defend himself and Grogu thought about the choice and accepted what it could mean thanks to Luke’s guidance.

Honestly, with Luke’s affinity for love and his past with his father, I could’ve seen him urge Grogu to go back to Din (and maybe he did we just didn’t get to see it, friggen Disney) if not for the fact Grogu needs to learn to make hard decisions. He knows he has Luke and knows he has Din no matter what but he needs to learn to face the anxiety and consequences in the galaxy he’s living in.

You are 100% in how much freedom and respect Luke gives Grogu (is it maybe too much for what is about a toddler+? Maybe! Positives can turn to negatives in teaching and parenting and no one is perfect—-including Din) and is the one who really gives him back his inner strength and confidence.

Luke had Grogu for what? Two or three years? (SW really needs to work on providing us clear time jumps)The two were close. They clearly cared for each other. Luke let Grogu go after the choice was made. Grogu learned from that. He saw Luke be selfless and let him decide his path, even if it may keep them apart but there is the hope they will find each other again (IT SHOULD! God I want coparenting Dinluke). Luke is not turning his back to Grogu. Grogu can reach out and/or return at any time and Luke will answer.

So yes, Luke was right.

[mearchy]

a mundane and probably well-established observation to make atp, but i really do like that they didn't cast some chiselled young superhero type actor as din, because that would've been very easy, conventional and satisfying for mainstream audiences. there was no awestruck face reveal where he takes the helmet off and he's a captain america esque action figure with an artistically badass scar or something. he's literally just a dude. like, i can't express the extent to which din djarin is just a guy. he's got scruff and helmet hair and absolutely terrified, uncomfortable eyes as he violates every boundary he has in this act of desperation to save his child. it's not a hotshot-revealed movie moment and that gives it so much more weight. that moment was not a victory, it was a sacrifice.

also we just straight up need more aging protagonists in our action and fantasy media and anytime we get fed well i'm glad. no more mcu under-forty club more scifi senior citizen center.

[kanskje-kaffe]

The New Republic subplot in ep3 was explicitly anti-statist. That was the point. As @gffa pointed out, we didn’t see a single friendly or trustworthy face representing the New Republic, and that was the point, because this subplot is saying: the state is not your friend, nor is it trustworthy.

The only person who seemed to be a sympathetic ally turned out to be the O’Brien to Pershing’s Winston Smith. But more than that, the New Republic officers who place so much trust in her were unable to tell the difference between a fascist and one of their own.

At every turn, the idea that “the New Republic isn’t the Empire” is subverted. Pershing is encouraged to touch the mountaintop because “this isn’t the Empire, live a little” - but in fact, touching the mountaintop IS prohibited. At surface level it’s presented as a harmless prank to make Pershing jump, but in fact, his tentative faith that they live in a free world is misplaced. Pershing does not touch the mountaintop.

Pershing acts to continue his research illegally because he has made the error of actually believing in the principles the New Republic promotes for itself. His chatbot therapist social worker says: yes, we should do everything we can to help the New Republic. Pershing is punished for engaging directly with the ethics. Will his research do good? Will the citizens of the New Republic benefit? Will people live better lives as a result? It’s irrelevant for these purposes what the actual answers are; only that asking the question at all is prohibited.

Pershing fails to realize that the New Republic is not its own propaganda, something that the more socially sophisticated people around him all understand. The wealthy man in the opera house says: that’s why I should just keep my mouth shut, like it’s a joke. But it’s not a joke. These people clearly did not recently come into their status. They went to the opera house under the Old Senate, and under the Emperor, and they’ll continue to do so under the New Senate. Pershing attempts to engage with morality on first principles. The New Republic does not, but uses the impression that it does to legitimize itself anyway.

The mind flayer scene is saying this: the state machine is always the same, the only difference is the intensity at which it’s applied. This was so on-the-nose explicit that they depicted a LITERAL machine with a LITERAL Intensity Knob. The mind flayer is a metaphor for the exercise of state power itself. Pershing experiences horror at the sight of the machine. Don’t you know what this is? Don’t you know what it’s done? What it always does? The New Republic officer says: don’t worry, we know how to use it. It’s beneficial in small doses. We’ll exercise restraint. And of course, once the machine is in use and you’re strapped in, there’s nothing you can do if someone stops exercising restraint. The function of the machine is the same.

“Beneficial in small doses” is the mantra of the complacent statist. In a show called THE MANDALORIAN are you that surprised that it’s taking the side of the Mandalorians? We’re on to our third season of Din refusing to cooperate with the police, refusing to do police enforcer’s work, refusing to trust institutions of power to save him, and people still expect the New Republic to come out of this as the good guys? The Jewish subtext of the Mandalorians (hunted to extermination by a state power, breaking all rules to save a life multiple times, orthoprax, lost homeland) is now literally just text (Din bathed in a mikveh and was witnessed by another Jew Mandalorian) and you STILL expect the state to come out of this as the good guys?? Do you think the Nazis were the only government to ever mistreat Jews?

What I loved about Andor - and what I love about the direction mando s3 is moving - is the exploration of regime change. The brutal reality of it, the sense of plus ça change plus c’est la même chose, beyond the propaganda and the things people long for: relief, security, peace. Yeah the delivery is janky as fuck but I’m not delusional enough to expect Quiet Flows The Don here. Regardless of artistic technique, the story being told is about as antifascist as it gets.

So like sorry but if you perceive this subplot to be “Nazi apologism” because it validates the armed and insular pogrom survivors while criticizing the concept of state machinery beyond its branding, you may want to examine your priors. The cure for Nazism is not FDA-approved.

[sticks-and-souls]

I genuinely do not understand the dismissal of the Plaizir-15 storyline as “bad writing” when every single aspect of it was intentional absurdity designed to be comedy for us because we know we’re watching star wars.

If the too-happy jingle as bo katan lost control of her ship didn’t make you feel like you were entering a weird star wars dystopia, then Dark™ C-3PO and R2-D2 greeting them should have made you realize that it was deliberate. I commented to my partner that the Star Trek vibe was making it feel so weird well before we got to Christopher Lloyd wearing a fucking Star Trek uniform.

The fact that every single human character was an outrageous cameo was on purpose—probably to take their behavior from being interpreted as cheesy (not ideal), and into the territory of being absurdist. On top of being silly characters, (which we experience through Bo Katan’s spot-on “is this really happening”performance), there’s an extra joke for us that our main characters aren’t in on, which is that it’s freaking Jack Black and Lizzo. The director is winking at us. This is absurd!

Same thing when grogu got “knighted”. A silly, cute moment, that we once again experience through Bo’s barely held in smile. But the background music was the same music as the season 2 finale when he went to be a Jedi knight with Luke Skywalker. That was an extra joke just for us! It was hilarious!

Because our main characters experienced the ridiculousness of what was happening to them in a way that was true to their characters and there was a plausible plot reason for them to go along with it (i.e., complete quest in order to go see the other mandalorians), then it was still reasonable to transition back to the main season arc by the end of the episode.

I guess my point is that, just because it may not have been your brand of humor or you didn’t catch some of them, doesn’t make it bad storytelling or sloppy writing. It was deliberate and we still got to see our main characters work as a team in ways we haven’t seen before in a fun romp of an episode.