Star Wars Traditions to Remember in The Mandalorian Season 3

Now that the book is closed on The Book of Boba Fettthe writing seems to be on the wall: it’s a less-than-ideal take on everyone’s favorite bounty hunter in Star Wars (original trilogy version).

For all the promise Boba Fett held over the years to Star Wars fans as a compelling antihero, by the time he finally got his own spotlight he had been eclipsed by a number of other characters, including a new bounty hunter. Star Wars favorite in Mandalorian armor – O Mandalorian, aka Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), aka Baby Yoda’s father.

This eclipse literally happened in The Book of Boba Fett, who doled out several episodes to Din Djarin and Grogu, starting with the aptly titled episode “Return of the Mandalorian.” It was conceived as a sort of crossover sequel, but it felt more like a full-scale colonization of the spinoff, like Boba Fett book has became The Mandalorian season 2.5. In the process, he revealed some details that will certainly be important for Mandalorian session 3.

(Ed. observation: In case it wasn’t clear, this post contains spoilers for Din Djarin and Grogu’s fates in The Book of Boba Fett to prepare you for the 3rd season of The Mandalorian. If you don’t want to know what happens in Boba Fett, do not roll anymore.)

Grogu is back with The Mandalorian

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Although season two saw Grogu leave with Luke Skywalker for Jedi training, in Boba Fett Book, the Child misses Din too much to stay away. The young and strangely aged Luke can sense that Grogu’s attachment is affecting his training, so he gives him the choice of staying with Luke or going with Din. In good news for all of us who love that little green doll, he chooses Din.

The two finish Boba Fett book season flying together, establishing Mandalorian season 3 when they pick up somewhere. But chances are, they’re on a collision course with some Mandalorian legends of their own.

Mandalore and Mandalorian lore emerged a lot

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Though Din stops only briefly to see the Armorer in Boba Fett book, their conversations are filled with teases about Mandalorian lore, including the predestined return to the war-torn homeworld – Mandalore -. As the Armorer mentions to Din, “The songs of ages past foretold the Mythosaur arising to herald a new era of Mandalore. Unfortunately, it only exists in legends.”

But it might not be as legendary as she thinks, once the third season of The Mandalorian start. In season two, loyal Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) has vowed to rally the people of Mandalore who are scattered across the galaxy and reclaim their planet – all while securing the throne for herself. She’ll need the Darksaber to do this, which means there’s a good chance she’ll cross paths with Din and Grogu, as Din currently has the Darksaber.

What is Darksaber?

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In “Return of the Mandalorian”, Din brings his Darksaber into a blaster fight and comes out alive but injured. He shows the blade to the Armorer, who gives him a little history lesson: The blade is about a thousand years old, forged by a Mandalorian Jedi. Whoever wields it can rule all of Mandalore – at least if won in battle, as per the Mandalorian Creed. She notes that if it changes hands in any other way, it will be in the hands of the “unworthy” and will be a “curse to our nation” – hinting that Din can’t just hand the thing over to Bo-Katan to avoid future feuds with her.

Since Mandalorian Season 3 is intended to shift some of the story’s action to Mandalore, it seems important that Din is now wielding a symbol of his people’s destiny. Mainly since…

Din isn’t technically a Mandalorian now

The Armorer takes time to train him in the use of the Darksaber, telling him to fight his opponent and not the saber itself, as she fears it is too powerful for him. But Paz Vizsla, another Mandalorian hanging out with the Armorer, challenges him to a duel to take the saber from him. Din wins, but when the gunsmith asks him if he kept his sect’s Creed, he has to admit that he broke it by taking off his helmet in front of others.

The Armorer says he is “a Mandalorian no more”, at least in the eyes of The Children of the Watch, Din’s breakaway sect. But she reminds him: “According to Creed, a person can only be redeemed in the living waters under the mines of Mandalore.” Although the mines have all been destroyed, this is the way.

Where did the Mandalorian’s spear go?

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When Din meets with the Armorer, she questions him about where he got the weapon he carries, a spear made from the valuable Mandalorian steel known as beskar. (It’s from Ahsoka Tano, in Mandalorian season 2, in case you forgot.) She tells him that beskar is made for armor, not weapons, and that its existence puts other Mandalorians at risk, as it can pierce their armor. So he asks her to melt it down and make it into a small chainmail shirt for Grogu. When Din is excommunicated from the Children of the Guard, he packs up his beskar shirt and leaves to visit his foundling.

The Mandalorian’s New Ship

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Din’s Razor Crest was destroyed during a confrontation with season one villain Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). But luckily, eccentric mechanic Peli (Amy Sedaris) has found a replacement for him: an N-1 Starfighter handcrafted for his royal guard and personally commissioned by the Queen of Naboo! It has a ton of bells and whistles (Peli fabricated him an induction admission letter that will double his production quotient! Come on, crew!), but Din is unimpressed… at least until the end of the episode, when he starts taking it for a ride and discovers how easily it can make other ships eat its space dust.