Why The Naboo N-1 Is The Perfect Spaceship For Din Djarin
Image Source: Disney+
Some say that the real tragedy in The Mandalorian's Season 2 episode “The Tragedy” was not Grogu's abduction by Moff Gideon's Dark Troopers but the destruction of the Razor Crest. And while Din Djarin's ship had been damaged and even mostly disassembled before, this time, the show's creators left no doubt that the Razor Crest was gone for good.
Like the Millennium Falcon for Han Solo and Chewbacca, the Razor Crest for Djarin was much more than a means to get from point A to point B. It was practically his home, where he slept, ate, and (hopefully) showered. He kept all his bounty hunting weapons and gear there and even installed a small carbon-freezing chamber if an order called for bringing in someone "warm." So, it was surprising that when Peli Motto offered the Mandalorian a Naboo N-1 starfighter in the fifth episode of The Book of Boba Fett, he (reluctantly) accepted, as this kind of ship is so obviously not suited for a bounty hunter.
Image Source: Disney+
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While one can technically sleep in the cramped cockpit and could also store some food rations there to keep you from starving, you won't get to shower in there (unless you keep the glass canopy open in pouring rain) and it definitely has no room for a carbon freezing chamber or any storage capacity at all to hold some bounty, be it "warm" or "cold." There is no doubt that the show's creators deliberately chose an N-1 as the successor for the Razor Crest, despite all the "limitations" a one-man starfighter has for a bounty hunter. Jon Favreau didn't walk into Lucasfilm's writers' room one day, exclaiming, "I have a great idea. We are going to give Mando one of these tiny Naboo starfighters. This will catch the audience completely off-guard." Just to realize later when writing the scripts for season three of The Mandalorian, "Maybe this was a bad idea. This ship is utterly useless for bounty hunting."
While it would have been easy for Lucasfilm to have Motto offer him a larger, bulkier ship, maybe even with some bounty hunting gadgets installed, they deliberately decided not to, and they did this for a good reason. Both Jon Favreau's and Dave Filoni's plans for the future of Din Djarin point in the direction that he no longer needs a ship like the Razor Crest anymore. His bounty hunting days are over, at least for the foreseeable future and at least in the way he has performed this role before.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian fundamentally changed Din Djarin. His care and affection for Grogu made him more open-hearted, culminating in the Armorer's explanation that he was no Mandalorian anymore, as he has shown his face to others. Going hand in hand with his evolution is the fact that he has hardly done any bounty hunting missions since the end of Season 1. Reuniting the frog lady and her eggs with her husband has been a paid job but doesn't count as bounty hunting. And as he also refused to take Fennec Shand's money to help Boba Fett against the Pykes, bringing in the Klatoonian Kaba Baiz at the beginning of "The Return of the Mandalorian" was his last bounty hunting assignment so far.
It does not look like this will change in the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian. We know from the trailers that much of the action will take place on Mandalore. According to the Armorer, Djarin has to enter the living waters beneath the mines of Mandalore to redeem himself. Apart from this, his besting of Moff Gideon and acquiring the mystic Darksaber has not only put him in the crosshair of the Empire's remnants but could also lead to a conflict with Bo-Katan's faction of Mandalorians. All this calls for a fast and agile ship that is also capable of causing some damage, which is exactly what an N-1 was built for.
Image Source: Disney+
Though its sleek, elegant curved lines and its initial chrome plating make the ship look more like a ceremonial vessel than an actual starfighter, the N-1 was also designed and built for battle action. With a length of 11 meters (including the characteristic "rat tail"), it houses two modified Nubian 221 sublight engines, a Nubian Monarc C-4 hyperdrive, twin laser cannons, and a proton torpedo launcher with a capacity of 10 torpedos. Peli Motto made two changes to this standard configuration. She replaced the vapor manifold with a turbonic venturi power assimilator to give the ship even more speed, and added a cryogenic density combustion booster to the rear thruster.
Din Djarin is aware of all the changes within him and his new circumstances. He might have expected Motto to find him another ST-70 Assault Ship (the official designation of the Razor Crest), and he surely was unhappy at first when she presented him with the sad remains of an N-1, but still decided to give it a try and helped rebuild it (something that he most likely would not have done in Season 1). When he took the ship for a test flight around Tatooine, he was disappointed at first because the small fighter did not behave like the much bigger and heavier Razor Crest. However, when Djarin tapped into the speed and maneuverability of the N-1, he found it "wizard." Like Jon Favreau, Din Jarin was well aware of all the things he would not be able to do with his new ship anymore, but he also knew that it was the best option for what lay ahead of him.
Image Source: Disney+
Although the N-1 starfighter should be more than sufficient to help himself and Grogu get through the adventures he has to face in Season 3, it is possible that he might get back to a more Razor Crest-like ship at the end of the season after he redeemed himself and got rid of the Darksaber, should he decide to return to his bounty-hunting origins. Even if he did, he could still keep the N-1 as his ship, either by working for the law enforcement of the New Republic (which would do the handling of the bounties) or by partnering with another bounty hunter who owns a bigger ship that is capable of bringing in fugitives and wanted, be it "warm" or "cold."
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Source(s): Star Wars Episode 1: Incredible Cross Sections
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