‘The Book Of Boba Fett Teases A Mandalorian Civil War
The latest episode of The Book of Boba Fett felt more like an unofficial first episode for The Mandalorian Season 3. With an exclusive focus on Din Djarin and his current status in the Star Wars galaxy, “Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian” saw the titular Mandolorian regroup with The Armorer and Paz Vizsla after bringing in another bounty with the help of his newly acquired Darksaber. As Din Djarin was given new armor and upgrades by The Armorer, he was told about the troubled history of Bo-Katan Kryze and how her once-revered Mandalorian clan became disgraced outcasts after the Imperial raze of Mandalore.
Following a bit of training with the Darksaber, Din was challenged by Paz for possession of the blade. The two Mandalorians had a brief fight that ended in a victory for Din. However, when The Armorer asked Din if he had ever removed his helmet, he confessed to removing it and was subsequently exiled from the Children of the Watch. In order to redeem himself in the eyes of his former tribe, Din left the enclave to presumably reconnect himself with his heritage and regain his honor as a Mandalorian.
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With all these developments in mind, it is safe to assume that we will be seeing considerable conflict arise between the different established Mandalorian factions. With Din being shunned by the Children of the Watch, the Children of the Watch rejecting the ways of Bo-Katan and her own followers, and Bo-Katan fighting to reclaim both the Darksaber and Mandalore itself, we have a bunch of different Mandalorians all with different views of what truly makes one a Mandalorian. Plus if all of these various factions want to free Mandalore and lead its people under their own personal doctrines, it appears that the task of reuniting Mandalore will come with considerable baggage from past quarrels. Essentially, we may just have another Mandalorian civil war on our hands.
This would not be unprecedented, given Mandalore's violent past and history of betrayal and infighting. We even saw a Mandalorian civil war play out in The Clone Wars, during which the Death Watch attempted to overthrow Satine Kryze's pacifist Mandalorian government in order to reinstate a more conservative, war-focused regime adhering to Mandalore's violent traditions. This ultimately led to the Death Watch joining Maul's Shadow Collective and inadvertently helping the former Sith Lord to conquer their world before it was destroyed by the Galactic Empire. Though the different Mandalorian clans under Bo-Katan’s leadership did come together in the final season of Star Wars Rebels to free their world from the Empire, their efforts tragically ended in defeat with the Night of a Thousand Tears.
At the end of the day, Mandalore's history and culture are largely steeped in war, violence, and distrust. As such, I think it is likely that we will see these long-standing tensions between the various Mandalorian factions come to a head in the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian. The Children of the Watch, the Nite Owls, and other Mandalorian tribes are clearly working toward the same goal, but in their own strict ways. This may lead them into an all-out war with the potential to tear them apart. With the surviving Mandalorian groups all fighting to free their home, but refusing to compromise on how to lead it going forward, the liberation of Mandalore will most certainly not be an easy one.
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