Who do you send when you want to get rid of a Jedi? Sith? No. Clone Troopers? No, but that’s close.
Bounty hunters? We’re getting warmer! The answer is a Mandalorian. Are they a race? Is it a creed? Is it the way?
Yes! And no. In a rare form of unity that combines canon and legends, we have found the tip of the iceberg!
There’s only one Mandalorian who became a Jedi. But how did he do it? And how did he eventually become the leader of the Mandalorians?
Welcome to an in-depth look at a group of apparently non-Force users and how they became known as Jedi killers. We’ll also talk about the one Mandalorian who beat the odds and became a Jedi.
Table of Contents
Who Are Mandalorians?
Mandalorians are both a race and a kind of warrior. They originated on the planet Mandalore. Way back before the films take place, the Mandalorians were a warlike people.
Mandalorians took pride in their strength above all, yet still had an honor code that isn’t that different from the Jedi or Sith.
The governing principles of a Mandalorian are:
- Wear armor
- Speak the same language
- Raise your children as Mandalorians
- Protect yourself and your family
- Support your clan
- Answer the call of the Mand’alor
The Jedi Code is:
- Emotion, yet peace
- Ignorance, yet knowledge
- Passion, yet serenity
- Chaos, yet harmony
- Death, yet the Force
The Sith Code is:
- Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
- Through passion, I gain strength.
- Through strength, I gain power.
- Through power, I gain victory.
- Through victory my chains are Broken.
- The Force shall Free Me.
Mandalorians have been known to work with the Sith and have had several wars with the Jedi, resulting in the desolation of their planet.
Those left behind were forced to build sealed cities in order to survive. Fast forward and we find a different kind of Mandalorian. This was due to certain incidents involving Darth Maul (on the run from Palpatine), Jedi, and rival factions on the planet.
Changes to the Mandalorian lifestyle left the still proud people vulnerable to the Empire and led to the formations of several groups (cults) of Mandalorians.
Can A Mandalorian Become A Jedi?
Yes! Only one did. Tarre Vizsla, through unknown means, became the first Mandalorian to become a Jedi.
He made the darksaber and became the Mand’alor (leader) of his planet. Upon his death, the Jedi chose to keep the darksaber in their temple.
This angered the Mandalorians. They believed that armor and weapons should be passed down and kept in the family.
But the Jedi refused to hand it over, which prompted the Mandalorians to make several attempts to steal it.
They finally did so during another Mandalorian-Jedi war. Since then, the darksaber has been a symbol of authority for the Mandalorians.
The one wielding it has the right to lead them and claim the throne. In The Mandalorian show, we learn that the darksaber must be won through combat. (This is different from what we see in Rebels).
Sadly, we don’t know how Tarre Vizsla became a Jedi.
We don’t know why there hasn’t been any Mandalorian Jedi since. There are two theories that can explain this.
There haven’t been any Force-sensitive children since Tarre Vizsla. This is highly unlikely since anyone can be Force-sensitive. It depends on how many Midi-chlorians you have.
The Mandalorians haven’t trusted the Jedi since Tarre Vizsla’s time, so no other child was raised as a Jedi (and the Jedi know they’ll have to shed blood if they try to take a child away from them).
In an interesting turn of events, some Jedi have become Mandalorians. There was a group known as the Mandalorian Knights who followed Reven, a former Sith Lord, against the Jedi 4,000 years before the films.
There have been more since. Which brings me to the most important question: how can a person become a Mandalorian?
This is where we focus on the Mandalorian show and The Book of Boba Fett (who is also a Mandalorian).
We learn that Din Djarin, (whom I will call Mando), is a Foundling–a child that was orphaned (through war or other means) and was found by Mandalorians.
They took him in and he eventually said the creed and became one of them. But this is just one way to become a Mandalorian.
It turns out that our boy, Mando, was raised by a splinter group called Children of the Watch (connected to Death Watch, but the Children of the Watch retain an honor code).
Unlike with the Jedi, who will only accept young children, Mandalorians don’t care about age. They’ll accept anyone who follows the code, and even welcome an enemy as a Mandalorian.
The Mandalorians put their clans first above all, yet if you manage to impress them in a fight, then a Mandalorian might choose to sponsor or adopt you into their clan. They’ll kill you if you refuse but to a Mandalorian, this is an honorable death.
Other Points Of Interest
There have only been seven people to wield the darksaber. Darth Maul was one of them and is the only Sith to do so. Kanan Jarrus also had the darksaber, but he didn’t use it in battle.
Others to wield the darksaber included Pre Vizsla; Erza Bridger (like his master, Kanan Jarrus, he didn’t use it); Sabine Wren (the second Mandalorian to receive training from a Jedi, but only to use the darksaber); Bo-Katan Kryze; and Moff Gideon.
The current owner of the darksaber is Din Djarin, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to keep it.
In Conclusion
The Mandalorians have been around since before the Original Trilogy and only continue to grow stronger. Their ability to adapt and win against Jedi makes them an interesting part of Star Wars lore.
Hopefully, we get more information about them as well as the darksaber. Thank you for reading and remember: This is the Way.