The Mandalorian Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian (Spoilers)

Who knew putting effort into hair work would be better than slapping a cheap wig on someone?

 

I think we’re bound to see her at least act as a “Level One” antagonist - a political opponent who must be countered and who’s support must be “stolen” - and maybe even a “Level Two” antagonist - someone who fights Din in physical combat, but isn’t a lethal enemy.

I don't think she’s anymore a lethal “Level Three” antagonist than the Armorer is; both ladies feel like rival “magnetic” Din must navigate through, rather than bosses to be beaten.

 

See, I’m actually fairly convinced we’ve again only seen a little bit of the season on the trailers… but yeah, I’d expect at least a few episodes where some other Mandos, not just Bo Katan, either come gunning for Din or have to be recruited by Din.

I think the main conflict is likely Din coming to accept himself as a Mandalorian regardless of the “Holy Waters of Mandalore” quest, and then moving towards accepting the mantle of (Lord) Mandalore and uniting and returning his people to Mandalore (the planet), with Gideon either interfering with that, or being revealed as one of Thrawn’s agents.

We’re probably looking at a few more of those “I need x, so I’ll help y get z” stories, at minimum, but we don’t know what mission Din can present Bo-Katan to get her to team up with him again - we know he drops in on her at her fortress, and then they’re partnered for at least some scenes together, but it’s hard to see him giving her a sales pitch without something significant she’d personally want regardless of who has the Darksaber …and her previous price was star ships or Moff Gideon.

 

The issue with Bo is that Bo is, at her core, a militaristic nationalist incapable of the kind of compromise and cultural evolution that Din likely needs to pursue to unite Mandalore, and that we know Bo is likely to feel like she has to challenge Din for the darksaber at some point, or likely face some serious guilt and inadequacy for being unworthy of the role she stepped into and still kind of casts herself in.

There's a lot of ways Bo could grow or have herself be revealed as the show goes on; she could reveal herself to have been forced by circumstances into a role she didn't want and knows she's not cut out for but needs someone to fill, or she could turn out to still be just as stuck in her ways as The Armorer and now convinced that no one else could lead Mandalore, either because of her prior fanaticism as a Death Watch member or because of the trauma she's received ever since her mentor died, followed swiftly by her sister, and then eventually her planet.

And that's if we don't see Din try to offer some kind of compromise at first - I could still se a scenario where he offers to be her "champion" against other challengers and merge his claim with and under hers, particularly if he thinks she's good enough for the job and better suited to it than him. That, as unlikely as it is, could be a way for him to do his "x for y so I can get z" exchange; she doesn't have to break her own internal honor code and fight someone she has no beef with, but would still get her faction supported by the darksaber's claim, and given how Satine could rule without even being a warrior and just having the support of the Protectors, perhaps that would be enough?

...at first, maybe...

 

I tend to think that Bo-Katan's reintroduction in Rebels as a blatantly heroic character likely points to that; Filoni may be digging up some of her old fanaticism and myopia as flaws, but he also had her used as a moral high-ground teacher for Sabine, and it would be a whiplash in her biography if she fell far enough away from that to become evil again.

Antagonistic? Sure. In need of a lesson in looking beyond her militaristic ideals? Yup.

Evil? No.

 

I'm not sure that Din or Bo-Katan will be the Mandalore when this is all said and done. I think it will be someone else. As to whom? I have no clue. Although I would like to point out that Gar Saxon had possession of it and was actually killed by Ursa Wren.

So one could say that Clan Wren also has a legit claim to the Darksaber by actually winning it in combat. <shrugs> Complicated mess I tell ya

 

Gar lost the duel to Sabine then died at Ursa’s hands, so yeah, the last person before Bo to have a claim to it by “blood” is either the matron or scion of Clan Wren… and personally, I’m kind of hoping for this to be brought up for a dispute of some kind, and I’m very curious about Bo’s feelings on Sabine now. I do KMT think she could hate Sabine, but I could see them being at loggerheads over some of the fallout from her giving Bo the saber.

I, on the other hand, just don't think Bo could ever be Mandalore again; I think she’s beloved more as a flawed anti-hero struggling towards an ultimately righteous role supporting a more “worthy” character than as the worthy ruler herself. As the scion of a noble house seeking redemption from a tragic mistake, she’s in Sabine’s shadow; as the paragon of Mandalorian virtue and martial valor, she’s in Din’s. Plus, I think the core of her character so far has been too reactionary for the role; she was willing to follow an incompetent monster because of his reactionary politics in her younger days, and she doesn’t have any “reformer” traits to her that, to be honest, I think any new Mandalore character needs.

I’d say she’d be at her best being a bit of a King Uryens from Excalibur type of character; the noblest of political opponents to the “rightful heir to the throne” who’s nobility is ultimately pitted against their ambition and obstinance by circumstance and the hero to their redemption.

This checks out - but could use explicit canon confirmation.

It also makes an interesting backstory juicier - Satine and Bo have enough years between them that Bo might be closer in age to her nephew Korkie (progeny of the as yet unknown third Kryze sibling) than to Satine, and it would even make their separation make more sense.

 

Oh, Katee already has top billing, so definitely gonna be a lot of Bo this season. I love that even alone and with nothing to do she still chills in her full armor.

 

And without her own faction, maybe she needs to join someone else's...

I could see the story being that Din has to resolve his own issues, but is outwardly proving himself a better leader than other candidates, and ending up getting Bo on his side at first as a grouchy co-belligerent and possible rival, only to eventually have Din put some trust in her to do the right thing... and Bo responds in kind by pledging herself to Din's claim as Mandalore.