The Mandalorian Mandalorians (Clans, Tribes, Mercs) in The Mandalorian (Spoilers)

So we got re-confirmation this week that the Watch absolutely excludes any non-helmet wearing Mandos form their definition of the culture.

…But that also likely means they have to have been formed themselves from Mandos who still had opportunities to visit the Living Waters before the Purge and re-baptize themselves, right?

 

I’ve been thinking; Bo’s usage of the word “cult” to describe the COTW, and the lack of evidence for their rites being taken so seriously before the Purge, might combine with the Living Waters timeline to back up the idea that the COTW are a comparatively recent, even concurrent-with-the-Purge phenomenon - or at least their emergence as a major faction would make sense with that.

Din’s pieced together backstory suggests he put his helmet on as a “child,” like Ragnar, and he’d likely have done so well before the Purge, given his age during the Clone Wars and Ragnar’s age in episode one of this season. I’d bet he probably got his first helmet and his baptism at least five years before ANH, which should equal about five years before the Purge as well.

If the COTW were a minor cult after Maul, with maybe a few dozen members at most, that was too insignificant when Bo-Katan was given the saber the first time for it to be viewed as powerful, it would make sense for no one among the fairly prestigious collection of power players at Bo’s coronation to give even a second thought to the Darksaber ceremony. Thus, the Houses and Clan were likely still accounting for the vast bulk of Mandalorian warriors at the time, as well as likely ruling over the civilian population.

…But then open rebellion against the Empire starts, and doesn’t go well. The Houses and Clans fail to win the initial victories that Bo Katan’s supporters hoped for and expected, and as the Empire begins an inevitably crushing final campaign, maybe hundreds or even thousands of warriors abandon their posts out of fear and demoralization… and needing to blame something besides themselves or the warrior aristocracy they overthrew the New Mandalorians for, they retreat into greater conservatism by joining the COTW, and blaming Bo for accepting the Darksaber instead for winning it.

This would especially make sense if the Houses and Clans were too proud to accept Rebel help, whether Bo called in that alliance or not; without the Rebellion for logistical backup, the vaunted Mandalroian warriors would inevitably fall to the combined arms assault and superior logistics of the Empire.

And if Bo saw her first army melt away the same way her second army would, even if she was already on the back foot against the Empire, it’d be easier for her to blame the COTW for making a bad situation untenable.

This might even make sense for Din not knowing about the Darksaber if it’s so important to current Mando politics; it’s more a convention excuse than a central tenant he was taught.

 

I figure there have to be armorless, civilian Mandos still out there in the Galaxy who escaped like their armored brethren… though we can’t say for certain that the show will have the live action Mandos eventually reconnect with them; the show could just as easily treat them as genuinely removed from their culture and becoming something else off screen as it could have them emerge as a faction onto themselves.

If they do have armorless Mandos appear, than I’d expect some New Mandalorian remnants to be mentioned, and maybe even appear. Now, I think the New Mandalorians were pacifists by Mandalroian standards, but they had the support of the Protectors, and their security forces were still willing to sue lethal force…

The most interesting thing they could do with them is define them as a primarily “clan-less” population of “subjects” that have a class grudge against the warrior aristocracy and cults, and who have become their own formidable, though not so totally militarized, refugee group allied with the Rebel Alliance/Republic.

 

Season 2 stated that there were multiple coverts out there, which Din looked for in those first three episodes of that season and that Mob Boss Leguizamo had apparently been seeking out to attack and claim their armor from. The dessert dinosaur planet seems likely to be an HQ for another covert Paz and the Armorer joined with.

This new covert has the Shriek Hawk Training Team, who all share a predominantly blue color scheme with both Paz and Ragnar (and hearkens back to TCW Death Watch color schemes), wear the shriek hawk badge of Clan Vizsla, had a member carrying the other symbol of Clan Vizsla at Ragnar's helmet ceremony, and have twice been shown to follow Paz's commands or otherwise be associated with him out of hand.

This is at least a solid "subsect" of the covert here, and heavily tied to Clan and House Viszla; are they an adopted family shoring up the Clan's ranks/blood relatives of the family mixed with foundling members/a non-Clan group associating with Clan Viszla as vassals, or something else? And are they hooking up with Paz because he's the Clan Patriarch or their leader in some other way?

 

Hey, @The Regular Mustache … someone else found this on another forum on a different site:

“Mandalorian Producer Confirms Din Djarin is No Longer the Only Main Character”

https://www.ign.com/articles/mandal...er-the-only-main-character?utm_source=twitter

I know a guy who literally called this about ten days ago!

On the other hand… if they’re talking about “what does that mean to be Mandalorian?”, then I wish they would get started actually doing that.

It’s mostly been fairly fun but startlingly brief and perfunctory adventures-of-the-week spotted with a thin, perfunctory subplot of “Bo gets the privilege of removing her helmet ‘cause she saw a beastie.”

We’ve explored nothing new about the Mandos since The Mines of Mandalore, nor have we brought in any of the background details and other factions from the cartoons. Din is still someone who would fail a “Mandalorian Factions and Recent History” pop quiz - as would most of the live-action-only audience - and no one’s so much as mentioned the name “Satine” around Bo Katan, nor has the fact she’s even got a sister been mentioned… when that sister was the leader of the largest and most prosperous Mandalorian faction we’ve seen in Star Wars.

Din and the show’s less geeky watchers have yet to hear or learn anything substantial about the New Mandalorians, the Protectors, or the House and Clan system, while the Death Watch remains a faction seen all of once without any further clarification for those not in the know, and we don't know what the actual creed of the Children of the Watch is beyond “wear a helmet, carry weapons, look out for our kids.”

And literally most of that could have been expositonal small talk used to flesh out some of these bare-bones scripts and scenes.

I feel like, weirdly, we may have been deprived of actual content and substance because we’re not getting a constant cavalcade of Filoni’s creations this season.