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

The Armorer has an ethos and creed that had a more natural route to survive the aftermath of the Purge, and the ethos and creed is larger than herself and genuinely offers a method for reuniting disparate Mandalorians and growing their numbers faster than other methods.

One Covert had a not inconsiderable amount of Mandos in its ranks, including numerous younglings, and an equality of stature that prevented too much infighting... and when it got decimated, the Armorer didn't seem that crushed by it, perhaps implying the Creed is designed to overcome and repair the ranks after such an event.

I could see it being something like this:

- Conventional Houses and Clans: Older, more prestigious, perhaps even better equipped, housed and armed.... but broken in terms of manpower, and fractious among themselves.

- Children of the Watch: Less well-equipped, less prestigious, and isolated in smaller groups hidden around the Galaxy... but united in rebuilding their civilization and culture.



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I think she's in roughly the same area as Bo Katan - flawed anti-heroes with a limited view of their culture that hampers and handicaps them in a time of need... but in different ways, and with both of them still also having many admirable and virtuous qualities. Neither is quite adequate to the demands of the adversity ALL their people face/have faced... but neither are they true liabilities at the current time, and if united behind a single, more adequate leadership and vision, could contribute greatly to the Mandalorian resurgence.

While Bo's flaw is a nationalistically myopic view that glorifies direct combat and (mildly) an old aristocratic order, she's still got a selfless willingness to sacrifice for her people and a greater degree of pragmatism (if still not enough, or too much in some areas) compared to the Armorer. The Armorer's flaw is a exclusionary dogma and at times (slightly) anti-intellectual fundamentalism, she's still a got a selfless willingness to sacrifice for her people and her dogma is more equitable to members and integration.

In comparison and contrast, while I'd argue that Fenn Rau has illustrated a greater degree of righteousness and wider view of Mandalore and the Galaxy, he's also still got a bit of a chip on his shoulder overall, and he and Sabine, and even more righteous person but one with severe skeletons in her closet, are both overwhelmed by the challenge of uniting their people.

Din's liable to become the best of all Mnadlaorians on his path to become their champion, whether that means being Mandalore, being a revolutionary, or simply being a paragon.

 

I think that Bo-Katan’s faction and the Armorer’s both support eventual unification, but under very strict and exclusionary rules - Bo-Katan seeks to redeem herself as the leader of all Mandos and is actively working towards that goal, while the Children of the Watch reject many other Mandos for not being Mando enough, but have a foundling-friendly adoption program. We’ve no idea what number of Mandos Bo-Katan’s faction represents… but she felt comfortable seizing both a Gozanti and light cruiser from Gideon, which might imply at least a few dozen personnel if she isn’t just adding to a private but undermanned fleet. Meanwhile, I think it’s been pretty heavily implied that the Armorer and Paz’s Covert represents only one cell of many Children of the Watch.

We also have no idea if any other factions are out there - Clan Wren is unaccounted for outside of Sabine’s own survival, the Protectors could be wiped out or independent again, and for all we know there might be thousands of Mandalorian descendants out there, rejected by the Watch but still a “people” who could use a home.

What am I hoping for? The Armorer and Bo-Katan speaking for hundreds of people combined, an appearance by Kevin McKidd as Fenn Rau so that Din has to prove himself to a wary and weary Protectors faction or even just reform them, and maybe some reveal wherein Sabine used her connections to the Rebel Alliance and Lothal to help evacuate Mandalorians.

I also feel like we have to see Armorer and Bo Katan demand Din settle where Sabine stands in regards to the darksaber…

 

Bumping this off a thought and query for anyone else who’s interested in both the different Mandalorian factions, their ethos, and how it deals with Din’s identity as a Mandalorian:

Do you guys think we’ll ever revisit the Death Watch rescuing Din? Find out why they were there at that time? Explore whether they had altruistic reasons… or not?

Because there’s two major possibilities: Din was rescued by a genuinely more heroic set of Death Watch members, in which case we’ll likely eventually see some interesting lore explanation of that at least in expanded universe material… or they had less altruistic objectives for some reason, and there’s a slim chance Din might have to grapple with being an indirect victim of Mandalorian war-mongering from his own rescuers.

I don’t think we’ll do the latter, but I do think it’s a small possibility. Thoughts?