The Mandalorian The Mando Armor/Gadget Thread

So... Din has the darksaber, and there’s an implicit “hold it against all comers” aspect to its ownership.

I’m thinking we might see him having to deal with some idiot tracking him down to challenge him for it, Afro-Samurai style.

...Which opens up the possibility of more melee combat involving Beskar weapons.

Anyone feel like seeing a live action Beskar sword or some updated version of Mythosaur Axe?

 

A cut TCW arc had Cad Bane nail him in the head, causing the dent and knocking him down. That episode has the potential to be updated and adapted to Bad Batch.

 

We got the energy “buckler” this week! And a strong implication we won’t see beskad swords… at least not in the hands of any Mandalorian the Armorer would approve of… even though her hammer is clearly made of Beskar, and she has no problem whacking fools with it…

But we’ve also seen the Darksaber again seem to heat up Beskar armor even without cutting through it. Is it cooking the flesh underneath? Slowly approaching a temperature where it can actually melt the armor slowly?

 

Okay, so, just for fun, let’s play “Diagnose the Darksaber Wielder!” Why do some people seem to have an easier time with it than others? Here we go!

- Pre Vizsla: While an absolute neophyte (as per Dooku) when he started out, and always a bit of an arrogant idiot in comparison to those he fought, Pre had a genuinely pure enthusiasm for fighting and using the Darksaber, accompanied by a flexible and fluid (read: impulsive and mercurial) mind. He may have been struggling with the Darksaber when he first fought Obi-Wan, but probably started to “flow” with it after his split from Dooku, as he became more the genuine Blood Knight warrior who could wield it better… though not wisely; it’s even possible learning to use it well encouraged his more impulsive actions.

- Maul: an experienced lighstaber duelist and wielder long before he got ahold of the Darksaber, it’s no real mystery he quickly “flowed” with it. Enough said.

- Sabine: While a determined rebel fighter and a proud Mandalorian, Sabine’s mix of more traditional mindset as a Mandalorian and her collection of hang ups and issues being exacerbated by the political potential of the Darksaber interfered with her learning even just Jedi fighting styles, leta line using the saber. However, Kanan mixing the right amount of pressure and patience, and asking the right questions helped Sabine confront and accept her issues, leading to her “flowing” with it, with the audience actually seeing that happen on screen.

- Gar Saxon: an older, more experienced Mandalorian warrior, he didn’t seem to be too thrown off by the Darksaber, so he might have already had a Pre Vizsla-style mindset of going with the “flow” of a battle… but there’s a decent argument to make that Sabine knowing how to flow better with a lightsaber let her more easily match his more brute force attack and overcome it.

- Moff Gideon: More a schemer and butcher than a warrior, Gideon lacked the hang-ups others had, but also the experience and more tranquil mindset to maximize it’s usage. It’s probably why he kept swinging the blade with two hands and trying to overpower Din; he understood it enough to use an effective strategy for what weight the blade still seemed to have, but was too slow to counter Din’s final assault.

- Din Djarin: Probably the guy with the second most hang ups when using it, Din seems to be torn up *a lot* about the Darksaber - he simultaneously doesn’t want the blade but doesn't want to give it up either. It seems heavier, actually, when the Armorer is trying to instruct him on it than it does when he fights Paz, possibly because his issues with it are front and center when under the eye of a respected mentor.

- Paz Vizsla: Arguably the worst wielder of the blade, since he manages to make the blade seem heavier than it did for Din and barely manages to lift it at times. He’s probably struggling mightily under feeling like he has to challenge for his clan’s sake rather than his own, and because he still sees Din as a brother in arms whose done a good thing in rescuing the saber from Gideon.

 

Since they said the hilt is actually made of Beskar, we've now got pretty good explanations for why it has a handguard and how Sabine might have been able to slice off Gar's fingers without hurting the hilt.

 

This would have been gold. An entire season's drama would be spent on tracking this thing as it keeps getting shipped back and forth between two destinations like a poorly labeled package in the mail.

 

It's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

Resurrected this thread for the new season, in part because we got to see the Armorer do some more forging and saw something we haven't seen since Season One, Episode 2 - that beskar armor has significant internal circuitry underneath the Mandalorian Iron that requires more delicate technical work than the rets of the forging process.

We also saw a Lil'Mando's First Helmet being put on in a ceremony, which I loved... and reminds me of how Sabine testified that Mandalorians reforge old armor sets into new ones. anybody else think that means that there's probably another Watch ceremony where a kid gives back his helmet while covering his face, and the Armorer than reshapes it to fit their new noggin?

And Din's "bare beskar" look seems to remain his own, so does anyone else think that signifies his lack of a clan before he met Grogu?