The Mandalorians is an organization of the Star Wars franchise.
History[]
Background[]
The Mandalorians were originally warriors who fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars.
The original Mandalorians were warriors from the planet Mandalore, who fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, which were fought between many of the planet’s rival clans. These wars left Mandalore devastated, with half of its population being killed off. The fighting ended with the ascension of the Duchess Satine of Clan Kryze who was able to unify the various clans and the surviving population of the planet under her rule. Horrified at the atrocities she had witnessed during the war and the extent they took on both her planet and people, Satine sought to reform her world into a society based on pacifism. This lead to the creation of the New Mandalorians, who rejected their warrior past as a result of the civil wars and sought to build a new more peaceful society for their world.
Exiled from their homeworld, the Mandalorians worked as bounty hunters and mercenaries throughout the galaxy.
In order to accomplish this, Satine and the New Mandalorian government she founded, exiled all the planet’s remaining warrior clans and factions to Concordia, Mandalore’s moon.This inadvertently lead to the formation of two other splinter groups of Mandalorian Society: the Mandalorians and Death Watch. Unlike the New Mandalorians who sought to distance themselves from their worlds bloody history, both the Mandalorians and Death Watch remained loyal to their heritage and refused to abandon it. This included wearing traditional Mandalorian armor which Satine had forbidden.
The bounty hunter Jango Fett, the most famous of the Mandalorians.
Unlike Death Watch however, who wanted to restore Mandalore’s warrior culture by waging war against and overthrowing the New Mandalorians, the Mandalorians accepted their exile and instead chose to spread themselves throughout the galaxy and preserve their heritage through fighting as bounty hunters and mercenaries. Other Mandalorian organizations who were already lived off of Mandalore, such as those living on Mandalorian colony worlds like Concord Dawn, soon became organized as members of this faction. This included the Protectors of Concord Dawn as well as the Children of the Watch. As mercenaries, the Mandalorians built for themselves a mighty reputation that earned them respect and fear throughout the galaxy. One of their biggest and most beneficiary clients was the government of the planet Kamino, who hired many Mandalorians as military instructors in training the Grand Army of the Republic. This army was, in truth, comprised primarily of clones of Jango Fett, a member of the Mandalorians, who earned a reputation as the galaxy’s best bounty hunter.
The Clone Wars[]
Fenn Rau and his Old Mandalorian Skull Squadron fighting alongside the Jedi during the Clone Wars.
During the Clone Wars, many of the Mandalorians fought in the conflict on the side of Galactic Republic as mercenaries, despite the bitter rivalry between Mandalorians and Jedi. Their combat skills resulted in many Republic victories against the Sepratists’ droid armies on a number of occasions. One these was the Third Battle of Mygeeto, in which Fenn Rau, an Old Mandalorian member of the Protectors of Concord Dawn, lead his Skull Squadron into battle. His squadron’s actions during the battle saved large numbers of Republic forces, even the lives of two Jedi; Jedi Master Depa Billaba and her Padawan Caleb Dume. The Mandalorians’ legacy shined during this war, through the Republic’s use of the Clone Army, having being produced from the Old Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett.
Rise of the Empire[]
When the Clone Wars came to an end, many of the Old Mandalorian mercenaries who fought in the war ended up coming under the clientele of the Republic’s successor state, the Galactic Empire. When the Empire rose to power, they would often use the Mandalorians who worked for them as a means to ensure control and security in a number of hostile regions of the galaxy, that they (Mandalorians) were familiar with. Among them being Fenn Rau and his Protectors, who were hired to destroy pirates, smugglers, and potential rebel factions near the Concord Dawn System. Also during this time, Mandalore, the Mandalorians’ homeworld before their exile, came under the Empire’s control. In doing so, both the New Mandalorians and Death Watch had effectively been purged, making the Mandalorians the only remaining faction of Mandalorian society prior to the Clone Wars.
Age of the Empire[]
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, many of the Mandalorians remained loyal to the new regime, mostly because of how well the imperials paid them. During most of the empire’s reign, it continued hired several of the Old Mandalorian organizations to hunt down smugglers, pirates, and rebellious elements in their respective territories. This made many Old Mandalorian factions enemies of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, leading to skirmishes between them. This included the Protectors of Concord Dawn, who were the leading Old Mandalorian organization to swear loyalty to the Empire. Their loyalty to the Empire would begin to change however, as new events followed on Mandalore however. After subjugating the planet, the Empire set up Gar Saxon, a former high-ranking member of Death Watch, as their puppet ruler of Mandalore. Saxon however, was for the most part looked down upon and considered a traitor by most of the Mandalorians. This was because while they themselves submitted and served the Empire, they still maintained their traditions and had their independence from the Empire recognized, unlike Saxon who completely submitted Mandalore to the Empire. Saxon, in turn, despised the Mandalorians and sought to either conquer or eliminate them all, due to his desire to be the leader of all the galaxy’s Mandalorian factions. Their service to the Empire protected them from Saxon’s wrath, who was reluctantly forced to leave them alone. This changed however, when the Protectors of Concord Dawn started aiding the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic after their leader, Fenn Rau had been taken prisoner. Seeing this as his chance to further assert his rule over all of Mandalorian society, Saxon eliminated the Protectors leaving their leader Fenn Rau as the only survivor. Now officially joining the rebellion, Rau managed to persuade another of other Old Mandalorian factions loyal to the Empire to defect and join the Alliance in an effort to reclaim Mandalore from the Empire. Their commitment was finalized when the Rebel Mandalorian Sabine Wren wielded the legendary Darksaber and defeated Saxon in combat, even though he died by her mother Ursa’s hand. This prompted the Mandalorians to return to their homeworld to reclaim it from the Empire where eventually they recognized Bo-Katann Kyrze of Clan Kyrze, the former second-in-command of Death Watch and younger sister of Duchess Satine, as the new Mandalore when she was given the Darksaber by Sabine. Sadly however, the Rebellion on Mandalore ended in disaster for the planet’s people. After the death of Tiber Saxon, Gar Saxon’s younger brother and successor as the Imperial viceroy, the Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) realized that Mandalore was beyond his ability to control and thus sought instead to destroy the planet, forever being uninhabitable. Sending reinforcements, the Emperor had the Imperial Army to lay waste to the planet through scorch Earth tactics. Then, he had the Imperial Navy carry out large-scale orbital bombardments of the planet leaving its surface devastated and most of its population eradicated. As a result, most Mandalorian warriors were killed and those that survived, considering their planet to now be uninhabitable beyond repair, left Mandalore and went into hiding. This genocide became known among the survivors as “the Great Purge”. As a result, this made the Mandalorians once again the dominant, and probably only remaining, social faction of Mandalorian culture. Due to being based off world, many of the Old Mandalorian factions survived the destruction of their homeworld, though they too were hunted and many eradicated by Empire’s forces. Many of the survivors of the purge also integrated among the Mandalorians, not only further cementing their status as the dominant faction of Mandalore’s old society but making them the only kind surviving Mandalorians left in the galaxy.
Children of the Watch[]
After the Great Purge most Mandalorians were forced to go into hiding in various coverts scattered across space.
Despite the Purge of most of the galaxy’s Mandalorians, the Empire fell before it could finish job. After the Battle of Endor, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Death Star and a large portion of the Imperial Navy as well as the deaths of the Emperor and his right hand Darth Vader, the Empire fell into disarray, splitting off into rival factions that became vulnerable to the Alliance’s growing power. This eventually led to the founding of the New Republic which became the galaxy’s dominant political power in the wake of the Empire’s fall. Five years after the New Republic’s rise to power however, Mandalorians were on the verge of extinction. With most being eradicated by the Empire’s Purge, most of the survivors had to go into hiding, primarily living in hidden coverts on isolated and backwater planets. Most of their trademark metal, Beskar, was also lost in the Purge, as the imperials stole most of it to be used for their war machine, making Mandalorian armor even more difficult to make. In order to protect themselves, they only sent out one of their members at a time, worried if they revealed themselves all at once, surviving Imperial forces, called Imperial Remnants, would hunt them down and destroy them for good. Though they were still legendary warriors, the Mandalorians reputation and honor waned in the years following the Purge, with most believing them to be all but extinct. Their were still surviving Old Mandalorian factions however, one of them being the Children of the Watch, whom based themselves in a secret covert on the planet Nevarro. One of their members, Din Djarin, worked as a bounty hunter for the Bounty Hunting Guild, performing many dangerous and expensive mission for the guild. However, after being hired by an Imperial Remnant to capture and bring to them a force-sensitive child of an unknown species (Grogu), Djarin fulfilled his mission but had a change of heart and instead rescued the child from his former employers. When he was cornered by the Bounty Guild, Djarin was rescued by the other Children of the Watch, revealing themselves and risking their own destruction in order to protect one of their own and the foundling he discovered. Though they fought valiantly and allowed Djarin to escape with the foundling, the Imperial Remnant sent its forces to Nevarro to cleanse the planet of the Mandalorians, resulting in most of them being killed. Despite this, some of them the Children of the Watch, such as the tribe’s leader, the Armorer, survived and managed to escape with their lives and went back into hiding. During Djarin’s mission to return Grogu back to the Jedi, he learned that their were still many Old Mandalorian factions spread throughout the galaxy, but isolated from each other from their respective coverts.
Members[]
| Mandalore The Great
Pre Vizsla Bo-Katan Kryze Sabine Wren Ketsu Onyo Satine Kryze Fenn Rau Gar Saxon Tarre Vizsla Ursa Wren Tristan Wren Tiber Saxon Hark Din Djarin Rook Kast Grogu (honorary member) Jango Fett Boba Fett |
Society and Culture[]
Being compromised of multiple different factions, the Mandalorians had no clear or unified culture or society. While they all honored the ancient traditions of Mandalore and wore Mandalorian armor, many held entirely different interpretations of their ancestry’s doctrines. This led to their relationship with each other being quite differentiating, with some of being allies with each other and others being enemies. The best example of this would be the Children of the Watch. Though they were considered to be Mandalorians, the Children of the Watch were looked down upon by other Old Mandalorian tribes due to their reverence for the Ancient Way of Mandalore, regarding them as cultists and zealots. The Children likewise held the other Old Mandalorian tribes in contempt for not adopting their belief system, regarding them as not true Mandalorians. Through their roles as being soldiers for hire, many Mandalorians also operated as lone-wolf fighters rather than being affiliated with any specific clan or faction; as was the case with Jango Fett.
After their exile, the Mandalorians sought to preserve their warrior heritage primarily through becoming mercenaries and bounty hunters. Typical of their kind, Mandalorians enjoyed fighting and waging war, considering dying in battle to be the greatest honor. This caused them to explore the galaxy, looking for wars to participate in by offering their services to different warring factions. Being mercenaries, the Mandalorians generally align themselves with which ever side paid them the most, though, in truth, they were more interested in fighting than actually obtaining wealth for their services.
Also, the Mandalorians had a generally far better relationship with the Jedi and Galactic Republic than their ancestors had. Though the Jedi were considered the ancient enemy of Mandalore, most of the Mandalorians, unlike Death Watch which sought to restart the conflicts between the Jedi and Mandalore, didn’t wish to wage unnecessary conflicts against the Jedi and developed great respect for them as warriors. Many Mandalorians would even go on to fight alongside the Jedi during the Clone Wars, marking one of the rare moments in Galactic History where Mandalorians and Jedi fought as allies against a common foe. However, not all Mandalorians held such allies or neutral relationships with the Jedi, as some still considered them Mandalore’s ultimate enemy and fought against them, among them being Jango Fett, who ended being killed by the Jedi Master Mace Windu.
Another thing the Mandalorians all shared in common was their mutual animosity towards their sister-splinter faction; Death Watch. Like the Mandalorians, Death Watch was founded after the New Mandalorians exiled Mandalore’s warriors following the Civil Wars the planet had to endure. However, while the Mandalorians excepted their exile, Death Watch sought to retake Mandalore and bring back its warrior culture. Also, though sides wished to preserve their warrior heritage, they went about it in drastically different ways. The Mandalorians sought to preserve it by fighting and seeking glory as mercenaries and bounty hunters in wars off Mandalore, while Death Watch believed that all people on Mandalore should return to their warrior past and lead their retaken homeworld in staring brand new conflicts; particularly against the Jedi, Mandalore’s ancient enemy. Due to their different philosophies, both factions considered each other enemies and traitors to Mandalore. The Mandalorians saw Death Watch as extremists who betrayed their homeworld through senseless violence on the planet in which they needlessly brought destruction to their ancestral homeworld and murdered countless innocent people through dishonorable acts of terrorism. Death Watch, in turn, also viewed the Mandalorians as dishonorable traitors, believing them to be cowards who turned their backs on their homeworld rather then fight to retake it and bring back its glory days. Death Watch members were also disgusted by the Mandalorians’ working as mercenaries, believing them to be nothing more than typical bounty hunters who made Mandalorians look like criminal thugs rather than as proud warriors.
In regard to the New Mandalorians, the Old generally had a neutral relationship with them. Though they disapproved on the pacifist society they were trying to build, the Mandalorians bore no grudge against the New for their exile. Not only that, but they also recognized the New Mandalorian leader, Dutchess Satine as the official sovereign of Mandalore and thus saw Death Watch as traitors to Mandalore for tying to overthrow her. While Satine was disgusted by the way the Mandalorians held onto the ancient ways she tried to abolish, she did not seek out retribution against them; so long as they stayed in exile and did not bring their violent ways back to Mandalore.
Despite using their skills as bounty hunter, mercenaries, and hired killers, Mandalorians are, in truth, very honorable and live their lives according to a strict set of mandates that they believe define themselves as true warriors. Weather this be their clans’ code or their own is up for them to choose.
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