After All The Hoopla About The Darksaber ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Finale Crushes It
The Mandalorian spent two seasons attempting to build up the significance of the Darksaber to Mandalorian culture despite numerous contradictions regarding its importance. All of that build up was literally crushed in the Season 3 finale.
If you recall in the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin defeated Moff Gideon in combat and took control of the Darksaber. He then attempted to gift the weapon to Bo-Katan Kryze.
She rejected it with Gideon explaining, “She can’t take it. It must be won in battle. In order for her to wield the Darksaber again, she would need to defeat you in combat.”
When Din attempts to give her the Darksaber again, Gideon mocked him, “Oh, no. It doesn’t work that way. The Darksaber doesn’t have power. The story does. Without that blade, she’s a pretender to the throne.”
Bo-Katan would confirm Gideon’s tale, “He’s right.”
In The Book of Boba Fett Episode 5, The Armorer would ask Din Djarin what the weapon’s significance is. He replied, “Whoever wields it can lead all of Mandalore.”
She would then add some clarity, “If it is won by Creed in battle. It is said, one warrior will defeat 20, and the multitudes will fall before it. If, however, if it is not won in combat and falls into the hands of the undeserving, it will be a curse unto the nation. Mandalore will be laid to waste and its people scattered to the four winds.”
Of note, Din Djarin would then point out, “The hilt is of a quality of beskar I have never seen before.” To which the Armorer replied, “It was forged over 1,000 years ago by the Mandalore Tarre Vizsla. He was both Mandalorian and Jedi.”
In the first episode of Season 3, Bo-Katan would inform Din Djarin, “When I returned without the Darksaber, my forces melted away.” She then told Din Djarin he should lead her forces with the Darksaber, “Then you lead them. Wave that thing around and they’ll do whatever you say.”
In Episode 6 “Guns for Hire,” after being defeated by Bo-Katan in single combat, Axe Woves says, “But according to our ways the ruler of Mandalore must possess the Darksaber.”
Djarin then hands over the Darksaber to Bo-Katan weaving a tale about him being defeated by the cyclops monster on Mandalore and then Bo-Katan defeating the monster thus becoming the true wielder of the weapon. Woves would accept this ridiculous explanation, “It would.”
In the final episode of Season 3, Bo-Katan wields the blade as the Mandalorians wage a battle against the Imperial forces under Moff Gideon. After interceding in a fight between Gideon and Din Djarin, Bo-Katan is stymied by Gideon and his new Dark Trooper armor.
At one point in the battle, Gideon blocks a slash from Bo-Katan and grabs hold of the Darksaber’s hilt. He then crushes the weapon with the Dark Trooper armor crumpling the hilt and effectively destroying the weapon albeit there’s a significant possibility it will be repaired.
Nevertheless, after all of the hoopla and significance the show put on the Darksaber, it ended up just getting crushed it in battle.
It’s probably for the best that the weapon was destroyed given both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett’s emphasis on the weapon significantly contradicted how the weapon was used throughout Star Wars canon specifically in The Clone Wars and in Star Wars Rebels.
In The Clone Wars, Mandalore was united under the leadership of Satine Kryze without ever wielding the Darksaber. As the galactic war with the Separatists grew the militant Death Watch faction backed by Count Dooku would work to undermine her rule and eventually overthrew her and led to the planet briefly coming under the sway of Maul and the Shadow Collective.
In Star Wars Rebels the weapon isn’t even a significant relic to Mandalorians as a whole, but rather specifically to Clan Vizsla. Fenn Rau tells Kanan Jarrus, “It is the Darksaber, a symbol for the leader of House Vizsla and later, the group known as Death Watch.”
He would go on to say, “They used the saber to unify the people and strike down those that would oppose them. One time, they ruled all of Mandalore wielding this blade. This saber is an important symbol to that house and respected by the other clans.”
He would later add, “Kanan, if Sabine can wield this saber, she can reunite one of the most powerful houses in all of Mandalore.”
What do you make of The Mandalorian deciding to destroy the Darksaber at the hands of Moff Gideon?
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