The MandalorianandThe Book of Boba Fetthave each included a number of Mandalorians scattered across the galaxy after the Empire’s attempted genocide on Mandalore. Some have survived by strict adherence to an ancient code while others have adapted to the times. Though most Mandalorians have been wiped out, the remnants still hope for a day when a leader will rise up to reunite and restore Mandalore.
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Any attempt to restore the fallen civilizationwill center on the Darksaber. The Darksaber is prophesied to enable its wielder to lead Mandalore, but if it is not won in combat, it dooms the planet to destruction. Mandalore fell shortly after Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) was gifted the saber, lending credence to the prophecy. The big question hanging over the future ofThe Mandalorianis “Who will wield the Darksaber and restore Mandalore?”
5. Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) seems friendly enough when he encounters Mandalorians, but he also sees their philosophy as fundamentally opposed to that of the Jedi. The two civilizations have a lot of shared history and have clashed on numerous occasions. At one point, a number of Jedi defied the will of the Jedi Council in order to participate in the Mandalorian Wars. Though the Jedi were victorious, the war led to a widespread fall to the Dark Side and a resurgence of the Sith. During the Clone Wars, the Jedi Order’s allegiance to the Republic put them in the middle of conflicts that many Mandalorians considered meddling in the affairs of their independent world.
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At the time ofThe Mandalorian, Luke is learning all he can about the history of the Jedi as he rebuilds the Jedi Order. InThe Last Jedi, among the souvenirs in Luke’s hut is a pendant from a Jedi Crusader, one of the Jedi who fought in the Mandalorian Wars. This demonstrates his awareness of the clashes between the two groups and how Mandalorian conflicts have negatively impacted the Order in the past. He certainly won’t assume a role of leadership in Mandalorian society, but if their conflict threatens the fragile peace of the galaxy or his new Jedi Order, he could intervene and remove the Darksaber from the equation for a time. Perhaps if men like Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) continue pursuing the subjugation of the Mandalorians, Luke will return the Darksaber to the temple archives where it once sat for centuries.
4. Din Djarin
Din Djarin(Pedro Pascal) had no interest in ruling Mandalore and knew nothing about the Darksaber. He obtained it in the process of saving Grogu from Moff Gideon, who slyly manipulated this outcome to prevent Bo-Katan from reestablishing a rightful claim to the throne. Though he tried to give it away, Bo-Katan’s previous experience with accepting the weapon as a gift prevented her from accepting it.
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Din could be on a path toward becoming a leader and reuniting Mandalore, but this seems unlikely. He lacks the willingness, and even if he develops it, he has a long way to go before he’s ready. He has spent his entire life in a fanatical branch of Mandalorians known as The Children of the Watch, which almost certainly descends from the brutal sect known as Death Watch. This narrow exposure to Mandalore’s history hasn’t given him the opportunity to learn about the failures of the ancient, combat-oriented Way of Mandalore.
The twist of fate that dropped this young Padawan into Mandalorian society sets up a number of fascinating possibilities. Grogu may be young and tiny, but he already demonstrates an incredible capacity to wield the Force. Though not Mandalorian by birth, Grogu’s adoption into the society makes him the only known character who possesses both Force sensitivity and Mandalorian heritage. If he matures into a Force user as powerful as Yoda, he could lead with strength and wisdom for centuries. That sort of longevity would be a boon to rebuilding a society that was nearly erased from the galaxy.
However, there are a number of drawbacks that make Grogu’s candidacy for leading Mandalore unlikely. He didn’t spend much time training with a Jedi before returning to Din Djarin. This makes his Force sensitivity a massive liability both because of people who might want to use his gifts and because of the increased risk that he couldfall to the dark side. In addition to these concerns, Grogu is functionally a toddler. The long-term story could put him at the helm of Mandalore, but it may be decades before he matures enough for that responsibility. Even if he one day wields the Darksaber, someone else will likely wield it in the interim.
2. Bo-Katan Kryze
Since she is actively working to reunite Mandalore, Bo-Katan Kryze is the obvious front-runner for wielding the Darksaber. When she was young, her sister, Satine Kryze, served as Duchess of Mandalore and led according to pacifist values. Bo-Katan spent some time in the upper echelons of Death Watch, opposing Satine’s pacifism and trying to rekindle a warrior society on Mandalore until she saw the destruction that followed this philosophy. After stopping Maul during the Siege of Mandalore, the Jedi left Bo-Katan in charge. However, she was quickly deposed when the Jedi were wiped out in Order 66 and the Empire placed their own ruler over the planet.
Bo-Katan’s dark past and leadership failures damaged her confidence as a leader. But when Sabine Wren came into possession of the Darksaber, she recognized Bo-Katan’s capability as a leader and convinced her to try leading again. Of course, sometime after she accepted the Darksaber, the Empire wiped out the civilization and Moff Gideon took the weapon from Bo-Katan. Nonetheless, she persists in trying to regain the Darksaber, so she can lead Mandalore in a direction that honors her sister, Satine. Her wealth of experience has certainly prepared her to rule Mandalore well.
1. Sabine Wren
Sabine Wren (to beplayed by Natasha Liu BordizzoinAhsoka) is a Mandalorian with great talent in both painting and explosives. In her youth, the Empire took advantage of her giftedness, tricking her into producing weapons that they used to kill Mandalorians. She was cast out of her Mandalorian family and fell in with the crew of the Ghost inStar Wars: Rebels. The Darksaber had been missing for some time when she found it on Dathomir. Jedi Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Mandalorian Fenn Rau (Kevin McKidd) recognized the weapon and believed that Sabine had been destined to find it and to lead.
Sabine overcame her initial reluctance to bear the Darksaber and trained under Kanan. She had the same struggles as Din Djarin, experiencing the blade as heavy and unwieldy. Kanan did not attribute this to a lack of Force sensitivity, explaining that the Force resides in all living things. Rather, he taught her that her own emotional energy intermingled with the energy constantly flowing through the crystal to become the blade. The guilt Sabine carried from her role in harming Mandalorians and the shame she bore from a family that abandoned her made using the Darksaber impossible. She had to find emotional balance and stop fighting herself and the blade before she could wield it. With Kanan’s teachings, she mastered the weapon and subsequently defeated the Empire’s puppet leader on Mandalore, cementing her rightful ownership. However, she believed Bo-Katan was a better fit to lead and entrusted the Darksaber to her.
Sabine is a Mandalorian deeply connected to the original culture who spent years living with Jedi and received personal training from them on wielding the Darksaber. Having had time to grow and mature, she might be the perfect person to take up the weapon and restore Mandalore. Perhaps Bo-Katan will help Sabine believe in herself the same way Sabine once helped her.
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