Star Wars/Mandalorian

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The Mandalorians are a warrior people from the Outer Rim world of Mandalore in the Star Wars franchise. Not a single species but a creed-bound warrior society divided into Houses and Clans, the Mandalorians are united by a shared code, heritage, and iconic armor forged from beskar.^[1] Their armor entered the saga with the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original trilogy; the culture behind it was developed in the animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels, and brought to the center of the franchise by the live-action series The Mandalorian.^[2]

Mandalorian history is defined by war. The Mandalorians and the Jedi long considered themselves enemies, and near-constant battles left the surface of Mandalore ravaged and barely hospitable, forcing its capital, Sundari, under a protective dome.^[2] The songs of eons past tell of battles between Mandalore the Great and the Jedi Order.^[3] Legend holds that the Darksaber — a black-bladed lightsaber that became the enduring symbol of Mandalorian leadership — was created over a thousand years ago by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order; House Vizsla later used the saber to unify the people.^[4]

By the era of The Clone Wars, Duchess Satine Kryze and the New Mandalorians had renounced the planet's violent history, declaring Mandalore neutral in the war. Her pacifist rule was opposed by Death Watch, an underground movement of armored warriors that celebrated Mandalore's martial past and sought to overthrow her.^[5] Death Watch's leader Pre Vizsla allied with the former Sith Lord Maul — who then betrayed and killed Vizsla to take the Darksaber and the throne, and had Satine assassinated.^[2] At the very end of the war, Republic forces under Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze besieged Mandalore to drive Maul out.^[6]

Under the Galactic Empire, the once-proud world was occupied, and Moff Gideon's forces devastated it in the purge remembered as the Night of a Thousand Tears: fusion weapons crystallized the surface of the planet, turning its sand into glass and scattering the survivors across the galaxy.^[2] During the occupation, Sabine Wren worked to unite the clans against Imperial rule, acquiring the Darksaber and gifting it to Bo-Katan Kryze, under whom the clans aligned.^[5] Exile groups such as the Children of the Watch preserved Mandalorian tradition in hiding, and in the New Republic era Din Djarin defeated Moff Gideon; through Bo-Katan's leadership — and the discovery of a living Mythosaur — Mandalore was reclaimed and restored.^[2]

Mandalorian identity is cultural rather than biological: the society is divided into Houses and Clans with a history rife with violence and conflict, and its members are defined by the creed they keep rather than the species they belong to.^[1] Central to the culture is the raising of foundlings, orphans adopted into the clans and counted as fully Mandalorian — as the Armorer teaches, "Foundlings are the future. This is the Way."^[7]

Interpretations of the creed vary by sect. The orthodox Children of the Watch hold that a Mandalorian may never remove their helmet before another living being, while other Mandalorians — such as Bo-Katan Kryze and her Nite Owls, who unmask freely — dismiss that doctrine as a fringe revival of "the ancient way."^[8] Armor itself carries the culture's memory — "The armor I wear is 500 years old... the battles, the history, the blood, all lives within it."^[1]

Mandalorian armor is generally forged from beskar, a durable, nearly indestructible alloy capable of deflecting blaster bolts and withstanding lightsabers; at the height of their power this made the warrior class extraordinarily difficult to defeat.^[9][10] After the fall of the Empire the steel became far harder to come by, sometimes traded as payment in the underworld.^[10] Mandalorians are recognizable by the T-visor helmet and hexagonal chest-plate design, and their equipment includes jetpacks and beskar-forged whistling bird projectiles, crafted by clan armorers alongside the armor itself.^[9]

• Din Djarin — a foundling of the Children of the Watch, bounty hunter, and one-time bearer of the Darksaber; protagonist of The Mandalorian.^[2]
• Bo-Katan Kryze — Death Watch lieutenant turned leader of the Nite Owls, who accepted the Darksaber and united the clans.^[5]
• Satine Kryze — pacifist Duchess of Mandalore during the Clone Wars.^[5]
• Sabine Wren — warrior of Clan Wren who rallied the clans against the Empire; hero of Rebels and Ahsoka.^[5]
• The Armorer — spiritual leader of Din Djarin's covert.^[7]
• Jango Fett and Boba Fett — bounty hunters in customized Mandalorian armor, whose status as "true" Mandalorians is debated within the galaxy itself.^[11]
• Tarre Vizsla — the first Mandalorian Jedi and, by legend, creator of the Darksaber.^[4]

Mandalorians and their armor appear throughout the franchise — in the original trilogy and Attack of the Clones through the Fetts, in the animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels, and in the live-action series The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka.^[11][2] The feature film The Mandalorian and Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau and released on May 22, 2026, follows Din Djarin and Grogu as the New Republic enlists them against scattered Imperial warlords while the Mandalorian people unite against the Imperial remnant.^[12]

• Star Wars
• Mandalore
• The Mandalorian
• Din Djarin
• Bo-Katan Kryze
• Darksaber

1. "Who Are the Mandalorians?" StarWars.com (official). starwars.com/news/who-are-the-mandalorians. Retrieved July 2026.
2. "The History of the Mandalorians." StarWars.com (official). starwars.com/news/mandalorian-history. Retrieved July 2026.
3. The Mandalorian, "Chapter 8: Redemption" (Lucasfilm, 2019). The Armorer recounts the ancient wars between Mandalore the Great and "an order of sorcerers called Jedi."
4. "What Is the Darksaber?" StarWars.com (official). starwars.com/news/what-is-the-darksaber. Retrieved July 2026.
5. "Mandalore." Star Wars Databank (official). starwars.com/databank/mandalore. Retrieved July 2026.
6. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 7, "The Siege of Mandalore" arc (Lucasfilm, 2020).
7. The Mandalorian, "Chapter 3: The Sin" (Lucasfilm, 2019).
8. The Mandalorian, "Chapter 11: The Heiress" (Lucasfilm, 2020). Bo-Katan Kryze identifies Din Djarin's sect as the Children of the Watch and removes her own helmet.
9. "Star Wars Inside Intel: Mandalorian Armor." StarWars.com (official). starwars.com/news/star-wars-inside-intel-mandalorian-armor. Retrieved July 2026.
10. "Beskar." Star Wars Databank (official). starwars.com/databank/beskar. Retrieved July 2026.
11. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "The Mandalore Plot" (Lucasfilm, 2010), in which Prime Minister Almec calls Jango Fett "a common bounty hunter"; cf. "Boba Fett." Star Wars Databank (official). starwars.com/databank/boba-fett. Retrieved July 2026.
12. "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu." StarWars.com — Films (official). starwars.com/films/star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu. Retrieved July 2026.