After Din Djarin managed to defeat the current holder of the Darksaber, Moff Gideon, using
his Beskar Spear, he became the new Ruler of Mandalore under mandalorian tradition.
Mando of course had no interest in this title however, and offered to pass the Darksaber
back to Bo-Katan Kryze, who was the holder before Moff Gideon stole it.
Bo-Katan however refused to accept the ancient black weapon, because she had not won it in
single combat from Din Djarin.
So why did Bo-Katan refuse to accept the Darksaber from Mando, when he accepted it as a gift
from Sabine Wren during the Mandalorian Civil war, without defeating her in combat?
I’m going to breakdown some reasons on why Bo-Katan might not have accepted the Darksaber
and why she probably made the wrong choice accepting it from Sabine.
So during Star Wars Rebels, Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren managed to Steal the Darksaber
from former Sith Lord, Darth Maul, inside of his lair on Dathomir.
Maul was of course the ruler of Mandalore and the holder of the Darksaber during the
Clone Wars, until he was captured at the Siege of Mandalore, and eventually lost interest
in his little Mandalore adventure, storing the Darksaber on Dathomir.
After stealing the black blade from his lair, Sabine became the holder of the Darksaber,
and eventually fought in the Mandalorian Civil war on Mandalore, where a Group of Mandalorians
who aligned themselves to the Empire, and were led by Tiber Saxon, had control of Mandalore.
These imperial Mandalorians utilized a horrific and terrifying weapon known as “The Duchess”,
which would melt any Mandalorian within it’s range inside of their own Beskar Armor.
The weapon was developed by Sabine Wren herself during her time at the imperial Academy, making
it a painful reminder of her past.
During the Mandalorian Civil War, Sabine Managed to destroy the Duchess with the help of Bo-Katan,
and soon after Gifted the Darksaber to her, as Sabine didn’t believe she was the one
to lead.
Bo-Katan accepted the ancient blade, and united all of the Clans of Mandalore together under
her rule.
So why did she accept the Darksaber from Sabine, but refused to accept it from Din Djarin in
the Mandalorian?
The first major reason for her refusal to accept the Dark blade could be that she absolutely
regrets not following Mandalorian tradition the last time, and will never to do it again.
It’s very possible that Bo-Katan now considers her action of taking the Darksaber without
a fight a horrible error, because of her failure as Leader of Mandalore that followed soon
After she took it from Sabine.
After Bo-Katan took the darksaber from Sabine without a battle, we know that the complete
destruction and slaughter of the Mandalorian people took place under her rule.
Under her rule, the Empire managed to steal the Darksaber from the leader of Mandalore,
and begin the Great Purge, where the home of the Mandalorian people was glassed, and
suffered intense orbital bombardment, before going even further and having their entire
supply of Beskar stripped and stolen from the planet.
By any measure, this is a complete and utter failure of Bo-katan’s leadership.
Maybe she feels that she wasn’t worthy to hold the Darksaber at all after letting her
people fall to the Imperial Purge, and now having to go deep into hiding, tucked away
in hidden Mandalorian Coverts around the Backwater planets of
the Galaxy.
It’s also possible that she was unable to keep control and unity of the other Mandalorian
clans that she united at the end of the Mandalorian Civil war because some of them started to
question her claim to the Darksaber and the rulership of Mandalore.
It’s possible that soon after the end of Star Wars Rebels, where she brought all of
Mandalore together, things started to crack, and the other clans began to lose faith in
her leadership, questioning how she can rule without having earned the Darksaber fairly.
The imperials probably even continued to plant doubt among the other Mandalorians clans about
Bo-Katan’s rule, probably leading them to splinter.
If this is the case, maybe now that she lost the Darksaber to Moff Gideon, she feels that
if she wants to ever rule again and earn it back, she has to do it “the right way”
and follow Mandalorian tradition.
And if the clans did splinter off soon after she united them, she will definitely need
to earn their respect back.
To do this, gaining the darksaber correctly is probably one of the only ways.
Now another possibility is that Bo-katan accepted the Darksaber from Sabine Wren without a fight,
because Sabine herself didn’t earn it in the correct way under Mandalorian tradition.
Sabine simply had it stolen from Darth Maul on Dathomir, rather than defeat him in single
combat.
This would also be pretty weird since Bo-Katan had not defeated Maul in single combat to
earn the saber.
Even though Sabine wasn’t really the rightful holder, Bo-Katan certainly wasn’t either.
Sabine did technically defeat Gar Saxon, the imperial leader of Mandalore after he stole
the Darksaber from her, but Gar Saxon himself didn’t earn in combat, so Sabine Defeating
him did not make her the rightful ruler.
And yes…
The line of Darksaber holders does get very, very complicated.
If you want to know more about every single holder of the Darksaber in depth, make sure
you check out the video in the pinned comment or the card on screen for an awesome video
I did about that.
Another potential reason is that when Sabine Gave it to her, Maul still had the rightful
claim to the Mandalorian throne, and we know that she had no respect for him, or any outsider
ruling their planet.
Because she had no respect for Maul’s claim to the throne, she would have had no issue
taking it from Sabine.
Mando on the other hand is a real Mandalorian and earned the Darksaber through single combat,
defeating his opponent under Mandalorian tradition.
Because of this, Bo-Katan cannot accept the blade with honor.
Now, what’s even more weird is that Moff Gideon most likely didn’t win the sword
in Single Combat against Bo-Katan.
Gideon is certainly strong and very talented, but I don't think he could take Bo-katan on
alone, especially after being defeated by Mando so quickly.
Because Of this, Bo-Katan obviously believes that she is still the rightful holder of the
Darksaber and ruler of Mandalore.
That’s the whole reason she’s so angry and demands to have the saber back.
So if this is the case, why does Bo-Katan even respect Din Djarin’s claim to the saber,
when he didn’t defeat the rightful holder?
He defeated a man who just simply took the blade, just like how Sabine did.
The only way this would make sense is if under Mandalorian tradition, to gain the Darksaber,
you don’t have to defeat the rightful holder, but simply anyone who uses it in combat against
you.
And if that is the case, then sabine was the rightful ruler of Mandalore because she defeated
Gar Saxon while he used the dark blade, making Bo-katan’s decision even more confusing.
If Sabine Was the rightful holder, why did she take it from her and not mando.
I think they’re definitely setting up a situation in Season 3 of the Mandalorian where
Din Djarin and Bo-Katan will eventually have to battle for the Saber.
It’s pretty clear that mando has no intention of ruling Mandalore, and Bo-katan wont accept
the blade as a gift, so they eventually will have to have a showdown for the rulership.
Either that, or someone else manages to defeat mando for the blade, continuing the spiral
and making things even more complicated.
Jon Favreau did recently say in an interview that Season 3 of the Mandalorian will be going
in a similar direction to game of Thrones, so we’ll have to see exactly what he means
by that.
I definitely think next season will have a much bigger focus on the mandalorian clans,
houses and culture, as well as a massive power struggle for the throne and for the Darksaber.
With Grogu now with Luke Skywalker, joining his soon to be created Jedi temple, that perfectly
sets the stage for the show to transition into a story about the conflict of Mandalore
and the showdown for who will rule it.
Put down in the comments your prediction for who you think will come out on top of Mandalore
and holding the Darksaber at the end of the mandalorian season 3.
Personally, I’m thinking it will be someone we haven’t even seen yet, as we’re definitely
going to get a massive expansion on the Mandalorian people.
But either way, let me know what you think.
Do you think Bo-Katan has simply reverted to the old ways and now fully respects tradition,
or do you think she just respects Din Djarin more than she ever respected Sabine, considering
Sabine created a superweapon that could kill all Mandalorians.
So those are just some of the possibilities for why Bo-Katan accepted the Darksaber from
Sabine Wren, but not Din Djarin, despite being a very, very similar situation.
Let me know what you guys think down below.
Thanks so much for watching, remember to leave a like if you enjoyed the video and subscribe
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Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!