Although much of the canon information about the Mandalorian-Jedi War is still up in the air,
here's what we know so far. This is the history of the Mandalorian-Jedi War explained.
As odd as it sounds, the war started because the Mandalorians did not understand the Jedi
when they first encountered them. Even at the end of The Mandalorian season 1,
the Armorer describes the Jedi as "an order of sorcerers."
Due to this lack of understanding, the Mandalorians created weapons and armor
to better combat these mysterious new opponents. In 2017, Comicbook.com
interviewed Dave Filoni about how the Star Wars: Rebels episode
"Trials of the Darksaber" referenced the Mandalorian-Jedi War. He explained,
"The Mandalorian-Jedi War that I have in my mind is very much
derived from the oldest style of thinking of Mandalorians, which was that their weapons,
their arsenal, their technology had a massive increase once they collided with the Jedi
and found these force-wielding people that had abilities they didn't understand."
More and more animosity occurred between the Mandalorians and Jedi once the latter
group started interfering with the former's crusades. The 2016 reference book Star Wars:
Aliens of the Galaxy details how a group of sword-wielding Mandalorians
known as the Mandalorian crusaders carried out a series of conquests
across the galaxy. While in the Inner Rim, the crusaders devastated a planet called Ubduria
out of contempt for the native Ubdurians, who they viewed as dishonorable cowards.
The Mandalorian crusaders also fought the Jedi at some point during these missions.
Murals of the Mandalorian crusaders fighting the Jedi were created and can be seen in a few
episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as one episode of Star Wars: Rebels.
Even though Mandalorians and Jedi were at one point sworn enemies, a member of the former
group did create a lightsaber of his own. That member was Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian
ever inducted into the Jedi Order. Tarre created a unique black-colored lightsaber called the
Darksaber during his time as a Jedi. After he died, the Jedi kept the saber in the Jedi Temple,
but during the fall of the Old Republic, members of House Vizsla raided that temple and reclaimed
the saber. They used it to unite their people and defeat anyone who opposed them, including Jedi.
The Darksaber would become a symbol of power to the Mandalorians and was used to unite them before
and after the Mandalorian-Jedi War.
The Mandalorian-Jedi War became so heated that, near the end of their wars,
the Mandalorians turned Concordia, the moon of their homeworld, into a mining base.
Although the Mandalorians put up a good fight against the Jedi,
it was not enough to save their homeworld. The Mandalorian-Jedi War ended with a final battle,
which caused a cataclysm that scorched much of Mandalore into a white, uninhabitable wasteland.
The Jedi won the war, but not all was lost for the Mandalorians,
as they created hermetically sealed domed cities on Mandalore's surface.
Years after the Mandalorian-Jedi War ended, many Mandalorians, including Satine Kryze,
did not want to continue the cycle of violence that almost destroyed their planet.
They formed a peaceful movement called the New Mandalorians.
Forty-two years before the Battle of Yavin, a civil war broke out between the New Mandalorians
and the martial traditionalists who both sought control for Mandalore.
The death toll during this war was a primary reason why Satine became a pacifist for the rest
of her life. As duchess, Satine rebuilt Mandalore, and it thrived under her leadership for 20 years.
Mandalore went on to become an active participant in the senate of the Galactic
Republic while still remaining neutral throughout the majority of the Clone Wars.
Of course, many Mandalorians still opposed the New Mandalorians' pacifist ideals and
wanted to return Mandalore to its warrior ways.
These same Mandalorians would go on to form the terrorist organization
Death Watch under the leadership of Governor Pre Vizsla and Satine's sister, Bo-Katan Kryze.
Death Watch was initially aligned with Count Dooku and the Separatists, but they parted ways
and eventually joined forces with a renegade Sith lord named Maul to take over Mandalore together.
Maul and Vizsla devised a plan to make the New Mandalorians look
weak in order to gain the people's trust.
"Death Watch is here to save you from these intergalactic
gangsters that threaten our great city."
The plan was successfully carried out, and Vizsla declared himself ruler of Mandalore,
but he betrayed Maul and imprisoned him. It didn't take long for Maul to escape,
which allowed Maul to challenge Vizsla to a duel, which he won.
After beheading Vizsla with the Darksaber, Maul declared himself the new leader of
Death Watch and installed a puppet prime minister while he ruled from the shadows.
After becoming ruler of Mandalore, Maul retained the loyalty of most of
the members of Death Watch. But some members, such as Bo-Katan,
could not accept the idea of an outsider ruling Mandalore and led a resistance against him.
In the seventh season of The Clone Wars, Maul's reign is cut short after former Jedi knight Ahsoka
Tano and Bo-Katan team up to launch a full-scale assault in an attempt to liberate Mandalore from
the clutches of the Shadow Collective. Before ordering the other Shadow Collective leaders to
go into hiding, Maul is captured but subsequently escapes custody in the wake of Order 66.
The 2018 spinoff film Solo: A Star Wars Story, set after the events of The Clone Wars season 7,
reveals that Maul established another crime syndicate called the Crimson Dawn.
Even though Bo-Katan and her forces defeated Maul and freed Mandalore from the Shadow Collective,
it didn't take long for the Empire to undo all that progress. After Bo-Katan refuses to comply
with the imperial occupation of her homeworld, Clan Saxon betrayed her and swore allegiance
to Emperor Palpatine. Fortunately, Bo-Katan joined forces with Clan Wren, the Mandalorian Protectors,
and members of the Rebel Alliance to fight back against Clan Saxon.
Following this victory, Bo-Katan was given the Darksaber and took up the title of Mand'alor,
a title assumed by the sole leader of the Mandalorian people.
Unfortunately, the Empire would strike back against the remaining Mandalorians in the
form of the Great Purge. This event saw the deaths of many Mandalorians across the galaxy
and the Empire stealing massive amounts of beskar,
a metal alloy that Mandalorians use to create their signature armor.
In the season 1 finale of The Mandalorian, the Tribe's Armorer tells Din Djarin that he
needs to reunite the Child with his people. That mission sends Mando on a series of adventures,
including one that puts him in direct contact with Bo-Katan and her fellow Mandalorian separatists.
Although they don't share Djarin's rigid adherence to the Mandalorian creed Bo-Katan
ultimately helps him on his mission, in exchange for his help in raiding an Imperial ship.
Mando is initially led to believe the separatists are simply trying to steal weapons from the
shattered Empire, but it eventually becomes clear that Bo-Katan is really after the Darksaber,
now wielded by Moff Gideon. Living up to her end of the deal,
she tells Djarin where to find a Jedi, telling him to seek out Ahsoka Tano.
Mando heads to the planet Corvus, a deforested wasteland where Ahsoka Tano
has been waging a war against the brutal reign of a figure known as the Magistrate.
Upon Mando's arrival, he's shepherded to an audience with the Magistrate,
who offers him a staff made of pure beskar in exchange for murdering Ahsoka. Instead,
he joins forces with Ahsoka following a brief skirmish when they meet in the Corvus wastelands.
Mando offers to help Ahsoka defeat the Magistrate in exchange for her accepting
and training the Child. As expected, the Magistrate is no match for the duo, but
Ahsoka is unable to live up to her end of the deal, telling Mando that she can't train the
Child. She's able to speak with him via the Force, and learns that his real name
is Grogu— and that he was trained on Coruscant before being taken during the fall of the Jedi.
But she also discovers a great deal of fear, anger, and darkness in him, and having been
close to Anakin Skywalker, she's all too aware of how those feelings can be exploited.
Although Ahsoka is unable or unwilling to train Grogu, she offers Mando one other way to fulfill
his obligation — take him to the planet Tython, where Grogu may be able to tap into the Force at
the site of some ancient temple ruins and establish a connection with another Jedi.
In the middle of that process, however, Grogu is kidnapped by Moff Gideon's forces.
Mando gathers a crew to overtake Gideon's light cruiser and save the Child.
After reaching Grogu's cell, Mando battles Gideon,
ultimately Mando disarms Gideon with the Beskar spear he received from Ahsoka back on Corvus.
After taking Grogu and a shackled Gideon to the bridge, Mando offers the Darksaber to Bo-Katan,
but she refuses. Gideon clarifies that the Darksaber cannot be given
and must be won in combat. Their stand-off is interrupted when a Jedi, Luke Skywalker himself,
arrives to rescue them from a squad of Dark Troopers and take Grogu away to be trained.
Will Mando and Grogu's connection last?
Or will the events of the Mandalorian-Jedi war repeat themselves once again?
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