In Chapter 5 of The Book of Boba Fett, as well as Chapter 8 of The Mandalorian, Star
Wars fans have gotten to learn about the Night of A Thousand Tears.
But what exactly happened during this devastating event, and what were some of the events that
led to such a significant moment in Galactic history?
The Night of a Thousand Tears was the night in which the Galactic Empire massacred Mandalorians
during what was called the Great Purge of Mandalore.
During this massacre, a large contingent of TIE bombers destroyed cities on Mandalore,
and gunships were used to slaughter Mandalorian recruits on fields.
Since the recruits were overwhelmed by the ships' E-web heavy repeating blasters in the
night, the engagement was remembered in songs as a night of tears.
Essentially, the Empire brought a devastating amount of its military might and power to
Mandalore, with the intent of reducing the planet to ash.
Although we don't know the exact date that the Great Purge happened, it most likely would've
happened at some point between 1 BBY to 5 ABY.
Now, to fully understand the Night of A Thousand Tears, it's also worth discussing the prior
moments in Mandalore’s history that, over time, eventually led to the Great Purge of
Mandalore.
To do so, we have to start with the Mandalorian Civil War in 42 BBY.
This civil war, which was also referred to as the Great Clan Wars, was a conflict fought
between the group known as the New Mandalorian peace movement and the group known as martial
traditionalists, as both vied for control of the Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore
The martial traditionalists were a group of Mandalorian warrior clans that believed Mandalore
should continue to adhere to its warrior culture that had dominated Mandalorian society for
generations.
The New Mandalorians, on the other hand, were defined by their ideals of pacifism, neutrality,
and nonviolence rather than martial prowess and military strength that permeated Mandalorian
culture through the likes of the martial traditionalists and the Old Mandalorians-which were another
group within Mandalorian society.
After the New Mandalorians rose to prominence, a small number of martial traditionalists
used violence to stay in control, which resulted in the start of the Mandalorian Civil War.
The New Mandalorians eventually won the Mandalorian Civil War and Duchess Satine Kryze became
leader of Mandalore, while the surviving martial traditionalists were exiled to the planet's
moon of Concordia.
After Satine Kryze and the New Mandalorians took over control of Mandalore, members of
the exiled martial traditionalists, led by Pre Vizsla, formed the terrorist group Death
Watch.
Death Watch opposed Satine Kryze’s pacifist government, but failed in their attempts at
taking over Mandalore.
Then, in 19 BBY, Pre Vizsla agreed to ally himself and Death Watch with the likes of
the Shadow Collective, which was led by Darth Sidious’ former apprentice, Maul, and Maul’s
brother, Savage Opress.
Vizsla’s hope was that the Shadow Collective-which was a large alliance of multiple crime syndicates,
and a rival Sith Order-could help Death Watch overthrow Duchess Satine’s government and
restore Mandalore’s warrior culture.
Although the Shadow Collective helped Death Watch overthrow Duchess Satine and obtain
control of Mandalore, Pre Vizsla did not want to move forward with Maul’s next plan, which
was to attack the Council of Neutral Systems and the 2000 systems they controlled.
This eventually culminated in Maul and Pre Vizsla dueling, and Maul killing Vizsla and
taking claim of his Darksaber, the ancient Mandalorian lightsaber that was a symbol for
the leader of House Vizsla and Death Watch.
With Pre Vizsla’s defeated, Maul claimed the Darksaber for himself, became the leader
of Death Watch, and planted Prime Minister Almec as his puppet ruler of Mandalore.
However, Bo-Katan Kryze, the sister of Duchess Satine Kryze, and her Nite Owls refused to
accept Maul as their ruler, decrying him as an outsider and the other Death Watch members
as traitors.
Death Watch was then split between those loyal to Maul and Almec,who became the Mandalorian
super commandos, and the Mandalore resistance led by Bo-Katan Kryze.
Fighting between the two factions ensued, which caught the attention of Darth Sidious,
as the Sith Lord viewed his old apprentice as a threat.
Sidious soon traveled to Mandalore, killed Savage Opress, and captured Maul, imprisoning
him at the Spire on the planet Stygeon Prime Maul's Death Watch forces eventually rescued
him, freeing him from the Spire.
Maul eventually returned to Mandalore, where he retained the support of Prime Minister
Almec and his Mandalorian super commandos, among them Gar Saxon and Rook Kast.
As this occurred, The Mandalore resistance, led by Bo-Katan Kryze, had kept the Republic
apprised of Maul’s Death Watch and their actions on Mandalore, including Prime Minister
Almec’s maintained ties with the criminal underworld.
During the final days of the Clone Wars, and just two days after returning to Mandalore,
Maul and his forces found themselves under siege by Bo-Katan's legion of Mandalorians
and a battalion of clone troopers led by the recently promoted Commander Rex and former
Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.
The ensuing siege resulted in Republic forces defeating Almec and Death Watch, leading to
a large Republic military presence on Mandalore.
Following the Siege of Mandalore, Darth Sidious then initiated Order 66, toppled the Jedi
and Republic, and reorganized the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.
This meant that all Republic forces on Mandalore were now Imperial occupiers of the Mandalorian
homeworld.
Though Bo-Katan Kryze had been appointed Regent of Mandalore, Kryze refused to do the new
Empire's bidding and was forced out of power by Clan Saxon, who collaborated with the Empire.
Gar Saxon of Clan Saxon was made Viceroy and Governor of Mandalore by the Empire with the
Imperial Supercommandos serving as his enforcers.
Viceroy Saxon then ruled Mandalore on behalf of the Empire for nearly two decades.
Then, in 2 BBY, after the Darksaber was discovered on the Planet Dathomir by Jedi Knight Kanan
Jarrus, his Padawan, Ezra Bridger, and the Mandalorian Rebel, Sabine Wren, the ancient
lightsaber was given to Sabine to wield.
Sabine then reunited with her mother Ursa Wren, and fought Gar Saxon, before Ursa Wren
killed Saxon.
Gar Saxon's death then caused another civil war to break out between Clans Saxon and Wren,
with the former being backed by the Empire.
By 1 BBY, Gar Saxon had been succeeded by his brother Tiber Saxon as Governor, and sought
to execute Sabine’s father, Alrich Wren.
Sabine Wren, Bo-Katan Kryze, several Mandalorians, and members of the Ghost crew led a strike
team to free Alrich, but not before Saxon used a weapon called the Duchess, which a
weapon that targeted the beskar alloy used in Mandalorian armor and disintegrated the
person wearing it,against.
Clan Wren and their allies were able to then defeat Tiber, and, following his defeat, Sabine
gave Bo-Katen the Darksaber, prompting Clan Wren and several other Mandalorian clans to
also pledge their allegiance to Bo-Katan, now that she inherited the Darksaber and the
mantle of Mandalorian leadership.
What happens immediately following Bo-Katan obtaining the Darksaber is still unclear,
as we haven't gotten an explanation as to what transpired between when Bo-Katan was
given the Darksaber and the Night of A Thousand Tears.
We can surmise, however, that Bo-Katan and her allies led a hard-fought battle to liberate
their planet from the Empire.
Their efforts then resulted in the Empire launching their vicious attack, causing widespread
death and destruction of Mandalore and its people.
As we can see, there's a long list of events that can be traced back to before the start
of the Clone Wars, which helped pave the way for Mandalore's brutal destruction by the
Empire.
And while we don't have a ton of information about the time when Bo-Katan had the darksaber
and fought to liberate Mandalore, hopefully that information will be provided to us in
the future, maybe even in a Bo-Katan spin-off series.
Either way, it's been awesome to learn about the Night of A Thousand Tears, and I look
forward to learning more about this event.
But what's your thoughts on the Night of A Thousand Tears?
Were you aware of the events that led to this devastating event in Mandalore’s history?
Let me know down in the comments.
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