With the release of the Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 1 - The Marshal,
many of you may be wondering who is Cobb Vanth and does he have a backstory other than what we
saw in the Episode? Well, the answer is yes he does, and he may have lied about it in the show!
So, I’m going to breakdown the full backstory of Cobb Vanth,
including some pretty major differences from the Aftermath Novels, where he first appeared,
to how his story was shown in the Mandalorian. I have some pretty
big theories on why this may be the case, which I will explain at the end.
So before we get into it,
make sure to smash the subscribe button for more awesome Mandalorian Season 2 content,
I’ll also be making an animated version of this video very soon, so stay tuned for that!
Cobb Vanth began life as a slave to a cruel and harsh slave master on Tatooine,
and even has a star-shaped scar brutally carved into his back as a sign of ownership. Eventually
however, Cobb Vanth was able to free himself from the his savage life of slavery and began to hold
a strong desire to be something more than a simple tool for someone else and longed to
see the day that his home of Tatooine became free from the oppression of Jabba and the Hutt Cartel.
Because of this, Cobb Vanth appointed himself as the sheriff of his home town, Mos Pelgo,
or Freetown as he later nicknamed it. After the death of Jabba the Hutt and the destruction
of the second Death Star however, a huge power struggle ensued in all of Tatooine’s major cities,
with a crime syndicate known as the Red Key raiders rushing to claim the town of Mos Pelgo.
The Red Key Raiders are the same guys who Cobb Vanth calls “the mining collective”.
The reason he calls the Red Key raiders the mining collective in the Mandalorian is because in the
Aftermath novels, it was confirmed that they were simply a Crime Syndicate, operating under
the guise of being a legitimate mining company that hoped to begin operations on the planet.
After the Red Key raiders arrived in Mos Pelgo, they brutally slaughtered many of it’s citizens
inside of a cantina, in order to make it clear to them that Mos Pelgo is now their city.
Now this is where the Mandalorian Chapter 9 splits off from the story in the aftermath novels,
and pretty much retcons it. Although I do have an explanation for this change in story, that
does make sense in Canon, which i'll explain after I give you both versions of the story.
So make sure you stick around until after this Aftermath version of his story,
for the shocking reason it may be false.
So, here’s the version of the story from the Aftermath Novels.
A man from the Red Key Raiders crime syndicate named Adwin Charu
is inside of a Jawa Sandcrawler near Mos Pelgo, attempting to bargain with
the tiny creatures under the orders of his crime lord boss, Lorgan Movellan.
As he is doing this, Cobb Vanth notices the man because of his clothing being completely free
from the yellow sand of the area and because he had absolutely no idea how to trade with jawas.
Because of his trouble trading with the Jawas, Cobb Vanth decides to vouch for Charu to the
Jawas, in order to help him obtain the items he needs. As a life-long criminal, Charu is shocked
that anyone would help another person out without a fee, prompting him to ask Cobb Vanth what his
price was. Vanth of course refused to take payment for this vouch, instead accompanying Charu inside
of the sandcrawler. Adwin Charu however had no idea that Cobb Vanth already knew the true
criminal background of the mining collective or that he knew Charu was also a criminal.
The two then eventually move into a smaller, bright room inside of the Sandcrawler,
which contains many assortments of droidsd and various weapons,
alongside the wreckage of Jabba’s sail barge. Cobb Vanth and Charu look around the room until
the Red Key criminal comes across a full set of badly acid spocked and damaged Mandalorian armor
inside of a thick metal box. This is of course the armor of the infamous bounty hunter, Boba Fett,
which has been recovered after his tumble in the Sarlacc. Believing it was necessary for
his job as the sheriff of Mos Pelgo, Cobb Vanth demanded that he take the armor instead of Charu,
but of course, the mobster was not going to accept this offer. Adwin Charu felt a jolt of adrenaline
rush through his body and strongly felt the urge to pull his blaster out of its holster and to
fire it at an unarmored Cobb Vanth. Charu however was unfortunately 3 steps behind Cobb Vanth, who
had already pulled his blaster on him. Immediately after this, Cobb Vanth horrifically scorches a
deep flesh wound into the shoulder of Adwin Charu, leaving his lifeless arm to drop to the metallic
floor of the sandcrawler, along with the loud metal clunk of his blaster hitting the ground.
Cobb Vanth then told the pain-struck criminal that he knew about his true job and the real
purpose of the mining collective in Mos Pelgo. Charu begged Cobb Vanth in fear not to kill him,
but Vanth had no plans to anyway. Cobb Vanth then leaves the man horribly injured
in hopes of sending a message to Charu’s boss, Lorgan Movellan to leave his town.
This story is of course very different from the one we got in the Mandalorian,
For a short time after this, Cobb Vanth begins patrolling Mos Pelgo in his brand
new Mandalorian armor, continuing to ensure peace and justice is maintained in the town.
Unfortunately however, despite sending the earlier message to Lorgan Movellan that the
Red Key crime syndicate are not welcome in Mos Pelgo, they continued their dodgy
activities and even attempted to smuggle a baby Hutt into the palace dias at Mos Pelgo,
before they were stopped by Cobb Vanth, who took the baby Hutt for himself.
Shortly after this, the former beastmaster of Jabba Hutt,
who you will probably remember from REturn of the Jedi, Malakili roamed Mos Pelgo,
hating himself because he had absolutely no purpose after his Rancors were killed.
After learning about Malakili’s past a highly skilled beatmaster, however,
Cobb Vanth hired the man to train the young hutt and some local Rontos. Rontos are the large
creatures who roam the dunes of Tatooine and were introduced in the special edition of a New Hope.
With the help of Malakili, Cobb Vanth then struck a deal with local Tusken Raiders to
protect Mos Pelgo, in return for providing them with water and a pearl from a Kray Dragon’s
belly. This is of course another contradiction to the story in the Mandalorian, as in the show
they only agreed to stop attacking Mos Pelgo in return for help defeating the Krayt Dragon,
and of course the Tuskens weren’t happy that they were stealing their water.
Unfortunately however, the Tuskens weren’t enough to prevent Lorgan
Movellan and his Red Key raiders from swarming the city and overpowering the
Residents, leading Cobb Vanth to be harshly handcuffed, reminding him of his slave past.
Vanth was then dragged to the centre of Mos Pelgo, where the Red Key henchmen removed
his helmet with a twist, before placing him face to face with Lorgan Movellan,
the man he had been causing so much trouble for by keeping law and order in Mos Pelgo.
The dirty crime boss then asks Cobb Vanth what his true motivations are? He asks “what
is it you want? Money, fame, women?” but Cobb Vanth tells him that he only wants one thing.
The freedom of Mos Pelgo and Tatooine.
Lorgan Movellan then discovers Cobb Vanth’s star shaped slave marking,
before telling him that the only reason the Red Key crime group came to Tatooine and Mos Pelgo
was to collect it’s precious delirium oil and silicax oxalate crystals to sell to the Hutt clan.
Silicax oxalate was of course the same material that Cobb Vanth smuggled away
to sell to the Jawas for his armor in the Mandalorian Version of the story.
Immediately after this however, with Cobb Vanth in handcuffs, was pushed to the ground with a strong
kick, kneeling on the sandy surface of Tatooine. As he is doing this however,
he pulls a trick from his sleeve. He immediately gives Malakili a signal,
to which Malakili instructs the baby Hutt that he was training to let out a loud shriek. This
shriek then alerts the local Tusken allies to rush into Mos Pelgo, overpowering the Red Key raiders.
With the help of Malakili, Cobb Vanth then frees himself from the handcuffs and
brutally disarms the Mob Boss, dropping him to the ground with a single swoop. Finally,
Cobb Vanth then subdues the crime boss and carves a message into his face with his blade,
warning him never to return to Mos Pelgo.
In the Mandalorian Chapter 9, the beginning of the story is much different,
but everything after he gets the armor is probably true.
Now the reason for this difference is probably because either Cobb Vanth was lying or Adwin
Charu was lying in their versions of the story. In the aftermath novels, the story is being told
from the perspective of Charu, who is obviously a major criminal and underworld figure. He is
of course going to want to play the victim to gain sympathy from the people of Mos Pelgo,
but also modify the story to make the syndicate look much more powerful than it actually is.
The story in the Mandalorian season 2 on the other hand is obviously told through the eyes of Cobb
Vanth himself, who was definitely attempting to gain sympathy from the Mando at the beginning.
In addition, maybe Cobb Vanth was initially hoping to keep Boba’s armor, and because of this,
modified the story of how he got it,
to make it seem to Din Djarin that he actually earned it through his survival.
Either way, let me know what you think down below, who do you think was telling the truth?
For now, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Cobb Vanth probably was a victim of the
slaughter in the Cantina, but I think he almost didn’t struggle to get into the sandcrawler,
and actually did shoot Charu in the shoulder.
But that is the full backstory of Cobb Vanth,
including his lies and contradictions. Thanks so much for watching,
really hope you enjoyed the video. Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!