By: Cam Ray
We all know that real Mandalorians keep their helmets on–always. I’m sorry, I meant to say real Mandalorians have the freedom to remove their helmets any time they desire. Also, real Mandalorians are from Mandalore–born and raised. Scratch that. Real Mandalorians can also be adopted. Mandalorians are a race, not a religion. I mean, Mandalorians are only a religion. My apologies. They are warriors. No armor? Not a real Mando, then. Does this sound familiar? Does one statement strike you as true while another rings as false as a life insurance policy from the IBC? A lot of discourse and debate has taken place over the definition of a Mandalorian, and in even greater sums now that The Mandalorian series has become part of our known Star Wars canon. As with much of Star Wars, I believe a great life lesson can be derived from this divisive issue. Is one school of thought regarding the true meaning of being a Mandalorian better or more correct than another? Are they all equally correct? Let’s look at this through the lense of humanity and how we can grow as people and fellow fans, even if at the end we simply agree to disagree on which Mandalorian is most Mandalorian of all.
When season one of The Mandalorian aired in the fall of 2019, I had only seen a few clips of The Clone Wars, and my knowledge of all things Mandalore included Jango Fett, Boba Fett, and…that’s it–those two. When it was revealed in season one that the Mandalorians do not remove their helmets and that they are a religion, I thought about Jango and Boba and–except for when they were on Kamino–how they always wore their helmets. Made sense. Mandalorians always wear their helmets when out in public as part of their religion. They are also bounty hunters/warriors. This is the Way. The final season of The Clone Wars was going to air a few months later in February of 2020, so I decided I should watch the cartoon I had avoided since it first aired due to it being for children and because of the number of episodes I would have to consume. While I wasn’t naive about some of the themes covered in TCW, and while I knew from fellow fans who had watched and thoroughly enjoyed the show that it built upon the prequels and had great moments, I had no clue about the layers upon layers of Star Wars goodness I was about to devour. I also had no clue how much more information–and seemingly contradictory information–I would learn in regard to the Mandalorians.
My narrow view of Mandalorians–a strict religion of warriors who keep their faces covered at all costs–quickly expanded, and I quickly began questioning which “Way” was the Way. Can there be more than one Way? Is that even allowed? The story is never completely told (especially in Star Wars), so I tried to somewhat relax and let the storytellers take me on their journey. I did, however, start drawing comparisons between my expanding understanding of the Mandalorians and real life. I think we can take a lot away from the dilemmas they find themselves in and apply it to our roles as humans.
While many Mandalorians are traditionally a warrior race and have a long history of fighting battles in order to protect their people/cause, we see in the leadership of Duchess Satine Kryze and the people of Mandalore who supported her leadership that more peaceful ways of living can be desired and achieved. Although the time of peace was short-lived, it showed the broader views of a group of people, even a group who was widely viewed as warriors. We also see members of Death Watch–led by Pre Vizsla and including Satine’s sister, Bo-Katan Kryze–fight against Satine’s pacifist rule, defending the traditional warrior ways of the Mandalorians. Duchess Satine, in her heart of hearts, felt she was right, and Pre Vizsla felt he was right–both of them fighting in their own way for their people. The same people.
In Rebels, we see more division amongst the Mandalorians as the Empire has won over (perhaps forcefully) certain sects of Mandalorians. We also follow Sabine Wren, who has fled and become a part of the Rebellion against the Empire, keeping her armor and memories of her heritage, but separated from her family over political and philosophical differences. And a small misunderstanding about a Mandalorian-pulverizing weapon named after Duchess Satine. Finally, after the fall of the Empire, in The Mandalorian, we see yet another sect of Mandalorians–The Children of the Watch–who have been “adopted” as foundlings by a group of Mandalorians who follow a very strict religious view of the warrior tradition, going so far as to never remove their helmets in front of other lifeforms.
As we journey with Din Djarin, watching him figure out who he is and what he believes, he is confronted with another group of Mandalorians, led by Bo-Katan, who are indeed Mandalorians but do not uphold certain parts of the code that Din has grown up with, specifically the whole helmet-wearing issue. This leads to questions regarding what is the Way and what isn’t. This question is challenged even further as Din and Bo-Katan are presented with the infamous Boba Fett–a clone who wears his father’s armor (after getting it back from Din by way of Cobb Vanth) yet seems to follow his own code. Although Jango Fett was a Mandalorian foundling, Boba being a clone holds serious concerns for Bo-Katan regarding him being a true Mandalorian, or even a true human. Again, all of these people are fighting in their own way for their people. The same people.
As I process all of this, it seems very similar to what we see in our world, societies, social circles, and family units–we are all similar in that we are human beings, yet we are all unique in our views and beliefs. Some of us are more similar to one another, while some of us are almost at opposite ends of whatever spectrum we are discussing. Some of us are constant helmet wearers, some of us only wear our helmets when necessary, and others don’t even have a desire to put a helmet on our heads. These differences can be divisive, or they can be what makes us each special in our own way. I may like to listen to classic jazz and wear a Wampa rug like a hat to try to make people smile, while others may cringe at the word jazz and think Wampa rugs should stay on the ground, where they belong. Guess what? That is ok, and that doesn’t make me more right or wrong than the other person. Also, if I were to write off that person or–even worse–criticize them for not liking the greatest music genre ever, I may shut off the opportunity to get to know them better and find out that we both enjoy drawing and that they are super gifted at painting (which I am not) and can teach and inspire me to be better with that medium. A chance to gain a friend and a skill could have been wasted all because I focused on a few opinions or personality traits that didn’t align perfectly with mine.
While that analogy is rather ridiculous, we all know that this situation presents itself in much more serious and heavier ways throughout each day, through issues of race, gender, religious beliefs, political ideology, and–of course–whatever daily Star Wars debate has been ignited. No matter the topic at hand, we are all people, and we all want to be loved and respected. Keeping this in mind, both as we speak our “important” minds to others as well as when we hear others’ words of importance, I encourage you and me to be slow to speak and quick to listen through the filter of we are all in this together, and we can learn from every person and every situation. Many times, the wars we find ourselves in are a result of the small battles we begin by magnifying our differences as negatives rather than just…differences. This doesn’t mean to ignore injustice, violence, or harassment, but in order to start a conversation that can fight the injustices around us, we must first be able to see and treat each other as brothers and sisters–as family. At the end of the day, we are all Mandalorians–helmet or not. This is the Way.