Mandalorian

**Din Djarin**, known as **The Mandalorian**, or **Mando** for short, is a fictional character in the *Star Wars* franchise, who appears as the titular protagonist of the Disney+ television series *The Mandalorian* and also appears in its spin-off *The Book of Boba Fett*. Orphaned as a young child, The Mandalorian was adopted into the Mandalorian culture and trained as a warrior, later becoming a bounty hunter and taking the title of his people as a sobriquet. The character is rarely seen without his silver, beskar helmet, which he is forbidden by creed to remove publicly.

*The Mandalorian* creator and showrunner Jon Favreau created the character, partially inspired by Clint Eastwood and his Man with No Name character in the Spaghetti Western *Dollars Trilogy* films directed by Sergio Leone. The samurai films of Akira Kurosawa (which also inspired Leone's works) were another inspiration, and *Star Wars* protagonist Han Solo also influenced the character's portrayal. The Mandalorian is voiced and primarily portrayed by Pedro Pascal. Favreau approached him for the role, and close friend and fellow actor Oscar Isaac, who portrays Poe Dameron in various *Star Wars* media, encouraged him to accept the part.

Stunt performers Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder are credited as doubles for the character, occasionally solely portraying the character in episodes, with Pascal's voice being dubbed in. The Mandalorian's costume was created by Legacy Effects. The costume presented challenges for the actors portraying the Mandalorian, and the physicality of the character is very important for the performance because small gestures appear much more exaggerated when the costume is worn.

Originally hired to capture Grogu, a Force-sensitive infant of the same species as Yoda, the Mandalorian instead protects him from a remnant of the fallen Galactic Empire and becomes a father figure for him. The dynamic between the Mandalorian and Grogu embodies a theme of parenting and fatherhood prevalent throughout *The Mandalorian*. The character and Pascal's performance have received generally positive reviews, although some criticism was directed at the fact that Pascal's face is constantly concealed by the costume, comparing him to Master Chief from Halo.

## Appearances

### Backstory

The Mandalorian's birth name is Din Djarin, though that is not revealed until "Chapter 8: Redemption", the first-season finale of *The Mandalorian*. Aspects of the character's backstory are provided gradually throughout the show. As a child, his parents are killed during an attack by battle droids affiliated with the Separatist Alliance during the Clone Wars. Multiple civilians are killed during the attack, and Djarin's parents hide him just before dying in an explosion. Djarin himself is rescued by a tribe of Mandalorian warriors, and he is later adopted into their culture as a "foundling", an orphan raised in the Mandalorian tradition despite not coming from the planet of Mandalore. He joins a tribe led by the Armorer (Emily Swallow), and the clan is forced into hiding due to persecution at the hands of the Galactic Empire.

The Mandalorian never removes his helmet in front of others, which his tribe would consider a betrayal worthy of expulsion; other characters from different Mandalorian tribes in other *Star Wars* works have been depicted as able to remove their helmets without it affecting their status. This inconsistency is later resolved in "Chapter 11: The Heiress", where it is discovered the Mandalorian and his tribe are, specifically, "Child(ren) of the Watch", a sect of Mandalorian religious zealots who follows "the (ancient) Way (of the Mandalore)", which mainstream Mandalorian society does not. The Mandalorian eventually becomes a bounty hunter and joins the Bounty Hunters' Guild, and becomes widely known by the nickname "Mando". At some point before the events of *The Mandalorian*, he works with a group of mercenaries that include Ran Malk (Mark Boone Junior), Xi'an (Natalia Tena), and Qin (Ismael Cruz Córdova). He eventually splits from this group under non-amicable circumstances, for which they blame him. The Mandalorian pilots a gunship called the *Razor Crest*, and one of his primary weapons is an Amban sniper rifle, which has a prong-shaped barrel that fires bursts powerful enough to disintegrate its targets. The events of *The Mandalorian* begin five years after the conclusion of the original trilogy in the film *Return of the Jedi* (1983).

### Season One

In the series premiere, the Mandalorian accepts a commission from Bounty Hunters' Guild leader Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) to collect a 50-year-old "asset" for a mysterious unnamed Client (Werner Herzog), who represents a remnant of the now-fallen Galactic Empire. The Mandalorian tracks the asset to Arvala-7, where he is aided by the Ugnaught farmer Kuiil (Nick Nolte). After reluctantly partnering with the bounty hunter droid IG-11 (Taika Waititi), the Mandalorian discovers that the asset is an infant seemingly from Yoda's species, known as "the Child". In "Chapter 2: The Child", the Mandalorian is nearly killed by a large Mudhorn creature, but the Child uses the Force to help the Mandalorian to kill it. The Mandalorian successfully delivers the Child to the Client on the planet Nevarro in "Chapter 3: The Sin".

Later, the Mandalorian has an uncharacteristic change of heart and returns to the Client's base to rescue the Child. On the way back to the *Razor Crest*, the Mandalorian is ambushed by Greef and other Guild members, but he escapes Nevarro after receiving aid from other Mandalorians from his tribe. While hiding from bounty hunters seeking him and the Child, the Mandalorian takes several missions to make ends meet. They include protecting a Sorgan village from raiders in "Chapter 4: Sanctuary", capturing the assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) on Tatooine in "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger", and a prison raid with Ran Malk (Mark Boone Junior)'s mercenaries, led by Migs Mayfeld (Bill Burr), in "Chapter 6: The Prisoner".

In the penultimate first-season episode, Greef contacts the Mandalorian and says the Client's troops have overrun his town. Greef promises to cancel the bounty on the Mandalorian if he helps eliminate the Client. The Mandalorian recruits several allies for the mission, including Kuiil, IG-11, and ex-Rebel shock trooper Cara Dune (Gina Carano). However, when they confront the Client on Nevarro, they are ambushed by Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) and his death trooper-led regiment, who kill The Client and trap the Mandalorian's allies. Gideon reveals secret details about each of them, including the Mandalorian's birth name, "Din Djarin", confirming that Gideon was involved in a past assault against the Mandalorians known as the "Purge of Mandalore."

Kuiil is killed, and the Mandalorian is severely injured during a gunfight with Gideon's forces in the season finale. IG-11 briefly removes the Mandalorian's helmet to tend to his wounds, revealing his face for the first time in the show. The Mandalorian and his allies seek help from the Mandalorian's tribe, only to find Imperials have wiped out the covert. They find the tribe's leader, the Armorer, who formally adopts the Child into the Mandalorian culture as a foundling. She instructs the Mandalorian to seek out and deliver the Child to the others of his kind, and says the Mandalorian will be like a father to him. IG-11 sacrifices himself to help the others escape, and the Mandalorian fends off a final attack by Gideon before departing from Nevarro with the Child.

### Season Two

In the second season, the character searches for other Mandalorians to help him find the Child's people: the Jedi. In "Chapter 9: The Marshal", he learns of a Mandalorian supposedly living on Tatooine from his contact, Gor Keresh (John Leguizamo). On Tatooine, the Mandalorian meets Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), the Marshal of Mos Pelgo, who is wearing Mandalorian armor bought from Jawas, which he had been using to protect the townspeople from various threats. Although the two are initially at odds, as the Mandalorian demands Vanth to give him the armor, they become reluctant allies when Mos Pelgo is attacked by a krayt dragon, which the Mandalorian agrees to help slay in exchange for Vanth's armor. Along the way, the Mandalorian and Vanth develop a genuine friendship and form an uneasy alliance between the townspeople of Mos Pelgo and a tribe of Tusken Raiders to kill the dragon. Afterward, the Mandalorian retrieves Vanth's armor, and the two part on good terms.

In "Chapter 10: The Passenger", the Mandalorian takes on a mission to take a contact, "Frog Lady" (Misty Rosas, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker), and her eggs from Tatooine to Trask, in exchange for a lead on other Mandalorians. During their journey, they are intercepted by two X-wing pilots (Dave Filoni and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) from the New Republic, who have an arrest warrant for the Mandalorian for his role in the prison break from "Chapter 6", but they end up saving them from a swarm of spider-like creatures on Maldo Kreis, where they crash-landed, and the charges are dropped against the Mandalorian. After fixing the *Razor Crest* to the point of barely being able to fly, the Mandalorian completes his mission and brings the Frog Lady to Trask in "Chapter 11: The Heiress", whereupon her husband directs him to an inn from where he learns about three Mandalorians spotted on the moon. A crew of Quarrens offers to lead him to them but ends up betraying and attempting to kill him and the Child for the Mandalorian's armor. The pair are saved by the three Mandalorians, led by Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff), the former ruler of Mandalore, who lost both her planet and the Darksaber to Moff Gideon. The Mandalorian initially distrusts her, but he nonetheless agrees to help her and her team raid an Imperial freighter for stolen Mandalorian relics in exchange for a lead on the Jedi. Following the heist, Bo-Katan tells the Mandalorian to seek out her old Jedi ally, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), on Corvus.

In "Chapter 12: The Siege", the Mandalorian reunites on Nevarro with Greef Karga and Cara Dune, who have since turned the planet around, and agrees to help them raid the last Imperial base on the planet in exchange for repairs to the *Razor Crest*. During the raid, they stumble upon cloning experiments performed by Imperial scientists, involving the Child's blood, some of which has already been transfused to the clones to supposedly give them Force-sensitivity. Before they can learn more, they are forced to destroy the base and escape from the pursuing Imperial forces. In "Chapter 13: The Jedi", with the *Razor Crest* repaired, the Mandalorian travels to Corvus and is brought before Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), the Imperial Magistrate of the city of Calidan, who hires him to kill Ahsoka. Under the guise of accepting the bounty, the Mandalorian tracks down Ahsoka, who uses the Force to commune with the Child, learning that his name is Grogu, that he is a former Jedi youngling who was rescued from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the Great Jedi Purge, and that he has been suppressing his Force powers over the years to survive. With Ahsoka reluctant to train Grogu because of his strong attachment to the Mandalorian, the latter helps Ahsoka defeat Elsbeth and liberate Calidan in the hopes of changing her mind. Although still reluctant, Ahsoka points the Mandalorian to a Jedi Temple on Tython, where Grogu might reach out to another Jedi through the Force and choose his destiny.

In "Chapter 14: The Tragedy", the Mandalorian takes Grogu to the Jedi Temple and leaves him to meditate. He is confronted by Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), the original owner of the Mandalorian armor he retrieved from Vanth, and his new partner, Fennec Shand, whom Fett had rescued after she was left to die in "Chapter 5". The Mandalorian agrees to trade the armor for Grogu's safety, but the group is attacked by Gideon's Imperial remnant, which has followed the Mandalorian via a tracking beacon that had been placed on the *Razor Crest* during its repairs on Nevarro. Despite assistance from Fett and Shand, Grogu is captured by Gideon's forces, and the *Razor Crest* is destroyed by an orbital strike from Gideon's cruiser. Looking for additional allies to help him rescue Grogu, the Mandalorian meets with Cara Dune and asks her to release Mayfeld, who has been sent to a New Republic prison after his capture in "Chapter 6".

In "Chapter 15: The Believer", the Mandalorian and Mayfeld, whom Cara has temporarily remanded into her custody, infiltrate a hidden Imperial rhydonium refinery on Morak disguised as Imperial soldiers to discover Moff Gideon's whereabouts. During their mission, the Mandalorian is forced to remove his helmet to access the terminal with Gideon's coordinates. After Mayfeld blows their cover by killing his former commanding officer for callously dismissing the victims of Operation: Cinder, he and the Mandalorian make their escape, boarding Fett's fire spray ship, *Slave I*, before Mayfeld destroys the refinery with a well-placed sniper shot. Cara promises to report that he was killed as a reward for his assistance, and Mayfeld leaves the group. Afterward, the Mandalorian sends Gideon a threatening message, in which he twists Moff's words from "Chapter 7" and vows to rescue Grogu.
The Mandalorian without his helmet as seen in Chapter 16: The Rescue
In "Chapter 16: The Rescue", the Mandalorian raids Gideon's cruiser to rescue Grogu, joined by his allies, as well as Bo-Katan and her Mandalorian warriors, to whom he promised to help liberate Mandalore from Imperial occupation in return. For the team to breach the hangar, they are helped by Boba Fett who stages an assault on the stolen Imperial Shuttle where the crew was. They successfully breach the hangar. While his allies go for the ship's command bridge, the Mandalorian searches for Grogu, narrowly defeating one of Gideon's Dark Troopers and launching the rest into space. Afterward, he confronts the Moff, who is holding the child hostage. Gideon offers to hand Grogu over if the Mandalorian lets him escape and keep the Darksaber, but then betrays and attempts to kill him. The Mandalorian rescues Grogu and overpowers Gideon, thus becoming the rightful owner of the Darksaber. Unaware of wielding the Darksaber, the Mandalorian enters the command bridge where Bo-Katan and crew were waiting. It was revealed that one who wields the Darksaber after combat becomes the rightful ruler of Mandalore. Before Bo-Katan and the Mandalorian engage in battle, they are interrupted by the Dark Troopers' return. They are swiftly destroyed by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), a Jedi who responded to Grogu's call on Tython and offers to take the child to be trained as a Jedi. During an emotional farewell, the Mandalorian removes his helmet to let the child see his face for the first time. He then tearfully watches as Grogu departs with Skywalker.

### *The Book of Boba Fett*

The Mandalorian appears in the spin-off series *The Book of Boba Fett*. In "Chapter 5: Return of the Mandalorian", the Mandalorian has resumed bounty hunting but finds himself struggling with wielding the Darksaber while still reeling from Grogu's absence. He kills the Klatoonian crime boss Kaba Baiz in his meat-packing plant and delivers his head to an Ishl Tib guild master on the ringed-shaped space station Glavis in exchange for directions, which is revealed to be the Tribe's relocated covert, hidden beneath the city. The Mandalorian reunites with the Armorer and fellow Tribe member Paz Vizsla at their new enclave and recounts his adventures to the Armorer, who explains the Darksaber's history to him and begins training him on properly using the black-bladed lightsaber. Vizsla challenges the Mandalorian for the Darksaber and the right to rule Mandalore. The Mandalorian wins the duel but when he confesses that he broke the Creed by removing his helmet in front of others in both "Chapter 15: The Believer" and "Chapter 16: The Rescue", Vizsla denounces him as an apostate while the Armorer has him expelled from the Tribe. However, she informs him that the only way of atonement is to come into contact with the water in the mines of Mandalore, but they have been destroyed by the Empire during the Purge. The Mandalorian leaves the covert but is allowed to keep his armor and the Darksaber. Taking a commercial shuttle to Tatooine, the Mandalorian visits Peli Motto, who presents him a modified Naboo N-1 starfighter as a replacement for the *Razor Crest*. After a test run, the Mandalorian is approached by Fennec Shand on behalf of Boba Fett, now the self-proclaimed Daimyo of Tatooine, for assistance in Fett's upcoming war with the Pyke Syndicate. The Mandalorian accepts the job for free but only after he visits Grogu.

In "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger", the Mandalorian travels to a forested planet where Grogu has begun his Jedi training under Skywalker. He is reunited with Ahsoka Tano, who advises him against seeing Grogu, as it would hinder his training due to the Jedi's strict rules against personal attachments. The Mandalorian reluctantly returns to Tatooine but bequeaths Ahsoka a gift to give to Grogu: beskar chain mail forged by the Armorer from the beskar spear that Ahsoka had previously given him. At Fett's Palace, Shand notes their shorthanded manpower, and the Mandalorian travels to Mos Pelgo, now renamed Freetown, to enlist Cobb Vanth and the townspeople to bolster Fett's forces. Although reluctant to get involved in the upcoming war, Vanth agrees to hold a town hall meeting.

In "Chapter 7: In the Name of Honor", the Mandalorian regroups with Fett and Shand at the destroyed Sanctuary cantina and prepares to engage the Pykes in Mos Espa. Cad Bane (Corey Burton) arrives with many Pyke soldiers and reveals that he shot Vanth after the Mandalorian approached him, thus preventing any reinforcements from helping Fett. The Mandalorian and Fett make use of their jetpacks and armor to engage the Pykes but are nearly overwhelmed until they are backed up by Fett's forces and the citizens of Freetown. Motto also arrives with Grogu, who reveals that he accepted the Mandalorian's chain mail, therefore forgoing his training as a Jedi to be with the Mandalorian. When the Pykes set two armored droids upon the group, the Mandalorian destroys one of them with the Darksaber. Bane scares off Fett's rancor, causing it to go berserk in the town. The Mandalorian attempts to subdue the rancor, but is nearly killed until Grogu uses the Force to put it to sleep. Afterward, the Mandalorian and Grogu depart Tatooine in the N-1 starfighter.

### Season Three

In "Chapter 17: The Apostate", the Mandalorian receives a green glass brought from the surface of Mandalore and travels with Grogu to a new planet the covert has relocated to, where the Armorer reiterates that until the Mandalorian bathes in the Living Waters of the mines, he is still considered an apostate. Needing a trustworthy droid to analyse the air in Mandalore's ruins, the Mandalorian and Grogu return to Nevarro to repair IG-11 from his salvaged parts but he and Greef are forced to destroy IG-11 again when the revived droid defaults to his original programming. As IG-11's memory core cannot be repaired, the Mandalorian elects to find a new one, leaving Nevarro with Grogu before engaging in a dogfight with Pirate King Gorian Shard's (Nonso Anozie) fleet. The two travel to Kalevala and meet with Bo-Katan, who has given up her plans to retake Mandalore ever since the Mandalorian won the Darksaber. Bo-Katan reveals the location of the mines.

In "Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore", the Mandalorian's search for a memory core brings him back to Tatooine. Peli Motto is unable to provide him with one but offers him R5-D4 instead. He heads to Mandalore with Grogu and R5-D4, and discovers that the atmosphere is breathable. He heads below Sundari, in search for the mines, and is attacked by a cyborg creature. He is held hostage, and asks Grogu to find Bo-Katan. She arrives soon thereafter, killing the creature by stabbing him with the Darksaber. She later leads him to the mines of Mandalore, again stating that she doesn’t believe in the stories. The Mandalorian bathes himself, but falls into a chasm and is knocked unconscious. Bo-Katan saves him from drowning and discovers a living Mythosaur in the Waters.

In "Chapter 19: The Convert", the Mandalorian recovers and leaves Mandalore with Grogu and Bo-Katan, who withholds the Mythosaur's existence from him. The trio are attacked by Imperial starships at Kalevala, and despite the Mandalorian providing backup in his N-1, TIE bombers destroy Bo-Katan's castle. They are forced to flee the planet and seek refuge at the covert's hideout. The Mandalorian presents the Armorer with a sample of the Living Waters and with Bo-Katan as a witness he is declared redeemed by his tribe. Bo-Katan is invited into the tribe as she has bathed in the Living Waters to rescue the Mandalorian and has not removed her helmet since. In "Chapter 20: The Foundling", the Mandalorian oversees Grogu's training as a Foundling and joins Bo-Katan's rescue party when Paz Viszla's son Ragnar is abducted by a large winged Raptor.

### Other Media

The Mandalorian appears in the mobile role-playing game, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. There are 2 different characters based on Din Djarin's character, The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor). These characters are based on The Mandalorian without and with his Beskar Armor, respectively.

## Characterization

The Mandalorian is a tough, resourceful, and efficient warrior. He is fast and accurate with a blaster, and few other characters in the series can match him in hand-to-hand combat, one being Cara Dune. The Mandalorian is methodical when he fights, hunting and isolating his enemies and picking them off one-by-one. He is something of a lone wolf and often works alone, and yet is also willing to accept assistance from others. He accepts help from Kuiil several times throughout the first season, and attempts to reward him for this assistance. He also offers to work with IG-11 to capture the Child in the series premiere.

The Mandalorian seldom speaks, and when he does he reveals little information beyond what is necessary. Pedro Pascal, the actor who portrays the Mandalorian, said he attempts to make the character human and accessible, despite the fact that his face is concealed by a mask. He said of this: "The idea is, he's relatable. We're all kind of covered in our own armor and terrified of taking that armor off, and that's the thing that crosses him over into a character that we're really going to want to follow." *The Atlantic* writer Spencer Kornhaber said the Mandalorian is one of many characters in the *Star Wars* franchise who wear masks because masks are "the means by which people try to attain the perfection, and indifference, of machines". Kornhaber said when the Mandalorian's helmet is finally removed for the first time, it is not presented as a major epiphany or the reveal of a secret identity, but rather "a reminder that this laconic space cowboy/knight is just some guy".

The character takes Mandalorian traditions very seriously, and has tremendous respect and gratitude for the Mandalorian culture due to his upbringing, which he reflects by providing money from his bounties to support other foundlings. His parents' deaths at the hands of battle droids also left him with a strong hatred of droids in general.

Pascal believes the Mandalorian is more morally ambiguous than other *Star Wars* protagonists, describing him as a "dark hero". He said: "I think the moral universe of *Star Wars* can be very specific and kind of black and white, there's good and there's evil, and in this one we start to play with the boundaries of that more, and that is dealt with very interestingly with this character. He's not your typical hero." Ultimately, Pascal believes the Mandalorian wants to do the right thing, but that his duties as a bounty hunter and warrior often conflict with that. Carl Weathers said of the character: "The Mandalorian is, I think, in some ways like every other character in *The Mandalorian*. There is something about him that's very selfish and self-centered but there's also something about him that's very altruistic and human. There's a humanity to him." At the beginning of the series in particular, the Mandalorian has a cold personality, ignoring the pleas of the people he hunted and captured. The fact that the Mandalorian used to work with Ran Malk's crew of mercenaries before the events of *The Mandalorian* shows he had even fewer morals before the series began. This is further illustrated in "Chapter 6: The Prisoner", when one of those mercenaries, Xi'an, alludes to violent acts the Mandalorian committed on the planet Alzoc III, something the Mandalorian is reluctant to discuss. However, the introduction of the Child in "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian" serves to humanize and moralize the Mandalorian. *The Mandalorian* creator Jon Favreau and Deborah Chow, one of the directors on *The Mandalorian*, felt the scene in "Chapter 3: The Sin" when the Mandalorian decided to go back to the Child was a pivotal moment for the character. Chow said: "That's the point of no return, once he makes that decision. Right there, he's changing his entire life." The Mandalorian's growth in morality is demonstrated in "Chapter 6" when he attempts to intervene to save the life of New Republic soldier Davan (Matt Lanter) during a prison break, even though it would be more convenient to kill him. Also in that episode, the Mandalorian imprisons rather than kills his fellow mercenaries after they betray him, which further demonstrates his moral conscience.