Mandalorian Creed And The Darksaber: Explained, Or Rebuffed?

[Warning: Contains minor spoilers for The Mandalorian, Chapter 16. They’re not story-busters, but still…. Read on at your own risk.] Going into the second season finale of The Mandalorian, we all knew that there was going to be a showdown aboard Moff Gideon’s cruiser. What we previously didn’t know for sure, but expected, was that Bo-Katan Kryze would come back into the picture. With Gideon traipsing across the galaxy with the Darksaber, it was only a matter of time before Bo-Katan would inevitably take it back. She had the perfect opportunity, but didn’t. And in that act she shows us what Season 2 has tried to tell us all along – Mandalorian Creed, like the Jedi Code, is neither truly firm, nor infallible.

There are several houses, (or clans, if you will), when it comes to Mandalorian Creed. Din Djarin is a Child of the Watch. He was prohibited from removing his helmet and showing his face to any other living creature. Meeting Bo-Katan Kryze, however, made him realize that perhaps this is not, in fact, the way after all. This season he does what he has to for Grogu, including removing his helmet. But what does all of this have to with the Darksaber? Well, there’s a Mandalorian Creed for that, too.

Mandalorian Creed and the Darksaber in Star Wars

If you’re a fan of The Clone Wars, then you already know that he or she that wields the Darksaber rules Mandalore. To claim that title, and tangentially the weapon, one must typically do so by combat. That’s how Maul acquired the saber and sat on the Mandalorian throne during Seasons 5 and 7 of The Clone Wars. But…. Bo-Katan also once possessed the weapon, before she presumably lost it in combat to Gideon. Mando returns it to her in Chapter 16, but she won’t accept it. It’s a seemingly odd choice, and contrary to the means by which she acquired it in the first place.

It isn’t like Bo-Katan won the Darksaber in combat the first time she had it, after all. In fact, she acquired it in exactly the same way Din Djarin presented it to her this time. In Star Wars Rebels, Sabine Wren, who together with Ezra Bridger had gotten the weapon from Maul’s lair, literally handed it to Bo-Katan. She accepted it with relatively little hesitation, in front of the united clans of Mandalore, no less. So why wouldn’t she accept it now? And if it was against Mandalorian Creed to accept it then, why did she?

A small detail, certainly, but one that raises plenty of questions about what will happen in Season 3 of The Mandalorian. For now we’re left wondering whether Mandalorian Creed will prevail, and who will end up with the Darksaber in the end.