The Book of Boba Fett “Chapter 5” was basically just an episode of The Mandalorian, and we certainly won’t complain. But aside from all the action and intrigue you might expect from Din Djarin’s adventures, this week’s episode also brought in plenty of lore about Mandalorians and their planet, which had previously only been hinted at or brought up in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series.
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett episode 5 as well as The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Rebels.]
The Mandalorian lore in this episode starts subtly early in the episode, when we see Din Djarin, who stars in the episode instead of Boba Fett himself, wielding the Darksaber. While Din wins his fight handily, he comes away badly injured and wields the blade with great difficulty. Eventually, he finds The Armorer and Paz Vizla, the two surviving members of his covert, who explain to him the history of the Darksaber and train him in using it.
The Armorer explains that the Darksaber is the sacred blade of the Mandalorian people and that whoever is its owner through combat is the rightful ruler of their home planet, Mandalore. The Armorer also lets Din know that it was first forged by Tarre Vizsla a member of one of Mandalore’s most powerful families and the first Mandalorian Jedi — the ancestor that Paz mentions later in the episode. Meanwhile, we also learn that the saber itself is temperamental and difficult, in a way that most lightsabers are not. If its user isn’t able to find harmony with the blade, it becomes heavy and unusable.
Most of this information is rehashed from Star Wars: Rebels, but it’s still very nice to hear in the context of Star Wars’ live-action series. In fact, it might also provide a very important preview of what’s to come in The Mandalorian season 3
“Chapter 5” also sheds some new light on what exactly happened on Mandalore and why the race of warriors is scattered to the wind. We already knew about The Great Purge and The Night of a Thousand Tears, but this is episode is the first time we get a full picture of either event.
The Armorer blames the fall of Mandalore specifically on Bo-Katan Kryze, who says she lost The Way in part because she was given the Darksaber by Sabine Wren and didn’t win it by force. Of course, an important wrinkle to remember in all of this is that The Armorer is part of the Children of the Watch, a cult-like group of Mandalorians (and quasi-Mandalorians) who are ardent in their adherence to The Way, unlike most Mandalorians past and present. This likely means that The Armorer’s blaming of Bo-Katan is more than a little biased and unfair.
