A History Of Sundari City, The Mandalorian Season 3's Destroyed Civilization
This post contains major spoilers for the second episode of "The Mandalorian" season 3.
In the newest episode of "The Mandalorian," Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze descend to the shattered surface of Mandalore to find the waters that run beneath them. In order to get there, they have to travel through the broken ruins of Sundari City, once the great, domed capital of Mandalore. The aftermath of Night of a Thousand Tears — ordered by Moff Gideon — left the city and the planet completely devastated. The surviving Mandalorians fled, thinking the planet was cursed and poisoned.
This included their ruler, Bo-Katan Kryze.
Sundari city wasn't always a husk of its former self. And we're going to take a look at the history of the city as we know it over the years.
The Mandalorian Wars
Sundari City is located in the desert wastes of Mandalore, existing in a giant dome. The planet was ravaged by years and years of wars between the Mandalorians, rendering it barely habitable. The city of Sundari was built atop one of the richest beskar mines on the planet and above the "living waters of Mandalore" which Din Djarin sought with such zeal to atone for taking his helmet off. For the Mandalorians, living in the domed city was the safest way to live on their wasteland of a planet and enabled them to thrive once more.
The Mandalorian Civil War and Death Watch
Another war erupted across Mandalore prior to the events of "The Phantom Menace," pitting the pacifist sect of Mandalorians led by the Duchess Satine Kryze against a violent military sect of Mandalore known as Death Watch. The Jedi interceded in the conflict, with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi whisking the Duchess Satine on the run to protect her. The war eventually ended and Satine was installed as the ruler of Mandalore, with Death Watch heading into hiding.
Unfortunately, extremists in Death Watch, led by Pre Vizsla (voiced by Jon Favreau) who wielded the Darksaber, started launching attacks against Sundari City. The Duchess Satine saw the shadow of Death Watch everywhere. When kids started getting sick from contaminated beverages, Satine was convinced that it was Death Watch, but discovered it was merely corruption from inside her own government.
Death Watch increased the attacks, but with the help of the Jedi were driven away for a time.
But that's when they teamed up with Lord Maul and helped assembled the Shadow Collective. They were successful in taking Mandalore, killing the Duchess, and maintaining control of the planet until the end of the Clone Wars.
The Siege of Mandalore
After Maul took over Death Watch and killed Satine and Pre Vizsla, Bo-Katan turned against Death Watch and fought alongside the Jedi to take back the planet. It took a long time, but with the help of Ahsoka Tano, she assembled a strike team to invade Sundari City to apprehend Maul and free Mandalore for its people.
Bo-Katan worked to secure the upper parts of town that we see ruined in this new episode of "The Mandalorian," while Ahsoka Tano took to the underparts of the city to find Maul. Many of these tubes and sewers that she hunts Maul down in look a lot like the undercity that Din Djarin and Bo-Katan explore in this episode, too.
Eventually, Ahsoka and the Mandalorians are able to capture Maul and all of the forces loyal to him and eject them from Sundari City and all of Mandalore.
Bo-Katan took over as the ruler of Mandalore, but that was short-lived in the reign of the Empire. The Empire quickly replaced her with someone much more friendly to their fascism in the form of the hardliner Gar Saxon.
Bo-Katan's reunification
The Empire had their puppet government, led by Gar Saxon, control Mandalore through most of their reign until Bo-Katan teamed up with Sabine Wren and the other disaffected houses and clans of Mandalore to take their planet back once more. This time, Bo-Katan received the Darksaber from Sabine and used it as a symbol to fight against the Empire and its puppet Mandalorians. She was able to take back Sundari city and rule for a while until Moff Gideon struck back.
The status quo
In this episode of "The Mandalorian" we saw the effects of Moff Gideon's attack and it's devastating. Watching Bo-Katan fly through the ruins of the city she grew up in and led for a time is heartbreaking and hits much harder than watching Din Djarin see the ruins of Mandalore for the first time. Bo-Katan saw it at its height and now sees the aftermath of its lowest low. Can Mandalore ever come back from this?
That feels like a key question from this brand-new episode of "The Mandalorian."
"The Mandalorian" is currently streaming on Disney+. New episodes are released on Wednesdays.