The Fate Of The Darksaber Creates A Brighter Future For Mandalore
This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: The Mandalorian" Chapter 24, "The Return."
The cycle of violent leadership on Mandalore has stretched back for centuries. When Tarre Vizsla created the Darksaber and ruled Mandalore with it, the warrior culture of the planet made it a fabled object. Mandalorians challenged each other for ownership of the blade, and with it the right to rule Mandalore. There was a brief time during the Clone Wars where Mandalore took to a more pacifist system, but those who wielded the Darksaber came right back and returned Mandalore to its warrior past.
When Bo-Katan Kryze took up the Darksaber during the galactic civil war, she led her people to a Pyrrhic victory just before the Empire — and more specifically, Moff Gideon — took it all away from her. Legends said that because she did not win the Darksaber in combat, and was instead given the fabled blade, she cursed Mandalore.
In the season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian," the blade is broken, leaving one to wonder how the future of Mandalore looks now that one of their most storied trinkets has been broken. But while the destruction of the Darksaber might seem like a blow to the Mandalorians, it may actually be a good omen.
The fate of the Darksaber
Bo-Katan's sister, Duchess Satine Kryze, envisioned a future for Mandalore that broke from its warrior past and enable a new era of peace and prosperity for her people. With the tribes of Mandalore scattered and warring, it was a noble goal. Unfortunately, it was also one that ultimately led to her death. The Death Watch, led by Pre Vizsla, wielded the Darksaber to rally Mandalorians to their cause and fell in league with the dark lord Maul to achieve their conquest of the planet. Maul betrayed them and kept the saber for himself, but after that, it once again became a symbol of unity and leadership for the Mandalorian people.
In the lead up to the finale of season 3 of "The Mandalorian," Bo-Katan Kryze is unable to reunite her old comrades with the Children of the Watch without the Darksaber, but after Din Djarin declares that it's rightfully hers, she shows her true spirit of leadership and brings them all back to Mandalore.
There, in his final battle with Bo-Katan, Moff Gideon breaks the Darksaber in her hand and tells her that Mandalorians will always fail without their trinkets. But Bo-Katan reminds him that "Mandalorians are stronger together," and that's when Din Djarin and Grogu arrive to help her defeat their common enemy without the legendary lightsaber of Tarre Vizsla.
A better future for Mandalore
Make no mistake, the destruction of the Darksaber is symbolic. The way it's played on the show, it feels as though Moff Gideon broke it as a way to further dig at Bo-Katan and further destroy everything about the Mandalorians that made them special. But Bo-Katan realizes she doesn't need it, and she's able to vanquish Gideon with the help of her fellow Mandalorians (particularly Axe Woves, who helpfully crashes an Imperial cruiser into the base).
Without the blade there to cause fights, duels, and attempts to assassinate the current wielder, I'd imagine that Moff Gideon actually brightened the future of Mandalore. With no blade to squabble over, and the leadership of Mandalore clearly stable under the watchful eye of Bo-Katan with the backing of the Armorer, the Mandalorian people can only be better served by it.
Sure, the blade could be repaired. Perhaps Grogu, the latest in a line of Mandalorians that walk between the path of the warrior and the Jedi, can repair it when he reaches that stage of his training. Perhaps Ahsoka and Huyang could repair it there.
But I think letting the past die there would be a good thing for the future of Mandalore, and I hope we see more of it.
"The Mandalorian" is streaming only on Disney+.