DIN DJARIN

In the first season of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin (aka Mando) meets Grogu and gets attached to him. His parental love for Grogue is built along the journey until the end of the second season. In the Season 2 finale, Mando removes his helmet and reveals his face to Grogu in a touching goodbye before trusting the Child to master Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s, custody. However, he’d broken the vows to the Mandalorian Creed, and it will have consequences.

In Chapter 5 of The Book of Boba Fett entitled “Return of the Mandalorian,” The Armorer explains how Djarin could be redeemed. According to the creed, one can only be redeemed in the living waters under the mines of Mandalore. Djarin pointed out that during the Empire’s subsequent Purge of Mandalore a massive fleet of TIE bombers absolutely wrecked the planet’s surface and blew up its domed capital, Sundari.

The Armorer replies, “This is the way.” Flashbacks of TIE bombers ravaging Mandalore are shown in the episode. It’s remarkable.

An apostate is a religious term, referring to someone who has abandoned all his faith and is now considered outside the bounds of the faith community. Djarin is considered an apostate for wilfully breaking the creed’s rule removing his helmet.

In Season 3 of The Mandalorian, the premiere episode opens on Concordia with a young member of the Mandalorians taking his vows. This was cleverly set up at the start of the season when a foundling is swearing the creed only for the clan to be saved by Din Djarin, the apostate who violated it.

The core of the episode shows the antagonism between the behavior of transgressive Mandalorian while pointing out the contradictions that the fundamentalists place under the yoke of its adherents. Seeking redemption, Djarin takes Grogu to Kalevala, another planet within the Mandalorian system, to ask Bo-Katan Kryze for guidance.

Djarin tells Kryze that he intends to return to Mandalore in order to bathe in the Living Waters and be forgiven for his transgressions. Which he does, taking a sample of the Living Waters as a proof to gain forgiveness from The Armorer and fellow Mandalorians later in the season.

The series drives in a fascinating direction in which Djarin is sure to learn much more about his people. During his journey of redemption, he reopened many past wounds and showed whether an apostate can become the leader the Mandalorians need.

In Season 1, Chapter

8: “Redemption,” Mando had another moment of redemption when he led his fellows to a hidden covert. Under Moff Gideon’s ambush of troops, Djarin was willing to sacrifice his own life for the safety of the Child and his friends.

We see a change in the character, and he shows himself emotionally and physically. For the first time, we see him without his helmet in need of survival after being injured.

As Din desperately tries to return to his status quo, the episode focuses on how others have changed. Nevarro is almost unrecognizable as a thriving commercial center.

It’s a place as prosperous as it is peaceful, with Greef Karga as its High Magistrate. Greef briefly tries to recruit Din for Cara Dune’s old job as a marshal since she’s gained other assignments in the New Republic, offering him a big piece of land to establish himself.

Well-suited, Greef’s cloak, so bulky it’s carried by two tiny droids, hides his blaster, and he’s still a quick and accurate marksman. For a former bounty hunter who tried to kill Mando and take Grogu, Greef is nowadays a quite respectful man.

While Greef prospered, the world of Bo-Katan fell apart. Her speech to Din about the Darksaber’s power as a symbol, and how her movement fell apart without it, underscores the burden of the artifact Din now carries. Bo-Katan won’t challenge him for this, but it seems clear that in order to gain his redemption, Din will likely have to finish his quest to restore Mandalore.

In contrast to Mando, many modern-day Mandalorians such as Bo-Katan Kryze have no problem removing their helmets. It’s interesting to see Bo-Katan return in the first episode of Season 3 titled “The Apostate,” as the Armorer would likely consider Kryze one as well. This makes the episode title clever, giving it a double understanding.

After saving Mando in the Mines of Mandalore and putting her helmet back on, she is forgiven by The Armorer and the Mandalorians. She is also assigned by The Armorer as the one who can unite all the groups of Mandalorian parted in diaspora after the destruction of their homeland.

The actor Ahmed Best returns to the franchise to be redeemed after he played Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels. Fans didn’t love it. He revealed to Wired in 2017 that he faced death threats in 1999 as part of the backlash to The Phantom Menace. The actor posted a heartfelt message on Twitter in 2018 (and then deleted it), revealing he struggled with suicidal thoughts during that dark period.

The Mandalorian offers Best a second chance as he plays Jedi Master, Kelleran Beq, a heroic character who survives an attack on the Jedi Temple and helps escort Grogu to escape aboard a Naboo ship.

Grogu’s destiny would have been completely different from what we know without Beq.

It seems that John Favreau really wants redemption for everyone. In Season 3, Chapter 22: “Guns for Hire,” Commissioner Helgait has been unmasked and the Duchess asks her husband, Captain Bombardier, to surrender. She then says, “I know his heart is true.

Sure, he made some mistakes in the past, but who among us has not? Is there no room for a little bit of forgiveness in a galaxy so vast?” Even the commissioner hoped for redemption by saying he’s sorry, and he hopes one day he can deserve Your Grace’s forgiveness.

INTERVIEW

BY GALAXY