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mandalorianchronicles · 1 year

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Mandalorian History 101

The following is a simplified timeline of all the major events in Mandalorian history leading up to The Clone Wars. This is compiled from the section of The Bounty Hunter Code dealing with Death Watch and Mandalorian history. It is copywrite 2014, the first year of the new canon. Though the book is not included in Disney canon, it was published after TCW episodes dealing Death Watch and not been refuted by anything in current canon, so there is no reason to believe it is not accurate.

approx. 7000 BBY - The Taung race (Progenitors of present day Mandalorians) cleanse Mandalorian space of its inhabitants and lay down roots

approx. 4000 BBY - Mandalorians fight alongside the Sith in the Great Sith War, but are betrayed - Mand’alor the Ultimate opens up the creed to their slaves and conquered people because their race is dying out - They begin a campaign for galactic conquest called The Onlaught, but it was more to fill out their ranks with new recruits - They are defeated by the Republic and the Mandalorians lay low for a time

approx. 1100 BBY - Mand’alor the Uniter brought the best and brightest Mandalorians from the throughout the galaxy home - Warriors ruled, protecting the artisans, manufacturers, and laborers who supported them, and the vassals and servants who supported them in turn - The Darksaber is forged by Tarre Vizsla (the only Mandalorian to become a Jedi)

approx. 700 BBY - Mandalorians begin to stir again and the Jedi take up arms, nearly wiped them out in the “Annihilation” - The New Mandalorians who rejected the warrior ways gain power when the Republic installed them in the government - The Aka’liit (The Mandalorian Faithful to the warrior way) lived in the shadows, giving the allegiance to the True Mandalores they appointed

approx. 200 BBY - There is a split among the Faithful – some wanted to conquer any potential threats while others argued against starting wars and living by more peaceful means

approx. 60 BBY - The Faithful chose Jaster Mereel as the True Mandalore, who wanted to implement honorable rules of conduct for all Mandalorians on how they earn wealth by bounty hunting or the red trade - Tor Vizsla, who dreamed of Mandalorians returning to their roots as conquerors, split away and formed the Death Watch, becoming the Secret Mandalore. The Death Watch used the Darksaber (an heirloom of House Vizsla) as a symbol of their authority and made a decree than anyone could challenge the Secret Mandalore for leadership and “win” the Darksaber*

52 BBY - Tor Vizsla killed the True Mandalore, Jaster Mereel - Jango Fett’s adopted father

44 BBY - The Death Watch tricked the Jedi into eliminating the True Mandalorians for them

approx. 44-39 BBY - The Great Clan Wars take place within the ranks of the The Faithful - Adonai Kryze is killed in battle - Duchess Satine Kryze of the New Mandalorians assumes the throne of Mandalore - Tor Vizsla is killed by Jango Fett in 42 BBY - The Darksaber is entrusted to Pre Vizsla, governor of Concordia and the new Secret Mandalore of Death Watch, who takes in Bo-Katan Kryze as his protege

Since the Great Clan Wars take place after the True Mandalorians are wiped out, we know that Adonai Kryze was not part of their ranks. The following quote from Tor Vizsla concerning the Kryze family suggests that Adonai was one of his men, or was at least revered by him. Considering that Tor dies shortly after this is written, it’s not a big leap to see how Bo-Katan came to be on Concordia with Pre Vizsla, his successor.

“Meanwhile, centuries of New Mandalorian lies had left the Mando’ade weak and soft. One of my kinswomen, the Duchess Satine Kryze, had been sent offworld as a child by her father, a mighy clan warlord, and she fell prey to the lies of the Jedi. After father perished in the Great Clan Wars, she betrayed his memory by becoming the leader of the New Mandalorians. Aided by Jedi tricks, she became the newest Anti-Mandalore, whereupon the exhausted Mando’ade flocked to her banner. Some of our warriors were exiled to the moon Concordia. Others – myself included – slipped away to resume the ba’slan shev’la.” - Tor Vizsla

* The decree that one could become Mand’alor by winning the Darksaber in combat from the current Mand’alor was an invention of Death Watch (in canon and legends), so it suggests a strong tie between Death Watch and the Children of the Watch that the latter is so hung up on this “tradition” when it’s only been a thing for about 70-75 years.

#the mandalorian #mandalorian history #death watch #tor vizsla #the darksaber #house vizsla #clan vizsla #the children of the watch #true mandalorians #jaster mereel #mand'alor #duchess satine kryze #adonai kryze #bo-katan kryze #pre vizsla #paz vizlsa #din djarin

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mearchy · 27 days

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HCs about Tarre Vizsla are cool because we know virtually nothing about him except that he was taken from Mandalorian culture as a child, raised and trained as a Jedi (the people Mandalorians are convinced are their existential enemies) and then after being a fully-fledged, blooded and painted adult Jedi Knight, he showed up and became the Mand'alor. The leader of the entire Mandalorian people. Like, what??? the fuck ?? happened??? I know Mandalorian history is notoriously unstable (understatement of the century, moving on) but what kind of position do you have to be in to take a beloathed arch nemesis who nominally claims Mandalorian heritage as planetary leader? On the other hand, he could've just been so Fucking Chill that the Mandos were willing to overlook the glowing blade and the Temple affiliation and the force powers. Anyway I'm so intensely curious about him I love Tarre fics and hcs give me more, please,

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constantlymisspelled · 8 months

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Tarre Vizsla - Fan Canon

It’s of no coincidence to me that the Modern Star Wars lore would have us believe that Manda’lor Vizsla’s time occurs 1051 BBY as it simply proves that they haven’t even bothered to open a wiki article on Mandalorians to fact-check themselves.

At the time of 1051 BBY, old Star Wars lore had claimed that as the era of Manda’lor the Uniter, who had saved their home from being completely destroyed by the suspected biological weapon, the water based Blue Shadow Virus. Considering how much of Mandalore was destroyed at that time, and that in the era of Manda’lor the Uniter, the Republic had recovered from the virus and had begun to heal, the fact Mandalore was so targeted creates the notion that the virus was some kind of ill-fated bio weapon. The truth of that is unknown, but what is known is that the time of 1051 BBY was a bad time to be a Mandalorian. Only a tenth of the population survived, and that is the conservative estimate. Even if one removes Manda’lor the Uniter, the existence of the Blue Shadow Virus at this time (which is a canon occurrence in the Clone Wars as well) weakens the idea of Manda’lor Vizsla occurring so late in history, so they must be from an earlier time.

Skip back to the era of the Sacking of the Jedi Temple, and you have a whole new problem. Tarre Vizsla can’t have existed before this time, simply because the wars leading up to the Sacking were between the Republic, and both Mandalore, and the Sith (with Mandalore being the focus of the Republic, and the Sith the focus of the Jedi - roughly speaking, although conflict was had between all factions during this tremulous period) and that creates issues, with Manda’lor Vizsla being both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. Considering that is literally what they are best known for being.

That puts them occurring at a time before 1051 BBY, but after 3760 BBY, and that is a great deal of time to cover.

But why must Tarre Vizsla have existed before 1051, you ask? Well… you see, the Republic and the Jedi committed this terrible war crime called ‘orbitally bombarding a currently peaceful populace that you had a standing truce with out of fear that they might, perhaps, maybe, feel like attacking you first.’ Great job, guys, now the Mandalorians can never forgive, and never forget. If they weren’t going to attack you before, well they sure are now!

Mind you, the Mandalorians of the Crusades and Neo Crusades and perhaps even earlier, had been pretty fucked up, but the point of Manda’lor the Uniter was that they fixed a great deal of that. As should have Tarre Vizsla, if they were born before this event - which, they had to have been, to even exist wearing armour. That means the Republic and the Jedi annihalated a currently unarmed, peaceable culture out of their own fear for actions that the living, at that time (1000 years difference between the events of Knights of the Old Republic games and the destruction of Mandalore - that is a long ass time, even for generational memory) hadn’t even witnessed.

So, between 3000-1000 BBY… that’s well over 2000 years that Tarre Vizsla could have existed in. Hell, there were multiple orders of Mandalorian Jedi in that time, surely they were a part of at least one of them. Additionally, the darksabre was donated, by old Clan Vizsla, to the Temple, after Tarre died.

That means, considering that no other mention of the darksabre in Mandalorian history exists outside of Tarre Vizsla, with the next wielder literally being Tor Vizsla, the creator of modern Death Watch himself, that means that the Jedi Temple was broken into after the Dral Haran (the burning of Mandalore and its once arable worlds) and frankly, as much as I find considering someone leader by right of fancy sword, I can not blame the Vizslas for stealing it back.

Not after such a betrayal. I’m sure Tarre Vizsla is furious that their weapon is now ‘the sign of Kings,’ but I don’t think they mind that it was robbed from the Temple. Nothing justifies the near eradication of a people out of fear. That’s the point. It is even the point of Jaster Mereel’s break from the ideals of the Mandalorians of old. This concept is what the Clan Wars are about - why should a Jedi relic decide the Mandalorian future.

Now, that doesn’t mean that modern Mandalorians aren’t ill-informed - they probably are. Many Mandalorians have probably been grasping at straws to justify their existence and way of life to each other after the Dral Haran. That doesn’t mean we can ignore that it is a lie. The darksabre isn’t the sign of kings, the leadership is.

[any additional thoughts on this topic? Feel free to spam me down below, or link me to someone who has discussed it before. I think it’s a major hole in much of the writing, but that’s just my nerd ass talking.]

#tarre vizsla #star wars #mandalorian culture #mandalorians #Mandalorian clan wars #Mandalorian civil wars #mando'ade #fandom #fanon #fan canon #headcanon #the darksaber #Manda’lor #manda’lor tarre vizsla #let me know what you think #Mandalorian history #mandalorian clans

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archeo-starwars · 11 months

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Jaster Mereel [The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia]

#star wars #mandalorians #concord dawn #true mandalorians #death watch #boba fett #montross #mandalorian history #mandalorian culture #in universe laws #The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

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ranahan · 2 months

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*ver- (‘earn’)

Not entirely my own analysis, but rather something I’ve picked up from various Fando’a dictionaries and expanded upon.

Let’s look at canon instances of verd and its derivations first, then *ver- without the d, then some non-canon derivations, and lastly a bit of Mandalorian history for those who care to read that far.

Canon: verd & derivations

verd (n): soldier

I think this is a contracted form of ver-ad, ‘one who earns’ (see this post about agent nouns or this post about ad for more), making this construction equivalent to English soldier. Soldier comes (via French) from Latin soldarius, lit. ‘having pay’, ultimately from solidus, the name of a Roman gold coin. So this word refers to the traditional Mandalorian trade of working as mercenaries, which is probably the original meaning of this word.

And then we have many derivations and compound words with verd:

neverd (n): civilian

“Not a soldier”

verd’yc (adj): aggressive

Not a bad quality in Mandalorian culture! You could also translate this as spirited, decisive, bold, audacious, daring, or go-getter.

al’verde (n): commander

“Leader of soldiers”

ver’verd (n): mercenary

This is etymologically funnily enough “mercenary-mercenary”. Such doublets happen all the time in natural languages though, as the original word changes meaning.

Canon: *ver- in other words

*ver- also occurs in:

ver’alor (n): lieutenant

“Paid leader” or “hired leader”. Comparable to Commissioned Officers, I think, hence the translation as lieutenant (mando ranks probably aren’t exactly the same as ones in any particular country on Earth). Possibly represents e.g. the permanent command staff of a mercenary company, rather than the rank and file who might contract for a season or for a specific campaign. Traviss describes mando military organisation as “a flat pyramid”, e.g. lots of people at the bottom, few on top; so this probably refers to fewer people than English CO does.

veriduur (n): courtesan, sex worker

“Paid spouse”

ver’mircit (n): hostage

“Prisoner for money”

beroya (n): bounty hunter

This could be either be-roya, “of hunt”—or it could be ver-oya, “pay hunter”. The v and b sounds are very close to each other, especially if you pronounce v as a bilabial fricative /β/, and the sound change v > b is very plausible. So it’s possible that *ber- is an alternative form of this root, or that beroya was loaned into “standard Mando’a” (no such thing, I know) from another dialect of Mando’a where that sound change has happened.

Non-canon derivations

vere (n.): wages, payment (from Tuuri)

Lit. “earnings”.

berir (v): to pay, to buy (from Oyu’baat)

By analogy to beroya.

berii (n): buyer

From ber + ii.

verar (v): to earn, deserve

Two verbs from the same root, diverged meanings. Happens all the time in natural languages. Gave it a different vowel so it wouldn’t get mixed up as easily.

verdin (n): merit, reward; share

From ver-din, sort of “earnings given” or “give what’s earned”. From here you also get verdinyc ‘meritorious, rewarding’ and verdinir ‘to reward, merit’.

verdir (v): to work as a mercenary

Lit. “to soldier”, but keeping the original sense of verd here.

vergam (n): uniform

Whatever monkey suit you’re paid to wear that’s not beskar’gam.

A history lesson

When thinking of these derivations, I went back to the time of the Mandalorian wars. (And my theory of Modern Mando’a being a creole language that developed in their aftermath.)

So consider the Taung: these are the ancient Mandalorians, who have come to worship war in itself (or in other words, have come to see waging war as an expression of the divine). They’ve conquered large swathes of the galaxy and slaughtered entire peoples in this pursuit. But war is a hungry beast that gobbles up both men and machines, so this warfare must have taken a toll on the Taung even if the plunder fills their coffins.

So the revelation that Mandalore the Ultimate receives on planet Shogun is probably honestly less about other races being worthy of being Mandalorians*, and more about the strategic insight that if instead of total slaughter they assimilate the conquered peoples and draw from them to fill up their ranks, they can go on to conquer indefinitely.

*At this point there’s already a precedent for adopting other races as Mandalorians (e.g. the Mandallian giants), but I think that before the Neo-Crusaders, it was probably rather marginal. It didn’t cause significant changes in the culture, and they were probably assimilated slowly and in small numbers, and so learned the language more or less perfectly. It isn’t until the Neo-Crusaders that assimilating other races becomes widespread (otherwise it wouldn’t be a revelation). And the more the Taung conquer, the more peoples they assimilate and the less they have the time and resources to teach them the language and their ways as they themselves become diluted among the ranks.

Also, let’s be real: while Mandalore the Ultimate is said to have decreed that the recruits be treated equally among the clans, many of those recruits were probably not there voluntarily, but rather given the choice of being conquered/slaughtered or joining up. I’m sure many people saw joining as an opportunity to move up in life (better to be a Mandalorian warrior than a poor Rimmer), but many we’re probably shanghaied into service and some were little better than slaves.

And so the Mandalorian armies swell, and conquer, and conquer, reaching as far as Coruscant itself. They seem unstoppable until the Republic employs the desperate doomsday weapon on Malachor VI, which cripples the Mandalorian army and leadership. In the aftermath, the Mandalorians probably can’t hold on to their entire newly conquered Empire, so many areas are retaken by the Republic or otherwise secede. Without those resources and the continuous conquest they can’t pay their armies, so now there are lots of disaffected and unemployed soldiers, who turn mercenaries.

And these aren’t your honourable mercenaries ala Jaster Mereel yet. Rather, they are displaced and disaffected people who have no other trades or possibilities to ply them in the war-torn galaxy. So they take any jobs and if there are no jobs, do a bit of plundering on the side. This diaspora and disarray lasts for the next 300 years or so. It takes several centuries and galactic wars of cultural change, before Mandalorians have grappled with the after-effects of the Mandalorian wars, turned from worshiping the old gods into believing primarily in the Manda, turned their focus from conquest into thriving in adversity, and developed the philosophical tradition of military ethics that eventually produces Jaster Mereel and his likes.

All of this to say: when we’re thinking about the etymologies of Modern Mando’a words, we should be thinking of these first few generations of non-Taung Mandalorians. But when we’re thinking of the definitions of the words as they’re used today, we should think of the cultural change that came afterwards. So for example: verd was probably originally a mercenary, but over time came to mean a soldier. Verdin was originally “loot, plunder” or one’s share of it that whoever was in charge of the payroll doled out after a campaign (based on one’s role, performance, etc). In time, it became to mean other kinds of rewards and fruits of one’s labour.

#mando’a #mandoa #mando'a #mando’a language #mandalorian culture #meta: mandalorians #mandalorians #star wars #mando’a extended dictionary #mando’a words #ranah talks mando’a #mando’a etymology #mandalorian history

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djarins-cyare · 10 months

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Chapter 32 ‘The Feast’

Every couple eventually talks about their sexual histories, right? Anybody interested in hearing Din’s?

🍒 Din takes a calculated risk…

Wtf, why is it so blurry? 😩 Sorry. Please head over to AO3 where my layout skills are far better, and enjoy the latest chapter there.

A small amount of begging to wrap up…

This blog post won’t reach too many people because my network isn’t big enough, and I’m busy editing and proofing the story itself so don’t have time to do lots of reblogging and posting myself to train the algorithm to prioritise what I put up.

This is really sad for me, not because I’m desperate for likes or kudos, but because I’ve spent more than a year of my life researching/writing/editing/proofing this story, making chapter photos and coming up with (hopefully) interesting stuff to say at the end of chapters, coding all the HTML to make sure it displays perfectly for an easy read, then doing what I can on Twitter and Tumblr to let people know when each chapter goes up.

All I really want for this story is for people to see it and enjoy it… but I get a lot of messages that begin with “I can’t believe I’ve only just found this”. So I know it’s not reaching as many people as I’d like it to.

Whilst I’m supremely grateful for every single like I get, they don’t help make the post more visible to others. Reblogs, however, do. Each reblog boosts a post’s visibility massively, and I can actually see the difference in hits on AO3 whenever someone very kindly reblogs one of these posts.

So, if you’re willing, please consider reblogging this and any other posts for chapters of my story that you particularly enjoyed. And of course, please don’t just do it as a favour - only do it if you think it’s worthy of your recommendation. This little PSA isn’t meant to guilt, it’s meant to inspire.

Thanks for reading (this and my fic), and for all your continued support ❤️❤️❤️

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phoenixyfriend · 2 years

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Popular fanon: Traditional Mandalorians are culturally opposed to slavery

Canon: Mandalorians have enslaved entire species in their history, on many occasions, in one case so harshly as to cause them to devolve somehow. Mandalorians have repeatedly shown that they think "slavery is fine, actually."

Is there any canon that they're anti-slavery in more recent times? I can see why it would make sense as a Jaster headcanon, but is there any actual canon to it being true in the Prequels or the decades leading up to them?

(OT doesn't count, because the entire galaxy changed after the Jedi Purge.)

#Mandalore #Mandalorian history #phoenix talks #star wars #slavery

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legendscon · 7 months

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Panel Announcement: In Conversation with Abel Peña

From the Sith to the Mandalorians, Abel Peña’s extensive publications have covered it all! Join us for a discussion of his works for Star Wars Insider, Hyperspace, RPGs and more!

Full Schedule: https://legends-con.com/guests-programming/

Buy tickets now, and join us for a celebration of all things Expanded Universe in Burbank, CA on September 9th & 10th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/legends-consortium-2023-tickets-541786186067

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cienie-isengardu · 2 years

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Oh no! There’s people debating that s*tine kr*ze isn’t a bad person and what she did isn’t ethn!c cleansing!

https://phoenixyfriend.tumblr.com/post/674496015659859968/okay-gonna-kick-this-off-by-saying-i-wrote-up-an

You’re the resident s*tine k*ryze truther

Not sure why anyone would think I’m the resident truther of Satine Kryze about whom I rarely talk these days, which of course flatters me a lot. But also it slightly worries me as I need to speak first about the Mandalorians and their history and by doing so probably shake hard some widely accepted “knowledge” in the process of answering this ask.

Personally I do not count Satine Kryze as a villain, especially not when compared to the vast range of characters who definitely have earned this label for themselves. However Star Wars, especially in times of Twilight of the Republic and Rise of the Empire, have tons of characters who aren’t fundamentally evil but who made wrong, sometimes outright devastating choices or whose morality was compromised due to various factors. In other words, Star Wars likes deeply flawed characters. Satine is one of them as she had good intentions toward her (pacifist) people but whose serious flaws contributed to what was happening with Mandalorian culture.

If by saying Satine Kryze is responsible for ethnic cleansing people mean that one day the Duchess woke up and decided to kick out of her planet/Mandalore system everyone who doesn’t look like her, then they are wrong, at least in the light of tie-in material.

The change from warriors into New Mandalorians (pacifists) did not happen within days or decades but was happening for seven hundred years, as a result of Mandalorian Excision (738 BBY). Even before this, there were people who wanted the Mandalorian Sector to join the post-Ruusan reformed Republic and actually understood the old warriors' ways weren’t anymore safe for their economy and politics, but their voice was shut down. Republic, concerned about growing again Mandalorian military strength decided to solve the problem with devastating bombardment of the Mandalorian key worlds that turned them into wasteland.

The Republic attack was mentioned in The Essential Atlas (2008, published just before “The Mandalorian Plot”)

“After Ruusan, the Mandalorians remade themselves as a technologically adept, rigidly disciplined society. Mandalore’s growing militancy alarmed the Republic and Jedi, leading to a short, sharp war in the 730s that devastated the planet and forced another social transformation. The so-called New Mandalorians renounced the old warrior code, espousing peace, neutrality and tolerance as the only way to survive in a hostile galaxy. Mandalorian armor became a rare sight, with only a few bands of unrepentant mercs clinging to discredited clan traditions”

Then repeated in The Essential Guide to Warfare (2012), as data excerpted from [in-universe] “Industry, Honor, Savagery: Shaping the Mandalorian Soul” keynote address by Vilnau Teupt on 412th Proceedings of Galactic Anthropology and History, Brentaal Academy, 24 ABY:

“In 738 BBY the Republic created a task force made up of Judicial Forces and units drawn from Planetary Security Forces in the Expansion Region with the Jedi Order coordinating the war effort. The Mandalorian Excision was brief but overwhelming. Key Mandalorian worlds such as Fenel, Ordo, Concord Dawn and Mandalore itself were subjected to devastating bombardment with swathes of those worlds still desolate in Imperial times. Mandalorian Space was occupied and disarmed with a caretaker government created from elements of the failed peace movement.”

And then repeated again in another in-universe source called Death Watch Manifest, published in Bounty Hunter Code (2013)

“This perfect society threatened the Republic. Seven centuries ago, their craven, hut’uune warships and Jedi bombarded our worlds. They incinerated Mandalore’s farmland and forests, leaving much of our homeworld a forsaken desert of fine white sand, and then occupied our worlds. They killed, exiled, or disarmed our warriors and suppressed out ancient codes. The Republic called this dishonorable assault the Mandalorian Excision, as if we were cancerous tissue to be cut out of the galaxy. We call it the Dral’Han - the Annihilation.”

The first source didn’t dwell much into details, as it was published before the actual Mandalorian episodes of TCW were even aired (and so most likely authors didn’t have a proper data and/or did not want to contradict whatever the creative team of animated series have planned for future episodes). The keynote of the last two however is not only the fact that Jedi-led republic troopers invaded Mandalore Space and turned the planets into a wasteland but also that Republic occupation lasted for decades. And with that comes the changes forced - and logically thinking, controlled by the Republic - on Mandalorian society.

And so we have informations like that Republic either personally or through their “puppets” in the form of New Mandlorian’s government “killed, exiled, or disarmed our warriors and suppressed out ancient codes” [BHC]

and:

“The occupation would last for decades, and create a new schism in Mandalorian society. From the caretaker government emerged the so-called New Mandalorians, who bitterly resented the Republic but saw no hope in fighting it, and so renounced the warrior codes in favor of peace and neutrality. The New Mandalorians held most of power, and rebuilt Mandalore’s industrial base over the next few centuries. Some unrepentant mercenaries and warriors were exiled to the moon Concordia, while others dispersed throughout the galaxy, resuming the Mandalorians’ ancient trade as blasters-for-hire. The Mandalores of the post-Excision era were drawn from their ranks, though their authority was recognized by neither the New Mandalorians nor the sector government. [Warfare]

In conclusion, those who did not give up after losing the war and in result, refused to accept Republic occupation, were either killed or exiled to ecologically devastated Concordia (possible into other places), while those who managed to escape from the manhunt, haven’t been apparently acknowledged as political and/or ethic (religious?) group forcibly removed from their own land. Even though we know or at least can assume said warriors on the run managed to rebuild their society outside Mandalore Space, apparently in the light of New Mandalorians and Republic laws, they did not have any rights to what was taken from them by force nor to come back to the Mandalore or to have a voice in the government dominated by pacifists.

The Rebels animated show clearly bet on ethical diversity when it comes to Mandalorians yet by presenting the unmasked members of (warrior) clans who accepted and supported Bo-Katan as new Mandalore as so different from the TCW!New Pacifist (and Death Watch), this source adds uncomfortable implication that the “good” non-violent Mandalorians are predominantly white people while the “bad” who did not give up their violent ways included a great if not all presented then non-white characters (Sabine and her family, leaders of Rook and Eldar clans and presumbly their blood-related part of family).

In contrast, those who accepted and worked with the Republic, apparently gained aristocratic titles like Prince or Duchess (something unheard up to this point between Mandalorians but sadly this became the norm in Disney’s canon) and were at some point left to govern the rest of the nation.

The Clone Wars did not dwell much on that aspect, keeping all information vague as possible, which I suspect may be partially done to not drag the sins of the Republic, The Champion of the Democracy people should cheer up for, into the light too much. But even then we are told that “Mandalore's violent past is behind us. All of our warriors were exiled to our moon, Concordia. They died out years ago.” (though it is hard to tell if Almac talked about warriors in general or those from the last Civil War).

I do not have an idea why the persecution, as it is implied by visual look of characters, would be aimed mainly at non-white people to be removed from TCW!New Mandalorian society, beside the blatant racism of course. But to be honest, this problem is not only about lack of ethnic diversity between humans but the lack of Aliens too. Because ancient Mandalorians were members of an alien species known as Taungs and during the Mandalorian Wars plenty of other Aliens joined their ranks. Yet neither TCW nor Rebels, not even The Mandalorians or the Legends comics about modern times gave us definitely and without doubt recognized Mandalorians of alien origin. Some source here and there will mention them, but we do not see Aliens clad in beskar’gam in the most mainstream now star wars media. What really implies a lot negative things about decades long Republic occupation and New Mandalorians’s part in erasing unwanted “units” from the supposedly peaceful society.

And this was not just about killing or kicking out those not fitting the new ideal structures. It was about erasing the warrior traditions that the Republic did not like and has no use of it. This is why Mandalorian armors were destroyed throughout the centuries, while laws were forcibly changed and those opposing, persecuted by the government.

On the basis of the above tie-in materials, I find it unfair and even cruel to blame Satine, born seven centuries after Republic Invasion and occupation(★) for ethic purge that happened - was done - to Mandalorian society. For all we know, Satine was born into the already homogeneous, light skinned, blond-haired group presented in TCW. So in my opinion, the truly responsible for this ethic cleansing was the Republic and the earliest “collaborators” (★★) first and foremost, not the duchess herself.

However!

As much as I don’t think Satine bore responsibility for the social segregation / ethnic cleansing that happened in the past, the problem lies in the fact that her regime benefits the most from it and as far as sources go, she did nothing to unite the shattered society or to change existing laws. In other words, she was not the originator of this problem but she upholds it. And here duchess’ flaws come into picture.

One of Satine’s major flaws is the belief that her principles are the only correct one and thus the conviction that she knows best what is good for her nation. To be fair, Padme had the same flaw, but in contrast to the duchess, sources presented her as a person willing to actually listen to others and act on it. This is how she merged the drift between human and Gungan societies on Naboo during Invasion and how inspired by Teckla’s story, managed to win debate in the Senate. Satine, as much as her intentions in theory are good, doesn’t really accept a different point of view than her, and it is not just about Mandalorian warriors but Jedi as well, as she accused Obi-Wan that by doing his duty to Republic (leading troops), he forsaken his peacemaker principles.

She claims to be pacifist and seek peaceful solutions (as was seen with providing neutral ground for Republic and CIS negotations) yet the first things she told us about Death Watch and Pre Vizsla, the Governor of Concordia goes in different direction.

Satine: There is a group that calls itself Death Watch. I imagine these are the renegades you're looking for. They idolize violence and the warrior ways of the past. There are those among us, certain officials, who are working to root out these criminals. It has been an ongoing investigation.

Obi-Wan: How widespread is this Death Watch movement?

Satine: It's hardly a movement. It's a small group of hooligans who choose to vandalize public places, nothing more. We shall soon have them in custody. We have tracked them down to our moon, Concordia.

Idolizing violence or warrior ways of the past is not itself a crime. I mean, in our world there is plenty people fascinated by warriors of “barbarian” societies, like Vikings or Scyths (nomads) or who in general wish to come back to pagan faiths yet they aren’t going on murdering their kinsmen nor destroying anyone property. I’m pretty sure Satine is downplaying Death Watch’s offenses here so Kenobi (a Jedi investigator) won’t get interested too much but by not acknowledging its members as political movement and calling them just hooligans with pretty minor crimes in the scale of danger to public order but then going on how “those among us, certain officials, who are working to root out these criminals” gives quite questionable picture. Even more so, when Satine introduced Pre Vizsla, her supposedly close ally:

“Governor Vizsla is one of the officials I spoke of. He has been working to find the members of the Death Watch”

Death Watch was an organization made up of warriors who did not acknowledge Kryze’s power. But between the last Civil War that happened something along two decades ago and now, just before the actual terrorist attack, the source did not provide any data about major attack of said group (and yes, Tor Vizsla’s Death Watch had is own list of crimes, but with one sole incident on Concord Dawn [killing Jango’s family and the battle between DW and True Mandalorians that followed], he did not operate in Mandalorian Space as far as we known). Satine wants Kenobi to see them as simple hooligans that devastated public space yet has allies in high political spheres hunting down those “hooligans” known mainly for opposing her rule?

And you see, we could argue the Death Watch was a dangerous organization that needed to be stopped - but again, Tor’s DW operated far away from Mandalorian Space and were not recognized as part of New Mandalorian society (and who knows, maybe Jedi did try to track them?). Those who operated on Mandalore and Concordia Satine claimed to be just “criminals” but the first terrorist attack acknowledged by source happened in The Mandalore Plot yet the investigation was already ongoing matter. If members of the TCW!Death Watch were solely seen as criminals, then Pre Vizsla, a governor of Concordia did not need to be so personally involved for this was a case strictly for police or whatever inner security office operated on Mandalore and Concordia. This discrepancy between Satine’s story for the Jedi and what actually was happening in the secret - the ongoing investigation controlled by the highest political officials officially supporting Kryze’s government - suggests those warriors weren’t hunted down solely by their criminal/vandalistic activity. They were targeted because Death Watch opposed Satine’s pacifism and did not accept the Republic's influences / occupation and the result of it.

I understand why Satine choose pacifism over Mandalorian brutal, war-focused traditions as Mandalorian warriors, with some exception here and there, have never been the noble, shiny knights on white horses that went out of their way to save the poor, enslaved or weak around them. But the problem is that she did not allow other people to make the same decision freely. Like yes, probably a large part of society, at this point, would still put neutrality and peace over the past traditions but those who did not agree with Satine’s political and moral statement could be hunted down like members of Death Watch. This leads to another issue - Satine’s government did not try to reconcile with the exiled, shunned part of their society. Not going on to seek peace with Jaster Mereel’s True Mandalorians or Tor Vizsla’s Death Watch? Understable to some degree. Officially not acknowledging Jango Fett, a bounty hunter involved with attempts on Padme Amidala’s life? Makes absolute sense. But those who were exiled to ecologically devastated Concordia to die out and either survived the harsh years or were descendants of said warriors? A bit worrisome as those people were the closest living warriors to Mandalore (and her people’s safety).

Sure, it is hard to open a dialogue with someone who hates your guts and wants totally different things and even took part in a civil war to get the lost culture back but… remember how Satine argued with Obi-Wan what was the true role of peacekeeper?

Obi-Wan: A peacekeeper belongs on the front lines of conflict. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to do his job.

Satine: The work of a peacekeeper is to make sure that conflict does not arise.

Obi-Wan: Yes, a noble description, but not a realistic one.

And yes, Kryze’s idea of peacekeeping is noble but we don’t exactly see her doing anything in that direction when it comes to exiled warriors and supporters of old traditions, beside hunting them down with political power she, Pre Vizsla and their allies have over the rest of society. Of course, we could argue that Pre Vizsla was her ally and it's not that any big secret that members of his clan (like Tor) were still operating as Mandalorian mercenaries somewhere out in the galaxy. But Pre pretended to be an ally, a supporter of Satine’s regime. He wasn’t a warrior whom Kryze openly negotiated or communicated how to repair the broken bond between their two factions to make sure a new conlift won’t arise in the future. Instead she trusted a man who either proved somehow to be reformed/converted to pacifism (her way) or was seen as a “good” New Mandalorian from the start and whom she somehow talked into “hunting down” warriors who could be his own family / clan members.

See, Satine and Pre Vizsla could find a solution - not an easy one for sure but a first step to repair the damage - if they were willing to compromise. Sadly, Mandalorians are terribly bad at compromises, but that does not excuse the fact we have never heard or seen Satine trying in that regard. Like, if Mandalorians still wanted to take a part in jobs requiring fighting skills, they could join or start their own Bounty Hunter Guild because this profession is legimitalized by Republic laws. Not talking here about the type of jobs Jango (and True Mandalorians) took, that was mercenary work. But about hunting down the hardest, worst criminals across the galaxy [BHC]:

Or join Mandalorian Protectors who are the first line of protection for people living in Mandalorian Space. Something that warriors with the status of “criminal” most likely couldn’t even if they wished to work for society’s benefit. I may be wrong, but it seems to me a Mandalorian can’t be a gun-for-hire and lives on Mandalore, because Satine’s is against all violence, whatever who and why is using it - except those who work for her, like her own personal guards or police upholding her regime. We don’t hear Satine offering the exiled people amnesty if they agree to proposed compromise. We don’t hear her asking for negotiations, or at least a talk on neutral ground to see what could be changed and improved. We don’t see her offering access to education or medical help to warriors’ children who may never be capable of following in their parents footsteps or their eldery or injured, as a good will. We don’t see her acknowledging the Republic and her predecessors' role in destruction and erasing ethnic diversity that apparently forced many (including non-white) people to live far way from their original home.

I’m pretty sure some people will think she should not negotiate with terrorists! but… not all the faithful ones to old ways were terrorists or part of Death Watch. Not all wished for her death but many could want to come back to the family they were separated from. Some may even change their mind about New Mandalorians, adapt to their laws while keeping their old faith and in result, becoming an ambassador of duchess’ goodwill to other, less radicalized warriors.

Hell, Satine does not even need to succeed on that front. She could be rejected, but her claim to be peacekeeper actually had some solid ground. It would be different to hear “Death Watch (warriors) rejected my peaceful efforts and we are trying to deal with their criminal activity” than “oh no, they are not any movement, just hooligans who accidentally also happen to be my political enemy we, the alliance of highest political leaders, hunt down to root out the problem”.

In the really short summary:

I do not think Satine was the villain of the story who came up with the idea of exiling people and Aliens of different look than hers. I would not put that responsibility on her as it seems TCW!New Mandalorians are the final product of what happened from 738 BBY to Satine’s times. But I do think the problem lies in fact her regime:

- upholds this situation by not seeking a peaceful solution (compromise) with warriors and their descendents living shattered across the galaxy,

- does not change a harmful laws to faithful to old faith even if not all warriors wished to harm duchess or Mandalore’s best interest (including those non-white ones who weren’t seen at all in The Clone Wars but who apparently exist in Rebels as united to fight against Empire)

- generally puts her idealism (pacifism) over people’s best interest and

- does not let others choose freely.

Sorry for the wall of text but if we are gonna blame Satine for something, then let’s blame her for things she did or was implied by sources to do, not for being a most recognizable face of changes that fans passionately hate and whose were done by the creative team’s whim because Filoni wanted add to Mandalorians some “nordic flavor” and/or being inspired by German society just before WWII.

(★)An occupation that may officially end at some point but the Republic influences for sure did not, as during the last Civil War, Jedi were sent to save young Satine, the [potentially] future pro-Republic leader but we don’t hear anything about Republic troops or Jedi helping stop the war and save common citizens? Also, even Satine’s accusations “Clearly, your investigation was ordered because the Senate is eager to intervene in our affairs” seems more closer to this issue than just a cynical remark) (★★) I am simplifying a bit the situation here as from the perspective of Mandalorian warriors - and in general, those loyal to old faith and traditions, New Mandalorians are traitors; it is their acceptance that allowed the systematic erasing of their culture and coming with it ethic diversity. However, from the perspective of New Mandalorians, especially those left in wasteland and ruins of their cities, to let their warrior roots be torn out was the means of survival. I suppose, as the more years passed, the survivors’ descendants were more and more steeped in the rhetoric of the Republic (the “correct” education) that it was the fault of barbarian warriors and the Republic came to save the situation.

#friendship #star wars #satine kryze #mandalorians #mandalorian history #my reply #sorry it took me so long to answer #and i hope the wall of text wasn't the problem #i really wanted to explain the ground my opinion is based on #i don't think satine deserves to be called racist as we don't see her interact with people of different color skin much #which is not her character flaw but creative team's problem #whose choice makes bad impression like she accepted pre's because he looks like her despite the connection to clan #tied to death watch for decades #i don't think she kicked non-white people from TCW!New Mandalorian society #but we also don't have any hints she tried made a peace with exiled mandalorians (whose in rebels are more ethnically diverse #so i don't think she is villain but she is not without a fault in regard to social segregation #i hope it does answer anon's curiousity

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