Mandalorian

The Mandalorians—known in Mando'a as the Mando'ade ("Children of Mandalore")—were a clan-based culture composed of members from multiple species and bound by a common creed, language, and code. Known primarily as highly-effective mercenaries and bounty hunters, Mandalorians as a socio-cultural group have at various points in galactic history played a major role as legendary warriors and conquerors.

Originating around the year 9991 BBY on the planet of Mandalore in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, the Mandalorians' way of life revolved around honor and war, being led by a sole ruler known as the Mand'alor, whose Protectors maintained a relative state of peace and unity between their people's warrior clans. As a result of their warrior culture, the Mandalorians launched several wars of expansion by the time of the Old Republic-era, colonizing nearby worlds such as Krownest, Ordo, and Concord Dawn, leading the sector surrounding their homeworld to be known as Mandalorian Space.

Throughout their history, several prominent groups of Mandalorian warriors came into existence, such as Mandalorian crusaders, rally masters, and Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders, all of whom waged war on the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. According to legends, many of these conflicts involved a Mand'alor who went by the name of Mandalore the Great.

In spite of this, relations between the Mandalorians and the Jedi were not always hostile, as Tarre Vizsla, a human Mandalorian, was inducted into the Jedi Order as a child, creating a lightsaber known as the Darksaber around the year 1050 BBY. Tarre eventually founded House Vizsla, claiming the position of Mand'alor, with the Darksaber becoming a symbol of leadership for both House Vizsla and the Mandalorian people as a whole.

However, after Vizsla's death, members of his house raided the Jedi Temple during the fall of the Old Republic, stealing the Darksaber and using it to reunify the Mandalorian people, waging war once more on the Jedi Order. Unfortunately, the final conflict between the Mandalorian warlords and the Jedi at the planet Mandalore led to a cataclysm that turned much of its surface into a lifeless white desert, rendering it uninhabitable outside of hermetically sealed dome cities. After their defeat, the Mandalorians remained isolated in their sector well into the High Republic Era, not attempting to wage another war on either the Jedi or the Republic, with which they coexisted through treaties. However, the Mandalorians' warrior ways and desire for conquest remained alive, eventually leading to infighting and civil wars.

However, although Mandalore was still under control of traditional Mandalorian warriors, much of the planet's population had become part of a pacifist movement known as the New Mandalorians, led by the young Duchess Satine Kryze of House Kryze, with the traditionalist warriors being forced to use violence to hold on to power. Eventually, around the year 42 BBY, a civil war broke out between the pacifist New Mandalorian movement and the martial traditionalists, who wished to maintain their warrior heritage. Mandalore's capital of Keldabe was destroyed during the Mandalorian Civil War, and many perished during the conflict, including Duke Adonai Kryze, Satine's father. Satine herself had to remain under protection from the Jedi Order, as the traditionalists sent bounty hunters after her. However, Mandalore's traditionalist minority was eventually defeated during the war, being exiled to Mandalore's moon of Concordia. While the Death Watch, a traditionalist group under Mand'alor Pre Vizsla, wished to retake their homeworld, the Old Mandalorians scattered across the galaxy as mercenaries.

During the Clone Wars, members of the warrior culture would align themselves with both sides of the conflict, which was secretly orchestrated by the Sith Order, who hired the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett to become the clone template for the Grand Army of the Republic, with Fett's clones being trained by the Mandalorian Protectors, while the Death Watch briefly joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems, in hopes of reclaiming Mandalore. Under the New Mandalorian government, Mandalore remained neutral and participated in the Council of Neutral Systems as a leading member. However thanks to being backed up by the criminal conglomerate known as the Shadow Collective, Death Watch was able to topple the ruling New Mandalorian regime, but the machinations of Maul, leader of the Collective, led to another civil war among the Death Watch, which split into the Collective-backed Mandalorian super commandos, and the Mandalore resistance, which was supported by the Republic. However, the conflict culminated in the occupation of Mandalore by the Galactic Republic and its subsequent government, the Galactic Empire, while Concord Dawn, the Protectors' headquarters, was transformed into a protectorate.

Following the rise of the Empire, Bo-Katan Kryze was made Regent of Mandalore, but she refused to follow Emperor Sheev Palpatine. As a result, she was replaced with Gar Saxon, a former Mandalorian super commando, who was installed as Viceroy over Mandalore, his rule enforced by the Imperial Super Commandos. As with many worlds in the galaxy, Mandalore was oppressed under Imperial rule, with weapons such as the Arc Pulse Generator being developed to pacify and rein in the war-like civilization, while the Mandalorian Protectors under Fenn Rau were forced to serve the Empire on Concord Dawn. However, during the Galactic Civil War, the Empire's rule on Mandalore was opposed by the Mandalorian resistance, which was supported by the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and was also joined by Fenn Rau after the Protectors' destruction. After the deaths of Gar Saxon and his brother and successor, Governor Tiber Saxon, Bo-Katan Kryze, after receiving the Darksaber from Sabine Wren of Clan Wren, assumed the position of Mand'alor. Kryze united the Mandalorian resistance as another civil war erupted on Mandalore, a part of the galaxy-wide struggle against Imperial rule. Kryze's reign as Mand'alor was short lived, however, and the Empire started the Great Purge of Mandalore, killing millions of Mandalorians during the Night of a Thousand Tears, while Kryze lost the Darksaber to Moff Gideon.

After the fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic, and following the Empire's Great Purge of Mandalore, the surviving Mandalorians went into hiding. One such group, the Tribe, hid in a covert on Nevarro. The Tribe, which was secretly part of the Children of the Watch, followed the Way of the Mandalore, an ancient religion that had fallen out of mainstream Mandalorian society. However, the Tribe was forced to relocate after its members revealed themselves to protect one of their own, the bounty hunter Din Djarin, from an Imperial remnant, which afterwards wiped out most of the Tribe's members. Djarin, who had been tasked with returning the Force-sensitive foundling Grogu to the Jedi Order, was aided in his task by several notable individuals, including Bo-Katan Kryze, Mandalore's former ruler, and Boba Fett, the son of Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett.

After the hunt for Grogu was over, Djarin attempted to return to the Tribe, which had relocated to the Glavis Ringworld, only to be expelled by its members when they discovered that he had removed his helmet, which went against the Way of the Mandalore. Djarin and Fett joined forces once more, leading Fett's gotra in its war against the Pyke Syndicate, during which he was reunited with Grogu, who had decided to rejoin him. Fett and Djarin eventually defeated the Pykes, allowing Fett to establish himself as Tatooine's reigning crime lord, while Djarin and Grogu left the planet. Afterwards, Djarin was again accepted into the Tribe after traveling to Mandalore and bathing in the Living Waters to clear his transgression. In this same adventure, Bo-Katan also bathed and therefore was also unexpectedly welcomed as a member of the Tribe. However, the development allowed Kryze to walk both the path of the Way and unorthodox Mandalorian society, paving the way for her to reclaim the Darksaber and lead a united Mandalorian people in the Liberation of Mandalore.

Text and facts from the “Mandalorian” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.