Season three of The Mandalorian has finally taken us back to the surface of Mandalore. The planet, though featured heavily in the animated Star Wars entries and home to one of the most popular races in the Star Wars galaxy, has only recently made its live-action debut. The now crystallized world was once a verdant paradise, but the Empire’s aggressive destruction during the Great Purge rendered the surface unlivable — or so many Mandalorians assumed.
Mando and Bo-Katan Kryze now have definitive proof that their planet can sustain life, but a breathable atmosphere is only part of the problem. The remains of Mandalore are skeletal and dangerous, crumbling ruins of a once great civilization. Perhaps worse than the empty civic centers and desolate wastelands are the remnants of those who resisted, the empty shells of beskar armor Mando finds in the mines of Mandalore. A ruined helmet is buried under piles of dust — missing its visor, covered in pockmarks, and plagued with corroded edges. The sheer state of the helmet seems as if it’s been there for centuries rather than years — the only trace of what remains of the armor’s former wearer. The missing glass and the absence of bones indicate the re-emergence of a Star Wars Rebels super-weapon, “the Duchess.”
Empire’s takeover of Mandalore
After the Empire assumed control of Mandalore, it began a campaign of fear to control the population. It implemented restrictions to religious practices and education streamlining the warrior race into the perfect attack dogs. The society was stripped of its religious freedoms and was only allowed to practice them in service to the Empire. They were left with little choice but to comply, or else risk losing their culture, homes, and traditions. They sent their children to Imperial academies, took jobs as Imperial dogs, and tried to keep themselves — and their families — off the Empire’s radar.
The Imperial academies focused on honing the Mandalorians’ affinity for warfare into something the Empire could wield against the unruly. They twisted the people into unwittingly creating the tools of their own destruction, and “the Duchess” was the worst of all.
The creation of ‘the Duchess’
Later renamed the Pulse Arc Generator, “The Duchess” was originally developed by Sabine Wren, Imperial cadet and zion of the Wren clan. Never one to shy from a challenge, the young genius accepted the seemingly impossible feat of creating a super-weapon for any occasion. The device was designed to target specific alloys and superheat them, destroying the contents inside. Unbeknownst to Wren, the Empire’s challenge was an attempt to undermine the Mandalorians, and she gave them exactly what they wanted. “The Duchess” was everything the Empire could have asked for; it evaporated the wearer but left the beskar intact.
Horrified by the prospect of her creation, Sabine sabotaged the prototype and fled her home, but the damage was already done. It would take years, but the Empire would successfully replicate the weapon for use during the Mandalorian civil war. During the conflict, the Empire redeployed “the Duchess” — this time as the Pulse Arc Generator. The weapon was incredibly effective; it did exactly what it was designed to do and devasted the hapless Mandalorians caught in its ray. Clan Wren and their allies would destroy the Empire’s replicas, but the blueprints remained.
The mines of Mandalore
The piles of armor Din found in the mines are likely a last-ditch effort by the Mandalorians who refused to abandon their home world. With the surface of the planet suffering a siege, it’s not unthinkable that the people would seek shelter below ground. The mines would ensure no Imperial troops could come from behind, also housing the location of the Living Waters, an important part of Mandalorian tradition worth protecting. The narrow tunnels could provide the perfect battleground for a bottleneck. Like the Spartans at Thermopylae, the Mandalorians could have held the Empire at bay for several days, assuming the Imperials deigned to set foot on the planet during the purge.
Even if Moff Gideon refused to send troops down, he would likely still have on-planet help. The Empire had loyalists amongst the Mandalorians from the moment it occupied the world. During the civil wars, Clan Saxon showed its willingness to use the Arc Generator on their fellows. It’s not outside of reason to think the surviving band of warriors was betrayed by one of their own. Whatever happened in those mines, it didn’t end well for the Mandalorians. Whether they were betrayed by their own or overwhelmed by the impossible odds, they fell in those mines. But there is cause to celebrate their grisly ends — their armor’s presence in the mines means it didn’t fall into the hands of the Empire and will eventually be used for the next generation of Mandalorians.
