Who is the new character we meet in the ‘The Mandalorian’ season 3 premiere?

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season three premiere.

The Mandalorian pulled a mean trick with the opening of Chapter 17, the long-awaited first episode of its third season. 

Titled “The Apostate,” the episode was naturally expected to continue its focus on Din Djarin, particularly after he was called an apostate by the Armorer in the fifth chapter of The Book of Boba Fett. It’s a term our favorite ex-Mandalorian has to get used to, as he’s now regarded as someone who is no longer a Mandalorian, having abandoned one of their fundamental principles — never to take off their helmet, especially not voluntarily.

Having spent much of the second season on a quest to return Grogu to his people, season three will follow Djarin’s attempts to repent for his transgressions. Everything’s pointing to Mandalore, the only place the Mandalorian Creed states he can be forgiven, and we’re likely to learn a lot more about the Mandalorian way on the trip. 

So. an opening sequence featuring the Armorer and ceremony where a boy first takes the Creed to become a Mandalorian shouted flashback. But the interruption of a ceremony ambitiously hosted by a lake packed with predators by a deadly semi-aquatic monster and the intervention by a familiar N-1 starfighter confirmed it wasn’t.

Wait, that boy wasn’t Din Djarin?

No, there were no flashbacks in Chapter 17 following the opening recap. 

The boy’s identity remains unknown. We don’t know if the boy is a foundling. It’s one theory, although there’s also a notable connection to Paz Vizsla, one of Djarin’s key frenemies.

The heavy infantry Mandalorian was present and correct among a clan that had grown significantly since we last saw him, Djarin, and the Armorer together (“There are three of us now,” Vizsla stated then). 

In previous episodes, we’ve seen Vizsla confront Djarin, leap to his defense, tend his wounds, then challenge him to claim the Darksaber before shunning him. Vizsla is definitely one for the rules and hasn’t lost his sense of loyalty, based on Chapter 17.

Having taken receipt of his Mandalorian helmet but having not completed his oath, the boy ran from the protection of the cave to assist the Armorer after she was hit by the giant lake beast (best guess so far, a gigantic croc-turtle). It put the boy directly in the creature’s path before the airborne Vizsla swept down to knock him out of the way and blast the predator’s maw.

There was some dramatic justice in Djarin sweeping in to save the pair and the rest of the clan. Although we’re denied a later catch-up with Vizsla and the boy — Djarin only talks to the Armorer in the episode, and anyway, Vizsla wouldn’t have much to say — the youngster’s fate is likely linked to either Djarin or Vizsla or both. 

Being a foundling would draw clear links to Djarin, but another fan theory, which the show hasn’t denied so far, is that the boy is Vizsla’s son. That would add an extra dimension to that opening battle and wouldn’t contradict Vizsla’s comment in The Book of Boba Fett, as the boy was yet to take the Mandalorian Creed. If he is part of House Vizsla, a legendary name in Star Wars lore, the boy could have an important part to play in the future of Mandalore.

Either way, we can see the boy reappearing, along with many other Mandalorian warriors. It is no coincidence that it was the kid’s fundamental Mandalorian oath to never remove his helmet in front of others that was interrupted as Djarin sets out to redeem himself on Mandalore for breaking the very principle.

The Mandalorian season 3 airs weekly, every Wednesday, on Disney Plus.