Disney
After blowing fans away for the entirety of its first seven episodes, The Mandalorian wrapped up its inaugural season with an absolutely epic season finale, “Redemption”, that answered tons of questions while also teasing enticing new ones.
Warning: spoilers for The Mandalorian Chapter 8 will follow.
Of all the major reveals in the season one finale, the most exciting for Star Wars fans was the discovery that Moff Gideon is the current owner of the Darksaber.
In the final shot of season one, Moff Gideon — who was bested by the newly-jetpacked Mando and the gang — frees himself from his crashlanded TIE Fighter thanks to the help of the Darksaber, one of the most interesting pieces of weaponry in Star Wars lore.
The Darksaber, which first debuted in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “The Mandalore Plot,” is “an ancient and unique black-bladed lightsaber created by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order”, according to Wookiepedia.
The Darksaber has a lot of meaning for Mandalorians, because it was made a thousand years before any of the movies by a Mandalorian named Tarre Vizsla, who was also a Jedi. After Vizsla died, the Darksaber was kept at the Jedi temple on Coruscant, but was stolen by Mandalorians during a major period of upheaval in the Republic — we’re still hundreds of years before the movies here.
By the time of the Clone Wars, the blade had fallen into the hands of Pre Vizsla, who led a rogue group of Mandalorians called the Death Watch who fought with the Separatists against the Republic. Darth Maul — who, yes, survived being cut in half in “The Phantom Menace — tired of Viszla’s shenanigans and power plays, challenged Viszla to a duel for ownership of the Darksaber and control of Death Watch, which he won. So Darth Maul used the Darksaber for a while, until he put it in storage on his home planet of Dathomir.
Years later during the events of “Rebels,” the Darksaber was nabbed by heroes Sabine Wren and Kanan Jarrus. Wren, herself a Mandalorian, learned to use the sword and wielded it in battle for a while, before eventually handing it over to Bo-Katan Kryze, another Mandalorian, about a year before the events of the original “Star Wars” film. And that was the last we heard about the Darksaber until Moff Gideon used it. [via Yahoo]
Given that Moff Gideon was not only unveiled towards the end of season one but is in possession of an iconic piece Star Wars history, Giancarlo Esposito’s mysterious Empire warlord figures to be a major factor in the future of The Mandalorian.
With Mando — or, as we learn in the season finale, Din Djarin — now tasked with returning Baby Yoda to his people and Moff Gideon and his Darksaber hot on his tale, The Mandalorian has established itself as perhaps the most exciting Star Wars property going forward.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter @eric_ital for movie and soccer takes or contact him eric@brobible.com