The handling of the Darksaber in The Mandalorian season 3 is one of the season’s most controversial storylines, but one key Star Wars connection highlights the deep significance of the weapon’s exchange. The history of the Darksaber is complicated, one that’s almost as complex as greater Mandalorian history itself. Beginning with its creator, the first Mandalorian Jedi Tarre Vizsla, the Darksaber has traded hands many times. It eventually fell into the Mandalorian Din Djarin’s possession, and in The Mandalorian season 3, it was again exchanged into Bo-Katan Kryze’s hands.
Given the fact The Mandalorian and its spin-offs have continuously emphasized that Bo-Katan was wrong for accepting the Darksaber from Sabine Wren in Star Wars Rebels and not earning it in ritual combat, Din Djarin handing the Darksaber off to Bo-Katan in The Mandalorian season 3 became highly controversial. While Din insists it was because Bo-Katan had defeated the cyborg in the mines of Mandalore that had defeated and disarmed him, it felt to many viewers like a cop-out, something that overshadowed this moment. It does, however, carry heavy Star Wars significance that makes this moment much better.
While the statue of Tarre Vizsla has yet to be seen in Star Wars, aside from some concept art made for Rebels, it’s described in Kristin Baver’s Star Wars: 100 Objects, most notably because of how Tarre Vizsla was holding the weapon. Baver writes that “the Darksaber was ignited, the blade aimed downward, symbolically pointing to the soil of the planet the Mandalorian people called home.” This positioning of the Darksaber, then, is not only important enough to Mandalorians to commemorate it in a statue, but it’s also significant enough to be specified in this particular book.
This description fits perfectly with how Bo-Katan holds the Darksaber at the end of The Mandalorian season 3, episode 6 “Chapter 22: Guns For Hire.” After she and her fellow Mandalorians agree that she is the rightful possessor of the Darksaber, Bo-Katan ignites the blade and keeps the tip of the sword aimed downward. While the soil beneath her feet at that point is Plazir-15, it’s still a meaningful echo of the statue that once stood on their glorious homeworld of Mandalore, something that no doubt resonated with each Mandalorian standing there.
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Despite the Darksaber being destroyed by Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian season 3 finale, this scene still holds a much heavier significance. Bo-Katan felt that she was responsible for her homeworld’s destruction because of the Darksaber, and fate set her up to turn the tables completely. The Darksaber was always meant to serve the people of Mandalore, and that’s what it did during its last fight against Moff Gideon. As she prepared to take on this quest in The Mandalorian, she echoed the Darksaber’s creator and his sentiments, reminding the Mandalorians of this history one last time.
The Mandalorian is available to stream on Disney+