Summary

• Sabine Wren's Mandalorian history was explored in Ahsoka, which shed light on the Purge of Mandalore and Night of a Thousand Tears in a way that secretly broke the Mandalorian timeline.
• The Purge of Mandalore and Night of a Thousand Tears were created to explain why the Mandalorians were absent in the original trilogy, filling in the gap and providing a backstory for the Mandalorian people.
• Ahsoka reveals that the Purge of Mandalore took place at the end of the Galactic Civil War, potentially being a part of Operation: Cinder, causing a plot hole as it raises questions on why the Mandalorians didn't aid the Rebel Alliance during key battles.

Sabine Wren, the latter of whom has now become a Mandalorian Jedi. Sabine's Mandalorian history has been a core part of her character ever since her debut in the animated Star Wars Rebels series, and given the time gap between the ending of that show and the start of this one, Ahsoka season 1 had quite a bit to fill viewers in on.

Ahsoka revealed more about the Purge of Mandalore and Night of a Thousand Tears. This is unsurprising given how important it was to Sabine's character. Sabine's entire Mandalorian family died during the Purge of Mandalore, making it a pivotal moment for her. The Purge was part of the reason Ahsoka stopped training Sabine. She feared it could cause Sabine to turn to the dark side of the Force. As such, it was bound to be mentioned at some point during the show. However, one detail given about the Purge accidentally created an issue in the Mandalorian people's timeline.

The Purge Of Mandalore Was Created to Explain A Major Mandalorian Mystery

The writers of The Mandalorian came up with the idea for the Purge of Mandalore to explain why the Mandalorians weren't in the original trilogy. After all, given that they are warriors who generally do not like the Empire, it was strange that they were nowhere to be found in the originals. In the extras for The Mandalorian season 1, Jon Favreau provided such reasoning for creating these tragic Mandalorian events.

We were trying to fill in what that Mandalorian lore was, that underground secret community that the Mandalorians lived in. Because here we were after the original trilogy, and the only suit of Mandalorian armor we saw in live-action was on Boba Fett. Either they were someplace else, or they were operating in secret.

Ahsoka Revealed When The Purge Of Mandalore Really Happened

Ahsoka, however, reveals that the Purge of Mandalore happened at the end of the Galactic Civil War. This likely made it part of Operation: Cinder, Emperor Palpatine's contingency plan to destroy the Empire in the event of his death. Operation: Cinder saw the Empire's most loyal officers and warriors destroy Imperial planets via orbital bombardment as punishment for allowing Palpatine to die - just like what happened to Mandalore during the Purge.

This causes a huge plot hole in the original trilogy. If the Mandalorians had the help of Sabine's Rebel cell in liberating their planet from the Empire and were united against the Imperials for the mistreatment of their people, then they should have been helping the Rebel Alliance or at least helping the fight against the Empire in some way. Even if they were rogues and didn't officially the Rebel Alliance, surely they would still have helped in some of the key battles.

Where WERE Mandalorians During The Star Wars Original Trilogy?

There is no easy explanation for the Mandalorians' absence during the Star Wars original trilogy era. However, one possibility is that they were simply fighting the Imperial presence on different planets. While it still seems odd that they would miss the most important battles - such as the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Endor, and the Battle of Jakku - the Empire was truly galactic in scale. They may have been otherwise engaged.

This is even more plausible if they weren't part of the Rebel Alliance, given Mon Mothma's ethics limited the groups she would work with. The Alliance didn't want information about the Death Star getting out. The Empire already knew that they had stolen the schematics. If word spread, the Rebel Alliance could have more people - even planets - turning against them in self-defense. After all, with such a weapon on the Empire's side, many people and planets would do anything to avoid becoming victims of its terrifying power. The Mandalorians may not have known about the Battle of Yavin or the Battle of Endor.

Even though it's possible that the Mandalorians as a whole were simply fighting elsewhere, it's still hard to believe that no Mandalorians ed the Rebel Alliance. After all, Rebels shows that the Rebel Alliance had with the Mandalorians when Sabine's cell, Phoenix Squadron, helped to fight the Imperial presence on Mandalore and free Sabine's father during the war. It seems unlikely that the Rebel Alliance wouldn't have asked for their help. This Ahsoka plot hole won't be easy for Star Wars to fix, but they will need to address it soon.

Ahsoka is available to stream on Disney+.